Towel Critter

I was referring to E&B that I believe thought that if they didn't have preexisting insurance, someone at home (dad) became sick that they wouldn't get a refund if they had to cancel.

When advising someone on something as important (and complex) as insurance, please make sure you aren't giving them bad info. In fact, I would advise them to not listen to any of us on CC, including me - even though I have more experience in filing travel insurance claims than I wish I had - and to go to the site of a few travel insurance companies, pull up the policy they are interested in, and read it thoroughly, more than once, since they are written in confusing legalese.

Totally untrue. You probably read here somewhere that.....?

Death of family member and you need to cancel? They ask for a death certificate, nothing else.

Huh? I never mentioned anything about a death in the family. Re-read my reply, please. I have personally experienced this twice, once with a very sick mother, then again with a very sick MIL. How can you say it is "totally untrue?" What are you basing this on? I'm totally curious. I'm assuming you are basing it on something and not just pulling it our of your hat.

Unless your dad is going on the cruise he has nothing to do with coverage. You are buying insurance for you, not every relative at home that may become ill or worse forcing you to cancel.

I have to disagree that parents and family members have "nothing to do with the coverage." True, they aren't listed on the policy, but if one of them becomes seriously ill and you have to cancel, the insurance company will want all medical records on that person, going back as far as 180 days before the purchase of the coverage, before they will even consider reimbursing you. So to me, that means they have a lot to do with it. I know this from experience X2, unfortunately.

You are wise for considering travel insurance with elderly parents in the equation. My wife and I have had to cancel two of our last three booked cruises because of our parents becoming ill, first my mother, then hers. Choose Carnival's insurance over no insurance at all, for sure, but there are better deals and better coverage out there. As an example, on our upcoming cruise, we purchased "Cancel for Any Reason" with Travel Safe for less than $200 (I think it might have been $162, but I'm not sure without looking.) We have also used Travel Guard multiple times.

BTW, most travel insurance companies will waive pre-existing conditions if you purchase your policy within a designated time frame of your first trip deposit. It varies. 15 days is a pretty common window though.

Be sure to look at the policy in detail before purchasing. Happy cruising!

We don't plan on using the MDR on our next cruise. Should we notify MD. We are assigned to early dining.

"Ding" Onboard (that's when I know the party is starting)

I absolutely love the distinctive "ding." I have a form of Pavlovian reponse to it. I automatically relax, forget whatever day to day worries I had, and smile.

As far as things I love to do:

Enjoy conversation and pizza with my bride, late night, when the crowd has thinned.

Hang out on the balcony and look for flying fish.

Eat breakfast and lunch (and sometimes dinner), seated by one of the big windows in the buffet area, with the Caribbean Sea for a table mate.

Relish being with my wife, just us two, no distractions.

Oh my, this is amusing.

Great rebuttal.:rolleyes:

I think it does make a difference, but I wouldn't go so far as to say the quality of the cruise director makes or breaks a cruise. I don't think I remember the full name of a single CD, but I did particularly enjoy a certain Hispanic CD on the Triumph a few years ago. ( I think his first name may have been George) He was hysterically funny. I also remember one somewhat negatively. He began every announcement by singing. It became tiresome after a few days. I don't remember his name.

I wouldn't wait. June and July are vacation time, and prices reflect that. Although it is possible Carnival will lower the price of the cruise you are interested in, sometime between now and then, it isn't all that likely. The safe bet on a Summer cruise is early. It isn't a sure bet, but it's the safer bet.

I don't believe in product loyalty to the degree of being married to a product... "for richer or poorer, for better or worse" and all that. But as long as Carnival continues to offer a good product at a good price, I will continue to sail with them. As others have expressed, Carnival has made some cutbacks that many, including me, are not happy with, but for the moment, they remain the most bang for the buck in the cruise industry (though by an increasingly narrow margin), generally, with the occasional exception. But if and when they cutback to a degree that exceeds other leading lines, or raise prices enough to match, or exceed, other leading lines, I won't hesitate to shop around.

The old style wasn't necessarily thick either like pizza hut pan pizza just thicker and softer than the current pizza. The old pizza was the equivalent to new york hand toss in thickness.

The thin crust "new" pizza did not come out until end of 2011 or in 2012. Had it for the first time on the inaugural Breeze sailing. So I think you just forgot.

Thanks for your replies!

Thank you for both replies. I've been trying to remember a thicker, American style pizza, but don't. I've been sailing with Carnival since 2004, but do not remember anything being served except the thinner, more Italian style pizza. Either I've simply forgotten the thicker pizza, or was lucky enough to have only sailed on ships with the thin crust pizza. I say "lucky," because thin is my personal preference, not because it is objectively superior. It all boils down to personal preference, as most all food does.

Question: What year did Carnival change from the "old pizza" to the "new pizza?"

It's a scam (fraud) if purchased after an incident has happened that would cause one to cancel their cruise (as was suggested).

You may be correct. I'm not certain. I do know that most travel insurance companies waive their preexisting clause if you purchase a policy with them within a certain time frame after the initial deposit has been paid for the trip. But I'm not certain if this pertains to pre-existing conditions that have been treated, brought under control, and then flairs up again after the policy has been purchased, or if it pertains to any and all pre-existing conditions. Again, you may very well be correct in this instance. But I'm curious how they can legally label such policies as "CFAR," if that truly isn't the case. That seems dishonest to me. But the insurance business in general isn't exactly a fountain of virtue, so it wouldn't surprise me much if that is the case. One should always read the fine print, where the truth is buried in all the legalese, I suppose. :-)

edit: After giving it further thought, I agree that you are correct. It wouldn't make much business sense for a company to knowingly accept, say $150 for a policy, then turn right around and pay out two or three thousand. I will have to look further into this, but from a business stand point, you have to be right and what I assumed has to wrong.

I've sailed on both and enjoyed both, but the Dream is a better ship. Also, unless NCL has upgraded since I was on the Dawn, the beds were terribly uncomfortable to me. Food was also superior on the Dream. A cruise is a cruise. Neither would be a truly bad choice, but if I had the option... Dream, for sure. The one thing I disliked about the Dream was having a balcony stateroom on an upper deck and looking down onto deck, instead of water. If I sail a Dream class ship again, I'll go with a cove balcony, which is positioned below the lanai, or whatever the extra wide deck is called. We did that on the Breeze and enjoyed our balcony much more than we did on the Dream, since below us was water, as opposed to decking.

We were booked for late dining but requested YTD. I put ina request with my TA about 2 weeks ago. I just checked "manage my cruise' and I have already been confirmed on YTD. Now we are waiting for a Spa Balcony upgrade.

And this is why insurance keeps going up and up. Way to tell someone how to scam a company. :mad:

A few cruises back we were wait listed for YTD and sought out the Maitre d' when we first boarded.

He said that he would try his hardest to get us switched around by the following evening.

 

That night we did our scheduled Late Seating and he found us while eating, to tell us that we were in fact switched starting the following night.

When we got back to the cabin there was a note from him as a reminder.

 

The following evening while at dinner (YTD) he saw us, stopped to say hello and offered us each a glass of wine as a thank you for our patience, in waiting a day.

He definitely went above and beyond to help us out, and the wine was the cherry on top.

Yep. Sounds like you got a fine Maitre' d'. Maybe we will get that lucky.

On my first cruise I was waitlisted for YTD and confirmed for late. I didn't hear anything until I got my room key and found out I had gotten YTD after all. So be sure to check that first before storming off to the dining room.

 

Also, Platinum status is supposed to help. Good luck to you.

You will have a blast. Those are great ports, and good luck on getting YTD!

Thank you, theriac!

I'm so sorry for the loss of your beloved father. But I'm glad you two made so many special memories together.

It's never too soon to pack! ;-) But don't show up at the airport just yet. :-)

Exactly. I don't mind the buffet for dinner or room service and hate getting dressed up so I always select YTD for those reasons. I only went to the MDR once on my Alaska cruise. I will probably go a few times since my upcoming cruise is over Christmas and I'm interested in trying the special meals they will have. I booked with only 48 days til the cruise so have never dealt with being waitlisted so that's why I asked my PVP. She said it should help explaining that to the dining staff on embarkation day.

We booked our upcoming cruise later than we usually do too. I guess that is the reason for the waitlisting. Only 23 more days for us until Curacao and Aruba on the Conquest. I'm looking forward to seeing how the Conquest has changed. I know it has gotten the 2.0 upgrades. My first Carnival cruise was on the Conquest, back in 2004. This will be our third attempt at Aruba and Curacao, having had to cancel the first two because of sickness in the family. Third time is a charm, they say. Enjoy your Christmas cruise!

LOL, it is all a matter of taste and tastes change every seven years so I might like it eventually.

So they say. Maybe some day I'll love veggies more than I do meat. :)