Trip Insurance questions re Airfare, Danube Cruise followed by Black Sea Cruise June 2022

[robert32asp]

I have read a lot of the threads on Cruise Critic in the Trip Insurance section.  Some of what I have read has alarmed me and some sounds too good to be true.

 

I have a few questions and would appreciate any guidance or partial guidance.

 

1. We have a Bank America Travel Visa Card, that says it has "some trip insurance" but we can't find out what it really includes.  We also have a credit union and AAA credit card that claim the same, with it being very hard to figure out what is and is not covered overseas.  I read where some like the Chase platinum and saphire cards and when to the Chase website, but no details on what is and is not included in their credit cards?   Is there anywhere that has a simple explanation of which card covers what in terms of emergency medical, evacuation, help getting money back from canceled cruises or flights?
2. My wife is 72 and I am 73 we have an Aetna PPO that has foreign travel medical and evacuation insurance.  I also read about a trip insurance policy that you can get for under $100 that if you say the travel cost losses are limited to under $350 it will be primary coverage for up to $100,000 in medical primary coverage.  That sounds almost too good to be true.  Is there really such a policy and is it for real?
3. Right now our cruise for June on the Danube looks good.  Our main concern with that trip is if we will have to quarantine someplace between when we get off the airline to a major European city being allowed on the cruise boat.  We are planning on leaving about 10 days between those dates so that we might be able to get out of quarantine or at least have second Covid test should the first be a false positive.   Any thoughts about length of time to leave before a cruise starts or how to insure the cruise cost?
4. In late June, we are also set to go on a cruise of the Black Sea starting and ending in Istanbul, but going to Russia, Georgia, Ukraine, Romania.  OK, Russian troops are on the boarder of Ukraine and in the past we had one Black Seat cruise canceled at the very last minute from underneath us by Viking when Russia invaded Crimea. In regard to "war" or political unrest (aka riots in the street of Istanbul, or any other Black Sea port of call) can you get insurance that will cover canceled cruises or a cruise ship company that changes a cruise that is support to go to the Black Sea, but ends up say going in the eastern Mediterranean Sea?  Or is this pretty much a no insurance, by need to take your chances kind of thing.  (We have tried to go to Odessa and some other Black Sea port via cruise ship 3 separate times and between Russia and Covid are hoping to to finally get there this summer.)
    
5. When we talked about insurance at the local AAA Travel store, they told us that because of the length of our trip that the most comprehensive travel insurance policy would not be available to cover our trip. We are sort of wondering if our insurance strategy should be to break the trip up into segments where risk is managed in different ways.  
   1. Air fare as slightly more expensive tickets that allow changes in times and dates without added costs
   2. Free time between planes and cruises spent very carefully  (Covid precautions) at major cities with first class hotels that have no deposit and cancel with advance notice policies.  Also maybe some private tours in those cities (we like Travel by Locals) that can be advanced canceled or for which you can get a voucher.)
   3. Plan on the Danube Cruise
   4. If there is something bad that happens on the shore of the Black Sea, plan on either accepting that cruise ship voucher for another year, or have plan B where we don't fly to Istanbul and instead go to say Austria, Switzerland, or Germany and spend time there traveling, while we wait for our flight back to Seattle, WA.   On scheduled 2021 cruise on the Danube (yes a voucher), that got canceled by Covid, we thought about flying to Swizerland from our European port of entry city, but Covid was so bad, we would not be allowed to get in, so we canceled the everything we could and got vouchers with some cash back.

 

Thank you for any thoughts, suggestions on my complex set of questions.  Or if there is a link to a past set of answers I missed a URL to that would also be helpful

 

[klfrodo]

My only advise on your particular set of questions is to call Steve at 1-800-407-3854.

Steve is the owner of TripInsuranceStore, has been in the business for many years, is very helpful and comes on CruiseCritic quit often to help people.

[iamtrustworthy]

On 1/18/2022 at 10:01 AM, klfrodo said:

My only advise on your particular set of questions is to call Steve at 1-800-407-3854.

Steve is the owner of TripInsuranceStore, has been in the business for many years, is very helpful and comes on CruiseCritic quit often to help people.

Hi klfrodo,

 

FYI - it's 1-888-407-3854.

 

Steve Dasseos