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Back and shoulder injury


Winterh8r

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I have been a fan of this message board for a while, but this is the first time asking for advice.  My husband recently suffered a back and shoulder injury.  We are suppose to be leaving on the Ovation on Sept. 13.  I booked the cruise directly through Royal Caribbean (although in the future I will always use a travel agent) and I did purchase the insurance that was offered when booking.  How do I go about finding out what the insurance covers.  At the present time, he is still in a lot of pain and is not able to stand up from a seated position without help.  He is currently going to therapy, but I don't think that there will be enough improvement that he would be able to go on this cruise.  Is there a special department that I could contact concerning our situation rather than having to explain it to several people before I would get someone that could help me?  Also, we have used 1,650 RCCL credit card points towards paying for our cruise.  Is there any way that we can salvage those points if we are unable to take this cruise?  We are both so disappointed with this situation, that I am hoping that someone can help me wade through this mess.

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6 hours ago, Winterh8r said:

I have been a fan of this message board for a while, but this is the first time asking for advice.  My husband recently suffered a back and shoulder injury.  We are suppose to be leaving on the Ovation on Sept. 13.  I booked the cruise directly through Royal Caribbean (although in the future I will always use a travel agent) and I did purchase the insurance that was offered when booking.  How do I go about finding out what the insurance covers.  At the present time, he is still in a lot of pain and is not able to stand up from a seated position without help.  He is currently going to therapy, but I don't think that there will be enough improvement that he would be able to go on this cruise.  Is there a special department that I could contact concerning our situation rather than having to explain it to several people before I would get someone that could help me?  Also, we have used 1,650 RCCL credit card points towards paying for our cruise.  Is there any way that we can salvage those points if we are unable to take this cruise?  We are both so disappointed with this situation, that I am hoping that someone can help me wade through this mess.

I don't know the exact answer, but I can offer some information.  If you purchased the Royal insurance, it is through a different company (Arch), and the policy is viewed online.

https://coverage.archinsurancesolutions.com/description-of-coverage/5deca5b1-7b79-e811-8110-1418776a18cb

This is the URL I use for my policy, but it is modified by state, and I don't have your information, so I can't say it is accurate.

Arch has contact information for the plan administrator.

If the medical condition isn't covered, Royal provides a waiver for cancelling for any reason. 

My advice is to verify your carrier and policy, and research it online before you call.

If you redeemed points through Bank of America, I am told they are not inclined to help you out -- the points may be gone forever.  However, Royal Caribbean may help you out.  Also, trip insurance may not be  in force until it is paid in full.  For this reason, we always payoff the trip insurance first.  I am not sure if you have paid for it in full.   

Best of luck, but you really have a couple of issues, points redemption vs. travel insurance and which provision of the travel insurance you are using.  Royal states that their waiver is from them, not from Arch Insurance.

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6 hours ago, Winterh8r said:

I have been a fan of this message board for a while, but this is the first time asking for advice.  My husband recently suffered a back and shoulder injury.  We are suppose to be leaving on the Ovation on Sept. 13.  I booked the cruise directly through Royal Caribbean (although in the future I will always use a travel agent) and I did purchase the insurance that was offered when booking.  How do I go about finding out what the insurance covers.  At the present time, he is still in a lot of pain and is not able to stand up from a seated position without help.  He is currently going to therapy, but I don't think that there will be enough improvement that he would be able to go on this cruise.  Is there a special department that I could contact concerning our situation rather than having to explain it to several people before I would get someone that could help me?  Also, we have used 1,650 RCCL credit card points towards paying for our cruise.  Is there any way that we can salvage those points if we are unable to take this cruise?  We are both so disappointed with this situation, that I am hoping that someone can help me wade through this mess.

PS.  Just as a general rule, other insurance carriers offer better medical coverage.  We have used Allianz when we travel overseas, for example.  There are additional carriers who primarily handle medical insurance for vacationers, tour groups, etc.  Matt has a video on travel insurance tips.

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Thank you, ChessE4, for the information!  It looks like I will have to start looking into this insurance situation as now my husband has been hospitalized and the chances of being able to make that cruise are even more slim than before.  I will also check out the travel insurance tips video.  Thanks again!

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Just wanted to post an update in case it helps someone else out in the future.  I did have to contact RCCL and cancel our cruise.  RCCL will refund our Taxes, fees and port expenses as well as any add-ons that we purchased for the cruise.  (Excursions, drink packages, etc.)  I then contacted the Royal Rewards Department to see if I could save the credit card points.  They said that in a case like mine, they would hold the points and I would have 6 months from the date of cancellation to move the points to a new booking.  I then contacted the insurance company that RCCL uses for their Vacation Protection Plan.  I went to their website travelclaim.com and printed off the Attending Physician Statement which we will have completed by my husbands doctor at his upcoming appointment.  I then need to start a claim on their website and send in the completed Physician statement.  They said it would take 4 weeks to process the claim after they received the Physician Statement.  I then needed to contact Delta concerning our non-refundable plane tickets.  I explained everything to them and they said that if I provided them with either the doctor's information or the hospital's information (name, address and phone) that they would hold the value of the tickets and that I would have 1 year from the date that I purchased the tickets, to use that value to book other airfare.  

Thank you for the well wishes and @Ladyxsuebee, we will be thinking of you during your cruise.  We hope you have a great time.   

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