Our insurance claim and results

[BND]

Just wanted to report about our experience using insurance purchased through RCI.  We have always bought insurance for all 28 cruises we've taken and the two we just had to cancel that were supposed to start tomorrow.  While at Topgolf 10 weeks ago today, when I swung the club, the toe of my tennis shoe apparently didn't move and my knee twisted.  The result was dislocated left knee cap and since you can't support weight with that, I went down on my left leg and fractured my ankle (fibula-required surgery) and  a small piece at the end of the tibia (healing by itself) and dislocated my ankle.  I then had surgery to put in a plate and screws 10 days later.   My orthopedic surgeon said not to go on  the vacation and we had him fill out paperwork from the insurance website.  We ended up submitting everything on Oct 3 and yesterday we got notified that checks were being issued to us.  RCI had already refunded port fees, gratuities and taxes and a percentage of the cruise fare based on cancellation date.  It was a very easy process.  I'm always amazed at the people who don't buy insurance and then expect to be treated as "special" when they have to cancel.  Everyone thinks their issue is special and should be an exception.  Insurance exists for a reason and it works.  We had hotels, auto train tickets and WDW tickets.  We got everything reimbursed (obviously not through RCI insurance but because their cancellations are like 24-48 hours) except the WDW tickets because they're special military ones that expire this year.  We may or may not get that money credited next year when we rescheduled this trip for.  I did the math and even after paying for that many, we still got more back than we've paid for insurance.  Don't assume you won't ever have to cancel or have an issue while on a cruise.  I'm a very healthy person and have never broken any bones before.  What happened to me was purely a freak accident that no one could have forseen. I'm healing well and weaning out of the walking boot into an ankle brace this week.  We'll be ready to travel again in May for our next b2b that we also have insurance for.

Edited November 2, 2019 by BND

[Snit13]

Happy to hear your positive experience with your insurance.  Hope you have a speedy recovery and get back on the course soon.  Maybe switch to Sketchers!

[retiredgram]

Wishing you a speedy recovery   Glad to hear such a positive review of the insurance. Thanks

[island lady]

Oh ouch...so sorry to hear about your injury.  That sounds very painful and I hope you recover soon.  Indeed having the foresight to carry insurance in your case lightened the load in that pain.  

 

Hope you are able to get back on your feet and continue with a future cruise soon!

 

BTW:   A year ago I broke my foot pretty badly on the first night of our week long Brilliance cruise.  You sure learn a lot about being wheel chair bound on a cruise ship in a hurry!  😮   Not the cruise we planned, but we did stay on board and had as much fun as we could on a limited basis.  At least you had your injury before you boarded.  Could have been worse!  

[ldubs]

Holy moley, golf isn't supposed to be a contact sport!!!   I'm glad you are mending and will be back on the road. 

 

Thanks for sharing the info on the insurance response.

[DaniDanielle]

Best of luck to you.

[lovescats5]

See....golf is hazardous to your health.  Must be why I don't play.  That and trying to swing that silly club is harder than heck.  Glad you are on your way back to being healthy.

[PhoenixCruiser]

Ouch, glad to read you are healing well.

Agree 100% regarding insurance.

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

[BNBR]

Gosh, I guess vacation insurance is such a smart purchase!

[BND]

50 minutes ago, lovescats5 said:

See....golf is hazardous to your health.  Must be why I don't play.  That and trying to swing that silly club is harder than heck.  Glad you are on your way back to being healthy.

We were 15 minutes from the end of our time playing when it happened.  

[BND]

1 hour ago, island lady said:

Oh ouch...so sorry to hear about your injury.  That sounds very painful and I hope you recover soon.  Indeed having the foresight to carry insurance in your case lightened the load in that pain.  

 

Hope you are able to get back on your feet and continue with a future cruise soon!

 

BTW:   A year ago I broke my foot pretty badly on the first night of our week long Brilliance cruise.  You sure learn a lot about being wheel chair bound on a cruise ship in a hurry!  😮   Not the cruise we planned, but we did stay on board and had as much fun as we could on a limited basis.  At least you had your injury before you boarded.  Could have been worse!  

Fortunately, other than when it first happened, before they realigned everything it hasn't been painful.  I have a pretty high tolerance for pain and other than what I got in the IV in the ER, and the nerve block that i got after the surgery. I haven't taken anything but tylenol for a few days.  Now that I'm walking in the boot, I have some minor soreness.   My knee has just added some complications, but I see improvement almost everyday.  It's incremental mostly, but then I get a big step forward.  

[voyager70]

So sorry to hear about your injury but glad everything worked out well with the insurance.  Would never think about traveling without it.  Thanks for sharing.

 

[BND]

1 minute ago, voyager70 said:

So sorry to hear about your injury but glad everything worked out well with the insurance.  Would never think about traveling without it.  Thanks for sharing.

 

We've all seen posts here from people who complain that RCI isn't compassionate or understanding or whatever because they wouldn't refund them even though they didn't buy insurance.  My injury was totally out of the blue and could happen to anyone.  

[cruisegirl1]

Glad you are on the mend.

 

We were on the grandeur August 31 cruise that was cancelled after just 4 hours. They had us get off that first night, or there was a window of time the second night to get off. Get off the ship, find transportation, find a hotel, and get an airline ticket back home.   Yes-cruise was cancelled after 4 hours. 
 

I mention this because we were out of pocket approximately $700 for our air transportation, pre-cruise hotel, new air flights home  etc., etc., etc. (Of course we received a full refund from RCCL and some financial assistance on our return air tickets)  Our annual travel insurance company reimbursed us. 

 

Most of us associate  insurance with a sickness or injury, but this was the cancellation by the cruise line.

 

m

 

 

[LeeW]

Hope the recovery goes well.  With luck you will find someone to take the Salute tickets off your hands.  As long as they haven't been linked to a Disney account anyone in the military should be able to use them.  Pretty sure rules on this board prevent finding a home for them through CC.  Might be legal to ask on the Roll Call boards.  Or maybe your local TTO can help.

[karena1]

Hope you have a super fast recovery!  I would never travel without insurance.  I don't buy it from Royal, we get it from a 3rd party.  Never had to use it until this Sept when my husband got sick and we had to cancel our Freedom cruise.  Had a check from the insurance company within about 3 weeks.  Filled out the claim online, submitted all the documents from the doctors/hospital and the travel docs, and was done.  Super easy.

[orville99]

Same thing happened to DW just before an RCL cruise (She blew out her knee), and our experience was as good as yours. RCL even walked us through the process over the phone to make sure that everything went smoothly. For what we pay for the insurance, one missed cruise that wasn't covered would equal ~10-15 cruises worth of insurance. Would never sail without it.

[mugtech]

My wife and I have a deal that if one of us cannot cruise the other goes solo or takes a substitute.  18 cruises so far, none missed, no insurance, no problems.  Nether one of us plays golf.

[BND]

1 hour ago, mugtech said:

My wife and I have a deal that if one of us cannot cruise the other goes solo or takes a substitute.  18 cruises so far, none missed, no insurance, no problems.  Nether one of us plays golf.

He couldn't and wouldn't leave me alone with my injury.  I need help getting in and out of the shower and with meals.  It would be different if one of us couldn't travel because of work, but for injury or illness, neither of us would go without the other.

[BND]

4 hours ago, LeeW said:

Hope the recovery goes well.  With luck you will find someone to take the Salute tickets off your hands.  As long as they haven't been linked to a Disney account anyone in the military should be able to use them.  Pretty sure rules on this board prevent finding a home for them through CC.  Might be legal to ask on the Roll Call boards.  Or maybe your local TTO can help.

They have been linked and aren't transferable.  We wouldn't try to sell them to anyone even if we hadn't linked them.  It's our issue and ~$600 won't break the bank or prevent us from going next year.  They were bought through Shades of Green resort and they told us to send an email explaining the situation and that we could get credit next year.  I'll believe it next year when we go to purchase, but out of over 10K  we had spent, and got refunded, $600 isn't anything.

Edited November 3, 2019 by BND

[karena1]

12 hours ago, mugtech said:

My wife and I have a deal that if one of us cannot cruise the other goes solo or takes a substitute.  18 cruises so far, none missed, no insurance, no problems.  Nether one of us plays golf.

My husband was in the hospital and very sick.  No way would I leave him to go on a cruise.  It would be one thing if it was work, but we would never leave each other if one of us was sick

[FinallyConvincedDH2Cruise]

Hope you are up and around soon!

 

My parents had 2 vacation cancellation claims that at had Allianz for travel insurance, one was a RCCL cruise and another was a timeshare week booked with Interval International.  One claim she had started but never finished submitting the proof; I found it in her paperwork after she passed away.  I sent in the medical records why she couldn't travel during that time and also a copy of her death certificate... no issues at all and they paid it right away.   Same with the non-refundable timeshare getaway week that was still months away.  I definitely recommend Allianz.

 

She had booked JetBlue separately for one of the vacations, when I called they wanted to give a credit to their travel bank.  While the customer service rep was working on it, she could hear my mom in the background giving me instructions from her hospital bed on what bills needed to be paid and basically passing all of the financials on to me.  She said "it sounds like you really have a lot going on" and refunded their credit card.   I was so appreciative that they refunded them ❤️ 

[island lady]

17 hours ago, BND said:

Fortunately, other than when it first happened, before they realigned everything it hasn't been painful.  I have a pretty high tolerance for pain and other than what I got in the IV in the ER, and the nerve block that i got after the surgery. I haven't taken anything but tylenol for a few days.  Now that I'm walking in the boot, I have some minor soreness.   My knee has just added some complications, but I see improvement almost everyday.  It's incremental mostly, but then I get a big step forward.  

 

You have a great attitude!  🙂 I didn't let the boot hold me back from anything either.  Was just happy to ditch the wheelchair/crutches once I got into that walking boot.  

Edited November 3, 2019 by island lady

[BND]

1 minute ago, island lady said:

 

You have a great attitude!  🙂 I didn't let the boot hold me back from anything either.  Was just happy to ditch the wheelchair/crutches once I got into that walking boot.  

I was in a wheelchair for the first 4+ weeks since I was non-weight bearing.  I haven't used the wheelchair at all in a month.  Now that I'm fully weight bearing, I take two crutches when I go out, but only use one in the house and then, rarely touch the ground with them.  The top of my ankle has some muscle soreness at night, but it's usually gone in the morning and is getting better.  The key is to keep moving forward.  Walking with one crutch is actually easier than two for me.

 

Just waiting for the checks from insurance.  Not sure how long it will take to get them, but I'll report back once we do so people have a reference.

[island lady]

39 minutes ago, BND said:

I was in a wheelchair for the first 4+ weeks since I was non-weight bearing.  I haven't used the wheelchair at all in a month.  Now that I'm fully weight bearing, I take two crutches when I go out, but only use one in the house and then, rarely touch the ground with them.  The top of my ankle has some muscle soreness at night, but it's usually gone in the morning and is getting better.  The key is to keep moving forward.  Walking with one crutch is actually easier than two for me.

 

Just waiting for the checks from insurance.  Not sure how long it will take to get them, but I'll report back once we do so people have a reference.

 

Yup...you are a good sport about it.  Sounds like nothing keeps you down!  🙂  Fast healing to you!  l

When they put me in the boot, I walked out of the doctor's office (carrying my crutches now) with a grin from ear to ear.  Felt like I won the lottery!  🙂 

Edited November 3, 2019 by island lady