Royal Caribbean class action lawsuit

[OSUZorba]

Exactly. The issue here is the original plaintiff left for Texas before any line made a definitive decision on what they were doing. Wants to be paid for his airfare, hotel and lost vacation time. Once the cruise was cancelled he knew he had his cruise fare cash at his disposal, to do any number of things besides sit in a hotel in Galveston for a week. Sure it’s not the vacation he thought he was getting, but how is that any different than if you fly in to a land resort on Friday, and the weather turns bad on Saturday and stays bad through Thursday? The Resort is not going to compensate you for your air and lost vacation time.

 

RCL was still demanding that people travel to Galveston when literally every highway into and out of town was flooded. Everything that happened was predicted days in advance. Comparing to being stuck in a hotel in Houston during Harvey to it raining during your beach vacation is just insane. Many of the people on these forums had no power and no food for days in their hotels. There was no "Hey I got my money, lets go check out NASA." Did you even turn on a TV during Harvey?

[2thesea]

If you had a pre exiting medical condition you are worked about, then you should have probably looked at travel insurance before now. Instance is not meant to pay off for you each time, it is a gamble. You always hope you will not need insurance, but really want to have it in place when you need it.

 

As for going Western, unless you bought travel insurance which includes coverage for Port changes, you are not going to get anything if they decide to change. You booked a trip in a boat, that might happen to stop somewhere in the Caribbean. If you booked a Western to save money and they had to change, would it make sense for the cruise line to then turn around and charge everybody more?

 

Other lines might be skipping certainly ours for a longer period of time, and whole that sounds great, as soon as some of these ports open, and it is safe and ready to accept, they will need the money coming in. While there are doomsayer's that will say St. Maarten won't be ready until 2019, there were also people saying hey West wouldn't be a stop this year. Ports will prioritize what is needed to get ships coming in.

 

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I do not purchase travel insurance because my medical insurance covers us when we travel. My credit card covers us if we cancel for a medical reason - it is simple cancelation insurance, nothing fancy only cancellation coverage, but it has to be medically necessary.

 

The situation I find myself in is IF the itinerary is changed to Western my medical insurance (with my employer) will NOT cover any medical issues, thus leaving us with no coverage. And as I said it's too late to purchase insurance for the purpose of medical protection (for pre-existing) at this late date. Travel insurance covering pre-existing had to be purchase no later than 24hrs after final payment.

[nealstuber]

RCL was still demanding that people travel to Galveston when literally every highway into and out of town was flooded. Everything that happened was predicted days in advance. Comparing to being stuck in a hotel in Houston during Harvey to it raining during your beach vacation is just insane. Many of the people on these forums had no power and no food for days in their hotels. There was no "Hey I got my money, lets go check out NASA." Did you even turn on a TV during Harvey?

 

 

 

As I point of fact I was in Nicaragua at the time, the TV did not have much about it, but DW and family were home in Texas, 5 hours South of Houston and it was beautiful.

 

Prediction as you call it, is a guess that came true. Nobody knew what the weather actually would be, in fact DW was equally prepared for an outcome that did not happen. But if the plaintiff here was as equally confident in these predictions he could have stayed further inland or left the island before the pending closure was announced.

 

Being from Ok, I’d think you’d know that there’s a lot more to do in Texas than going to NASA. Austin, San Antonio, Corpus, SPI all fine. And if that was not good enough for the plaintiff, the airports were open in San Antonio and Austin. Or with a week to kill, why not Dallas?

 

The Plaintiff could have done a lot more than he did. And nobody “demanded”

that anybody travel anywhere. RCCL was planning to call as scheduled. Plaintiff made his own travel arrangements.

 

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Edited October 10, 2017 by nealstuber

[tugboat]

If you had a pre exiting medical condition you are worked about, then you should have probably looked at travel insurance before now. Instance is not meant to pay off for you each time, it is a gamble. You always hope you will not need insurance, but really want to have it in place when you need it.

 

As for going Western, unless you bought travel insurance which includes coverage for Port changes, you are not going to get anything if they decide to change. You booked a trip in a boat, that might happen to stop somewhere in the Caribbean. If you booked a Western to save money and they had to change, would it make sense for the cruise line to then turn around and charge everybody more?

 

Other lines might be skipping certainly ours for a longer period of time, and whole that sounds great, as soon as some of these ports open, and it is safe and ready to accept, they will need the money coming in. While there are doomsayer's that will say St. Maarten won't be ready until 2019, there were also people saying hey West wouldn't be a stop this year. Ports will prioritize what is needed to get ships coming in.

 

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I have never got insurance so far I am up over 24,000. It’s a gamble I am old so what I have been lucky so far got the money in the bank. I hardly leave the ship anymore. Anything happens I will stay in my cabins till we get back to port.

 

 

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[rukkian]

I have never got insurance so far I am up over 24,000. It’s a gamble I am old so what I have been lucky so far got the money in the bank. I hardly leave the ship anymore. Anything happens I will stay in my cabins till we get back to port.

 

 

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Nobody is saying you have to buy insurance. You are choosing to self insure, and that is perfectly fine. Others here are complaining that they did not but insurance, and now want somebody else to pay them because they didn't buy insurance and have no coverage for medical.

 

This would be no different than somebody deciding not to pay for health insurance, cause they want to save money. Then, they have a bad injury and wanting the hospital to pay their bills because they didn't plan on getting hurt, so they didn't need insurance.

 

Everybody can make their own choices, and then they need to deal with whatever consequences come from those actions.

 

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[lbjen]

As I point of fact I was in Nicaragua at the time, the TV did not have much about it, but DW and family were home in Texas, 5 hours South of Houston and it was beautiful.

 

Prediction as you call it, is a guess that came true. Nobody knew what the weather actually would be, in fact DW was equally prepared for an outcome that did not happen. But if the plaintiff here was as equally confident in these predictions he could have stayed further inland or left the island before the pending closure was announced.

 

Being from Ok, I’d think you’d know that there’s a lot more to do in Texas than going to NASA. Austin, San Antonio, Corpus, SPI all fine. And if that was not good enough for the plaintiff, the airports were open in San Antonio and Austin. Or with a week to kill, why not Dallas?

 

The Plaintiff could have done a lot more than he did. And nobody “demanded”

that anybody travel anywhere. RCCL was planning to call as scheduled. Plaintiff made his own travel arrangements.

 

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Because by the time RC cancelled the cruise, virtually every road on that side of town was under water.

[OBX-Cruisers]

Loved rukkian's typo about the "pre exiting" medical condition.

THAT condition is pretty serious!

[rukkian]

Loved rukkian's typo about the "pre exiting" medical condition.

THAT condition is pretty serious!

 

Glad I could amuse you.

[39august]

Since my case was mentioned, I feel I should state here that I cancelled because of hurricane Harvey, not Irma as was previously mentioned. Travel insurance was handled quickly, and RCI showed my 75% credit on my account as soon as AON verified the amount to me on the phone.

[xpcdoojk]

RCL was still demanding that people travel to Galveston when literally every highway into and out of town was flooded. Everything that happened was predicted days in advance. Comparing to being stuck in a hotel in Houston during Harvey to it raining during your beach vacation is just insane. Many of the people on these forums had no power and no food for days in their hotels. There was no "Hey I got my money, lets go check out NASA." Did you even turn on a TV during Harvey?

 

Demanding??? Wow

 

JC:eek:

[ONECRUISER]

Since my case was mentioned, I feel I should state here that I cancelled because of hurricane Harvey, not Irma as was previously mentioned. Travel insurance was handled quickly, and RCI showed my 75% credit on my account as soon as AON verified the amount to me on the phone.

Thank you for followup...

[nealstuber]

What's really scary is I did not buy Travel Insurance since our medical follows us when we travel (as long as its not Mexico, Europe) and now it's too late to buy insurance that would cover pre-existing conditions. :(

 

 

 

You do understand there are many other scenarios, besides hurricanes, that could change your Itinerary even after you board. On our 2nd cruise over 20 years ago, the ship turned around 4 hour’s after sailing because the chief engineer had a heart attack. The next morning, we were told, because of the delay, we’d be spending 2 days in Cozumel instead of the Bahamas....Just two years ago we had 4 ports scheduled on a 7 day cruise and only made one ...Cozumel.

 

I’m by no means telling you what kind of insurance you should have for your situation, but don’t expect the cruise line to make a decision before they have to in order to accommodate your unique situation. Key West and other ports opened for business was sooner than anyone thought the could, nobody thought San Juan would be functional as a debark port at this point. So why should RCCL pull the plug on itineraries months in advance?? Because you have insurance only for an Itinerary that was subject to change when you booked???

 

 

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[2thesea]

You do understand there are many other scenarios, besides hurricanes, that could change your Itinerary even after you board. On our 2nd cruise over 20 years ago, the ship turned around 4 hour’s after sailing because the chief engineer had a heart attack. The next morning, we were told, because of the delay, we’d be spending 2 days in Cozumel instead of the Bahamas....Just two years ago we had 4 ports scheduled on a 7 day cruise and only made one ...Cozumel.

 

I’m by no means telling you what kind of insurance you should have for your situation, but don’t expect the cruise line to make a decision before they have to in order to accommodate your unique situation. Key West and other ports opened for business was sooner than anyone thought the could, nobody thought San Juan would be functional as a debark port at this point. So why should RCCL pull the plug on itineraries months in advance?? Because you have insurance only for an Itinerary that was subject to change when you booked???

 

 

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I was merely stating that other cruise lines have already made their changes and have notified their guests. Disney's notice currently is a month prior to sailing. Carnival is also providing their guests with ample notice. I am not asking for anything from RCCL just enough advance notice of a port change.

 

I have been cruising since 1982 and we have cruised at least once a year since 1992, some years 2 or 3 times. Yes they can change ports and yes I have experienced the change. I was on the Disney Magic last October out of NYC 7nights to Bahamas, we ended up in Canada. Disney gave everyone that decided to cruise a ship board credit along with a future cruise credit. They also allowed anyone that want to cancel to do so for a full refund. We decided to sail and had a great time. That was the first time we experienced a complete itinerary change. Yes we have missed a port now and again, San Juan for St Maarten a few years ago, Freeport in place to Nassau, etc. However in this case I believe that Royal should be advising their guests more than 2 weeks prior to sail date and advise where they will be sailing. I don't believe that they're making those decisions only 2 weeks in advance. The scope of these changes impact a large portion of their operation, surely they have plans in place already. If you go back and read my original post you will see that I noted and questioned how Royal can still sell the Eastern itinerary with no notes of a possible change?

[rukkian]

I was merely stating that other cruise lines have already made their changes and have notified their guests. Disney's notice currently is a month prior to sailing. Carnival is also providing their guests with ample notice. I am not asking for anything from RCCL just enough advance notice of a port change.

 

I have been cruising since 1982 and we have cruised at least once a year since 1992, some years 2 or 3 times. Yes they can change ports and yes I have experienced the change. I was on the Disney Magic last October out of NYC 7nights to Bahamas, we ended up in Canada. Disney gave everyone that decided to cruise a ship board credit along with a future cruise credit. They also allowed anyone that want to cancel to do so for a full refund. We decided to sail and had a great time. That was the first time we experienced a complete itinerary change. Yes we have missed a port now and again, San Juan for St Maarten a few years ago, Freeport in place to Nassau, etc. However in this case I believe that Royal should be advising their guests more than 2 weeks prior to sail date and advise where they will be sailing. I don't believe that they're making those decisions only 2 weeks in advance. The scope of these changes impact a large portion of their operation, surely they have plans in place already. If you go back and read my original post you will see that I noted and questioned how Royal can still sell the Eastern itinerary with no notes of a possible change?

It is because they do not know at this point. Nobody knows for sure when there ports will be ready at this point.

 

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[nealstuber]

I was merely stating that other cruise lines have already made their changes and have notified their guests. Disney's notice currently is a month prior to sailing. Carnival is also providing their guests with ample notice. I am not asking for anything from RCCL just enough advance notice of a port change.

 

 

 

If you go back and read my original post you will see that I noted and questioned how Royal can still sell the Eastern itinerary with no notes of a possible change?

 

 

I just did a quick search on upcoming eastern itineraries as have no idea how anybody besides Carnival and RCCL are handling this. The second cruise listed in my search of eastern iterations less than a month out showed this..

 

 

I could post similar screen shots for cruises from HAL and MSC as well as the three lines under the RC umbrella.

 

And interestingly, when I excluded November sailings and just looked at October, I could not find anyone marketing Cruises with STM or STT.

 

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Edited October 11, 2017 by nealstuber

[2thesea]

I just did a quick search on upcoming eastern itineraries as have no idea how anybody besides Carnival and RCCL are handling this. The second cruise listed in my search of eastern iterations less than a month out showed this..

 

 

I could post similar screen shots for cruises from HAL and MSC as well as the three lines under the RC umbrella.

 

And interestingly, when I excluded November sailings and just looked at October, I could not find anyone marketing Cruises with STM or STT.

 

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I did a similar checking this evening. RCL has "Eastern" listed but when you open the itinerary it is a Western itinerary. Not seeing Eastern with an Eastern itinerary until the Nov 11th sailing.

[OSUZorba]

Being from Ok, I’d think you’d know that there’s a lot more to do in Texas than going to NASA. Austin, San Antonio, Corpus, SPI all fine. And if that was not good enough for the plaintiff, the airports were open in San Antonio and Austin. Or with a week to kill, why not Dallas?

 

All true, but hard to get to any of those places when you are in a flooded hotel by Hobby airport and every highway into and out of Houston is underwater.

 

I would agree with you 100% if there was a mechanical issue with the ship, or something along those lines. But RCL was telling people to come to port after the massive flooding had already started, when it was no longer a prediction by a realty. They were demanding pictures of flooding on Facebook to "prove" you couldn't make it to the port. Many people on these forums were stuck in hotels, with no food, no power and no ability to leave for days.

Edited October 11, 2017 by OSUZorba

[OSUZorba]

Demanding??? Wow

 

JC:eek:

 

Did you read their facebook posts?

 

And the vast majority of people can not walk away from thousands of dollars, so yes telling people they have to be there or lose all of their money is basically the same thing as demanding. A lot of insurance wouldn't have covered it either, since RCL hadn't actually cancelled the cruise.

[nealstuber]

I did a similar checking this evening. RCL has "Eastern" listed but when you open the itinerary it is a Western itinerary. Not seeing Eastern with an Eastern itinerary until the Nov 11th sailing.

 

 

 

So what’s your beef?

 

 

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[nealstuber]

All true, but hard to get to any of those places when you are in a flood hotel by Hobby airport and every highway into and out of Houston is underwater.

 

 

 

 

 

I could 100% if there was a mechanical issue with the ship, or something along those lines. But RCL was telling people to come to port after the massive flooding had already started, when it was no longer a prediction by a realty. They were demanding pictures of flooding on Facebook to "prove" you couldn't make it to the port.

 

 

 

Folks who were driving to the ship the day before could not drive in and folks who were flying in the day before could not fly in. All they had to do was sit tight for a day and get a full refund - including their insurance if they bought it through RCCL.

At issue are folks who traveled more than a day in advance of their cruise. At what point does advance travel cease to become the cruise lines responsibility, 3 days, a week, a month?

 

And with respect to sitting in a Hotel, when heavy rain starts, even rats have enough sense to move to higher ground.

 

 

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[nealstuber]

Folks who were driving to the ship the day before could not drive in and folks who were flying in the day before could not fly in. All they had to do was sit tight for a day and get a full refund - including their insurance if they bought it through RCCL.

At issue are folks who traveled more than a day in advance of their cruise. At what point does advance travel cease to become the cruise lines responsibility, 3 days, a week, a month?

 

And with respect to sitting in a Hotel, when heavy rain starts, even rats have enough sense to move to higher ground.

 

To me the much bigger issue is that if folks cancelled on Saturday through their insurance because their flights were cancelled, and only got 75% FCC instead of the refund, then RCCL scammed them.

 

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[juju2454]

I have used Travel Guard insurance as my travel insurance, mainly because I can purchase it at the time of my cruise through my TA . I have purchased it in the past because of my aging mothers health and the distinct possibility we would have to cancel because of that. She went to "her glory" a couple of weeks ago, so my focus on coverage has shifted. With all of this said, can someone help me know which travel insurance actually covers everything, if such a thing even exist. I would really appreciate helpful input.

 

 

We like USAA

[SRF]

We like USAA

 

FYI, USAA does not provide travel insurance directly. They have a deal with Travel Insured International.