are taxes and fees and gratuities subject to penalty if you cancel?

[nw2this]

Or only the cruise fare?

[nw2this]

I am asking because I am wondering if I need insurance. I had a casino deal and I only paid gratuities taxes and fees.  If I would get that back anyway, is there any reason to get insurance? And if not, would insurance cover these things?

[CDNPolar]

Insurance is a messy subject and it depends on where you live (USA / Canada / Other part of the world) as you don't have in your profile your country of residence.

 

Typically cancellation insurance covers anything that you have paid for at the time of cancellation that is NOT refundable or given back to you as a credit in some form.  The only thing that insurance will not cover is what you paid for the insurance.

 

If you have CFAR (cancel for any reason) then this typically is only back to you as a credit or voucher for the amounts paid and NOT in cash.

 

If you have typical cancellation insurance without CFAR then you will have to have a valid reason as stated in the policy for cancelation and then typically this would include anything that is not refundable in some form.

 

In general, you need to read your policy language very carefully and ask a lot of questions.

 

 

Edited January 12 by CDNPolar

[GeezerCouple]

CDNpolar gave a very good answer above.

 

However, I would like to explain a bit more about one thing they wrote:

 

46 minutes ago, CDNPolar said:

If you have CFAR (cancel for any reason) then this typically is only back to you as a credit or voucher for the amounts paid and NOT in cash.

 

Travel insurance policies can differ in some respects.

Some cruise-line specific insurance (purchased from or offered by the cruise line may indeed give their CFAR benefits as a "credit" for future sailings, and not "cash back".

However, many 3rd party policies (purchased from a separate insurance company) will give "CASH BACK".  That means you can just keep the money or spend it on an entirely different

vacation or something else.

 

Often, for CFAR, the "cash back" - and even the "credit back" - coverage is for something like 75% of the costs, not 100%.  So it could be you'd get back, say, 75% in cash [or a credit, depending] rather than all of your money back.  It's better than nothing, definitely, if you need to change your plans and the reason is *not* a "covered reason".

 

For a "covered reason", it is typically a full refund.

 

But ALWAYS read the specific terms and conditions of any policy that *you* are getting, as policies can differ in many ways.

 

Also consider any transportation to get to the cruise.  Would you be flying?  If so, is that included in the "casino deal"?  If not, then you may want to include the transportation costs in any insurance.  But as PDNpolar mentioned, that's only if the costs are NON-refundable.  If you get refundable tickets, then insurance wouldn't pay.... but you'd have no need for that coverage.

 

And if you decide to get travel insurance for this trip or some other, make sure that you understand the definition of "pre-existing condition".  That can be very different than its usage in everyday life.  Sometimes that works out better, and sometimes not, depending upon the actual underlying medical issue.

Sometimes there are deadlines to purchase travel insurance if one wants it to cover certain things, so double check.

 

BTW, "taxes and gratuities" are often refundable anyway if one cancels, so again, double check that before purchasing insurance for those costs.

 

GC