Coronavirus

[shot2bits]

11 minutes ago, bluewater2111 said:

Found the policy it states this...

 

If one of the following events occurs or prevents you from travelling within seven days of your scheduled departure date: a. an avalanche, earthquake, explosion, fire, flood, landslide, storm or tsunami renders your pre-booked accommodation uninhabitable. b. your pre-booked holiday accommodation is directly affected by a food poisoning outbreak. c. the area in which you were due to stay is affected by pandemic or epidemic influenza. d. a Foreign and Commonwealth Office advisory notice against all travel or all but essential travel to your destination is still in place.

 

Within 7 days??? Am  I covered?

You should be. The pandemic wasn’t in force when you took out the insurance presumably?

[suekay]

3 hours ago, Pensioncruiser said:

Think it depends what your insurance covers, we have Nationwide Flex Plus annual and it covers full costs if a pandemic is declared within 28days of travel. 

We,too, have Flexplus annual cover. I've waded through the terms and conditions but can't find any mention of pandemic. Could you please advise which section has this info?  TIA

[Pensioncruiser]

6 minutes ago, suekay said:

We,too, have Flexplus annual cover. I've waded through the terms and conditions but can't find any mention of pandemic. Could you please advise which section has this info?  TIA

Hi suekay it's under C cancellation note 6 on page 20 & note 9 on page 21. 

[suekay]

13 minutes ago, Pensioncruiser said:

Hi suekay it's under C cancellation note 6 on page 20 & note 9 on page 21. 

Thanks for your speedy reply. We must be looking at different policy booklets as those notes and pages don't tie up with what I'm reading (although I must admit I googled the policy so may be looking at out of date info)

[Pensioncruiser]

8 minutes ago, suekay said:

(although I must admit I googled the policy so may be looking at out of date info

Or perhaps it's ours that's out of date😳 I did say I would be contacting them again before I pay my final balance. 

[Vitalsign]

There were changes to the policy Nov 2019 so check the date of your policy booklet

I've currently only got the amended policy changes so going to check on Nationwide site

[kevinyork]

7 hours ago, Vitalsign said:

There were changes to the policy Nov 2019 so check the date of your policy booklet

I've currently only got the amended policy changes so going to check on Nationwide site

This pages links to the prep and post Nov 19 policies and I can’t see it in either. It does say if you have the insurance in place before Nov 19 then cover under either policy applies, i.e. whichever suits you best. 

[insidecabin]

19 hours ago, rodndonna said:

Ironically enough from the Canadian booking perspective now  -

even if we decide to stay on our Panama cruise  (Mar 24), we would still cancel which would get back about 80% of our booking cost on our insurance since there is a Canadian advisory against cruise travel. Then we would rebook at the current incredibly low pricing (about 50% of our booking pricing). So even If we decided to take the risk (mostly concerned about being quarantined) we would be way ahead financially to cancel and rebook.

 

My preference would still be just to get a future travel credit for 100% of the cost .. so going to wait it out to see if that is offered before cancelling outright.

 

probably  insurance fraud, making a false claim.

[davecttr]

I see coronavirus has just been politicised. Trump bans flights from Europe, err, EU, err, Schengen area. He probably does not know several EU countries are not in the Schengen area. He said ban imports too but later changed his mind on that one.

 

IMO nothing to do with the safety of the USA and everything to do with it being election year.

Edited March 12, 2020 by davecttr

[Daftlad]

Another day. What awaits.

[vwgolf]

On the insurance issue I read my policy and found that I did not have Travel Disruption Cover and when I queried in with the company (Cover For You) they told me that the comparison site I bought it from didn't offer that cover; it's only sold if you purchase with them directly. Who'd ever think of that? Anyway, they were good enough to allow me to upgrade the policy and for an extra £40 I thought it worthwhile. One to keep an eye open for, methinks.

[vwgolf]

1 hour ago, davecttr said:

I see coronavirus has just been politicised. Trump bans flights from Europe, err, EU, err, Schengen area. He probably does not know several EU countries are not in the Schengen area. He said ban imports too but later changed his mind on that one.

 

IMO nothing to do with the safety of the USA and everything to do with it being election year.

 

Undoubtedly; the only thing Donald Trump is worried about is Donald Trump. It will be interesting to see what happens if infection rates continue to rise in the US. My sister is due to travel to Florida in April and is torn between being happy at the prospect of empty theme parks or worried about the possibility of them all being closed.

[rodndonna]

2 hours ago, insidecabin said:

 

probably  insurance fraud, making a false claim.

 

I  was just stating the ironic nature  of the situation of Marella reducing prices drastically but not allowing people to cancel.. not actually considering it......

 

[kevinyork]

Fred Olsens Braemar has five confirmed cases onboard and has been denied docking to end its cruise in Barbados.  Marella are under huge pressure to act now rather than just waiting for the inevitable. 

[shot2bits]

8 minutes ago, kevinyork said:

Fred Olsens Braemar has five confirmed cases onboard and has been denied docking to end its cruise in Barbados.  Marella are under huge pressure to act now rather than just waiting for the inevitable. 

Thing is, they probably  realise a lot of people are considering cancelling and losing their deposits. The longer they ‘delay the inevitable’ the more money for nothing they get.

[kevinyork]

Just now, shot2bits said:

Thing is, they probably  realise a lot of people are considering cancelling and losing their deposits. The longer they ‘delay the inevitable’ the more money for nothing they get.

Totally agree and not just loosing deposits but full balances for upcoming cruises.  They are waiting for a “do not travel/cruise” announcement so people claim on their insurance rather than them cancelling. I think they are putting people at risk rather than hurting their profits.  I’m getting shot down on Facebook groups for saying this an people on their seem to be totally blinkered to what is going on.

[vwgolf]

I suspect the Marella Board are running around like headless chickens without a clue what to do rather than a conscious attempt to fleece their customers. It can't be long before they are forced to fall in line, though.

[rodndonna]

15 minutes ago, kevinyork said:

Totally agree and not just loosing deposits but full balances for upcoming cruises.  They are waiting for a “do not travel/cruise” announcement so people claim on their insurance rather than them cancelling. I think they are putting people at risk rather than hurting their profits.  I’m getting shot down on Facebook groups for saying this an people on their seem to be totally blinkered to what is going on.

 

That's what I am thinking as well. Was hoping that whole "pandemic" thing would rattle them but apparently still not enough for Marella.

We are fortunate to have insurance coverage if it comes to that (impossible to verify as no hope of getting through to the insurance company right now), but in our case it only covers about 80% of our cost, so would prefer a 100% travel credit or just rebook for a latter date. Hope is fading though .....

[Pensioncruiser]

21 minutes ago, kevinyork said:

I’m getting shot down on Facebook groups for saying this an people on their seem to be totally blinkered to what is going on

Think that maybe because it's a Marella site😏

[Pensioncruiser]

13 hours ago, Vitalsign said:

There were changes to the policy Nov 2019 so check the date of your policy booklet

I've currently only got the amended policy changes so going to check on Nationwide site

Yes you are correct, wording is totally different with no mention of pandemic😠

[rodndonna]

On 3/10/2020 at 3:07 PM, Vitalsign said:

The one advantage of TUI Marella  cruises is that all passengers are British (except Canadians flying into Montego Bay) No other passengers are picked up at other ports having flown in from any where in the world All have been flown from a UK airport with TUI - only a few will have made their own flight arrangements and booked a cruise only.

 

 

Does the Fred Olsen Braemer case now indicate that it is not the low risk it was hoped to be .. if I understand its' itinerary, it left from Southampton and was sailing in the Caribbean and now has 5 cases. So not much different that a fly/cruise on Marella to the Caribbean I would think. Hopefully Marella thinks so anyway.

Edited March 12, 2020 by rodndonna

[vwgolf]

38 minutes ago, Pensioncruiser said:

Think that maybe because it's a Marella site😏

Every query on their FB site is met with the standard response "we are closely monitoring the situation blah blah blah". They must get fed up copying and pasting!

[Jim The Scot]

Carnival/Princess Cruise Line have announced they are suspending all operations for 2 months.This affects their fleet of 18 ships and will affect cruises from March 12 th to May 10th

[vwgolf]

3 minutes ago, Jim The Scot said:

Carnival/Princess Cruise Line have announced they are suspending all operations for 2 months.This affects their fleet of 18 ships and will affect cruises from March 12 th to May 10th

We very nearly booked a Carnival cruise from Miami over Easter but went for the Discovery 2 cruise to the Caribbean instead. I'm beginning to wish we hadn't changed our mind as at least we'd know where we stood.

[kevinyork]

1 hour ago, Pensioncruiser said:

Yes you are correct, wording is totally different with no mention of pandemic😠

But it does say if you had the policy in place before 31/10/19 you can effectively get cover under the old or new terms, whichever suit you best.