Travel insurance-Cruise cancellations/changes

[Magic City Cruiser]

If Carnival has to change the date of sailing, do they offer a discount or "free" cruise if you can't make the change? Say, they change sailing from Tuesday to Wednesday or vice versa? Would travel insurance help in this event? If travel insurance would cover it...could you "double dip" if Carnival offered a freebie at a later date? I think they rarely cancel sailings but I assume in this case, you would be offered a "free" cruise or discount on another at a later date?

Thanks,

Donna

[trock]

If Carnival has to change the date of sailing, do they offer a discount or "free" cruise if you can't make the change? Say, they change sailing from Tuesday to Wednesday or vice versa? Would travel insurance help in this event? If travel insurance would cover it...could you "double dip" if Carnival offered a freebie at a later date? I think they rarely cancel sailings but I assume in this case, you would be offered a "free" cruise or discount on another at a later date?

Thanks,

Donna

 

A free cruise for a one day delay?? I dont think so...

 

 

If your insurance covers delayed trip- (including storms..) you probably would be reimbursed a pro-rated amount.. I would read the fine print...

 

Double dipping would not happen if you insured with Carnival... If you have other insurance... it may be considered fraud...

[lvtotrvl1]

You can double dip if you want to get caught at trying to cheat the system:eek: . Your insurance company will find what the circumstances are and treat it accordingly. Maybe I'm having a bad day, but I can't understand why you would even ask this question????

[marktac]

To answer all your questions, why not read on Carnival's website what they are doing and offering passengers for cruises that they are currently adjusting. I think it is pretty clear to understand, and it is official information.

 

Anything you hear on this board about this subject will be just speculation and conjecture.

[Magic City Cruiser]

You can double dip if you want to get caught at trying to cheat the system:eek: . Your insurance company will find what the circumstances are and treat it accordingly. Maybe I'm having a bad day, but I can't understand why you would even ask this question????

 

Let me see if I can clarify. It's hurricane season. Carnival says they will sail on Tuesday instead of Wednesday to beat the storm but I can't get off work, can't get a flight in time, etc. Or Carnival says they will sail on Wednesday instead of Tuesday and it will be a four night instead of 5 night and I don't want a 4 night, would rather wait and go another time. What will Carnival do in those circumstances? In either event, I'm not getting what I paid for. It's prolly in the contract somewhere, though. I understand port changes for whatever reasons but wonder what your options are BEFORE you sail. I understand, too, that Carnival can't control the weather and must to the best they can under any given circumstances. My questions is: What are my options?

And, here comes the travel insurance segway. If I have Travel insurance, (and I know each company is different) and one of these two circumstances occur, what would they do? And, I guess we'd need someone who actually experienced these situations to explain. My intent is not to "fraud" anyone and I am referring to insurance outside of Carnival. If I buy insurance that insures a SPECIFIC cruise, and I am unable to abide by Carnival changes or unwilling to settle for something I did not purchase, as I'm paying the insurance to cover THAT cruise, I'm not sure why they should be privy to any other arrangement I make with Carnvial regarding future cruises.

Does that make sense?

I ask for a friend who wondered what would happen if our cruise was cancelled in October due to weather events. She didn't realize that Carnival would offer discounts or "free" future cruises in the event of cancellation. But, as I know that Carnival rarely "cancels", I wondered what would happen in the above two instances.

Thanks for your help! I'm on Carnival's side....REALLY..lol!

Donna

[Magic City Cruiser]

To answer all your questions, why not read on Carnival's website what they are doing and offering passengers for cruises that they are currently adjusting. I think it is pretty clear to understand, and it is official information.

 

Anything you hear on this board about this subject will be just speculation and conjecture.

Good idea, Marc, thanks! And, of course, these are the situations I'm thinking about.

Donna

[K8T Kruiser]

Hi Donna,

The carnival site tells you that they will offer a discount on the current cruise, and a discount on a further cruise within a certain time frame. It also mentions that if you are unable to cruise or the new itinerary is not to your advantage, that you may apply for a full refund that will be processed within 2 weeks. Your travel insurance probably has lots of "fine print" so read carefully as some do not include issues with inclement weather. Either way, if you decide not to go, your cruise is 100% refundable. You would have to claim your airfare with the travel insurance company. Good luck and hope that your itinerary doesn't get changed.

[lvtotrvl1]

If Carnival has to change the date of sailing, do they offer a discount or "free" cruise if you can't make the change? Say, they change sailing from Tuesday to Wednesday or vice versa? Would travel insurance help in this event? If travel insurance would cover it...could you "double dip" if Carnival offered a freebie at a later date? I think they rarely cancel sailings but I assume in this case, you would be offered a "free" cruise or discount on another at a later date?

Thanks,

Donna

 

Thank-you for your long explanation....I was referring to the statement highlighted in red . Any way you loo at it, it sure looks like fraud to me.

[Jsme]

All cruiselines are good about making what adjustments they need to when a cruise is effect by weather.

 

It is really hard to answer you questions because there are so many varibales out there. I do like the information that you were given on reading the cruiseline's site to see what they are currently doing.

 

As far as the insurance you do have to read the fine print. Normally you have to provide an offical letter from your employer stating you are not being allowed off of work. Unsure what you would have to do if you cannot get a flight.

 

I am not saying this has never happened, I just do not know of any cruise being changed to another date. Normally they alter the embarkment port or cancelled. I have heard of this many times. I have also heard of a cruise being shortened or even lengthen due to storm systems.

 

I have been in your situation more than once. That is the bad thing about booking during hurricane season, but hurricane season is the best to cruise during. The kids are back in school, the water temps are the warmest and the temp is still warm enough to enjoy everything without dying of heat exhaustion.

[PelicanBill]

Your travel insurance is going to cover actual losses and you will need to present evidence of your costs. Rarely does a cruise get canceled without refunds. So lets say you are delayed a day departure. If your travel insurance include trip delay you could make a claim for change fees for your flights... but be careful, in this case you have choices and they may challenge your claim. A better case is delay on return, and you have to buy a new air ticket.

 

Warning - if you book air independently you must also buy travel insurance independently to cover both the cruse and air (and include the cost of ground transportation and hotels if any).

 

It's a common error to buy a cruise and insurance then book air separately... no insurance on the air now.

[C cruzer]

If you read about this weeks changes - The people with the shortend itenary were offered to cancel without any fees, or they could take the shortened cruise at 50% off. And with either way they would recieve a 50% discount and a future cruise(must be used within a year). Wow I thought that thoes were pretty good options. Now as for insurance - If you had recieved this offer from Carnival, they are not going to cover more because they cover what the cruise doesnt. Lets say you cancel far enough away from your sailing time, and rec a full refund...The insurance wouldnt pay on that either. So they usually step up when you would have lost money, by not getting a compensation from the cruise line. Hope this helps:)

[Magic City Cruiser]

Thanks, all, for some great information. "Cept that one poster that kept trying to make me out a crook...just kidding!

And, yall will prolly kill me because I WAS asking for a friend but I don't buy travel insurance when it's just me and the fare is under $500 or so, as far as our October cruise, I'm willing to just roll with the punches and I have the option to just go along with whatever Carnival has to do for whatever reason and I don't try to nickel and dime anyone to death over anything, particularly over things like weather that no one can predict or control! But, I wanted to get an idea of actual situations and what occurred to pass along to my friend, as far as buying insurance or not!

Thanks, again!

Donna