Trip insurance

Definitely want to get trip insurance for cruise, flights, etc. We just made a nonrefundable deposit of $1000 for a cruise in May 2016, but we don't have to finish paying the rest until a year from now. My question: when do you need to buy the insurance?? Do I have to buy it now or can I wait until we pay off the big bill? Is it cheaper to wait, or does the insurance company make you get it within 2 weeks of your deposit?

If you want to have prior conditions covered then get it within the stipulated time period which depends on the plan selected, usually 2 weeks of the initial payment to the cruise company. What I've learned is that you only have to pay for the amount that you have laid out, then as you pay more [air fare, hotels, tours and final payment] you notify the broker [recommend Insure My Trip] and increase the coverage.

Trip Insurance is highly recommended. DW and I took a 15 day Panama Canal Cruise last March on Celebrity. Our flight routing was Dulles - Clev. - FTL on day of cruise. Flight from CLE was cancelled due to mechanical and no other planes available to get us to FLL on time to embark.

United flew us to Cartagena Col. that night (no xtra chg). Spend 2 nights there prior to ships arrival. TI picked up all the costs there and also gave us back the pro rata share of our cruise cost for the 3 nights we missed. Total reimbursement was a little over $1600. United also gave us each a $250 voucher for future use.

We purchased TI for our upcoming Viking cruise within the "allowable window" so as to cover pre conditions. Booked our air thru Viking, so that was part of the total Viking price. Since have upgraded to Prem. Econ. and signed a contract for a weeks apartment rental in Paris (post cruise). I added these costs to the TI policy.

It does pay to shop around for TI as prices vary.

Bruce

As mentioned, get your insurance now. You can get insurance for the total cost of the cruise now and then increase the coverage once you have added flights, transfers etc. I really recommend InsureMyTrip.com to compare different policies. It is amazing how much variance in coverage and price you will find.

I, as well, always use insuremytrip and increase the coverage as costs increase. I buy it within the 2 weeks to cover pre existing conditions. If for some reason you have to cancel your trip, you can transfer the insurance to the next trip you book. I've done that a few times. I also had to use the insurance when I had emergency surgery a week before our Avalon river cruise. I got every penny back including the money that AA charged us to redeposit our miles into our FF acct.

Thanks to everyone for such helpful information! I appreciate it.

Hi All!

Am booked for an AMS to BASEL river cruise in Sept. 2016. Have been on InsureMyTrip and am reading about different types of coverages such as, Trip Cancellation, Trip Interruption, Cancel for any Reason, etc. Does anyone know what, if any, of the coverage types that exist would reimburse a traveler whose trip is re-configured by the cruise company (i.e. being bussed all over, ship not leaving port, etc.,) due to weather issues that create non-navigable waters? At a glance, it doesn't appear that any type of coverage would reimburse for anything, once the ship has departed. The insurance/legal speak mumbo-jumbo boggles my simple mind...

Thank you in advance for any guidance you can offer.

Hi All!

 

Am booked for an AMS to BASEL river cruise in Sept. 2016. Have been on InsureMyTrip and am reading about different types of coverages such as' date=' Trip Cancellation, Trip Interruption, Cancel for any Reason, etc. Does anyone know what, if any, of the coverage types that exist would reimburse a traveler whose trip is re-configured by the cruise company (i.e. being bussed all over, ship not leaving port, etc.,) due to weather issues that create non-navigable waters? At a glance, it doesn't appear that any type of coverage would reimburse for anything, once the ship has departed. The insurance/legal speak mumbo-jumbo boggles my simple mind...

 

Thank you in advance for any guidance you can offer.[/quote']

 

It seems, based on reports from many travelers in the situation you describe, that no insurance policy covers this. That's why it's important to book with a cruise line that offers its passengers a choice in such situations (contrast this year's threads about Emerald [choice] vs. Viking [no choice]).

It is also important to remember that insurance purchased through the cruise line most likely does not cover insolvency of the cruise line. Very important in this time of economic upheaval (see Tom Harper Tours/Club ABC Tours).

Emerald's choice after 5 days stuck in the lock at Breisach was gruelling bus trip to Amsterdam omitting some of the scheduled stops on the way and staying in hotels, or curtailing the trip and flying back home, which is what we chose. the organisation at the end was chaotic. They then had the gall to send us a miserable offer of vouchers off our next cruise with them. as if! we cruised 45 km in 5 days and never cursed on the Rhine as planned. it was a very expensive 3 day coach tour. The BBC in London and Swiss Met Office were both forecasting heavy rain , snow melt and floods for the area on 30 April 2015 well before the start of our cruise on 2 May 2015.

Hi All!

 

Am booked for an AMS to BASEL river cruise in Sept. 2016. Have been on InsureMyTrip and am reading about different types of coverages such as' date=' Trip Cancellation, Trip Interruption, Cancel for any Reason, etc. Does anyone know what, if any, of the coverage types that exist would reimburse a traveler whose trip is re-configured by the cruise company (i.e. being bussed all over, ship not leaving port, etc.,) due to weather issues that create non-navigable waters? At a glance, it doesn't appear that any type of coverage would reimburse for anything, once the ship has departed. The insurance/legal speak mumbo-jumbo boggles my simple mind...

 

Thank you in advance for any guidance you can offer.[/quote']

 

If you want to be able to cancel for any reason you usually need to buy trip insurance when you book your trip. If you want to be covered for the company going under and taking your full trip payment with it, you need to have a policy that has a default provision. The cruise companies will NOT offer it and when you go on line to buy it you must look for it and be certain that it's included. I know of no insurance company that will insure you against your trip being re-configured due to issue beyond the control of the cruise line. ....and when you think about it, that makes sense.

The other thing that people often don't realize is that "cancel for any reason" coverage ends the minute you embark on the first covered expense (e.g. flight from home, or the ship itself). So if the vendor lures you onto the ship with rosy forecasts, once you learn the bitter truth it's too late to activate your insurance coverage.

I would like to refer to the question of the force majeure-clause in a contract again. We had this topic in the thread of the cancellation of trips due to the crisis on the Crimean peninsula (Russia cruises).

It might be interesting for you to hear that in Germany flooding is not necessarily a force majeure, i.e. an unpredictable event, as it occurs more or less every winter and early Spring.

House owners insurances and travel insurances handle this subject differently from each other, by the way.

notamermaid

We'll be on Emerald and it appears, after reading the fine print, that the only hope for any sort of renumeration is if the cruise fails to depart at all, for at least 7 days. If so, they offer a refund of monies or vouchers good for 24 mos.

They do have a Force Mejeure clause which of course holds them completely not liable for anything should there be a corresponding issue.

So I guess its really just a "fingers crossed" and "hope for the best" type of booking. Doubt there's any reason to waste time hoping that corporate greed doesn't overwhelm a cruise lines duty to make their passengers happy and thereby solidifying loyalty. Though I'd hate to be a business owner these days with all the social media and the ability of the disgruntled to damage a business reputation utilizing those tools if necessary.

But I'll stop fretting about this because I've still got a long way to go. And The thing in our corner, is that we're not sailing until September (2016), and I understand the likelihood of a weather issues, is less likely during that time of year.

Thanks all for your thoughts on this matter...

We booked our travel insurance through Uniworld since I didn't know any better at the time :D After reading some threads here, I checked out Insure My Trip, and was very confused by the different policies offered--the Uniworld coverage was less expensive that a lot of policies that were offered via Insure My Trip, but of course I'm sure there were probably coverage differences.

What types of policies are best, or what are the features that at a minimum should be included? I'd like to be better prepared next time!

We booked our travel insurance through Uniworld since I didn't know any better at the time :D After reading some threads here, I checked out Insure My Trip, and was very confused by the different policies offered--the Uniworld coverage was less expensive that a lot of policies that were offered via Insure My Trip, but of course I'm sure there were probably coverage differences.

 

What types of policies are best, or what are the features that at a minimum should be included? I'd like to be better prepared next time!

That might be because the insurers on insuremytrip.com include age in their rating/pricing. From what I have seen, the cruise lines seem to take a one size fits all approach, so their insurance is more or less expensive depending on age. There are also coverage differences, as you noted.

We've been very happy over the past couple dozen trips and cruises using Travel Insured which we get thru our USAA policy. Pretty sure you don't have to be a USAA member to use them. Had both the normal and "cancel for any reason" policies. Great pricing and coverage. Their rep. is also very good. Fortunately we have not had to use them!

That might be because the insurers on insuremytrip.com include age in their rating/pricing. From what I have seen, the cruise lines seem to take a one size fits all approach, so their insurance is more or less expensive depending on age. There are also coverage differences, as you noted.

I'm not sure about the cruise companies not using age to determine insurance cost. I compared Vantage policy to insuremytrip.com and found the same thing you did, but Vantage also asks for ages before giving you the policy. I think (at least Vantage) uses both your age and the cost of your trip as determining factors. Bottom line is, I wasn't able to beat Vantage policy with the single exception of the default provision and I've been sailing with Vantage long enough that I'm comfortable with their solvency.

I am currently shopping for trip insurance, though a sea cruise. Has any ever had to use it from insuremytrip? Looks like stetchcruz did, but that was a good reason. Anyone else with missed flights/luggage. I just noted a whole different category, one all about cruise/travel insurance. That is sure to be interesting

Has anyone used the trip insurance features of the MileagePlus Explorer card, or equivalent Chase credit cards?

On paper, at least, it appears that the various travel interruption benefits map pretty closely to what third party travel insurance provides. I upgraded my old signature card to the Explorer card in part to get the "free" travel insurance. I guess time will tell is I am being pound foolish.

I have never in my life had anything happen during my travels that would have triggered a travel insurance benefit. This could be the time of course. If it is I just hope I read the fine print correctly when I got the Explorer card.:o

I am currently shopping for trip insurance, though a sea cruise. Has any ever had to use it from insuremytrip? Looks like stetchcruz did, but that was a good reason. Anyone else with missed flights/luggage. I just noted a whole different category, one all about cruise/travel insurance. That is sure to be interesting

Just wanted to mention that insure my trip.com only sell insurance, other companies service the policy claims.

We have needed to make claims a few times. All but one were small, the one was a cancellation. The claims process was explained well when I first contacted them. It's really a paperwork drill, be prepared to spend time at a copy machine, but not that difficult if you pay attention to the details.

Has anyone used the trip insurance features of the MileagePlus Explorer card, or equivalent Chase credit cards?

 

On paper, at least, it appears that the various travel interruption benefits map pretty closely to what third party travel insurance provides. I upgraded my old signature card to the Explorer card in part to get the "free" travel insurance. I guess time will tell is I am being pound foolish.

 

I have never in my life had anything happen during my travels that would have triggered a travel insurance benefit. This could be the time of course. If it is I just hope I read the fine print correctly when I got the Explorer card.:o

The "free" insurance provided by credit cards doesn't include two types of coverage that could prove devastatingly expensive: medical and evacuation. US health insurance plans usually stop dead at the border.

If you're not worried about recouping the money you have paid for the trip, you can get medical-only travel insurance at very reasonable rates -- on our upcoming three-week trip we took the "any reason" policy from AMA to cover their one-week cruise and added the TA's medical coverage (@ $86 for two people) along with our MedJet evacuation coverage for the rest of the trip. Now we have comprehensive coverage.

Yogi Berra used to say "don't buy good luggage -- you only use it when you travel." The same sentiment could apply to insurance. Yogi has since changed his mind, and I suggest you might want to also.