A common theme in recent complaints

[LMaxwell]

in various ongoing threads with complains against RCI there is a common theme; people failing to insure themselves against unforeseen circumstances and then blaming the cruise line for bad customer service.

 

Now, in some cases, the case can easily be made there was poor customer service, but in other cases people are asking for or expecting deviations from policy and when they don'T get and exception they try to call out the company for bad customer service, which in those cases is not warranted.

 

 

In any event, the point is the common theme is lack of insurance. When you plan and budget your travels stop and take the time to consider potential risks and what if situations. Strongly consider the value or peace of mind insurance provides for unforeseen events; loss of job, medical conditions for your family or yourself, natural disasters, regional warfare, etc., do not just expect to get an exception to policy.

 

 

Do your homework and decide if, and to what level, you are comfortable insuring or self-insuring. I'm not comfortable self-insuring even relatively low cost trips because expenses for medical emergencies outside of country could be devastating. I could live with losing the money I've paid for an experience I may not get, but I am not comfortable risking assets or my families welfare on the unforeseen circumstances described, and I have no reason to believe any company or provider should make an exception for me.

 

 

I'm not in the insurance industry, just thoughts to consider on protecting yourself or your family

[awestover89]

I've been seeing it a lot lately, not just on Royal Caribbean boards or even on Cruise Critic. I think there's something in the water. It's crazy. I've seen it mostly with cruises, but I've also seen a handful of posts regarding trying to get flights refunded without insurance because "I'm not a psychic, I didn't know I'd need to cancel so I didn't get insurance."

 

We didn't get insurance on our first several cruises and thankfully we didn't need it, but our next few cruises are really far away (Asia) and we feel a lot more comfortable with insurance. We also found out that there are certain situations where my husband's approved leave could be revoked, most notably if there is a government shutdown near his requested leave (he works for the federal government) Since the budget is due in early October and our vacation is mid-October, cancel for work reasons insurance is a huge relief as well.

 

Insurance is a gamble either way, it's just a matter of determining what the risks and costs are. If you don't get insurance and something happens, be prepared to handle the associated costs of your decision.

 

I think part of it might also be people not understanding what their existing health insurance does and does not cover. For example, a lot of health insurances don't cover air ambulance services, and even those that do tend to have limits that will only cover getting you to the nearest hospital. There was an article a couple months ago of a couple where the wife got sick on an Alaska cruise. Their insurance covered getting them to an Anchorage hospital, but it was determined that the woman wouldn't ever be well enough to fly back home commercially. The cost of a medical flight from Anchorage to Seattle was over $50,000, and then she would still have to find a way home. They did end up getting donations to allow her to return home, but that can't be expected.

 

Think about where you're going and what your current insurance and financial picture looks like. Think about what can happen, not only that might make you cancel your cruise, but also think about what could go wrong while you are on your vacation.

 

That being said, also pay really close attention to the description of coverage to make sure you are covered for everything you want to be covered. Some things like cancel for any reason or pre-existing health problems have a time limit on when you have to purchase insurance. Other things that you might think would be covered may not be, depending on the plan. For example, we have a few specific plans we can purchase that offer the cancel for work reason coverage.

 

Basically it all comes down to be educated. Know what you are risking if you don't get insurance, and know what you are covered for if you do get insurance.

[LMaxwell]

Exceptionally well stated. Clear and concise, your last few lines really sum it up.

[smtcan]

I self insure. All travel for 20 years.

 

If a company offers insurance, I just take their number and put that amount into my travel insurance savings account.

 

When a flight gets cancelled on me, I use that account to immediately rebook.

 

If a cruise no longer works for me, I have plenty in my self insurance account to book something else in place.

 

There's no excuse not to self insure every trip. The costs individually are minimal and over 20 years I think I've had to rebook with my own savings maybe 3 times. Very low risk and the reward is all mine.

 

I would have no problem self insuring the cost of the cruise and air. These are known costs. I would however never travel without medical coverage because the costs attached to a medical emergency can be very high. Treatment for a broken arm in Africa recently cost more than the cost of insurance for the last three years and this did not involve any evacuation, hospital stay or medication.

[OhJinkies]

I always buy travel insurance. This is how I look at it: your cruise fare, airfare, etc. is generally already paid for. If you lose it, you're out that money, but it's not a huge hardship. But if you have a serious illness or injury, the cost of medical care and evacuation back to the US could be astronomical. A couple of hundred dollars for insurance gives me peace of mind that I won't be in debt for hundreds of thousands should something catastrophic happen.

 

 

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[trev71]

I only buy health insurance. I know my risks going into a trip. Sure it would suck to miss a cruise but luckly it hasn't happened yet. *knock on wood*

 

I know on my last cruise there was a storm brewing so we edited our flights and left a day early

 

I know a lot of insurance companies are sketchy so I rather not deal with them at all

[bUU]

I've been seeing it a lot lately, not just on Royal Caribbean boards or even on Cruise Critic. I think there's something in the water. It's crazy. I've seen it mostly with cruises, but I've also seen a handful of posts regarding trying to get flights refunded without insurance because "I'm not a psychic, I didn't know I'd need to cancel so I didn't get insurance."

Yes, and it really is becoming a societal issue: People expecting others to make up for their own deliberate neglect with regard to properly planning and protecting themselves to the best of their own ability. The expectation that someone will effectively give them for free, something that that someone charges other people money for, is really quite over-the-top.

 

Insurance is a gamble either way, it's just a matter of determining what the risks and costs are. If you don't get insurance and something happens, be prepared to handle the associated costs of your decision.

Yes, and as such, insurance is not the gamble. The gamble is life - what happens to you. Insurance is a way of mitigating the risk - just one of several ways to address the gamble that you are taking when you wake up in the morning.

[Grandma Dazzles]

Wish CC had a like button, especially for the first two posts. Couldn't agree more. Insurance, especially medical, should be part of everyone's cruise budget.

[happymanitee]

For a long time, I thought you had to buy insurance through the cruise line. For a family of 5, the insurance was over $500. It just didn't seem to make financial sense to purchase it when it costs so much. But, then I learned (from this board) that I could insure our whole family for around $100 and get even better coverage than the cruise line offers. So, now, I do buy insurance.

I think people may not realize how inexpensive coverage can be if they shop around.

[baileybrad]

RCI screwed the pooch on telling people to travel to Galveston during an ongoing weather disaster the likes that have, most likely, never have been seen in an area this large.

 

People should always evaluate the pros and cons of the various insurance products available out there and make their decisions accordingly.

 

This weather event is ongoing and will more than likely impact many potential cruisers planning to sail on 09/02. RCL gets another shot at doing the right thing. Wonder what the outcome will be this week?

[njm5378]

Insurance is a gamble either way, it's just a matter of determining what the risks and costs are. If you don't get insurance and something happens, be prepared to handle the associated costs of your decision.

 

Insurance is not a gamble. It provides exactly what it promises. It will cover you SHOULD something go wrong. The issue is entitlement. People think they are always owed something. Sometimes uncontrollable things happen. Not every issue is due to negligence or malicious intent.

[njm5378]

RCI screwed the pooch on telling people to travel to Galveston during an ongoing weather disaster the likes that have, most likely, never have been seen in an area this large.

 

Agreed, it was well reported the rainfall to expect. The indications that this storm was oddly slow moving were prevalent well in advance of people needing to travel to catch their ship. Ray Charles would have seen this coming.

[skiiergirl]

in various ongoing threads with complains against RCI there is a common theme; people failing to insure themselves against unforeseen circumstances and then blaming the cruise line for bad customer service.

 

Now, in some cases, the case can easily be made there was poor customer service, but in other cases people are asking for or expecting deviations from policy and when they don'T get and exception they try to call out the company for bad customer service, which in those cases is not warranted.

 

 

In any event, the point is the common theme is lack of insurance. When you plan and budget your travels stop and take the time to consider potential risks and what if situations. Strongly consider the value or peace of mind insurance provides for unforeseen events; loss of job, medical conditions for your family or yourself, natural disasters, regional warfare, etc., do not just expect to get an exception to policy.

 

 

Do your homework and decide if, and to what level, you are comfortable insuring or self-insuring. I'm not comfortable self-insuring even relatively low cost trips because expenses for medical emergencies outside of country could be devastating. I could live with losing the money I've paid for an experience I may not get, but I am not comfortable risking assets or my families welfare on the unforeseen circumstances described, and I have no reason to believe any company or provider should make an exception for me.

 

 

I'm not in the insurance industry, just thoughts to consider on protecting yourself or your family

 

Totally agree!

[gingersvp]

In my first cruises, I did not purchase insurance. Then I took the first cruise where I brought along my children. I was a solo parent with 2 sons, aged 7 and 4. I didn't buy insurance and I was a very lucky gal that trip. My youngest had an injury on the last night of the cruise. He smashed his mouth in the kids club and was seen on the ship by the ship's doctor. Even without insurance RCCL did not charge me for the visit and even paid for my son to see a port dentist. But that night, in the middle of the ocean it occurred to me that we could have been in the middle of the ocean with a medical emergency that required a helicopter. And I was a single parent that could in no way, shape or form afford what that would mean.

 

So, now I always buy insurance. I hope I never need it. Years later I can afford to deal with the costs of missing a trip/flight/etc. but I know that I am not in a position to be out $50k on an accident. I also carry life and disability insurance on myself. I now have 3 kids and want to be able to help them with college, provide them with fun life experiences and a good start in life and I simply cannot do that if I'm swimming in medical debt.

 

Maybe I'm more conservative now also, because that same 4 year old has been hospitalized twice, ambulance once and had 7 surgeries (he's 11 now). Because we have good insurance, none of those have been things that jeopardized our family's financial stability.

 

It's not about the trip itself. It's about everything that comes afterwards.

[Kingofcool1947]

in various ongoing threads with complains against RCI there is a common theme; people failing to insure themselves against unforeseen circumstances and then blaming the cruise line for bad customer service.

 

Now, in some cases, the case can easily be made there was poor customer service, but in other cases people are asking for or expecting deviations from policy and when they don'T get and exception they try to call out the company for bad customer service, which in those cases is not warranted.

 

 

In any event, the point is the common theme is lack of insurance. When you plan and budget your travels stop and take the time to consider potential risks and what if situations. Strongly consider the value or peace of mind insurance provides for unforeseen events; loss of job, medical conditions for your family or yourself, natural disasters, regional warfare, etc., do not just expect to get an exception to policy.

 

 

Do your homework and decide if, and to what level, you are comfortable insuring or self-insuring. I'm not comfortable self-insuring even relatively low cost trips because expenses for medical emergencies outside of country could be devastating. I could live with losing the money I've paid for an experience I may not get, but I am not comfortable risking assets or my families welfare on the unforeseen circumstances described, and I have no reason to believe any company or provider should make an exception for me.

 

 

I'm not in the insurance industry, just thoughts to consider on protecting yourself or your family

 

Interesting thread.

So, what happens if you (or a family member) dies during a cruise? Does travel insurance cover that event? And where is your corpse kept? When and how is it taken off board? And what arrangements are made to send your body home?

I'm old, never bought travel insurance, but this thread had me thinking I should, and just thinking about that final cruise, should it happen.

I read somewhere on CC that on most cruises at least one PAX dies during a cruise. More if it's a long cruise. Is that true?

Enjoy your cruise.

[Gwendy]

Last 3 cruises I have been on, there has been a medical evacuation by helicopter. As the age of cruisers increases the likliehood of this happening also increases.

I have had insurance on my 20+ cruises and all of my many land tours. Australian government slogan, If you can't afford insurance, you can't afford to travel.

It can happen to anyone, one young lady in her twenties tripped over a concrete footpath and broke her ankle, had to be flown back to Australia from New Caledonia.

[George C]

1st it seems RCCL did not do a good job with Liberty, but totally agree on insurance, I was extremely lucky did not get insurance for 1st 50 cruise from 1975 to 2005 and had no issues, now we get insurance on cruise and air for all vacations and still have had no issues.

[bouhunter]

I self insure. All travel for 20 years.

 

If a company offers insurance, I just take their number and put that amount into my travel insurance savings account.

 

When a flight gets cancelled on me, I use that account to immediately rebook.

 

If a cruise no longer works for me, I have plenty in my self insurance account to book something else in place.

 

There's no excuse not to self insure every trip. The costs individually are minimal and over 20 years I think I've had to rebook with my own savings maybe 3 times. Very low risk and the reward is all mine.

 

Would your self insurance account cover a 50-100,000.00 medical evac?

[Hunwolf]

Agree on the insurance.

 

But when RCI specifically told customers (that were concerned about traveling to the port) to either proceed to the port or to provide photographic evidence that they couldn't make it that's about as piss poor and idiotic as it gets. There's no defending that no matter what level of mental gymnastics one might attempt.

 

And for folks that don't believe they did just that the screen captures of said texts have been posted on the other threads.

[tankerat]

OK...so what about the passengers who had insurance but it was worthless unless RCL canceled last Sunday's departure. Screen grabs prove RCL was telling them the Port of Galveston will be open and if you are not there ready to sail there will be no refund.

 

This even after the Port had closed to all traffic last Thursday or Friday and their Port Spokesman said the earliest it might open would be today 8-29 (hasn't yet and won't) and still RCL kept Liberty heading for Galveston to take advantage of their mythical "weather window" for turnaround that no one else saw...because it did not exist.

 

So, what do you tell those people now sitting in hotels in both Houston and Galveston, and now unable to leave, trapped in a mega-disaster?

 

Yes their insurance will now refund their cruise cost because the cruise was canceled..about 3 days too late.

 

But I doubt any of them will ever sail RCL again. Why should they?

 

RCL Coprporate mishandled this badly...a textbook case about how not to treat customers.

[CRZR58]

Getting insurance is an excellent idea but, RCCL's problems haven't been caused by insurance issues. They've been caused by horrible decisions followed up by horrible customer service.

 

Insurance doesn't even kick in until the cruise is cancelled unless you buy the special any-reason insurance which doesn't pay out 100%.

[awestover89]

Interesting thread.

So, what happens if you (or a family member) dies during a cruise? Does travel insurance cover that event? And where is your corpse kept? When and how is it taken off board? And what arrangements are made to send your body home?

I'm old, never bought travel insurance, but this thread had me thinking I should, and just thinking about that final cruise, should it happen.

I read somewhere on CC that on most cruises at least one PAX dies during a cruise. More if it's a long cruise. Is that true?

Enjoy your cruise.

 

Depends on the insurance and what exactly they cover. Some do offer life insurance or other benefits in case of death during travels. As far as where your body goes, most ships have a morgue, and I don't know the statistics but it isn't a small number. I read one article where an older gentleman died in the night, his wife called the ship doctor who, not wanting to worry other passengers, put him in a hospital bed and hooked him up to oxygen and took him to the morgue. They spoke with the wife about getting off at the next port to get him home for a funeral but she insisted on finishing her cruise.

[Sailor_Sally]

OK...so what about the passengers who had insurance but it was worthless unless RCL canceled last Sunday's departure. Screen grabs prove RCL was telling them the Port of Galveston will be open and if you are not there ready to sail there will be no refund.

 

This even after the Port had closed to all traffic last Thursday or Friday and their Port Spokesman said the earliest it might open would be today 8-29 (hasn't yet and won't) and still RCL kept Liberty heading for Galveston to take advantage of their mythical "weather window" for turnaround that no one else saw...because it did not exist.

 

So, what do you tell those people now sitting in hotels in both Houston and Galveston, and now unable to leave, trapped in a mega-disaster?

 

Yes their insurance will now refund their cruise cost because the cruise was canceled..about 3 days too late.

 

.

 

 

Royal was wrong but to go on a cruise in peak hurricane season without insurance is crazy . The difference is the people who have insurance will be reimbursed for all the extras that came from being stranded but the people without insurance will need to pay those fees.

[LisaAtlCruiser]

People now a days are self entitled brats. That is what happens when you are no longer allowed to discipline children- they grow up to be entitled brats that think the world revolves around them and how dare anything interfere with their wants. No sympathy here [emoji3]

 

 

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[Hunwolf]

People now a days are self entitled brats. That is what happens when you are no longer allowed to discipline children- they grow up to be entitled brats that think the world revolves around them and how dare anything interfere with their wants. No sympathy here [emoji3]

 

 

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Issues resulting from a 50" rain event (which has never occurred in the Continental US before BTW) are because of self entitled brats?