Candleonwater

Saturday will be my first cruise to Bermuda with others involved. Traveling with my sister and her family, which includes 4 year twins. We are scheduled to arrive at 1pm. I'm worried that by the time we are cleared and get transportation, it's too late to really spend any time at Horseshoe? Or, worried that it will be too crowded?

Last trip we went to Jobson's and absolutely loved it, just not sure about the lack of facilities when traveling with little ones?

Day 2 we figure we will leave the littles on the ship and head over to snorkel park?

Thoughts on this plan?

Oddly enough, when we were there in December, the locals told us we should go to Orient Beach. Said there's nothing there, but as long as we weren't expecting any services, it would make sure a very relaxing day. Hoping to get there this December.

Going back to the mindset of "insurance is for health reasons only". Cancelled DD today (for Saturday cruise), and I owe an additional $1,300. Absolutely no warning from RCL agent when I cancelled, only noticed it when I looked at the receipt they emailed me.

In full blown panic I called them, and thankfully they were willing to add her back, which reduced the cost back to the original amount. So, I eat $200. That's a lot more palatable than $1,300!

Question now, do I go ahead and check her in, as if she was going to join me, and then have her just be a no show?

I'm not in the industry, but I do understand the business model. You need to have more money coming in then going out. Otherwise, you don't turn a profit. You don't turn a profit by eagerly handing out money.

I thought the same thing. Insurance companies aren't charitable organizations, it's not in their best interests to "find ways to pay claims".

I wonder if you could

 

1) not cancel your daughter

 

2) have her be a no show and thereby avoid the single supplement for her cabin mate, and

 

3) file the insurance claim right after the ship sails for the work-related reason.

 

I have no idea if that would work, just spitballing.

I wondered the same thing, but was told I have to cancel her 3 days before departure...? Curious what would have happened if I didn't, and she "missed her flight" and didn't make it to the ship? Like I told her, it's NOT a deal breaker if we get nothing back. I booked her on the off chance she could join me, by adding her it only cost me an additional $200 for the sailing. I figure, if that breaks me, I probably shouldn't be cruising. But part of me says its the principle... cancel for any reason should mean just that.

LOL, didn't realize it was released today. Already watched it. Meh. Only thing I liked was watching for familiar things.

If you have CFAR, then it shouldn't matter. But I'd review the policy documents anyway to determine if the policy states that "you or a traveling companion are denied vacation from an employer" is considered a "covered reason". The difference between the two isn't that it's not covered, it's the amount you get back.

 

Covered reasons give you back 100%. Non-covered reasons (hence the "cancel for any reason" coverage) only gives you back 75% or 80%, or whatever your policy allows.

Yeah, already did all of that. CFAR only gives back 75%, while a work related reason gives back 100%, but NEITHER gives back if the cruise line charges me the single supplement, which I understand they'll do as soon as I cancel my daughter?

Work related reasons are not always covered under travel insurance. Many times, you need to purchase a cancel for any reason policy to get the work coverage.

 

If the PP has CFAR coverage, and she's 1 week out from her trip, and gets the letter from her daughter's employer denying her the vacation time, then the insurer gets involved.

 

Now, when she cancels the daughter with the cruise line, the daughter's fare becomes a "cancellation penalty". That means that the OP is now sailing as a single. And the cruise line can now add a single supplement to her fare, because the daughter's fare is no longer in play.

 

The insurance company then should be next in line, and they should refund the daughter's lost fare, plus they should cover any single supplement that the cruise line charges to the PP for sailing on her own.

 

At least that's what I've seen happen. People wrongly think that the second person's fare is paid so why would they charge the supplement; because the fare changed to a penalty amount when the cancellation occurred. Now, the cabin only has 1 fare charged to it.

 

Hope that makes sense.

That's exactly what I'm thinking is happening. So I would get nothing from the insurance company, regardless of type of coverage. Work related was included in the original insurance, but we upgraded to include cancel for any reason.

Don’t cancel, just tell them she no-showed at the port. Since you’ve already paid, no reason to make any changes. Unless you can find someone to take her spot.

LOL, I've tried. Apparently most people can't just pick up and leave at a moments notice.

What I'm trying to understand is, what's the point of "cancel for any reason" insurance?

I'm going to have her ask her boss if he'd be willing to give her something in writing saying she can't have those days off. This is what they said "You or Your Traveling Companion, neither of whom is a company owner or partner, are required to work during the scheduled Trip, as attested in writing by an unrelated company official and/or the company’s Human Resources Department;"

Is there any benefit to canceling her vs not canceling her?

Anyone here have experience cancelling one member of a traveling party? I leave in a week, and it turns out my daughter won't be able to get away from work (boss can't spare her for that long)...

I bought 3rd party insurance, but this is what they said to me "You will probably be charged the single supplement from the cruise line but insurance won't cover that because she is cancelling for a non-covered reason"...

Even though I purchased insurance that allows "cancel for any reason"???

I don't know why I'm struggling to wrap my head around this.

As usual, I'm going to go against the flow and say MAYBE. A lot of it will depend on how much hustle you have, and whether you've been to Disney before. If you haven't, it's probably not worth it. There's too much to see and do, to squeeze it all in.

Every time we've been on a ship that's stopped at PC, we've rented a car and made the trip to Disney (wouldn't ever do the excursion, I like to be on my own schedule). Have been happy we did it EVERY TIME. We have various reasons to do it. One time we had family at the park, so we got to spend a couple hours with them. We have certain rides we like to ride, and always manage to get those in.

I'm a fan of "if it ain't broke, don't fix it". We sailed Disney for our first cruise, and while it was wonderful, I didn't really like the Disney markup. We switched to RCL, it was a wonderful way to relax after our Disney trips, and since then we've sailed RCL. Once I hit D+ this year (that was the milestone goal), I may explore other options, but, then again, might not. The grass isn't always greener on the other side.

I'm in the same boat, getting ready to travel with my 4 year old nieces. My daughter was a little older when we started cruising, but not by much. I never worried about bringing a car seat, she just used the adult seat belts (if there was one). BIL is bringing these cool portable travel "car seats" that basically do little more than make a seat belt fit a child. Not sure if that's just giving him a false sense of security?

We were in St Maarten in December, and will be back again this December. Can't wait to see how noticeable the changes are to us. I was surprised as it was the first time I didn't feel 100% comfortable walking through town. It's always been one of my favorite stops, but this time the shop workers were just too pushy (somewhat understandable), it felt dirty and there was a much larger police presence than I've ever felt before. I didn't feel they were ready for visitors this past December, but I was more than happy to go spend my money to try to help them.

We are doing a 5 night to Bermuda on Grandeur. It's been a while since I had a child in the kids clubs. Trying to figure out how much time we get in the Solarium (sans kids). These kids are 4, so is the age group 3-5?

So I have to ask, since the website I use to see which ships are in port, what's the difference between Kings Wharf and Royal Naval Dockyard? The website shows RCL using Kings Wharf, and NCL using RND...

And the toilet paper is always OVER.

Sorry to take this off topic, but WHY? My father always tried to drill that into my head, but I prefer under.

We stopped at the little booth right at the pier, and asked what beach to go to. Can't remember what they said, but they sent us to a driver and I asked him "is this a beach you would recommend?". Absolutely not. I said, take us to a beach you would recommend. It was over on Picarts Bay. Quiet, until the ship excursion showed up, but they weren't there all that long, so we had the quiet back again.

Just in case no one has noticed, the new website sucks. Give them time to fix everything before starting to panic.

This is not parental advice just that I would never do that in fear that something would happen and I wouldn't make it back. However if that happened, they'd be in a better place than me so never mind!!

That was my first thought, we leave the kids onboard, and we're in an accident, at least the kids are safe.

We are going to Bermuda and our thought was to hit the beach during the day, come back and drop the kids in the club, and go back out to one of the bars near the ship. Maybe even the beach party at snorkel park. Never even crossed my mind that it might not be allowed.

What are the options for getting to Jobson's Cove? Taxi only? We went there last trip and prefer it over Horseshoe. The only downfall was we took a taxi, and he said he would come back for us... he never showed. Fortunately one of the other taxi drivers called in for a car for us, however that wait wasn't fun in the rain...

Wish I had been brave enough to allow my daughter and her friend to go on our last trip. I was too tired to accompany them, but was too nervous to let them go alone (they were both 18). Fortunately they ended up being too tired in the long run to give me much grief.

Would a couple of 40/50-somethings be out of place at this party? We're thinking about dumping the kids in the kids club and venturing out for the evening.

Wow. Nice.

Just tired of bad information being passed off as fact. When my daughter was a minor I got a lot of bad information here.

Unless the dad has sole legal custody both parents MUST be there when applying. The alternative is to have a form signed and notarized by the other parent:

 

https://eforms.state.gov/Forms/ds3053.pdf

I really wish people would stop and actually READ. The minor child is 17! Last I checked, that's OLDER than 16. If you look at the form you attached, it is for "ISSUANCE OF A U.S. PASSPORT TO A MINOR UNDER AGE 16". It is likely one parent would have to be there with the minor when applying, to establish identity with the parent's ID. That's it. Even in the case of 16 and under, if one parent isn't able to attend, they can complete a "statement of consent". Been there, done all of this.

Poor advice regarding insurance ! You may have coverage for a medical issue, but most people do not, including Medicare. Even if a person has medical insurance they still need to be aware of evacuation insurance. Accidents and illnesses can happen to all age groups.

I actually received similar advice from a friend today. She tried to convince me that the medical care on the islands is perfectly adequate, and much cheaper than what we have here in the states. I had to point out, while on the ship, only so much can be treated. And what if we are on an island, need to visit the hospital, and miss the ship, etc...?

No one LIKES paying for insurance, until they need to submit a claim.

I used to believe the additional insurance was a waste, but when DD had an allergic reaction to shellfish (in the air) in St Maarten, I started to worry about the "what ifs". Never gave it a thought before, not even when we were traveling with DD's friends. Thank goodness we were lucky.