TRAVEL INSURANCE DOESN"T ALWAYS PAY OFF

[dc-snoopy]

Could you explain why RCCI would not let you board the ship at key west? I am wondering why you could not meet the ship anywhere and board if you have a valid ticket for the cruise. Just curious.....

 

A cruise is not considered transportation, but entertainment. If they pick you up and drop you off, you have not been transported anywhere by the cruiselines. If you join the ship at another port, you are being transported from the first port of call back to the originating port. The cruise lines pay different fees associated with "one-way" cruises such as the Alaska Seward-to-Vancouver and vice versa routes.

 

Note, if a passenger has to leave a cruise for any reason, the cruise line has additional paperwork to handle to cover the "transportation" of a passenger. The only way you can join a cruise in another port is if the cruiseline makes the arrangements to transport you from port-of-origin to first-port. In that event, you are still covered under their "services". If you make your own arrangements, they will not allow you to board. And the only way they wlil transport you is if you had booked your air and transfer package from them directly and due to a problem with their transportation of you to the port-of-origin resulted in you missing the departure. Then they are responsible for getting you on the ship. If any arrangements are not made by them, the are not deemed legally responsible. This is part of what you pay extra for when allowing the cruise line to book your airfare for. The extra helps to cover expenses when they have to transport passengers for any reason from one port to another. Also, ships will be held up to wait for travellers that are late on cruise-booked transportation or excursions. Departures would never be held up for problems with external transportation or excursions. The extra airfare also keeps the costs lower when passengers book on one-way cruises and the port-of-departure and port-of-arrival are different (otherwise airfare would be much higher than they are for those cruises).

[Spanky My]

Thanks for the explanation,however I think that if a person pays for a cruise and they miss thier ORIGINAL debarkation,they should at thier own expense be able to join the trip they paid for anywhere along the way. I think it is a BAD rule and should be reviewed!

[jebl]

Thanks for the explanation,however I think that if a person pays for a cruise and they miss thier ORIGINAL debarkation,they should at thier own expense be able to join the trip they paid for anywhere along the way. I think it is a BAD rule and should be reviewed!

 

I don't think this is a cruise line rule but is a US Maritime law. Some of the laws are rather strange and this may be one of them.

[btlove]

wow, that's too bad. I do wonder about paying the money for insurance, you usually don't get anything out of it!!!

[newmexicoNita]

wow, that's too bad. I do wonder about paying the money for insurance, you usually don't get anything out of it!!!

 

 

This was a totally unfortunite thing and hard to understand. As for not getting anything out of your insurence, someone once told me, buying insurence is the one thing you hope you lose your money on; meaning you hope you don't have to use it!!! It is not a waste; just let something happen at the last minute and see how you feel if you don't have insurence. It is something some gamble with which is a person's priority, but I won't not travel without it. Just my opinion. NMNita

[Mark O]

There's another site called quotetravelinsurance.com that detals the various terms of the various companies' policies. While I'm not sure if any of them would have covered this, your experience underscores the need for all of us to carefully read the fine print before we buy insurance. Sometimes they require a tevel delay of 6 hrs before they'll pay; other companies may require 12 hours. Big difference in cruise time. Same for medical expenses, dental, medical evacuation, etc. I spend a few days researching this for each cruise. And I never buy what the travel agent offers, because I feel that he offers the plan he does because he makes a good income from it, not because it is great insurance.

 

Mark

[w&k]

I'm so sorry to hear that you missed your trip - that's absolutely horrible.

 

I'm about to change a cruise because I have been approved for a work trip that ends only two days before, and we wouldn't have enough time to make it driving to the West Coast if something like this happened.

 

Please keep us posted on how your case comes out.

 

Wendy

[Lillykat]

David: Credit card protests only work BEFORE THE BILL is paid. A cruise has to be paid in full NINETY DAYS before sailing! That means that I paid that credit card bill back in September!

 

But thanks for the good thoughts. I'm going to pursue this, rest assured.

 

Carol

 

What card did you put it on? I have successfully argued with credit bills AFTER they have been paid (months after actually) I am sorry that this has happened to you.

[medolee]

That is ALL you will have to do----file a complaint with your States Insurance Commissioner---and let them take care of this---It will work

[medolee]

You can also contact your credit card company---it is not too late--it has not been even 6 months since the last payment--when a local airline here closed and filed bankruptcy, those who had charged their tickets were the only ones who got any money back. It is not too late:)

[Firefighterhoop]

I also almost had to fly on 12/26 , i had a funny feeling and changed the flight to 12/25(We ended up missing family christmas), however, if we would have stayed on the 12/26 flight it would have never gotten there (Stuck in New England in the snow storm, never got to MPLS, flight was cancelled), and We would have been in the same situation!

 

Good Luck!

[flypaper]

I had a problem with insurance coverage and sought help/advice on these boards. A cc member LegalCat helped me write some letters and they resulted in a settlement. I believe she is a lawyer/paralegal or something like that and she was SO HELPFUL!!! All she asks for is your gratitude. Do a search and contact her.

[cruiseco]

I doubt you'll get much help from your state dept of insurance but it's worth a try. Here's the problem: CSA administers the policy but the money to pay the claims comes from their underwriter, in this case Stonebridge. In many, if not most, states it's actually against the law for a plan administrator to authorize a claim to be paid if the cliam is not justified by the wording of the policy. This is to prevent someone at the plan adminstrator from spending he underwriter's money willy-nilly. The "Hey, it's my brother-in-law. The claim's garbage but slap an OK on it anyway" type of situation is what they're trying to prevent. If the claim does not meet the provisions of the plan description of coverage it can't be paid no matter how much sympathy the plan adminstrator has for your situation.

 

CSA would cover you under these circumstances:

 

"Arrangements canceled by an airline, cruise line, motor coach company, or tour operator, resulting from inclement weather, mechanical breakdown of the aircraft, ship or boat or motor coach on which the Insured is scheduled to travel, or organized labor strikes that affect public transportation. "

 

But the USAir unions are categorically denying that the problems were due to any strike action on their part. It was just coincidence that most of their employees called in sick that day.

 

So, if the union is denying that it was a strike, how can the dept of insurance unilaterally declare that it was and force CSA to pay the claim? It would probably be against their own regulations to do so and against the law for CSA to do so. Certainly a tough situation but probably one that is not going to be resolved in your favor even with the assistance of he state.

[AltaJoe]

I wonder if there's an arbitration clause. If I were an arbitrator I'd call the USAir Employee action a "wildcat strike" and rule in your favor.

 

Also, I'm guessing that a lot of people lost a lot of money due to the USAir Employees actions. I wonder if there is a class action law firm that would take a run at them. I'd bet dollars to donuts that supeoned phone records of the Union officers and employees as well as private e-mails will show some very interesting patterns in the days and weeks leading up to their little maladies.

 

However, I still think that my first post's recomendation to contact Conde Nast Traveler's Ombudsman is viable.

[Merion_Mom]

Ok, it's Monday and, as planned, I called USAir to find out what they would do for me, in terms of putting something in writing that would satisfy Stonebridge.

 

Surprise, surprise. They won't even answer their da** phone! When you call the Customer Service number, and play phone games to get through to the right department to "deliver a compliment or lodge a complaint", you get a recording saying "all of our agents are busy talking to other customers".....and what USUALLY happens next when you call a line like this? USUALLY the recording goes on to say, "so please stay on the line and your call will be answered in the order it was received."

 

USAIR? Nope, no way. After the recording says "all of our agents are busy..." THEY HANG UP ON YOU.

 

I repeated the process for almost an hour and (SURPRISE SURPRISE AGAIN) NEVER was able to get through.

 

So, I did something I wasn't thrilled about doing, but I did it anyway.

 

I called my ex. He's a lawyer, and insurance is one of his areas of expertise.

 

He told me that I ABSOLUTELY should call Pennsylvania's Insurance Commission, he gave me the phone number and the department to call, and said that they would probably go after the insurance company and persuade them to give me my money back.

 

He said that "declared" or "organized" or even "acknowledged" or not, it was clear that the flight was due to a work action by the union. He said that unions even have a name for this: CHAOS. It stands for: Create Havoc Around Our System. If you google it, you'll come up with specific citations about AIRLINE WORKER STRIKES.

 

So, keep your fingers crossed for me.

 

Carol

[just4kixx]

Carol, I've been following your story and truly feel for you. I've got my fingers (& toes ;) ) crossed... good luck! And please keep us posted.

 

A

[mems]

Carol, Good luck and continue to explore every option.

The following is a quote from Conde Nast Traveler. " Ombudsman offers a free service of advice and mediation. Because of the volume of letters we receive, we cannot act in all cases. Letters should be sent to Ombudsman, Conde Nast Traveler, 4 Times Square, New York, New York, 10036, and should include documentation and any relevant photographs. Please note that we cannot respond to subsubmissions sent via e-mail. Correspondence must be typed and must include a daytime telephone number. All submissions become the property of Conde Nast Traveler and will not be returned; submissions may be edited and may be published or otherwise used in any medium."

Conde Nast Traveler, Nov. 2004 has an article in the Ombusman section that delt with a travel insurance claim. Tho, a different problem than yours you might find it interesting. Yours is just the kind of problem the Ombudsman is good at solving.

Again Good Luck. The response you are getting from your insurance company and USAir stinks. Maybe Conde Nast can help you. mems

[hstrybuf]

Good luck, Carol! I'll be hoping for good news for you.

[cmjaffe]

know with CSA and other insurance companies they have some exclusions for certain airlines (UScare being one of them)... not sure if it's just about bankruptcy though.

I'm "waiting" to put in a medical claim w/CSA that I'm not sure if it will be "accepted". My daughter had been ill for several weeks and a week prior to leaving her ped. decided that he really didn't want her going to Mexico and on a RCCL ship in her condition (we still don't know what she has... extreme stomach ailment that has been troubling her since we were on Brilliance on New Years... at that time we couldn't get her to see the ship's MD when it was "active" (she would have probably have been quaranteened.. nurse wouldn't page MD... we tried, I even pleaded w/guest relations directly at their desk --- got deaf ears and we ARE Diamond w/C&A). Since we couldn't get her medical help then our doctor felt we were taking a chance going on the ship and her getting ill again. So we cancelled and got him to fill out form. I'm waiting for credit card bill to show partial credit to then file w/CSA for the remainder. RCCL is NO HELP.. all they say is "did you buy Berkleycare (to that I answer "why" it would only cover 75% and that would be a cruise credit... which isn't getting a refund).

Good luck with getting coverage. We've had good luck w/CSA before w/coverage, but I'm worried about this one since this one's going to get "flagged".

[PhoenixCruiser]

I called my ex. He's a lawyer, and insurance is one of his areas of expertise.

 

So, keep your fingers crossed for me.

 

Carol

 

Thanks for the update and congratulations on calling the EX Merion :D :D

 

We too are keeping our fingers crossed and sending positive thoughts your way!!!

 

Please keep us updated, and good luck to you :)

 

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[mariapd719]

So sorry Merion - this is just plain typical of an insurance company. Thats why I never ever get it...whats the point so you can fight for a lost cause :mad: Theyre all a bunch of thieves they know how to take your money but never come through when you need them...kinda like a HMO

[rcicruiser]

Because of the Jones act, you can not board a cruiseship that leaves from a US port.

[Ontheseas]

Marion_Mom - Please keep us posted. I'm so sorry you had to go thru this situation. That's a total bitch! :mad: I'm going to keep checking these boards to see how it all pans out! Good luck to you!;)

[gerif]

Because of the Jones act, you can not board a cruiseship that leaves from a US port.

 

I'm not sure I understand this - how to they then rationalize a repo cruise which leaves from Miami and ends up in Bayonne?

[MikeNJ1109]

Yes, it's the Jones Act thing. They can't "transport" people between two U.S. ports. If you get on at Fort Lauderdale and get off (ultimately) in Fort Lauderdale again, they haven't "transported" you - they just returned you to where you came from. If they let us get on in Key West, then off in Fort Lauderdale, technically they "transported" us between KW and FL.

 

I OFFERED to pay the penalty (web site said it is $200 per passenger) but they said that they would refuse us boarding in Key West.

 

Carol

 

Afraid I'm not totally up-to-speed on the Jones Act. If I read this post right, then would I be correct in thinking that our upcoming repositioning cruise on RCL's Voyager be a violation? We are embarking in Miami on 5/7/05 and disembarking in Cape Liberty/Bayonne on 5/15/05.