Trip insurance

Does anyone have experience with Disney's travel protection plan or is there another insurance provider that you recommend? Thank you.

Disney trip insurance in my opinion is way over priced! We went through Allianz and got 4 people covered for the price of one through Disney. Also includes medical coverage outside the country.

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Does anyone have experience with Disney's travel protection plan or is there another insurance provider that you recommend? Thank you.

We always use insuremytrip to get coverage. You'll often find plans with more coverage, for a lower price that way.

Most travel insurance sold through cruise lines (any cruise line) is overpriced, and very limited in what they cover.

The ONLY good thing about DCL's insurance is that if the insurance company rejects your claim for any reason, a portion of what you lost will be applied to a future cruise (and there is fine print on that.) Another big negative is that only things booked thru DCL are covered--book air on your own and it isn't insured.

There are MANY good, private insurance companies that will cover pre-existing conditions if purchased within 14 or 21 days of booking your cruise, provide a complimentary child's policy with each parent or grandparent policy purchased, and give a whole lot more coverage than you get thru DCL. In my experience, many companies offer several levels of coverage. The cheapest is a "bare bones" that provides relatively little. One tier up typically costs only a little more and may double your coverage.

A good place to compare companies and policies is insuremytrip.com.

To decide how much you need to buy, look at the cost of non-refundable stuff. Example, if your airline would allow you to change your tickets for $50, that's the amount you need to insure for air. If you book a hotel for the night before the cruise but can cancel that up to 6pm at no charge, don't count that (it is refundable or won't be billed till check in). You purchase it in $500 increments and price is based on the amount purchased, age of cruiser, and where you are going. Consider the cost of the first 2 people in the room. DO NOT take the cost of 4 people and divide by 4. If one of the first 2 had to cancel, you'd be under-insured if you did that.

Reality--we've made 2 insurance claims ever. One was a visit to the ship's doctor and one was a weather event when the ship was delayed by 24 hours. We've spent more than that on insurance over the years. BUT my medical insurance will not cover us outside the US. We've been fortunate in not having anything major come up, but I'm in my 60s and my daughter has a progressive disability. I'm not going without medical coverage.

We use insuremytrip.com , and pick the coverage that works for us. It's about half the price of what the cruise lines offer.

We always use insuremytrip to get coverage. You'll often find plans with more coverage, for a lower price that way.

 

Most travel insurance sold through cruise lines (any cruise line) is overpriced, and very limited in what they cover.

Insuremytrip is a brokerage and a good resource to help identify which insurance company's offerings will work best for you. However, do know that insuremytrip's version of a particular policy may not include all the options/allowances that you will get by paying the same price for the same named policy directly with the particular insurer (via web or phone).

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Insuremytrip is a brokerage and a good resource to help identify which insurance company's offerings will work best for you. However, do know that insuremytrip's version of a particular policy may not include all the options/allowances that you will get by paying the same price for the same named policy directly with the particular insurer (via web or phone).

 

 

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Excellent point. But it does make a good place to start. Another suggestion--your TA may sell a particular insurance company. It is worth asking about. I've found that the prices are identical for the policy I choose, whether thru the company, insuremytrip, or my TA.

I found a good policy from Nationwide that covers cruise specific items such as changes in itineraries, etc. it also has high coverage limits for evacuation costs, some policies only go to $25,000 which if you have to be airlifted and then flown home probably won't cover it all. It's best to look at each individual coverage and make sure it meets what you feel you may need.

ETA: it's also important your understand if your insurance is primary or secondary. Equally as important is that you have the means to pay for treatment up front. Some foreign hospitals will require some, if not all, the costs to be paid for before treatment. Always a good idea to travel with a credit card that you can put these costs on until the insurance reimburses you for them.

Another thing to think about--you may have some "hidden" travel insurance. For instance, we have a credit card that includes travel insurance if we purchase the trip with the card. However, it isn't very good coverage and the claim must be filed within 14 days of the incident (in some cases, you could still be traveling then!)

That said, it is worth to remember that it might be there for you if needed or if the coverage you purchase has a deductible.

Another thing to think about--you may have some "hidden" travel insurance. For instance' date=' we have a credit card that includes travel insurance if we purchase the trip with the card. However, it isn't very good coverage and the claim must be filed within 14 days of the incident (in some cases, you could still be traveling then!)

 

 

 

That said, it is worth to remember that it might be there for you if needed or if the coverage you purchase has a deductible.[/quote']

 

 

United Airlines' Explorer Visa (and other similar Chase cards) actually have some (not all) decent travel benefits that, at least augment any other insurance you may have. However, and while these credit cards don't offer supplemental health coverage, they still do not provide waivers for travel related claims resulting from preexisting medical conditions.

 

 

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United Airlines' Explorer Visa (and other similar Chase cards) actually have some (not all) decent travel benefits that, at least augment any other insurance you may have. However, and while these credit cards don't offer supplemental health coverage, they still do not provide waivers for travel related claims resulting from preexisting medical conditions.

 

 

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The details you provided were exactly my point that I consider this an augmentation to any other insurance I purchase, but not a replacement. Still, it doesn't hurt to know that it is there. I probably could have used it when our cruise was delayed by 24 hours, but by the time I looked at the details, I was beyond the 14 day filing deadline (7 days of it was during the cruise, and I certainly wasn't thinking insurance at that time).

TravelGuard is my go to because it covers out of the country and my flights. I broke my hip and needed surgery, 5 cruises were cancelled, two of which were paid and the other three with a$100 balance. It covered all 5.

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TravelGuard is my go to because it covers out of the country and my flights. I broke my hip and needed surgery, 5 cruises were cancelled, two of which were paid and the other three with a$100 balance. It covered all 5.

 

 

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Agree. We book travelguard for every trip and when my DH and I book the 9 yr old is free.

I concur with everything already mentioned here. Insurance through DCL is highly over priced. However, one positive plug I would make is based on one experience when we had to cancel a cruise last minute due to Hurricane Sandy. Because we had the insurance through DCL for that one, DCL offered us the full cost of the trip to put towards a future cruise. Now I'm not sure if they still do this, or if it's even worth the much greater cost. Instead, we insure all of our trips now a days with TravelGuard.

One last note... if you have a membership with Costco, you might want to check their travel offerings. We booked our current DCL cruise with them, and they offer a link to purchase a TravelGuard policy at a reduced rate (and better coverage). Perhaps BJs or Same Club offer something similar as well. TravelGuard is already a good value, but if you can get it discounted via Costco or another wholesale chain...

But Costco's trio insurance doesn't cover the flight so if you are flying in for the cruise go with travel guard.

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But Costco's trio insurance doesn't cover the flight so if you are flying in for the cruise go with travel guard.

 

 

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Again, this depends on your motivation in purchasing the insurance. If your airline will allow you to reschedule your flight for a small fee or no fee, you may opt to not insure the air travel. On the other hand, the cost difference may be minimal to add coverage for the air if you are using private insurance. You need to look at the options for each trip individually.

Obviously, the insurance company would like you to pay for coverage from the minute you leave your home until you return...but that may not be necessary. You will only benefit from insuring those items that cannot be refunded if canceled or altered. Example--if you insure a hotel room that will be refunded when you call them before 6pm and you experience a flight delay so that you know at 4pm you can't get to the hotel, the insurance will likely not cover that hotel stay--you are expected to minimize the loss by making that phone call.

Quotewright and Squaremouth are two other sites to use for comparing policies. Squaremouth has better search filters [than Insuremytrip] to find the policy that fits your needs. IMHO.

:)

We have used insuremytrip.com to buy the highest level Nationwide Cruise Plan for our last couple of cruises. We also have an annual MedJet membership. Our primary heath insurance will cover us abroad in many places but our secondary will not. My son has significant special needs and I feel we are well covered with these arrangements. As an additional bonus I do book our travel through a credit card that offers insurance. Every family situation is different and a broker like insuremytrip can help you figure out what works best for you.

Do you recommend purchasing insurance when the booking is made many months before PIF date (ie: opening day)? Since the cruise is fully refundable prior to that, the policy would effectively insure nothing if cancelled before then, right?

LAX

Do you recommend purchasing insurance when the booking is made many months before PIF date (ie: opening day)? Since the cruise is fully refundable prior to that, the policy would effectively insure nothing if cancelled before then, right?

 

LAX

True, but there are sometimes added benefits to purchasing insurance when you book the cruise (if you insure privately.) Some will give coverage for pre-existing conditions IF you purchase coverage within 14 or 21 days of the booking. Most insurance policies will allow you to move the policy once; more than that and you lose the cost of the insurance. If you've read this thread, you know about private vs thru DCL.

Again' date=' this depends on your motivation in purchasing the insurance. If your airline will allow you to reschedule your flight for a small fee or no fee, you may opt to not insure the air travel. On the other hand, the cost difference may be minimal to add coverage for the air if you are using private insurance. You need to look at the options for each trip individually.

 

Obviously, the insurance company would like you to pay for coverage from the minute you leave your home until you return...but that may not be necessary. [b']You will only benefit from insuring those items that cannot be refunded if canceled or altered. Example--if you insure a hotel room that will be refunded when you call them before 6pm and you experience a flight delay so that you know at 4pm you can't get to the hotel, the insurance will likely not cover that hotel stay--you are expected to minimize the loss by making that phone call[/b].

One more point about insuring hotel costs: do so ONLY if the hotel is prepaid and non-refundable. If you make a cancellable hotel reservation with no prepayment, but miss the cancellation deadline to avoid paying a penalty - your trip insurance probably won't cover that charge because it wasn't prepaid.

The Trip Insurance Store (www.tripinsurancestore.com) is my insurance broker of choice.

Has anyone ever found insurance that would cover prepaid excursions? For example, we will be booking on our own for our family and pre paying in two ports. If for some reason, we didn't dock or the weather caused a cancellation, would that be covered by trip insurance?

It has been my experience that a reputable excursion operator will not bill or refund your payment if the ship cannot dock/tender or if they cannot offer the excursion due to weather.

For instance, I booked a couple of times thru Captain Marvin's in Grand Cayman. Their policy is that you must give them a credit card to reserve your booking but they do not bill the card until the excursion actually takes place. We had two occasions when we couldn't tender due to rough seas--no charge ever appeared on my card.

To answer your question, I'm not aware of any trip insurance that covers canceled excursions as the tour operators usually refund your pre-payment in that circumstance.

Has anyone ever found insurance that would cover prepaid excursions? For example, we will be booking on our own for our family and pre paying in two ports. If for some reason, we didn't dock or the weather caused a cancellation, would that be covered by trip insurance?

Yes. Check the Nationwide Cruise policies. We get the luxury policy as it has higher limits and isn't much more. I actually did a review on a claim we filed just a few months back.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2459043

Has anyone ever found insurance that would cover prepaid excursions? For example, we will be booking on our own for our family and pre paying in two ports. If for some reason, we didn't dock or the weather caused a cancellation, would that be covered by trip insurance?

I would think most trip insurance policies would cover a prepaid excursion if it is non-refundable - as long as you buy enough insurance coverage to include the excursion costs. As moki'smommy said - an excursion provider will generally refund your payment if your ship can't get to the port. However, if you can't go on the excursion because you are sick, you probably won't get a refund from the vendor.