HAL Platinum Protection when one person cancels

[Gilford57]

What happens if there are two people in a cabin and one person cancels?  Assume both travelers purchased HAL's Platinum Protection plan.  The one who cancels (traveler A) should get a 90% refund of their cruise fare.  But will the other person (traveler B) be charged a single supplement?  If so, will the Platinum Plan cover the single supplement for traveler B? I don't see anything in the plan document that addresses the single supplement. 

 

I have searched and found another thread that addresses the situation when insurance was not purchased.  The consensus is for traveler A to not cancel, just be a no show.  Then no single supplement will be charged and traveler A's taxes and fees might even be refunded.

 

I am trying to figure out if it is worth purchasing the HAL plan, if the sole purpose is to cover this situation.  

[Duquesmom]

I think you should call AON, who handles HAL’s Platinum coverage.

800-453-4047.  
 

I looked in my policy from 1/2022 & I don’t see it mentioned.

Please let us know the answer.

[Gilford57]

2 hours ago, Duquesmom said:

I think you should call AON, who handles HAL’s Platinum coverage.

800-453-4047.  
 

I looked in my policy from 1/2022 & I don’t see it mentioned.

Please let us know the answer.

I tried AON and got through to a rep fairly quickly. She clearly did not understand the policy and did not know the answer.  She then spoke with her supervisor and got back to me.  Bottom line, I need to call HAL as AON does not deal with trip cancellation claims. 

 

I asked the question here because when I originally called HAL, they could not give me an answer. I was hoping someone on cruise critic had seen this before. I will try calling HAL again again.  Maybe I will get a more knowledgeable HAL rep.

Edited June 27, 2022 by Gilford57

[Gilford57]

I called HAL and this time got another rep who completely understood my question. Unfortunately, I did not get the answer I was hoping for.  She said:

 

The person canceling will get 90% of their cruise fare back.  The other person will be assessed a single supplement (double the cruise fare, but only one taxes/fees). The Platinum plan will not cover the second person's single supplement.

 

So in my specific situation, the plan does not make sense.

[LAFFNVEGAS]

Unfortunately this is where the coverage of the Insurance Platinum and Standard as well as HAL's policy in how they treat this gets extremely murky and it is definitely not in the favor of the passenger either the one canceling and or the one that wants to stay cruising. Sadly best sollution is both to cancel and get credit but I know that is not the answer you want to hear. It is actually a very ugly situation. And yes what you read about one not canceling and just not showing up is the best for the one that wants to stay with the cruise but not for the one that needs to cancel.

HAL insurance absolutely will NOT cover the extra cost of the person that gets switched to single supplement. The only one who comes out ahead is HAL unless...You both have Platinum Insurance. The one canceling can cancel all the way up till sail away. The one who wants to cruise gets checked in and on board, then the one that wants to cancel calls in to cancel to be able to use their cancellation insurance. Once the 2nd person is checked in and on board my understanding is they will not change pricing, But then anything can change but you are probably safe. The hard part for the person canceling is the calling HAL to cancel especially depending on where the ship is sailing from and day of the week. The wait times with HAL continue to be long in most cases.

[Babr]

All is not lost. There are plenty of policies out there that address single supplement. 
 

I suggest you call a broker like Trip Insurance Store and explain your situation to them. They can help you find a policy that works. 

 

[Gilford57]

7 minutes ago, Babr said:

All is not lost. There are plenty of policies out there that address single supplement. 
 

I suggest you call a broker like Trip Insurance Store and explain your situation to them. They can help you find a policy that works. 

 

Thanks for the thought, but I already took that route.  That's one of the reasons I was looking at the HAL plan.  I'm way too late for the third party CFAR plans offered by Trip Insurance Store and one of their major competitors.  With HAL, you can purchase at final payment.  If I was eligible, the third party plans would cover the single supplement, but they cost more and offer only a 75% refund. It does not matter, because I am way past the initial deposit date.

[Babr]

Yes, third-party insurance operates quite differently, but why can’t you buy a policy that covers single supplement?  You are not the one cancelling. You do not need CFAR.

 

I suppose it depends on how it is booked, but if each is financially responsible for his own share and each has insurance to cover it, it seems you should be able to buy a policy now to meet your needs. Your companion is the one who needs the HAL policy if he has to cancel for something other than a reason covered by a standard policy.

 

 

 

 

[LAFFNVEGAS]

13 minutes ago, Babr said:

Yes, third-party insurance operates quite differently, but why can’t you buy a policy that covers single supplement?  You are not the one cancelling. You do not need CFAR.

 

I suppose it depends on how it is booked, but if each is financially responsible for his own share and each has insurance to cover it, it seems you should be able to buy a policy now to meet your needs. Your companion is the one who needs the HAL policy if he has to cancel for something other than a reason covered by a standard policy.

 

 

 

 

All most all third party insurance companies require you purchase their insurance with in 10 days of booking and making deposit, once outside of the initial first 10 days most of the coverage is not available as well as pre-existing conditions. The OP is close to final payment and sounds like it wa booking quite some time ago.

[Babr]

19 minutes ago, LAFFNVEGAS said:

All most all third party insurance companies require you purchase their insurance with in 10 days of booking and making deposit, once outside of the initial first 10 days most of the coverage is not available as well as pre-existing conditions. The OP is close to final payment and sounds like it wa booking quite some time ago.

Yes, but that does not make any difference unless OP is insuring both parties on one policy. I thought each was individually responsible. I have an incomplete understanding of the arrangements.

 

As a side note, the time-sensitive period applies only to CFAR and financial default.There are some policies that allow the pre-existing conditions waiver at final payment as well as the initial deposit window. Otherwise, one can buy insurance at any time.

Edited June 27, 2022 by Babr

[Torquer]

Very interesting and not fair in this case, but I can certainly see why HAL does it this way, since it could very easily be abused.

 

Traveler A wants to cruise solo, so he initially pays the deposit for his friend B to be his phantom cabin-mate, and then buys cancel for-any-reason insurance for both A and B.  Later he cancels B.  Now if HAL would not enforce the solo supplement in this case, A would get a solo cabin for much cheaper than his normal fare plus the solo supplement.

[Lindancer]

1 hour ago, Torquer said:

Very interesting and not fair in this case, but I can certainly see why HAL does it this way, since it could very easily be abused.

 

Traveler A wants to cruise solo, so he initially pays the deposit for his friend B to be his phantom cabin-mate, and then buys cancel for-any-reason insurance for both A and B.  Later he cancels B.  Now if HAL would not enforce the solo supplement in this case, A would get a solo cabin for much cheaper than his normal fare plus the solo supplement.

Yes.  We have been traveling with our grandson, who gets a much lower rate as the 3rd person in the cabin.  So, along the same lines as this discussion, if my husband or I were to back out, my grandson would become one of the 2 primary travelers and (assuming we have insurance) would only get a refund on the 3rd person's lower rate.  This make sense, otherwise people would be pulling this trick, too, hoping to end up with a cheaper fare all around.

[Duquesmom]

 

3 hours ago, Gilford57 said:

I called HAL and this time got another rep who completely understood my question. Unfortunately, I did not get the answer I was hoping for.  She said:

 

The person canceling will get 90% of their cruise fare back.  The other person will be assessed a single supplement (double the cruise fare, but only one taxes/fees). The Platinum plan will not cover the second person's single supplement.

 

So in my specific situation, the plan does not make sense.

Thanks for letting me know HAL’s answer.  

[idiebabe]

We were on Eurodam at the end of May.  My Daughter booked two Rooms and her Step-Daughter (20 yrs old)  and two Sons (13 and 7 yrs old) were in adjoining Room.   My Granddaughter had to cancel about two weeks before Sailing.  My 7 yr old Grandson’s Fare was $75 as a 3rd.  All had Platinum Insurance and all flights booked with FlightEase.

 

My PCC is on Maternity but PCC I spoke with suggested not cancelling and doing a No Show since my 7 yr old was $75 and he would have to pay Full Fare as a 2nd passenger.   I told her that my Daughter would lose a lot of money that way especially since the Air was booked through HAL, etc. Granddaughter was cancelled off the Booking and they refunded my Daughter back to her CC minus the funds which were transferred over to my Grandson to bring him up to Full Fare as the 2nd Passenger.  
 

This Cancel For Any Reason is only beneficial if both in Room are Cancelling and have it, IMO.  If one Cancels and one doesn’t, the person who doesn’t Cancel has to  pay double except for Port Fees/Taxes.