Question : We booked a cruise to Alaska on Norwegian Cruise Line last summer. NCL notified us that w

Question : We booked a cruise to Alaska on Norwegian Cruise Line last summer. NCL notified us that we would be sailing a day after our scheduled departure because lord baltimore hotel they had to fix a propeller on the ship. This meant that the ship would not be stopping in Juneau for an originally scheduled excursion.
Then we had to cancel the cruise because of a hurricane that made it impossible to fly. All the airlines canceled their flights and we had no way of reaching Seattle. We had purchased a travel insurance policy through the cruise line.
Our airline gave us a full refund on our tickets, but NCL said we were only entitled to a 75 percent insurance credit that could be used for a future cruise. That isn't in line with what other cruise lines did. For example, lord baltimore hotel Princess offered a 75 percent credit through for passengers who had insurance and an additional 25 percent credit that could be used for a future lord baltimore hotel cruise.
NCL says I should have taken the 90 percent insurance plan. But the representative never offered a choice of insurance plans when I originally booked the cruise. If I had known about the 90 percent plan, I would have bought it. I would so appreciate anything you could do to help me with this situation. Debra Weissman , Hartford, lord baltimore hotel Conn.
But that's not how it works; cruise lines sell expensive, and often highly restrictive insurance policies as add-ons that give you a credit if you have to cancel a cruise – and only under certain circumstances.
I think special conditions applied lord baltimore hotel to your cruise. First of all, NCL already inconvenienced you by changing the date of your sailing. lord baltimore hotel And you were very understanding of that and didn't ask for any consideration in return.
Second, you booked this cruise directly with NCL. You bought the only insurance it offered. (For future reference, I would recommend shopping around instead of buying the first policy you're offered. You could have found insurance that covered your entire cruise through another company.)
And finally, this event had nothing to do with you – it was a natural disaster that affected a lot of NCL passengers. While it may be true that NCL only had to offer you a 75 percent credit, I think they could have done a little better.
Your case shows how careful you have to be when you're shopping for cruise lord baltimore hotel insurance, but it also shows how vigilantly cruise lines are protecting their revenues. If it had been my cruise, I would have asked for a full refund, since I booked my vacation directly.
I ll probably be in the minority here but it seems the hurricane did not directly effect the actual cruise. Since that is the case, why should the cruise be on the hook for it? I remember past stories about how the cruise is under no obligation if you don t make the sailing in time because of transportation issues. So in this case, I think the cruise line did offer enough compensation.
This seems like another lesson in the importance of shopping for the correct type of travel insurance. My biggest concern though with travel insurance is understanding the policies itself to know what you are buying. For me, seems the safest form of insurance is not to travel to begin with. *grin*
In both the examples given, the traveler did not purchase insurance. They purchased a waiver. The distinction is subtle but real. Insurance is exactly lord baltimore hotel that, and in this case weather related issues that made it impossible to join the ship would have been covered on any policy with which I am familiar. On the other hand, cancellation/interruption waivers are not true insurance, may be coverage (of a sort) underwritten by the cruise line itself, and in the main of limited value (75% to 90%) in a few sets of circumstances and conditions.
The whole travel insurance issue is in a state of flux just now as state insurance commissioners/departments have come to realize that there are those selling/offering trip cancellation/interruption insurance to residents of their state and the seller doesn t live in their state and/or isn t licensed to sell insurance in their state. It is seen as a HUGE revenue source now to compel licensing in such situations but in reality does more to put the traveler at risk because the non-resident agent is prohibited from even mentioning insurance unless licensed in that state.
Based on the description of the remedy offered by the cruise lord baltimore hotel line, they did not purchase insurance, rather a waiver. The clues are partial refund of monies paid in the form of cash or credit lord baltimore hotel toward a future cruise. lord baltimore hotel Several cruise lines offer waivers and buyers infer that it is insurance.
If the traveler truly has INSURANCE and the cancellation/interruption is for a covered reason, receiving a refund for penalties/unused portion of a trip is an easy process, one that most travel professionals help affected clients collect by assisting with claim initiation, information provision, etc. In this case I do not believe the traveler had insurance, rather a waiver, regardless of what the traveler inferred about the product or what the supplier implied about the product.
I ve got to wonder how many times passengers cannot use vouchers, either. For many people, cruises are a once-in-a-lifetime dream, taken with ailing family members. It s difficult to reschedule this kind of event. Money would be much more reasonable than a voucher.
Remember the volcano in Iceland. Well, I had what I thought was 100% coverage insurance which I did purchase through Holland America. AA immediately refunded my air. The very day of the cancellation I spoke with HAL and the rep said if we would immediately chose another date for the Mediterranean lord baltimore hotel cruise, they would simply book us same cabin. So we chose, immediately, the same cruise a few months out in September. They called back the next day and said the rep was wrong. We were getting 75 or 80 percent back, and the cruise in September was going to cost more and we were not guaranteed the same level stateroom. lord baltimore hotel We argued for months and got nowhere. So now I buy insurance outside of the cruise lord baltimore hotel line.
Charlie Funk is an experienced cruise agent and knows whereof he speaks. NCL does not offer insurance , it s called Travel Protection and there s a world of difference. Hurricanes lord baltimore hotel are not considered a covered cancellation reason, and the policy clearly states that the guest will receive a 75% future cruise credit (which has restrictions on usage) for cancellations for non-covered reasons. Had they bought the more expensive Platinum coverage (which NCL agents should, but don t always lord baltimore hotel offer), lord baltimore hotel the 75% would have increased to 90%. Having said that, there s the letter of the law and the spirit of the law. In the case of the hurricane, NCL could have done better than the 75% they gave the passenger, especially since the cruise line had deviated the departure date. As a note, the passenger is fortunate that the airline refunded them: the NCL policy does not cover airfare booked outside of the cruise line itself. I will now step off my soapbox
The NCL agent probably referred to the policy by the name Book Safe Travel Protection lord baltimore hotel . It s not insurance per se, as Charlie Funk has described above. Insurance/travel protection/waivers are indeed lord baltimore hotel a tricky subject and I m personally in favor of purchasing third party coverage. I agree with Nora that guests should be fully informed that they will receive a future cruise credit (voucher) if they cancel for non-covered reasons. Not all guests can use those vouchers
There are many types of insurance and NCL does rip you off on theirs. This is one of those situations lord baltimore hotel that you have been preaching for years. Use a real live travel agent when it comes to tours and cruises. We know all of the pitfalls. NCL is not the only cruise line that sells multiple lord baltimore hotel levels of insurance, lord baltimore hotel but travel agents know what is covered and what is NOT! An expensive lesson lord baltimore hotel to learn, but it will help others. USE AN ASTA store front long established lord baltimore hotel travel agent.
NOTE:As respects air cancellation penalties, you will be covered lord baltimore hotel only for air arrangements booked through NCL and flights connecting to such air arrangements booked through NCL. We will not pay benefits for cancellation charges imposed on any other air arrangements you may book on your own.
In NCL s case their BookSafe lord baltimore hotel Travel Protecting plan is is underwritten by Stonebridge Casualty Insurance Company. Here in NY State, my travel agency is registered with the NYS Insurance Commissioner s Office because we sell Travelguard. I think (I could be wrong) that NYS is the only state that requires agents to register to sell travel insurance. Their definition of who needs to register is if you make money or commission from travel lord baltimore hotel insurance then you must register. So we did.
The big issue here is the hurricane in Connecticut (or the East Coast) was not a covered reason for failure to miss the cruise in Seattle. But NCL BookSafe will give you a 75% certificate for cancelling for non-covered reasons. That is what she got 75%.
I actually wonder whether an (outside) insurance policy will give you ALL your money back. If the cruise line would give you 80% back in form of a certificate, then the insurance company would argue that you only lost (or were not able to cover) 20% of the cost. Hence only 20% (the portion that is non recoverable and assuming the cancellation is a covered reason) might be paid to you.
You forget one point. They flew a day later because the cruise line asked them to delay due to a broken propeller. They would have been able to fly on the original lord baltimore hotel day and make the cruise. Hence, the delays caused by the cruise line fed into the inability to make the trip.
I don t see where they said the cancellation was because they flew a day later. The way it was worded, it sounded like they still tried to travel on the original airline schedule. There was no mention of having to get the airline to change the date of departure. And even if they did try leaving a day later, again, it is not the cruise line fault for the weather. In fact, in that case I mi