Cancelling cruise insurance

We had two cruises booked for which we had purchased Global Alert insurance, paying only for coverage for the deposit amounts and planning to purchase additional coverage with additional payments. When we decided to cancel one of the cruises - in advance of the final payment date - I contacted Global Alert to see if we could transfer the paid up insurance from the cancelled trip over to the trip we will still take. I was told we could not do that, but we could cancel the policy and receive a refund. We provided proof that the trip had been cancelled and promptly got our money back.

 

I was thrilled because I had always thought if you did not cancel the insurance during the recission period, you were out of luck. In fact, some years ago we had to cancel a very expensive trip we had fully-insured up front and not knowing any better I "wrote off" several hundred dollars in premium payments. Wish I had known better!

We had two cruises booked for which we had purchased Global Alert insurance, paying only for coverage for the deposit amounts and planning to purchase additional coverage with additional payments. When we decided to cancel one of the cruises - in advance of the final payment date - I contacted Global Alert to see if we could transfer the paid up insurance from the cancelled trip over to the trip we will still take. I was told we could not do that, but we could cancel the policy and receive a refund. We provided proof that the trip had been cancelled and promptly got our money back.

 

I was thrilled because I had always thought if you did not cancel the insurance during the recission period, you were out of luck. In fact, some years ago we had to cancel a very expensive trip we had fully-insured up front and not knowing any better I "wrote off" several hundred dollars in premium payments. Wish I had known better!

 

I'm not familiar with your specific policy, but I suspect that the ability to get a refund or to "roll over" an insurance payment to a different trip might well depend upon the terms of the policy.

 

If there is no "exposure" for the company until some future time (e.g., departure date), then such an arrangement could make sense.

 

However, IF the insurer IS taking some risk from the start (e.g., providing a waiver of any pre-existing condition exclusion), then a refund might not be possible.

 

For our policies with Travel Insured, with the "waiver", we can't get a 'refund' after the first approx 10-day review period, but we can apply the coverage to another trip (subject to some date restrictions).

We've done this, with no difficulties, although we always go through Steve (www.TripInsuranceStore.com) rather than contacting Travel Insured directly.

We let him run interference for any questions/issues :)

We had booked the insurance through tripinsurancestore but I contacted Global Alert directly about the cancellation, for no particular reason.

Nice to know you can also get a refund on premium after cancellation within the prescriptive period. Thanks for the heads up!

 

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I was able to transfer my policy with Nationwide when I had to rebook my cruise to a later date. I just had to provide an email stating that there would not be any claims made on the existing booking coverage, and they took care of the rest.

I was able to transfer my policy with Nationwide when I had to rebook my cruise to a later date. I just had to provide an email stating that there would not be any claims made on the existing booking coverage, and they took care of the rest.

 

We are looking at Nationwide as they are the most reasonable rates. Glad to hear they are a bit accommodating for plan changes. I have coverage through my credit card for my half of the charges (up to $5000) but would have to get insurance for my husband. Our cruise isn't until the end of next May so I would like to find someone who would consider only insuring the deposit for now.

If you're in the US and didn't book a non-refundable deposit cabin, then there's no need to insure only the deposit, since it is fully refundable until around the time final payment is due.

If you're in the US and didn't book a non-refundable deposit cabin, then there's no need to insure only the deposit, since it is fully refundable until around the time final payment is due.

 

Not necessarily.

 

ALWAYS make sure that you (anyone) read the fine print for the specific policy you plan to purchase.

 

In many (most?) cases, IF one wants/needs coverage for claims that are based in any way on a pre-existing medical condition, one must start the coverage within 10-20 days of the FIRST payment (depending upon policy), refundable or not.

For those who miss that window, there are policies that require starting the coverage within 24 hours of the FINAL payment (defined narrowly, of course), but those policies do not include some of the choices of the policies one could get within that window of the earlier start of coverage.

 

Fortunately, many of the policies that require starting coverage within that 10-20 day period require that one only cover payments actually made. So one can get coverage for the small amount of the "deposit".

(In this situation, one would *not* want to pre-pay the cruise costs, or one would also need to pay more for the insurance, earlier than necessary.)

 

It is rare that any "generality" about "terms of coverage" will apply to ALL policies.

Read ALL of the terms of the policy, including the "fine print", which can be very important.

If you're in the US and didn't book a non-refundable deposit cabin, then there's no need to insure only the deposit, since it is fully refundable until around the time final payment is due.

 

OK, thanks for that. In fact the TA told us that the fare is totally refundable up to 90 days from departure. So you are saying that we really don't need to buy it until then? But won't that cut out the pre-existing condition clause? For example.........I have a hip replacement. If on board should I fall and dislocate that hip, wouldn't that mean that they could refuse to pay for the interrupted trip?

 

I apologize for being a bit dense but this is only our 3rd cruise and we have never taken out insurance before except for a non-cruise trip and it wasn't that far in advance.

OK, thanks for that. In fact the TA told us that the fare is totally refundable up to 90 days from departure. So you are saying that we really don't need to buy it until then? But won't that cut out the pre-existing condition clause? For example.........I have a hip replacement. If on board should I fall and dislocate that hip, wouldn't that mean that they could refuse to pay for the interrupted trip?

 

I apologize for being a bit dense but this is only our 3rd cruise and we have never taken out insurance before except for a non-cruise trip and it wasn't that far in advance.

 

Good thinking.

 

It's not always clear what constitutes a "pre-existing condition", and the definitions can vary from insurer/policy to insurer/policy.

 

I'd recommend you contact Steve

at www.TripInsuranceStore.com

 

and discuss all of this.

 

We get our policies through his agency, and we've had some claims that did get *paid* (which is what matters), from Travel Insured. He also handles several other insurers that he's "vetted".

 

One nice thing about having the waiver is that if there is a claim for any medical situation, they don't need to screen lots of old medical records, because it just doesn't matter. That speeds up the claims process, regardless of whether it's a pre-existing condition or not.

 

I'd recommend you contact Steve

at www.TripInsuranceStore.com

We get our policies through his agency, and we've had some claims that did get *paid* (which is what matters), from Travel Insured. He also handles several other insurers that he's "vetted".

 

Another fan of TripInsuranceStore.com...just got off the phone with Steve a few minutes ago. He is so knowledgable . I always have a sense of relief when I can cross trip insurance off of my "to do list".

Thanks for sharing the info.

Thanks all! I was about to buy from someone not on the 'list'. I am now looking on that site.

We are looking at Nationwide as they are the most reasonable rates. Glad to hear they are a bit accommodating for plan changes.

As am I. I compared a lot of options on both insuremytrip and tripinsurancestore and Nationwide came across to me as a really strong choice, even without considering the plan changes aspect of it.

 

Our cruise isn't until the end of next May so I would like to find someone who would consider only insuring the deposit for now.

I've been beating my head up against walls for a week or two, talking to various brokers and directly with insurance companies, trying to understand the why's and wherefore's of these policies. After all that, I am left believing that if you only declare the value of the non-refundable portion of the deposit instead of what the policy asks for, "total cost" of the vacation as they define it, then they could prorate your compensation should you lose your deposit for some reason, paying you only the percentage of the money lost that the deposit represents as compared to the actual total cost. However, that's just my understanding of it.

We have so far insured only the deposit we made on our Holland America January cruise. The deposit is fully refundable because we booked a while ago. HA is now making at least some deposits non-refundable, which stinks in my book but that is another subject. The only reason we insured right away was to cover pre-existing conditions, necessary within the first 14 days of our first payment on the trip. The insurance does us no good otherwise until final payment.