Travel Insurance/Missed Flights

[jimbug]

Hi all,

Just a question regarding travel insurance. I usually purchase it, and plan to this time, but I'm trying to figure out what policy to get. My main concern is that for some reason, the ship will dock late and I will miss my flight home. (It's at 11:23 a.m. out of FLL). Honestly, I don't know what I was thinking when I booked it, but I've been reassured by lots of people that as long as everything happens "on time", and we do the self-debark first thing in the morning, it should go well. However, there are all those "what ifs". Does anyone know of a travel insurance company or policy that will cover any fees to the airline for changing flights if we miss it? I don't know if the insurance company would classify missing the flight as my fault or as carrier-caused delay. Hmm...any thoughts?

 

Also, one more quick thing--does anyone know if Carnival has in writing anywhere (website, cruise docs?) what the earliest recommended flight time out of FLL is? Thanks a bunch!

[jleq]

Recommended flight times:

http://www.carnival.com/CMS/Static_Templates/EMB_travel_hotline.aspx

 

What you're looking for is an insurance policy with a "travel delay" feature. You can find out what each policy has in that regard by checking into the appropriate area of InsureMyTrip.com. The specific page is:

http://www.insuremytrip.com/myquotecalc-package-1000-0-0-1066.html.

[jerseygirl3]

Travel delay won't usually kick in if you miss a flight that you booked too early to be prudent. Most cruiselines recommend not booking flights before noon. One time when we missed a 2 p.m. flight because our ship couldn't dock in Tampa due to fog, I had to present documentation that there was a delay of at least 8 hours which in turn caused us to miss our flight.

 

When we fly out of Atlantic City (which we normally do), the only flight home from FLL is 11:15 a.m. Otherwise, the next one isn't until 7:40 p.m. While I could probably make the 11:15 a.m., I just don't want to take the chance. If I miss it, travel insurance won't cover me (I checked). And frequently the later flight is oversold, so forget trying to get onto that one.

 

To me it's just not worth the aggravation after a nice relaxing vacation to worry about making an early flight. We take our leisurely time debarking the plane and I usually book an inexpensive hotel to spend the day.

[cruiseco]

You're probably out of luck. Even the plans with the most liberal travel delay coverages require a minimum delay time. For example, with Travelex the delay must be five hours or more. So, if the ship is scheduled to dock at 8am they won't even consider compensating you for a flight booked for 1pm or earlier.