Curiouse about what happens with insurance and lack of passport

[SociallyAwkward]

This is just a popped into my head while I was reading threads question. Not concerned personally and not trying to use "scare tactics" on anyone. Have passport so it really is just a was wondering question. Not advising any to or not to get passport or insurance.

 

How does trip insurance handle it if you have to leave (or get left) the ship for a reason and lack a passport. Most reimburse correct? Do they reimburse you for the hotel/food/etc while you are getting the passport? If they are the kind that cover it as you go is it the same thing?

 

Which made me think about a second question...so I know what happens when you lose/have it removed from your possession/don't have a passport and are outside of the country in an urgent but not an emergency situation. It seems to me I remember the embassy had an extra-extra urgent passport request that was only used in cases that had someone documented on the other end with life/death medical issues. I assume if you are the one with medical issues it isn't a problem? Helicopter evac...I guess normally you are evaced to the closest hospital to land? I wonder what happens when that is the US but you don't have a passport?

 

Again..this is more can't sleep, wondering questions than any real concerns I have. Anyone know? Anyone want to tell me off?

[Ken076]

This is just a popped into my head while I was reading threads question. Not concerned personally and not trying to use "scare tactics" on anyone. Have passport so it really is just a was wondering question. Not advising any to or not to get passport or insurance.

 

How does trip insurance handle it if you have to leave (or get left) the ship for a reason and lack a passport. Most reimburse correct? Do they reimburse you for the hotel/food/etc while you are getting the passport? If they are the kind that cover it as you go is it the same thing?

 

Which made me think about a second question...so I know what happens when you lose/have it removed from your possession/don't have a passport and are outside of the country in an urgent but not an emergency situation. It seems to me I remember the embassy had an extra-extra urgent passport request that was only used in cases that had someone documented on the other end with life/death medical issues. I assume if you are the one with medical issues it isn't a problem? Helicopter evac...I guess normally you are evaced to the closest hospital to land? I wonder what happens when that is the US but you don't have a passport?

 

Again..this is more can't sleep, wondering questions than any real concerns I have. Anyone know? Anyone want to tell me off?

 

I'm thinking the issue will be that they only reimburse to a pretty small max amount as defined in the policy (that includes econo airfare) and therefore probably isn't going to cover several days of hotel/meals/taxis while wairting for Passports. ken -

[Traveler353]

Usually insurance will not cover personal negligence. Not getting a passport is just that as far as I am concerned.:p

[cruiseco]

Usually insurance will not cover personal negligence. Not getting a passport is just that as far as I am concerned.:p

 

This is correct. Failure to have the proper or needed travel documents is never covered so any costs to you because of that will not be reimbursed. The only exception with most policies is if the situation is due to a documented loss or theft of the passport/visa/etc

[SociallyAwkward]

Ack! This is what happens when I post in the middle of the night. My spelling/grammar was extra atrocious. Please excuse the rambling poorly spelled post!

[cherylandtk]

Leaving the ship mid-trip is covered under trip interruption, but is only for limited reasons, generally the same as for cancellation. Policy limits are usually based on the amount of unused trip costs.

 

Missing a departure falls under trip delay and again depends on the reason (late flight, yes; drinking and losing track of time, no) and comes with a minimum time limit, usually 6-12 hours. Trip delay coverage usually has both a per day max rate and a maximum total coverage. Common amounts are $100-$200 per day and total of $500-$1000. If you needed two days to obtain a passport to travel, most policies will pay for costs for hotels and food up to their max, but not for the cost of other incidentals, like the passport. If it takes longer to get a passport, you can max out of your coverage. If hotels cost more than the daily limit, you must cover that amount.

 

As an aside - in MANY cases on cruises, if someone needs to get home ASAP and you are more than halfway into a week cruise, it is possible that the fastest way home is to stay on the ship. Flying home from a small Caribbean port is highly dependant on flight availability, which is often limited, already booked and/or only once per day. If you do not already have a passport, make that not just possible, but highly likely.

 

Helicopter evacuations directly from a cruise ship are rare. Much more common is to be off-loaded in a foreign port to a land hospital. Insurance will cover evac flights home, but you must a) be cleared from the foreign hospital as stable enough to fly and b) have a passport. If you are transferred from the ship to a hospital you are generally too sick or unstable to be released for at least a couple of days. During which time your passport can be processed. (But nobody wants that added aggravation while hospitalized)

 

In the very rare cases where a helicopter evacuation is done, the ship must be within range of a medivac helicopter (such as the US Coast Guard) and the illness must be deemed so critical and life-threatening that waiting for the ship to arrive in the nearest port is too long. I do not know what the passport requirements are to be transported from the ship via helicopter to land, but I suspect that happens within one country's jurisdiction and getting home to the US would involve the same problems as from a foreign hospital.

 

LBNL, much of the coverage trip insurance provides is limited or not usable if one does not have a passport - and that is something folks should consider when making their choices.

[SociallyAwkward]

Leaving the ship mid-trip is covered under trip interruption, but is only for limited reasons, generally the same as for cancellation. Policy limits are usually based on the amount of unused trip costs.

 

Missing a departure falls under trip delay and again depends on the reason (late flight, yes; drinking and losing track of time, no) and comes with a minimum time limit, usually 6-12 hours. Trip delay coverage usually has both a per day max rate and a maximum total coverage. Common amounts are $100-$200 per day and total of $500-$1000. If you needed two days to obtain a passport to travel, most policies will pay for costs for hotels and food up to their max, but not for the cost of other incidentals, like the passport. If it takes longer to get a passport, you can max out of your coverage. If hotels cost more than the daily limit, you must cover that amount.

 

As an aside - in MANY cases on cruises, if someone needs to get home ASAP and you are more than halfway into a week cruise, it is possible that the fastest way home is to stay on the ship. Flying home from a small Caribbean port is highly dependant on flight availability, which is often limited, already booked and/or only once per day. If you do not already have a passport, make that not just possible, but highly likely.

 

Helicopter evacuations directly from a cruise ship are rare. Much more common is to be off-loaded in a foreign port to a land hospital. Insurance will cover evac flights home, but you must a) be cleared from the foreign hospital as stable enough to fly and b) have a passport. If you are transferred from the ship to a hospital you are generally too sick or unstable to be released for at least a couple of days. During which time your passport can be processed. (But nobody wants that added aggravation while hospitalized)

 

In the very rare cases where a helicopter evacuation is done, the ship must be within range of a medivac helicopter (such as the US Coast Guard) and the illness must be deemed so critical and life-threatening that waiting for the ship to arrive in the nearest port is too long. I do not know what the passport requirements are to be transported from the ship via helicopter to land, but I suspect that happens within one country's jurisdiction and getting home to the US would involve the same problems as from a foreign hospital.

 

LBNL, much of the coverage trip insurance provides is limited or not usable if one does not have a passport - and that is something folks should consider when making their choices.

 

That actually answered most of my insomnia and had a thought questions last night!

 

I can tell you from personal experience a 2 day turn around on a passport doesn't usually happen for trip delay/or trip interruptions.

[cruiseco]

 

Missing a departure falls under trip delay and again depends on the reason (late flight, yes; drinking and losing track of time, no) and comes with a minimum time limit, usually 6-12 hours. Trip delay coverage usually has both a per day max rate and a maximum total coverage.

 

Not always, depending on the plan. This could fall under a plan's "missed connection" benefit or under the trip interruption benefit depending on the circumstances that caused the missed departure and the plan wording.

 

For example, with one CSA plan if you miss your cruise departure (either the initial sailing or in a port of call) because of a covered reason you're covered under the trip interruption benefit which covers the expense needed to catch up with the ship and also reimburses for the value of any missed days of the cruise. The maximum benefit is 150% of the amount of the trip cost you insured and there's no daily maximum.

 

Some of the covered reasons for trip interruption are:

 

"Common Carrier delays resulting from inclement weather,

or mechanical breakdown of the aircraft, ship or boat or

motor coach on which you are scheduled to travel, or

organized labor strikes that affect public transportation;"

 

So if you're taking a bus tour in a port of call and the bus breaks down causing you to miss the ship you'd be covered under the trip interruption benefit. However, if you're taking a tour in a taxi or you've rented a car you would not be covered as taxis and rental cars are excluded under the definition of "common carrier"

 

If you get sick in a port of call and miss the ship while being treated the following is covered:

 

"2) you are unable to continue on your Covered Trip

after you have departed on your Covered Trip due to your, a

Family Member’s or Traveling Companion’s Sickness, Injury,

or death."

 

And here's what the trip interruption benefit does for you:

 

"Post-Departure Trip Interruption Benefits

We will reimburse you, less any refund paid or payable,

for unused land or water travel arrangements, plus one

of the following:

1. the additional transportation expenses by the most direct

route from the point you interrupted your Covered Trip:

a. to the next scheduled destination where you can catch

up to your Covered Trip; or

b. to the final destination of your Covered Trip; or

2. the additional transportation expenses incurred by you by

the most direct route to reach your original Covered Trip

destination if you are delayed and leave after the

Scheduled Departure Date."

 

So you'd get reimbursed for the "unused water travel arrangements" (the value of any days of the cruise you missed) PLUS the cost of catching up with the ship, up to a maximum of 150% of the trip cost you insured.

[Ken076]

How does trip insurance handle it if you have to leave (or get left) the ship for a reason and lack a passport. Most reimburse correct? Do they reimburse you for the hotel/food/etc while you are getting the passport? If they are the kind that cover it as you go is it the same thing?

 

If in port you simply miss the ship because of your negligence, you're out of luck for any reimbursement, and it would be made worse by lack of Passport.

 

If you're "leaving the ship" for a reason covered under Trip Interruption coverage, then you'd at least be reimbursed for the unused portion of the cruise and for econo airfare home or to catch-up.

 

OOPS! Didn't see Cruiseco's reply.

 

ken