Insurance premium refunded if cruise cancelled?

[bissel]

Does anyone know if the insurance company refunds your premium if Regent cancels your cruise? I am unable to find anything about this.

[SusieQft]

Maybe if you bought the insurance from Regent.  Otherwise, no.  Some of them will allow you to move the insurance to a later trip within a certain time span, and usually only if you were fully refunded the cost of your trip.  There is some variation on whether or not a FCC is considered a refund, but some of the companies (one for sure) are relaxing these conditions just a bit for the current situation.  You need to check with your insurance company and/or the broker you used to buy it.

[bissel]

I know you can move insurance to another cruise but I’d rather have the refund. It doesn’t seen right the insurance company would keep your whole premium if you yourself didn’t cancel. They are then insuring absolutely nothing.

[SusieQft]

There are a lot of things that are not right, but still are.  They actually were insuring you for something that might have happened to you (unrelated to the pandemic) to cause you to need to cancel up until the point that Regent actually cancelled.  But yes, the amount you paid for the insurance would be way more than the value of the actual insurance provided.

Edited March 30, 2020 by SusieQft

[MadMarine]

I have insurance from a prominent US national company that will refund the premium if the cruise is cancelled under certain conditions.  Only for cruises cancelled due to coronavirus.

Mad

[SusieQft]

In my case, the insurance company relaxed their restrictions, but since I did not receive a 100% refund on the land portion of my trip, I can only apply the insurance to another trip within 12 months.  The ~$700 penalty will probably end up costing me an additional four times that in insurance usability.  I think normally the penalty would have prevented any portability of the insurance.

[MadMarine]

This is an excerpt from the insurer’s travel sitem

PLAN REFUND INFORMATION

Customers may change their plan’s effective dates to cover a new or rescheduled trip.  Alternatively, for a temporary period, we are offering refunds for the cost of your travel protection plan to customers who wish to cancel their travel protection plan if the customer’s travel supplier canceled the customer’s trip due to COVID-19, so long as no payable claim has been filed under the plan.  Please call us at the number listed on your plan and we will be happy to assist you.

[bissel]

Mad marine, thanks. Did you find that statement in the contract? Well, probably not as it seems specific to the coved 19 virus. I’ll research it a bit more. Somewhere.

 

[bissel]

MadMarine, May I ask which company this is?

[boblerm]

This is on the Allianz web site

PLAN REFUND INFORMATION

Customers may change their plan’s effective dates to cover a new or rescheduled trip.  Alternatively, for a temporary period, we are offering refunds for the cost of your travel protection plan to customers who wish to cancel their travel protection plan if the customer’s travel supplier canceled the customer’s trip due to COVID-19, so long as no payable claim has been filed under the plan.  

[ddsun1]

This is very helpful as we purchased travel insurance for our April 1st Splendor cruise through Travelex; they are not offering refunds - only insuring a trip within one year of the cruise being cancelled.

[bissel]

Very nice of Allianz. I do not find this issue addressed even in the contract.

Odd, isn’t it?

[Roger88]

If I am not mistaken it should be bold written in the contract. I say this because insurance is ALWAYS purchased seperatly. Also, aside from a regular "world" insurance, the companies may offer you to purchase their local insurance in case of anything.. this insurance is like twice as high but it assures you a direct conatct, service and help with the company in case anything happens. And the refund procedure must be faster. Like way faster. Try calling their agent to acquire additional information

[bissel]

Thank you Roger88. I will try that although online only might be available.

[boblerm]

39 minutes ago, bissel said:

Very nice of Allianz. I do not find this issue addressed even in the contract.

 

 

 

39 minutes ago, Roger88 said:

If I am not mistaken it should be bold written in the contract.

To the best of my knowledge, this is not typical of a normal policy, you would never see it in the contract. It appears to me that this is something that Allianz is doing for this unique situation. I don't know about other companies.

[bissel]

You would think though that it is something that WOULD be put in a contract one way or the other. People who write contracts think of everything I assumed. 

[iamtrustworthy]

15 hours ago, bissel said:

Does anyone know if the insurance company refunds your premium if Regent cancels your cruise? I am unable to find anything about this.

Hi Bissel,

 

For a 3rd party non-travel supplier plan, it will depend on what happened to the money you paid to your travel suppliers.

 

 - If you get a full refund in cash many companies will refund your premium.

 - If you get you get Future Travel Credits from your cancelled trip, you will be able to change the policy dates to cover a future trip. Some companies give you a credit voucher for the premium you paid.

 

I hope this helps.

 

Steve Dasseos

[bissel]

Thank you, Steve. My premium is screamingly high so I’m not sure the company would voluntarily refund it ( rolled over many times plus final payment for upcoming cruise.) Always purchased within 15 days after cruise deposit for pre existing condition waiver.

Now something’s come up so probably will go that route.

[bissel]

Wish I’d known of you before! 🙂

[papaflamingo]

2 hours ago, bissel said:

You would think though that it is something that WOULD be put in a contract one way or the other. People who write contracts think of everything I assumed. 

This is a very unique time.  If you read your contract you will find, likely, that a cancellation due to a Pandemic or Named Event is not covered.  So, if the cruise were to go, but you couldn't because you got coronavirus, your insurance would not cover the cancellation.  

As was mentioned, once you purchase the policy, you are being covered.   If you want an option to cancel for any reason, you need to purchase Cancel For Any Reason waiver.  The insurance companies are being pretty responsive, with Allianz being most responsive.  I have a policy with General and they are currently allowing either a change of dates, or if the cruise line cancels my cruise, they will issue a voucher for use in the future,  Don't know how long that "future" is, but suspect I'll find out.  I'm hoping they'll follow Allianz's lead, but am happy with the voucher when my June cruise finally cancels. That is way above the contract that I agreed to when I bought the policy. 

You need to go on your insurance company's website and read their posted Covid 19 policy,.

Edited March 30, 2020 by papaflamingo

[bissel]

Thank you for your response, Papaflamingo.

l know the insurance doesn’t cover anything to do with the virus, either the fear of or the contraction of it. I was just curious if the premium would be refunded if the cruise line cancelled. It doesn’t seem right to me that they would keep 100% of that premium. That premium could be well into the thousands.

I have frequently rolled over premium payments from one cruise to another when I change my mind. Now the FCC is way too risky for us.

I always have purchased insurance two weeks after deposit for the pre-existing coverage. Too much can happen between times! As we all know now. 😢

[Caroldoll]

On 3/29/2020 at 5:41 PM, bissel said:

Does anyone know if the insurance company refunds your premium if Regent cancels your cruise? I am unable to find anything about this.

I don't believe so.  I just had to cancel a cruise because my husband developed cancer and had to have an operation.  I finally got what the insurance paid, but they didn't refund their premium, so I would say no.

[bissel]

Thank you for your response. I am so sorry that your husband is undergoing this. May things get better for you both.

[MadMarine]

10 minutes ago, Caroldoll said:

10 minutes ago, Caroldoll said:

I don't believe so.  I just had to cancel a cruise because my husband developed cancer and had to have an operation.  I finally got what the insurance paid, but they didn't refund their premium, so I would say no.

There are several responses to this earlier in the thread.  During this time, some companies are refunding the premium if your cruise is canceled by the cruise line and you have not already made a claim.  My TA is currently processing my refund with Regent as well as a refund of my insurance premium with Allianz.  YMMV!

Mad

 

[daetchief]

It's amazing how most knowledge we acquire requires some form of tuition payment.  Travel Insurance is [one of] my current classes I'm attending. [Sarcasm]  

 

I have been using AIG/Travelguard [TA suggested - I think?] for the last 8-10 years for numerous cruises.  A 12-16 night cruise policy covering the usual cruise/medical/evacuation and incidental expenses and was usually ~$1300-$1500.

 

On the ill fated Spendor SAN-MIA cruise of 14 March we didn't know until virtually the afternoon of 13 March that it was cancelled.  By the time we got around to calling AIG/Travelguard it was 16 March and that's when the Course Lessons began.

In our case, the policy terms clearly stated you could get a refund of the premium if:  

a. The trip departure / actual coverage had not yet started, and

b. There had been no benefits/claims made against the policy.

Truth was, even though the cruise was cancelled, the policy went active on 12 March as planned - the day we boarded the aircraft to travel to San Diego to board the ship.  AIG claimed that the 'Departure Date' was past by the time my refund was requested.  

 

Quote:  We have received your request for an insurance premium refund on policy XXXXXXXXX.   The travel dates listed are 03/12/2020 – 03/31/2020.  Since your request was received after the departure date as listed on the policy, the premium is non-refundable according to the terms of the Description of Coverage which state; 

 

* FIFTEEN DAY LOOK

You may cancel this insurance by giving the Company or the agent written notice within the first to occur of the following: (a) 15 days from the Effective Date of your insurance; or (b) your scheduled Departure Date. If you do this, the Company will refund your premium paid provided no insured has filed a claim under this Policy. After this 15 day period, the premium is non-refundable. *

  

  I had another call with a different agent a couple of days ago and asked if the past premium could be applied to a future cruise.   She seemed amenable to that and said I should be receiving a voucher for the amount/balance of the premium.   I don't expect that in tomorrow's (e)mail but I'm hoping it will materialize eventually.   Once I have a cruise confirmed I'll probably need to make another call, regardless of the voucher being in hand or not.