Insurance change by TA

[yarlenna]

I think this situation is beyond a chat board. I think it is time for a lawyer to be brought into the picture. Yes, that will still cost - see if you can find one that will charge the cruise agency/insurance company and work on a contingency. Good luck

Work like a dog. Live like a pauper. Save all your money. Then Cruise!

[jagmanss1]

I think yarlenna has something here.... IMHO there is cause for a class action case on this matter against the TA and CSA.... This can not be legal to do......

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[ebedore]

Many people are affected by this one-sided change. Unfortunately for me the replacement coverage falls short....may be the case for others but unless you read that fine print, it is easily missed.

The issue is now in the hands of the TA and I await their decision. FYI: I have requested the original coverage (or comparable) or a full refund of the deposit, reimbursement of all fees and the difference between the fare I reserved and what the same cabin will cost me now.

Documentation included in that request clearly show the difference between the original product and their so-called replacement.

It has indeed been quite an educational experience.

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Carnival Triumph Western Caribbean

[jagmanss1]

ebdore, WHAT FINE PRINT is easily missed, Please enlighten me on this so called fine print...

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UNTIL OUR NEXT ADVENTURE

Adventure of The Seas 11/14/04
Enchantment of the Seas 11/1/03
Sovereign of the Seas 11/28/02
SS Oceanic (Big Red Boat) 10/98

[bobbyd6363]

I am in the same boat as JAGMASS and my policy was dropped too. I got the dreaded letter in the mail today! I think I will call the Insurance Commisioner here in California

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[rjg41]

This is very interesting. I do business with the big brink and mortar travel agency that is part of this big company. I have always purchased the CSA policy through them because it is not due until final payment and pre-existing coverage.

Thanks for posting this as I will now cancel and re-book my cruise a year from now for the insurance reasons.

First, this company generally bills with your deposit payment and no matter when you pay it they typically do not send the payment to CSA until it is due at final payment. If you made that payment prior to them notifying you and they held your money, any issue you have is with the TA and you do have a big issue. It seems clear they must get you, at their additional expense, an equivilant policy. The suggestion to notify your insurance commissioner is a good one.

Secondly, as a service to other cruisers, I hope you posted this on all other boards. Now, it may be that the parent company did not think this through and once it realizes the implications of what they did they will offer a fix. Regardless the more publicity you give this the better for those hurt by it.

As for class action lawsuits, just look at who really makes all the money when that is done. It is not the consumer.

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Celebrity Millennium, Caribbean, Jan 2002
Coral Princess, Panama Canal Feb. 2, 2003 [url="http://messages.cruisecritic.com/2/OpenTopic?a=tpc&s=927093444&f=887097554&m=6683066607&r=6683066607#6683066607"](Review)[/url]
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[Tybug]

Of all of you affected... I will ask again, Did you pay for the insurance upfront?? Meaning, when you made the deposit for your cruise did you also pay your insurance in full?

Again, did you pay full deposit($250pp on a 7 night cruise) PLUS the full insurance premium?? OR were you waiting to pay for the insurance with final payment?

--Tybug--

10-01 Imagination
02-02 Sovereign of the Seas
10-02 Inspiration
01-03 Majesty of the Seas
04-03 Inspiration
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[halos]

I am so sorry for all this aggrivation you are going through.
Is the moral to this nightmare of a story to purchase your insurance on your own? Are you safe then?

I believe in Miracles
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MIRACLE JUNE 19, 2004
Calm Seas, Good Friends

[Brneyznfl]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by halos:
I am so sorry for all this aggrivation you are going through.
Is the moral to this nightmare of a story to purchase your insurance on your own? Are you safe then?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

In my opinion yes if the pre-existing waiver condition is important to you. It is for me and I always purchase my own travel insurance. [url="http://www.insuremytrip.com"]www.insuremytrip.com[/url] is a great website. It lists all the major travel insurance companies. Most importantly, you can also read and compare the policies.

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Next Cruise! Miracle 2/13/05

Triumph, Inspiration, Holiday, Explorer of the Seas, Granduer of the Seas, Glory Hounds I, Conquestadors

[rjg41]

What some of you might have missed is this travel agency and its affiliates had a deal with CSA to offer a good policy with pre-existing condition coverage that DID NOT have to be paid until final payment. They have offered it for years and I have purchased the insurance this way for the last 2 years including for our family reunion cruise of 18 people.

I have a invoice for my cruise next year that offers the same insurance deal. Of course I have not paid it yet since I had until final payment. I must now cancel my cruise and re-book to get pre-existing coverage.

What has happened here at the very least is that people have final invoices in hand with the insurance charge listed and now they are told sorry, we won't deliver what you were counting on since you made you deposit and you can no longer purchase any policy from anyone with pre-existing coverage.

Further comment on the agency's legal obligation here should be left to the attorney's. As suggested earlier, the state attorney general and the insurance commissioner would be a good starting point. Certainly, the agency has a huge customer satisfaction issue. They have left a whole bunch of people hanging.

Now another wrinkle. I deal with a brick and mortar part of this agency located less than 2 miles from my home. I am aware of no attempt to notify me that I have a potential problem. Thanks to these boards, I now can do something about it.

Well see what my live agent knows about this issue Monday.

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[hill6]

Actually I think I am dealing with the same agency that sells only cruises. I got a surprise yesterday when I tried calling to make the final payment on my cruise. Not only did they change insurance agencies they raised the price $7 per person from the initially agreed upon price. When I sent in a payment last month for my upcoming 4 day cruise they charged me $21 more than the inital price. They have us being charged three different insurance rates now based on our ages. I said that is BS. According to them there is a $21 differnce (all put on one person's insurance price) between my husband and I (we are only 21 months apart in age). I said no way. The rep then told me that they now use the same agency as Carnival for their insurance. I looked yesterday after I got home and if that is true we are all being ripped off for a lot more money the $173.97 I was charged by them would have only been $127 if booked directly through Carnival according to the 2003-2005 Carnival Book.

The agent then had the nerve to tell me that no one else has complained about this. I said I bet a bunch of them are not aware of the change in price. I also reminded them that it is illegal to make a contract for one price and then to change it to a different price later on. I referred to my original reservation price.

So beware if you are using this same Only Cruise company double check your insurance prices.

PS: Also this same agency not only charged me more for the insurance but they charged $25 more to my credit card than I authorized them to do.

Triumph 7/8/00 (Eastern)
Triumph 7/28/01 (Western)
Glory 7/26/03 (Eastern)
Fantasy 7/4/04 (4 Night)

[This message was edited by hill6 on 04-11-04 at 09:17 AM.]

[TerriNM]

Maybe if someone has a email addy for a supervisor at this Only Cruise place we could all send him/her a link to this thread.......

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Until the Conquest!!!

[ebedore]

I didn't think I would be the only one stuck by this issue and unfortunately now there are several of us in this one thread facing the issue. I'll see what comes of my letters...probably nothing but I am requesting to end up in at least the same place that I originally thought I was getting.

If it happened to you as well, send a letter to that agency!

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Carnival Triumph Western Caribbean

[nailz]

I have been following this post because I too am dealing with this same company who only does cruises. I too was quoted an insurance price that was based on a blanket coverage for my flight and cruise. Since making my initial deposit and just recently prior to this huge change in the insurance, I sent them a very large down payment on my cruise. At that time I checked the box that accepted the quoted cruise insurance. They did not send anything back to me confirming this. I have since received a letter from them stating that they have made some internal changes and no longer offer the CSA Insurance originally offerred, and due to these new internal changes they now have Berkley Insurance. Since it was only about an $11.00 increase from the original quote for both the first and second passengers, I didn't think that was too bad. But unfortunately, a party traveling with us has 4 in their cabin, and the CSA insurance at that time was based on a blanket coverage for the third and fourth passengers that was at a much cheaper rate. Since this company has now gone with Berkely, the coverage is now the same for all 4 of them. This now brings the third and fourth passengers coverage up by $36.00 each, not to mention the additional $11.00 for both the first and second passengers. What has me confused about this whole thing and the letter is it said if you want the insurance to check the box indicating that you do when making your final payment. So I assume this means send in what you were orignally quoted as your final payment and then they will bill you for the additional insurance cost? If that is the case then why don't they just go ahead and send a new bill showing what the additional cost will be before my final payment is due. I don't like to think that after I make my final payment that I will still owe money. My TA who has handle all of this has been great and has let me know exactly what the additional $$ will be. I still think they should send a new quote showing exactly what the additional insurance cost will be or just allow what was orignal quoted be my final payment and since this is something that was due to their change, then they should eat the additional cost?

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[This message was edited by nailz on 04-12-04 at 02:04 PM.]

[Boston6]

Hmmm....it's all so confusing. Moral of the story seems to be that it's best to purchase one's insurance independently from the cruise lines or TA.

As for all these folks left out in the cold because of the TA's actions or inactions, the TA should step up to the plate and cover the additional costs to get the proper insurance that they promised their customers, regardless of the costs.

Sovereign of the Seas (11/89)
Monarch of the Seas (8/99)
Norwegian Sea (7/02)
Carnival Glory (4/17/04)

[DMorris]

Good news everyone... we booked with them also. I have been dealing with a supervisor since our TA is no longer there. We learned today after persistence that CSA insurance can still be purchased. Asked why they never gave us that option before, and just changed insurance companies without notifying us until after.

For those of you who are booked with this agency, you can get the CSA policy. We are in the process of signing up for it now. So there is hope, I know what they did was wrong, but at least the CSA policy which covers pre-existing can still be purchased for now. If you have any question let me know. I will be happy to try and answer them.

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Until our Martian Yatch Club Adventure

RCCL Adventure of the Seas 11/14/04
RCCL Voyager of the Seas 10/26/03
Carnival Pride 11/9/02
Premier Cruise Lines (5 sailings)

[DMorris]

Bump for those who have CO

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RCCL Adventure of the Seas 11/14/04
RCCL Voyager of the Seas 10/26/03
Carnival Pride 11/9/02
Premier Cruise Lines (5 sailings)

[sea_u_onboard]

Hill6 - If they charge more on the card then the quoted amount I would dispute the additional amount with my credit card company and let them explain why they are charging more then they quoted for a service. Not sure it will do any good. If the credit card removes the amount they still might say you owe it.

Anyone else done this before? Disputed a charge for more then quoted?

-- Cheryl

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Short one on the Celebration
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JULY 31, 2004

[hill6]

Actually, I am supposed to receive a credit for the difference in price on the insurance. My agent is due back from vacation on Monday. I will be speaking to her on Monday. I want to make sure there is the credit before final payment.

Triumph 7/8/00 (Eastern)
Triumph 7/28/01 (Western)
Glory 7/26/03 (Eastern)
Fantasy 7/4/04 (4 Night)

[ILov2cruise]

CSA is NOT an insurance company, they are a Travel Protection co. They use 2 different insurance company to underwrite your policy.

I also had CSA Travel Protection which was cancelled, I called them and was told that since they do not do buz with this TA any longer(and do not have a contract with them) that they have the right to cancel all policies that were writen for this travel company.

I don t know if I used the same TA as the others, there are so many curise only companys out there.
They hooked me up with another Travel Protection co.
I wonder why this TA doesn t use CSA anymore. I remember reading not so long ago about a Travel Protection co that was not paying any claims(I think it was a Fla company).
Anyone know the name of that company.

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[nailz]

Thanks Deanna, I called the same day you posted and was told by them they are going to honor my original insurance and the price I was quoted. They informed me that because I made payment before April 1st and checked the box on the invoice that I did want the insurance they are going to leave everything as it was before. So thanks for the heads up!

Carnival Triumph 07//17/2004

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