Every missed Embarkation and used Travel Insurance to catch-up

[doconner]

I know travel insurance can be useful for lots of things such as lost bags, medical emergency, and some travel disruption. I also know that there are restrictions on what is an acceptable/covered reason for some coverage.

 

I'm wondering if anyone has ever missed embarkation for any reason and then tried to catch-up to the ship at the first port?

 

If you did this, was your travel insurance useful or not.

 

 

Just looking for stories from experience on this one.

 

Thanks

[sitraveler]

Not quite the same, but my flight to Germany/Barcelona was was cancelled.

 

Made my way to Madrid and then to BCN where I caught my cruise at the initial port. Flight insurance paid for the Madrid to Barcelona flight. I just sent 10 pages of cancellations and receipt + copy of credit card statement.

[GeezerCouple]

Not quite the same, but my flight to Germany/Barcelona was was cancelled.

 

Made my way to Madrid and then to BCN where I caught my cruise at the initial port. Flight insurance paid for the Madrid to Barcelona flight. I just sent 10 pages of cancellations and receipt + copy of credit card statement.

 

Question: Did you make your own alternate reservations, and submit receipts later to the insurer and get paid, or did you have to go through the insurer to have them make the new flight reservations.

 

Our concern with the latter is that IF there is a last minute cancellation (for whatever reason), the time it takes to work through the insurer might mean one misses any chance of getting to the initial port "on time".

 

We'd prefer to "get to the initial port" than to get flown to the first port to "catch up".

 

Thanks!

 

GeezerCouple

[sitraveler]

I was on the telephone with my cruise line, which had made the original flight arrangements EWR/Frankfort/BCN. The United flight EWR-Frankfort was cancelled. Over the loudspeaker "flight to Madrid now boarding". I went to the gate for this flight and they told me that my ticket was issued by Lufthansa and Lufthansa would have to make the change. In Newark you are dealing with different terminals. I begged, they let me board. My baggage never left Newark. I paid for the flight from Madrid to Barcelona, it was reimbursed. Insurance also paid for baggage delay with my receipts. It did take 12 days for the baggage to catch up.

 

Hope this helps.

[GeezerCouple]

Thanks.

 

Which travel insurance vendor did you use (and which particular policy type)?

 

We had a holiday cruise recently, and it was one with a few sea days right at the start. We really did NOT want to risk missing the ship and getting transport to the first port, nor did we relish the thought of getting reimbursed for the missed cruise days. Our goal was to BE ON THE SHIP when it sailed :)

 

But there was the chance of a blizzard (less likely recently, with remarkably little snow, but then there was that recent storm in NY... and some folks had some difficulties, etc.) AND given that it was the "weekend before Christmas", we figured that most flights would be sold out (or close).

The insurer can't get us on a flight the next day if they are really sold out, or if there are several plane loads of travelers jockeying for those few remaining seats.

We allowed an extra day (flew in 2 days before departure).

 

What we did, withOUT any guarantees about what the insurer "would have done" if we had need to use our alternative plans (we did not) was:

 

- We booked low-cost non-refundable tickets for our preferred travel date (2 days pre-cruise).

- We also booked fully refundable tickets on the "day before departure".

- Once we arrived in Miami, we called and cancelled the fully refundable (and far more expensive) flight the next day.

 

We decided that given the cost of the cruise (suite on a long-ish holiday cruise including both Christmas and New Years), IF we had to eat the fare IF that backup flight had been needed, so be it.

We would have submitted the receipts and then sit back to "see what happened".

(We also would have pointed out to the insurer that reimbursing us would probably have cost far less than putting us up at hotels for several extra nights and then flying us to the next port. There might not have been seats available on such short notice during holiday season, and if there were, the cost would probably have been far more than our advance-purchase refundable ticket costs. PLUS several nights at hotels, and meals... But it would have been up to them about reimbursement. And we would definitely have mentioned "how they handled it" to others here on CruiseCritic. We hope we never need to use this, but it gave us a considerable comfort level as we watched the weather reports heading into the travel weekend.)

 

NOTE: We were once flying out of Seattle for a holiday cruise many years ago. The airport was fogged in for a few *days* (never saw that before or since). What pleased us was that our flight - scheduled on the first day that flights resumed - took off, leaving a VERY crowded terminal full of people (including some who had all too obviously been camping out for a couple of days!) quite angry that they weren't given seats on "our" flight.

We could understand their grumpiness, but that's how the airlines handled it. We've no idea how long it took to "clear" those waiting masses. Being holiday time, most flights were full or almost full, with not much place for those who had earlier flights cancelled. Never forgot that.

 

GeezerCouple

[sitraveler]

Sorry, no idea which insurance/company I used. We used to shop at "****my trip", now use another website. But I've used 10+ companies over the years based on costs/coverage.

Last year I was affected by the January snowstorm out of NYC, but the only loss was non-refundable hotwire auto arrangements. Wound up eating the $125. Fortunately, we had built in several days in Florida pre & post cruise.

[cherylandtk]

Question: Did you make your own alternate reservations, and submit receipts later to the insurer and get paid, or did you have to go through the insurer to have them make the new flight reservations.

While a travel insurer may put you in contact with an enroute travel assistance company to help find new flights or connections, in all cases these costs are paid for by the traveler and then submitted to the insurance company for consideration for reimbursement. The insurance company never pays for these upfront.

[GeezerCouple]

While a travel insurer may put you in contact with an enroute travel assistance company to help find new flights or connections, in all cases these costs are paid for by the traveler and then submitted to the insurance company for consideration for reimbursement. The insurance company never pays for these upfront.

 

Thanks.

 

My question was slightly different:

 

Did it matter in terms of reimbursement whether the insurer made the new travel arrangements/reservations (air tix, hotel if necessary, etc.) or might it be reimbursable if the traveler just went ahead and did it - especially if time was tight.

(We'd rather just GET the tickets if an alternate flight is about to leave, than wait around while the insurer - or their recommended travel agency - is phoning 'round or looking for a "better price on another carrier", etc., especially if it might make the difference between making the ship or missing it.)

 

And in our case, the question was whether the "pre-planning" with fully refundable air tix for what was likely to be a VERY busy holiday weekend (meaning, fat chance of getting stand-by tickets on another flight if ours was cancelled, etc.) would be "covered".

 

Fortunately, it wasn't needed, and we cancelled those "extra, back-up" reservations and got our refund, once we got to the port city.

 

But "if..." it had been necessary...

 

Hopefully we won't ever need to find out :)

 

GeezerCouple

[cherylandtk]

Insurers don't make travel arrangements. They might offer to put you in touch with a third party to help out, but it is up to you to make any new arrangements (with or without the 'assistance' of the third party) and then submit the cost to the insurer.

 

Since they don't make travel arrangements, they do not limit your coverage to only arrangements they (don't actually) make. There might be times that a package trip has limits on how replacement travel can be booked, but that does not apply to this situation.

 

The limits on your pre-planning flight would be governed by things like whether the original flight was canceled vs. just delayed, the amount of time required by the trip delay clause and the cost of a walk-up ticket vs. what you would have claimed. But not by who made the reservation.

[cherylandtk]

Too late to edit above post, but I would add that the rules for medical evacuation are far different under the same policy, and in that case one must often use only the coordinating partner arrangements.

[GeezerCouple]

Insurers don't make travel arrangements. They might offer to put you in touch with a third party to help out, but it is up to you to make any new arrangements (with or without the 'assistance' of the third party) and then submit the cost to the insurer.

 

Since they don't make travel arrangements, they do not limit your coverage to only arrangements they (don't actually) make. There might be times that a package trip has limits on how replacement travel can be booked, but that does not apply to this situation.

 

The limits on your pre-planning flight would be governed by things like whether the original flight was canceled vs. just delayed, the amount of time required by the trip delay clause and the cost of a walk-up ticket vs. what you would have claimed. But not by who made the reservation.

 

Thanks very much.

 

Having never actually needed this (our only claim to date was last minute cancellation due to medical emergency), I hadn't really thought about the nitty-gritty of "how it would work" if a flight delay really interfered or such.

 

Obviously, I assumed we'd need to call that insurance number we carried with us (along with policy number and info, etc.), and "wait" for them to tell us what to do.

 

And that did NOT make me happy about a situation where "time is of the essence" in "making that next flight" or such.

 

I'll need to check further about how our specific policy is to be handled should there be a need.

(A bit upsetting to realize we weren't really "prepared" about "how to handle this" if this had happened!)

 

Thanks again.

And per your next post, thanks, at least I knew it was required to have insurer and/or MedJetAssist be involved in the arrangements if medical transport was needed.

I guess that's why I subconsciously thought the same would happen for flight delays and more mundane problems - anything other than emergency medical care.

 

GeezerCouple

[cherylandtk]

Geezer, probably 95% plus of all cruisers haven't even figured out travel insurance is not an 'all perils' coverage. And let's face it, most of the posters on CC (reportedly 3% of cruisers) don't get over to this forum until they have a denied claim. So I think you still have to consider yourself pretty far ahead in the game.

 

The real trick is recognizing the differences between missed connection/trip delay coverage and trip interruption coverage, and then what specific events trigger each type and amount of coverage.

[GeezerCouple]

Geezer, probably 95% plus of all cruisers haven't even figured out travel insurance is not an 'all perils' coverage. And let's face it, most of the posters on CC (reportedly 3% of cruisers) don't get over to this forum until they have a denied claim. So I think you still have to consider yourself pretty far ahead in the game.

 

The real trick is recognizing the differences between missed connection/trip delay coverage and trip interruption coverage, and then what specific events trigger each type and amount of coverage.

 

Thanks again, cherylandtk.

This sub-forum (on travel insurance) has been invaluable, to be sure, especially early on.

It's made a big difference in the questions we've asked of Steve at TripInsuranceStore.com (and others before zeroing on their services), as well as the types of coverages we've considered to begin with. And I'm sure the dialogues here will continue to affect our thinking/questions/choices.

 

I tend to "read the fine print", which is always helpful, if tedious.

(Yes, I'm "that person" in front of you at the car rental desk who READS the contract. However, I *do* step aside and ask the clerk to help those behind me in line until I'm done. I've found assorted oddball "check boxes/waivers" seemingly hidden, in which I would otherwise have been authorizing all sorts of extra charges. On the other hand, occasionally we want the add-on, such as for a large SUV that Amex excludes for their coverage. Just knowing that the Amex extra coverage does not, in fact, cover the larger SUV's was an eye-opener. Yes, tedious reading - all fine print.)

 

However, what just occurred to me, with this thread, was the realization that I really did not understand "how to handle it" if there were some sort of last minute travel delay that would cause the travel insurance coverage to kick in, especially if there was a tight time schedule.

 

At least now I have time to get more specifics about this, *before* we need it.

 

Nevertheless, there will no doubt always be "something else" that wasn't anticipated, and we can just do our best to be prepared.

 

GeezerCouple