Royal Caribbean Travel Insurance Might Have Been Deceptively Marketed, Say Consumer Advocates

If you purchased Royal Caribbean travel insurance online for a cruise since 2014, you might have been a victim of deceptive marketing tactics.

Royal Caribbean Cruise, Norwegian Cruise and Disney Cruise Line are all under investigation for the vacation protection plans they offer to customers for an additional fee.

These cruise vacation protection plans typically include three different products:

• Cancellation Fee Waivers
• Travel Insurance Policies offered through various companies, including Transamerica and Nationstar
• Travel Assistance offered by On Call International, Inc.

When the consumer purchases Royal Caribbean travel insurance, the product is sold for one price, but includes all three elements from three different companies. Consumer advocates believe that the way the package is advertised, a reasonable consumer could be misled into believing the cost of the Royal Caribbean travel insurance is made up of a fee paid to each of the three participating companies, at least one of which is an independent third party insurance company.

Royal Caribbean Travel Insurance Allegations

If you purchased a Royal Caribbean travel insurance plan with your cruise when you made the purchase online, you might have paid more than you should have.

Even though Royal Caribbean, Norwegian and Disney cruise customers were led to believe they were obtaining the best price on the vacation protection plans they purchased through the companies, that may not be the case if the companies involved did not follow applicable insurance marketing disclosure laws.

Advocates are investigating allegations that these companies, and possibly others, receive an undisclosed kickback for each travel insurance policy sold. In addition, the companies are suspected of using deceptive marketing and advertising practices to hide their profit interest in the sale of the travel insurance policies by:

• Advertising and selling the insurance policy in conjunction with non-insurance items without identifying the price paid for each item
• Using opt-out marketing tactics
• Advertising and selling travel insurance policies that have so many restrictions they would never pay out any claim for an insured person under the policy.

If you purchased Royal Caribbean travel insurance or similar vacation protection plans from Norwegian or Disney cruise lines after the year 2014, you could be eligible to participate in this lawsuit investigation.

According to Royal Caribbean’s website, the company was founded in 1968 and is incorporated in the Republic of Liberia.

Current information regarding Royal Caribbean travel insurance on the company’s website indicates the travel protection program includes Cancel for Any Reason, Travel Delay Coverage, Luggage Protection, 24/7 Support and Medical Protection, but these items includes exclusions, conditions and detailed terms not covered on the website. For Minnesota, Missouri and New York residents, the trip cancellation benefits are underwritten by Arch Insurance Company; for all others, they are administered by Aon Affinity and underwritten by Arch Insurance Company. Arch Capital Group Ltd. is a public limited liability company in Bermuda.

If you have incurred damages as a result of purchasing Royal Caribbean travel insurance marketed through deceptive practices related to its presentation, marketing and sale to you, you could be eligible to participate in this vacation protection plan lawsuit investigation.

Cruise Vacation Protection Plan Investigation: Do You Qualify?

You may qualify for this investigation if you meet the following requirements:

• You purchased a Norwegian, Royal Caribbean, or Disney Cruise line ticket online after 2014.
• You purchased a Vacation Protection Plan online at the same time as purchasing the ticket

If you meet the requirements detailed above, you may qualify to join this cruise travel insurance class action lawsuit investigation.

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