Allure OTS: 3 year old child denied boarding due to Influenza.

[mjkacmom]

How many cabins were booked?

[brillohead]

1 hour ago, motopolitico said:

Ever hear of insurance fraud? The insurance company wants confirmation that none of us took the cruise prior to paying out. RCCL prevaricated repeatedly and frustrated our attempts to obtain this most rudimentary information. 

Interesting... never seen anyone else have to provide that information.  Seems like it would be pretty obvious if you were home all week that you didn't go on the cruise.  

[aurora_borealis]

47 minutes ago, LMaxwell said:

 

Child is a minor in same cabin.  

 

Eh, just leave 'em at embark! No big. 🙄

 

About half this thread seems to miss the timing of the child becoming feverish, and that RC only denied boarding to the child and only initially offered FCC to the 3 year old. 

 

Did OP do everything exactly right? Maybe not. But OP also didn't do anything wildly wrong 

[cruisinmeme]

8 hours ago, Mapleleafforever said:

Lesson learned to everyone if this is the way Royal is handling this.....kids get sick all the time....pump them with a little tylenol and at the cruise terminal tell them everyone is fine. The way kids recuperate they'll be ok in a day or 2. Kids also run mild fevers when teething so can also say teeth are coming in. 

But the kid had the freakin flu.  So you are advocating to spread flu all over and ruin everyone’s cruise.

why not avoid all this crap and crying.  Take the kid to ER or urgent care. Call RC and cancel, have the doctor fill out the few lines on the insurance paper and just like that mom,dad and kid gets their money back. It works cause I cancelled 4 days before a. Cruise. 

If people followed the rules and guideline it would be so simple. Yes, it turns into a mess when you dont. 

A GOOD RULE IS “DON’T MAKE YOUR PRBLEM MY PROBLEM” 

[Mapleleafforever]

8 minutes ago, cruisinmeme said:

But the kid had the freakin flu.  So you are advocating to spread flu all over and ruin everyone’s cruise.

why not avoid all this crap and crying.  Take the kid to ER or urgent care. Call RC and cancel, have the doctor fill out the few lines on the insurance paper and just like that mom,dad and kid gets their money back. It works cause I cancelled 4 days before a. Cruise. 

If people followed the rules and guideline it would be so simple. Yes, it turns into a mess when you dont. 

A GOOD RULE IS “DON’T MAKE YOUR PRBLEM MY PROBLEM” 

In this case absolutely!!! They only offered an FCC to the 3 year old when they should have offered a full refund and given some actual paperwork (or email) so they could go to their travel insurance. So in this specific case I would have absolutely lied and brought the sick kid onboard.  We're in the thick of cold and flu season, do you know how many people are lying right now in order to board a ship?? 

 

I feel the need to state yet again we were on Allure last week and everywhere you turned were people coughing.....they were coughing because it's cold and flu season. These are the risks we take when travelling. 

[motopolitico]

1 hour ago, brillohead said:

Interesting... never seen anyone else have to provide that information.  Seems like it would be pretty obvious if you were home all week that you didn't go on the cruise.  

Not all of us live in South Florida. Not all of us live in cities with reliable air connections. 

[Bloodgem]

19 hours ago, motopolitico said:

Then they told me they wouldn’t discuss it with me, only my TA. Then when my TA called and conferenced me in, they told her they wouldn’t know what happened until the ship came back.

Is it normal that if you are denied boarding you have to wait for the ship to return before RCI will talk about the reason for the denial?

[brillohead]

15 minutes ago, motopolitico said:

Not all of us live in South Florida. Not all of us live in cities with reliable air connections. 

Even easier to prove you're not on the cruise -- you have hotel bills in Florida for the week you're supposed to have been on the cruise.

[CruisingAlong4Now]

So it's been a week and the OP is all pushed out of shape because RC hasn't responded exactly as she would like.  Well, I guess RC is a little busy dealing with a pandemic that is wrecking their business.  They have thousands and thousands of clients for whom they have to determine where the ships will go; who will be allowed on; who will be allowed off; what to do with staff, etc.

 

The OP should just chill and take care of the sick child. The letters, money, and insurance will eventually sort out. A week doesn't seem like a very long time unless that's all you focus on.

[brillohead]

12 minutes ago, Mapleleafforever said:

Did you read the original post at all? It's been a week and still nothing from Royal. 

The other way to look at it -- it's ONLY BEEN A WEEK.

Royal is having to deal with a bazillion different passengers whose cruises were cancelled.  Refunds are taking some time due to the sheer numbers involved (just like when hurricanes disrupt things).  

To expect everything to instantly show up is just not feasible. 

[brillohead]

1 minute ago, CruisingAlong4Now said:

The letters, money, and insurance will eventually sort out. A week doesn't seem like a very long time unless that's all you focus on.

Great minds think alike... we posted at the same time!

[Habs_cat]

3 hours ago, motopolitico said:

Ever hear of insurance fraud? The insurance company wants confirmation that none of us took the cruise prior to paying out. RCCL prevaricated repeatedly and frustrated our attempts to obtain this most rudimentary information. 

It would seem responsible for RCI to wait until your planned cruise reached its final destination before producing this type of document. They have to be able to truthfully say that passengers X, Y and Z did not embark on this cruise at any point. Your child was denied boarding last weekend, IIRC, so I am not surprised that no documentation has been produced yet. Hopefully it will come along quickly now that the ship has disembarked that cruise.

Keep in mind that cruise cancellation departments and insurance have been super busy dealing with COVID 19. They may have had to add extra new personnel to deal with this.

 

A few years ago my father passed away after the final payment date of a very expensive cruise on a different cruise line. It took months to get a refund through insurance, and we had a death certificate. (I’m not sure that his wife was ever refunded - insurance through it was perfectly reasonable to expect a

new widow to go on a 3 week cruise one month after her partner passed away).

 

I hope your kid kid is feeling better, and you can get some satisfaction shortly.

[Sunshine3601]

20 hours ago, motopolitico said:

I feel like a moron because I stupidly told the truth about my kid’s fever. RCLhas offered a future cruise credit for my 3 year old child and nobody else in our cabin. This is beyond ridiculous. Did they really expect that we would leave our sick three-year-old alone in South Florida for a week? Neither I nor my travel agent can get anybody at RCI to even talk. It’s been nonstop buck-passing. First the folks at the port told me to call RCCL customer service. Then they told me they wouldn’t discuss it with me, only my TA. Then when my TA called and conferenced me in, they told her they wouldn’t know what happened until the ship came back. These idiots couldn’t even keep their story straight about how / where / when we could get our luggage. Everyone keeps lying and passing the buck.
 

I’m tired of the lies and the buck-passing from RCI. Does anyone have any tips for bringing things to a resolution so I can know exactly how much I’ve been screwed over for? 
 

If we had lied, Allure could have been generating headlines costing RCCL millions. Why shaft us and refuse to even communicate?

 

Does anyone know of a way to contact them other than the customer disservice phone number?

I am curious to know if you knew your toddler was sick before arriving at the port did you think they would let her onboard. 

They have been saying for last 30 days +/-  that anyone with fever or not well would not be allowed to board.

I understand this happens as I have 2 boys but when you knew she woke up not feeling well did you discuss contingency plan with family?  Like maybe you stay with her or you and her go home while other members go on the cruise?

Knowing she had a fever why did you check in your luggage?  Just curious.

Thank you for being honest as everyone should be honest especially since it impacts vacations for thousands of people who saved and saved for that special week.

 

[keishashadow]

IDK i’ve Had my kids & grandkids look perfectly fine one minute and the next they look downright awful. Crazy how fast the flu can hit you.  

 

Consider that rapid flu tests are in the 50% range for false negatives but there also are false positives.  Further testing needs to be performed for certainty’s sake.  A NP felt the child had supporting symptoms and appears she diagnosed ‘the flu’.  That proof of that diagnosis & medical recommendation will need to be provided to the insurer along with verification from RCCL that boarding was denied due to the mother’s self report.

 

Hopefully, that’s enough for the insurance companies to agree is satisfactorily enough for reimbursement of the denied boarding.  In my mind the question is who exactly will be covered in this instance.

 

I’ve been looking at the current policy i bought last year for upcoming cruise the end of the month, trying to figure out our options if things go truly south re the current health crisis before then.  Failed miserably in deciphering it, need to call the insuremytrip or the issuer tomorrow.  Had a lawyer friend unofficially venture she believes the government needs to issue an official pandemic proclamation.  Contract law not her specialty, who knows if that’s true or not.

 

However, I do know that my policy does cover cancellation for BOTH of us if either we or any other immediate relative, even if not along on the trip requires hospitalization etc.  It’s one thing I have always needed to make sure was in the various policies as my mother, who long before needing nursing home care, was under my direct care with her legal residence at my home.

 

It appears as the OP (and I am very sorry your young child became ill and you missed enjoying your cruise) was with a larger group of family & friends.  I realize in that instance they all wouldn’t have fallen under the proviso I cited above, but wouldn’t the immediate family that was booked to sail be covered in this instance?

 

 

 

 

Edited March 2, 2020 by keishashadow