It is "safe" to book Early Saver if I have travel insurance?

[sqerlygirl]

I am a little nervous about booking under early saver since the deposit is non-refundable...but since I will have insurance that covers trip interruption, is there any reason not to book ES?

 

The low rates are really tempting!

 

Thanks!

Charlene

[salty dingo]

Travel insurance won't help with the non-refundable part, but it is good to have in case you get sick or something unexpected happens.

 

So, the fact that the fare is ES or not should not matter to you decision to get insurance, it's the same either way.

 

The only difference is that if you decide not to go and would otherwise qualify for a full refund, you can't get the deposit refunded with ES. Travel insurance is not going to make up that refund.

[redpelican]

The deposit is non-refundable, but you can transfer all but 50.00$ to another cruise at a later date. With trip insurance, I don't see any problem. We booked our B2B with the ES rate and already received 4 discounts. We don't get the insurance, but I think it is a good idea. I don't see that you have anything to loose,because it seems you all like to cruise alot. The prices are definitely cheaper and easier to obtain the discounts.

[firefly333]

Depends on if you cancel for a covered reason.

[grandmato4]

I'm confused as to why having insurance with trip interruption would have anything to do with receiving your deposit back before final payment date if one booked an ES rate?

 

Once final payment date happens everyone no matter under which rate they booked is within a penalty phrase where they will loose their deposit if they cancel and as the sailing date grows closer that penalty amount increases. If you have insurance and cancel for a covered reason you would recieve that amount back from the insurance company.

 

Its the timeframe before final payment where those booking ES rate will loose their deposit (actually loose $50 and have $200 put toward another cruise if they book within a year) while those booking under another category would get their deposit back. If you have insurance and cancel for a covered reason you could receive your deposit back in this timeframe, but the key words here are cancel for a covered reason (OR have cancel for any reason insurance). While there certainly are some reasons that would be covered, more often than not a persons reason for canceling prior to final payment time will not fall under a covered reason in an insurance plan.

 

Personally as long as the rate was really good(to offset the $50 I would be loosing) and I felt very confident that if I did need to cancel before final payment date I would still be booking a future Carnival cruise and could afford to have Carnival "hold" my money and come up with a full new deposit amount on the new cruise(the $200 will be applied to my new cruise but won't be put toward a deposit) I'd go ahead and book with the ES rate.

 

Just remember before making your decision that the unexpected does happen ALL the time as we are constantly reminded by posters on this board that booked ES and later had to cancel. Hope you ultimately enjoy your cruise!:)