miss ship due to airline--what is this covered under?

[Pluto_fan]

I have purchased a Travel Guard Gold policy for our upcoming cruise. I haven't purchased airfare yet--we'll be flying from Brussels (Charleroi) to Venice, 5 passengers. I was planning to fly in the night before, but now I'm considering flying in that morning. I know, I know, everyone recommends against it (and earlier this year, my dad missed a cruise entirely because he couldn't get from San Antonio to San Diego in time :eek:)...but the airfare is a lot cheaper same-day, it's a nonstop arriving Venice at 8:45am, and we would avoid the expense of a Venice hotel for 5 people. We've visited Venice before so spending time there is not a must-do for us this trip. So my question is: in the worst-case scenario that our flight is delayed or cancelled and we don't get to Venice in time, what aspect of the insurance will apply? I'm reading through the policy and it's not clear to me whether this is a "trip delay", "trip interruption", or "missed connection". Different benefit limits apply depending on what it is, and I'm trying to figure out if it would be enough to get us all to Bari the next day to meet our ship. I would expect the airline would "try" to help us, but I have low expectations from Ryanair. :rolleyes:

 

Thanks for any insight anyone can provide! Cruise Critic has been so helpful in our planning!

[patseacruiser]

Read the policy. Most insurance companies require that your air travel be scheduled to arrive 6 hours before departure of your cruise ship. If you are scheduled to arrive 6 hours prior to departure your insurance should cover you and they have an emergency number to contact in case you do not make it to try to either get you to the next port or if they decide the policy will pay out more than just paying for your cruise and travel rather than getting you to the next port, putting you in a hotel until your ship arrives then it will just pay off on the policy and send you home.

[CruiserBruce]

Cutting it close is not smart planning, and then trying to get insurance to cover poor planning is just shifting blame/responsibility.

[Pluto_fan]

Pat--thanks for your reply. I'm reading the policy, but it's not clear to me which provisions would apply. It sounds like we would be OK regardless.

 

Bruce--thanks for your reply as well. I'm not sure I would consider a seven hour cushion following an hour-and-a-half flight as cutting it close. I'm certainly not trying to shift blame or responsibility, just trying to weigh our options on which flight to purchase.

 

If anyone happens to be familiar with the particular provisions of this plan (Travel Guard Gold) and can point me to the correct part of the policy, I would appreciate it. Thanks.

[sirwired]

It depends on a few factors:

 

1) How easy is it to get from Brussels to Venice? As in, if your flight gets canceled, how complicated is the re-route? Also consider that since you are on RyanAir, you won't have access to all the inter-line agreements that would help you on a full-service airline.

2) How long and difficult is it to get to Bari from Venice? Check the Train and/or Bus timetables.

3) What does your policy require before they'll cover you? Policies are all over the map on the minimum delay before they'll cover Trip Delay and/or Interruption.

 

Really, Venice is awesome enough that I'd fly in a day or two ahead of time regardless. But since it's a direct flight, (and probably the first of the day) you usually won't have issues.

[6rugrats]

I am not sure why Ryanair would try and help you. Their only responsibility is to get you from Point A to Point B. I cannot imagine them giving five people a free flight to your next port stop because of a delay.

 

For Travelguard Gold, problems with your flight that cause you to miss your sailing come under "trip delay". And you have to be delayed for more than five consecutive hours due to a covered reason. If your flight is delayed 4.5 hours, causing you to miss your sailing, TG will pay nothing. You have $750 total coverage for this, limited to $150 per person, per day for additional travel or accommodation expenses.

[cruiseco]

From this plan:

 

Travel Delay: Only covers additional expenses (meals, phone calls, hotels, etc) until travel becomes possible again. Won't cover the cost of the flight to the next port of call or the value of the lost day(s) of the cruise.

 

Missed Connection: Probably the weakest benefit in the industry ($250) for additional costs of flying to the next port of call. For delays of 3 to 5 hours. Covers pretty much any common carrier delay. Does not cover the value of any lost days of the cruise.

 

Trip Interruption: Covers additional cost of travel to the next port of call and the value of the missed days of the cruise up to 150% of the amount you insured -- if you insured $2000 your benefit limit is $3000. The problem is that not all common carrier caused delays are covered. If the cause is a mechanical breakdown of the plane or other carrier caused delay you're out of luck. Weather and strikes are covered.

 

So if the delay is 3 to 5 hours the Missed Connection benefit would apply, over that it's the trip interruption benefit as long as it's a covered reason. If not, your sole benefit is the travel delay coverage.

 

Too bad you already bought the policy. TravelSafe has a great coverage for this:

 

"Missed Connection: If You miss Your cruise or tour departure because Your arrival at Your Trip destination is delayed for 3 or more hours, benefits will be paid, on a one-time basis, up to the Maximum Benefit Amount, for a) the Additional Transportation Cost to join the Trip and b) the unused portion of the prepaid expenses for land or water Travel Arrangements, due to: a) any delay of a Common Carrier (the delay must be certified by the Common Carrier); b) a documented weather condition preventing You from getting to the point of departure; c) quarantine, hijacking, Strike, natural disaster, terrorism or riot."

 

1) It's got a high enough benefit limit ($2500 per person) to cover almost any circumstance

2) It covers ANY common carrier delay

3) The minimum delay time to qualify for the benefit is only 3 hours.

[6rugrats]

Thank you cruiseco for that clarification. I was surprised how little was covered under this plan. Think I will look at TravelSafe the next time.

[LHARTWICK]

In our case the airline has changed our itinerary so we arrive later than planned. On a non-refundable ticket so I guess we're up a creek. Not sure we can make it to the ship on time now.

[alidor]

Why not just call Travel Guard and ask.

[6rugrats]

In our case the airline has changed our itinerary so we arrive later than planned. On a non-refundable ticket so I guess we're up a creek. Not sure we can make it to the ship on time now.

 

It's never good planning to fly in the day your cruise leaves, just for that reason.

 

You don't say how much of a schedule change this is or on what airline you are flying. Most of them have a time requirement before they will allow you to change to a different flight. UA is two hours; I called CO yesterday about one, and they told me they were five hours. Look at your airline's schedule and see if there is a flight that will work for you. Then call, tell them because of the schedule change you will miss your cruise, and ask them to put you on the other flight.

 

If you don't get the answer you want, hang up and try again. If nothing else, you might be able to cancel, get a refund and rebook with someone else.

[LHARTWICK]

We prefer to fly in a day early, but our work schedules don't always allow for it. We're on AA - the change was a 54 minute change. Big change when trying to board a ship. Their policy only allows for 61 minutes or longer changes before they'll help you. And there's no earlier connecting flight in Chicago. I don't mind paying a reasonable change fee but $150 a ticket is a lot. And the insurance only kicks in after a 3 hour delay by the airline. So if we're only delayed by 2 hours (which will more than likely delay us enough to miss our ship), any extra cost is on us to get to the next port of call. We're screwed either way.

[sirwired]

For future reference, if a 54 minute change throws such a wrench in your travel plans, you should probably book a larger cushion in the future (arriving a day earlier, if necessary.) If a three hour delay would cause you to miss your ship even without the schedule change, that seems way too tight to me. If anything at all goes wrong, you miss the ship.

 

Speaking for myself, even if insurance did cover the delay, that's poor recompense for lost vacation.

[LHARTWICK]

Just tallked to AA - they changed our tickets to arrive a day earlier for no charge! Very happy now.

[sirwired]

Yay! Maybe they are picking up rudimentary customer service principles? Who'd a thunk it?

[klfrodo]

I thought you said it would be impossible for you to fly in a day earlier :eek:

[6rugrats]

I thought you said it would be impossible for you to fly in a day earlier :eek:

Maybe only if they had to pay for it :).