Princess Insurance Question

[LARGIN]

If you purchased Princess Cruise Insurance when booking a cruise can you cancel insurance before final payment is due?

[Jeter02]

Just now, LARGIN said:

If you purchased Princess Cruise Insurance when booking a cruise can you cancel insurance before final payment is due?

I believe so. 

[Lido deck main]

Hi, I would Call Princes on that, my understand in the cancellation insurance is not refundable once purchased.  It would be like having your cake and eat it too.  We would all do that,  buy the insurance ( if we knew it was refundable before final payment)  buy a nonrefundable cruise, buy the insurance, price goes down use insurance to get money back and then rebook at lower cruise rate, all before final payment. 

[satxdiver]

Yes you can and I have indeed canceled the insurance before final payment.  I had to call Princess however to get it canceled which they did do on request without questions.   Call Princess and have them remove it from your sailing.

[Coral]

I think it depends if you have just added it or if you have paid for it when booking. There is a difference. If you paid for it at booking, it is actually in affect and I am guessing you can not get your money back.

[PMGS247]

Depends when the policy becomes active.  Assuming the deposit is refundable, there's no need for insurance if you're still outside of the 90 day pre-sailing period.  This would coincide with the final payment due date. 

 

If you wait to pay the balance on literally the final due date then it's really easy....before that date you never paid for it, never were covered, therefore there's nothing to refund, you just get back your deposit and move on.  If you have to cancel within the 90 days then you have to go through insurance and of course would not get your premium back, you're literally using their service to get your cruise refunded.

 

Where it's a little bit of a gray area to me is if you make your final payment before the final due date, and then wanted to cancel still within the no penalty period.  My guess is they future date your insurance policy to begin the day after the final payment due date when you would actually need the coverage, but I don't know for sure.  If they future dated the policy then you'd still get it back since you were never covered, but if making the payment automatically kicked off the policy then probably not.

Edited July 19, 2019 by PMGS247

[happy cruzer]

So I think the wording is making people answer differently.  If you paid for Princess insurance (not just some amount of deposit but actually paid for the insurance), can you cancel it at any point and get a refund?  Is that what the question is??

[Coral]

1 hour ago, PMGS247 said:

Depends when the policy becomes active.  Assuming the deposit is refundable, there's no need for insurance if you're still outside of the 90 day pre-sailing period.  This would coincide with the final payment due date. 

 

If you wait to pay the balance on literally the final due date then it's really easy....before that date you never paid for it, never were covered, therefore there's nothing to refund, you just get back your deposit and move on.  If you have to cancel within the 90 days then you have to go through insurance and of course would not get your premium back, you're literally using their service to get your cruise refunded.

 

There are valid reasons to pay for the insurance before final payment.

Edited July 19, 2019 by Coral

[Thrak]

8 minutes ago, happy cruzer said:

So I think the wording is making people answer differently.  If you paid for Princess insurance (not just some amount of deposit but actually paid for the insurance), can you cancel it at any point and get a refund?  Is that what the question is??

 

When you make a reservation and click to accept the insurance it is not paid for and therefore not in force. Since it hasn't been paid for and is not in effect it can be cancelled. If you want the insurance to be in effect at the time of booking you need to pay for it at that time. Once it has been paid for you have effective insurance coverage and therefore you can't "have your cake and eat it too" and can't cancel the insurance later for a refund.

[PMGS247]

1 hour ago, Coral said:

There are valid reasons to pay for the insurance before final payment.

 

I agree if you've paid something non-refundable that is significant enough to justify the insurance premium, but I struggle to think of why one would need insurance before the final payment if everything can be cancelled & fully refundable for any reason, but I'm all for learning something.

 

I have two cruises currently booked covering both scenarios here...am I looking at #2 below wrong?  I'd love to avoid getting burned by something I didn't see coming.

 

1. RCI May 2020 Final Payment due Feb 2020, $500 non-refundable deposit paid, insurance $150 premium paid (incremental to Deposit) and the policy is active.  If I were to cancel between now and the final payment due date, assuming my claim was approved, I would get my $500 back from insurance but not my $150 premium.
2. Princess December 2019 final Payment due Sept 2019, $200 future cruise credit deposit paid, I opted for the insurance and the premium is part of my remaining balance but is not paid and the policy is not active.  I don't care that it's not active because I can walk away for any reason with no penalty between now and the final payment.

[Thrak]

3 minutes ago, PMGS247 said:

Princess December 2019 final Payment due Sept 2019, $200 future cruise credit deposit paid, I opted for the insurance and the premium is part of my remaining balance but is not paid and the policy is not active.  I don't care that it's not active because I can walk away for any reason with no penalty between now and the final payment.

 

Sooo... Will you keep the insurance or cancel just before final payment?

[PMGS247]

3 minutes ago, Thrak said:

 

Sooo... Will you keep the insurance or cancel just before final payment?

Well if I have to, I can do so for any reason before the final payment and get my deposit back, so why would I need insurance between now and then?

[PMGS247]

To further clarify the above, yes I will keep the insurance.  The insurance will go live on the final payment date.  At that point there's a reason...from there on out there's cancellation penalties.  I just don't know why I would care if I'm covered before that point.

[Thrak]

44 minutes ago, PMGS247 said:

To further clarify the above, yes I will keep the insurance.  The insurance will go live on the final payment date.  At that point there's a reason...from there on out there's cancellation penalties.  I just don't know why I would care if I'm covered before that point.

 

As I figured. I just asked due to the initial queries in this thread. I do  the same as you. I don't pay in advance but do pay at final payment.

[cherylandtk]

1 hour ago, PMGS247 said:

 I just don't know why I would care if I'm covered before that point.

In case something changes medically between now and the start of the insurance. Yes, you could cancel instead of making final payment, but many major illnesses are first recognized at a routine appointment or blood test that requires follow up.  If that happens within (before) 60 days of your final payment, it is an excluded pre existing condition, and you would not be covered for cancelation or anything subsequent during the trip.  

 

The best option is to have ZERO interaction with a physician and ZERO symptoms that should have been checked out in the 60 days before purchasing the insurance.  If that’s final payment date, fine.  But if not, you may want to look back and find a 60 day clear period and purchase your insurance then.

[dreaminofcruisin]

I have read also in posts that sometimes people want to be sure and get their flights ticketed (and paid)--maybe so they can get an upgrade from an airline mileage program or something? If they are doing this before final payment, that might be another reason to have the insurance paid for ahead of time.

[Coral]

3 hours ago, PMGS247 said:

 

I agree if you've paid something non-refundable that is significant enough to justify the insurance premium, but I struggle to think of why one would need insurance before the final payment if everything can be cancelled & fully refundable for any reason, but I'm all for learning something.

 

It deals with pre-existing conditions. Princess has a 90 day look back period from the time of payment. If your condition changes a month before final payment and you buy Princess insurance, you may not be covered for that condition when on the trip. This is huge.

[PMGS247]

On 7/19/2019 at 7:17 PM, Coral said:

It deals with pre-existing conditions. Princess has a 90 day look back period from the time of payment. If your condition changes a month before final payment and you buy Princess insurance, you may not be covered for that condition when on the trip. This is huge.

If something happens a month before final payment I can just cancel with no penalty and no questions asked, full refunds.  So this would be an issue where something happens, I then elect to NOT use my freedom to cancel when it happens, and then attempt to use insurance after I'm past the point of no return but can't.  So I either didn't know it happened at the time or calculated at the time that it would not impact my cruise but was proven wrong.  That's not impossible but a pretty narrow scope of scenarios.  I think I'll roll the dice and assume most of the time in those scenarios I will cancel.

Edited July 22, 2019 by PMGS247

[Coral]

12 minutes ago, PMGS247 said:

If something happens a month before final payment I can just cancel with no penalty and no questions asked, full refunds.  So this would be an issue where something happens, I then elect to NOT use my freedom to cancel when it happens, and then attempt to use insurance after I'm past the point of no return but can't.  So I either didn't know it happened at the time or calculated at the time that it would not impact my cruise but was proven wrong.  That's not impossible but a pretty narrow scope of scenarios.  I think I'll roll the dice and assume most of the time in those scenarios I will cancel.

I am going to assume you have not dealt with medical issues. I had a parent who had multiple. They were always adjusting med dosages. Just a simple med dosage can change if Princess insurance will cover it. I am not going to cancel an entire trip due to a med change in dosage. I have friends who have diabetes who are always adjusting something. A change in this can also cause issues with insurance. I don't do Caribbean or Mexico cruises. I usually buy air in advance and also have private excursions booked. Maybe if you live close to the port and only do cruises out of FLL or CA. I don't.

 

I don't trust Princess's insurance and it doesn't cover much. I buy insurance from my agent that covers pre-existing conditions at final payment.

 

Maybe you are young and not familiar with medical issues. I had to learn the hard way about reading policies with people with pre-existing conditions and would never chance leaving the country with Princess's insurance and buying at final payment. I am also not going to cancel a trip of a lifetime due to Princess's insurance.

 

Also remember - many people have to ask for time off in advance and can't easily "cancel vacation days".

Edited July 22, 2019 by Coral

[san diego sue]

I have used the Insurance recently. Had to cancel two cruises back to back a week before the cruise. It was due to a house flood

not medical . Since we always cruise Princess and have many booked,  the cancel for any reason the easiest way to go.Just gets credited towards a future cruise.  Still had to submit it to  Insurance but then they notified Princess and the credits were in my account in a few days.If it were medical , probably would have done the same.For medical , you need much more documentation as well as proof your medical insurance isn't covering the issue. Day we officially canceled, Princess credited our credit card for port and other taxes. The balance minus the cost of the insurance was what the insurance handled.Now, if someone wants a cash refund, going this way doesn't work.

[Coral]

The main issue with medical (and Princess's insurance) is not if you cancel before but if you have an issue on the trip. For example - if you have a blood pressure issue and have a heart issue on the trip. Let's just say your doctor changes your med to a different one 2 months before the trip - this would void Princess's coverage of many heart issues. This medical issue can cost a lot in foreign countries and then not to have coverage.