How Late Can/Should I Wait Before Cancelling?

How depressing a heading.

I have posted this in the UK Cruisers forum and received advice on pain management, but not on my actual question. Maybe there isn't an answer, but I'd be grateful for any input. I'm posting here as the main bulk of our cruise is on the QM2.

I have a trapped nerve in my neck and for the benefit of those lucky people who have never suffered this I can assure them that the pain is incredible. It's in my neck, back and left arm which feels as if it is burning, and if someone simply brushes against it hurts like hell.

My doctor has prescribed simple exercises and medication, the latter brings its own problems in that they are very strong and I can only take them for 3 consecutive days at a time. He has suggested waiting 6 weeks to see if it settles naturally but if not he will refer me for physio. With the way the NHS is at the moment, I suspect that could take another 2 or 3 weeks.

The problem is we are due to sail 11 weeks today so there is not a lot of manoeuvrability regarding treatment time.

I'm all right sitting down once I've found a comfy position but the minute I stand up and move about I am in agony. I don't even want to think about cancelling but the thought of 4 weeks away not wanting to move around doesn't fill me with enthusiasm either

I've decided that if it hasn't settled I am not waiting the 6 weeks, more like 3 or 4 and then I guess I will have to bite the bullet and pay to see a physio privately. This is still a tight timescale and the anxiety of what to do is not helping.

Would value any advice re my question (even if it's one I don't like)

If you are in the UK, as soon as you cancel will you lose your deposit (unlike most US bookings)? What is the cancellation timeline in the cruise contract? I am assuming the your full payment is not yet due. Not sure if you have travel insurance yet as that may pay for any cancellation as it was not pre-existing I would think.

I am sure your cruise contract will be different but this is an Australian one from my Cruise personaliser (yours should be there for you to check):

"Cancellation & Refunds

Although we would love to see you on board, we understand that plans can change. Should you need to cancel your booking, we ask that you notify your Travel Agent or our Cruise Contact Centre at your earliest convenience. The refund or cancellation charge that will be payable depends on the amount of notice you give us, as follows:

Days Prior to

Departure ...........Cancellation Charge

>90 days ............Deposit

89-64 days........... 25%

63-43 days............50%

42-15 days............75%

<14 days...............100%

I'm assuming you will be able to claim on your insurance - I would wait as long as possible. Is there any advantage in cancelling early?

Unless you really can't afford it I would pay to see a physio ASAP.

I never have to wait more than a couple of days to see mine and the charge is about £40 per session (sometimes a little more for a first session which is a bit longer as they have to talk to you about the issue).

I have had several physical issues and they have all been helped by having physio. My OH has had two issues both of which were massively improved quite quickly.

Obviously your issue is much more serious but if you are in such pain then it is worth trying to get it sorted out as quickly as possible.

To be honest if I have anything wrong that I think having physio will help with I don't even bother to see my GP first.

I had this which also resulted in severe arm pain and tennis elbow. Accupunctre helped followed by good sports physio and was all better in a few weeks.

Assuming you are on Cunard standard UK T&Cs I think the following are the cancellation fees.

From the date of booking until 91 days before departure Deposit

90 to 57 days 50%

56 to 42 days 60%

41 to 16 days 75%

15 to 6 days 90%

Less than 6 days before departure or failure to embark.

For fly-cruises, departure day is the date of the flight departure.

100%

As to when should you cancel, that's not so straightforward as you will need to consider the view of your GP and the effect this will have on your insurance cos. willingness to pay out (I'm assuming you have cancellation for sickness cover). To illustrate:

1. If your doctor states now that there is very little chance you will be fit to travel, but you choose to delay cancelling just in case you are in fact ok and subsequently cancel at a later date, the insurance company is likely to take the view that you have unreasonably delayed notifying and cancelling thereby increasing it's liability. At 11 weeks, you are presumably in the 50% penalty phase. If you cancel with say 21 days to go, you will be in the 75% penalty period. The insurance company may decide that 25% difference is your problem if the report they get back from the doctor suggests you had good reason to know you were unlikely to travel at 11 weeks out.

2. Conversely if you cancel early, but your doctor believes you have a good opportunity to be fit to travel given the treatment suggested, the insurance company might take the view that this is not yet an insurable event and refuse to pay out at all.

My suggestion would be to talk to you doctor for his/her expert view on your likelihood to travel, including what they would include in a subsequent insurance claim report. You can then take an informed view of the financial risk to you of cancelling at different stages.

You might want to see if the doctor will agree that there is no need to cancel immediately, but to review in say 6 weeks time and take a decision then. As long as they are willing to later certify this was their expert view that you followed this gives you the time to try to get your fitness back without compromising your insurance cover.

In the meantime, the suggestion to go ASAP to get physio help sounds to me to be excellent advice.

Thanks Abo for your detailed reply. Certainly given me food for thought.

DH is in denial that we may have to cancel and I wish I could be as positive as him, but then I'm the one with the pain. I'm going to start making enquiries re seeing a physio privately but DH feels I should wait a little longer to see if it will settle naturally. Told him 10 days is the absolute cut off point.

There is an added complication re the holiday because our DD is flying out to New York and sharing our cabin on the return leg home. Not sure where a cancellation on our part would leave her.

The very first thing to do is contact your insurance sap. If you do have to cancel its better to have them along with you rather than putting in a claim later.

That is what you pay the premium for.

David.

I spoke to my husband about this - a professional - and he suggested you try and see a Rheumatologist privately - not a Physio- and seek his/her advice. 11 weeks is good length of time for it to settle, but there are obviously no guarantees.

I hope you are able to resolve the problem and get away.

Thanks everyone for your help and advice. Will keep you informed as to what is happening.

I agree with the advice about speaking to your insurance company to see when they think you should decide about cancellation.

As for the shoulder, I think that there is a time to go private, and this is it in your case.

I don't know enough about the problem to say who you should see. If it were me my first port of call would be my osteopath or masseuse. I know these people do not come cheaply but I have reached the point where I budget about £100 per month for regular 2-weekly massages and 2-monthly visits to the osteopath. (I have ME/CFS and when I'm tired I slouch and my muscles end up in knots, etc.) The NHS is great but there are long delays and they do not cover everything. I know we all have different priorities in life but I think health has to be a high priority. Think of all the money you are saving because you are in too much pain to go out and spend. :D Put some of that into medical visits instead. How much is it worth to you to be out of pain sooner rather than later?

It has always seemed to me that most doctors are not good with things like muscles and back pain. I have seen colleagues who have visited a doctor for back pain and have been off work for a few weeks, in pain. I have been in such agony that I could hardly move and have visited an osteopath and been back at work the next day. Then there was the time I visited a doctor for shoulder pain. I followed his treatment and after 2-3 weeks I still had the shoulder pain and ended up in agony with back pain and had to visit the osteopath. While there I mentioned my shoulder and he spent 5 minutes fixing it and I had no more trouble. I would therefore see such intervention as my first port of call rather than my last.

Here's an article about trapped nerves from the point of view of a chiropractor. http://chirocentre.co.uk/trapped-nerve-neck-pain-relief/

I hope you can get things fixed in time to go on the cruise.

I'm not so sure about contacting the insurance company at this time as IMO they will want to minimise any possible payout amount. I would wait until you know more from doctor as they will require a certificate to say you are not able to travel (unless you have a policy that allows cancellation for any reason)..

The UK cancellation fees seem to be more stringent than here in AU.

Good luck with the shoulder. I hope you do get to cruise.

UPDATE

First appointment with the physio tomorrow. Not looking forward to it, but working on the basis of 'no pain, no gain'.

Hopefully I won't need too many appointments and then I can start concentrating on the holiday.

Thanks again for your advice.

UPDATE

 

First appointment with the physio tomorrow. Not looking forward to it, but working on the basis of 'no pain, no gain'.

 

Hopefully I won't need too many appointments and then I can start concentrating on the holiday.

 

Thanks again for your advice.

Here's to a good outcome Babs

UPDATE

Well, I've had three sessions of physio and two of acupuncture and I'm pleased to say there is a light at the end of the tunnel. It's faint, but it is definitely there. There was a slight hiccup before my first session when I woke up one morning with what I call "I've hurt my left foot but don't know how or when syndrome '. He looked at both feet and I have very mild arthritis :( (Not surprised to be honest, I've had bad feet for years).

Now doing feet exercises which have really helped. Five days in New York requires healthy feet :D

I am now more hopeful that we will make the cruise and I really really need it after all the pain and pummelling I've endured. EIGHT WEEKS TODAY :D::D

Stay optimistic with the therapy. Progress can be slow but it mounts up.

Good Luck.

Roy

Hi babs135,

I am quite certain that osteopathy would help you in an even shorter period of time. In a very cold and humid winter some years ago, and stress, the sciatic nerv was trapped in my right leg, from the heap until down to the foot.I could hardly move anymore, but my osteopath did a miracle and put it back into the right position within 30 minutes. I got up and walked out of the room as if nothing at all had happened before :)

Get well soon!

Greetings,

Cats2010

Hello babs135

Sorry to hear of your situation. I have ongoing problems of this sort; nerve compression from neck and sacroiliac area and find chiropractic treatments on a regular and frequent basis resolve these issues (and relive the intense pain and mobility problems). I'm based in Australia but know someone I can recommend in London if that were to help you.

Best of luck and fingers crossed for a wonderful trip. Let me know if you'd like the recommendation of a practitioner.

Fingers and toes crossed for you Babs that you will be able to enjoy your cruise as planned.:)

Fortunately nothing like that has happened to me prior to a cruise however, being an active chap, I have had the odd similar problem prior to flying on shore based holidays.

In any event I would head for my local Chiropractic Clinic in the next village of Stubbington who have always provided a good service, even when the problem doesn't appear to be within their remit.

Hello babs135

Sorry to hear of your situation. I have ongoing problems of this sort; nerve compression from neck and sacroiliac area and find chiropractic treatments on a regular and frequent basis resolve these issues (and relive the intense pain and mobility problems). I'm based in Australia but know someone I can recommend in London if that were to help you.

Best of luck and fingers crossed for a wonderful trip. Let me know if you'd like the recommendation of a practitioner.

Hah. Just read your comment.

Seems we are on the same wavelength. Holidays as well as cruises are too important for me to risk.

Your advice is good.

Thanks for your continuing support and advice.

The physiotherapist I am seeing is one recommended by a friend who is a Consultant Rheumatologist and I trust her choice. As there are signs (albeit small ones) of improvement I will stick with him. He is aware of the time scale and is confident that I should be okay in time.

Probably says that to all his patients!

However, unless things suddenly go pear-shaped I am determined to make the trip. If I have to rely on the use of pain killers to get me through bad patches so be it. I might as well take them on the ship rather than sitting at home feeling totally miserable :D

BTW I definitely won't need pain killers when we are on the NCL Breakaway as we have the Ultimate Drinks Package - any slight hint of pain and I'll find the nearest bar and order something strong enough that I won't care that I'm in pain :eek:

I will keep you informed as to my progress (if you are interested) and hopefully the next post from me will be to say we are packed and ready for the off.

Thanks again

I'm glad to hear you're seeing (feeling?) progress already, even if it's slight. A friend had a nerve problem in her neck, and she said her physio worked wonders for the pain and taught her little ways to change posture, how she held her head, etc that helped.

Something to ask the doctor and physio is about exercise on board and whether using the spa pool is good. They may say to avoid heat because it tends to swell tissues, which might pinch the nerve more, but it's worth asking about. I find the warm water soothing. Walking in the hydropool on our last HAL cruise did wonders for my sciatica.

I'm glad to hear you're seeing (feeling?) progress already, even if it's slight. A friend had a nerve problem in her neck, and she said her physio worked wonders for the pain and taught her little ways to change posture, how she held her head, etc that helped.

 

Something to ask the doctor and physio is about exercise on board and whether using the spa pool is good. They may say to avoid heat because it tends to swell tissues, which might pinch the nerve more, but it's worth asking about. I find the warm water soothing. Walking in the hydropool on our last HAL cruise did wonders for my sciatica.

Excellent idea and one I will definitely ask. Would never have thought about it myself as I'm scared of water!!!! and therefore not something that would occur to me.

As an aside, I wonder how many cruisers are like me - can't swim and don't 'do' water

As an aside, I wonder how many cruisers are like me - can't swim and don't 'do' water

At least one more, my wife!!

I have sailed dinghies since a young teenager and loved it, unfortunately my wife can't swim and absolutely hates the water, never got her in my dinghy, but we did get her on my sister's sailing cruiser in Brighton Marina, but we never moved! Had to drag her on QE2 when I won a cruise on her, plenty of my staff volunteered to go instead! 40 cruises later it looks like we will be booking another one on QE VERY shortly!