Free Insurance through TA?

[gatorclaws]

I just booked last night for a Caribbean cruise in late august. The online TA offered free trip insurance (was not a deciding factor for me) but it only covers the cruise itself and the terms aren't great (6hr trip delay, only 20K medical evac pp).

 

We are flying in the day before to miami so there's less risk of flight delays causing us to miss the cruise, but the flight and hotel aren't covered if anything happens.

 

I realize it's difficult to give exact advice without specifics, but in general would it be worth it to act as if this "free" insurance doesn't exist and buy another policy to cover the whole trip?

[pms4104]

Yes, if you do not feel that the free product covers your needs, I would buy a policy that is more comprehensive.

 

Further, you might even ask the T/A if it would be possible for you to receive some other amenity (discount or OBC) in lieu of their free insurance.

[cruiseco]

I just booked last night for a Caribbean cruise in late august. The online TA offered free trip insurance (was not a deciding factor for me) but it only covers the cruise itself and the terms aren't great (6hr trip delay, only 20K medical evac pp).

 

We are flying in the day before to miami so there's less risk of flight delays causing us to miss the cruise, but the flight and hotel aren't covered if anything happens.

 

I realize it's difficult to give exact advice without specifics, but in general would it be worth it to act as if this "free" insurance doesn't exist and buy another policy to cover the whole trip?

 

Usually, the free policies from travel agents are from iTravelInsured. iTi has an assortment of plans -- some have higher coverage and some are pretty bare bones like the one you're apparently getting for free.

 

As far as insuring your full trip dates, that shouldn't be a problem. Just call iTi up and have them change your travel dates to match what you have booked. But that doesn't help with the low coverage limits for the medical and evac. You might try telling the TA that you're willing to pay the difference in premium to upgrade yo one of their better plans and see if they'll go for that. At least you'd get the benefit of whatever the cost of the lesser plan is applied to the better plan. iTi's Elite plan has $50,000 medical and $1,000,000 of evac coverage. Squaremouth.com carries the iTi plans and you can find more info on them at http://www.squaremouth.com/travel-insurance/information/itravelinsured-travel-insurance-products.html

 

Of course, this is assuming they're using iTi as the plan provider.

[gatorclaws]

Yes, you correctly guessed the insurance is through iTi. After speaking with the agent, I was able to get my whole trip covered under the elite plan for $20 more. Well worth it to not have to worry about the limits.