Have to Cancel Cruise

[molme]

We are sailing next month on the Regal and one of the couples sailing with us have to cancel due to the fact that he took a terrible fall and has spent the last week and a half in the hospital.  He has a concussion and a broken vertebrae in his neck and is in a neck brace for the next five weeks.  What is the best way to cancel now or just be no shows?  They do have insurance.  

Thanks in advance for your help.

[Olney]

I believe it’s better to cancel now and get the insurance claim started as soon as possible.  I’ve had to do that in the past.

[cherylandtk]

Don’t be a no show.  It is necessary to cancel as soon as one is able.  This is a medical reason and will most probably be covered by the insurance of that man and his partner.  Do you know if it is third party or Princess Insurance?  

 

And if you are planning to cancel, as well, please understand that unless they are on the same booking number as you, or sharing a cabin, then your reason for cancelling is likely not a covered reason,  but it depends on how your  insurance defines ‘traveling companion’.

[Coral]

Bad luck! I hope your friend recovers as quick as he can.

 

I would cancel now. It is not like it will be iffy if he can go or not. It is obvious he can not go. Get your TA involved and do the cancellation and get the doctor's signatures and paperwork going.

[fishywood]

If the injury occurred a month before sailing they are in the 75% cancellation penalty period; if it still more than 29 days before they are only in the 50% penalty. Which means half the fare--plus all the Government Taxes and Fees--will be refunded, the rest reimbursed by insurance.

 

But if they no-show at the dock they will be in the 100% cancellation period. And when the insurance carrier sees the claim where the injury occurred prior to the 100% window there is no way you can expect a full payout. More likely they will assume the doctor's report is fraudulently backdated.

 

All insurance coverage is contingent on timely filing of claims. So put the idea of just doing a no-show out of your head immediately. Have that couple call Princes ASAP.

Edited January 19, 2019 by fishywood

[Cruise Raider]

15 minutes ago, Coral said:

Bad luck! I hope your friend recovers as quick as he can.

 

I would cancel now. It is not like it will be iffy if he can go or not. It is obvious he can not go. Get your TA involved and do the cancellation and get the doctor's signatures and paperwork going.

 

Yes, cancel it now as it sounds as though there is no way your travel companion is going to go on this cruise.  I had the misfortune of being in the ED one night well into the morning hours and was told by the doctor that I probably wouldn't feel like going.  He filled out the paperwork for me to cancel.  I called my travel insurance company and they told me to be sure to cancel the cruise rather than just being a no show.  

Well, after a couple of hours of sleep, I was happy that I didn't cancel as I went and had a great time.  However, the advice from the insurance company was to cancel as soon as possible.  

 

[paul929207]

They need to cancel ASAP. Then they can get started on the claim

[cruisequeen4ever]

Cancel now to get an immediate partial refund back of whatever could be refunded under regular rules. Also, there is a lot of paperwork needed for the claim, so best to get it all while the person is still in the hospital and has access to all the doctors to fill out the forms. Some insurance companies have timely filing restrictions, too, and it would be an extra bad nightmare if they waited too long and got nothing back! 

Edited January 20, 2019 by cruisequeen4ever

[ggprincess2004]

Cancel at once and get the insurance claim started. My mom took a bad fall about 2 weeks before a scheduled cruise with us, and was told by her dr. not to travel...….I phoned to cancel the cruise for mom and dad and start the insurance claim process. Since it is medical, it should be 100% covered, but they will do the look back to make sure it was not pre-existing.  The process was straight-forward, but did require specific paperwork to be signed off on by the treating physician.  The claim was paid in about 4 weeks of completing the paperwork, the shore excursions reserved ahead of time through Princess were refunded fully quite promptly by Princess. 

[jlp20]

Start claim ASAP, but for different reason. You will have several forms doctor has to sign off on. Easier to do it now than trying to chase for a signature.

[Coral]

6 hours ago, jlp20 said:

Start claim ASAP, but for different reason. You will have several forms doctor has to sign off on. Easier to do it now than trying to chase for a signature.

Yep - mentioned that in my post. Been there, done that.

[fishin' musician]

I'm wondering why "no show" would even be a consideration?

[Dani24]

Be sure to read the terms of the policy to understand the deadlines for filing a claim with insurance. Last year we took out a policy on a trip to Hawaii (wasn’t a cruise, but still had a bunch of non-refundable reservations). We almost had to cancel the trip. I read the fine print to be aware of what our window for notifying them was, and what documentation they wanted (at least initially), so if the cancellation circumstances happened we’d be ready to move on it. The window for filing a claim may be WAY smaller than you think. I think our policy said we had to at least notify them within a few days of the triggering event.

Definitely don’t no-show, as others have said, unless you want to forfeit all monies paid. I would cancel now, and if by some chance they are feeling better as the cruise approaches, perhaps there may be some last minute rooms still available and they can rebook.

[Casey12]

12 minutes ago, Dani24 said:

Be sure to read the terms of the policy to understand the deadlines for filing a claim with insurance. Last year we took out a policy on a trip to Hawaii (wasn’t a cruise, but still had a bunch of non-refundable reservations). We almost had to cancel the trip. I read the fine print to be aware of what our window for notifying them was, and what documentation they wanted (at least initially), so if the cancellation circumstances happened we’d be ready to move on it. The window for filing a claim may be WAY smaller than you think. I think our policy said we had to at least notify them within a few days of the triggering event.

Definitely don’t no-show, as others have said, unless you want to forfeit all monies paid. I would cancel now, and if by some chance they are feeling better as the cruise approaches, perhaps there may be some last minute rooms still available and they can rebook.

This is important. In my situation I had a close window to cancel but a year to file a claim. Every company is different.

[Dani24]

1 minute ago, Casey12 said:

This is important. In my situation I had a close window to cancel but a year to file a claim. Every company is different.

 

Yes. And it can even vary within the policy itself, depending on the reason for cancelling. We had a “cancel for any reason” policy, although if we had to cancel it would have been due to work. The policy varied on how to handle any reason vs. work, so we familiarized ourselves with both. 

[Colo Cruiser]

I agree cancel now.