What Happens Insurance-wise if I miss Cruise Embarkation?

[roothy123]

I am trying to wade through the insurance information on a couple of companies' plans. Things relating to medical and dental coverage are pretty clear, but I'm still a little confused as to what happens if you're delayed in getting to the cruise line in time for departure. For example, if your flight is delayed and you can't embark on time, will most insurance policies pay for transportation to join the ship at the next port? Is that covered under trip interruption? What if you need to spend the night somewhere - would that be covered? I don't see any language in the policy I'm looking at that specifically covers these situations, so I'm thinking that we'd be out of luck if that happened, right?

[Happy2cruise]

I am trying to wade through the insurance information on a couple of companies' plans. Things relating to medical and dental coverage are pretty clear, but I'm still a little confused as to what happens if you're delayed in getting to the cruise line in time for departure. For example, if your flight is delayed and you can't embark on time, will most insurance policies pay for transportation to join the ship at the next port? Is that covered under trip interruption? What if you need to spend the night somewhere - would that be covered? I don't see any language in the policy I'm looking at that specifically covers these situations, so I'm thinking that we'd be out of luck if that happened, right?

I would call the companies you are interested in and have them explain how the insurance works and get clarification on what you are confused about.

 

Not promoting it just giving an fyi that we purchase our insurance thru tripinsurancestore.com and have always found their reps very knowledgeable and helpful in getting us the right policy and coverage for our needs and situation.

 

Good luck:)

[klfrodo]

Whether covered or not, insurance does not pay for your flights to catch the ship. You pay to catch the ship,,,, then you file for reimbursement. Reimbursement will be based on your policies max amounts.

 

Your example of flight being delayed would be dependent on your policy.some policies state the delay must be a minimum of 2 hours, while some indicate the delay must be a minimum of 12 hours.

 

On almost all policies, you can't just throw up your hands and say forgetaboutit. You MUST do your best to catch up to the ship. Not being able to afford the tickets or not having passports and unable to travel internationally would not be a covered event.

[sirwired]

If this was due to travel difficulties, you would usually file a Trip Delay claim for your hotel and meal expenses, and a Missed Connection claim to get you caught up to the ship.

 

However, experienced cruisers, even those with insurance, make their lives a LOT easier and less stressful by flying in a day early and find a cheap hotel to crash in the night before.

 

Why? Because even with insurance coverage, if this is US "closed-loop" cruise, you'll "break the loop" by embarking in a different port. This causes, at the least, a fine charged to the cruise line which insurance will not pay, and you may not even be let on board at all due to the legal issues, and insurance won't cover that either.

[Keith1010]

Contact the insurance company and make sure that what they tell you over the phone is also in writing.

 

Be sure to fly in one or more days before the cruise.

 

Keith

[Suzanne123]

If this was due to travel difficulties, you would usually file a Trip Delay claim for your hotel and meal expenses, and a Missed Connection claim to get you caught up to the ship.

 

However, experienced cruisers, even those with insurance, make their lives a LOT easier and less stressful by flying in a day early and find a cheap hotel to crash in the night before.

 

Why? Because even with insurance coverage, if this is US "closed-loop" cruise, you'll "break the loop" by embarking in a different port. This causes, at the least, a fine charged to the cruise line which insurance will not pay, and you may not even be let on board at all due to the legal issues, and insurance won't cover that either.

 

We were on a 10 day r/t Fort Lauderdale cruise when my husband had to stay home for work at the last minute. HAL allowed him to meet up with me 5 days into the cruise at Curaçao. They even sent a bottle of bubbly with a welcome aboard message for him. There was no mention of a fine and HAL arranged the cab from the Curaçao airport to the ship. Maybe the rule applies if only the next port were U.S.?

[sirwired]

We were on a 10 day r/t Fort Lauderdale cruise when my husband had to stay home for work at the last minute. HAL allowed him to meet up with me 5 days into the cruise at Curaçao. They even sent a bottle of bubbly with a welcome aboard message for him. There was no mention of a fine and HAL arranged the cab from the Curaçao airport to the ship. Maybe the rule applies if only the next port were U.S.?

 

Did a little bit of impromptu research, and yes, it only applies if your embarkation and debarkation ports are two different US ports. Meaning don't plan on hopping aboard in Key West if that's one of your stops.

 

Apparently, this law mainly effects passengers that miss Vancouver embarkation on Alaska cruises. (And I imagine it's also an issue for the lines that do "fall colors" cruises in New England.)

[roothy123]

Well, I DID check insurance policies, and as expected, they vary from policy to policy, with many having specific "missed connection" coverage, a few covering this type of thing after 3 hours, and some after 12 hours. Also as expected, I found that the cheapest coverage only helped you if you were delayed 12 hours.

 

I will probably fly in a day early.

 

As to the regulations, since I am embarking in Europe, I don't need to worry about that for my next cruise; however, it is good to have a sense of when they WOULD apply on my next trip that leaves from the U.S. or has a U.S. port in the middle (as in a cruise from Vancouver to Canada).

 

What HAL did was great, but I would guess that embarking in a foreign port (for example Curacao) when you were scheduled to embark in a U.S. port under U.S. laws is easier than embarking in a U.S. port when you were scheduled to embark in a foreign port, but I didn't have time to really look at the regs to see what they state.

 

Thanks; everyone had helpful information.

[GeezerCouple]

Did a little bit of impromptu research, and yes, it only applies if your embarkation and debarkation ports are two different US ports. Meaning don't plan on hopping aboard in Key West if that's one of your stops.

 

Apparently, this law mainly effects passengers that miss Vancouver embarkation on Alaska cruises. (And I imagine it's also an issue for the lines that do "fall colors" cruises in New England.)

 

I assume this all involves the Jones Act?

 

It still isn't clear to us exactly when this applies, or how.

 

Some years ago, I missed a cruise departure from Ft. Lauderdale, and the ship was returning a week later to the same port.

 

The trip insurance company and cruise company were extremely helpful, re-routing my flights when I couldn't get that done on short notice.

 

In any event, a new airline ticket was waiting for me at the airport, on the last pair of connecting flights to Key West. I arrived at Key West about 1am, and I met the ship there, about 6am in morning, and boarded at that time.

There was remarkably little fuss. My luggage was carried aboard for me, I was shown to my stateroom, and I met the rest of my group for breakfast.

 

All I can figure out - now, about why that was allowed back then - is that because there were some foreign ports coming up, this was okay? There were no foreign ports between Ft. Lauderdale and Key West (the ship didn't go via Nassau or anything like that). Or is the Jones Act relatively recent?

 

My guess now is that because I embarked in one US port (Key West), and the ship then stopped at foreign ports *before* returning me to a different US port, this was okay.

(That is, if I had needed to disembark and go home from Key West, would there have been a problem - if I had needed to disembark at one US port, after embarking from a different US port, without having stopped in between at a foreign port?)

 

Does anyone know if the understanding above is correct?

 

Thanks.

 

GeezerCouple

[sirwired]

The Passenger Services Act is quite ancient.

 

The requirement is that the itinerary has to include a "distant foreign port" to waive the provisions of the PSA.

[GeezerCouple]

The Passenger Services Act is quite ancient.

 

The requirement is that the itinerary has to include a "distant foreign port" to waive the provisions of the PSA.

 

Good to know - thanks!

 

Just to clarify, this refers to the "ship's itinerary", not what a passenger might need to end up doing?

For example, if a cruise starts at a foreign port, but all the remaining ports are in the US (including the returning port), could the passenger "catch" the ship at the second port - meaning the passenger would embark and disembark in two different US ports, without hitting any foreign port [distant or otherwise] at all?

 

Some of the Alaska cruises might fit this, when they leave from Vancouver and return to Seattle, IF they don't also stop in Victoria?

(Not sure if this is a real itinerary.)

 

Does this apply to all ships, including those registered in the US, or just foreign-flagged ships?

 

My understanding was that this was similar to the airplane rules, such that a *foreign* carrier couldn't take passengers *between* two domestic (USA) cities. (Example: in the old days, a Swissair flight to Zurich from Chicago, stopping in Boston, could take passengers from Chicago to Zurich, or Boston to Zurich, but not from Chicago to Boston. Alas, that left empty seats from Chicago to Boston, and probably some passengers who would have loved to fly that route on Swissair, but they couldn't. In this case, it didn't seem to matter that the flight itself did include a foreign city. However, a domestic carrier could transport passengers like that, or so I think...)

 

Many thanks!