Princess insurance

[geejay]

We have made final payment on our cruise and have Princess insurance, whatever the up-graded one is called. I am hoping we can still go but am having some medical problems (herniated disk and fractured L4) and am afraid it might be more than I can do right now. :(

 

Do any of you have experience with the insurance? I have read the online info, but am confused - will I need to provide medical documents? is the refund to my credit card or as a cruise credit? how do I start the process to cancel if necessary?

[Coral]

A lot depends on if you have these medical problems before you paid for the insurance and if you did, was the problem under control at that time.

 

If you cancel a cruise (with Princess) for a medical condition that you were not aware of before or if it was under control for a certain amount of time (I forget 60 or 90 days) - you get your money back. Depending on when you cancel, you may get a portion back from Princess (on credit card) and you need to file a claim with their insurance for the remaining amount (which was issued by a check to me).

 

If they say this is a pre-existing condition not under control, you can cancel "for any reason" and they will give you a future cruise credit towards a future cruise. You will need to file a claim here also.

 

Insurance has lots of exceptions. If you don't qualify for a medical reason (due to pre-existing conditions), you can get the other - future cruise credit.

 

When we have filed claims with another insurance carrier, we have needed a note from the doctor. Sometimes they require the doctor to fill out forms but at least in our past, they have taken a note.

 

To cancel for any reason - you just need to notify the cruise line and insurance.

[waltd]

Thanks Coral I found what you wrote very interesting. You learn something every day. :)

Joe

[Pam in CA]

With Princess insurance, you can invoke the "cancel for any reason" clause. If the reason is deemed "covered," you'll get a refund. If it is not a covered reason, you will receive a future cruise credit. Because you have the upgraded insurance, the amount will be 100% less the cost of the insurance.

[geejay]

Thanks for the quick answers. I still have a month to do some healing, and really do not want to cancel. Will be happy if I can just get on the ship, hang out on the balcony and get to dinner. (Sheez, wouldn't want to miss a meal!) We have talked about it and know that excursions are out for us this time, so will just wait and see. Old age sucks! :(

[Working 2 Cruise]

Gloria, I am so sorry to hear that! First your husband and now you! I may, this is a big maybe, be able to make that cruise after all...

 

My best wishes for a speedy recovery. You really need Hawaii! Very healing!

[geejay]

Nina - I am thinking good thoughts about you, and just maybe we'll finally get to meet in December!

Gloria

[Coral]

Thanks for the quick answers. I still have a month to do some healing, and really do not want to cancel. Will be happy if I can just get on the ship, hang out on the balcony and get to dinner. (Sheez, wouldn't want to miss a meal!) We have talked about it and know that excursions are out for us this time, so will just wait and see. Old age sucks! :(

 

Good luck!

[Working 2 Cruise]

Nina - I am thinking good thoughts about you, and just maybe we'll finally get to meet in December!

Gloria

 

That would be really nice! Maybe, just maybe... I am waiting on refunds from the State, and then I have to renew my passport. My passport, I will renew on Tuesday... So, yes, please keep those good thoughts for me..

 

I will be holding good thoughts for you as well. You really deserve this cruise!

[YaddaBest]

A lot depends on if you have these medical problems before you paid for the insurance and if you did, was the problem under control at that time.

 

If you cancel a cruise (with Princess) for a medical condition that you were not aware of before or if it was under control for a certain amount of time (I forget 60 or 90 days) - you get your money back. Depending on when you cancel, you may get a portion back from Princess (on credit card) and you need to file a claim with their insurance for the remaining amount (which was issued by a check to me).

 

If they say this is a pre-existing condition not under control, you can cancel "for any reason" and they will give you a future cruise credit towards a future cruise. You will need to file a claim here also.

 

Insurance has lots of exceptions. If you don't qualify for a medical reason (due to pre-existing conditions), you can get the other - future cruise credit.

 

When we have filed claims with another insurance carrier, we have needed a note from the doctor. Sometimes they require the doctor to fill out forms but at least in our past, they have taken a note.

 

To cancel for any reason - you just need to notify the cruise line and insurance.

 

You can cancel for any reason and get full credit back with the upgrade to Princess Platinum insurance or do they call it Gold. If they have the regular its 75% and not 100%.

I am wondering if one person cannot go if they get that credit. My father passed on recently and my mother is not up for traveling. Too late to get someone to go on a 20 day cruise with me.

[Working 2 Cruise]

Gloria, do not listen to negative people... You should be able to cancel or re-book without a problem, especially if you have Princess insurance. I may not be able to make the December cruise (because of the passport), but very probably will do it in January. I would love for you to join us us...

[cruznliz]

A year ago DH entered the hospital with a blood infection 10 days prior to a 28 day cruise. Once he was on antibiotics he felt great and the "weekend" staff at the hospital said there would be no problem taking the cruise. :rolleyes:

 

When Monday rolled around (5 days before departure) the "A" team of doctors were back on duty. They said no way was he leaving town. They set him up with an IV at home. :eek:

 

We called our travel agent who cancelled the cruise immediately. We printed all the forms off the internet, had our doctor fill out his part and faxed them to Berkley. We received a check for the entire amount of the cruise within 3 weeks. The cruise was still going on when we got the refund. :D

 

We were very happy with the speed and professionalism of the insurance company. DH has been fine ever since. The cruise got rather mixed reviews, so we were kind of glad we didn't go. With our refund we had the house painted!!

[Coral]

Gloria, do not listen to negative people... You should be able to cancel or re-book without a problem, especially if you have Princess insurance. I may not be able to make the December cruise (because of the passport), but very probably will do it in January. I would love for you to join us us...

 

Where are the negative people? Everyone on this thread has tried to explain insurance to the OP. I see nothing negative here.

 

With Princess insurance, if you get a refund in money has a lot to do if the problem existed before and if it was under control or not. Princess is very tricky with pre-existing conditions if you want money back. Otherwise, you get future cruise credit. The one time we used Princess insurance for my mom who had heart surgery (the week of our supposed cruise). We had to prove that the condition was new and that we had not had any changes in meds or been diagnosed more then 60 days out on this. I had to get medical records from her GP and Cardiologist for the previous several months proving this plus a statement from her doctor.

 

On other insurance that accepts pre-existing conditions, so far, I have just needed a doctor's note worded properly but there is always a notation that they may need additional information.

 

Because I have a parent with issues, I examine insurance very well and have had to file quite a few claims and jump through a few hoops. It is not always cut and dry. It is beautiful when it is.

[SoBaycruiser]

" We had to prove that the condition was new and that we had not had any changes in meds or been diagnosed more then 60 days out on this."

 

Could you explain the 60 days more fully? Is this 60 days prior to taking out the insurance or 60 days prior to canceling? We took out Princess insurance at the time of booking for our B2B cruises this coming June. We booked a year in advance. My 88 year old MIL has a number of problems that she maintains with 17 different Rx's. She has an aortic aneurism that, should it burst, would most likely be lethal. However, she is not a candidate for surgery as that would probably kill her too. She does nothing but live with it. So if it should burst and we had a funeral to attend, would we be covered? Somehow I thought pre-existing conditions didn't apply if the insurance was taken out at the same time as the booking.

[Coral]

" We had to prove that the condition was new and that we had not had any changes in meds or been diagnosed more then 60 days out on this."

 

Could you explain the 60 days more fully? Is this 60 days prior to taking out the insurance or 60 days prior to canceling? We took out Princess insurance at the time of booking for our B2B cruises this coming June. We booked a year in advance. My 88 year old MIL has a number of problems that she maintains with 17 different Rx's. She has an aortic aneurism that, should it burst, would most likely be lethal. However, she is not a candidate for surgery as that would probably kill her too. She does nothing but live with it. So if it should burst and we had a funeral to attend, would we be covered? Somehow I thought pre-existing conditions didn't apply if the insurance was taken out at the same time as the booking.

 

Princess insurance has a 60 day look back period. From the day you buy Princess's insurance (pay for, not include in your booking, though you can book the cruise and pay for the insurance on the same day - most do not), the condition can not have changed for the worse within the previous 60 days of paying for the insurance (sorry I said more then 60 days in my post). Some other policies have a longer look back period.

 

I have called Berkely several times on how this relates to relatives not traveling and I have received conflicting reports. I no longer buy Princess's insurance to cover medical. I have bought it for cancel for any reason but it is in addition to buying another policy.

 

I encourage you to call the company and ask specific questions about your situation.

 

I usually buy Allianz (formerly Access America) as we can buy it at final payment and it covers pre-existing conditions with a special policy through our agent. Not all of their policies have this coverage.

[sunluva7]

I am considering purchasing Princess coverage for our next cruise. In the past, we have used insurance comparison sites to find the best coverage at the best price, and always know whether the coverage is primary or secondary to any other insurance we might have in place. I can't find anything in the Princess insurance brochure that indicates whether it is primary or secondary. Does anyone know?

[socialworker]

We are just beginning this process with Berkeley. We purchased coverage thru Princess, were upgraded to Platnium, made our final payment on our T/A departing Venice on 12/2. We were using AA miles to fly to Rome for a few days prior to boarding.

 

Last week our daughter told us she's scheduled for major surgery on 11/29. We knew imediately that regardless of the $$ at stake, we needed to cancel our cruise. So I immediately called Princess.

 

There was a portion of our payment (50%) that was available for immediate refund (look at the cancellation schedule) but the remaining balance needs to be claimed thru Berkeley. I was told that if Berkeley denies our claim, then Princess will issue a future cruise credit for the balance Berkely would have paid.

 

I recently received the claim forms from Berkeley. Now my daughter needs to sign a release of her medical records and her surgeon must complete the info needed by Berkeley so I can submit the claim. Either one of these could be a snag in the process.

 

I have no idea how this is going to work since it's not one of us needing surgery. And who's definition of "major surgery" does Berkeley use? Only time and postage will tell.

 

Judy

 

It's going to be interesting