Trip Insurance not worth it

[Guest Redheadmama]

We were on the Carnival Victory when the 26 year old jumped overboard.  We were late getting into port as a result and missed our flight.  I had purchased trip insurance thru insuremytrip.com.  Our plan was Nationwide's Cruise Choice.  When I called them from the ship to make them aware of our situation and to see if our plan covered us for the change in flight and hotel we would have to get I was told we were.  I went ahead and booked our flight the next day and hotel.  The total for the one night delay is $1500.  I sent all info to the insurance company.  Just heard back from them and we are only getting $300.  The original guy that I talked to stated this fell under trip interruption and we had plenty to cover the expenses.  The insurance company is telling me that it only qualifies as a claim for trip delay which is a maximum benefit of $150 a day per person. Well of course the insurance company is stating they have no record of this phone call.  I have been in contact with my credit card company and unfortunately they can't help me either.  What is the point of trip insurance if it will not pay for things that are not caused by the insured?  The supervisor I spoke to said that no insurance company pays for all expenses incurred.  If anyone has any suggestions on where we can turn to for more assistance, we would appreciate the help.  

[linbobky]

5 minutes ago, Redheadmama said:

We were on the Carnival Victory when the 26 year old jumped overboard.  We were late getting into port as a result and missed our flight.  I had purchased trip insurance thru insuremytrip.com.  Our plan was Nationwide's Cruise Choice.  When I called them from the ship to make them aware of our situation and to see if our plan covered us for the change in flight and hotel we would have to get I was told we were.  I went ahead and booked our flight the next day and hotel.  The total for the one night delay is $1500.  I sent all info to the insurance company.  Just heard back from them and we are only getting $300.  The original guy that I talked to stated this fell under trip interruption and we had plenty to cover the expenses.  The insurance company is telling me that it only qualifies as a claim for trip delay which is a maximum benefit of $150 a day per person. Well of course the insurance company is stating they have no record of this phone call.  I have been in contact with my credit card company and unfortunately they can't help me either.  What is the point of trip insurance if it will not pay for things that are not caused by the insured?  The supervisor I spoke to said that no insurance company pays for all expenses incurred.  If anyone has any suggestions on where we can turn to for more assistance, we would appreciate the help.  

what does your policy say about trip interruption? 

[Guest Redheadmama]

I have contacted insuremytrip.com and they are going to look into this for me.  The lady at insuremytrip.com looked at the policy and did say it should have been covered.  I am sending them all the info that I sent Nationwide and they are assigning me an advocate to help.  

[Slugsta]

I hope you get a satisfactory resolution to this. Please will you let us know the outcome?

[Guest Redheadmama]

I will.  We are going on a cruise this Sunday so it might not be til we return but I will come back and give an update.

[sparks1093]

31 minutes ago, Redheadmama said:

I have contacted insuremytrip.com and they are going to look into this for me.  The lady at insuremytrip.com looked at the policy and did say it should have been covered.  I am sending them all the info that I sent Nationwide and they are assigning me an advocate to help.  

I was going to suggest this and am glad that you contacted them. As the seller of the policies they have a vested interest in making sure that you are satisfied and are receiving what you are entitled to receive. Good luck!

[shof515]

https://www.insuremytrip.com/travel-insurance-providers/nationwide/choice-cruise/#tab_plan-summary

 

When you view the plan certificate, they define Trip Delay and Trip Interruption

TRIP DELAY

The Company will reimburse You for Covered Expenses on a one-time basis, up to the Maximum Benefit shown on the Confirmation of Coverage, if You are delayed, while coverage is in effect, en route to or from the Trip for six (6) or more hours due to a defined Hazard.
Covered Expenses:
(a)    Any Additional Expenses incurred;
(b)    A one-way Economy Fare to return You to Your originally scheduled return destination.

TRIP INTERRUPTION

The Company will reimburse You, up to the Maximum Benefit shown on the Confirmation of Coverage, if You join Your Trip after departure or are unable to continue on the covered Trip due to any of the following reasons that are Unforeseen and takes place after departure:

Your Sickness, Accidental Injury or death, that results in medically imposed restrictions as certified by a Physician at the time of Loss preventing Your continued participation in the Trip. A Physician must advise to cancel the Trip on or before the Scheduled Return Date;

Sickness, Accidental Injury or death of a Family Member or Traveling Companion booked to travel with You that results in medically imposed restrictions as certified by a Physician preventing that person’s continued participation in the Trip;

Sickness, Accidental Injury or death of a non-traveling Family Member;

You or a Traveling Companion being hijacked, Quarantined, required to serve on a jury, subpoenaed, the victim of felonious assault during the Trip; having Your principal place of residence made Uninhabitable by fire, flood, volcano, earthquake, hurricane or other natural disaster; or burglary of Your principal place of residence during the Trip;

You or a Traveling Companion being directly involved in a traffic accident, substantiated by a police report, while en route to departure;

You or a Traveling Companion have a  transfer of employment of two hundred fifty (250) miles or more;

A Terrorist Incident that occurs in a city listed on Your Trip itinerary during the Trip. This same city must not have experienced a Terrorist Incident within the ninety (90) days prior to the Terrorist Incident that is causing the cancellation of Your Trip.  Benefits are not provided if the Travel Supplier offers a substitute itinerary. This does not include flight connections or other transportation arrangements to reach Your destination. Your Scheduled Departure Date must be no more than twenty-four (24) months beyond Your Effective Date. A Terrorist Incident that occurs onboard an in-flight aircraft is not covered;

 You, a Traveling Companion or Family Member, who are military personnel, and are called to emergency duty for a natural disaster; this does not include war;

Weather that causes complete cessation of services of the Common Carrier for at least twenty-four (24) consecutive hours and prevents You from reaching Your destination. This benefit will not apply if the potential natural disaster has been forecasted or a storm has been named prior to purchase of this coverage;

Bankruptcy and/or Default of Your Travel Supplier that occurs during Your Trip and more than fourteen (14) days following Your Effective Date. Coverage is not provided for the Bankruptcy or Default of the agency from whom You purchased Your Land/Sea Arrangements. Your Scheduled Departure Date must be no more than twenty-four (24) months beyond Your Effective Date. Benefits will be paid due to Bankruptcy or Default of an airline only if no alternate transportation is available. If alternate transportation is available, benefits will be limited to the change fee charged to allow You to transfer to another airline in order to get to Your intended destination. This benefit only applies if the insurance has been purchased within final payment for the Trip and for the full cost of the Trip;

After three (3) years of continuous employment at the same company, You are terminated or laid-off, from full time employment by that company through no fault of Your own;

Natural disaster at the site of Your destination that renders Your destination accommodations Uninhabitable;

You or a Traveling Companion being required to work during the Trip. Proof of requirement to work, such as a notarized statement signed by an officer of Your or a Traveling Companion’s employer must be presented and said employer must comprise of at least twenty-five (25) full-time employees. This benefit only applies if this coverage has been purchased within final payment for the Trip and You or a Traveling Companion has been employed at the company for at least two (2) years and is not the owner or a co-owner of the company;

Your or a Traveling Companion’s company being made unsuitable for business by fire, flood, burglary, vandalism or other natural disaster and You or a Traveling Companion is responsible for policy and decision making with the company and is directly involved as a member of the disaster recovery team;

You or a Traveling Companion has a previously approved military leave revoked or experience a military re-assignment;

Strike that causes complete cessation of services for at least twenty-four (24) consecutive hours;

The primary or secondary school where Your Dependent Children attend must extend operating session beyond the pre-defined school year, and interferes with Your scheduled Trip dates.

 The Company will reimburse You for the following:
a) pre-paid unused, non-refundable land or sea expenses to the Travel Suppliers;
b) the airfare paid less the value of applied credit from an unused travel ticket, to return home, join or rejoin the original Land/Sea Arrangements limited to the cost of one-way economy airfare (or similar quality as originally issued ticket) by scheduled carrier, from the point of destination to the point of origin shown on the original travel tickets.

In no event shall the amount reimbursed exceed the amount You prepaid for the Trip.
Coverage does not include Default of a Participating Organization or other organization that results in loss of services.

SPECIAL CONDITIONS: You must advise the Participating Organization and the Company or its authorized representative no later than seven (7) days in the event of a claim. The Company will not pay benefits for any additional charges incurred that would not have been charged had You notified the Participating Organization as soon as reasonable possible.

The way how i read these things is that TRIP INTERRUPTION will cover costs if you need to miss the ship at embarkation point and need to rejoin the ship at a different port or something happens during the middle of the cruise and you need to return back home

 

If there is any delay with the plan or ship that is TRIP DELAY

 

Sadly it seems that the insurance company was right with the TRIP DELAY claim. bad customer service told you something else and unfortunately it seems not that much can be done. Almost every major company, include cruise lines have bad reps who do not know anything and just read from a script on the monitor they have

 

 

[StolidCruiser]

1 hour ago, Redheadmama said:

We were on the Carnival Victory when the 26 year old jumped overboard.  We were late getting into port as a result and missed our flight.  I had purchased trip insurance thru insuremytrip.com.  Our plan was Nationwide's Cruise Choice.  When I called them from the ship to make them aware of our situation and to see if our plan covered us for the change in flight and hotel we would have to get I was told we were. 

 

I went ahead and booked our flight the next day and hotel.  The total for the one night delay is $1500.  I sent all info to the insurance company.  Just heard back from them and we are only getting $300.  The original guy that I talked to stated this fell under trip interruption and we had plenty to cover the expenses.  The insurance company is telling me that it only qualifies as a claim for trip delay which is a maximum benefit of $150 a day per person. Well of course the insurance company is stating they have no record of this phone call.  I have been in contact with my credit card company and unfortunately they can't help me either. 

 

What is the point of trip insurance if it will not pay for things that are not caused by the insured?  The supervisor I spoke to said that no insurance company pays for all expenses incurred.  If anyone has any suggestions on where we can turn to for more assistance, we would appreciate the help.  

 

Did you read and understand your policy coverage before you purchased it? 

 

Did you read and understand your policy coverage when presented with a situation in which you would likely need to rely upon the insurance you purchased?

 

Did you read and understand your policy coverage when you were given two different explanations of the restrictions of the insurance you purchased?

 

Trip insurance is certainly worthwhile when one understands what the insurance covers before they purchase it (not only after something happens).

 

 

[Ep010835]

1 hour ago, StolidCruiser said:

 

Did you read and understand your policy coverage before you purchased it? 

.

.

Trip insurance is certainly worthwhile when one understands what the insurance covers before they purchase it (not only after something happens).

 

In fairness to the OP, I'll offer that it is absolutely impossible to imagine and anticipate every single contingency which may occur during a trip. A dumb*** kid jumping overboard?? Come on....... Sometimes you just have to make the best assumptions possible and hope for the best. Sometimes it just doesn't work out the way we plan. 

If I were in the OP's position, I'd immediately be on the phone with Steve at tripinsurancestore. Just as they did with their agent. 

 

[GeezerCouple]

2 hours ago, shof515 said:

https://www.insuremytrip.com/travel-insurance-providers/nationwide/choice-cruise/#tab_plan-summary

 

When you view the plan certificate, they define Trip Delay and Trip Interruption

 

The way how i read these things is that TRIP INTERRUPTION will cover costs if you need to miss the ship at embarkation point and need to rejoin the ship at a different port or something happens during the middle of the cruise and you need to return back home

 

 

If there is any delay with the plan or ship that is TRIP DELAY

 

Sadly it seems that the insurance company was right with the TRIP DELAY claim. bad customer service told you something else and unfortunately it seems not that much can be done. Almost every major company, include cruise lines have bad reps who do not know anything and just read from a script on the monitor they have

 

 

We ran into this when our flight home from Barbados was... cancelled (!?).

It was later rescheduled, but for the next day.

 

In any event, our "delay" coverage came in just a bit short (with two of us sharing our hotel room and extra taxi costs), but that was only because our original air tickets were honored on the way-delayed flight.  Otherwise...???

 

We do need to explore this more.

 

GC

[cherylandtk]

While the noted policy says it covers additional expenses including hotel and one-way economy flights, those expenses are subject to the limits of the policy, which is stated as $150 per day per person.  This is a case of inadequate coverage; there are more robust policies out there but they do cost more.

[GeezerCouple]

11 minutes ago, cherylandtk said:

While the noted policy says it covers additional expenses including hotel and one-way economy flights, those expenses are subject to the limits of the policy, which is stated as $150 per day per person.  This is a case of inadequate coverage; there are more robust policies out there but they do cost more.

 

Our policy (Travel Insured) had more coverage for this, under the "delay".

But it still would have been sorely lacking IF we had needed to pay for much more expensive last-minute airfare, etc.

Of course, even expensive airfare is "limited", compared with potential for high medical expenses.  But we now travel long-haul in premium classes.  And even J, long-haul - and especially one way - can get very $$$$.

Also, we always use awards for the premium long-haul air travel.  The chance of getting those on very short notice is probably pretty slim.

 

We still aren't sure what the best way to deal with this is.

IS there anything other than the rather limited "delay" coverage, when there is a really significant/costly and unavoidable delay?

And... presumably this would be the same situation if someone's flight was late, and the "ship sailed"?

We all discuss "getting to the next port", but... on whose dime?

We always arrive at least one day in advance, but IF there were a major regional blizzard, for example....?

 

GC

[cherylandtk]

There are so many scenarios, it’s hard to envision them all.  In the OP’s case, it is not clear what happened to the original airfare...was the flight booking cancelled without any sort of credit or re-use option?  Or was it just lost as a no-show?  In this sort of case there should be so e sort of credit available to book another flight, but this is of limited use if one uses points or has a higher class of service.

 

We tend to use cruise air for international flights just because it is covered by them and they have a proven track record of booking passengers on alternate flights when there are ship delays. PescadoAmarillo just had that happen in Shanghai last week.

 

 

[LuckyStar]

I have purchased, possibly, the same policy for my upcoming cruise.  My trip interruption is listed under Return Home Early and only covers $500.  There is also a Shipboard Service Disruption coverage of $200. Not sure if this is similar.  Interested to see how this plays out for OP.