Does travel insurance cover excursions?

[Maverick927]

We are looking at booking an excursion on our own, and I'm wondering if travel insurance will cover us if the excursion gets rained out or canceled for some reason. I'm pretty sure that if we booked the excursion through Carnival, we wouldn't have to pay if it was rained out. I'm just curious if there is any protection for excursions we book on our own.

 

Thanks!

[cherylandtk]

Travel insurance covers specific, named events only, not everything that may happen. So while it generally WOULD cover medical care for an injury sustained during an excursion, it would not cover cancellation of a tour.

 

It is a big pain, but the best recommendation I can give is to read the fine print and understand what is and is not included in travel insurance. MOST policies are written so that they cover medical events and pre-trip cancellation due to medical events, plus trip interruption coverage for the same limited reasons. There are a few other things that are included in different policies, many including travel delays due to a handful of specific reasons. But what you want to look for is the list of specific named events that are included in your policy coverage.

 

Here is a helpful site that begins to explain this:

http://tripinsurancestore.com/faqs.shtml#b

[cruiseco]

We are looking at booking an excursion on our own, and I'm wondering if travel insurance will cover us if the excursion gets rained out or canceled for some reason. I'm pretty sure that if we booked the excursion through Carnival, we wouldn't have to pay if it was rained out. I'm just curious if there is any protection for excursions we book on our own.

 

Thanks!

 

If the tour operator cancels the tour it would be their responsibility to refund your money. If you're worried about having to cancel your cruise for a covered reason and thus the tour, yes you can insure the tour cost. What really differs among plans is the coverage they will or won't provide if the ship misses the port of call. This is from TravelSafe:

 

"In the event a cruise/tour supplier makes a change in Your Trip itinerary after Your Scheduled Departure Date, which prevents You from participating in an event/activity prepaid prior to departure and scheduled on Your Trip itinerary, non-refundable prepaid event/activity expenses will be payable up to $250."

 

Other plans will do nothing for you under those same circumstances.

[Maverick927]

The specific excursion I had in mind was a dolphin swim in Cozumel. The company has a rain out policy, but they won't actually refund the excursion. Instead, they will allow you to come back again within a year. I really don't think we will be back in Cozumel to use our credit (if we were to get rained out and canceled), so I was hoping that travel insurance would cover that kind of thing.

 

I appreciate your help in clearing some of this up for me. My husband didn't think insurance would cover it, and I thought it would. Guess I need to admit I was wrong! :p

[cruiseco]

There are options. For example, CSA plans include this under "other covered events":

 

"arrangements canceled by an airline, cruise line, motor

coach company, or tour operator, resulting from inclement

weather,. . . "

 

The future credit might complicate things but it's probably worth a phone call to CSA for a clarification.

[sirwired]

The specific excursion I had in mind was a dolphin swim in Cozumel. The company has a rain out policy, but they won't actually refund the excursion. Instead, they will allow you to come back again within a year. I really don't think we will be back in Cozumel to use our credit (if we were to get rained out and canceled), so I was hoping that travel insurance would cover that kind of thing.

 

I appreciate your help in clearing some of this up for me. My husband didn't think insurance would cover it, and I thought it would. Guess I need to admit I was wrong! :p

 

If I were you, I'd choose another company; I could understand getting billed if your ship misses port (and then worrying about insurance), but to just offer a credit if you are there, but the place isn't open because of rain? This seems really unreasonable to me.

 

SirWired

[klfrodo]

I'm pretty sure that if we booked the excursion through Carnival, we wouldn't have to pay if it was rained out.

Thanks!

 

You are correct in that statement.

One of the few good reasons to book an excursion with the cruisline.