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beware of travel insurance companies


bestestboss
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we had two cruises on rccl booked in jan 2020 and due to covid  they were moved to jan 2022. then aug 1 2021 rccl cancels both cruises. we had insurance on both and wanted it refunded. what a nightmare- i first tried the travel agent and they push me off to insurance company directly. what a rude nasty lady saying the insurance is for you and partner not the cruise line. i reply yes but the CRUSIE LINE now cancelled both cruises so i have insurance polices with no boat to use them on. i did nothing wrong here .

then tried credit card company after two months of back and forth paper work and endless phone calls -they now say its too old to dispute since it was purchased in 2020 and you only have a year to dispute. really are you kidding.  so the power of the pen kicks in for me i send a scathing email to both the head of travel agency and credit card company. finally they give me the bull @@@@ line as a one time courtesy- NO - i paid for a service and you did not supply it.  finally got two checks from insurance company. never again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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You have something in common, possibly, with another poster with the same 'challenge' with insurance paying out.

 

While I can empathize to a great degree, we do not know what type of coverages you initially purchased, as such cannot comment on if you were due any refund, etc.

 

Good luck going forward and bon voyage

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Was the insurance bought from Rccl or somewhere else? I bought our cruise directly from RC and need to cancel. I actually didn't want insurance and told the guy 3 or 4 times but he charged me anyway and they said if I cancel I have to file a claim with Aeon and I heard the process takes months and months. I'm just afraid I'm going to lose my deposit. I can't even transfer the cruise to my son. What an awful cruise line. 

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On 11/24/2021 at 6:49 PM, momofjohnjr said:

Was the insurance bought from Rccl or somewhere else? I bought our cruise directly from RC and need to cancel. I actually didn't want insurance and told the guy 3 or 4 times but he charged me anyway and they said if I cancel I have to file a claim with Aeon and I heard the process takes months and months. I'm just afraid I'm going to lose my deposit. I can't even transfer the cruise to my son. What an awful cruise line. 

Our transferred policy was purchased from a 3rd party through The Trip Insurance Store not from RCI.

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Here is our horror story about one of the most unreputable Travel Insurance Companies on the Market.

 

In recent years, we have purchased almost all of our cruise travel insurance with one Travel Insurance Company, i.e., April Travel Protection Insurance and when they reneged on their promise to reimburse us for a loss, we realized we made a Big Mistake.

 

Since the 1990s my wife and I had been on over 75 cruises. After retirement, we always had 6 or 7 cruises booked for each year.

 

That worked out great until Covid-19 unknowingly made its surprise appearance. After its arrival we learned the hard way, we had purchased our insurance from the wrong Travel Insurance Company. 

 

 

There are Four Things that Senior Cruisers Need to Consider when booking future cruises and purchasing the right Travel Insurance Protection.

 

 

First: Senior Citizens, like us, need to be very cautious which Company they contract with. We contracted with April Travel Protection and that was a big mistake.

 

We have been contracting with April Travel Protection for our cruise insurance for many years, but since we had a claim in March 2020, they have continually lied to us.

 

This horror story began appropriately, on Friday the 13th.  On that date we were scheduled to leave our home in Texas for a 15-day cruise on the Celebrity Eclipse from Santiago, Chili to San Diego, CA.

 

Also on that day, our Personal Vacation Manager called to tell us that because we were over 60, we needed to get a Doctor’s Note to ensure that we were healthy enough to set sail on a cruise. I advised her we were about to leave for the cruise, so how could we get a letter from a doctor at that late hour.

 

She asked when did our cruise sail, and when I said Sunday, March 15, 2020, she stated we were good.  The rule only applied to cruises that began on Monday, March 16, 2020.  So, we began our trek to Santiago, Chile.

 

We were so excited because for the first time we had been upgraded to an Aqua Class Suite on the Eclipse.

 

After flying all night on Friday, the 13th, we arrived in Santiago, Chili on Saturday, March 14, 2020. We were part of a VIP Group package that included round trip airfare and a 1 night stay in a Santiago Hotel.

 

We met other couples at the Santiago Airport who also had the same package.

 

After traveling all night, we were tired, and when we arrived at the Hotel we checked in and went directly to our room and crashed.  About an hour later there was a knock on our door.  When I opened the door, a fellow passenger said just two words, “It’s Cancelled”.  I said what is cancelled.  She said the cruise.

 

I told the fellow cruiser, that is impossible, I spoke to our cruise specialist less than 2 hours before we left home, and we were assured that our cruise would sail.

 

She was, however, unfortunately correct, I then tried to call April Travel Protection Insurance to determine why our cruise was cancelled (at that time there had been no news or information concerning Covid-19 or even what it was).  So now we needed to contact our travel insurance company to find out why the cruise was cancelled, and to have them book our passage back home.  But, neither I, nor the other passengers could get through to April Travel Protection Insurance all that day. 

 

We asked the Hotel Concierge if he could get through. After hours of trying he had us and some of the cruisers at the Hotel on the VIP package listen to a recorded message, from April Travel Protection Insurance, that said wherever you are, due to volume of calls from cruisers,  please make your own travel arrangements home, and we will reimburse you after you get home. I tried all day to reach our airline carrier to book our flight home without success.

 

Finally, early Sunday morning, April 15, 2020, around 1AM, I finally was able to get an agent at United Airlines, and I purchased two one-way tickets for my wife and I to get back home that would leave Santiago, Chile on Monday, April 16, 2020, at 1:30 AM.  It cost us $2,997.86

 

Upon arriving home, I filed a claim with my Insurance Company, i.e., April Travel Protection Insurance Company. After filing our claim, April Travel on numerous occasions told us we needed to give them more and more information.

 

After submitting all the additional documentation, they requested, a few months later, April Travel Protection finally denied our claim.  I asked them what other information they needed. 

 

I was told that the claim was denied not because of the lack of information we submitted, but because Covid-19 was not covered.

 

I said, of course not, no one even knew that Covid-19 existed at the time we began our trek to Santiago Chili.  It was not known until days after we got back from the cancelled cruise.

 

 

In addition to the loss of this air travel reimbursement, we are also losing all the Travel Insurance premiums that we had pre-paid for cruises that were future to the one in question.

 

I also have emails and other documentation where April Travel Protection Insurance had promised us that they would pay us back for some of the premiums we had pre-paid for five or more other future cruises that were cancelled in 2020 and 2021.

 

We have had numerous conference calls with April Travel Protection Insurance where they have promised to get back to us and reach a payment settlement, but they never did (one sample is attached).

 

 

This leads to the second issue.

 

 

SECOND: Senior Citizens Need to be Very Cautious about Purchasing Multiple Future Cruises.

 

Both my wife and I are in our 70s, and I had heart surgery this summer 2021, and I may not ever be able to cruise again.

 

As far as reimbursements, the cruise lines reimbursed us for all our cancelled cruises, but April Travel Protection Insurance will not Reimburse us for those pre-paid Travel Insurance premiums.

 

They said they will only apply the loss amounts as credits for Travel Insurance on future cruises. So, if we never travel again, we will lose all that money in addition to our non-reimbursed airfare that they promised us..

 

Thus, all Senior Citizens, like us, need to consider that our health is subject to change; and that we should not book as many future cruises as we did when we were younger. 

 

We have learned this lesson the hard way, and we hope others will learn from our mistakes. 

 

We have paid $5,184.00 in future April Travel Protection Insurance premiums, so that amount, and the unpaid reimbursement for the airplane tickets home from Chile adds up to about $9,000.00; that we feel has been stolen from us.

 

We have loved to cruise, and our last cruise experience, instead of being a happy one, will be remembered as a nightmare.

 

I have emails from April Travel Protection Insurance where they have promised they would do some kind of reimbursement, and after months of waiting its just “crickets”.  I would tell anyone never buy “insurance” from that company.

 

 

Third: Even if Covid-19 is later deemed to be a Covered Insurable Event Will the Different Covid Variants Be Covered Also

 

On our last telephone call with April, I asked the question even if your company later covers Covid-19 will you cover the different variants that may arise?

 

I was told they had not thought about that; and that was a good question; and they also said, I don’t know the answer to that one. But, based on this company’s track record with us, I believe they won’t pay those claims either.

 

 

Fourth: Pro Bono Services for Travel Claims

 

Lastly, I am an Avid listener to Cruise News; and I remember last year early in the Covid Season, they had a guest on  their program who mentioned that there were firms that would take cases like ours, perhaps on a pro bono basis; and/or as a class action case. If so, can you someone assist us and point us to one of these legal or paralegal services? Such as their contact telephone numbers and/or addresses.  Thanks.

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