? amount to insure as NON-REFUNDABLE fee's

[4275princess]

We purchased travel insurance, which included coverage for "pre-existing" condition. For the pre-existing condition, the cost had to include ALL NON-REFUNDABLE charges. I could not include air since it was booked by vouchers.

 

My total trip cost paid to the cruise line was $1036.00 & I rounded

it off to $1000.00. I figured this would be "ok" since my port fee's for the cruise are actually REFUNDABLE charges.

 

I was advised by my insurance company that if I did NOT change the coverage from $1000.00 to the $1036.00, this would NOT cover "pre existing" conditions. It was explained that the coverage "was the amount of money I would be out when I walked out my door".

 

What would you included as the NON-REFUNDABLE fee?

[Lou33]

When you go over $999 or $1000, that may put you into a different price bracket for insurance. So maybe they didn't understand why you chose to use $1000 as your cost basis, and they thought you were trying to avoid going to the next price bracket?

 

But otherwise, never insure the port charges or taxes. If they won't let you do this, then ask to speak to a supervisor. The port charges and taxes are *always* refundable by the cruiseline. There is no port charge or tax if you never go on the cruise. The cruiseline pays those fees to somebody else, so they must refund that money to you if you don't go on the cruise, they can't just pocket the money.

 

And likewise, your insurance company will never pay you for the port charges or taxes because they know the cruiseline will refund those directly. Don't insure something that you can never collect on.

 

Find out exactly what your non-refundable expenses are, you don't want to guess.

[cruiseco]

 

What would you included as the NON-REFUNDABLE fee?

 

I would include what my insurer says I have to include or I'd find another insurer. If they're telling you that you have to insure your taxes/fees you need to verify that with a supervisor. If that's their answer and you need the pre-existing medical condition coverage wouldn't you rather know this now rather than at claim time?

 

And, even if you are using vouchers for your air tickets there can be some fees associated with those tickets -- airlines love to add on an admin or processing fee sometimes. If there are, those need to be added into the pot also.

[cruiseco]

By the way. I went around and around with a Regional Manager from a major insurer on this very issue a couple of years ago when they were switching underwriters. The plan wording was/is:

 

"The Pre-Existing Conditions exclusion is waived if You (a) enroll in this policy at the time You pay the deposit required for Your Covered Trip (or within 21 days of the initial Covered Trip deposit); (b) purchase this policy for the full cost of Your Covered Trip; and © are medically able to travel at the time the premium is paid. "

 

Note there's no mention of "non-refundable" in there.

 

At the time even he didn't know what that really meant -- lots of hemming and hawing ensued. Was it just the non-refundable part of the full trip cost or was it the whole trip cost? What about hotels that could be cancelled with no penalty? What about cruise taxes/fees? He finally said it was the full total of the trip arrangements as if the trip were completed as planned. I don't know if that issue eventually got sorted out or better defined or what.

 

To compare, Travel Guard spells it out more plainly:

 

"The Insurer will waive this exclusion if the Insured

meets the following conditions: 1. You purchase the program

within 15 days of making the initial Trip payment. Day one is the

date the initial Trip payment is received; 2. The amount of Trip

Cancellation coverage purchased at that time equals the full cost

of all pre-paid non-refundable trip arrangements."

 

Anyway. I don't know what insurer the OP is using but I can verify that it is possible that what he/she was told could in fact be true.

[klfrodo]

I could not include air since it was booked by vouchers.

 

?

 

As mentioned by Cruiseco, I double check with your airline to see if any fees are imposed on you to have those vouchers re-issued in the case you have to cancel for a covered reason and have that cost associated with your trip.

 

As you know, your insurance provider is asking that you cover your entire trip to exclude pre-existing conditions. I'd hate to hear of them voiding your policy because you didn't cover a $25 fee.

[CRUISE4JANE]

When I got my insurance through Travel Insured, I was told to insure the whole cost of the trip, which included the government fees and taxes (not flying). I would rather be safe than sorry. I would think it wouldn't cost that much more to do this.

[Lou33]

Maybe it's just me, but I would read the contract and do what the contract says. If it says to use only the "non-refundable" costs as the cost basis (as it should), then thats' what I would use. If a sales person told me "No, you must include all vacation expenses in your cost basis: port charges, taxes, hotel and rental car reservations, projected meal expenses, taxi fares and tips!" Then I would ask to speak to a supervisor, or find another insurance company.

 

I will not insure for something that I can never file a claim for. And insurance companies will never pay you for taxes or port charges. BTW, on our Med cruise, the taxes and port charges were very significant, it was about 1/3 of the total cost of the cruise.

[cruiseco]

When I got my insurance through Travel Insured, I was told to insure the whole cost of the trip, which included the government fees and taxes (not flying). I would rather be safe than sorry. I would think it wouldn't cost that much more to do this.

 

Actually, it can cost quite a bit more which is why it's so important to understand exactly what's required to be insured to get covered for pre-existing conditions.

 

I don't have a Travel Insured brochure handy but here's some info from another insurer. Travel Insured will have different age bands and premiums but the idea is the same.

 

The premiums are based on the travelers' ages and trip costs, both of which are in ranges or bands. Take a cruiser in the 60 - 69 age band:

 

If the trip cost is between $1501 - $2000 the premium is $118

If the trip cost is between $2001 - $2500 the premium is $148

If the trip cost is between $2501 - $3000 the premium is $183

 

Suppose you need the pre-existing condition coverage and in order to be eligible for that coverage you have to insure 100% of your trip cost.

 

Your cruise fare ($2400) + all taxes and fees ($105) = $2505

 

If your insurer only requires that you insure the pre-paid, non-refundable costs and the taxes/fees are refundable if you cancel you just insure the $2400 and pay a $148 premium.

 

If the insurer requires that you insure the total of your pre-paid costs (not exempting anything that's refundable) then you have to pay a $183 premium. That's a 56% bump. Another way of looking at it is since they'd cover up to $2500 anyway for that $148 premium they're charging you $35 to insure that last $5.

 

If an insurer said that I had to cover all of my trip cost and doing so put me into a higher cost/premium bracket (sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't) I would get that in writing from a supervisor then, if true, since I can be a cheap son of a gun I'd probably find another insurer that otherwise suited my needs that did not have this ridiculous policy.

[cruiseco]

I just shot off the following in an email to Travel Insured. When they respond I'll post it here.

 

I just booked a cruise with Royal Caribbean for next summer going from Barcelona to Venice. I've read all the plan information on your web site and have a question.

 

I'm a diabetic and want to be sure I have the coverage for pre-existing medical conditions. The plan wording says I have to insure the full cost of the trip. I want to insure everything I have to. My questions are:

 

Royal Caribbean will refund $175 in fees and taxes if I have to cancel. Do I have to include that?

 

I'm spending three nights in a hotel in Barcelona before the cruise. The nightly rate is about $175 which has already been charged to my credit card. I can cancel up to 48 hours before our planned check-in with no penalty and less than that they'll charge me for one night's room rate. Can I insure none of it? Should I only insure the one night $175? Or do I have to add in all three nights ($535)?

 

Thanks for your help on this!

[Lou33]

Hi Cruiseco,

 

This has been discussed on other recent threads. But are you sure that you have a pre-existing condition? Is your condition stable, and has any medication changed during the last 60 or 90 days? Otherwise, you may not have a pre-existing condition, as it relates to travel insurance.

 

Many people with Diabetes, High Blood pressure, High Cholesterol, etc. assume that they *always* have a pre-existing conditon, when that may not be true. If you don't, then there is nothing to worry about anyway.

[cruiseco]

I just shot off the following in an email to Travel Insured. When they respond I'll post it here.

 

I just booked a cruise with Royal Caribbean for next summer going from Barcelona to Venice. I've read all the plan information on your web site and have a question.

 

I'm a diabetic and want to be sure I have the coverage for pre-existing medical conditions. The plan wording says I have to insure the full cost of the trip. I want to insure everything I have to. My questions are:

 

Royal Caribbean will refund $175 in fees and taxes if I have to cancel. Do I have to include that?

 

I'm spending three nights in a hotel in Barcelona before the cruise. The nightly rate is about $175 which has already been charged to my credit card. I can cancel up to 48 hours before our planned check-in with no penalty and less than that they'll charge me for one night's room rate. Can I insure none of it? Should I only insure the one night $175? Or do I have to add in all three nights ($535)?

 

Thanks for your help on this!

 

Here's the response from Travel Insured:

 

"Good Afternoon,

 

You want to insure what is pre paid and non refundable. For example the day that you were to depart on your trip you got sick and could not travel what would you lose out of pocket? If you have any questions please feel free to contact me directly . . . "

 

If in fact customers who call are not told the above but are instead told to insure their "full trip cost" as cruise4jane reports then they are really being done a huge disservice.

[mexico8]

I booked a cruise for my husband and I in January and paid a $1,000 deposit and the second payment of $1,000. was made in July. The final payment was due today but I had to cancel yesterday because I have some medical problems. The cruise company are keeping the $2,000.00 deposits. Does this seem correct? I was under the impression that the cruise could be cancelled before final payment without penalty but I should have read all the fine print. Does anyone know if I could get my credit card company to refund the money that I paid to the cruise company. (I put both of the deposits on my Visa card). Thanks.

 

BTW - I do have insurance but they don't want to pay the $2,000. (long story). They only want to pay $1,000.00.

 

Wendy

[cruiseco]

Does anyone know if I could get my credit card company to refund the money that I paid to the cruise company. (I put both of the deposits on my Visa card).

 

On what basis would you make that claim? From what you say the cruise line may be doing everything exactly in accordance with their fine print which you agreed to. You need to go back to square one and read that fine print.

[sirwired]

I booked a cruise for my husband and I in January and paid a $1,000 deposit and the second payment of $1,000. was made in July. The final payment was due today but I had to cancel yesterday because I have some medical problems. The cruise company are keeping the $2,000.00 deposits. Does this seem correct? I was under the impression that the cruise could be cancelled before final payment without penalty but I should have read all the fine print. Does anyone know if I could get my credit card company to refund the money that I paid to the cruise company. (I put both of the deposits on my Visa card). Thanks.

 

BTW - I do have insurance but they don't want to pay the $2,000. (long story). They only want to pay $1,000.00.

 

Wendy

 

You need to read your cruise contract, which should contain the cancellation penalties. Which line were you going to cruise with?

 

Assuming the line is behaving as stated in your contract, Visa is not going to issue you a refund.

 

As a side note, you probably want to start a new thread so your post gets more attention instead of piggybacking on this older thread.

[mexico8]

You need to read your cruise contract, which should contain the cancellation penalties. Which line were you going to cruise with?

 

Assuming the line is behaving as stated in your contract, Visa is not going to issue you a refund.

 

As a side note, you probably want to start a new thread so your post gets more attention instead of piggybacking on this older thread.

The biggest problem is that I did not have anything outlining the cancellation policy. All I ever got was the invoice and as I had no intention of cancelling I didn't really think about the penalty. My travel agent agrees that we should have been provided with the "fine print" and she is helping us to deal with the cruise line. I was under the mistaken impression that we could cancel without penalty up to the date when we made the final payment because that's what we were used to. That was a bad assumption on our part.

 

I don't know how to start a new post but I will try to figure it out. Thanks for your help.

[mexico8]

On what basis would you make that claim? From what you say the cruise line may be doing everything exactly in accordance with their fine print which you agreed to. You need to go back to square one and read that fine print.

See my reply below. We should have been more diligent about the "fine print" but we didn't think we would cancel and assumed we could cancel before the final payment. We hope it will work out okay. Thanks for your input.

[mexico8]

See my reply below. We should have been more diligent about the "fine print" but we didn't think we would cancel and assumed we could cancel before the final payment. We hope it will work out okay. Thanks for your input.

My explanation is above this (not below). I did figure out how to make a new thread and I posted it and I have already gotten some replies.

 

Wendy