A word of caution about Princess Protection insurance and back to back cruises

[Ombud]

44 minutes ago, MissP22 said:

The benefits are OK. I think you have misunderstood. ...

Internet minutes are OK.

Specialty coffees are OK .

Laundry is OK

😱

but this isn't about you .... it's about reading all those contractual pages that many of us, myself included, just 'accept' and could get negatively impacted like OP at a very dark time. Thank you OP for reminding us to read / or at least more than a cursory glance thru it. 

[forever$B123]

On 9/25/2019 at 8:45 AM, gottagocit said:

Sorry but this is a rather long post but worth your time to read if you have an issue while traveling. I’ve delayed writing this post to try to get a better resolution but it’s just not going to happen so here goes. 

 

If you intend to book multiple voyages very close together or as a back to back trip and plan to use Princess insurance to protect against trip interruption etc then you should be aware of a potential for a disappointing surprise should you need to use the insurance. 

 

In February of this year we flew from the USA to Brisbane, Australia where we had a very nice 3 days stay before boarding the Sea Princess for a 7 day voyage that would return to Brisbane. After this voyage we had planned a break in north New Zealand of about a week before we boarding the Majestic in Auckland, New Zealand for a 11 day voyage to Sydney. We purchased platinum level Princes Protection. 

Between the two voyages we booked independent flights from Brisbane to Auckland that we knew would not be insured under the insurance. 

 

When booking the first voyage easy air options allowed the purchase of “round trip” flights into Brisbane (from the USA) and out of Sydney (back home in USA) where our 2nd voyage ended. The second flight did not allow this r/t option. After weighing the r/t price of two one ways (one on each cruise) we booked the easy air r/t flights on the 1st voyage. 

 

On day 2 of the 2nd voyage we received a call from the USA and learned my wife’s mother had passed suddenly. We disembarked in Wellington, NZ on day 3 and after much research and expenditures we flew to New Orleans where her family lived and helped make arrangements and attended services and helped her dad cope as best we could. A couple weeks later we rented a car and drove the 12 hours home to Tennessee. 

 

The important things for everyone to know are:

 

1) Princess Protection will only reimburse you up to the original paid cost of your cruise & flights (each voyage has its own cost base)

 

2) R/T airfare booked under the first cruise of a b2b (or closely booked cruises) only counts toward cost base of that cruise and none of the airfare cost can be associated with the 2nd voyage cost even when the return flight is booked from the scheduled disembarkation port for the 2nd voyage 

 

3) The reimbursed cost of flights home upon an interruption is only applicable to your home city and not to a second city such as New Orleans in our case. They will estimate what a flight home would have cost to calculate covered amount. 

 

4) Expenses incurred later to get home from New Orleans after a funeral are not covered (IE: rental car, gas etc)

 

5) Receipts are required for any qualifying expense, even a taxi ride from the ship to an airport to get home

 

Summary: If you experience an interruption mid cruise while on an international trip you will quickly exceed the original cost of the insured trip especially if you do not book flights for each voyage separately so don’t expect all expenses to get home to be reimbursed given the above items. Princess will do nothing to help resolve an issue following insurance claim processing such as how flights are associated to flights for multiple voyages. The onboard staff of the Majestic were so kind and understanding when helping us deal with the interruption given due to our family loss. 

 

Hope me this helps someone,

Chris

Chris,

 

I am the one that asked for this information and it was indeed helpful!

So sorry that after your efforts, others on the post could not have been more gracious, and compassionate considering your loss!

Thanks so much - Berney

[MissP22]

30 minutes ago, Ombud said:

😱

but this isn't about you .... it's about reading all those contractual pages that many of us, myself included, just 'accept' and could get negatively impacted like OP at a very dark time. Thank you OP for reminding us to read / or at least more than a cursory glance thru it. 

They do like to keep people confused. 

[Ombud]

1 minute ago, MissP22 said:

They do like to keep people confused. 

It's not just cruise lines, people seldom read all the legalese they are presented. Did you read all pages when you last bought a car, cell phone, your last utility bill? Or just the bottom  line.  THAT IS WHAT HE'S SAYING 

[MissP22]

3 hours ago, Ombud said:

It's not just cruise lines, people seldom read all the legalese they are presented. Did you read all pages when you last bought a car, cell phone, your last utility bill? Or just the bottom  line.  THAT IS WHAT HE'S SAYING 

Yes. Confusing isn't it?

There probably isn't any agreement you accept that doesn't favor the seller. 

[c-boy]

Edited September 27, 2019 by c-boy

[jagoffee]

On 9/26/2019 at 11:27 AM, silversneakers said:

If you travel a great deal, you might want to look into an Annual Travel Policy.

Please tell us more.  Where do you purchase an annual travel policy in the US and how much does it cost?

It might be worth it for some people.  
 

Thank you.

[silversneakers]

4 minutes ago, jagoffee said:

Please tell us more.  Where do you purchase an annual travel policy in the US and how much does it cost?

It might be worth it for some people.  
 

Thank you.

I know there are probably more search sites but the one I used was Squaremouth. It allows you to put in your parameters, etc. and then it will give you different company options and pricing. You just have to pay attention to asking for the things that are important to you. 

[jagoffee]

18 minutes ago, silversneakers said:

I know there are probably more search sites but the one I used was Squaremouth. It allows you to put in your parameters, etc. and then it will give you different company options and pricing. You just have to pay attention to asking for the things that are important to you. 

Interesting.  Thank you.

[cruisequeen4ever]

Good to know. It’s a convenient insurance product to get when only needing to insure the cruise and EZ Air flights. We usually use a third party company, though, for our cruises that include other nonrefundable costs. In light of what you shared, I don’t know that I’ll ever purchase Princess insurance again unless it’s a close to home, simple cruise.

[PoohUnderstands]

I just want to say thanks.  I am one of those old people and use Princess' insurance.  I don't mind being partially self-insured and Princess' insurance is much less expensive for me.  Also I do have MedJet coverage also.  

What I do want to thank the OP for is that I have an upcoming B2B and will make sure I book departure flight connected to the first cruise and return flight connected to the second cruise!

 

Pooh

Edited September 29, 2019 by PoohUnderstands

[gottagocit]

23 minutes ago, PoohUnderstands said:

I just want to say thanks.  I am one of those old people and use Princess' insurance.  I don't mind being partially self-insured and Princess' insurance is much less expensive for me.  Also I do have MedJet coverage also.  

What I do want to thank the OP for is that I have an upcoming B2B and will make sure I book departure flight connected to the first cruise and return flight connected to the second cruise!

 

Pooh

 

I glad to see others may benefit from the info in the OP. Not knowing this particular “fine print” cost us plenty and nearly turned us away from Princess for good.

 

I didn’t include in the OP but our first voyage of that trip was also interrupted by a typhoon and we disembarked two days early in Cairnes vs scheduled Brisbane but the expenses associated with that portion of our trip were mostly covered but for our original independent flights from Brisbane which were lost. It did nonetheless make for a large number of changes on the fly to our itinerary and spending lots of $’s to recover and get Roman in two cities and make our way to Auckland. Together the two voyage interruptions and related loss of my MIL nearly gave us more than we could handle in such a short time. 

 

Trying to make multiple wholesale changes to multiple sets of plans while also keeping track of all the expenses, receipts and issues for filing with insurance later wasn’t easy while at the same time dealing with such a family loss when 18 hours time difference (maybe Moreno or less, can’t recall) with all of the rest of our family. 

 

The OP wasn’t however intended to necessarily bash their insurance but rather inform others of one problem that can arise from using it given our specific set of circumstances. Like you we have an upcoming voyage and do intend to use it again but with more info in our possession than before. As you say the cost (for us also) is less than others we priced. 

 

For the last couple years we have also maintained a relatively inexpensive year round international medical plan that has excellent benefits and limits for any health issue that may come up so this portion of the Princess coverage is somewhat redundant for us. Our primary reason for the Princess one is the cruise when flight protection. 

 

Take me care and smooth sailing,

Chris 

[Hlitner]

We have often posted (usually on the Cruise Insurance blog) about our dislike of cruise line policies (not just Princess).  Many use a "cancel for any reason" marketing gimmick to suck folks in....but the policies often lack many features when it comes to interruption, cancellation,  and especially medical.  There are some folks (primarily older seniors) that must rely on cruise line policies because their age might make them uninsurable or add to the cost of getting policies.  But for those who have a choice (most folks under 80) it really pays to look around at the various travel and trip medical insurance policies.  There are also some decent travel insurance brokers (the tripinsurancestore is one often cited here on CC) that can help folks sort through the various options.

 

Hank