RCCL's Cruisecare DOES cover any airfare

[Fuzdaduck]

Just thought I would post an update on a new thread. Got off phone with Berkeley, the company that issues Cruisecare. RCCL's website is correct, in that any airfare used within 14 days to get to your cruise is covered, no matter who you purchased it through. If you have bought other insurance to cover air etc, you paid for something already covered.

[bob278]

That's pretty interesting. Maybe there really is such a thing as a free lunch. Since the insurance you get through the cruiseline is based on the cost of what you booked through them, you are not paying for the air.

 

For example, my cruise costs me $1,400 per person and the insurance would be $79 per person (1,001 - 1,500 rate). If I have to cancel for a covered reason, both the cruise AND my $349 airfare are covered? Hard to believe, but I sure hope it's true. It would be great to see that in writing from Berkeley. Of course, if I cancel for "any reason at all", I would not expect to get the 75% credit for the air, but that could make for a very interesting debate.

 

But I never buy ADDITIONAL insurance, just use someone like Access America instead of Berkeley, but make the amount enought to cover cruise plus air. Sometimes, I just take the cruiseline insurance and figure I am "self-insuring" the air because it isn't a huge amount and I could probably reuse it. My out of pocket cost would be the change fee. But this sounds like I am not really risking anything.

[Fuzdaduck]

Yea..that is a good point...since the Policy as stated here says that it will pay 100% of the airfare cost for cancellation and 150% for interruption, the policy could easily have to pay for air tickets that are many times more than what the cruise cost. I imagine that somebody has goofed and will have to change the way this thing is setup, since it is possible to book a cruise way before you can book your airfare. You would have to call back and let them know how much your airfare was if they wanted to raise prices.

[KJHorton]

Berkeley has exclusions for certain airlines, such as USAir, which are in bankruptcy. I am sure flights on those airlines are not covered, depending on the cause of the missed flight (i.e, whether due to weather or operational issues).

[juliew]

Just thought I would post an update on a new thread. Got off phone with Berkeley, the company that issues Cruisecare. RCCL's website is correct, in that any airfare used within 14 days to get to your cruise is covered, no matter who you purchased it through. If you have bought other insurance to cover air etc, you paid for something already covered.

 

I think you'd better reconfirm that. If you have purchased cruise only through RCCL (ie the cruise costs $1500.00 ttl for 2) and you buy RCCL's insurance, you are just covering the cruise cost because you haven't paid for air yet. Let's say you purchase air for $200pp additional - that amount wouldn't have been included in the premium that you paid through RCCL (Berkley). I find it highly unusual that the air purchased separately would be included. When I purchase air separately from the cruise line, I do not purchase insurance from the cruise line. I purchase from an outside insurance and combine my cruise fare & air purchase so that everything is covered. I don't purchase insurance from the cruise line AND from an outside vendor to cover the air separately - that would be redundant and over-insured.

 

I find it highly improbable that an insurance company would cover for something that wasn't listed when the premium was purchased.

[Case1096]

I just read through this thing twice and on page 3 it cleary states independently booked airfare. Also RCCL's website states that the prices are based on the cruise rate. The only thing I can't find is what the travel delay time needs to be, so for instance CSA needs 5 hours, TravelEx needs 6 hours, etc. Not sure if I am missing anything else. Otherwise this is a great deal cause it covers 75% of the cruise cost if you cancel for any reason. The one major downside I just noted is they will not pay for financial default of RCCL or the airline.

[bob278]

As Alice said "this just gets curiouser and curiouser". It sure looks like independently booked air is covered, but I just don't understand how an insurance company would write coverage for an undetermined amount , especially without charging more for it than the basic cruise coverage.

 

I also recall that berkeley was the carrier, but I searched that document for Berkeley and it did not show up. Has RCL changed carriers?

 

At the top it says Stonebridge Casualty Insurance Company. On InsureMyTrip, they show Stonebridge as being the underwriter for MH Ross and with an AM Best rating of A- (same rating as Access America and CSA - travel Guard is A+) . I don't know what all this means, but it seems to indicate that the coverage is backed by a reasonably strong company.

 

My question (only slightly tongue-in-cheek) about the 75% benefit for any cancellation is clearly addressed on page 2. You only get back a percentage of what was "prepaid to Royal Caribbean International....".

 

Once before I asked my TA if I could take the RCL insurance and add an amount for air to it at the time and she said 'No, they base the insurance only on the cruise cost or cruise + air if you book it through them." So there you go. We see a document that pretty clearly defines something that most of us don't trust as it is so illogical.

 

This could get to be fun. Any lawyers out there that can help us out?

[Fuzdaduck]

I tried to search it for Berk and couldn't find anything..search must not work right on it because on page 7 I found..

This program was designed for Royal Caribbean International guests by BerkelyCare. This plan was designed and is administered by BerkelyCare, a division of Affinity Insurance Services,Inc., in all states except: AIS Affinity Insurance Agency, Inc. in CA/MN/OK; and AIS Affinity Insurance Agency in NH and NY. Claims are administered by BerkelyCare, a division of Affinity Insurance Services, Inc., in all states except: Aon Direct Insurance Administrators in CA; AIS Affinity Insurance Agency, Inc. in OK; and AIS Affinity Insurance Agency in NH & NY. CA License #0795465. For additional information regarding the plan, call BerkelyCare at:

 



1-800-453-4022 or 1-516-294-0220 Office hours: 8 A.M. – 9 P.M. ET, Monday – Friday, 9 A.M. – 5 P.M. ET, Saturday Ask for the CruiseCare Help Line.

 

Anyway...as far as I am concerned I have verbal confirmation from a supervisor at Berkely (Alverta..only one who works there) who looked up my name and policy that my airfare is covered and is sending me an updated policy. I asked for written confirmation but she said the only thing they could do was to send me a copy of my policy which is my written confirmation. She looked up my policy as listed by Travelocity and told me that it was outdated, and that my new policy most certainly covered my airfare. If it is necessary to pay extra to cover airfare I would..but what do you do if they won't let you because they say it is already covered?

I think whoever was in charge of manageing the dispursal of this policy to RCCL and travel agents fell asleep at the wheel...

 

 

My dear brother-in-law, who just gave me a beautiful neice...is an attorney who dealt with alot of insurance I think..I will get his opinion on this...

[Fuzdaduck]

I find it highly improbable that an insurance company would cover for something that wasn't listed when the premium was purchased.

 

Ya know..I can't say I disagree with that statement, even after they told me differently, but it isn't that it wasn't listed, I just didn't recieve a copy of the right one...however even RCCL's website (and not just the policy) very much makes it sound that your premium is solely based on the cost of the cruise. They list the premium per cruise, and then state at the bottom what is covered by that. Nowhere does it say or imply, in either the webpage or policy) that "Cruise" means the price of the cruise and price of your airfare combined...I am sure lawyers put this together..think it was that big of a gaffe or is it a marketing tool?

 

 

 

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