Cancel for Any Reason...

.... Hi All. Mine is a rhetorical question that I am already worrying over....

My mother and a friend are going on a 10 day cruise in early 2018. They are already in full payment, which my mother fronted for. The agreement is that her friend will pay in full before they go. They DID get the cancel for any reason policy through insure my trip.... My mother has said to me a few times she hopes her friend doesn't change her mind, but she will still go ahead by herself if this friend decides not to go.

My question is, IF her friend up & decides not to go after all (She seems less interested lately, so maybe we are pre-jumping to a conclusion) and mom makes her claim with the insurance company for the 70% refund, what are any other options for adding a new cruiser? I don't feel comfortable with her traveling solo. She is near 75 yrs old. I don't feel I can necessarily pay a full fare to join her as my husband & I are cruising in mid march, but if being added to her sailing cheaply is an option, I might consider it.

I am thinking out loud when I ask, if NCL already has their fare from # 2 passenger, and mom's reimbursement is from her insurance plan, "what" would the fare price fee be to add a new 2nd traveler?? Mom's cc has been billed with 2 passengers.... Just trying to figure this out... Thanks in advance for any insight.

You have a lot of convoluted factors going on here.

1. Most "Cancel For Any Reason" policies don't offer a "refund" in a cash payback or credit back to the credit card. Most (I only know of 1 other that offers cash) offer a "Credit" in the form of a future cruise.

To confuse it even more, I "think" that the future cruise credit is in the name of the insured cruiser unless the insured cruiser was a minor.

2. I don't think your Mom can cancel the cruise for her friend. Since her friend is the insured traveler, I believe she would be the one that has to cancel. (Could you imagine if just anyone could call up and cancel someone elses cruise :eek: )

Again, I may be wrong. There are a couple of people here who are magical wizards when it come to travel insurance.

You have a lot of convoluted factors going on here.

 

1. Most "Cancel For Any Reason" policies don't offer a "refund" in a cash payback or credit back to the credit card. Most (I only know of 1 other that offers cash) offer a "Credit" in the form of a future cruise.

To confuse it even more, I "think" that the future cruise credit is in the name of the insured cruiser unless the insured cruiser was a minor.

 

2. I don't think your Mom can cancel the cruise for her friend. Since her friend is the insured traveler, I believe she would be the one that has to cancel. (Could you imagine if just anyone could call up and cancel someone elses cruise :eek: )

 

Again, I may be wrong. There are a couple of people here who are magical wizards when it come to travel insurance.

About the "cash" or a "credit for another cruise" issue... it depends upon the policy, and usually it's very different if one gets the insurance through the cruise line (who often offer a credit, no cash).

We always get policies from third party insurers, and all of the policies we've gotten or considered to date have a 75% *cash* back if you decide to cancel, if you've got the CFAR coverage add-on.

Although we've had a couple of large claims, paid nicely, we've never needed to invoke the CFAR, so we can't speak from experience about whether it works as advertised. But given our experience with regular claims, there wasn't any funny business about invoking weird clauses to try to avoid paying.

It's *possible* that you could become a second passenger with your mother - depending upon timing constraints, for example - that you could then have your mother pay for you, and she could then use the cash that she received back (IF that's the type of coverage she has) towards your fare. She'll have the money back; she can use it however she prefers. She might not want to wait for the cash/check to arrive if sailing is soon.

If she'd get a credit, I have no idea what restrictions there would be.

About "who" cancels... if Mother made both reservations on her own, and paid the fare and insurance, then she could probably cancel. We've always had that option when we pay for others to join us. If friend made her own reservation and paid (and Mother reimbursed her), then absolutely, one hopes that someone else couldn't just cancel it out from under her!

GC

I would check w/ NCL and see if they would let you do a name change on the reservation before actually cancelling. That would be a lot easier than cancelling and then trying to add someone. I did a google search, and I found an old thread where you could do it and pay a small fee, but that was like 10 years ago. Don't know what the policy is now.

I would check w/ NCL and see if they would let you do a name change on the reservation before actually cancelling. That would be a lot easier than cancelling and then trying to add someone. I did a google search, and I found an old thread where you could do it and pay a small fee, but that was like 10 years ago. Don't know what the policy is now.

Interesting suggestion, and apparently, depending upon amount of time before cruise, it might be possible.

However, IF you want yourself to be included on the insurance (e.g., medical/medevac or other loss), you might want to check if you'd be covered the same as the other person.

If so, fine.

If not, then you would probably be able to get covered if you made a *new* reservation, and started the insurance within the specified time, etc., depending upon what type of coverage you needed.

Good luck.

GC

Thanks everyone for added things to consider. My mother booked this whole thing with her credit card. She did add the CFAR insurance through a 3rd party. Either Insure my trip. Or Travel Guard. So if she canceled her friend she could expect a 70 or 75% cash back for her friend (as I've said, she wants to go regardless). My problem with this is I selfishly would rather she not go solo. But I also cannot come up with that $1600 or more fare for myself to join her. I am interested to know if only rhetorically if my mother gets her claim back due to friend not paying up. And then I "volunteer" to be added, will the cruiseline (who isn't out anything) offer a new 2nd person a decent rate???

Does this question even make sense?? Lol

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Thanks everyone for added things to consider. My mother booked this whole thing with her credit card. She did add the CFAR insurance through a 3rd party. Either Insure my trip. Or Travel Guard. So if she canceled her friend she could expect a 70 or 75% cash back for her friend (as I've said, she wants to go regardless). My problem with this is I selfishly would rather she not go solo. But I also cannot come up with that $1600 or more fare for myself to join her. I am interested to know if only rhetorically if my mother gets her claim back due to friend not paying up. And then I "volunteer" to be added, will the cruiseline (who isn't out anything) offer a new 2nd person a decent rate???

 

Does this question even make sense?? Lol

 

 

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I think your question makes sense, and if it does, then no, you won't be able to get a refund AND then have someone else (e.g., you) "take the place" of the person whose fare was already refunded.

Even at some "special rate" for the replacement person "volunteering"... can you imaging how often this would start happening?

Why are you not trying to see if you can be added as a change to passenger in the cabin? When that is done within the appropriate time frame, my understanding (which could be wrong) is that it can be done.

Your mother has paid for two passengers and if the above is approved, there will be two passengers. :)

You don't need to come up with extra money.

That's probably the easiest thing to do if your mother does not want to travel alone.

And before you ask, in order to get the refund, you mother would need to notify the cruise line, and get PROOF of cancellation. At that point, you would no longer be able to "substitute". But you could try to arrange again to pay as a second passenger, but it might be more. Worse, if there were others who reserved after your mother's friend was cancelled, there might not be room in the "life boat count" in her section, and you'd no longer be able to go. Requesting to substitute would avoid this possible problem.

The more complicated you make this, the more likely something will go wrong with the refund OR the second passenger name (or both).

GC

. Either Insure my trip. Or Travel Guard. So if she canceled her friend she could expect a 70 or 75% cash back for her friend (as I've said, she wants to go regardless).

 

 

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I was questioning Geezers response yesterday regarding the "cash back refund vs my statement of future cruise credit". Went to insuremytrip.com to look at the policies. I have to defer to Geezer on that one.

Then, to my surprise I saw that the travelguard policy is only a 50% refund if cancel for CFAR.

So OP,,, check your policy.

I was questioning Geezers response yesterday regarding the "cash back refund vs my statement of future cruise credit". Went to insuremytrip.com to look at the policies. I have to defer to Geezer on that one.

 

Then, to my surprise I saw that the travelguard policy is only a 50% refund if cancel for CFAR.

 

So OP,,, check your policy.

RIght, it's ALWAYS important to check the specific policy, because the same insurer could have quite differing policies in terms of specific types of coverage.

But I had not heard of the 50%. I've only seen the 75%, so thanks for alerting all of us to that possibility.

The cruise lines own insurance is often (sometimes? always?) a higher percentage back (e.g., 90%), but as a *credit*. Worse, there can be deadlines. IF we miss a trip, chances are pretty good that we've already got a couple of others with deposits, in the next year (or even further in the future). So needing to add another [replacement] major trip within a year... not gonna work... Plus the "same cruise" may well not be offered, so who knows *what* we'd choose as a replacement. Might not be on that same cruise line, or maybe not a cruise at all, or maybe the other side of the world. So "cash" rather than a credit on a single cruise line... much better!

To kiminey65 - InsureMyTrip is an insurance broker. They sell policies for many insurers (as does TripInsuranceStore). Travel Guard is an insurer. (We happen to use Travel Insured, and have had a couple of large claims, paid without nonsense/argument. That matters!)

GC

Thanks everyone for your responses. An update here is that it appears things will work out for my mom & her traveling friend. That's obviously great, even though I was letting my imagination run with the " Dream" of cruising twice this winter! But alas, its back to reality.

I agree too that policies should be checked out. My mother's is a 75% cash back for CFAR. But it also covers sickness, repatriation as well as lost luggage etc @ 100%. So does mine for that matter. I hate to pay it out, but feel so much better knowing I have it. Coverage for all the unthinkables of being outside the country is worth it to me.

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