Travel Insurance

[WayneFougere]

When do you all usually purchase your insurance, at the time you book, when you buy your airfare, or upon final payment?

 

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My insurance agent says I must purchase it on the same day as or earlier than final payment. HAL told me theirs must be paid with the final payment (at the price I was quoted). I was told that the HAL price increases after final payment.

 

 

Regards,

Wayne

[Grimsby]

Don't leave home without it.

 

And take the time to read the policy. Here in Canada we've had travel medical insurance companies deny people's travel medical claims because they inadvertently answered a medical question on the policy document incorrectly. Despite the fact that this medical question had absolutely no bearing or relationship to the illness or injury on their claim.

Edited January 26, 2014 by Grimsby

[sherilyn70]

My insurance agent says I must purchase it on the same day as or earlier than final payment. HAL told me theirs must be paid with the final payment (at the price I was quoted). I was told that the HAL price increases after final payment.

In order to get pre-existing conditions waved with HAL you must pay at the time of deposit. The only bad part is that if you get a price drop (we got $1,000 on ours) the insurance amount doesn't change. But I'm good with that considering how sick I could potentially be or get before or during a cruise.

[startwin]

We get our HAL insurance the day before final payment, and there are no restrictions with pre-existing. The "cancel for any reason" is invaluable. I must admit it is annoying that if you get a price drop the insurance stays the same, but if you do an upsell, it increases.:(

[AlohaPride]

Well, I guess we're too late to get coverage for pre-existing conditions as we didnt purchase insurance at the time of booking. :( Then again, if I understand startwin correctly "cancel for any reason" would save us?

 

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[WayneFougere]

We get our HAL insurance the day before final payment, and there are no restrictions with pre-existing. The "cancel for any reason" is invaluable.:(

 

 

After speaking to a HAL guy today, I don't think they offer what I need. So far it looks like private insurance is the best deal but I have a few questions to ask my insurance agent on Monday before finalizing my decision.

 

I have checked with my extended medical and have found that it takes care of all emergencies, including evacuation. So really, I just need to insure potential trip cancellation or interruption.

[PatriciaF]

I purchased for the first time in 2011 because my dad was 93. Well--we did use it because on the Friday before we were to fly to FLL I fell and shattered my wrist. This was with Princess--but its insurer had us fully repaid in two weeks.

 

Our upcoming Baltic Adventure cruise on the Eurodam I booked through the huge box store that started in Seattle. Its insurance was less for the two of us than for one of us through HAL.

 

I was shocked by the price of the HAL insurance I was quoted by one TA. Over $400/person!

[boze9999]

I like your approach, Don. Would you elaborate on the yearly policy for med vac.? Is that through regular medical insurance, or specific travel insurance?

 

My advice, check with your insurance carrier for coverage specifics. Our concerns don't relate as much to cancellation, as they do for med-evac (and heaven forbid, expatriation). Our current carrier allows air emergency to the nearest hospital, which in some parts of the world is not necessarily where I want to go. For our needs, MedJetAssist for a couple was by far the best (especially through one of the 55+ groups). Now I know I'll thankfully end up in a hospital of MY choice, should anything happen.

[mudscraper]

The HAL Platinum Plan provides only $10,000 Medical Coverage and $50,000 medevac coverage. Insufficient coverage IMO.

[PoppyandNana]

We always have travel insurance on cruises but we get the FREE travel insurance that comes with paying for the cruise with a credit card.

 

Our high level credit card also offers travel insurance but when I compard it line by line to a CSA policy there were significant shortfalls on the CC program. We went, and always, have gone with CSA regardless. Sure there are some overlap but the travel policy provides for so much more.

[Randyk47]

I miss, and was actually surprised, that AMEX has at least temporarily backed out of the travel insurance business. They may still offer it to customers who have their upper tier cards and book through them but it's no longer available to regular card members or non-members. Once we started "insuring" our trips we found their policies to work about the best for us in terms of cost and benefits. :(

[RJ2002]

Our high level credit card also offers travel insurance but when I compard it line by line to a CSA policy there were significant shortfalls on the CC program. We went, and always, have gone with CSA regardless. Sure there are some overlap but the travel policy provides for so much more.

 

I am about to do the same comparison with my high level card, the Chase United MileagePlus Club card.

 

What were the areas where you found the most significant shortfalls in the card coverage vs. purchased coverage?

[prescottbob]

Our high level credit card also offers travel insurance but when I compard it line by line to a CSA policy there were significant shortfalls on the CC program. We went, and always, have gone with CSA regardless. Sure there are some overlap but the travel policy provides for so much more.

 

Bingo!

 

We used to use TravelGuard. The past two cruises we've used CSA (through Squaremouth). Superior coverage at very reasonable rates when compared to other with much less coverage.

 

Bon Voyage & Good Health!

Bob

[zelker]

Our high level credit card also offers travel insurance but when I compard it line by line to a CSA policy there were significant shortfalls on the CC program. We went, and always, have gone with CSA regardless. Sure there are some overlap but the travel policy provides for so much more.

 

Glad to hear you've been happy with CSA (and you, too, prescottbob). That's who I bought ours through this time (purchased directly with CSA). :)

Edited January 26, 2014 by zelker

[SpokaneDan]

My advice, check with your insurance carrier for coverage specifics. Our concerns don't relate as much to cancellation, as they do for med-evac (and heaven forbid, expatriation). Our current carrier allows air emergency to the nearest hospital, which in some parts of the world is not necessarily where I want to go. For our needs, MedJetAssist for a couple was by far the best (especially through one of the 55+ groups

 

Thanks, I read an insurance thread a while back (not on HAL). One poster made a very interesting argument about not buying cancellation insurance for frequent cruisers. I recalled he/she argued that for every 7 to 10 policies one buys, it adds up to the cost of one trip. I don't know if that math sounds reasonable.

[Babr]

I am about to do the same comparison with my high level card, the Chase United MileagePlus Club card.

 

What were the areas where you found the most significant shortfalls in the card coverage vs. purchased coverage?

 

The biggest differences I saw on the Chase card was the cap for cancellation and no mention of medical evacuation. It might do for a short cruise, but it does not provide enough coverage for a longer trip. Overall, the coverage was not as broad or as generous as a separate purchased policy.

[pris993]

Does anyone bother with travel insurance for their cruises?

 

Don't know how old you are or how healthy.

 

We are now 82 and 67... just started to carry insurance about 3 years ago. We are very healthy and active for our age.

 

We cruised for years without any insurance, figured we self insuranced.

 

After doing so for many years finally decided to carry insurance for the health coverage since Medicare does not cover seniors out of the USA. That is really the only reason we carry insurance. With health care costs as high as they are and medical evacation costs, figured it was a gamble we were no longer willing to take.

 

Hope we never need to use the insurance, we usually buy Travel Guard when we make final payment, since we change our mind about our travel and don't want to buy insurance when we make an initial deposits.

[Aruba]

Until 2013, we had never purchased travel insurance -- apart from a stand-alone medical evacuation protection through "MedJet Assist" which is not technically insurance but rather a membership-based medical evacuation program.

 

This was a conscious decision on our part not to purchase travel insurance, in part based on our ages and medical conditions. Essentially we were self-insuring...apart from the exposure that I knew could be catastrophic, which is medical evacuation. Everyone's situation is different, but for us personally that was the right decision because the money we saved on insurance paid for many additional cruises and land trips over the years. [incidentally and fortunately, we never had a loss for which we could have submitted a claim if we had had insurance, but that is not what made it the right decision.]

 

What changed in 2013? A serious medical situation in the family for which insurance -- in particular, coverage for a family member's pre-existing condition -- is critical. I suppose that's a recognition we're getting older. Now I have purchased trip insurance for each of my 3 upcoming cruises...and anticipate that I'll purchase it for all future trips as well.

[RJ2002]

The biggest differences I saw on the Chase card was the cap for cancellation and no mention of medical evacuation. It might do for a short cruise, but it does not provide enough coverage for a longer trip. Overall, the coverage was not as broad or as generous as a separate purchased policy.

 

Thanks for sharing that. Yes, our Chase card has limits of $10K/per person, $20K per event, $40K per year, so agree there are caps to keep in mind. Our card does include medical evacuation, and interestingly, it does not refer to a cap for that. However, it does say they will transport you to the "nearest hospital for appropriate care".

[smoothsailors]

As I've posted earlier, we always take insurance and usually from TG.

 

We have always purchased our policies, for the full cost of all pre-paid expenses, within two weeks of our initial deposit to cover all pre-existing conditions. Well worth the price when we have had to cancel after final payment! On an expensive trip, however, that is a lot of premium to forfeit if we should have to cancel early on where we'd actually only lose part of a deposit.

 

That's why we've never taken advantage of a future booking offer while onboard HAL: could not justify taking out a costly insurance policy maybe 1-2 years out on some of the exotic itineraries we'd like to consider.

 

SO, my question for those with similar concerns/experience:

Is it correct (as I've been told) that we could put down a deposit on a far-off cruise, take out a policy within two weeks to get the pre-existing waiver but only insure the amount of the deposit initially...then increase to the full cost when making final payment???

 

This would make a huge difference in attacking my bucket list as the premium we'd lose if cancelling early would be minimal...would appreciate any advice on this!

[donaldsc]

Thanks, I read an insurance thread a while back (not on HAL). One poster made a very interesting argument about not buying cancellation insurance for frequent cruisers. I recalled he/she argued that for every 7 to 10 policies one buys, it adds up to the cost of one trip. I don't know if that math sounds reasonable.

 

It might have been me although I do not know if it was me. My practice is that I insure for potential losses that I can not tolerate and I do not insure for anything else. Using that logic, I insure for medical and evacuation only with an annual policy. If I had to cancel a cruise or could not get to the cruise embarkation location, I would not be happy but it would not break me.

 

DON

[Randyk47]

It might have been me although I do not know if it was me. My practice is that I insure for potential losses that I can not tolerate and I do not insure for anything else. Using that logic, I insure for medical and evacuation only with an annual policy. If I had to cancel a cruise or could not get to the cruise embarkation location, I would not be happy but it would not break me.

 

DON

 

We were pretty much that way when we were cruising the Caribbean...not cheap but we could "self-insure". Certainly over the years and number of cruises we "saved" more than enough by not getting insurance to pay for at least one or two cruises and maybe more. Now we've changed our focus to Europe the math doesn't work out so well and we've started insuring all aspects.

Edited January 26, 2014 by Randyk47

[gabbyisadog]

Thanks, I read an insurance thread a while back (not on HAL). One poster made a very interesting argument about not buying cancellation insurance for frequent cruisers. I recalled he/she argued that for every 7 to 10 policies one buys, it adds up to the cost of one trip. I don't know if that math sounds reasonable.

 

Not sure of math but we feel we have saved a bundle by only buying medical and evacuation coverage. We self insure the rest. Some day we will miss a cruise due to weather, health etc but we have saved more than enough to cover the cost.

[sugarlipz]

We buy an annual policy attached to one of our credit cards, which includes medical, cancellation, interruption etc. If the cost of the trip exceeds the limit provided by the policy for cancellation & interruption we can top up for a small amount.

 

Has been a HUGE cost saver for us.

[VermeulT]

I recalled he/she argued that for every 7 to 10 policies one buys, it adds up to the cost of one trip. I don't know if that math sounds reasonable.

 

That's probably right. My most recent policy is about 10% of the trip cost - give or take.