My grandmother is very ill and is declining rapidly. Our trip is in 18 days. We did purchase trip insurance. I tried to read through that but I’m a little confused. Does anyone have experience with postponing a trip due to death? Would we just get a refund or could we reschedule with the same rates? We had a bounceback free dining promotion. I’m just not sure what to do.
Back in July of 2015 I had to cancel our trip less than 5 days out because my mom was diagnosed with cancer and needed surgery right away. Disney was very easy to deal with & I didn’t even have travel insurance. I called them and told them what had happened and they gave me a total refund for our trip - however - the cast member told me she did have to make a notation on the account and they would not be able to do this again for future trips. I told her there was no way I would ever book a trip without travel insurance ever again, lesson learned.
It might be worth it to call them now and let them know what you are dealing with.
PIxie dust for your grandmother’s health regardless.
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We have had the “pleasure” of utilizing trip insurance several times. First, we used it in Portugal when my grandmother had a stroke there (utilized to pay for care and transport home). Second we used it on a Disney trip/cruise when my grandfather died and we had to cancel some of the trip (we were at MNSSHP, supposed to board DCL next am) and travel for funeral. This year we have used it when my father got a kidney stone hours before departing to Iceland and had to have surgery (cancel trip). All of the companies were different. I do note that some companies have different rules/requirements, so read your policy carefully. Death of immediate family is almost always included in the policy. In the past, sometimes the main tickets/tours were with one company, and flights were with another. Interestingly, since we were already all checked in for the flight this last time and only some of the party continued on to Iceland, the two non-travelling ppl came to the airport to explain the situation (mostly for security reasons) and Delta went ahead and just credited them for the flight without going thru insurance. I do note it was a busy travel day and they were looking for cancellations for others to board. On the trip where we had to arrange flights back to another state, some airlines were pretty easy about it, some wanted a death announcement or name of funeral home (I thought this was pretty poor taste). We are still working on the Iceland trip refund (for tour), and they needed evidence of the surgery (limited medical records).
Things happen, and we ALWAYS get trip insurance (especially since we are now starting to feel jinxed).
I agree that calling the insurance company to get a complete understanding of your policy is important now, which may help you make a decision either now or in the future. I’m not sure “declining health” is listed in the official policy, particularly since no one can name when things will happen. In the case of our grandfather’s death, the recommendation from hospice was to go ahead and go since we didn’t know exactly when things would happen. But we knew the policy and we had in the back of our mind a plan just in case (and things happened MUCH quicker than expected).
Whatever you decide, know that many other people have been in the same situation. It is very stressful, and often worse because you feel you will be disappointing someone no matter what you do. I understand the need for a vacation “breather” after dealing with lots of stress from illness. If you have insurance thru Disney, ask if you can postpone/reschedule 6mo or so (again, that assumes we can predict things, which we can’t). Best wishes for you and your grandmother.
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Wow, you certainly have endured a lot. I just wanted to give you a virtual hug (((HUG))).