Timing the purchase of annual travel insurance

[Kinkacruiser]

Hoping someone who purchases annual travel insurance can help .

 

With 2 cruises out of the US next year (March and October 2018) I understand that I need to buy a policy around November this year to ensure both trips are covered.

 

So, should I also wait until November to purchase air tickets ( for at least the March cruise), or can air tickets be purchased when they become available and hopefully at special 'earlybird' prices, say in May 2017? The deposits were covered with Princess FCDs, so I'm not worried about that.

 

The response from the insurance company I plan to use was that "you are covered for cancellation from the time you buy the policy", with no specifics about the flight bookings, ie. whether I should buy air tickets in say May 2017,before buying the annual policy.

 

Thanks for your replies in advance.

Edited January 20, 2017 by Kinkacruiser

[rkmw]

Hoping someone who purchases annual travel insurance can help .

 

With 2 cruises out of the US next year (March and October 2018) I understand that I need to buy a policy around November this year to ensure both trips are covered.

 

So, should I also wait until November to purchase air tickets ( for at least the March cruise), or can air tickets be purchased when they become available and hopefully at special 'earlybird' prices, say in May 2017? The deposits were covered with Princess FCDs, so I'm not worried about that.

 

The response from the insurance company I plan to use was that "you are covered for cancellation from the time you buy the policy", with no specifics about the flight bookings, ie. whether I should buy air tickets in say May 2017,before buying the annual policy.

 

Thanks for your replies in advance.

 

Anna with your cruise in march that is covered with your FCD so you wouldnt have to purchase any travel insurance until you make final payment in case something happened and you had to cancel out so if you want to take advantage of any early bird saving with the air you could take a punt and hope everything goes well with the air fare

 

if you take out the insurance when you book the air you wont be covered for the cruise in october

 

if it was me i'd take out the insurance to cover both cruises

 

can you let me know who you got for your annual policy because its a bit of a mine field when you get to our age trying to get cover for a pre extisting

[Bizziecruzer]

Hi Anna - purchase insurance once you have expended costs that exceed the cost of policy and any excess due.

[Pushka]

While the above is true remember that at any time a health situation can develop and you might want cover for. Once it's diagnosed it's possibly too late. My partner travels overseas multiple times so we purchase annual multi trip insurance every year. Saves many hundreds of dollars if you travel a lot.

Edited January 20, 2017 by Pushka

[The_Big_M]

You can purchase the air travel earlier - you just obviously won't be covered by the policy until you buy that.

 

If you're not sure, just look at the comparable cruise itself. People buy the cruise whenever, and buy insurance later. They're covered for the cruise even though they bought that before the policy. Same thing with your flights.

 

So if you find an early deal for flights, be comfortable getting it and that it will be covered when you buy the policy.

[Relaxing Robbies]

I think some insurance companies operate in different ways, but last time we purchased an annual policy we purchased it about 6 months before our first travel date. We had to give them an initial travel date and the policy was valid for 12 months from that initial travel date. The cancellation part of the policy did however apply from the date of purchase, which meant that we could go ahead and organise airfares etc with peace of mind. I thought that was great value. That policy was through our health insurer Medibank.

[Womble99]

We find that if we cruise twice a year an annual policy is cheaper so we just keep ours going each year. Handy as you then have cover for anything else you decide to do unplanned during the year.

[Kinkacruiser]

Many thanks to all for your clear directions and advice. I'm now leaning more towards leaving the flight bookings to FLL later - possibly around Sept-Oct, just to cover any possibility of a health condition arising between May and October.

Airfares will most likely increase in the next few months anyway (fuel price rise) and airfare prices tend to stay constant from launch date.

 

Bob - we got cover for our August 2017 cruise with Insure and Go - possibly the only ones who would cover a pre-existing (heart disease) for Keith who will be 74 by then. I think 75 is the cut-off for buying annual policies, so this could be our last chance.

[Kinkacruiser]

We had an annual policy last year as we had a few trips planned. We purchased it in say August, and nominated our first travel date as a date in November. Our policy was for 12 months from the November date. However we were covered by the insurance from August should anything occur that would impact the November sailing.

 

Does that make sense? So the 12 months starts from the first coverable holiday event. Then anything in the 12 months following.

 

Perfect, Amy....thanks. That 3 month space should be fairly safe and give me enough time to buy o'seas air tickets.

[Kinkacruiser]

I don't think it's specifically just 3 months, that's just how it panned out with our booking. Have a chat over the phone with your provider to clarify, it helped me understand. Can we name insurance places here? We used one often associated with motoring.

 

Yes we can name them, Amy. Very few will cover for pre-existing conditions (heart disease) to the USA. Insure and Go is one of the few.

The phone chat with I &G wasn't as useful as the feedback I got here Amy.

[Beanb41]

No two insurance policies are the same. Whilst they may appear to be similar similar is not "The same". Read the fine print on your proposed policy very carefully and fully understand the Terms and Conditions. If you are unsure of anything ask the company for clarification. It is the fine print that may trip you up not the big bold print on the front page of the policy.

[beezer248]

While the above is true remember that at any time a health situation can develop and you might want cover for. Once it's diagnosed it's possibly too late. My partner travels overseas multiple times so we purchase annual multi trip insurance every year. Saves many hundreds of dollars if you travel a lot.

 

Who do you purchase this through? Been looking into this but would appreciate more info. Thank you!

[beezer248]

We had an annual policy last year as we had a few trips planned. We purchased it in say August, and nominated our first travel date as a date in November. Our policy was for 12 months from the November date. However we were covered by the insurance from August should anything occur that would impact the November sailing.

 

Does that make sense? So the 12 months starts from the first coverable holiday event. Then anything in the 12 months following.

What company did you use to purchase your policy?