klfrodo

No matter how much I agree with what you just said, I'm going to continue pounding on this table expressing how much more right I am than you. 🤯

You're correct Hank that they may have coverage. I think the problem arises when someone (especially newbie international travelers) are surprised when they give the hospital or clinic, or even the cruise line medical center their insurance card expecting direct payment and it is denied.

Just don’t forget to buy travel insurance. Travel insurance also includes medical coverage should you get ill or injured on your trip. Your US based insurance won’t be accepted outside of the US. Also know that you will probably be required to pay out of pocket up front for medical service but then can file for reimbursement when you return. consider checking out www.TripInsuranceStore.com for a policy that meets your needs.

I don't doubt the claims of the possibility that the TA's may have told them their documents were good enough board the ship. While the TAs on this board may be some of the best, my money is that they are in the minority. I would guess that too many people who consider themselves TAs probably couldn't tell you what WHTI means much less be able to identify all WHTI compliant documents. Very few TAs, while offering to sell travel insurance, couldn't tell their clients the difference between Trip Delay and Trip Interruption, along with the other limitations of the policy they sell.

This can be a huge problem for those with low limit credit cards or those using debit card. First of all, the cruise line has no ability to withdraw a hold. The amount of time a hold stays on your account is completely dependent on the policies of your financial institution. Some people say they never see the holds whereas others can see the hold. I see my holds, but they usually clear in 24 hours. What has happened in the past is the cruise line verifies the credit card by placing a hold. Let's say it's $200. Then, as your on board account reaches a certain level, they will place another hold for another $200 and so on and so on. Then, at the end of the cruise when they finalize, the cruise line bills your account the total of your spending. Let's say that total is $400. So your account gets hit for the final $400, but you also have holds for $400. That's $800 of available credit you no longer have access to. If at the beginning of the cruise, your debit account or credit limit was $1000, you only have access to $200.

I can only hope they're not magnetic. Just imagine walking by and pieces of clothing or jewelry being drawn towards the wall, or worse yet, your pacemaker stop working.

Shake My Head Sorry Steve 😂. No teen kids or grandkids?

As indicated in your other post on a different thread, I choose to purchase a good travel insurance policy that better fits my needs rather than rely on my BC/BS policy for international coverage. There were just too many limitations on my BC/BS policy. This is where a good broker may come into play. Travel insurance in the US is regulated by each State. One state may allow coverage on something while another may not. My state allows me to do the following: Instead of buying travel insurance where my "real" trip cost is $5K per person, I purchase a plan where I declare my trip cost is $500 per person. I don't care about cancellation/Trip Delay/ Trip Interruption/etc. What I do care about is Medical. I still get the $100K or $250K in medical and evac coverage but with substantial cost savings. Plus, since the price of the policy is the same whether I indicate trip cost is $1 or $500 per person, I still do have the benefit of Trip Delay at 150% of trip cost should my return flight get delayed and I need a hotel room for a night or two plus meals.

Hope this never happens again but the best advice to the next person this happens to is to ensure you don't leave the ship without copies of your medical records and doctors notes. You may have to pay for these copies, but that is reimbursable also. This way, you can submit this documentation with the claim. Glad it all worked out in the end.

When we book using a casino offer, it's usually due to my wife's play. I let her know that any OBC earned due to her play is for her use anyway she chooses.

To what extent does your medical insurance cover you anywhere in the world. I'll cut and paste my response to another poster about my experience. I also had a good health insurance policy from my work (BC/BS) that had an international rider. I wanted more information about exactly what this policy did and did not cover, so I gave them a call with specific questions. 1. Am I covered for medical expenses? (Yes, at out of network, normal & customary, after co-pay) 2. Will you direct pay? (No, reimbursement only) 3. Are there any circumstances where you will advance pay if medical provider requires upfront payment? (No) 4. Once my emergency is stable, will you reimburse to bring me to a closer hospital near my home for continued care? (No) 5. If I should die in a foreign country, will you pay to repatriate my remains? (No) 6. I asked for more specifics about evacuation. (Their answer was very ambivalent. They made it sound like evacuation was just like an ambulance. They would pay to transport you to the closest facility qualified to care for you but that 1 time ride was the end of the coverage) I'm sure there were other questions I asked but cannot remember them all. At the end of the conversation, I decided that what would best fit my needs would be to cover my travels with a good travel insurance policy and to keep the BC/BS policy as a back-up in case I didn't recover all expenses from the travel insurance policy. Which, I did have to use the BC/BS one time. My recommendation is to give your work policy a call and ask about specific instances and their coverage and then do what best works for you.

For educational purposes only With your vast 20+ years of experience, could you share the top 2 or 3 mistakes people with travel insurance make that either cause you to SMH or cause the biggest problems with their claims. Also, share what they could have done differently to have made the claim process easier. Or, maybe you've covered this in a blog that you could provide a link to. Thanks

While I agree with you, what are these people going to do if they are that price sensitive and they twist their ankle on wet marble/cobblestone and have to visit a clinic and the clinic demands payment upfront? There are tons of warnings on this site about the limitations and limitless potential for cruise line air transportation problems. And yet, people want to risk $20K to save a few hundred. Sympathy - Yes Empathy - No, none whatsoever.

I'm just going to share my experience with you. I also had a good health insurance policy from my work (BC/BS) that had an international rider. I wanted more information about exactly what this policy did and did not cover, so I gave them a call with specific questions. 1. Am I covered for medical expenses? (Yes, at out of network, normal & customary, after co-pay) 2. Will you direct pay? (No, reimbursement only) 3. Are there any circumstances where you will advance pay if medical provider requires upfront payment? (No) 4. Once my emergency is stable, will you reimburse to bring me to a closer hospital near my home for continued care? (No) 5. If I should die in a foreign country, will you pay to repatriate my remains? (No) 6. I asked for more specifics about evacuation. (Their answer was very ambivalent. They made it sound like evacuation was just like an ambulance. They would pay to transport you to the closest facility qualified to care for you but that 1 time ride was the end of the coverage) I'm sure there were other questions I asked but cannot remember them all. At the end of the conversation, I decided that what would best fit my needs would be to cover my travels with a good travel insurance policy and to keep the BC/BS policy as a back-up in case I didn't recover all expenses from the travel insurance policy. Which, I did have to use the BC/BS one time. My recommendation is to give your work policy a call and ask about specific instances and their coverage and then do what best works for you.

Disclaimer first. As a veteran, I was not aware of this program and just now ran across it on YouTube. I would never recommend that you count on this as a substitute to a good travel insurance policy. However, if you are an expat living in another country and a service-connected disabled veteran or, your travel insurance policy doesn't reimburse you 100% of your out-of-pocket medical expense, this might be something you want to consider and research further. I am providing a link to Part 1. I'll leave finding Part 2 up to you.

I used to use my iWatch also but ran into the same contortion issue. I just rely on my phone now. @ldubs I would be interested in hearing your experience with using Delta's Digital ID when you complete your travels. I did find this YouTube video

If I've learned anything on my 20+ years on this board, it doesn't take long for people to jump on and poopoo new innovations or creative ideas. From assigning a crew member to dispense soft serve ice cream to advances in technology. Then again, I can't think of anything better than polite discourse. Personally, I embrace advances in technology and fully support going digital with biometrics, facial recognition, and yes, even boarding passes, passports, hotel reservations, public transportation, and entry/exit visas. My wife on the other hand, loves having hard copies. I usually have everything digital and she has the hard copies. Yes, we've bailed each other out a few times.

How would one know that? Thats a very good question. Most of us know that because the first time we ran across the problem, we stood in the wrong line at the wrong counter and found out the hard way. Then, we shared our experience and newfound knowledge with others such as this forum.

We had a small group tour this past summer at the Harry Potter Studio near London. Many times, there would be people not part of the group who would listen in which wasn't really a problem. However, if they continued to follow as the tour moved on, or they would try to push their way in to get closer, the Studio employees would gently inform them that this was a private tour, and they would generally get embarrassed (because they didn't know it was private) and move on.

Here's what I can say about my recent experience using Digital ID. My trip was to Mexico (Cabo) on Alaska Airlines. I download the Airside App (at Alaska Airlines suggestion) On the Airside App, I uploaded my passport. I uploaded my Washington State Enhanced driver's license. I even uploaded my vaccination records. I then told Airside that I give them permission to send document verification to Alaska Airlines (along with my confirmation code) 72 hours prior to departure. When I arrived at SEATAC, all hard copy documentation went into my carry-on. When I checked in, Alaska had all my documents electronically. Did not have to show hard copy of anything. When we went to TSA, I opened the Airside app and created a 1 time QR code. TSA read the QR code, and I passed thru security. At the gate, there was a huge line of people where the gate agents were visually checking passports. When the line dies down, I approached and asked if I needed to be verified, they checked their records and said No. I was already verified. The technology is out there. Are there bugs? Of course there are, it's new. Will it become more advanced and utilized more? Of course. Technology is always moving forward. It wasn't that long ago that mobile boarding passes were a new thing. I remember being turned away at TSA at DFW for my return flight to SEA because DFW didn't have the ability to capture mobile boarding pass information. I had to get out of line, to get a hard copy boarding pass.

Well Hank, you took my initial post way past its intentional thought process. I was limiting my intentions to cruises within WHTI. I just used this process of Digital ID to depart the US (nobody saw my hardcopy passport) to Mexico. In Mexico, we did have to show hard copy passport to enter. When returning, it was all biometric. Passports never came out of my carryon. Can't think of any reason why I couldn't jump on a cruise ship in Miami and do a 7-day cruise around the Caribbean with just a Digital ID other than the cruise lines would need to adapt the technology. They are already beginning the process with biometric scanners. I remember my father telling me that his dad tore up his Buck Rogers comic book because space travel was science fiction. (Unfortunately, grandpa passed a couple of months before Neil Armstrong stepped on the moon.) I remember my father telling me that a computer will never be small enough to fit in your house. And now, I hear you telling me that the world is too big for Digital ID and paperless travel. I disagree. I think we're 10 years away for 80% of our worldwide travel needs. To include any visa's, ETIAS, ETA, or any other Entry/Exit program.

Since TSA now accepts Digital ID, and airlines now accept Digital ID as proof of valid passport prior to boarding an international flight,,, I’m wondering when cruise lines will accept Digital ID at check in for boarding.

Thanks for the correction

I'm not Steve and I'm sure he will correct me if I'm wrong. My research tells me that GeoBlue Trekker is "Secondary", which means that they will reimburse you after your other policies either pay or deny. Therefore, you would file an initial claim with your Medicare policy, wait for the denial letter, then file the claim with GeoBlue. What I've done in the past when I had a claim that I knew would be denied by my Medicare plan was to put in the claim that I understood that it would be denied and asked them to expedite the denial so I could initiate my claim with the secondary insurance. That did seem to hurry them along with the denial letter. I think I had the denial within a couple of weeks.