Royal Caribbean Cruise Care Coverage Expenses Resulting From Flight Cancellation.

[BennyBrun]

I hope one of the expert might know the answer. I bought coverage from Royal directly when I booked the cruise.  My cruise is on 1/30, my flight on 1/30 was canceled due to weather and no flights were available on 1/29 so we had to reschedule on 1/28 and that incurred, parking expenses, hotel expenses and meal expenses.  Does the Cruise Care cover the expenses?  I called them and they were vague at best and said to submit a claim for consideration it they kept referring to reimbursement for cruise fare which I told them has nothing to do with what I am asking.  I am not asking for cruise fare to be refunded, just the expense from the cancellation.

[Babr]

Interesting question.  It may depend on whether you bought your flights from Royal. Cruise line insurance typically begins the day of scheduled departure for the cruise and will not cover any independently booked travel arrangements. Check the language of the policy.

 

A customer service rep on the phone will never commit to saying a loss is covered until an adjuster has examined the claim. All you can do is file and see what happens. 

[Jersey42]

I don't know the answer, but I would be curious on how your claim works out.

 

If you read the wording in the policy it gets confusing.  If you flew in a day late and missed the ship, the policy should cover your transportation expenses to rejoin the ship at another port.  If may also pay you for the unused portion of your cruise.  But it is silent on the expenses you specifically mention.  Unfortunately silence often means "NO, we do not cover that".

 

Furthermore the policy says nothing about flying in early because of a canceled flight.  It only refers to missing a flight or delays more than 3 hours due to specific reasons including weather.  Even if they covered taking an early flight,  they may only reimburse you for increased transportation expenses. 

 

I just saw the response from @Babr.  If you purchased the flights from Royal, you might have more leverage.  In any case file the claim and let us know.

[iamtrustworthy]

1 hour ago, BennyBrun said:

I hope one of the expert might know the answer. I bought coverage from Royal directly when I booked the cruise.  My cruise is on 1/30, my flight on 1/30 was canceled due to weather and no flights were available on 1/29 so we had to reschedule on 1/28 and that incurred, parking expenses, hotel expenses and meal expenses.  Does the Cruise Care cover the expenses?  I called them and they were vague at best and said to submit a claim for consideration it they kept referring to reimbursement for cruise fare which I told them has nothing to do with what I am asking.  I am not asking for cruise fare to be refunded, just the expense from the cancellation.

Hi BennyBrun,

 

First, I'm not a travel agent and I don't sell Cruise Care.

 

I doubt you are covered because you had a Pre-Departure Date change. Here's more info:

https://tripinsurancestore.com/blog/pre-departure-date-changes-covered-cost/

 

Steve Dasseos

[BennyBrun]

2 hours ago, Jersey42 said:

I don't know the answer, but I would be curious on how your claim works out.

 

If you read the wording in the policy it gets confusing.  If you flew in a day late and missed the ship, the policy should cover your transportation expenses to rejoin the ship at another port.  If may also pay you for the unused portion of your cruise.  But it is silent on the expenses you specifically mention.  Unfortunately silence often means "NO, we do not cover that".

 

Furthermore the policy says nothing about flying in early because of a canceled flight.  It only refers to missing a flight or delays more than 3 hours due to specific reasons including weather.  Even if they covered taking an early flight,  they may only reimburse you for increased transportation expenses. 

 

I just saw the response from @Babr.  If you purchased the flights from Royal, you might have more leverage.  In any case file the claim and let us know.

I will after I get back!  In this case if I had purchased the flights from Royal I would definitely not be able to go on the cruise because the airline would push me back to Royal to make any changes.  Being a massive cancellation / hold time / competing for seats I was much better on my own in this incident to deal directly with the airline.  Delta canceled the entire operation Saturday/ Sunday morning in the NYC/NNJ area along with other carriers.  I was able to escape on the last flight that they did not cancel so in the grand scheme of things it could have been a lot worse.  However thankfully we live close to the airport and went to the airport to deal with an agent directly which helped a lot.  If I had to wait for an agent to call me back it would have been game over.

[Jersey42]

We rarely purchase airfare from the cruise line, and the last time we did (Princess), they changed us multiple times to less desirable flights. It was such a disaster that we ended up canceling at no cost and booked on our own. Since we moved to Florida, we have a lot more cruises available to us without worrying about airlines. 🙂

 

Unfortunately, I think Steve's previous comment will be the end result.  He is relaying information about the third party plans he knows. From looking at Royal's plan, it is at least as restrictive as many of the third party plans.  Other than taking some time, their is no downside to filing.  Just keep documentation and get something that shows your original flight was cancelled and you took the latest flight available to you that would get you to the cruise on time. Good luck.

[BennyBrun]

2 hours ago, iamtrustworthy said:

Hi BennyBrun,

 

First, I'm not a travel agent and I don't sell Cruise Care.

 

I doubt you are covered because you had a Pre-Departure Date change. Here's more info:

https://tripinsurancestore.com/blog/pre-departure-date-changes-covered-cost/

 

Steve Dasseos

In the grand scheme of things it’s not a big deal. I was not able to get a room at ATL along with thousands of stranded passengers at 2AM and caught a flight out to MIA before noon so the expense is minimal.

[BennyBrun]

8 minutes ago, Jersey42 said:

We rarely purchase airfare from the cruise line, and the last time we did (Princess), they changed us multiple times to less desirable flights. It was such a disaster that we ended up canceling at no cost and booked on our own. Since we moved to Florida, we have a lot more cruises available to us without worrying about airlines. 🙂

 

Unfortunately, I think Steve's previous comment will be the end result.  He is relaying information about the third party plans he knows. From looking at Royal's plan, it is at least as restrictive as many of the third party plans.  Other than taking some time, their is no downside to filing.  Just keep documentation and get something that shows your original flight was cancelled and you took the latest flight available to you that would get you to the cruise on time. Good luck.

It’s all good.  It’s one those situation that I have no idea if it will be covered or not and the agent was clueless.  Luckily this probably does not happen to a lot of people but this was the perfect storm 😆.  Less souvenir while on the cruise… it will be part of my live review on the Oasis to keep it interesting!

[iamtrustworthy]

8 hours ago, BennyBrun said:

In the grand scheme of things it’s not a big deal. I was not able to get a room at ATL along with thousands of stranded passengers at 2AM and caught a flight out to MIA before noon so the expense is minimal.

As a policyholder you have every right to file a claim. However, the only way you can be sure if your claim will be paid or not is after you file your claim. The insurance company has the final say.

 

I don't want to discourage you from filing a claim.