A Cautionary Tail - Buy Insurance....

[MrDavid]

Well, I never thought I'd be writing this but my wife has taken ill, is hospitalized and we will not be going on our cruise. First and foremost, she is doing fine and will be released tomorrow but cannot travel for the foreseeable future. So... our 15 day cruise to Hawaii on the Star Princess on March 5th is a no-go. We had a Mini with our kids and we are within the 14 day window so we lose 100% of our cruise fare. In this case, over $8,000. So the lesson is, yes, ALWAYS buy trip cancellation insurance and, no, princess will not let you reschedule if you have to cancel under the circumstances described above. I know its just business and I did not buy insurance so that is how it goes. Just saying, the possibility of getting burned is real and, no, princess will not do anything extra to accommodate you - its just business. That's just the way it goes. Next time I will buy the insurance for sure.

Edited February 26, 2014 by MrDavid

[dchip]

I'm so sorry to hear your wife is ill. Wishing her a speedy recovery. Insurance is something we get every cruise, although in our younger years we never did. We got lucky.

 

Cheers, Denise

[Baseball fan]

Thank you for sharing your story. I too, didn't use to buy insurance but I have for the past few years. I would rather lose a couple hundred dollars instead of a few thousand. Glad to hear your wife is doing better.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[wifeofbedo]

A timely message for sure!

 

Years ago we never bought insurance.

When we booked our first cruise the consultant said to me " If you have kids, get insurance." As a mom, I knew there could be an emergency at any time, things happen. I came home with the insurance, and my DH said I wasted money, we are healthy. 5 days before our cruise my father unexpectedly passed away. He never said it was wasted money again. Have always bought since then, and never needed it, but never regretted having bought it either.

 

Sorry you had to learn an expensive lesson, but happy to hear you have your spouse regaining her health back.

Thanks for sharing.

[Pam in CA]

So sorry to hear this; it's a hard way to learn a lesson. :( I'm glad your wife is doing better and I wish her (and you) a speedy recovery.

 

And no, Princess won't make exceptions because they, and TAs, recommend insurance. If they make exceptions because someone chooses not to insure, then they have to make an exception for all. There are many reasons why people have to cancel at the last minute, many of them valid and heartbreaking. Insurance is for the unexpected.

Edited February 26, 2014 by Pam in CA

[Cancun01]

Pleased to hear that your wife is doing well. That is the most important thing.

 

We had a similar experience happen with us in the fall only with Oceania. If it is any consolation we lost double your loss. We fully intended to take out insurance at final payment, unfortunately my MIL had a serious car accident on the day of final payment so I simply gave Oceania my credit card number and they never mentioned insurance and as I was preoccupied it completely escaped me. I did did not worry about it because we had no reason to believe that we would not be going on our 28 day adventure. My husband took ill with ulcers from preventative low dose aspirin and subsequently developed a CNS toxicity to the antibiotic flagyl rendering him incapable of traveling. I certainly hope that Princess treated you better than Oceania treated us. Long story short they resold the cabin and so they benefited twice from the sale of the same b2b cruise. I put several proposals to them and all I received was a form letter stating they hoped we would cruise with them in the future. Letters to their CEO have not been answered. If they had not resold the cabin I would not be so annoyed. Yes, like you we have learned a valuable lesson. However I will never book with Oceania due to their arrogance.

There are actually several avenues of recourse that you can take to try to recoup some of your monies especially if your cabin is resold. If you do a search you will find the steps to follow as written by several well-respected travel experts.

A couple of cruise lines make exceptions. The passenger has to sign a non-disclosure agreement. I found this out from my research.

Edited February 26, 2014 by Cancun01

[Pam in CA]

If you cancel, all cruise lines will re-sell the cabin, including Princess. With insurance, you'd be "whole" and it wouldn't matter whether or not the cruise line re-sold the cabin. The business model is based on passengers having insurance.

[AE_Collector]

Kids can't go anyway to retain some of the value since mom will be home at least? Maybe they are younger kids, not adult kids.

 

Terry

Edited February 26, 2014 by AE_Collector

[Pam in CA]

Kids can't go anyway to retain some of the value since mom will be home at least? Maybe they are younger kids, not adult kids.

One of the people originally booked must remain on the booking. It's not transferable.

[hansi]

Well, I never thought I'd be writing this but my wife has taken ill, is hospitalized and we will not be going on our cruise. First and foremost, she is doing fine and will be released tomorrow but cannot travel for the foreseeable future. So... our 15 day cruise to Hawaii on the Star Princess on March 5th is a no-go. We had a Mini with our kids and we are within the 14 day window so we lose 100% of our cruise fare. In this case, over $8,000. So the lesson is, yes, ALWAYS buy trip cancellation insurance and, no, princess will not let you reschedule if you have to cancel under the circumstances described above. I know its just business and I did not buy insurance so that is how it goes. Just saying, the possibility of getting burned is real and, no, princess will not do anything extra to accommodate you - its just business. That's just the way it goes. Next time I will buy the insurance for sure.

 

 

I am sorry to hear about your wife, and I hope she makes a quick recovery, but I noticed that you typed always in capital letters. I have NEVER booked any holiday without buying insurance BEFORE booking, as here in the UK, you cannot book any holiday witout purchasing insurance, either from the tour operator, cruise company, or an independent insurance company. This is part of the booking conditions.

[5fathom]

We have used insurance twice, once on RCI and once on Princess. To keep a long story short had we not purchased insurance for about $400 total we would have lost about $4700. Don't leave home without it !!

[Reader0108598]

Well, I never thought I'd be writing this but my wife has taken ill, is hospitalized and we will not be going on our cruise. First and foremost, she is doing fine and will be released tomorrow but cannot travel for the foreseeable future. So... our 15 day cruise to Hawaii on the Star Princess on March 5th is a no-go. We had a Mini with our kids and we are within the 14 day window so we lose 100% of our cruise fare. In this case, over $8,000. So the lesson is, yes, ALWAYS buy trip cancellation insurance and, no, princess will not let you reschedule if you have to cancel under the circumstances described above. I know its just business and I did not buy insurance so that is how it goes. Just saying, the possibility of getting burned is real and, no, princess will not do anything extra to accommodate you - its just business. That's just the way it goes. Next time I will buy the insurance for sure.

 

 

So happy your wife is doing well!

 

Money you can replace, the wife not so much:)

 

I would like to thank you for sharing your story because there are people out there that still think the cruise line can and will help them in this type of situation.

 

Why on earth would the rest of us buy insurance if that were the case ?

 

Hopefully you and your wife will be sailing soon.

 

Take care Reader

[hollon]

Always get insurance! within a few wks apart, my daughter who was 12 had an emergency appendix surgery and I got bad news that I had cancer (only 44 yrs old) two weeks before my cruise. You just never know, so now, I never go on vacation w/o the kids and always have insurance!

[alexspepa]

I am happy to hear your wife is doing well, and thanks for posting your experience.

 

also I believe it is important to book your insurance within two weeks of making your cruise deposit so that pre-existing conditions are covered.

[Hoosier-Cruiser]

Glad to hear that your DW is getting better.

 

The same thing happened to us last year. A week before our vacation my daughter broke her wrist and ankle playing soccer. The ankle required surgery and vacation had to be rescheduled. Luckily, it was all land based and we were able to reschedule the hotels and other planned events without problem.

 

Since then, whenever planning a trip that has a cancellation policy like cruises, airlines, etc, I will always buy insurance. I'm no longer in the, young, invincible, "nothing will happen to change my plans" phase of life.

[iluvcruzin]

Thank you for posting your experience. And I thank those responding for in a nice manner without the "you should have".

 

It is a good warning to others who have been on the fence about purchasing it or think it won't happen to them.

[Grego]

We are all sorry about your experience. As Pam and others have stated, Princess is under no obligation to offer any concession as the contract is the contract as agreed to.

 

What we all can take from this is to print out this thread and paste it to whatever device you use to place booking orders for voyages or any other major travel plans.

 

We have always purchased insurance either from TravelGuard or from Princess depending on the itinerary. Princess doesn't cover independent hotel arrangements so we opt to use other agencies that cover the entire itinerary. Otherwise, Princess is a great value especially after you get to Platinum and above.

 

Insurance is a minor expense to protect piece of mind. "Stuff Happens!"

[Iamcruzin]

Everyone assumes that only the elderly should purchase insurance. Anything can happen to anyone at any age at anytime. Personally I think if you are traveling as a family there is a higher risk that something is going to happen. My son had broken his wrist the day before our cruise. We had no idea. He told us that he sprained it and wrapped it in an ace bandage. Well on the first sea day it swelled up like a balloon and we took him to the medical center on the ship. Long story short they put a cast on his wrist and mid week they did a re cast as the swelling went down. Total for 2 x-rays and 2 casts $400 which was less than what my wife paid for her hair and nails and facial that week. Here is the kicker. I did purchase Princess insurance but since I purchased it at the time of booking which was over a year in advanced I had forgotten I purchased it so I never made a claim. This was back in 2006 before I knew about CC. Had I been monitoring these boards I would have remembered. Over the years I found it less expensive to purchase from a third party like Travel Guard. At the time my 2 children were under 18 and the were covered free with the purchase of 2 adult plans. We are still at the age that it less expensive for more coverage if we purchase through the third party even with being platinum on Princess.

Edited February 26, 2014 by Iamcruzin

[Coral]

I am happy to hear your wife is doing well, and thanks for posting your experience.

 

also I believe it is important to book your insurance within two weeks of making your cruise deposit so that pre-existing conditions are covered.

 

Some policies don't require this. When I use my TA, i can book her 3rd party insurance (Allianz) at final payment and it covers pre-existing conditions. Though if you book this through some of the insurance vendors such as insuremytrip, you have to buy it near deposit time. So even the same company has different policy types. I much prefer Allianz through my TA compared to through insuremytrip.

 

To the OP, I am so glad your wife didn't become ill with all of those sea days while on the ship (and needing a hospital). That would have been awful. I wish her a speedy recovery.

Edited February 26, 2014 by Coral

[Nebr.cruiser]

I'm sorry to hear about your wife, but glad she is doing better.

 

When we were young we never purchased insurance, but now, older and wiser, we always do. We have had to cancel three cruises/trips, two because of health problems of elderly parents and one during the SARS crisis-each one happened to be long cruise tours with expenses of over $6000 each. We were fully reimbursed for each one. One we had to cancel the day before leaving.

 

Things happen even if you are younger; our 41 year old soon just spent about 10 days fighting some kind of strange virus that left him deathly sick. He's fine now, but it was serious enough that if we'd been going on a cruise, we'd have cancelled. And our 14 year old granddaughter suffered a serious concussion while ice skating this winter--she's fine now too.

 

You just never know: buy insurance! And though covering the cost of the trip is important, even more important is having a high medical conditions coverage and evacuation coverage. We could (though we'd hate it) eat the cost of the cruise or vacation itself; but paying for a serious medical emergency with evacuation could potentially cost in the hundreds of thousands.

[Cancun01]

 

To the OP, I am so glad your wife didn't become ill with all of those sea days while on the ship (and needing a hospital). That would have been awful. I wish her a speedy recovery.

 

Exactly and a very good point. That was how I viewed our situation....thank goodness it did not happen when we were in the middle of the Atlantic headed to

Rio. My husband had been cleared to travel after the ulcer diagnosis. He could have easily boarded the ship with his antibiotics. With all due respect to the ship's medical facilities, it took a senior neurologist at a big city hospital to recognize that my husband did not have a stroke but a toxic reaction to the antibiotics he was taking. It was so severe he is still recovering 4 months later.

[hillslife]

Wow...so sad...sorry to hear your story, but a great learning opportunity for all.

 

As we have gotten older, I always get insurance, but sometimes hate to spend the extra $.... Your story is a good reminder not to waiver.

 

Wishing you all well....

[birdiebill]

Very glad your wife is doing better; sad for the monetary loss.

 

We have purchased insurance through Princess and through our airline for each of our five scheduled cruises. Four of those cruises went off without needing the insurance, but you never know in advance.

 

The fifth cruise was also scheduled on Princess. Four days before we were to leave home, my elderly mother was hospitalized with an obstructed small intestine. We had to cancel the cruise because we did not know the length of her stay nor the treatment and outcome. We were fully refunded, thank you Princess Vacation Insurance (and airline also)

[RLK33853]

We are also on the Star on March 5th and totally understand that having to cancel this close to sailing is frustrating, not only financially, but I am sure you have built up the anticipation of getting away. Now that part is gone as well, all due to something beyond your control. Again thanks for sharing your story - it may help others.

 

It is truly unfortunate that you had to lose money - but when a family member becomes ill just before a holiday you really don't have any choice without insurance. We cruise several times a year and each time we bite the insurance bullet and pay the premium, as we never know what the future holds - and the future is totally unrelated to your own age. I have shattered my leg playing hockey just before a cruise, my wife has had surgery just before a cruise, and we have elderly family members - none of which matters financially when you have insurance.

 

One tip from our travel agent (which we find invaluable when something does go wrong as they advocate for you) is that upon booking, we either pay insurance only for the deposit until final payment, or if it is a minimal deposit or cheaper cruise we don't pay for insurance until closer to final payment. The great part is that she diary dates when things have to be paid and it is effortless for us. The other thing she does is compare and make sure that the various providers, rates and coverage are investigated prior to us choosing the provider. While Princess is a great provider there are other reputable insurance companies providing the same coverage with cheaper premiums. We look at it like transfers from the airport to the ship - Princess offers them and gives you peace of mind, but you can usually find better private car companies for a cheaper price. Both are good - but one may be a better fit for you.

[westwind6371]

It is never fun when a loved one is ill, glad she is recovering.

 

Also, congratulations, MRDavid for understanding how and why insurance works! Your post was one of the most responsible, intelligent posts on these sort of cancellations I have read. Too many people make a decision to "save money" and not buy insurance, and when the worst happens, they whine and complain about how cruel and heartless the cruiseline is, and they will never do business with such a company that has such "poor customer relations!" In effect, they want someone else to pay for their poor choices.

 

Your post was a breath of fresh air, wish you much better luck on your next cruise.

 

Fair winds

Dave