Cancel for any reason insurance

[mattR]

Looking at doing a family cruise Canada New England next October.  Half the family is vaccinated for Covid the other half isn't.  Where can they find insurance that would allow them to cancel if Covid requirements come back into effect?  

[alwaysfrantic]

I just looked at insure my trip website for my own next cruise and several policies had an option to add on cancel for any reason coverage.  

[CruiserBruce]

There is a board on Cruise Critic devoted to insurance issues:

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/499-cruisetravel-insurance/

[Jersey42]

7 hours ago, mattR said:

Looking at doing a family cruise Canada New England next October.  Half the family is vaccinated for Covid the other half isn't.  Where can they find insurance that would allow them to cancel if Covid requirements come back into effect?  

Holland America's own plans are probably the best option if all you care about is CFAR coverage.  The Platinum plan will give you back 90% of the non-refundable cruise cost in cash as long as you cancel prior to the scheduled departure.  It is available to Canadians except residents of Quebec.  I don't know about Canadian CFAR plans, but in the US, third party plans that offer a CFAR option are usually much more expensive, only give you back 75% (or less) and usually require at least a 48 hour cancelation notice.  Third party plans will cover pre and post cruise items including non-refundable air and hotels and offer much better medical coverage.

 

The Holland plan has weaknesses including very limited medical coverage.  I would never recommend the plan to anyone who does not have other medical coverage.  But for CFAR, it is excellent.

[AKJonesy]

I just looked into insurance for both the cancel for any reason and for the medical.  The link that was posted to the insurance board has a lot of information.  For your purpose the insurance sb pretty straightforward.  I was looking at it from a medical perspective in case I got sick and especially had to be flown back home, so I had to dive deep.  https://www.hollandamerica.com/en_US/pre-post-travel-cruise/cancellation-protection-plan.html

[Gary72]

We used Trawick as it has specific language for covid related issues including hotel costs if forced to isolate.  

[Jersey42]

A few things I neglected to mention about HAL Platinum. 

• It will only work if everyone in the same cabin cancels.  If only one person in a cabin cancels, the other will probably be charged a single supplement.  The HAL plan will not cover the supplement. 
• HAL will cover airfare and pre/post cruise travels booked through HAL, not just the cruise fare.
• You do not need to purchase the plan before final payment.

[Tampa Girl]

4 hours ago, Jersey42 said:

A few things I neglected to mention about HAL Platinum. 

• It will only work if everyone in the same cabin cancels.  If only one person in a cabin cancels, the other will probably be charged a single supplement.  The HAL plan will not cover the supplement. 
• HAL will cover airfare and pre/post cruise travels booked through HAL, not just the cruise fare.
• You do not need to purchase the plan before final payment.

 

It appears that you must purchase before the penalties start accruing:

 

"EASY TO BOOK. Cancellation Protection Plans can be booked until the date cancellation fees begin to accrue (varies by cruise). Opt in when making your booking or visit Manage my Bookings to add a plan to your existing reservation. "

[Jersey42]

51 minutes ago, Tampa Girl said:

It appears that you must purchase before the penalties start accruing:

That is correct.  But penalties start accruing on final payment due date so I believe we are saying the same thing. For the OP, that would normally be 90 days prior to sailing. Am I missing something?

[3rdGenCunarder]

26 minutes ago, Jersey42 said:

That is correct.  But penalties start accruing on final payment due date so I believe we are saying the same thing. For the OP, that would normally be 90 days prior to sailing. Am I missing something?

 

I think some of the longer cruises have different final payment times. But for any cruises I've taken, it's 90 days. 

 

Your earlier post about HAL vs third-party is a good summary of the differences. I book my own flights and I'm more concerned about medical and getting home than cancellation, so I buy third-party insurance most of the time. 

[RuthC]

1 hour ago, Jersey42 said:

But penalties start accruing on final payment due date so I believe we are saying the same thing.

Not necessarily. 

HAL insurance must be purchased by the day before penalties start accruing. Penalties usually start accruing at the 90-day mark, which generally coincides with final payment. BUT there are some cruises where they start accruing at the 120-day mark, even though final payment isn't due yet. 

[Jersey42]

56 minutes ago, RuthC said:

Not necessarily. 

HAL insurance must be purchased by the day before penalties start accruing. Penalties usually start accruing at the 90-day mark, which generally coincides with final payment. BUT there are some cruises where they start accruing at the 120-day mark, even though final payment isn't due yet. 

Ruth - I apologize for any misinformation I may have posted, but help educate me on what I am missing.

• I agree that HAL insurance must be purchased by the day before penalties start accruing.  But penalties usually start accruing at the 89 day mark, not the 90 day mark (see link below).  So for these typical cruises, why wouldn't you be able to purchase HAL insurance at final payment?
• What are examples of cruises that meet the exception you mentioned in your last sentence?  I tried a bunch of sample bookings of "120 day penalty cruises" and I only found one cruise where penalties began at 120 days, but final payment is due after that.  (2/28/2024 24 day Grand World Voyage) I am curious on how often this exception occurs.

 

By the way, beginning in June 2024, penalties for certain longer cruises will begin at 119 days before sailing instead of 120. 

 

Here is a link to what I believe to be HAL's current cancelation policy.  It also defines the type of cruises where the longer (and shorter) penalty period applies.

https://www.hollandamerica.com/en_US/legal-privacy/cancellation-policy-US-default.html

[crystalspin]

1 hour ago, Jersey42 said:

• What are examples of cruises that meet the exception you mentioned in your last sentence?  I tried a bunch of sample bookings of "120 day penalty cruises" and I only found one cruise where penalties began at 120 days, but final payment is due after that.  (2/28/2024 24 day Grand World Voyage) I am curious on how often this exception occurs.

I believe both our 35-DAY HAWAII, TAHITI & MARQUESAS and our full-length (also 35-day) Voyage of the Vikings have the longer penalty period.

[RuthC]

1 hour ago, Jersey42 said:

What are examples of cruises that meet the exception you mentioned in your last sentence?  I tried a bunch of sample bookings of "120 day penalty cruises" and I only found one cruise where penalties began at 120 days, but final payment is due after that.  (2/28/2024 24 day Grand World Voyage) I am curious on how often this exception occurs.

I can't remember which cruises I have had the penalty period start at the 120-day mark, but there have been several of them. All were long cruises; none were the full World Cruise, although I have done segments of the World Cruise. 
I have taken several cruises in excess of 30 days, and many more in excess of 20 days. This is over a period of decades. No way can my feeble old brain remember all the details of when penalty periods started. Sorry. I just remember being shocked when I realized my penalty periods started so long before final payment was due. 
 

[Iamthesea]

Glad this thread is staying on the HAL forum.  I started an insurance question a week or so ago that had to do with questions pertaining to HAL and what to and not to insurance.  It was sent over the the Insurance Forum, so I never really received an answer to my question.

 

Do y'all insure your entire trip cost? Total cruise amount, Club Orange, and airfare, if booked independently?

[sandiego1]

2 hours ago, Iamthesea said:

Glad this thread is staying on the HAL forum.  I started an insurance question a week or so ago that had to do with questions pertaining to HAL and what to and not to insurance.  It was sent over the the Insurance Forum, so I never really received an answer to my question.

 

Do y'all insure your entire trip cost? Total cruise amount, Club Orange, and airfare, if booked independently?

Yes. 

[Hlitner]

2 hours ago, Iamthesea said:

Glad this thread is staying on the HAL forum.  I started an insurance question a week or so ago that had to do with questions pertaining to HAL and what to and not to insurance.  It was sent over the the Insurance Forum, so I never really received an answer to my question.

 

Do y'all insure your entire trip cost? Total cruise amount, Club Orange, and airfare, if booked independently?

We insure nothing!  Why?  Since we cruise quite often (over 100 days this year), buying trip insurance is quite expensive.  Instead, what we do is buy an annual travel health insurance policy (GeoBlue) and use a credit card that provides (as part of the card) up to $20,000 ($10,000 per person) of trip cancellation/interruption insurance.  This is not cancel for any reason....but one must have good cause to cancel (such as medical, death, etc).  By using this method (which is somewhat self-insuring) we have saved far more than $100,000 in insurance premiums (over many years).

[RuthC]

5 hours ago, Iamthesea said:

Do y'all insure your entire trip cost? Total cruise amount, Club Orange, and airfare, if booked independently?

I purchase the HAL Cancel For Any Reason insurance. At my age, I can never predict when something will happen that prevents me from taking my cruise, so I want that coverage. I am not too concerned with the other coverage that third party insurance offers. 
I am vitally concerned about medical and repatriation coverage, though, so I also purchase that specific type of insurance. 

I usually call Insure My Trip and speak with a representative who discusses what I think I want, in terms of coverage, and asks appropriate questions, sometimes about things I haven't thought of. Based on our conversation the rep makes a recommendation of whatever insurance plans are appropriate for this particular cruise. 

[Babr]

5 hours ago, Iamthesea said:

Glad this thread is staying on the HAL forum.  I started an insurance question a week or so ago that had to do with questions pertaining to HAL and what to and not to insurance.  It was sent over the the Insurance Forum, so I never really received an answer to my question.

 

Do y'all insure your entire trip cost? Total cruise amount, Club Orange, and airfare, if booked independently?

If you choose to buy a comprehensive travel policy, insure anything pre-paid and non-refundable. You can exclude port fees and taxes because those are refundable. Be careful about insuring air fare because air lines typically issue a voucher for a cancellation. In that case, insurance will not reimburse.  Hotels are usually cancelable, but if you prepay a non-refundable rate, include that in the amount insured.

 

If you are buying in the time-sensitive window in order to get the pre-existing conditions waiver, check to see whether the policy requires you to insure all non-refundable expenses.

[Tampa Girl]

On 9/8/2023 at 5:28 PM, Jersey42 said:

That is correct.  But penalties start accruing on final payment due date so I believe we are saying the same thing. For the OP, that would normally be 90 days prior to sailing. Am I missing something?

I was responding to your statement that "you do not need to purchase before final payment.  It appears that one is normally required to purchase before that date.  Perhaps a better way to explain it is that "one must purchase by final payment date.

[Jersey42]

1 hour ago, Tampa Girl said:

I was responding to your statement that "you do not need to purchase before final payment.  It appears that one is normally required to purchase before that date.  Perhaps a better way to explain it is that "one must purchase by final payment date.

I agree, your language is definitely clearer.  All third party CFAR plans that I am aware of require purchase no more than X (typically 21) days after your initial trip deposit.  Many other third party plans (without CFAR) also require purchase within X days of your initial deposit if you want a pre-existing conditions waiver. The HAL plan does not have these restrictions.

___________________________

By the way, after seeing comments from @RuthC, I did some investigating.  "One must purchase HAL insurance by final payment date" is correct for most future HAL cruises.  It is correct for all HAL cruises departing June 1, 2024 or later. It is also correct for all cruises where penalties start at less than 120 days (i.e. 89 or 74 days) prior to sailing.  

 

With "special" cruises departing before 6/1/24 where cancelation penalties begin 120 days before sailing, it is more complicated.  A handful of these cruises require final payment at 90 days, so on these cruises you need to buy the insurance about a month before final payment date.  For the rest of these special cruises, final payment date is exactly 120 days before sailing. So technically you may have to purchase the HAL insurance the day before final payment date.  I do not know if they enforce this one day discrepancy.

 

Post June 2024 HAL seems to have set final payment date exactly one day before cancelation penalties kick in for all special cruises.  And, all of the special cruises now have final payment dates of 120 days prior to sailing. HAL already adjusted the dates more than a year ago for cruises with 90 (and 75) day final payments.  I have looked at dozens of cruises pre and post 6/1/24 and can find no exceptions to what I have posted here.  

 

Here are the "special" cruises:

• Grand world, grand voyages, any segment of a grand world or grand voyage;
• 28+ day ultimate Alaska;
• 28+ day Australia circumnavigation and any segment of an Australia circumnavigation; 
• 28+ day Hawaii, Tahiti & Marquesas;
• Tales of the South Pacific;
• Amazon explorer;
• Incan empires (including segments);
• 30+ day transatlantic voyages and any segment of a 30+ day transatlantic     

[Tampa Girl]

20 hours ago, Jersey42 said:

I agree, your language is definitely clearer.  All third party CFAR plans that I am aware of require purchase no more than X (typically 21) days after your initial trip deposit.  Many other third party plans (without CFAR) also require purchase within X days of your initial deposit if you want a pre-existing conditions waiver. The HAL plan does not have these restrictions.

___________________________

By the way, after seeing comments from @RuthC, I did some investigating.  "One must purchase HAL insurance by final payment date" is correct for most future HAL cruises.  It is correct for all HAL cruises departing June 1, 2024 or later. It is also correct for all cruises where penalties start at less than 120 days (i.e. 89 or 74 days) prior to sailing.  

 

With "special" cruises departing before 6/1/24 where cancelation penalties begin 120 days before sailing, it is more complicated.  A handful of these cruises require final payment at 90 days, so on these cruises you need to buy the insurance about a month before final payment date.  For the rest of these special cruises, final payment date is exactly 120 days before sailing. So technically you may have to purchase the HAL insurance the day before final payment date.  I do not know if they enforce this one day discrepancy.

 

Post June 2024 HAL seems to have set final payment date exactly one day before cancelation penalties kick in for all special cruises.  And, all of the special cruises now have final payment dates of 120 days prior to sailing. HAL already adjusted the dates more than a year ago for cruises with 90 (and 75) day final payments.  I have looked at dozens of cruises pre and post 6/1/24 and can find no exceptions to what I have posted here.  

 

Here are the "special" cruises:

• Grand world, grand voyages, any segment of a grand world or grand voyage;
• 28+ day ultimate Alaska;
• 28+ day Australia circumnavigation and any segment of an Australia circumnavigation; 
• 28+ day Hawaii, Tahiti & Marquesas;
• Tales of the South Pacific;
• Amazon explorer;
• Incan empires (including segments);
• 30+ day transatlantic voyages and any segment of a 30+ day transatlantic     

 

Thank you for expanding on the date for final payment and purchase of the CFAR.  I was not aware of how many cruises will now be considered "special voyages" and will have final payment dates of 120 days prior to sailing.  Forewarned is forearmed.

[mattR]

Do any other mainstream lines offer CFAR insurance like HAL?  The HAL insurance is perfect for want we need and the price is right, however the price of the cruise went up by 25% after $1 deposit day yesterday:( 

[Tampa Girl]

8 hours ago, mattR said:

Do any other mainstream lines offer CFAR insurance like HAL?  The HAL insurance is perfect for want we need and the price is right, however the price of the cruise went up by 25% after $1 deposit day yesterday:

Did both the cruise price and the deposit amount increase?

 

[POA1]

8 hours ago, mattR said:

Do any other mainstream lines offer CFAR insurance like HAL?  The HAL insurance is perfect for want we need and the price is right, however the price of the cruise went up by 25% after $1 deposit day yesterday:( 

Your cost should be based on the booked cruise fare. The cruise price could change once you have booked, but premium is based on what you paid.