Buy Travel Insurance At Booking or Wait?

[happy 2 b cruising]

Do most of you CC's buy your travel insurance when you book or wait to purchase just before final payment? Always bought at booking because I was concerned about pre-existing conditions not being covered because we usually book cruises a year out. Any advice would be appreciated if you are a early booker regarding best time to buy travel insurance, thanks.

[ghstudio]

Do most of you CC's buy your travel insurance when you book or wait to purchase just before final payment? Always bought at booking because I was concerned about pre-existing conditions not being covered because we usually book cruises a year out. Any advice would be appreciated if you are a early booker regarding best time to buy travel insurance, thanks.

 

We wait until final payment for several reasons.

 

1) Generally, travel insurance is not refundable if you just cancel a trip...and our plans change over time, so for a cruise a year or more away...who knows if we'll actually do it or not. By final payment time, we know we're going (or not). By not taking travel insurance, our cancellation cost remains at zero dollars (prior to final payment).

 

2) We have read and understand the definition of pre-existing conditions in travel insurance policies. Even if you have what you consider a pre-existing condition, it is likely not a pre-existing condition according to the travel insurance policy. If your condition is stable and you have had not have any non-routine visits to your doctor in some number of days (90/180 days which is defined in the policy) and you have had no change in medications...you do NOT have a pre-existing condition. It's important to read the actual policy and not just the marketing blurbs and scare tactics to get you to buy up front.

[uktog]

Bear in mind, the poster is in the USA. In the UK always book the insurance as early as possible as you start having a risk of loss from Day One

[tangerinebunny]

It all depends on the insurance carrier. We used to wait until final payment, but upon realizing that most of us have unknown 'pre-existing' conditions that can appear suddenly, we go on and get the insurance when we make the downpayment.

 

btw, we're currently in the process of making a claim for a cancelled European trip and were required to present credit card statements showing our purchase of travel insurance as well as trip expenses. That was a first. So save everything! Luckily, we do.

[happy 2 b cruising]

We wait until final payment for several reasons.

 

1) Generally, travel insurance is not refundable if you just cancel a trip...and our plans change over time, so for a cruise a year or more away...who knows if we'll actually do it or not. By final payment time, we know we're going (or not). By not taking travel insurance, our cancellation cost remains at zero dollars (prior to final payment).

 

2) We have read and understand the definition of pre-existing conditions in travel insurance policies. Even if you have what you consider a pre-existing condition, it is likely not a pre-existing condition according to the travel insurance policy. If your condition is stable and you have had not have any non-routine visits to your doctor in some number of days (90/180 days which is defined in the policy) and you have had no change in medications...you do NOT have a pre-existing condition. It's important to read the actual policy and not just the marketing blurbs and scare tactics to get you to buy up front.

Appreciate your response, really good information. When you do book, where do you purchase your insurance, direct, cruise line or through travel agent?

[chessbriar]

Appreciate your response, really good information. When you do book, where do you purchase your insurance, direct, cruise line or through travel agent?

Cruise policy does not cover pre-existing conditions. We book through agent or shop for insurance and purchase ourselves, depending on how we purchased our cruise

[happy 2 b cruising]

It all depends on the insurance carrier. We used to wait until final payment, but upon realizing that most of us have unknown 'pre-existing' conditions that can appear suddenly, we go on and get the insurance when we make the downpayment.

 

btw, we're currently in the process of making a claim for a cancelled European trip and were required to present credit card statements showing our purchase of travel insurance as well as trip expenses. That was a first. So save everything! Luckily, we do.

 

I am also concerned about the "unknown pre-existing conditions" that could pop up before final payment. I guess the downside to purchasing travel insurance when you book is you don't get your premium back if you need to cancel before final. I try to insure only the deposit at booking and the rest before final payment. I recently had a travel agent ask for the entire premium for the whole cruise fare, I know we will be stuck for this large premium amount if we have to cancel before final payment.

[bigbenboys]

What my TA has told us. We live in Washington State. In our state you must book travel insurance within 7 days of deposit for the cruise.

 

We have a booking for a cruise on Azamara for Aug 2015. When and if we deposit we will have 7 days to decide if we want the insurance.

 

Q. Does the coverage vary based on where I live?

A. Leaseholders residing in Florida, Georgia, Indiana, New Hampshire, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Utah and Washington should review their STATE SPECIFIC DESCRIPTION OF COVERAGE. Richard

[Feelin' Nauti']

Appreciate your response, really good information. When you do book, where do you purchase your insurance, direct, cruise line or through travel agent?

Never, ever purchase insurance with the cruise line.

I always purchase directly with the travel insurance. This way ALL my travel expenses are covered. ;)

[Turtles06]

We wait until final payment for several reasons.

 

1) Generally, travel insurance is not refundable if you just cancel a trip...and our plans change over time, so for a cruise a year or more away...who knows if we'll actually do it or not. By final payment time, we know we're going (or not). By not taking travel insurance, our cancellation cost remains at zero dollars (prior to final payment).

 

 

Depending on the insurance company, you won't necessarily lose the premium you've already paid for travel insurance if you cancel the trip. With Travel Guard, for example, if you cancel one trip (the one you've insured) but you have another trip in the future, you can switch the dates and itinerary for the trip you've insured (and cancelled) and have the premium applied to that other trip. Or, if you don't yet have another trip booked, you just go onto their web site and move the date for the cancelled trip out to some point in the future, which keeps the policy active, and then, once you have another trip, you change the dates to that trip. A Travel Guard rep explained all this to me last year when we had to cancel an insured trip. We didn't lose any of our premium, we just moved the policy to another trip.

 

Putting that aside, the premium to insure a newly booked trip is typically pretty low, if all you have paid is the deposit. As you go along and make additional, non-refundable payments on your trip, you add to the insured amount and only *then* do you pay additional premium.

[ghstudio]

What my TA has told us. We live in Washington State. In our state you must book travel insurance within 7 days of deposit for the cruise.

 

We have a booking for a cruise on Azamara for Aug 2015. When and if we deposit we will have 7 days to decide if we want the insurance.

 

Q. Does the coverage vary based on where I live?

A. Leaseholders residing in Florida, Georgia, Indiana, New Hampshire, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Utah and Washington should review their STATE SPECIFIC DESCRIPTION OF COVERAGE. Richard

 

If there is a 5 day window in Washington (and I said if, because I'm not sure I believe it), that window only applies to pre-existing conditions. You can buy travel insurance at any time up to final payment using any of the internet sources we all use squaremouth, insuremytrip and others.

[ghstudio]

Never' date=' ever purchase insurance with the cruise line.

I always purchase directly with the travel insurance. This way ALL my travel expenses are covered. ;)[/quote']

 

All the cruise line does is resell insurance...and you can add coverage for air tickets, hotels, etc by calling them. I also don't recommend cruise line insurance because it is just a profit point for them...and in fact, celebrity's insurance is IMHO pretty poor considering the very low evacuation coverage ($25K), the very low medical coverage "$10K) and the fact that it doesn't cover a mechanical breakdown of the ship, once the cruise has begun (yup, been there, done that on the Century). Net...it's better than nothing, but you may find yourself without enough coverage......for example, if you need to be evacuated from the ship to a hospital on shore...and then evacuated home...that could be $100K or more. $25K isn't quite enough :)

[ghstudio]

I am also concerned about the "unknown pre-existing conditions" that could pop up before final payment. I guess the downside to purchasing travel insurance when you book is you don't get your premium back if you need to cancel before final. I try to insure only the deposit at booking and the rest before final payment. I recently had a travel agent ask for the entire premium for the whole cruise fare, I know we will be stuck for this large premium amount if we have to cancel before final payment.

 

Our feeling is that if we develop a pre-existing condition, we probably would cancel the cruise because if something could go wrong, I don't think I'd want to be on a ship. So if we're still OK 90 days before the cruise, that's soon enough for travel insurance.

 

If you are concerned, you may be able to insure just the deposit when you book...but I'm not sure that actually works since the deposit is refundable, so you are not insuring anything (that's a US statement). I've never tried it and it's not clear to me that the insurance company would pay a claim honoring the pre-existing condition clause, if you tried that and just raised the insured amount at final payment time.

[TomTN]

Depending on the insurance company, you won't necessarily lose the premium you've already paid for travel insurance if you cancel the trip. With Travel Guard, for example, if you cancel one trip (the one you've insured) but you have another trip in the future, you can switch the dates and itinerary for the trip you've insured (and cancelled) and have the premium applied to that other trip. Or, if you don't yet have another trip booked, you just go onto their web site and move the date for the cancelled trip out to some point in the future, which keeps the policy active, and then, once you have another trip, you change the dates to that trip. A Travel Guard rep explained all this to me last year when we had to cancel an insured trip. We didn't lose any of our premium, we just moved the policy to another trip.

 

Putting that aside, the premium to insure a newly booked trip is typically pretty low, if all you have paid is the deposit. As you go along and make additional, non-refundable payments on your trip, you add to the insured amount and only *then* do you pay additional premium.

 

I didn't realize that.:o Good information. We usually buy Travelex or Travel Guard although I purchased TravelSafe for our next trip. I need to see what those other policies provide.

Thanks.

[gdpups]

Always review any policy carefully, some do not cover pre-existing coverage for the person you are traveling with as well or the one at home that may cause you to cancel the trip if they die or become ill. People tend to only think about their own preexisting conditions.

 

I mention this because I was on a cruise with my sister who had a pre-existing condition and because I was careful about the policy I purchased I was covered for my expenses when she became ill during the cruise and had to go to a hospital in Canada for 10 days. The policy covered all of my expenses while I stayed in Canada with her.

 

I purchase CSA's Luxe policy and have had success filing 2 claims with them. This is the only policy I have found (for me) that covers preexisting if purchased prior to final payment, so I usually purchase it a week before final payment. This is my experience only, everyone needs to fully research policies to fit their own needs.

[bubbachief]

We live in Seattle and have booked cruises using a well known Seattle based warehouse travel dept. They have an arrangement with Travel Guard where you can buy travel insurance up to 24 hours after final payment and covers pre-existing conditions. The price of the insurance, as long as you buy the cruise through the warehouse travel dept, is much cheaper than other places. I have found the warehouse prices/perks as good or almost as good as the big on-line TA's. When you figure in the cost of their travel insurance, in many cases they are a better deal. Plus they are open 7 days a week.

[ghstudio]

Always review any policy carefully, some do not cover pre-existing coverage for the person you are traveling with as well or the one at home that may cause you to cancel the trip if they die or become ill. People tend to only think about their own preexisting conditions.

 

I mention this because I was on a cruise with my sister who had a pre-existing condition and because I was careful about the policy I purchased I was covered for my expenses when she became ill during the cruise and had to go to a hospital in Canada for 10 days. The policy covered all of my expenses while I stayed in Canada with her.

 

I purchase CSA's Luxe policy and have had success filing 2 claims with them. This is the only policy I have found (for me) that covers preexisting if purchased prior to final payment, so I usually purchase it a week before final payment. This is my experience only, everyone needs to fully research policies to fit their own needs.

 

 

Good advice....and by the way, if you are worried about having a situation where something happens to someone at home, pre-existing condition or not, you may find that the insurance coverage you are buying only covers you and your travelling mate....read that section carefully because if you are fine but decide you have to rush home to care for someone/etc, you may find you are on your own. Don't assume anything....read the actual policy.

[Happy2cruise]

Never' date=' ever purchase insurance with the cruise line.

I always purchase directly with the travel insurance. This way ALL my travel expenses are covered. ;)[/quote']

Totally agree......we also buy direct so our coverage is from the time we leave our home to the time we return;)

[ghstudio]

Totally agree......we also buy direct so our coverage is from the time we leave our home to the time we return;)

 

If you wanted to buy celebrity insurance, you can add coverage so that you are covered for the entire trip.

[Turtles06]

 

If you are concerned, you may be able to insure just the deposit when you book...but I'm not sure that actually works since the deposit is refundable, so you are not insuring anything (that's a US statement). I've never tried it and it's not clear to me that the insurance company would pay a claim honoring the pre-existing condition clause, if you tried that and just raised the insured amount at final payment time.

 

Yes you can and should insure your deposit (in the U.S.). In fact, it's easy to understand what is insurable and what isn't. Here's how it works for Travel Guard (and I suspect other carriers, but folks should confirm with their own carrier): what you insure is any amount that you pay that would NOT be refunded to you if you had to cancel your trip at the beginning of your departure date, before you left home. At that point, of course, your deposit would not be refundable, so that is an insurable payment.

 

If you booked and paid for a Celebrity shore excursion to take place say four days into your cruise, you WOULD have that payment refunded by Celebrity if you canceled your cruise on the day of departure, so that is not an amount you should insure. (Put another way, the insurance company is not going to reimburse you for money that has been refunded to you by a travel provider or anyone else to whom you paid it.)

 

Pre-existing condition exclusions often apply not only to the people traveling, but also to family members NOT traveling with you whose illness (or worse) could cause you to cancel or interrupt your trip for what would otherwise be a covered reason if the exclusion did not apply. I suspect that many of us don't know all of the specifics of the medical status of everyone in our families, including who has seen a doctor when and for what in the last however many days. I just don't take a chance on being tripped up (no pun intended) by pre-existing conditions; I buy the insurance when I book, so that pre-existing conditions are waived. As I said above, it's not that expensive at that point to insure the deposit amount.

Edited April 29, 2014 by Turtles06

[Caribbean Chris]

We live in Seattle and have booked cruises using a well known Seattle based warehouse travel dept. They have an arrangement with Travel Guard where you can buy travel insurance up to 24 hours after final payment and covers pre-existing conditions. The price of the insurance, as long as you buy the cruise through the warehouse travel dept, is much cheaper than other places. I have found the warehouse prices/perks as good or almost as good as the big on-line TA's. When you figure in the cost of their travel insurance, in many cases they are a better deal. Plus they are open 7 days a week.

 

 

We have done the same. Very satisfied with the perks and low insurance cost, and as noted earlier, were recently able to switch it to another cruise date & itinerary at no charge after having to cancel the first one because we changed our minds on an itinerary.

 

We lost nothing, including our Celebrity Passages deposit & OBC, which was just switched to the second cruise, and gained the Pick Your Perk package.

 

We had an excellent insurance experience, by the way, with Travel Guard two years ago when we had to cancel two days ahead due to my mother-in-law's hospitalization and subsequent death.

[Michidoeme]

If you make more than 2 trips somewhere per year, it might be worthwhile to get a quote for an annual policy. For us this is cheaper and a lot more convenient than buy a coverage each time. Ours also covers our car trips (in case of an accident or mechanical problem), but this is an optional add-on.

[ghstudio]

If you make more than 2 trips somewhere per year, it might be worthwhile to get a quote for an annual policy. For us this is cheaper and a lot more convenient than buy a coverage each time. Ours also covers our car trips (in case of an accident or mechanical problem), but this is an optional add-on.

 

I haven't been able to find an annual policy in the US....give me a hint :)

[ghstudio]

 

Pre-existing condition exclusions often apply not only to the people traveling, but also to family members NOT traveling with you whose illness (or worse) could cause you to cancel or interrupt your trip for what would otherwise be a covered reason if the exclusion did not apply. I suspect that many of us don't know all of the specifics of the medical status of everyone in our families, including who has seen a doctor when and for what in the last however many days. I just don't take a chance on being tripped up (no pun intended) by pre-existing conditions; I buy the insurance when I book, so that pre-existing conditions are waived. As I said above, it's not that expensive at that point to insure the deposit amount.

 

The key words are highlighted. If you are concerned about this aspect, read your policy because some do/some don't....in fact some don't even cover if someone at home has an accident while you're away....they just cover you.

 

BTW, if you have a relative in a hospice or with an illness that is reasonably expected could lead to passing away during your cruise and they pass away during the trip, that will not covered under any insurance policy, waived pre-existing condition or not.

 

I know cruises are something that are part of "end of life" planning for some.....but if you have a terminal illness, don't expect the insurance companies to pay should you happen to terminate a little earlier than expected. That's not what pre-existing conditions covers.

Edited April 29, 2014 by ghstudio

[jerseygirl3]

Cruise policy does not cover pre-existing conditions. We book through agent or shop for insurance and purchase ourselves, depending on how we purchased our cruise

 

We always purchase travel insurance through http://www.insuremytrip.com (we like Travelex), as soon as we make deposit (you have 21 days to purchase after initial deposit) to cover pre-existing conditions. What I like about Travelex is that if you change your travel plans, they allow you to move the premium you've paid toward another trip. If the new trip is more expensive, you pay the difference. If it's less, they refund the difference.

 

As far as cruiseline not covering pre-existing conditions, this isn't true. I purchased it through Celebrity for my Mom (given her age being in the 80's, third party insurance was quite pricey...Celebrity's price was much better since it's not based on age). Anyway, they said that they cover pre-existing conditions as long as there has been no change in the condition in the previous 60 days prior to purchasing the insurance, so it's a good idea to purchase as soon as one knows that 60 days have passed without incident. The 60 days go back 60 days from the date you purchase the insurance, not the date you booked cruise.