Lessons Being Learned

[ahill13]

I need to vent to people who may understand. And hopefully help someone at the same time.

 

We have 3 rooms booked for a cruise schedule in 2 weeks. 

Room 1: unexpectedly has been in the hospital for almost 3 weeks and does not have travel insurance

Room 2: waiting on their passport renewal and the passport office lost her original and has her birth certificate, has been caring for the people in Room 1, and does not have travel insurance

Room 3: feeling guilty about going on a celebration trip without the rest of our group....but at the same time, I'm going on this vacation.

 

Get trip insurance. Renew your passport on time. That is all. 

[davekathy]

We no longer cruise with others (since 2010). No mare drama. 

Edited January 27, 2023 by davekathy

[ahill13]

Good choice 🤠 

I also appreciate not having to make group decisions about what to do, when to eat, etc.

[BobH5849]

Sorry to hear about your friends unfortunate situation.  Hope Room #1 has a speedy recovery.  Some time ago my son booked a RCI cruise and was not able to take it for some reason I can't remember and he transferred it to us.  I'm not sure if that would work in room 's #1 & 2 with such short notice. Both for the cruise transfer and finding someone they really like with such short notice.  I for one would hate to have to eat the cruise cost and have no one be able to take advantage of it.  Just a thought however and all the stars would have to line up for such a short notice.   

 

[BobH5849]

9 minutes ago, davekathy said:

We no longer cruise with others (since 2010). No mare drama. 

We also enjoy the stress free sailing alone time.  But, we have 10 of us going in June which will be like herding cats!  One good thing is we will be on Oasis of the Seas.  plenty of placed to get lost!

[dwayneb236]

I've got my passport and 3 approved copies of my birth certificate. It's easy to copies. And always get insurance.

 

 

Edited January 27, 2023 by dwayneb236

[soremekun]

31 minutes ago, davekathy said:

We no longer cruise with others (since 2010). No mare drama. 

This.  Sick of issues and excuses.  Sorry if this seems uncaring.

 

I was going to make a joke about traveling with horses (mare), but decided to rein it in for a bit.

Edited January 27, 2023 by soremekun

[Tatka]

I am soooo sorry. Hopefully both situations can be resolved 😞

We also sail alone (prior we sailed with our son when he was a student)...

[HappyTexan44]

Can Room#2 go with just the BC?  
 

[DrProfessor]

43 minutes ago, soremekun said:

This.  Sick of issues and excuses.  Sorry if this seems uncaring.

 

I was going to make a joke about traveling with horses (mare), but decided to rein it in for a bit.

 

Hay!  I got that last comment.  Enough stalling, lets get to the mane event.

[3CatsInMA]

55 minutes ago, soremekun said:

This.  Sick of issues and excuses.  Sorry if this seems uncaring.

 

I was going to make a joke about traveling with horses (mare), but decided to rein it in for a bit.

Hay!  Quit stalling and hoof it on over to renew your passport!

[cruiseguy1016]

1 hour ago, davekathy said:

We no longer cruise with others (since 2010). No mare drama. 

 

1 hour ago, BobH5849 said:

We also enjoy the stress free sailing alone time.  But, we have 10 of us going in June which will be like herding cats!  One good thing is we will be on Oasis of the Seas.  plenty of placed to get lost!

 

1 hour ago, soremekun said:

This.  Sick of issues and excuses.  Sorry if this seems uncaring.

 

Wow! You don't want to be inconvenienced if your friends experience some bad luck? Your cruise is more important than your friends? We have several sets of friends that we vacation with all the time, sometimes only one couple, sometimes 2 or 3, sometimes even as many as 5 or 6 other couples. We plan our vacations and if something comes up, we figure out the best way to handle it.

 

Maybe our friend circle is different than yours.

[ReneeFLL]

3 minutes ago, cruiseguy1016 said:

Wow! You don't want to be inconvenienced if your friends experience some bad luck? Your cruise is more important than your friends? We have several sets of friends that we vacation with all the time, sometimes only one couple, sometimes 2 or 3, sometimes even as many as 5 or 6 other couples. We plan our vacations and if something comes up, we figure out the best way to handle it.

 

Maybe our friend circle is different than yours.

If I had friends that couldn’t cruise at the last minute and didn’t bother to buy insurance why should I be put out? I’d be going on the cruise. If you have sick friends what can you really do to help them? If they were good friends they should want you to go and enjoy your cruise.

 

@ahill13 Sorry to hear about the caretaker and the one who is sick, but go and enjoy your cruise.

[HappyTexan44]

Well, it could be some people's friends are flaky.   So that is where that is coming from.  
I don't think that applies in the OP's case, sick for several weeks isn't being flaky.  
For our cruise in a year, the core group of 4 might expand to 7 or 10.  Even if both other families decide to go, and then flake out we'll be going anyway.  

[S.A.M.J.R.]

1 hour ago, HappyTexan44 said:

Can Room#2 go with just the BC?  
 

In the OP it mentions the BC is with the government waiting on the passport.

 

OP, is it possible for them to get replacement BCs in the next two weeks (will depend on where they were born, where they live, etc)?  That might be a simple way to accomplish the cruise.

[karena1]

I will never travel without a passport or insurance.  We are 79 and 66. just not worth it.  We cruise about 12 times a year, so having passports and insurance it a major thing to us.

[ahill13]

1 hour ago, S.A.M.J.R. said:

In the OP it mentions the BC is with the government waiting on the passport.

 

OP, is it possible for them to get replacement BCs in the next two weeks (will depend on where they were born, where they live, etc)?  That might be a simple way to accomplish the cruise.

Yes, she is looking into this. Luckily she lives in the county she was born and married in...so she might be able to use those stacks of documents

[loman]

We dont cruise with others either . 

In fact we tend not to tell anybody we are going in case they get some funny idea

to join us . 

We may casually mention it close to the cruise date when the cruise is hopefully sold out.🙂

[gerif]

3 hours ago, BobH5849 said:

Sorry to hear about your friends unfortunate situation.  Hope Room #1 has a speedy recovery.  Some time ago my son booked a RCI cruise and was not able to take it for some reason I can't remember and he transferred it to us.  I'm not sure if that would work in room 's #1 & 2 with such short notice. Both for the cruise transfer and finding someone they really like with such short notice.  I for one would hate to have to eat the cruise cost and have no one be able to take advantage of it.  Just a thought however and all the stars would have to line up for such a short notice.   

 

Maybe I’m wrong but I thought at least one original person must remain on the reservation (e.g., you can’t sell/give away an entire reservation). 

[bonsai3s]

ahill13...can genuinely emphatize...we had an adjoining balcony cabin we booked for my MIL. 10 days before the cruise, she was hospitalized and couldn't travel.

 

We called RCCL first, then the airlines..(no travel insurance), and we had 2 options:

 

1. Pay the $100 change fee/person and move it to a later date.

 

2. Find someone to take my MIL's place.

We took Option 2.

 

We convinced my BIL (didn't have to twist his arm) to go...all we had to do was make name changes on both the cruise and flight. It was time consuming but it did not cost us anything.

 

* Not sure if these options apply to you. Enjoy your cruise.

 

[happy cruzer]

Just getting "travel insurance" may not cover your needs.  You have to get the insurance that covers what you want covered.  Some pre- existing conditions might not be covered.  Policies describe immediate family members differently so caring for someone might not be covered.  Cancel for any reason policies can be expensive, some do not provide refunds vs. cruise credits, have to cancel within certain periods. 

 

Just mentioning this as warning to be sure to dig into the details.

 

Hope things improve for your group. 

[D. B.]

1 hour ago, karena1 said:

I will never travel without a passport or insurance.  We are 79 and 66. just not worth it.  We cruise about 12 times a year, so having passports and insurance it a major thing to us.

My Brother-in-Law travels all over the world Solo and has Never had travel Insurance. He said "I have so much Money if I need to get home fast I'll charter a Jet" well I'm thinking what if you are Comatose? and in a 3rd.  world country/medical facility?

 I had an (not medical)  experience last year that My travel Insurance didn't cover so I started looking into Cancel for ANY Reason coverage and found out most of those have a clause that excludes cancelling inside of 48 Hours of the covered trip starting! So even If I had spent big on that I still would have been SOL.

   I sometimes Cruise Solo and I stick a copy of my Travel Insurance Policy to the Cabin Wall with a Magnet and show it to my Cabin Steward. I tell him if I end up incapacitated Show this to Guest Services and Medical.  I also make sure my Wife has a full copy at Home.

[emeraldcity]

Go on your cruise and enjoy yourself.

 

I had plans with two friends to cruise last February. We hadn't seen each other in over 2 years due to the pandemic. We had each booked our own cabin. Two days before the cruise I fell and broke both ankles shortly after checking into my pre-cruise hotel. It would never have occurred to me to expect them to cancel just because I couldn't go with them. Frankly, that would have made me feel worse. I encouraged them to go and have a wonderful time ... just be sure and send me pictures.

[Ret MP]

We always travel in a group.  Usually my youngest daughter and her family and my old Army buddy and his wife.  One thing we/I make perfectly clear with everyone, none of us are joined at the hip (except my wife and I are) and if one couple wants to do one thing and another wants to do something else, so be it, no hard feelings or take it like someone does like someone else, it's about preferences, period.  That's while ON the cruise.  As stated, we cruise together and we share one cabin (2 bedroom suites).  So, if one couple can't make it, it causes the cost for the others go up.  So far, we haven't had that problem, thankfully.  But, we are a group that knows what we want well in advance and make sure we have everything we need to cruise, well, those things that we can control.  

[davekathy]

3 hours ago, cruiseguy1016 said:

 

 

 

Wow! You don't want to be inconvenienced if your friends experience some bad luck? Your cruise is more important than your friends? We have several sets of friends that we vacation with all the time, sometimes only one couple, sometimes 2 or 3, sometimes even as many as 5 or 6 other couples. We plan our vacations and if something comes up, we figure out the best way to handle it.

 

Maybe our friend circle is different than yours.

Good for you. Been there done that. I was speaking only for us didn't say why in my post (your assumption) and I don't need to justify anything to you. 

Edited January 28, 2023 by davekathy