Princess Insurance

[Clampram]

So we have the upgraded insurance because of our status but I don't understand how to deal with time before the cruise and after the cruise. We will have a few days in Fort Lauderdale both before and after our upcoming cruise. Will Princess extend that insurance to cover those days or does Princess only insure the cruise part of our trip?

Thanks in advance

[cheeseclan]

Princess insurance only covers the cruise portion of the trip.  All else (Air, hotel, transfers) would only be covered if purchased thru Princess.

[mcrcruiser]

It is  not recommended to buy cruise line insurance  .Best to go to www.insuremytrip.com  or even phone them  for quotes  . That way all your trip expenses are covered under one travel policy .

 

 What we have done  is to buy all out trip costs with our Chase Sapphire Preferred credit card . By doing this we are each insured up to $10,000 .00  for trip cancellation & trip interruption & baggage insurance . We then only buy medical & medical evacuation .We save a great deal of money in doing this  . Also we get 2 points per dollar with any thing to do with travel . Those points when we book thru Chase travel in the future we then get 25% bonus . Recommend that you look into the Chase Sapphire Preferred credit card offer  .There are even more great perks 

[fishywood]

The insurance will do what it is designed to do: reimburse you for unexpected expenses.

True that the cancellation coverage does not apply to any travel or pre/post-cruise amenities unless booked by Princess. 

But the trip interruption or delay/baggage loss or delay coverage is in effect from the time you leave home until the time you return. You just have to submit proof of the additional expenses associated with those events.

 

You will not receive a refund of any unused lodging or travel unless it was both (1) booked and paid through Princess; and (2) your entire cruise vacation was cancelled for a covered reason. Many people interpret this as meaning they have no coverage whatsoever for independently booked pre/post-cruise travel time. Not true, you are still covered under the Travel Insurance Benefits clause, just not the Cancellation Fee Waiver clause.

[Coral]

Buy a 3rd party insurance to cover air/hotel. Then, the 3rd party insurance should cover medical for the entire trip which most 3rd party insurance has much better medical coverage. Look at insuremytrip for comparisons.

[riclop]

You will be on your own with the extra days.

[beg3yrs]

Well, I've read the contract and it looks to me like you've got some coverage before and after the cruise. This is a cut and paste from our contract:

EXTENDED COVERAGE - Coverage will be extended under the following conditions, should they occur during the journey to the return destination or to a different destination:
(a) When You commence air travel from Your origination point: (i) within two (2) days before the commencement of the Land/Sea Arrangements, coverage shall apply from the time of departure from the origination point; or (ii) greater than two (2) days before the commencement of the Land/Sea Arrangements, the extension of coverage shall be provided only during Your air travel.
(b) If You return to Your origination point: (i) within two (2) days after the completion of the Land/Sea Arrangements, coverage shall apply until the time of return to the origination point; or (ii) greater than two (2) days after the completion of the Land/Sea Arrangements, the extension of coverage shall be provided only during Your air travel.
(c) If You are a passenger on a scheduled Common Carrier that is unavoidably delayed up to five (5) days in reaching the final destination, coverage will be extended for the period of time needed to arrive at the final destination.

 

It seems you are covered from the time you leave your home (origin point-there may be other options under the definition of origin point) if that's less than two days before your cruise. It isn't much of an extended coverage but it's something. If you leave your home more than two days before, you're covered only during your air travel. It's similar for the return but they account for travel delays getting home up to five days.

[lx200gps]

17 hours ago, mcrcruiser said:

It is  not recommended to buy cruise line insurance  .Best to go to www.insuremytrip.com  or even phone them  for quotes  . That way all your trip expenses are covered under one travel policy .

 

 What we have done  is to buy all out trip costs with our Chase Sapphire Preferred credit card . By doing this we are each insured up to $10,000 .00  for trip cancellation & trip interruption & baggage insurance . We then only buy medical & medical evacuation .We save a great deal of money in doing this  . Also we get 2 points per dollar with any thing to do with travel . Those points when we book thru Chase travel in the future we then get 25% bonus . Recommend that you look into the Chase Sapphire Preferred credit card offer  .There are even more great perks 

 

Princess Insurance does have one feature which, for some of us, can be very valuable, and that's their Cancel For Any Reason coverage, assuming it is still being offered. I believe Princess are alone in offering 100% money back (as cruise credit) where  other CFAR insurers only offer 75%.  For folks like us who have a realistic expectation of maybe needing it, that extra 25% can be very valuable on an expensive cruise.

 

Beyond perhaps needing CFAR though, you are correct, cruise line insurance isn't the best

[zalusky]

We got upgraded Princess cruise insurance for our New England cruise tour this year. We asked for it to be added a year ago.

we had to cancel because my wife got the call that a kidney was available and had a transplant a week before the trip was to start.   We thought she would have to wait years but got a call in 3 months.  What a blessing!

 

The bad news we learned is you should pay for it early.   My wife was listed in June this for transplant.  We did final payment a few weeks before.  Unfortunately they did a 60 day lookback from the day you paid for the insurance and not the day you added it to the cruise.

 

The good news is after the cruise penalty was applied and we got the Princess reimbursement, we were given the penalty amount as a credit which we applied to the same itinerary on next yours cruisetour.

 

So remember to pay for the cruise insurance upfront so you don’t get hit with the 60 day lookback.

 

 

[cheeseclan]

2 hours ago, zalusky said:

We got upgraded Princess cruise insurance for our New England cruise tour this year. We asked for it to be added a year ago.

we had to cancel because my wife got the call that a kidney was available and had a transplant a week before the trip was to start.   We thought she would have to wait years but got a call in 3 months.  What a blessing!

 

The bad news we learned is you should pay for it early.   My wife was listed in June this for transplant.  We did final payment a few weeks before.  Unfortunately they did a 60 day lookback from the day you paid for the insurance and not the day you added it to the cruise.

 

The good news is after the cruise penalty was applied and we got the Princess reimbursement, we were given the penalty amount as a credit which we applied to the same itinerary on next yours cruisetour.

 

So remember to pay for the cruise insurance upfront so you don’t get hit with the 60 day lookback.

 

 

Hope your wife is doing okay after the transplant!!  We have a friend who has been on the list for almost a year now.  Not good at all.  Keeping our fingers crossed....

Edited October 26, 2018 by cheeseclan

[zalusky]

She is blessed with good numbers now.  Still recovering from the surgery.

 

in 2014 they changed the protocol and hard to match people got waiting list points.  She had enough antibodies to essentially reject most of the population.  Her extra points put her at the top of the list and on a national,list.  Most people still have to wait a long time just to find the right match.   We lucked out.  If it was before 2014, we would have been up the river and would have had to register all over the country.

 

good luck!

[Coral]

So glad your wife is doing well!

 

BTW - with your wife's condition, I would definitely look into 3rd party insurance in the future that covers pre-existing condition. Princess's policy with their look back period is awful for people with pre-exisiting conditions. Even a change in medicine can disqualify coverage. I am not sure you would have been covered anyway if you had purchased it a year ago.

 

Your post is a good reminder that adding it doesn't add coverage. My Mom had health issues and I would read policies inside and out. I think you need to do that in the future. Or speak to "insuremytrip" when you book a cruise next time as they will advise you what is best.

[shepp]

On 10/26/2018 at 4:01 AM, Coral said:

BTW - with your wife's condition, I would definitely look into 3rd party insurance in the future that covers pre-existing condition. Princess's policy with their look back period is awful for people with pre-exisiting conditions. Even a change in medicine can disqualify coverage. I am not sure you would have been covered anyway if you had purchased it a year ago.

 

That's one nice thing about Princess Vacation Protection: The 100% cancel for any reason dealie. I'm dealing with stage IV cancer, and right now I'm in great shape and very stable, on the same meds I've been on for over a year. But I'm never sure how I'm going to be feeling as cruise time approaches. CFAR gives me protection if I just don't feel up to it. (Also, PVP rates aren't linked to age, which matters to those of us, ahem, getting up in years.)

 

I'm going on a HAL cruise in two weeks, and took their cruise line insurance for pretty much the same reason, but though their cancel-for-any-reason clause pays off in cash, their premium version only repays 90% of the fare.

Edited October 27, 2018 by shepp

[shepp]

1 minute ago, shepp said:

 

Dang. Dupe.

Edited October 27, 2018 by shepp

[Coral]

14 minutes ago, shepp said:

 

That's one nice thing about Princess Vacation Protection: The 100% cancel for any reason dealie. I'm dealing with stage IV cancer, and right now I'm in great shape and very stable, on the same meds I've been on for over a year. But I'm never sure how I'm going to be feeling as cruise time approaches. CFAR gives me protection if I just don't feel up to it. (Also, PVP rates aren't linked to age, which matters to those of us, ahem, getting up in years.)

 

I'm going on a HAL cruise in two weeks, and took their cruise line insurance for pretty much the same reason, but though their cancel-for-any-reason clause pays off in cash, their premium version only repays 90% of the fare.

Correct -  but it doesn't cover you if something related comes up on vacation. My Mom had a complicated medical condition and I would never chance Princess's insurance. Yes - it would be nice to be able to cancel if she didn't feel up to it but if we needed medical care out of the country, I didn't want to chance if it would be covered or not. Thus, with 3rd party - I knew it would be.

 

Plus medical limits on Princess are so low so if something serious/unrelated came up - I want more coverage.

 

 

Edited October 27, 2018 by Coral

[shepp]

3 hours ago, Coral said:

Correct -  but it doesn't cover you if something related comes up on vacation. My Mom had a complicated medical condition and I would never chance Princess's insurance. Yes - it would be nice to be able to cancel if she didn't feel up to it but if we needed medical care out of the country, I didn't want to chance if it would be covered or not. Thus, with 3rd party - I knew it would be.

 

Plus medical limits on Princess are so low so if something serious/unrelated came up - I want more coverage.

 

 

 

Indeed. I'm fortunate to have first-rate medical insurance that covers me fully while abroad, so my circumstance is rather different. One thing that's happened, though, is that that same HMO used to cover medical evacuation but post-Medicare-age no longer does. Should I have an unlikely crisis, I'm not sure what effect the "preexisting" clause would have on evacuation coverage.The real joker in the pack is this lookback stipulation: "or has symptoms causing a person to seek diagnosis, care or treatment." Like I said. my condition is very stable, but if I'd called my symptom management  nurse and asked for advice on, say, dealing with increased pain, would the insurer then be able to refuse payment?

 

Every time I research travel insurance, I get a headache. Hey, maybe I shouldn't say that in public?

Edited October 28, 2018 by shepp

[Coral]

24 minutes ago, shepp said:

 

Every time I research travel insurance, I get a headache. Hey, maybe I shouldn't say that in public?

Yes -that is the difference. I have crappy coverage outside of the US.

[frugaltravel]

On 10/24/2018 at 2:59 PM, mcrcruiser said:

It is  not recommended to buy cruise line insurance  .Best to go to www.insuremytrip.com  or even phone them  for quotes  . That way all your trip expenses are covered under one travel policy .

 

 What we have done  is to buy all out trip costs with our Chase Sapphire Preferred credit card . By doing this we are each insured up to $10,000 .00  for trip cancellation & trip interruption & baggage insurance . We then only buy medical & medical evacuation .We save a great deal of money in doing this  . Also we get 2 points per dollar with any thing to do with travel . Those points when we book thru Chase travel in the future we then get 25% bonus . Recommend that you look into the Chase Sapphire Preferred credit card offer  .There are even more great perks 

Sounds like you might be a perfect candidate for the Chase Sapphire Reserve card.  More comprehensive travel insurance and more bonus points on travel charges.  Plus, if you book through the Chase travel portal, you get 50% bonus (though that is often not the best way to use points!).

[candydane]

What is the cost for Princess insurance?  I think it,s a percent of cruise cost but can't find what it is.

 

On princess.com I can only find discussion about the coverage.

 

Thanks.

 

[cherylandtk]

Found this in another thread:

Princess Vacation Protection is available for 8% of cruise fare subject to a minimum plan cost of $39.00* for fares up to $2,999.99. Cruise fares of $2,500 - $4,999.99 will have a plan cost of 7%. Cruise fares of $5,000 or greater will have a plan cost of 6%. Princess Platinum Vacation Protection is available for 12% of cruise fare subject to a minimum of $59.99* for fares up to $2,999.99. Cruise fares of $2,500 - $4,999.99 will have a plan cost of 11%. Cruise fares of $5,000 or greater will have a plan cost of 10%. *Plan rates will apply to children 18 and under traveling in third and fourth berths with no minimum plan cost if all adults in the cabin purchase the plan.