Smitheroo

can you give names of insurers who dont have a pre-existing condition clause?

what if you need a waiver of the prexisting condition clause? In order to get that waiver you have to purchase insurance withint a certain period of time after booking, called the time sensitive period, usually about 16-20 days. If you didnt buy insurance until final payment and werent concerned about pre-existing conditions for anyone (you, traveling partners, family at home) I think that would work but I dont really know as I'm no expert. I've been concentrating on anything to do with pre-exisiting conditions

yes, so there is my answer. This opens up more questions. Many people, including myself, need to be able to waive the pre-existing condition clause. And to do that you must purchase insurance within the "sensitive time period", usually within about 2 weeks after booking. This is fine if your booking isnt way in the future. Someone pointed out to me on another forum that he doesnt buy "nonrefundable " insurance. That got me thinking. At first I was looking at Geoblue for medical coverage and that is refundable at any point. It seems once trip cancellation is incuded there is a limit on refundability (called the free look period, usually about 10 days) I understand why but it does complicate things. It seems to me that if I book a cruise on say Jan 1 2024 sailing in 2025 and I want pre-existing condition coverage then I need to buy insurance within the first 2 weeks after booking my cruise. If it is mostly medical, like GeoBlue, its refundable but I still have to purchase it within 2 weeks to get the pre-existing condition waiver. With the other type of insurance I also have to purchase it within a short period of time after booking and I get a short free look period but after that its a done deal, even if I cancel my cruise. Even if I dont care about including a pre-existing condition clause waiver now, it could be a very different story for a cruise 2 years from now. So if you go cruise crazy and start booking cruises far in the future using CruiseNext and CruiseFIrst certificates (on NCL) you need to shell out money to pay for the insurance and in the case of trip cancellation you can only get a refund in a short period of time. (so you should be sure about your future bookins or else not worry about losing the money you paid for nonrefundable insurance) For the other type, like GeoBlue, your money is tied up for awhile. If you cancel closer to the cruise you will eventually get this type of insurance cost back. I have searched dozens of websites and found no mention of a question like this. Anyone I've asked in person doesnt really have an answer. Or I might get an answer like "I think you are overthinking it" Am I? I think the solution is that you have to not worry about money you wasted on nonrefundable insurance if Insurance was something you couldnt do without if your cruise didnt happen.

Thank you for your detailed answer. But I would like to ask one more question Should questions asked here only pertain to information found on Steve's site? I hadnt gone through that thoroughly but plenty of other legitimate sites on the Internet offer insurance with medical coverage that is considered inadequate puzzles me. (Including NCL's basic protection plan) I don't consider $100,000 "inadequate" although I personally would want more than that. What I was referring to was medical coverage of $25,000. (for an example) So, is this forum a question and answer forum for Steve?

it did

Thanks for the different viewpoint. I ended up drinking a carton of the FLOW water that was in my refrigerator when I didnt remember to bring back a glass of water to my cabin before retiring (bedtime and morning meds) I fully intended it would be charged to my account, but I didnt see it. Maybe it was and it was part of the expenses someone pointed out I hadnt included in my account breakdown in a previous post. About not filling your water bottle- I saw numerous people filling their waterbottle from the water dispenser in the Garden Cafe. Behind one of them I thought of saying "you know you're not supposed to do that, right?" but then thought I might be accused to being a Karen (although it really was my business if I intended to use that water dispenser) The FLOW water carton was listed as $5.50 which is not too much to worry about. I dont drink a lot of water although I know I should drink more than I do.

I'm making this post to say that I finally get "my account confusion" Please, no arguments. Even comments arent necessary. This is just an explanation of Why and How I finally get it. In my defense: On an earlier cruise I listened to the CN presentation which I understood to be : Buy x number of CN certificates (I forget the exact number, and the certificates were full price) and we will give you $1,000 OBC. (and it was nonrefundable at that time) You can use this OBC to pay off your shipboard expenses. f you dont use all of it, you lose it. Good for someone who has spent a lot of money in the gift shop or the bar and hadnt purchased a drinks package. It is meant as an incentive for you to commit to cruise with us in the future. My travel partner explained to me that this was not really a good deal for us because we had very little in the the way of shiipboard expenses. (our DSC had been pre-paid. There was a small amount of tax on a drink I bought in port, which was never charged to my credit card. I'm assuming charges are disregarded below a certain level). it would be like spending $250 now in order not to spend $250 later. (but getting your shipboard expenses paid) I fully understand this deal. Advance to last cruise with the "Free Money" deal: Only I know what I heard explained to me and yes, I misunderstood. Now, had I been charged $2000 for the 8 certificates and given 1,000 free money to be used on board that would have been the same as the presentation deal I heard on my first cruise, explained above. I could use it to pay shipboard expenses I had incurred and if there were none, the $1000 would have come off the price of the CN certificates. What did happen was that the $1000 came off the CN certificates which left the shipboard expenses (some of which I wouldnt have if I didnt want to buy CN certificates in the first place.) for me to pay. Some of the shipboard charges would have been there anyway, some were only there because I misunderstood the deal. My take from this experience: 1) I most likely will never buy 8 CN certificates at one time again. For some people they might be a good idea but it does tie up a lot of money. I wont get my money back for them for as long as it take me to go on a lot of cruises. 2) "If it sounds too good to be true, it usually is" is once again reinforced. 3) if still interested , question everything but I thought I understood 4) Even the unnecessary spa services werent a total waste because now I know I will never go near the spa/salon. This was not a costly lesson. I doubt that this is the conclusion that NCL would want me to come to Marketing strategies can backfire. I am now less likely to make extra charges on board. So, I get it and I am fortunate it was not a much more costly misunderstanding I had.

I remember one time my husband was allowed to come on board with me to help me get our two small children settled in their seats. Then he got off . That was about 1982. And before 9/11 anyone could go up to the gate, at least where I lived. I remember international was different though. In 1999 I was not allowed to accompany my mother traveling abroad past a certain point in the airport. In June 2001 my daughter met me at the gate when I arrived at SFO. And then we know what happened and our world changed

that's good to know

my very positive review was posted so if yours wasnt it wasnt because it was positive (or negative) Probably just a delay. Like you, I was dismayed by the negative reviews. While I might have a few issues with the way NCL does *some* things, my experience on the Encore was perfect. Oh there were a few points like I wish the photographers werent always in your face.

yeah, we had problems with Choir of Man on the Encore a few weeks ago. Never did figure out what happened but we saw it anyway, reservations not needed

so its really ok to drink water from the tap in your cabin? That's good to know. I was imagining it was like airplane water Macewank: note the lack of arguing on my part

Yeah, I'm not big on movies although I enjoy a good one. Probably missed a few good ones over the years. Macewank: notice there is no argument here by me

I learned something from your comment- I didnt realize that it was the responsibility of Room Service to pick them up. I knew you can call Room Service and ask them to pick them up but I didnt know they made rounds. I never order room service and dont plant to so dont know much about how that works.

I am not arguing. I am providing another point of view. Isnt that the point of a forum. Or do you look at it like a soapbox you get up on and give your opinion and everyone else needs to shut up or agree with you. Definition of forum: An environment where participants can pose issues for discussion and respond to any contribution , thus creating threaded discussions that can spawn a discussion tree where the discussion branches out in many directions. Or do all you want to hear is yes m'am, you're right ma'm Now, back to discussion. What I meant by how it goes in the working world. I have worked a long time, probably a lot longer than you have. People that should be rewarded by a hero card often arent for many reasons, The people that need to write them just dont get around to it, after all, they are busy traveling, in this case. So these people get left out even though they might be great workers. This type of reward system often doesnt work as well as it should Advice: You dont like what I write, just scroll on. Who died and made you boss?

I believe you. I dont know about many cases of people missing the ship in port. Although there have been a few. In any case, until I was extremely savvy about a port I would not take a chance with exploring any great distance on my own.

Oops- you are right. When I saw solo "dinner" I was thinking solo dining room. Yes, anyone can go to the meet and greets

It is my impression that solos staying in studios and the *new* solo categories (solo balconies, solo oceanview, solo inside) can use studio facilities. (if the ship has them) I'm not referring to the Solo "meet and greet" They are held any where on the ship and are for any solo traveler. The studio lounge is exclusively for studio passengers and the new category of solos. The booking info states that people who book these categories have access to the studio lounge, if the ship has one. Booking info does not say that if one person books an inside cabin. I realize that sometimes rules arent followed, even by the person in charge. Not much you can do about that. Nor would I care

yeah, well you know how that goes in the working world. People receive commendations (hero cards) who shouldnt and those who should, often dont. It doesnt hurt to submit a hero card but dont think that all who should be recognized actually are. Some people might be going around telling everyone how awesome their room steward is and never get around to filling out the card. I sure hope that Hero cards arent the only thing that NCL uses to recognize their employees. And a little extra cash is nice because you cant eat hero cards

I think your first point would depend on why she missed the ship. Bad weather, transportation problems, maybe even poor planning would probably be taken better by NCL than "I wanted to see such and such tourist attraction" I know I have read in trip insurance that "if you miss your ship costs to catch up are covered" This may mean if you miss your embarkation and not a port and it might also depend on the reason but I know I have read that.

I understood completely what you meant in your post. Unfortunately some people do not read before jumping to conclusions. I guess thats the nature of a public forum. There are no entrance requirements or tests of reading comprehension Some people did give good reasons why skipping the sea day would not be allowed, and someone without a lot of international experience may not realize. You also have to realize that with a company the size of NCL "deviations" are difficult to arrange. (and much of it is out of NCLs control and due to local jurisdictions) You can ask and perhaps even push for it but as some one pointed out you want to be sure you really have won the case. Personally, I would not think it was worth the energy to do all this just to spend one day in germany. Make a mental note to go back to explore at a later date. I do that all the time.

No, it is quite likely that the thought came to her after booking and studying the itinerary

I'm going to butt in here and say THANK YOU for assuring the OP that it was obvious she was not intending to deliberately miss the ship. I got that by reading her post once. People do not read and then jump to all kinds of erroneous conclusions about intent. It has happened to me recently and it is not fun.

My understanding is that the OP did NOT suggest she accidentally miss the ship in order to stay in the port and then catch up the day after. She was using it as an argument that if she can catch up if she accidentally misses the ship at a port why couldnt it be a scheduled "deviation" ? There are reasons why it wouldnt work but she is not suggesting that is what she should do. Read.

I think it would be hard to prove intent unless the person made an announcement on the news that he/she just jumped ship