Visa points if you have to cancel for insured reason

[39august]

Has anyone had to cancel a cruise for a covered reason, say illness, after you have used points to pay for part of the cruise fare? If so, what about your points? Did you get to have them returned to your Visa account? I know that American Airlines will allow you to pay a small fee to get mileage poiints back if you have to cancel the flight. I will of course call both BOA and Royal Rewards with this question. But knowing that answers may be inaccurate, I thought if I could get a response from someone who has actually been in this position would more likely have the correct answer.

[Carvia]

I had to cancel my cruise in March due to a medical reason. It was completely covered by Cruise Care. I had used all of my points for on-board credit for this cruise. When I called Royal Rewards about my points they told me if I booked another cruise within 30 days they could transfer my points to the new booking. After 30 days I would lose them all. I had already planned to re-book within that time frame ... so after booking I called Royal Rewards again and gave them my old reservation number as well as the new one. Within a week or so the points were transferred and all of my on-board credit was restored for the new booking.

 

I believe this 'use them or lose them' policy is wrong. Thankfully, I had planned to rebook .. otherwise I'd be out of all of my points.

[39august]

Hmm. I would think they would also transfer points to an existing booking, not just to a new booking. Anyway, thanks for your input.