Insurance: The Journey Begins

[Pam in CA]

Many of you followed my thread in January and February about my brother-in-law experiencing a perforated bowel on our Coral Princess cruise and being too far from land to medevac him. Briefly, he was disembarked the next day in Ft. Lauderdale and operated on about 36 hours after the perforation occurred, decreasing his chances of survival substantially. My sister and I spend the better part of a month in FL living in a hotel while he was in the ICU until he was stable enough to be medevaced home to CA. Unfortunately, four days later, he passed away.

 

It's taken this long to get our documentation together because our expenses are in FL, not CA, so I first sent the insurance forms to his doctor in FL. After two weeks and multiple calls, I still couldn't get an answer as to where the documents were so I then contacted the doctor on his death certificate. Dr. "E" was fabulous and provided us with the documentation from FL in addition to CA.

 

So, the forms went off today certified mail/return receipt (as it goes to a PO Box so you can't overnight it via FedEx or UPS.) Included is a copy of Jim's onboard medical bill (which as it turned out was sent to my sister "for immediate payment") as well as copies of our hotel expenses. I included the medical records and a copy of Jim's death certificate, all of which state that he experienced a perforated bowel.

 

Our concern is that Berkely might deny the hotel expenses on the basis that it wasn't trip interruption, i.e., we disembarked in FL but since he got ill while on the ship, we were escorted off the ship by the Princess Care people who provided help and assistance, and they made our hotel reservations, I find it hard to believe that they would. But we shall see.

 

I'm not concerned about the onboard medical expenses because from everything I've read, that should be covered. I know that all of our hotel expenses won't be covered as they are greater than the cost of the cruise even though we got a special hospital rate at Hyatt Place. My sister's insurance maximum is half of her and Jim's cruise cost; as I was a single in my cabin, I paid more but I don't know if Berkely will cut mine in half too. It'll be "interesting" to see if they do.

 

I don't expect to hear anything for a while but when I do, I'll post it here, including any feedback I get from Berkely. One question I have is whether they issue you a check or credit your credit card. Anyone know? Anyone have any experience with a similar situation and are willing to share how Berkely handled it?

 

I'm off to a cruise on Monday morning so there likely won't be anything new for a while although I will follow this thread while I'm gone. Oh, and we had the upgraded Princess insurance, in case you were wondering.

[Toto2Kansas]

Pam, if the bills are not yet paid, not sure how Berkley will handle payment, but I can tell you that on our past cruise, my small claim was paid by check. Best of luck with this, and will check back often for updates (after several weeks at least, I am sure).

Bon Voyage, and I hope you get some rest and relaxation on your upcoming voyage! :)

[Pam in CA]

Pam, if the bills are not yet paid, not sure how Berkley will handle payment, but I can tell you that on our past cruise, my small claim was paid by check. Best of luck with this, and will check back often for updates (after several weeks at least, I am sure).

Bon Voyage, and I hope you get some rest and relaxation on your upcoming voyage! :)

The hotel bills were paid, the onboard medical bill ($8,000+) hasn't been. I've called Princess 5x in the past week and left messages asking how to handle this.

 

Thanks for the Bon Voyage... I know I'm going to have a great time. :)

[mytime53]

Our recent experience was far different than yours, but Berkeley paid our claim quickly and by check, actually giving us more than I expected.

[robgvic]

Wishing you all the best on this , Pam.

I am so thankful I live in Canada. My extended medical insurance costs me $25 a month. That gives me $9000 cancellation insurance and 2 milion medical. The insurance company does claim from our provincial medical plan though. I am 68

Hopefully your new insurance will now cover part of this.

[grandmaa]

So sorry to hear of your families loss. I was hoping that since we hadn't seen a posting that your brother in law was on the mend. What a tragic thing to happen anytime, but especially on a cruise. I wish you blue skies and calm seas on your cruise and that Princess acknowledges your return on this cruise you are scheduled to take. Bon Voyage!

[Cruise Junky]

Wishing you all the best on this , Pam.

I am so thankful I live in Canada. My extended medical insurance costs me $25 a month. That gives me $9000 cancellation insurance and 2 milion medical. The insurance company does claim from our provincial medical plan though. I am 68

Hopefully your new insurance will now cover part of this.

 

Can I ask who you use?

[bobalink]

Bon Voyage, Pam. I hope you have a wonderful, relaxing, cruise. You deserve it. Thanks, too, for all of your helpful advice.;)

[Umbarger]

Wishing you all the best on this , Pam.

I am so thankful I live in Canada. My extended medical insurance costs me $25 a month. That gives me $9000 cancellation insurance and 2 milion medical. The insurance company does claim from our provincial medical plan though. I am 68

Hopefully your new insurance will now cover part of this.

 

My mom has extended medical in Canada too. Would hers have the same $9000 cnacellation and 2 million medical in the US?

[Cruise Gypsy]

Pam,

 

I am sorry for your loss. How was your experience with MedJetAssit? We are looking into purchasing this coverage.

 

I hope you have wonderful trip.:)

[paul929207]

Pam,

 

First sorry for the passing of your BIL and everything you had to go thru. I hope the insurance company doesn't make it worse by making you jump thru hoops. My wife got sick last month in Cambodia and I sent the bills off last week to our regular insurance company. After they pay then I go to the travel insurance.

[12Cruise]

Pam - I am sorry to read that your brother in law passed away. I had read your original thread but did not realize what had happened in the end for him. I send my deepest condolences to you, your sister and your family.

 

Looking forward to hear that you had a nice relaxing cruise. Take care.

[Coral]

Pam - I believe they will issue a check. The times I have filed a claim, checks were issued. I have never heard anything to the opposite. Considering there are several companies that need to be paid (ship, hotel, hospital, etc...), checks make the most sense.

 

While this was extremely more complicated than the claims I filed, I was amazed at how quickly the claims were paid. At one point, I still didn't have all of the information needed. I had all the medical but was waiting on credit card copies of paying for the cruise (for cruise cancellation). I decided to just send in what I had and start the claim and when I had time, I would call the credit card companies for copies (back before they were stored electronically) - I did have the information from the Travel Agent. The insurance company went ahead and paid the claim with out having everything they asked for.

 

Good luck with everything and enjoy your well deserved cruise.

[mycruz]

Hope you have a great cruise, I'm sure you are more than ready for it!.

 

Hoping that the insurance saga goes well for the two of you.

[NYGirl1002]

I am so sorry for your loss Pam. I hope things work out for you and your sister in law.

 

I hope you enjoy your trip on Monday.

[Clutterlady]

Pam, hope you have a wonderful cruise and may I say, well deserved!

 

Hopefully when you get home, the insurance companies will have some good news for you:)

[Nylsor]

While I can't comment on the situation re insurance in the US, I can tell you that when we have booked cruises here in the UK we have to provide details of our insurance to our booking agent before any documents are issued. This applies no matter what TA we place our booking. We also have to enter this info on the Princess Personaliser site. We take out a dual annual insurance which covers us for all our travels but if we travel to the US or the Caribbean we have to inform the insurance company as the policy cost is higher. We are aged 61 and 64.

Have a wonderful cruise, Pam. You deserve some rest and relaxation after all your recent worries. We hope your sister is getting on well.

Ros and Mike

[Pam in CA]

How was your experience with MedJetAssit? We are looking into purchasing this coverage.

Our experience with them was incredibly good. They had everything set up and ready within four hours. They took care of everything, including arranging for ambulances at both ends. A nurse accompanied my brother-in-law on the flight. (He said she was pretty but didn't remember much of the flight itself.) My sister could have flown on the jet with Jim but she doesn't like small planes. Based on our experience, I HIGHLY recommend them if you do a lot of traveling or will be where you would want to get home. Our problem was that Jim was still in critical condition and if we'd had to wait until he was off the critical list and able to fly home commercially, who knows how much longer it would have been having to stay in a hotel 3,000 miles away from home?

[phabric]

I am sorry to hear about your brother in law. Please keep us informed.

[RealDeal]

Pam: Really, really sorry to hear about your BIL. The last I saw he was on the mend & I just assumed the good progress had continued. My condolences.

[lovevacadays]

Pam, sorry to hear of your loss and wishing you have a wonderful cruise.

[Cozzette2]

Pam, have a great trip, you deserve it. I hope your sister is well.

Kris

[billet]

Oh Pam, I am so sorry to hear about the passing of your brother in law. After seeing your thread saying you were flying home with him I stopped following the thread. Please accept my sympathies.

 

thank you for following up on the insurance saga and it will be interesting to see what the final outcome is. I hope you have a lovely cruise.

 

Paul

[Cruise Gypsy]

Our experience with them was incredibly good. They had everything set up and ready within four hours. They took care of everything, including arranging for ambulances at both ends. A nurse accompanied my brother-in-law on the flight. (He said she was pretty but didn't remember much of the flight itself.) My sister could have flown on the jet with Jim but she doesn't like small planes. Based on our experience, I HIGHLY recommend them if you do a lot of traveling or will be where you would want to get home. Our problem was that Jim was still in critical condition and if we'd had to wait until he was off the critical list and able to fly home commercially, who knows how much longer it would have been having to stay in a hotel 3,000 miles away from home?

 

Thanks for answering my question - I really appreciate you taking the time. I am very happy to hear you had such a positive experience with them. We live in Seattle and do many of our cruises from the East Coast so it seems like a smart plan for us in addition to our normal travel insurance.

 

We are also going to recommend it to my MIL whose is traveling a lot, which is great, but we worry about her since my FIL passed away. This would make us feel better in case something were to happen.

[Pam in CA]

OK... here's an update on our Princess Care Gold insurance journey. It has two elements: my BIL's medical expenses onboard the ship and my sister's and my hotel expenses in FL while he was in ICU in FL.

 

The onboard medical bill: we were told while still onboard that the bill would be submitted directly to Princess insurance. That wasn't the case. Princess sent the bill to my sister, demanding immediate payment. Berkley Care requires her to submit the bill along with documentation to both Medicare and Anthem Blue Cross and then submit their response (with the documentation) to Berkley Care. We haven't heard back from them yet so this is still pending.

 

FYI, Medicare will not reimburse any medical expenses at sea if you are further than six hours from port. But we had to submit the bill to them anyway because Berkley Care required us to receive a denial from them. Anthem Blue Cross CA has a special form you submit if you are a Senior and you've been on a cruise. You submit the form to an address at either your embarkation or disembarkation port if you did so in the U.S. I found that interesting.

 

Our hotel expenses: we submitted our hotel bills and documentation on March 29th. Today (April 12), we each received a check. My sister's was for her half of their cruise cost plus the unused airport transfer. That was about half of her hotel cost but you should know that the maximum personal expense refund you'll receive is the cost of your cruise. (They paid X amount as a couple and BerkleyCare cut that in half.) As her companion, I was allowed $100/day for all of my personal costs (hotel, food, etc.) so my check wound up being about 2/3 of just my hotel cost. As I cruised as a single, my maximum refund would have been more than my sister's as my cruise cost was more.

 

We're not going to challenge or question this as in reading the contract and fine print after the fact, this is what it is. But if anyone is considering buying Princess insurance, you need to take this into account.