A common theme in recent complaints

[bUU]

Nearly every whiner, complainer, or finger-pointer looking for somebody/something to blame got it wrong.

 

It has been Mother Nature's fault. Period.

 

Everything else is just noise.

 

Precisely right. It almost seems like some people want to blame and punish Royal Caribbean for causing a hurricane. Totally ridiculous.

 

Ok insurance expert folks, you convinced me I should consider it for my holiday cruise in December. So final payment is coming up but I booked it months ago...can I still insure It? I thought it had to be when you booked it?

For some policies, certain parts of the coverage may be affected by not having purchased insurance at initial payment. We like Nationwide for that reason. They hinge such provisions on being able to travel on the date of final payment rather than initial payment.

 

This message may have been entered via voice recognition. Please excuse any typos.

[yetidog]

I think it's even more simple than that, we need insurance to reimburse us for our own cultural ignorance.

 

We talked to a doctor in Hawaii the told us 33 tourist were killed in accidents in his area alone just in the last few years. He said Americans have gotten so used to illegitimate warning signs that are less about warning of real danger and more about preventing litigation, they disregard warnings of real danger.

 

He called it the Disney land syndrome. There are signs all over the Disney parks that that warn tourist of everything from wet grass to rides that may be too fast for kids "under this tall". Where there aren't warning signs, there are fences. So when a sign on a hiking trail in the jungles of Hawaii warn of a dangerous cliff, tourist almost feel challenged to find the cliff. And several do each year.

 

I've even found myself with Disney syndrome. As an avid diver and snorkeler, I jumped in a lot of oceans thinking I am skilled enough for the worst possible danger. One Hawaiian who learned of a beach I was about to snorkel warned me that several divers had been killed by sharks on that very beach. I dove it anyway because I thought he was over reacting. It was one of the best beaches I have ever snorkeled. But I have kept count and at least 3 "tourist" snorkelers have been killed by sharks since I dove there. So I don't dive there anymore. Also, I pay more attention to the beach signs that have a number of undertow drownings on that beach in recent years.

 

Insurance covers us for our loss of common sense.

 

Burt

 

Yellowstone Park attracts all the Darwin winners....

[rukkian]

I've got no skin in the game. It's not my circus and not my monkeys. I wasn't told to go to a port in a hurricane, but I know it was a horrible decision by Royal to tell anyone to do that or risk losing all their money. It's unconscionable to tell your customers to head to a hurricane location. Period. Full stop.

 

It's not the customers who believed the company who are at fault here. Many of them likely had trip cancellation insurance that they couldn't use until RCCL finally got around to cancelling their cruise. It's the company who gave them the horrible information in the first place.

 

Trip cancellation insurance, doesn't come into effect until the trip was actually cancelled, which happened way later than it should have (Another horrible decision). Carnival had the same info as Royal, which is more than the average customer had BTW, but they made the right decisions in a timely manner which means they didn't affect their customers nearly as badly.

 

Note that anything you actually use isn't covered by trip cancellation insurance (I know because I had to use it once when my wife had a medical emergancy on Carnival). If you flew in to Houston, you used your ticket so it's not covered. If you got a hotel room before the trip was cancelled, those days aren't covered. What would be covered is the cruise itself, but (Stay with me as this is where it gets really fun) RCCL is covering the cruise because they didn't go anywhere anyway. In this particular case, Trip Insurance would covered the incidentals. That's it.

 

Medical insurance in this case would have been completely useless. It doesn't get activated unless you had a medical condition. Bringing it up in this situation is simply a red herring.

 

I totally get where company, the industry folks and the cheerleaders, would love to make this all about getting insurance instead of being about how shabbily RCCL treated it's customers. Turn the story into something that isn't the companies fault. Focus on what the customer could do instead of what the company should do. Lots of folks are happily going on and on about 'protecting yourself' and 'blaming others', but that's not what it's about in this case.

 

You seem to be posting on and on complaining about RCI and their handling of this, but from your post history, it looks like you don't even cruise RCI (pretty much only celebrity), have sworn off carnival, and seem to not like any cruise lines anymore, as you seem to complain about celebrity all the time as well.. If this is the case, why even come to the RCI board? You just bored?

[Dax13]

I've got no skin in the game. It's not my circus and not my monkeys. I wasn't told to go to a port in a hurricane, but I know it was a horrible decision by Royal to tell anyone to do that or risk losing all their money. It's unconscionable to tell your customers to head to a hurricane location. Period. Full stop.

 

 

 

It's not the customers who believed the company who are at fault here. Many of them likely had trip cancellation insurance that they couldn't use until RCCL finally got around to cancelling their cruise. It's the company who gave them the horrible information in the first place.

 

 

 

Trip cancellation insurance, doesn't come into effect until the trip was actually cancelled, which happened way later than it should have (Another horrible decision). Carnival had the same info as Royal, which is more than the average customer had BTW, but they made the right decisions in a timely manner which means they didn't affect their customers nearly as badly.

 

 

 

Note that anything you actually use isn't covered by trip cancellation insurance (I know because I had to use it once when my wife had a medical emergancy on Carnival). If you flew in to Houston, you used your ticket so it's not covered. If you got a hotel room before the trip was cancelled, those days aren't covered. What would be covered is the cruise itself, but (Stay with me as this is where it gets really fun) RCCL is covering the cruise because they didn't go anywhere anyway. In this particular case, Trip Insurance would covered the incidentals. That's it.

 

 

 

Medical insurance in this case would have been completely useless. It doesn't get activated unless you had a medical condition. Bringing it up in this situation is simply a red herring.

 

 

 

I totally get where company, the industry folks and the cheerleaders, would love to make this all about getting insurance instead of being about how shabbily RCCL treated it's customers. Turn the story into something that isn't the companies fault. Focus on what the customer could do instead of what the company should do. Lots of folks are happily going on and on about 'protecting yourself' and 'blaming others', but that's not what it's about in this case.

 

 

 

Nailed it. And concisely exposes poseur posters.

 

Dax

 

 

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[helen haywood]

To everyone considering buying travel insurance, or just interested in learning more about coverage, check out http://www.insuremytrip.com. You can compare policies and call and ask questions. It's sad to think people are as misinformed as sometimes they are. For example, you don't have to buy insurance at the time you made first payment. That is only true for pre-existing conditions. And even that is misleading. For example, I had surgery on my ankle over 30 years ago. I have had no problems since. If somehow those pins in my ankle gave out...I had thought that would be a pre-existing condition. But not if I had not had treatment for it in X amount of time. Easy to call and ask questions and see if you need a policy and if so what one.

 

 

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[gingersvp]

I think there are two points happening in this thread and that they are, in some way, detracting from each other.

 

First, the OP didn't mention anything about this specific Harvey incident and instead was focused on overall traveler preparedness and foresight. In general, travel insurance is a good idea. Yes there are a few that can afford to self-insure but the vast majority of us cannot. New travelers are not always aware of this and try to hold a cruise line accountable for things that are simply outside the scope of their contract with the cruise. In these cases, trip insurance would have filled that gap.

 

As a separate issue, RCL advising clients to travel into a path of a storm was not good customer service. I can see where travel insurance in this case could wind up being of questionable use, should a customer decide to ignore the remarks on RCL. I think there may be some fallout between insurance and RCL, but until it all passes it's hard to know what they will all decide.

 

I would still say that travel insurance is a wise addition and that in all circumstances people need to be aware of the terms of their contracts - with cruise lines, airlines, car rentals, excursions, hotels and insurance.

[Hunwolf]

You seem to be posting on and on complaining about RCI and their handling of this, but from your post history, it looks like you don't even cruise RCI (pretty much only celebrity), have sworn off carnival, and seem to not like any cruise lines anymore, as you seem to complain about celebrity all the time as well.. If this is the case, why even come to the RCI board? You just bored?

 

Here we go pulling the blame the poster tactic.

 

Of course Celebrity and RCCL do have one teeny tiny thing in common.

[rukkian]

Here we go pulling the blame the poster tactic.

 

Of course Celebrity and RCCL do have one teeny tiny thing in common.

 

Not about blaming, just wanted to know. I see somebody jumping on this topic with one agenda (not really what the post was about) dumping on a cruise line that they don't cruise on (so it really doesn't effect them). There are many internet trolls that their whole reason to post is to argue with people. Not saying he is, just wondering.

 

I like to check out post history of people that seem to just be adamantly pushing one agenda and unwilling to even have a discussion to see where they are coming from. In this case, the person seems to not like any cruise lines, and has said may only do land based vacations. If that is the case, then why come over to a RCI board and just push an anti-RCI agenda if you don't even sail with them? I understand that Celebrity and Royal are sister companies.

[bUU]

I think there may be some fallout between insurance and RCL

What do you mean by that?

 

Not about blaming, just wanted to know.

It is an inappropriate line of inquiry. We're talking about complaints. Someone describes what they're talking about in terms of complaints. That description happens to match the description of complaints that have to do with something else. Voila! A thread about something specific is revealed to not be about something specific at all, but rather is revealed to be about something of more general interest, and for which even folks who haven't cruised on the specific cruise line have valuable insights and legitimate standing to offer their perspectives. Even though I've cruised on Royal Caribbean, I welcome such more general insights and perspectives.

[Hunwolf]

Not about blaming, just wanted to know. I see somebody jumping on this topic with one agenda (not really what the post was about) dumping on a cruise line that they don't cruise on (so it really doesn't effect them). There are many internet trolls that their whole reason to post is to argue with people. Not saying he is, just wondering.

 

I like to check out post history of people that seem to just be adamantly pushing one agenda and unwilling to even have a discussion to see where they are coming from. In this case, the person seems to not like any cruise lines, and has said may only do land based vacations. If that is the case, then why come over to a RCI board and just push an anti-RCI agenda if you don't even sail with them? I understand that Celebrity and Royal are sister companies.

 

I didn't read his post (his last long one) as dumping on RCCL at all. It seemed pretty straight to the point to me.

 

He was much nicer than caribill has been on here, and that's someone who I trust and follow on here even when not posting that much. If he has a real issue with how RCCL handled things then with high certainty it was an absolute world class cluster **** for the ages.

[tankerat]

Galveston pictures from Tuesday 8-29-2017

 

This is the strand a block over from where the ship docks

[rukkian]

I didn't read his post (his last long one) as dumping on RCCL at all. It seemed pretty straight to the point to me.

 

He was much nicer than caribill has been on here, and that's someone who I trust and follow on here even when not posting that much. If he has a real issue with how RCCL handled things then with high certainty it was an absolute world class cluster **** for the ages.

 

I was specifically responding to his last one, but may have read more into it than there was. There are some people (not saying necessarily in this case) that just try to enflame people, and was trying to figure out what would make him come to the RCI board when he does not even cruise on them. Maybe he was just a concerned citizen.

[xpcdoojk]

Precisely right. It almost seems like some people want to blame and punish Royal Caribbean for causing a hurricane. Totally ridiculous.

 

For some policies, certain parts of the coverage may be affected by not having purchased insurance at initial payment. We like Nationwide for that reason. They hinge such provisions on being able to travel on the date of final payment rather than initial payment.

 

This message may have been entered via voice recognition. Please excuse any typos.

 

Bicker please quit making sense. It disturbs the force of the universe.:evilsmile::eek:

 

JC

[xpcdoojk]

Nailed it. And concisely exposes poseur posters.

 

Dax

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

Because you agree? It only exposes you.

 

JC

[tankerat]

You might look at the two pictures I posted up above of Galveston yesterday with no political or other comment...and if you are coming to this Sunday's projected sailing just be sure you know for sure that there is a viable open and passable route you can take to get from Houston to Galveston...and just make sure the Port of Galveston is open.

 

We always take the Sam Houston Tollway to and from Galveston. Yesterday it still had 16-18 ft. of water in some of the underpasses.

 

And just recall that last week the Port of Galveston closed and their spokesman said it would not open until at least Tuesday [it's still not open today] and yet RCL directed Liberty to leave Cozumel and head toward the closed port..their meteorologist claiming he foresaw a "window" to allow last Sunday's turnaround day to happen [in a closed port, apparently] and so people came for the 8-27 sailing which was officially canceled way too late and some of them are now trapped in hotels in Houston and Galveston at their own expense.

 

No politics..just the facts.

[bUU]

My friend from East Houston reports she had some sun today. Thankfully they had no flooding or damage. And it looks like United is prepared to resume operations tomorrow afternoon.

[LMaxwell]

This is not a Harvey-specific thread; some of the information is, or could be, useful to those following those threads for up to date information so please consider posting relevant facts and updates there.

[tankerat]

Today's Update...8-31-2017...Getting Into and Out of Galveston......

Gasoline is Fast Becoming Unavailable in Texas..... --

 

Re: Most places in Dallas/Richardson/Plano/Mckinney are out of gasoline. Diesel still widely available. $2.50 is the prevailing price but regular is uniformly out. So $2.90 premium is what you get. I filled up before the hurricane landed. Not sure how the school bus logistics will work, though. --

 

 

 

Modern civilization appears to be very robust but is actually very fragile and depends completely upon readily available gasoline, diesel, electricity, pure water supplies and operating sewer plants.

 

Remove any one of those key components and chaos happens immediately.

 

This is why the EMP threat is considered Doomsday. And I absolutely agree that it would be.

 

Remove any of those components listed above and civilization panics and immediately goes into hysterics.

 

In San Antonio, we have 2 vehicles. I filled up one yesterday when all was still normal and calm. The other was only half full. So, hearing some news of lines forming I went to the 3 big gas stations near my house. All already had.. no gasoline.

 

I then went to pick up my grand kids from school to take them to their house.

 

I am normally gone 1 hour and 15 minutes each day to do this. Today it took 2 hours and 15 minutes. Most gas stations already have no gas but any that do...then lines immediately form and these gas lines then spill out into the street for blocks and take out a traffic lane, so traffic immediately becomes snarled. Some in line won't make it to the pumps before the gas is depleted.

 

The school districts all issued alerts to parents and the media that due to traffic jams forming around every gas station still having fuel, kids would be 45-60 minutes late getting home. Er, I saw a school bus still dropping kids at 6:45 pm. And when the bus fuel supplies are depleted???

Home school???

 

Many here will remember the gas lines of the 1970's...I sure do...today in San Antonio and Dallas were just like that. A friend who travels the rural areas for a car parts dealer said the small towns are already mostly out of fuel because city folks drove out into the country and drained them dry. It is a full blown panic.

 

I pity anyone who had low gas supplies in any vehicle today after 10 am. That vehicle is now worthless.

 

Of course the Mayor went on TV and said, "Don't fill up if you don't need gas." Yeah, right.

 

Soon we will see fill on "alternate days based on plate number" and "no more than 10 gallons per purchase"...watch and see...

 

Because of the large amount of refinery capacity idled by Harvey...this could spread outside of Texas very soon...

 

Good luck all...( If you are in Texas and have a vehicle that is not filled to capacity...do that...now.)

[tugboat]

Today's Update...8-31-2017...Getting Into and Out of Galveston......

Gasoline is Fast Becoming Unavailable in Texas..... --

 

Re: Most places in Dallas/Richardson/Plano/Mckinney are out of gasoline. Diesel still widely available. $2.50 is the prevailing price but regular is uniformly out. So $2.90 premium is what you get. I filled up before the hurricane landed. Not sure how the school bus logistics will work, though. --

 

 

 

Modern civilization appears to be very robust but is actually very fragile and depends completely upon readily available gasoline, diesel, electricity, pure water supplies and operating sewer plants.

 

Remove any one of those key components and chaos happens immediately.

 

This is why the EMP threat is considered Doomsday. And I absolutely agree that it would be.

 

Remove any of those components listed above and civilization panics and immediately goes into hysterics.

 

In San Antonio, we have 2 vehicles. I filled up one yesterday when all was still normal and calm. The other was only half full. So, hearing some news of lines forming I went to the 3 big gas stations near my house. All already had.. no gasoline.

 

I then went to pick up my grand kids from school to take them to their house.

 

I am normally gone 1 hour and 15 minutes each day to do this. Today it took 2 hours and 15 minutes. Most gas stations already have no gas but any that do...then lines immediately form and these gas lines then spill out into the street for blocks and take out a traffic lane, so traffic immediately becomes snarled. Some in line won't make it to the pumps before the gas is depleted.

 

The school districts all issued alerts to parents and the media that due to traffic jams forming around every gas station still having fuel, kids would be 45-60 minutes late getting home. Er, I saw a school bus still dropping kids at 6:45 pm. And when the bus fuel supplies are depleted???

Home school???

 

Many here will remember the gas lines of the 1970's...I sure do...today in San Antonio and Dallas were just like that. A friend who travels the rural areas for a car parts dealer said the small towns are already mostly out of fuel because city folks drove out into the country and drained them dry. It is a full blown panic.

 

I pity anyone who had low gas supplies in any vehicle today after 10 am. That vehicle is now worthless.

 

Of course the Mayor went on TV and said, "Don't fill up if you don't need gas." Yeah, right.

 

Soon we will see fill on "alternate days based on plate number" and "no more than 10 gallons per purchase"...watch and see...

 

Because of the large amount of refinery capacity idled by Harvey...this could spread outside of Texas very soon...

 

Good luck all...( If you are in Texas and have a vehicle that is not filled to capacity...do that...now.)

 

 

 

Come on to Houston I went to 10 different stations today after hearing the news, all 10 had gas, if everybody in Dallas run to the station at the same time of course they are going to run out of gas. Same thing for San Antonio by the Galveston has gas according to my sister.

 

 

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[tankerat]

When it happens.....It happens very fast....no doubt about that.

 

Some go to fill up and can't and then soon lines form where gas is available and then..

 

you see what I experienced today.

 

..but.... recall that a car without gas is worthless....

 

So, be very observant even if you don't get it...yet.

[retiredyoungLV]

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.

I'm wondering from what company you buy your insurance? I'd be willing to pay that kind of price. TY.

[Pstreet12]

This thread has so many posts that I didn't read them all, so if this has been posted previously, forgive me.

 

Travel Evacuation Insurance: Consider purchasing a yearly policy from Diver Alert Network. It's $50 (or maybe $55.00) A YEAR for a couple. Coverage is excellent; I know because the friend who told me about it used it in Tahiti once when her husband was hospitalized almost two weeks there and once in the Phillipines when he was hospitalized there. She said the insurance people coordinated every day with the doctors in order to determine when it would be safe to fly him home, flew them both back 1st class when the time came, AND flew a doctor with them because her husband's health was precarious. Coverage is good if you are 50 miles or more from home, so it's useful to have even in the U.S.

 

If you do decide it's worth investigating, go to their site--but do NOT look at their insurance policies. The insurance policies are for diving, not just trip evacuation. In order to get the trip evacuation insurance for $50-$55 (don't remember the exact amount) per COUPLE for the YEAR, you simply sign up for membership; the $50 is for a couple membership; there is NO additional charge for the evacuation insurance. The trip evacuation insurance is a by-product of being a member. They have a magazine with pretty pictures that you'll get, and in a few weeks, they will send you your insurance card.

 

It sounds too good to be true, I know, but it is true, and my friend is the proof.

 

That, of course, covers only the trip evacuation. However, there are credit cards that, for no extra charge, will cover other trip insurance.

The American Express Hilton card has good trip insurance coverage, including trip interruption.

 

We use the Chase Saphine Reserve Card. It's yearly fee is high ($450), but for us, it has more than paid for itself.

1) the first $300 you spend on travel--any travel--is billed as a credit on your bill. For cruisers or flyers, that's easy to do.

2) They have excellent trip insurance, even interruption, if ANY PART of the trip was paid for by using the card. Since we always used to get insurance on every cruise for each of us and we've cruised a lot this year, the card has more than paid for itself because we no longer buy trip insurance from Royal.

3) In addition use of airport lounges (for your entire party) is free, and that's a nice benefit that we really used when we flew to Israel earlier this year.

 

Anyway, thought the insurance information might benefit someone.

[Kingofcool1947]

This thread has so many posts that I didn't read them all, so if this has been posted previously, forgive me.

 

Travel Evacuation Insurance: Consider purchasing a yearly policy from Diver Alert Network. It's $50 (or maybe $55.00) A YEAR for a couple. Coverage is excellent; I know because the friend who told me about it used it in Tahiti once when her husband was hospitalized almost two weeks there and once in the Phillipines when he was hospitalized there. She said the insurance people coordinated every day with the doctors in order to determine when it would be safe to fly him home, flew them both back 1st class when the time came, AND flew a doctor with them because her husband's health was precarious. Coverage is good if you are 50 miles or more from home, so it's useful to have even in the U.S.

 

If you do decide it's worth investigating, go to their site--but do NOT look at their insurance policies. The insurance policies are for diving, not just trip evacuation. In order to get the trip evacuation insurance for $50-$55 (don't remember the exact amount) per COUPLE for the YEAR, you simply sign up for membership; the $50 is for a couple membership; there is NO additional charge for the evacuation insurance. The trip evacuation insurance is a by-product of being a member. They have a magazine with pretty pictures that you'll get, and in a few weeks, they will send you your insurance card.

 

It sounds too good to be true, I know, but it is true, and my friend is the proof.

 

That, of course, covers only the trip evacuation. However, there are credit cards that, for no extra charge, will cover other trip insurance.

The American Express Hilton card has good trip insurance coverage, including trip interruption.

 

We use the Chase Saphine Reserve Card. It's yearly fee is high ($450), but for us, it has more than paid for itself.

1) the first $300 you spend on travel--any travel--is billed as a credit on your bill. For cruisers or flyers, that's easy to do.

2) They have excellent trip insurance, even interruption, if ANY PART of the trip was paid for by using the card. Since we always used to get insurance on every cruise for each of us and we've cruised a lot this year, the card has more than paid for itself because we no longer buy trip insurance from Royal.

3) In addition use of airport lounges (for your entire party) is free, and that's a nice benefit that we really used when we flew to Israel earlier this year.

 

Anyway, thought the insurance information might benefit someone.

 

Good to know.

It gives great comfort to know all expenses will be covered if you should die on a cruise.

Thanks for sharing.

Edited September 4, 2017 by Kingofcool1947

[retiredyoungLV]

Pstreet12-great info-TY!!

[AdGuyMG]

 

We use the Chase Saphine Reserve Card. It's yearly fee is high ($450), but for us, it has more than paid for itself.

1) the first $300 you spend on travel--any travel--is billed as a credit on your bill. For cruisers or flyers, that's easy to do.

2) They have excellent trip insurance, even interruption, if ANY PART of the trip was paid for by using the card. Since we always used to get insurance on every cruise for each of us and we've cruised a lot this year, the card has more than paid for itself because we no longer buy trip insurance from Royal.

3) In addition use of airport lounges (for your entire party) is free, and that's a nice benefit that we really used when we flew to Israel earlier this year.

 

Anyway, thought the insurance information might benefit someone.

 

Does this Chase Sapphire Reserve card provide 100% reimbursement of a trip cancellation for someone with a pre-existing medical condition? In other words, no 120 day look-back?

 

 

Does this card pay for out of country emergency evacuation via air ambulance back to the US? If so how much per person?

 

What about repatriation of remains if say someone died in Aruba?

 

 

In the event of a mid trip cruise interruption, does this card provide only a pro-rated reimbursement of the missed portion of the cruise or does it provide additional funds for an emergency airline ticket home?

 

 

These are the things that can add up to big unforeseen bills and I'd be interested to know how they are covered as I've been buying an Allianz Classic policy the past few years to cover the above.