Trouble With Travel Protection!!

[R&MTHETRAVELERS]

In regards to who you buy the Travel Protection from I do not think it matters at all. We bought the Travel Protection for our Airfare from an independent company & they have been worse than the other one. Also we did get the Checks in the mail yesterday & they paid for what we paid for Our Cabin purchase, which is what they say is what they will pay for. They also included a little note to say they wished me a speedy recovery from my illness. Thanks for listening.

[Coral]

Princess would not be able to have just given you a different cruise instead of having you deal with the insurance company, because then they would have been out the money for the cruise. You paid for the cruise and will pay them for another in the future, should you decide to sail with them again. If they just let you switch dates, they would not get that second payment. They contract out their insurance (often to one of the companies listed on insuremytrip.

 

Insurance in contacted out to Berkeley Care - they do a lot of the cruise lines. They are a seperate company even though they brand it with the cruise line name on it. Benita is right - Princess did get paid for your week and then a seperate insurance company reinbursed you for your cancellation. 2 entirely different companies.

[Benita]

In regards to who you buy the Travel Protection from I do not think it matters at all. We bought the Travel Protection for our Airfare from an independent company & they have been worse than the other one. Also we did get the Checks in the mail yesterday & they paid for what we paid for Our Cabin purchase, which is what they say is what they will pay for. They also included a little note to say they wished me a speedy recovery from my illness. Thanks for listening.

 

My point is not who you buy the insurance from, my point is getting preexisting coverage. When you pay for the coverage with your final cruise payment (like when you buy it from Princess), the insurance company starts playing games as far as what is preexisting. If you pay for it within 14 days of your deposit, like from an independent agency - preexisting conditions are waived, so they can't use that to deny coverage.

[Coral]

My point is not who you buy the insurance from, my point is getting preexisting coverage. When you pay for the coverage with your final cruise payment (like when you buy it from Princess), the insurance company starts playing games as far as what is preexisting. If you pay for it within 14 days of your deposit, like from an independent agency - preexisting conditions are waived, so they can't use that to deny coverage.

 

This is very important. Pre-existing clause with Princess is very confusing. It is much easier to understand with 3rd party coverage that doesn't deal with look back periods but has a "buy within x amount of days of deposit and you are covered".

 

I totally agree with Benita.

[Coral]

In regards to who you buy the Travel Protection from I do not think it matters at all. We bought the Travel Protection for our Airfare from an independent company & they have been worse than the other one. Also we did get the Checks in the mail yesterday & they paid for what we paid for Our Cabin purchase, which is what they say is what they will pay for. They also included a little note to say they wished me a speedy recovery from my illness. Thanks for listening.

 

Glad to hear you received your money!

[R&MTHETRAVELERS]

In dealing with any Insurance Company the #1 thing that they try to do is not to pay off. We have a couple of close relatives that work high up in the field & that is the truth of the matter. I do not wish to argue with anybody about which one is the best to buy, all I know it is something that we who travel need to have in these days of travel not knowing what may happen from day to day. Like I said I have bought both types & have had more trouble with the one for a few hundred $ from a private company that seems to think that I'm trying to mess with the system. I don't plan on letting this stop me from traveling though. Keep on Cruising people & have fun

[Benita]

Glad you got the check. Actually, I have had a few experiences with travel insurance - unfortunately - but all paid off promptly. Of course, nobody can argue with your father dying the day a cruise is supposed to leave. Nobody can argue when you fall and break your ankle and are in the hospital recovering from the surgery on the day of embarkation. Nobody can argue when you are medically evacuated with your father-in-law after he suffers a massive internal bleed on a cruise ship. Granted, the insurance companies will usually do whatever they can to avoid paying the claim, but the bottom line for you is they did.

I think you are still missing the point that Coral and I are trying to make - the way that insurance companies have the best way of putting you off is by claiming conditions are preexisting, which is why you need to get that exclusion waived. Nobody is "arguing" about which kind to buy. My dad had been sick a long time when we booked a cruise for the next year and bought the insurance. The first question the insurance company asked me when I called to make a claim, was when I bought the insurance in relation to the deposit. When they saw it was the same day and paid for the same day as the deposit, they asked no further and sent a condolence card and a check in a few days, without trying to get out of paying because of his preexisting condition.

Anyway, I won't belabor the point - once again, I am glad it worked out for you.

[sirwired]

I just thought that I would point out that it appears this claim processed normally. Other than the claim taking a little while to process, everything went fine. There were no denials, no bogus paperwork requests, no endless weeks of phone tag, no problems of any kind.

 

I think there may have been some mis-communication. When the OP called and the insurance company said they were checking for pre-existing conditions, I think what they meant was not that they thought there was one, but rather the claim was in the point of the process where a pre-existing claims are checked for. This is going to be part of the process for any medical-related claim.

 

Yes, the claims agents are looking for any reason to deny the claim; that's their job. That doesn't necessarily mean they are trying to be sneaky, devious, illegal, or trying to make your life miserable. You are looking for any reason to have the claim granted, they are looking for any reason to deny it... that is how insurance works, whether it is travel insurance or life insurance.

 

SirWired