Travel Insurance policy

[believer33323]

I am curious if anyone has an answer for a friend. He booked a cruise on or about January 3rd and the cruise was to sail on October 28th,2012 for NCL through an online TA and bought the travel insurance at the same time (Not sure of the actual company). After that NCL chartered the ship out and cancelled our cruise and were forced to either choose another date or cancell with a full refund. NCL honored the price and any OBC we had for a later date. The problem came up on January 26th when he asked for his money back on the travel insurance itself. They do not refund travel insurance. Has anyone come across this and have any suggestions of what he maybe could do to get a refund. This seems to be a grey area of insurance and I know it seems to a little strange to ask for money back this way on insurance but I beleive given the circumstances there should be some sort of compensation. I personally do not buy the insurance until full payment is due or purchase a plane ticket earlier because the cruise is usually 100% refundable anyway. I did suggest it too but I guess some like to get it right away.

[sparks1093]

The main benefit to getting it right away is that pre-existing conditions are usually covered. As to a refund, well, the insurance was in full force and effect. Maybe he can get the insurance applied to the new sailing, especially if he bought the insurance through the cruise line, but a refund is probably out of the question.

[sadiecat]

I don't know if this would work or not, but we had to cancel a cruise and had insurance. I contacted the insurance company myself and they gave us credit for future a cruise. We have only used a portion of it, but the paperwork I received from them we when we received the policy for the new cruise clearly stated that we still had remaining credit to use. So, perhaps they could get at least a credit from the insurance company for future use.

[NMLady]

I don't know of any insurance company that allows one to cancel insurance after 30 days. For cruise insurance the company will usually transfer it to another cruise if transferred within a certain number of months.

 

If the insurance isn't transferred to another cruise, then it's lost. We had that happen to us. Because of pre-existing conditions we always buy the insurance, from non-cruise company, within a week of booking our cruise.

 

One time we had to cancel a cruise, got our cruise deposit back, got a transfer from insurance but since we couldn't afford to book another cruise we lost the insurance premium. That's life sometimes.

[Turtles06]

Every insurance company will have a different rule, but I believe that the folks we use, Travel Guard, will give you a voucher for use on future insurance if you wind up cancelling your insured trip (for a non-insured reason).

 

OP: you should really look into buying travel insurance right after you make your initial trip deposit. If you don't, you won't be covered for pre-existing medical conditions. Not only your own, but those of close family members who are NOT traveling with you, who might have a medical issue (or worse) that requires you to cancel or interrupt your trip.

 

It's not a lot of money to buy insurance when all you have put down is the trip deposit, because the insurance premium is based only on what you've paid already (not the future amount of the full payment). Later, when you make full payment, you add to your premium amount and pay then.

 

If you are going to buy travel insurance anyway (and I think it's a good idea to do so on most trips), I think it's taking a really big risk not to buy it when you can get the waiver of pre-existing conditions.

[LadyShiva]

Just a caveat to add to the last post: Sometimes the booking is so far out that you can wait for buying travel insurance. Shop around for policies ("insure my trip" is a great website), but if you booked at more than 1 year +1 day out, there aren't a lot of policies that you CAN buy. Check the time period for pre-existing conditions; it might be fine for your situation to wait for better policies to become available for your booking. And yes, I have successfully had to use my travel insurance.

 

My $.02, YMMV, make sure to read the conditions of the policies, etc, etc.

[Turtles06]

Just a caveat to add to the last post: Sometimes the booking is so far out that you can wait for buying travel insurance. Shop around for policies ("insure my trip" is a great website), but if you booked at more than 1 year +1 day out, there aren't a lot of policies that you CAN buy. Check the time period for pre-existing conditions; it might be fine for your situation to wait for better policies to become available for your booking. And yes, I have successfully had to use my travel insurance.

 

My $.02, YMMV, make sure to read the conditions of the policies, etc, etc.

 

I can't speak to what other companies do, but you can definitely buy insurance from Travel Guard way more than a year and a day out. I've done it.

[LadyShiva]

I can't speak to what other companies do, but you can definitely buy insurance from Travel Guard way more than a year and a day out. I've done it.

 

Agreed, but as I said, there aren't a LOT. I had a choice of 2 policies for this trip (if purchased within 14-21 days of booking). I bought one of them for the older member of my party within 14 days of booking ($$$, TravelSafe Vacation Classic plan), and chose to wait for the other 3 people's coverage.

[Nemo2005]

I'm pretty sure they can change the dates of their trip - or even the type of trip - and still use the insurance for a different week of vacation. They will have to call about that, though. It happened to us that we had to move our cruise week from November to January and the insurance was fine with making the switch with us.

[cruiseat50]

Just a caveat to add to the last post: Sometimes the booking is so far out that you can wait for buying travel insurance. Shop around for policies ("insure my trip" is a great website), but if you booked at more than 1 year +1 day out, there aren't a lot of policies that you CAN buy. Check the time period for pre-existing conditions; it might be fine for your situation to wait for better policies to become available for your booking. And yes, I have successfully had to use my travel insurance.

 

My $.02, YMMV, make sure to read the conditions of the policies, etc, etc.

 

LadyShiva is correct you can get trip insurance through insure my trip and even can purchase it just before final payment with pre-existing conditions still covered.

 

They also stated that you can purchase some after that but it gets more expensive. I don't actually wait up to the point of final payment as I purchase it just before I get our airline tickets. If I waited to buy my airline tickets just before final payment who knows what they would have costed? So at the point I get the tickets I feel I am sure that we will be able to go so I buy the insurance then.

[Medtech2]

The main benefit to getting it right away is that pre-existing conditions are usually covered. As to a refund, well, the insurance was in full force and effect. Maybe he can get the insurance applied to the new sailing, especially if he bought the insurance through the cruise line, but a refund is probably out of the question.

I do not understand why everyone is saying you need to buy insurance right away. According to NCL's website you can buy it up to the day of final payment.

 

In reading their info i see no distinction made except that there is a 60 day window regardless of when you purchase:

 

PRE-EXISTING CONDITION

means an illness, disease, or other condition during the 60-day period immediately prior to your effective date for which you, your Traveling Companion, or Immediate Family Member who is scheduled or booked to travel with you:

 

(1)received or received a recommendation for a diagnostic test, examination, or medical treatment; or

(2)took or received a prescription for drugs or medicine.

Item (2) of this definition does not apply to a condition which is treated or controlled solely through the taking of prescription drugs or medicine and remains treated or controlled without any adjustment or change in the required prescription throughout the 60-day period before coverage is effective under this Policy.

 

So from this I am gathering that my hypertension, for which I have been taking medication for several years, would not be considered pre-existing. However if I needed a prescription for something that just came up in the 60 day window it would be.

 

Nowhere am I reading anything about a difference in waiting or not waiting, just that the 60 day window would be different...

 

Am I reading that correctly?

[willysgrandma]

You are correct. If your condition doesn't change and your meds aren't changed then you usuallyare okay.

 

However, any new conditions that may come up after you make a deposit and before you buy insurance will niot be covered.

 

We have had several clients who refused to buy insurance when they made deposits or within 14 days of deposit that developed medical conditions (cancer, heart problems, etc) and then wanted to buy insurance. Those conditions would then be considered pre existing and most policies wouldn't cover it. Some clients had to cancel after final payment as their Drs wouldn't allow them to travel and lost deposits. Others have had to decide before final payment if they wanted to cancel so they didn't lose any money or gamble and not cancel and hope they were able to make it through the cruise.

 

People have to decide if it is worth buying insurance early and being covered for new and existing medical conditions or wait to final payment to add it on and hope a new conditiondoesn't crop up or a pre-existing one doesn't change.

 

I do not understand why everyone is saying you need to buy insurance right away. According to NCL's website you can buy it up to the day of final payment.

 

In reading their info i see no distinction made except that there is a 60 day window regardless of when you purchase:

 

PRE-EXISTING CONDITION

means an illness, disease, or other condition during the 60-day period immediately prior to your effective date for which you, your Traveling Companion, or Immediate Family Member who is scheduled or booked to travel with you:

 

(1)received or received a recommendation for a diagnostic test, examination, or medical treatment; or

(2)took or received a prescription for drugs or medicine.

Item (2) of this definition does not apply to a condition which is treated or controlled solely through the taking of prescription drugs or medicine and remains treated or controlled without any adjustment or change in the required prescription throughout the 60-day period before coverage is effective under this Policy.

 

So from this I am gathering that my hypertension, for which I have been taking medication for several years, would not be considered pre-existing. However if I needed a prescription for something that just came up in the 60 day window it would be.

 

Nowhere am I reading anything about a difference in waiting or not waiting, just that the 60 day window would be different...

 

Am I reading that correctly?

[sparks1093]

I do not understand why everyone is saying you need to buy insurance right away. According to NCL's website you can buy it up to the day of final payment.

 

In reading their info i see no distinction made except that there is a 60 day window regardless of when you purchase:

 

PRE-EXISTING CONDITION

means an illness, disease, or other condition during the 60-day period immediately prior to your effective date for which you, your Traveling Companion, or Immediate Family Member who is scheduled or booked to travel with you:

 

(1)received or received a recommendation for a diagnostic test, examination, or medical treatment; or

(2)took or received a prescription for drugs or medicine.

Item (2) of this definition does not apply to a condition which is treated or controlled solely through the taking of prescription drugs or medicine and remains treated or controlled without any adjustment or change in the required prescription throughout the 60-day period before coverage is effective under this Policy.

 

So from this I am gathering that my hypertension, for which I have been taking medication for several years, would not be considered pre-existing. However if I needed a prescription for something that just came up in the 60 day window it would be.

 

Nowhere am I reading anything about a difference in waiting or not waiting, just that the 60 day window would be different...

 

Am I reading that correctly?

 

I am not talking about NCL's insurance. I don't buy it because it is too expensive. Many of the plans that are available through insuremytrip.com offer a pre-existing condition waiver if you purchase the insurance within x number of days of the intial trip deposit. (And also note that "effective date" for NCL insurance is the date that you pay for said insurance in full. Just adding it to your reservation does not make it effective.)