13 costly travel insurance lessons after missing my cruise ship

After an epic flight delay on Air Canada caused 4 fellow passengers and I to miss our cruise ship, we learned 13 expensive lessons about travel insurance and Canadian flight delay compensation. The hardest lesson was that most of our travel insurance policies didn't cover most of the costs to meet the ship - including the insurance products sold by the cruise line (Princess Cruises). Only one policy came close to covering most of the expenses in the end - and it was the option we least expected.

The travel insurance products in our group were: Princess Vacation Protection, Princess EZAir, RBC WestJet World Elite MasterCard and RBC Deluxe Single Trip.

#cruisetips #travelinsurance

📽️ RELATED VIDEO

📓 CHAPTERS

00:00 Start
00:34 Intro
02:09 Air travel delay compensation
03:38 Princess EZAir experience
04:20 Cruise line compensation
07:10 Expense and policy summary
08:13 Princess Vacation Protection
08:43 Princess EZAir
09:21 RBC WestJet World Elite MC
10:06 RBC Deluxe Single Trip
10:50 Travel agents
11:26 Submitting claims
12:55 Recap
13:57 Two questions for Princess

[crimlarksSteve]

NEVER fly to the cruise port city the day of the cruise. You're just asking for trouble if you do that. Paying for a night at a hotel in that city is much cheaper than missing the cruise. The main reason we buy travel insurance for cruises is for the medical coverage, especially medical evacuation, which can be insanely expensive. And read the terms of your insurance before buying. Costs for anything from the medical dept on the ship are also much higher than in your home area.

[mario]

I’m sorry you had to go through this horrible experience.

Even the best trip cancellation policy won’t cover all your expenses. Unless you’re driving to a port, my advice would be to arrive at the minimum 24 hrs before departure. Flying in on the same day isn’t worth the risk.

[imalltheway]

Sorry to hear about all your troubles but how interesting that provided a comparison of all the insurance options. What a surprise that the most expensive and comprehensive insurance is three worst!!

[sarahphillips]

Wow....I can't even believe that with the airline industry being in the situation it's in today Princess is advising their passengers to fly in not only the day of their cruise but two hours before. It sounds like they want people to miss their cruoses and have to go through this. Cruising 101: Plan to be in your embarkation city 24 hours before your boarding time. That way you have time do deal with any issues that come up.

[MyDVCPoints]

Thank you so much for documenting your experiences. This reminds me of the looney tunes cartoons of insurance policies that are so filled with loopholes they're of zero value.

[catherinejacobs]

This video was marvelously detailed. Thank you so much for all of the information. I am sorry you had such difficulties on your vacation.

[marieb]

Wow. Thank you so much for this. I’ve been wondering about travel insurance too and since we had a rather rough return trip from a cruise last December. We were stuck in New Jersey trying to get back to Ottawa and it took four extra days not really any compensation for the hotels, and even the flights that kept getting cancelled were unbelievable. Finally got my daughter to drive from Ottawa to pick us up in Toronto to bring us home!

[mariastewart]

This is an excellent example of pitfalls of travel insurance. I am a huge fan of my West Jet MasterCard. Over my years of cruising, I have never bought travel insurance. I have spoken to so many who have had similar issues of not getting the coverage they thought they had. Don't forget the cost of buying it. I am a firm believer that you should insure what you can't afford. So I spend my money on Health Insurance. I would hurt to lose $10, 000. In travel. But it would be devistating to have a million dollar plus health bill.

[JonKaye]

This is a great video. The cruise line and insurance industries need to be patronized with a large dose of caution and skepticism as I’ve also learned. Thanks for sharing your experiences. I think a final tip would be to use small claims court as final recourse.

[saratullas]

With the recent storms in Houston, this got me thinking, even though we are flying in the day before, if flights are cancelled because of storms, you may not have the option to just take a later flight. We are risking not only the flight but cruise fare, transportation, and our pre cruise accommodation and activities already paid for. We won’t have thousands of dollars to fork out up front so hopefully we can find insurance that will cover what we’ve spent if we iust can’t go.

[oneworldspokane]

Most travel agents will suggest you fly in the day before your cruise and so will all cruise YouTubers. It's unfortunate this happened to you. When you flew in was your choice. And not following the guidelines of the air transportation insurance no matter how unreasonable was also a choice. I am grateful that twice travel insurance has reimbursed us for a good portion of our expenses. You have some good suggestions for people and hope you will see the good side of this.

[gerrygibeault]

Great video! Seems like insurance companies are very good at finding loopholes so that they don't have to pay claims.

[jobee]

I’m sorry this happened to you. I wish this was the only story like this I’ve heard but it’s not. We rely on these services to help us and pay quite a lot for them but in the end they look for any reason to do nothing and blame it on us. Makes me wonder if we’re just not paying for a false sense of security.

[WilliamLHart]

Usually more costly than "insurance" but way less costly than a ""claim", we ALWAYS arrive at least one day before the cruise. This takes all the stress out of the vacation.

[dunder]

I consider Princess a cruise line that would NOT push back so much. You have VERY CLEARLY shown the is not the case; especially since you demonstrate you are all dedicated Princess cruises. You should expect MORE from Princess. The reason Air Canada didn't pay is unclear - safety issue not covered?? Best of all, your explanation of Royal Bank credit card coverage was good. I am not in Canada but my credit card has similar. The best part of your video is YOU made me go check my coverage before my 9-day cruise in September! Thanks and keep up the great videos!!

[donwooden]

I have also been a naysayer on having travel insurance. Me wife calls it bravado, you have just confirmed to me its a waste of money.

[Drew_Snydermann]

I've been cruising for 40 years and have never purchased insurance and have always arrived the day before the cruise, even for crises where we drive to the port! At least you got to enjoy a nice hotel on a nice island for the extra money you had to spend, so it's not like it was wasted. You just arrived three days early this time for your embarkation 😛.

[reedaharris]

In my opinion the reason the cruiselines book same day flights is because a majority of the time it does work and people are willing to take a chance. It is a risk and as long as there are more than 50 or 60 percent of flights are on time they feel no obligation to warn people. They also have plausible deniability because they don't control the airlines so if something happens they can say its not their fault.

But....the cruiselines don't control the air. They control their ship and the time the ship leaves is a fixed point. I guess they feel if a person is willing to take a chance that "all the stars will align" knowing the current state of the airways ( weather and staffing issues) the cruiselines will let people book these flights.

[Yeahoot]

The EZ Air fliers messed up and probably would have had far less expenses if they had taken the flight offered them (although routed a long way out and back).

[WestfirRIverCottage]

I like the idea of arriving the day of the cruise. We just booked a cruise on Princess and are disappointed with how they treated you!!! They should have held the ship and I wonder if it had been 12 potentially NASTY Americans if they would have? We are US based and are looking into travel insurance and travel credit cards to get the best deal. I was told by a travel agene to NEVER buy from the cruise line- in case they go out of business. They seem to be doing much better than 2020 but still don't have all your eggs in one basket. Thanks so much for posting this video!!!