Travel Insurance, when, where, how to choose?

[SUNNY D]

Thanks to another member, it was brought to my attention to purchase travel insurance. I'm a first timer so I'm in foreign territory when it comes to planning a trip. So, I was reffered to InsureMyTrip.com. There are so many companies, how do you choose who to go with? When should I get this taken care of? We have only paid a deposit on the cruise and have till August to pay the balance. My husband also has a pre-existing condition (I'm gathering this matters since it is noted in many policies). The condition is stable but you never know and it is serious if something were to arise all of a sudden. So, does anyone have any pointers of what kind of policy I should be looking for? What is the difference between one company and the next (without taking a day to read all their policies)? When should I finalize this? We are cruising in October. Thanks alot. :)

[Andee]

Many companies require that you purchase insurance within a set amount of time (14-21 days) after making your deposit in order to have pre-existing conditions covered. Otherwise, you could be diagnosed with something after you paid the deposit and then purchase insurance, knowing that you were going to make a claim.

 

I use the compare feature on insuremytrip.com to help me select a policy.

[CaptData]

Ok. If you are within the above time limit of purchase here is some basics to help.

 

You will need cancelation insurance, medical coverage ($30,000 for evac), baggage and trip interruption insurance. They all come in a complete cover package, do not buy separately as it is very expensive that way.

 

You need to cover the cost of Cruise, airfare and hotel before and after.

 

Example: Cruise 3000

Airfare 300

Hotel 150

Total 3450/pp

Time: Leave house on 15th Jun for airport arrive back to house 26 Jun

so time period is 11 days. Cruise was from 15 - 26th.

Ensure all members are covered including kids.

[kitty9]

OK, first and most important, when did you book your trip and pay the initial deposit? That very important because for almost all policies, you only have between 10 and 21 days to purchase insurance that will cover your husband's pre-existing condition. If you're beyond the time limit, you're going to be very limited in what insurance you can buy, because there's only one plan I know of that will cover the pre-existing if you purchase the plan after the time window, and that's the CSA Silver plan. You will have to pay more for that because you didn't get the insurance as soon as you booked the cruise.

 

If you're still within the time limits, you can go with just about any company as long as the plan covers any medical problems either on board the ship or when you're off on an island. Also it's good to have medical evacuation coverage, just in case the worst happens and you have to be taken off the ship for medical treatment.

 

Most plans will cover all these things including cancelation for medical reasons, illness of a family member not traveling with you, trip interruption, baggage loss, trip delay and a few other things.

[celbercrz333]

One thing to pay attention to is the deductible. We bought rather cheap insurance through Celebrity cruises for our first cruise. We went from NYC to Bermuda on Celebrity Zenith. We had never cruised and therefore didn't know much. We planned on playing golf and my husband brought along his clubs inside of his new travel bag that I gave him for Christmas. Either when they put the clubs on board or from the bus to the port, the bag got ripped. We hoped to have some kind of compensation. They fixed it onboard as best they could so it wouldn't get worse. But, with a $250 deductible, there was no compensation. The bag wasn't worth that much, but being a first time for using it, it made us sick. We recently flew down to Florida using our brand new luggage and if you could have seen it when we got it off the baggage claim belt, you'd be shocked. It has scratches and one very obvious white stripe on it. The luggage is navy blue. Those who handle luggage in these industries don't care how they manhandle your personal belongings, they just want to do the job fast and get it over with.

[JKG]

Visit this site. I found it very helpful.

 

http://www.travelinsurance-info.com/index.html