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Disney Cruise Canceled - Insurance Claim?


joogle
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Hi - our September 8 Disney Dream sailing from Port Canaveral has been canceled. Though Disney is refunding the money, the insurance I had bought I thought was from Disney. Upon review it is from Allianz that the travel agent arranged.

 

I have a feeling Allianz won't refund since the cruise was canceled. Anyone know how best to handle this situation? I had bought insurance for a party of 7, now the carrier (Disney) is the one who canceled the cruise.

 

I am open to suggestion, or is there a claim that I can make for meals/etc. since my parents will be staying with us to cover some of that cost.

 

Thanks

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Disney is providing a full refund to passengers who were scheduled to sail. Or are you talking about a refund for the insurance you purchased?

 

Yes to the insurance purchased, I thought it was a Disney trip protection but it apparently was Allianz insurance. I am referring to the insurance purchased.

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Hi - our September 8 Disney Dream sailing from Port Canaveral has been canceled. Though Disney is refunding the money, the insurance I had bought I thought was from Disney. Upon review it is from Allianz that the travel agent arranged.

 

I have a feeling Allianz won't refund since the cruise was canceled. Anyone know how best to handle this situation? I had bought insurance for a party of 7, now the carrier (Disney) is the one who canceled the cruise.

 

I am open to suggestion, or is there a claim that I can make for meals/etc. since my parents will be staying with us to cover some of that cost.

 

Thanks

Since you're getting a full refund, you're not out any money there. You'll have to read your policy to see exactly what would be covered, but, basically, insurance will only cover whatever is non-refundable.

Edited by Shmoo here
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Since you're getting a full refund, you're not out any money there. You'll have to ready your policy to see exactly what would be covered, but, basically, insurance will only cover whatever is non-refundable.

 

Yeah they seem to only be covering like excursions/delays/re-booking fees/etc. that were prepaid - which we did not have any.

 

That is still a good amount I will lose on the insurance, I guess I can check with them if it can be used on a future sailing. Or only other thing I can think of is make a claim for meals or something for Sept. 8 to 11 which was the sailing.

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Let us know how that turns out. I bet you will spend a lot of time on the phone only to find out that insurance companies are not in the business of making voluntary payments. But, being out that much money for 7 people, I guess you have no option.

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Let us know how that turns out. I bet you will spend a lot of time on the phone only to find out that insurance companies are not in the business of making voluntary payments. But, being out that much money for 7 people, I guess you have no option.

 

Yeah I am not sure if credit card will help in any matter either. This sucks, I honestly thought it was some insurance through Disney which I think they would have helped. But I expect travel agent to just say deal with Allianz

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Yeah they seem to only be covering like excursions/delays/re-booking fees/etc. that were prepaid - which we did not have any.

 

That is still a good amount I will lose on the insurance, I guess I can check with them if it can be used on a future sailing. Or only other thing I can think of is make a claim for meals or something for Sept. 8 to 11 which was the sailing.

Some policies will cover extra costs due to cancellations, like if you have to buy new airfare. Or wind up in a hotel for a night or two before you can fly back home.

 

But the cost of the insurance policy is typically not refundable. If it was, the insurance companies would be out of business paying out claims as well as refunding the policy cost.

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Depending on the insurance, you might have had coverage for any non-refundable hotels, change fees for plane tickets, meals if you got stuck in Orlando with no cruise, etc. However, the insurance purchased thru DCL is not the best coverage. To start with, it covers only those items booked thru DCL....so if you did the air separately, you'd have no coverage for that. We've found private coverages to cost less and cover more!

 

However, as to getting the cost of the insurance refunded, that's not normally how it works. You won't see it back unless Disney and Allianz work out some sort of a special deal for these canceled cruises.

 

On the other hand, you're getting 25% off a future booking. DCL insurance generally costs about 10% of the cruise cost, so you are still coming out well ahead.

Edited by moki'smommy
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Sometimes the insurance will give you credit for a future trip. I had to cancel our Christmas cruise due to the school changing the vacation schedule compared to the past 6 years. I called the insurance company and they will give me credit for a future trip as long as it is booked within two years from the date of purchase. If the need more coverage (price of trip, etc. is higher) I will have to pay the difference.

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Allianz is (or used to be) the company DCL used for their insurance. The insurance never was provided by Disney with the exception that if the insurance company refuses to pay a claim, DCL will give the holder a portion of the claim toward a future cruise.

 

There are private companies that give much better coverage at much less cost, often including a child's policy at no cost with a parent or grandparent policy. One thing to watch though--private policies are based on the cost of the cruiser as well as the amount of coverage purchased, coverage thru DCL is based only on the cost of the items booked thru them. The private insurance I commonly use allows me to change the date ONCE, so if I had purchased for a canceled cruise, I could move it to the newly rebooked cruise. I would pay for any cost increase of the new cruise (for instance, had I covered a 3 night cruise and moved the coverage to a 7 night, I'd expect there to be an additional charge).

 

Excursions on DCL are not paid in advance--they are billed to your on board account. Every responsible private provider I've ever used has a policy that if your ship can't dock/tender, your credit card is not charged for the excursion. No problem there.

 

I seriously doubt that the insurance will pay for your meals while you would have been on the ship. That cost was part of what was refunded to you by DCL.

 

If you did incur any out of pocket costs based on this cancelation, check to see whether your credit card includes any travel insurance. Mine does, but a claim must be made within 7 days. That might help you a bit.

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Depending on your policy, if the cruise is cancelled but value is issued as a credit, sometimes the policy carries to the rebooked cruise. But for a refunded cruise its a sunk (and not cheap) cost. I am assuming airfare is not a loss (and the policy would have covered it).

 

The cosmic unfairness of insurance is that the best case is to not use something you paid for (even if Disney hadn't refunded the insurance would have paid the same amount so the net effect is exactly the same).

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I am not sure if you are asking whether your premium will be refunded? If that is what you are asking, I would think so, since the carrier cancelled, and it's not you cancelling. If you are asking about what to do about ancillary costs, call the providers and talk to them. I called my airline and explained what was up. They did not charge me a change fee even though they could have, and so I rebooked my airfare for a future trip I already had planned for only the difference in fare. Which I felt was fair under the circumstances. So I am not really out too much, because everything else was cancellable and refundable, and I would have bought that new airfare in the future anyway.

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After my travel agent told me yesterday that my full cruise would be refunded including insurance, today she tells me can't refund insurance.

I am losing money on insurance for 7 people. I have it in writing where she told me entire amount will be refunded but are back tracking now.

What can I do? I see Allianz gives an option to change the trip date online. I don't know what that will be - I was thinking of putting a future weekend in 2018. Anyone experience something like this before and provide suggestions. I even am tempted to dispute with credit card after they told me in email full amount will be refunded.

Thanks

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I have it in writing where she told me entire amount will be refunded but are back tracking now. What can I do?
I suppose you could go after the travel agent in court, but there may be some equivocation (that it was an honest mistake, and that you didn't make any financial decisions based on the erroneous information) that would net you no gain from doing so except losing the travel agent's best efforts from this point forward.

 

I see Allianz gives an option to change the trip date online. I don't know what that will be - I was thinking of putting a future weekend in 2018. Anyone experience something like this before and provide suggestions. I even am tempted to dispute with credit card after they told me in email full amount will be refunded.
I don't have experience with that so will be interested in the answer you receive, whether it is from here or from the insurance company.
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Did you pay the TA for insurance, the insurer or Disney.

 

Credit card dispute would only apply in the first case, as they were the one offering refunds, not the other two.

After my travel agent told me yesterday that my full cruise would be refunded including insurance, today she tells me can't refund insurance.

I am losing money on insurance for 7 people. I have it in writing where she told me entire amount will be refunded but are back tracking now.

What can I do? I see Allianz gives an option to change the trip date online. I don't know what that will be - I was thinking of putting a future weekend in 2018. Anyone experience something like this before and provide suggestions. I even am tempted to dispute with credit card after they told me in email full amount will be refunded.

Thanks

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After my travel agent told me yesterday that my full cruise would be refunded including insurance, today she tells me can't refund insurance.

I am losing money on insurance for 7 people. I have it in writing where she told me entire amount will be refunded but are back tracking now.

What can I do? I see Allianz gives an option to change the trip date online. I don't know what that will be - I was thinking of putting a future weekend in 2018. Anyone experience something like this before and provide suggestions. I even am tempted to dispute with credit card after they told me in email full amount will be refunded.

Thanks

 

I've never heard of the premium for insurance being refunded. Especially after the fact.

 

That's almost like double dipping. If you make a claim, and collect and then still get the cost of the insurance returned, you've gotten paid for something you didn't pay for.

 

Did the TA say the premium was refundable, or did the insurance company say the premium was refundable? TAs are notorious for saying what they think you want to hear. And not having all the facts.

 

When you insure something, you're gambling. If the gamble pays off (something happens to the item you covered)you get whatever you've covered on the insurance paid for. If the gamble doesn't pay off (everything goes off as planned), you lose.

 

It's like getting insurance on your house. You're gambling that your house is going to be damaged/burn down/flooded out and they will give you money to replace it. If nothing happens to your house during the policy time, you don't get your money back you paid for the insurance.

 

You paid for insurance on a cruise. The cruise didn't happen. Insurance covers any non-refundable costs you lose. If the cruise line refunds all your money that you paid them, and you incur no extra costs due to the cancellation of the cruise, there's nothing for the insurance company to pay you back. But you don't get the cost of the insurance back.

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so my house burns down, I should get the insurance (Disney refunding the money), plus the premiums I paid? (the cost of the travel insurance)?

Probably not likely.

The Insurance premium you you pay is for the likelyhood of catastrophic events. Not if it happens or not.

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I understood the travel insurance for cruises to be limited to basically the passenger cancelling for their own reasons (medical problem or something like that). In this case since Disney was the one to cancel, not the passenger, and are giving a full refund, the person who purchased the insurance shouldn't be penalized for that. Just my opinion. I happen to have my own travel insurance policy, so I don't buy the cruise line insurance, ever.

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I understood the travel insurance for cruises to be limited to basically the passenger cancelling for their own reasons (medical problem or something like that). In this case since Disney was the one to cancel, not the passenger, and are giving a full refund, the person who purchased the insurance shouldn't be penalized for that. Just my opinion. I happen to have my own travel insurance policy, so I don't buy the cruise line insurance, ever.

Basically, travel insurance may cover any NON-REFUNDABLE expenses for a cancelled cruise, regardless of who cancels. It doesn't pay out anything if there are no losses.

 

In this case the whole cruise fare is being refunded, there's no loss of money. But poster wants his premium that he paid to purchase the insurance back, just because there's no cruise. That's not how insurance works.

 

You have your own travel insurance. If you book a cruise, and the cruise is cancelled, and all your money refunded, do you get the cost of your insurance policy refunded from the insurance company?

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You have your own travel insurance. If you book a cruise, and the cruise is cancelled, and all your money refunded, do you get the cost of your insurance policy refunded from the insurance company?

No, but some companies will allow you one "change of date" so that you would not be out anything from the canceled cruise.

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