Travel Guard Insurance & Verizon

[Pisces11]

We were on the April 8 cruise on the Infinity to Hawaii from San Diego and back. Because of high winds and the pod problem, we missed our scheduled 1:30 pm flight back home.

 

Chaos reigned onboard when the captain announced that instead of our scheduled 7am arrival, we would probably not make it into port until 5pm. After spending several hours in line to try to change our airline reservation, I used my cell phone which was one of the few that worked. We were able to get out of San Diego on the Red Eye but that involved buying first class tickets. We had to pay $910 to change our airline reservations.

 

When we got home we called verizon to ask what the roaming charges were so we could add them to the travel insurance claim. They told us there were none, which we questioned but they said not worry.

 

We filed our claim with Travel Guard never really expecting any money back. After all, Celebrity was claiming it was weather related which was an exclusion on the policy. Travel Guard put our claim in under travel delay because we were supposed to come in at 7am and the first flight we could get out was 11pm so it was over 12 hours. I had saved all the documentation we received onboard from Celebrity. This morning, I received a check for $910 for the travel delay.

 

When I got my Verizon bill, I almost fell over to find a $194 roaming charge. I called verizon and told them I already had submitted all bills to the travel insurance. They looked up our records and saw we had called and asked about the roaming charge and told there was none so they wrote it off and told us we owed them zero.

 

So a big thumbs up to Travel Guard and Verizon which are both honorable businesses. We didn't have to argue with anyone. We also received the $300 from Celebrity in a timely manner to cover the charge for changing our tickets and the fee for talking to a human being.

 

That cruise was a great vacation with a little glitch in the scheme of things.

[gonna go cruising]

That is nice to hear compliments instead of complaints! I will remember Travel Guard in the future. I have always used TravelSafe and have never had to make a claim so do not know how good they are.

 

Thanks for the info! So glad it worked out for you.:)

[alfiemom]

We had to cancel a cruise for this past April due to an injury my DH sustained. Send TravelGuard all the documentation, including copies of the $25 certificates we used for airfare and received a full refund within 10 days. No questions...no arguements...no explainations!

[Lois R]

Hi:) nice to hear everything worked out for you!

I decided to use Travel Guard for my last cruise. (fortunely I didn't

need it;) ) but when I called for pricing the rep was extremely

helpful and courteous.

I also got a brochure from TravelSmith with 10% off anything

purchased.

They have some nice stuff! Clothing, accessories, etc.

 

I will be using them again for my insurance for my upcoming

cruises:)

[Ichiban Nekko]

Thanks for sharing your experience Lois. What a shame that you even had to "use" your insurance but it's reassuring to hear that Travel Guard was so helpful. And I am positively staggered, amazed, etc., etc., at the response from Verizon since my personal experiences with their Customer Service personnel have not been, ahem, shall we say, the best.

 

I enjoy reading your posts so much: you really do make lemonade when dealt a bunch of lemons!:D

[Lois R]

Thanks for sharing your experience Lois. What a shame that you even had to "use" your insurance but it's reassuring to hear that Travel Guard was so helpful. And I am positively staggered, amazed, etc., etc., at the response from Verizon since my personal experiences with their Customer Service personnel have not been, ahem, shall we say, the best.

 

I enjoy reading your posts so much: you really do make lemonade when dealt a bunch of lemons!:D

 

Thanks:) but not sure what experience you are referrring to?

The Original Poster had the problem, not me;)

Unless the OP is also Lois?

[cirpi]

We were on the April 8 cruise on the Infinity to Hawaii from San Diego and back. Because of high winds and the pod problem, we missed our scheduled 1:30 pm flight back home.

 

Chaos reigned onboard when the captain announced that instead of our scheduled 7am arrival, we would probably not make it into port until 5pm. After spending several hours in line to try to change our airline reservation, I used my cell phone which was one of the few that worked. We were able to get out of San Diego on the Red Eye but that involved buying first class tickets. We had to pay $910 to change our airline reservations.

 

When we got home we called verizon to ask what the roaming charges were so we could add them to the travel insurance claim. They told us there were none, which we questioned but they said not worry.

 

We filed our claim with Travel Guard never really expecting any money back. After all, Celebrity was claiming it was weather related which was an exclusion on the policy. Travel Guard put our claim in under travel delay because we were supposed to come in at 7am and the first flight we could get out was 11pm so it was over 12 hours. I had saved all the documentation we received onboard from Celebrity. This morning, I received a check for $910 for the travel delay.

 

When I got my Verizon bill, I almost fell over to find a $194 roaming charge. I called verizon and told them I already had submitted all bills to the travel insurance. They looked up our records and saw we had called and asked about the roaming charge and told there was none so they wrote it off and told us we owed them zero.

 

So a big thumbs up to Travel Guard and Verizon which are both honorable businesses. We didn't have to argue with anyone. We also received the $300 from Celebrity in a timely manner to cover the charge for changing our tickets and the fee for talking to a human being.

 

That cruise was a great vacation with a little glitch in the scheme of things.

 

You were lucky. We were on a cruise in April from San Diego and hit by Verizon with roaming charges of about $3 a minute for calls made off the Oregon Coast when we were within sight of land.

[jerseygirl3]

How were you able to collect so much for Travel Delay? Every policy I've seen allows a maximum of, at most, $200 per person daily, for any expenses occurring as a result of a Travel Delay.

[Quendryth]

We were on the April 8 cruise on the Infinity to Hawaii from San Diego and back. Because of high winds and the pod problem, we missed our scheduled 1:30 pm flight back home.

 

Chaos reigned onboard when the captain announced that instead of our scheduled 7am arrival, we would probably not make it into port until 5pm. After spending several hours in line to try to change our airline reservation, I used my cell phone which was one of the few that worked. We were able to get out of San Diego on the Red Eye but that involved

buying first class tickets. We had to pay $910 to change our airline reservations.

 

When we got home we called verizon to ask what the roaming charges were so we could add them to the travel insurance claim. They told us there were none, which we questioned but they said not worry.

 

We filed our claim with Travel Guard never really expecting any money back. After all, Celebrity was claiming it was weather related which was an exclusion on the policy. Travel Guard put our claim in under travel delay because we were supposed to come in at 7am and the first flight we could get out was 11pm so it was over 12 hours. I had saved all the documentation we received onboard from Celebrity. This morning, I received a check for $910 for the travel delay.

 

When I got my Verizon bill, I almost fell over to find a $194 roaming charge. I called verizon and told them I already had submitted all bills to the travel insurance. They looked up our records and saw we had called and asked about the roaming charge and told there was none so they wrote it off and told us we owed them zero.

 

So a big thumbs up to Travel Guard and Verizon which are both honorable businesses. We didn't have to argue with anyone. We also received the $300 from Celebrity in a timely manner to cover the charge for changing our tickets and the fee for talking to a human being.

 

That cruise was a great vacation with a little glitch in the scheme of things.

 

 

This is nice to hear since we have always used Travelguard & have yet (thank goodness) had to file a claim. I also like the fact that you can buy your insurance far out - more than a year in some instances & the preexisting condition clause is great for someone with a health problem.

 

Glad you had a great time!

 

Faith

[Pisces11]

How were you able to collect so much for Travel Delay? Every policy I've seen allows a maximum of, at most, $200 per person daily, for any expenses occurring as a result of a Travel Delay.

 

The $910 was for the first class airline tickets we had to buy in order to leave San Diego that night. It was $455 per ticket extra over the economy class tickets we had originally purchased. It obviously was a legitimate expense because they reimbursed us. We had to submit the original itinerary, the letters from Celebrity saying there would be a delay, our credit card bills for the airline tickets and they also contacted Celebrity for verification. Except for when we originally called them because of the problem and they opened the file, we were never contacted by them again except to tell us they had received the forms and they needed to contact Celebrity. Honestly, we never thought we would get a cent. The letter with the check from Travel Guard said it was reimbursement for the Travel Delay.

[Pisces11]

You were lucky. We were on a cruise in April from San Diego and hit by Verizon with roaming charges of about $3 a minute for calls made off the Oregon Coast when we were within sight of land.

 

The most amazing thing about Verizon was they admitted it was their fault. We fully intended to pay the bill which is why we called them so we could include it in our claim to the insurance company. They were so nice when I called them and immediately cancelled the roaming charge fee and told me I could call back in 5 days to make sure it was off the bill. It was actually gone in 3 days.

[jerseygirl3]

The $910 was for the first class airline tickets we had to buy in order to leave San Diego that night. It was $455 per ticket extra over the economy class tickets we had originally purchased. It obviously was a legitimate expense because they reimbursed us. We had to submit the original itinerary, the letters from Celebrity saying there would be a delay, our credit card bills for the airline tickets and they also contacted Celebrity for verification. Except for when we originally called them because of the problem and they opened the file, we were never contacted by them again except to tell us they had received the forms and they needed to contact Celebrity. Honestly, we never thought we would get a cent. The letter with the check from Travel Guard said it was reimbursement for the Travel Delay.

 

You were actually very fortunate that they paid that much. We had Travel Guard back in 2002 and we had a trip delay that delayed our trip until the next day (6 cruise ships were delayed entering the Port of Tampa due to fog, and all flights were sold out until the following day). Although we had legitimate expenses for hotel and flight changes, the maximum Travel Guard would reimburse us was what the policy allowed, which was $200/per person/day. It seems that amount is still the same so you were very lucky they reimbursed you that entire amount.

[GORDONCHICK]

I was just looking at the Travel Guard brochure last night! This makes me feel better about buying the insurance from them, with the hopes that we won't have to use it of course!

[cruiseco]

You were actually very fortunate that they paid that much. We had Travel Guard back in 2002 and we had a trip delay that delayed our trip until the next day (6 cruise ships were delayed entering the Port of Tampa due to fog, and all flights were sold out until the following day). Although we had legitimate expenses for hotel and flight changes, the maximum Travel Guard would reimburse us was what the policy allowed, which was $200/per person/day. It seems that amount is still the same so you were very lucky they reimbursed you that entire amount.

 

I'm wondering if instead of paying it as a trip delay claim they might have decided that the situation better qualified under the trip interruption benefit which does not have the daily limit.

[alfiemom]

Travel Guard has always seemed fair, even when we filed a claim for doc visits and meds on board. I was surprised then too. This time, I fully expected them to question something...which they didn't.

 

Their cruise insurnance is also a primary coverage, meaning you don't have to thru any insurer you have, first.

 

Bobbie

[jerseygirl3]

I'm wondering if instead of paying it as a trip delay claim they might have decided that the situation better qualified under the trip interruption benefit which does not have the daily limit.

 

Maybe that's how they got around it. Our situation was very similar to the OP; ship was late getting into port and we didn't debark until 5 p.m. Luckily I made alternative hotel and airline arrangements while we were still on the ship, because those who waited until they debarked had trouble getting flights for 2 and sometimes 3 days later. Since so many ships were affected, we knew everyone would be scrambling for hotels and flights, so we were one step ahead of them. But we still couldn't recoup all our expenses because Travel Guard considered it a Trip Delay, not a Trip Interruption. I wonder how they come to the conclusion of which one is applicable?

[Pisces11]

This is from the receipt Travel Guard included with the checkPay travel delay for new air to return home $910.00

 

We expected nothing since it was a weather related delay plus the pods.

[jerseygirl3]

This is from the receipt Travel Guard included with the checkPay travel delay for new air to return home $910.00

 

We expected nothing since it was a weather related delay plus the pods.

 

So it does seem they paid under "Travel Delay." The fact that you were expecting nothing must have made you very happy to get that much back! But, as I said, almost all the insurance companies pay a maximum of $200 pp/day under Travel Delay, so you were indeed lucky to recoup your out-of-pocket expenses. That would have been a lot for you to have to put out without reimbursement.