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

gottagocit

By gottagocit,
in Princess Cruises

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gottagocit Holiday Sharing Rare

gottagocit

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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

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Coral "Live from...." Rare

Coral

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Thanks for sharing your experience.

 

Someone posted a similar but different experience that had the same outcome a few years ago.

 

Overall, I am not impressed with Princess's insurance policy due to the limitations and always book a 3rd party policy with Allianz. Sometimes I book both trying to cover situations. I have had unusual situations come up that I am glad I had Allianz and not Princess's insurance as I would not be covered.

 

Thanks for laying out the details - this will help those in the future. Sorry about your MIL.

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CineGraphic "Live from...." Rare

CineGraphic

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4 minutes ago, 1emerald1 said:

Do you use that solely or in conjunction with Princess vacation protection?

I use this instead of Princess vacation protection. More coverage for less money, and more options to choose from. What's not to like!?

 

Edited by CineGraphic
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Xyla

Xyla

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4 minutes ago, Coral said:

The only benefit of Princess's insurance is "cancel for any reason". Otherwise, their coverage is poor IMO.

 

The coverage is not as good as an external policy but for elderly travellers, the cost is much less. I priced external policies for my parents (ages 79 and 83) for our 14 day summer cruise and the cost was eye popping. Somewhere around $1k pp.  Conversely, for younger adults and children, the cost for an external policy is a fraction of what Princess charges, for vastly expanded benefits.

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Coral "Live from...." Rare

Coral

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1 hour ago, Xyla said:

 

The coverage is not as good as an external policy but for elderly travellers, the cost is much less. I priced external policies for my parents (ages 79 and 83) for our 14 day summer cruise and the cost was eye popping. Somewhere around $1k pp.  Conversely, for younger adults and children, the cost for an external policy is a fraction of what Princess charges, for vastly expanded benefits.

On the other hand, when I was taking my Mom on cruises, I would not buy Princess insurance because the coverage was so minimal (and she didn't have coverage outside of the US). Plus, the pre-existing clause is so confusing. So while it is cheap, it won't cover much if something happens. I would never chance $10K-$20K in coverage. That is maybe 2 days in a hospital, not including surgery. The last thing I wanted to do is take her on a trip where she would have to declare bankruptcy if she had a medical issue on a trip.

Edited by Coral
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Level six

Level six

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I always use an outside insurance too. Over the years,  I have made several claims, from medical to flight cancellations, and have been very happy.  Once I was reimbursed over $2300 per person for a flight change and I had only paid $300 for the insurance.  One good thing about using an outside insurance is it covers you from the minute you leave your house until the minute you get home, as opposed to cruise line insurance that basically covers only the cruise.  

 

Thanks for the heads up.  You never know what will happen on vacation and it is good to warn others who might have a similar vacation plan.  Who would ever think about not being covered if you have insurance? 

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pms4104

pms4104

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18 minutes ago, MissP22 said:

Just one more thing added to the list that Princess doesn't do well. :classic_sad:

Was that really necessary?

 

Insurance can get convoluted, no matter the provider, particularly when mixing cruiseline arrangements with those booked independently.

 

I am curious whether a professional, be it a TA or Princess, assisted the OP in cobbling together this trip and insurance coverage.

 

I read the first post to my spouse, who is not travel insurance savvy, and he saw red flags immediately with the arrangements.

  

Edited by pms4104
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gottagocit Holiday Sharing Rare

gottagocit

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1 hour ago, pms4104 said:

Was that really necessary?

 

Insurance can get convoluted, no matter the provider, particularly when mixing cruiseline arrangements with those booked independently.

 

I am curious whether a professional, be it a TA or Princess, assisted the OP in cobbling together this trip and insurance coverage.

 

I read the first post to my spouse, who is not travel insurance savvy, and he saw red flags immediately with the arrangements.

  

 

Lol. I am the OP. No, the trip want cobbled together by anyone. 

I mentioned the single independent flight to point out how we were getting from the end of one cruise in Brisbane to the beginning of the second one leaving Auckland. Princess will not allow booking of such flights using easy air so you must do them yourself with the understanding they are not covered under the Princess Protection. All other travel was booked with Princess until the interruption occurred at which time we had to get back to the USA on our own of course. 

 

The main point of the OP was to point out the way your trip base cost is established under the Princess Protection which is the $ limit for which you can get reimbursed and how booking r/t flights under one cruise vs two one way flights can screw you if you have to cancel or if an interruption occurs.  

 

 

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gottagocit Holiday Sharing Rare

gottagocit

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34 minutes ago, BoopTennis said:

Geez some if you guys need to relax. I think it was nice of the OP to just explain a situation that people can be aware of in the future. This site is all about info sharing to help others 

 

Thanks.

 

Chris 

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Coral "Live from...." Rare

Coral

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2 hours ago, gottagocit said:

 

Lol. I am the OP. No, the trip want cobbled together by anyone. 

I mentioned the single independent flight to point out how we were getting from the end of one cruise in Brisbane to the beginning of the second one leaving Auckland. Princess will not allow booking of such flights using easy air so you must do them yourself with the understanding they are not covered under the Princess Protection. All other travel was booked with Princess until the interruption occurred at which time we had to get back to the USA on our own of course. 

 

The main point of the OP was to point out the way your trip base cost is established under the Princess Protection which is the $ limit for which you can get reimbursed and how booking r/t flights under one cruise vs two one way flights can screw you if you have to cancel or if an interruption occurs.  

 

 

There was a post probably 2 years ago about a couple who booked multiple B2B on Princess ships for several months. It all sounded good until the ship had to be repaired and one of their cruises was cancelled. They also realized the flaw in the insurance that you did. They had no coverage for this (airfare home, hotel stays, food, etc..). One tries to think of everything when they buy insurance but it is impossible to predict what encounter you will come up against.

 

I appreciate your post. I hope a few people learn from it.

Edited by Coral
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MissP22

MissP22

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1 hour ago, BoopTennis said:

Geez some if you guys need to relax. I think it was nice of the OP to just explain a situation that people can be aware of in the future. This site is all about info sharing to help others 

That's exactly what I got out of it.

Some posters here consider it complaining if you make any comment. 

It's sad. 

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Ombud

Ombud

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23 minutes ago, MissP22 said:

All the other lines have problems that I consider worse. 

Plus I'd lose all by benefits. 

But you don't like your benefits 

 

FWIW: USAA Travel Insurance has cancel for any reason plus expanded medical insurance. I've used it for land based trips but continue to use Princess for Princess cruises. 

 

TO OP: condolences on the loss of your mother-in-law. What a horrible heartwrenching call to get on what was planned on being a great vacation 

Edited by Ombud
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MissP22

MissP22

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11 minutes ago, Ombud said:

But you don't like your benefits

The benefits are OK. I think you have misunderstood. It's only a few of the poor things I've commented on you seem to pick up on. 

 

Internet minutes are OK.

Specialty coffees are OK .

Laundry is OK for our friends we travel with although I don't care for it & only use cleaning. 

Loyalty OBC is good. 

Priority boarding good.  

Lunch with Captain is nice.

All the repeater parties are great for getting extra drinks. 

 

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