How long can you wait to purchase?

[rpmljm]

Hi,

We booked a cruise 7 days ago that sails 7 days from tomorrow. Is it too late to purchase insurance? I'm not sure if we really should buy it or not. We would only need it for trip cancellation if something should happen that we could not go. What do you folks think?

Thanks

[rubyjpi]

Thr reason to buy insurance is also if something happens while you are the cruise. Medical expenses etc..

 

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[GeezerCouple]

Do you have medical and medevac insurance for wherever you are going, or for medical care on board the ship, should something happen?

 

In terms of timing, you should call a travel insurance broker such as

 

TripInsuranceStore.com

 

so they can tell you what policies you'd be eligible for in terms of timing, and also help you decide IF you have potential costs that warrant insurance.

 

GeezerCouple

[Mr. Click]

I agree with the others, you do need some kind of health and evac coverage while you are out of the country. I thought I was in great health and right before we were supposed to leave on our Baltic trip I had to have a cardiac cath....glad we had insurance because there was no way the docs were letting me go.

[rpmljm]

Thanks...we do have good health insurance that would cover us if we were out of the country and an emergency occurred. Since we are just going to Port Canaveral, Freeport and Nassau (places we have been to numerous times) we might not even get off the ship. I was just thinking of getting the price of the cruise back if for some reason we couldn't sail. I can't decide whether or not to just take a chance and not get the insurance.

[GeezerCouple]

I agree with the others, you do need some kind of health and evac coverage while you are out of the country. I thought I was in great health and right before we were supposed to leave on our Baltic trip I had to have a cardiac cath....glad we had insurance because there was no way the docs were letting me go.

 

Yes, these things "do happen", to the healthy, to the young, to the unsuspecting.

 

We planned our FIRST serious vacation to celebrate a major birthday and the start of sort of "pre-retirement" travel.

 

We paid extra for "CFAR" coverage (cancel for any reason), because DH wasn't yet retired, and "just in case" he had a sudden need to do some important consulting work, etc.

This allowed him to relax and enjoy the planning.

 

Little did we think that less than 2 weeks before our departure date, he'd have a medical emergency, and the doctor declared he couldn't leave town for a few weeks. (It turned out to take a few *months* before he was okay'd for travel again.)

 

What we realized was... IF that had happened at sea, or something even worse had happened...

 

We've since been on one other big trip (not a cruise), and everything was just FINE. But we were nervous, as we realized "things really do happen".

 

It's bad enough to worry about the medical emergency and the well-being of a loved one. To need to worry about what could be catastrophic medical costs in a foreign country or at sea - or worse, having difficulty getting that care because of payment "issues"!?

 

There just isn't any way to predict whether or when something - illness or accident - will occur.

 

"Life happens", etc.

 

GeezerCouple

[RJ2002]

It is not too late to purchase insurance. You should think about what you are most concerned about. For us, traveling overseas, medical evacuation is an important consideration. Our current medical insurance covers our out of pocket costs incurred overseas, but not medical evacuation.

 

Insuremytrip.com is a very popular site for comparing policies and coverage. Their phone reps have always been very helpful with suggestions, and they also have a chat function for quick questions.

[CoralReef]

It is not too late. Most trip insurance covers pre-existing conditions if you purchase within 10 days of making the first non-refundable payment.

 

IMHO, you can't afford *not* to get trip insurance that covers medical evacuation. If your insurance covers medical treatment out of the country, you are very lucky. But I bet it doesn't cover medevac, which can range from $10,000 to $50,000. If you are young and healthy, you can take your chances, but think about what a $50,000 helicopter/medjet evacuation would do to your bank account.

[GeezerCouple]

It is not too late. Most trip insurance covers pre-existing conditions if you purchase within 10 days of making the first non-refundable payment.

 

IMHO, you can't afford *not* to get trip insurance that covers medical evacuation. If your insurance covers medical treatment out of the country, you are very lucky. But I bet it doesn't cover medevac, which can range from $10,000 to $50,000. If you are young and healthy, you can take your chances, but think about what a $50,000 helicopter/medjet evacuation would do to your bank account.

 

Careful - SOME insurers consider the FIRST PAYMENT OF ANY TYPE (including a REFUNDABLE deposit) to be the trigger date.

 

Other insurers allow purchase by the date one makes the final payment of the 'largest part' of the trip (that could be the cruise full payment, or the final full air payment, etc.).

 

Yes, these are both terms for some policies that do include pre-existing condition coverage.

 

What matters is what the window is for whatever company and policy one decides to get.

 

GeezerCouple

[rpmljm]

Thank you all for your kind assistance. I just purchased a CSA basic policy from squaremouth.