CruiseCare for Canadians?

[aloha123]

Good morning,

 

Just doing some research for insurance coverage when we cruise in May. Does anyone have insight to whether cruisecare is available to Canadians and whether it is worth it or are there other options you would recommend? Also, we just tried booking flights through ChoiceAir and it is available to Canadians but same flights come out much more expensive than booking through the airline (Air Canada). Am I missing something?

 

Thanks so much, first time doing this and just need the expertise from previous cruisers....

[Whitby100]

We are Canadian and have never used cruisecare.  We have insurance through our credit card and have also booked with a west coast cruise discount company that includes extensive insurance.  Luckily we’ve never had to make a claim.

[Shawnino]

When I go through an American TA they tell me their insurance products are generally not available to non-Americans. Cruise insurance is usually a rip-off anyway (the insurance firms wouldn't be in business if it wasn't) so I'm not generally fussed. As Whitby says, check out what your credit cards offer. And then most Canadian TAs do have a preferred insurance provider if you really feel you need it. 

 

I'm totally with you re: Choice Air: it has never worked out for me. Some people do swear by it, so I think it's a function of which gateways you're near and which ones you're not.

My m.o. is to use Matrix (more modern folks use Google Flights) to try to find the routing/pricing I want, then I try to book that routing/pricing direct with the airline. If the airline harrumphs that they won't do it, use Book-With-Matrix and they will send you to Flight Network (a wholesaler/discounter out of Toronto) where you will get the routing/pricing advertised. Booking with the airline is generally preferable as you get preferential treatment should things suddenly go pear-shaped on your travels. 

[Grandma Cruising]

Please post again without mentioning your travel agent - not allowed on CC.

[Redtravel]

Cruisecare is good. Had to use it 2 times. It was easy and paid quickly. We now travel so often that we bought a multiple yearly trip policy. Since our credit card will cover cancellation and interruption, we looked for a plan that covered med, evacuation, etc.  

[Turangi!]

Unfortunately, Choice Air doesn’t work for us in Western Canada as they want to route us through the most convoluted itineraries for more money... DH calculates price and time spent in airports and the number of ups and downs and we have always done much better on our own!  

[dog]

Does Azamara offer a "cancel for any reason" travel insurance?

 

Where can I read up on it?

[Doh15]

On 7/6/2019 at 11:29 AM, dog said:

Does Azamara offer a "cancel for any reason" travel insurance?

 

Where can I read up on it?

 

"Cancel any reason" is included in cruisecare-- you get 75% of the cruisefare but in credit for future use on Azamara.

 

More detailed info here 

[dog]

I was looking into Allianz medical with trip cancellation insurance:

 

-to be covered for pre-existing conditions you must buy the insurance to cover your whole trip within 14 days of putting down your deposit.

 

Are there companies that do not require this?

 

 

[Doh15]

If you look on insuremytrip or squaremouth you can find policies that are a little more generous (say 20 or 21 days) but otherwise I think that’s pretty standard for preexisting conditions. I don’t know how cruisecare treats pre-ex conditions, since it seems you can purchase that up to the time you make final payment. 

 

You could also look into buying just enough coverage now to cover your nonrefundable expenses and then increase coverage as you pay more. 

[Doh15]

I was curious so I took a look at cruisecare and it looks to me as though it has a standard preexisting condition exclusion