Travel Insurance-HAL Platinum or Private?

[iowacruiser]

We are venturing to Europe for a cruise in September and have never purchased travel insurance for past cruises.

Is the HAL platinum plan good insurance or is finding a private insurance policy a better idea? Your thoughts?

[0106]

You may have more luck posting on the Cruise Travel Insurance forum.  Although this post specifically references Princess, I think the answers could also be applied to HAL.

 

[CT D&N]

We have an annual plan with Allianz which turns out to be much better for us based on our personal circumstances and amount we travel during the year. I recommend doing an online search/review of annual plans based on your particular needs/information and doing a comparison to the HAL plans. Many of the annual plans offer higher medical and evacuation coverage (typically area of most concern for cruising) at a lower cost and also provide coverage for travel beyond just cruising.  Happy cruising!!!

[REOVA]

Depends are what you need: medical, cancel for any reason, 100% trip recovery,  cost, time for paying premium, etc. Steve at tripinsurancestore has a whole section in CC (and his website) with info that will keep your head spinning but pretty thorough depending on your needs. Everyone has different needs so their responses may not be right for you. Better to have him match your needs. 

[TAW1963]

We use both the HAL protection and an annual private medical plan.  We have an annual plan with GeoBlue, which has much more medical coverage than that from HAL.  We also purchase the HAL protection plan for the cancel for any reason part, which protects our investment in the cruise.   Everyone is in a different position and have differing needs for travel insurance.  For private insurance, the medical part is relatively inexpensive.  Adding travel protection (cancellation protection, trip interruption, and etc.) significantly increase the cost of a private insurance travel insurance policy.  

[SeaMatesNYC]

Also perhaps look into insurance from any affinity organizations you may be a member of such as AAA, USAA, etc. I’ve found policies that suit my needs this way when cruise line coverage may not so well (paying for things I don’t need and not offering things I want). 

[Petronillus]

2 hours ago, TAW1963 said:

We use both the HAL protection and an annual private medical plan.  We have an annual plan with GeoBlue, which has much more medical coverage than that from HAL.  We also purchase the HAL protection plan for the cancel for any reason part, which protects our investment in the cruise.   Everyone is in a different position and have differing needs for travel insurance.  For private insurance, the medical part is relatively inexpensive.  Adding travel protection (cancellation protection, trip interruption, and etc.) significantly increase the cost of a private insurance travel insurance policy.  

Thank you for this. I was wondering if the best course for DW and me would be to get an annual policy (I was thinking Allianz but I'm glad to hear about GeoBlue) for the medical care/evacuation/repatriation coverage and HAL's lower-level offering for CFAR. HAL certainly emphasizes the cancellation part of its coverage and medical seems of lesser concern.

[Torquer]

I suggest you read the Cruise Critic forums on travel insurance...lots of great information here:

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

 

In our research, we are able to find much cheaper insurance with better coverage with private companies, rather than HAL.  The only exception might be if you need/want cancel-for-any-reason insurance.  There having it bundled with your cruise through HAL might be better.

 

I suggest you look at the insurance consolidator websites to give you an idea of what is available privately and free quotes, such as:  SquareMouth, InsureMyTrip, etc.

[ricka47]

3 hours ago, CT D&N said:

We have an annual plan with Allianz which turns out to be much better for us based on our personal circumstances and amount we travel during the year. I recommend doing an online search/review of annual plans based on your particular needs/information and doing a comparison to the HAL plans. Many of the annual plans offer higher medical and evacuation coverage (typically area of most concern for cruising) at a lower cost and also provide coverage for travel beyond just cruising.  Happy cruising!!!

Same here - the Allianz plan has paid for itself a number of times. Just last year, our flight from the UK to the US was delayed by 6.5 hours, and the plan paid us $600.

[TAW1963]

1 hour ago, Petronillus said:

Thank you for this. I was wondering if the best course for DW and me would be to get an annual policy (I was thinking Allianz but I'm glad to hear about GeoBlue) for the medical care/evacuation/repatriation coverage and HAL's lower-level offering for CFAR. HAL certainly emphasizes the cancellation part of its coverage and medical seems of lesser concern.

I considered both Allianz and GeoBlue and I think both are really good.  I don’t think you can go wrong with either.  We view HAL’s CFAR as only the ability to cancel for any reason and not necessarily as insurance.   

[iowacruiser]

Thanks to all of you for your thoughts..

[BobbiSox]

When cruising with HAL, I do EVERYTHING through HAL including buying their premium insurance. It simplifies things. For me, it's worth any extra cost. They have come through for me more than once when I ran into problems.

Edited April 19 by BobbiSox
clarification

[TAW1963]

1 hour ago, BobbiSox said:

When cruising with HAL, I do EVERYTHING through HAL including buying their premium insurance. It simplifies things. For me, it's worth any extra cost. They have come through for me more than once when I ran into problems.

There absolutely nothing wrong with that, and it probably will be sufficient for many people.  We also purchase the HAL's Platinum plan (or Princess's Platinum plan when cruising with PCL), but don't consider the medical and evacuation coverage limits to be enough for us.  Thus, we purchase the annual GeoBlue's Trekker plan which gives us considerably more medical and evacuation coverage.  It is relatively inexpensive, but does require that you already have medical insurance.

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

Be careful with policies some have a limit on the number of days in a tip .

[BobbiSox]

Thanks TAW1963. I will surely look into that GeoBlue'sTrekker and see what it has to offer. I'm always learning new things on this board!

[TAW1963]

4 minutes ago, Gail & Marty sailing away said:

Be careful with policies some have a limit on the number of days in a tip .

That is a very good point.  The limit on the GeoBlue Trekker plan is 70 days for each trip, which is enough for us at this time.  Certainly for world cruisers, such as yourselves, that would not be sufficient.

Edited April 19 by TAW1963

[TAW1963]

13 minutes ago, BobbiSox said:

Thanks TAW1963. I will surely look into that GeoBlue'sTrekker and see what it has to offer. I'm always learning new things on this board!

You are welcome!  

 

Just for reference, I am 60 and my wife is 53.  An annual GeoBlue Trekker plan is $250 for both of us.  We are relatively new to cruising, but are planning about 4-5 cruises a year for the next couple of years.  That works out to only $50-$60 extra for each cruise in our case, which we feel is worth it for the extra peace of mind.  

Edited April 19 by TAW1963

[mcrcruiser]

Candidly ant cruise line insurance us a waste of money . to get the best & least expensive travel insurance :

1. Get the chase Sapphire Credit Card & book your trip with that CC ,you get up to $20,000 in free trip cancellation & interruption plus baggage ins 

2 .The go to Allianz Travel insurance not .com & pick the one year insurance that fits your needs from the 3 that arte offered 

3 .If you are traveling  out of the USA to any  foreign nation or nations ,olease be advised that if you are hospitalized in a foreign hospital med vac will never get you tp ypur home hospital or home . Where there are airports you need "Ned Jet Assist: insurance ;which will take you by ambulance to the medical jet . If you do not have this type of medical jet insurance (there are several compnaies that offer it ) it will cost you well into 6 figures to get back home . Remeber unless you can walk onto a commercial  jet  on toyr own  power there is no chance for the average person to get back hoe with out medical jet insurance . This & medical are the most important of all insurances because these 2 can be  extremely costly 

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

Just now, TAW1963 said:

You are welcome!  

 

Just for reference, I am 60 and my wife is 53.  An annual GeoBlue Trekker plan is $250 for both of us.  We are relatively new to cruising, but are planning about 4-5 cruises a year for the next couple of years.  That works out to only $50-$60 extra for each cruise in our case, which we feel is worth it for the extra peace of mind.  

I would recommend in your case a Med Jet yearly policy as well which you can buy through AARP at a discount.

[Mary229]

Most travel policies do not have cancel for any reason.  @iamtrustworthy, Steve, recently mentioned he now offers a superior policy with cancel for any reason.  Chase and Allianz basic  are not cancel for any reason

[FlorenceItaly]

3 minutes ago, Mary229 said:

Most travel policies do not have cancel for any reason.  @iamtrustworthy, Steve, recently mentioned he now offers a superior policy with cancel for any reason.  Chase and Allianz basic  are not cancel for any reason

Thank you!  We typically take the HAL platinum policy because we need a cancel for any reason policy.

[Mary229]

Just now, FlorenceItaly said:

Thank you!  We typically take the HAL platinum policy because we need a cancel for any reason policy.

I hope he can help you.  One thing about his organization is they pick up the phone!  He has a special relationship with cruise critic and you can find him as a lead on the insurance forum.   

[TAW1963]

8 minutes ago, Gail & Marty sailing away said:

I would recommend in your case a Med Jet yearly policy as well which you can buy through AARP at a discount.

That is a great suggestion.  I briefly looked into it, but not in depth.  I will revisit this.

[Mary229]

3 minutes ago, TAW1963 said:

That is a great suggestion.  I briefly looked into it, but not in depth.  I will revisit this.

AARP and other organizations have a discount program with Medjet. 

[mcrcruiser]

6 minutes ago, Mary229 said:

Most travel policies do not have cancel for any reason.  @iamtrustworthy, Steve, recently mentioned he now offers a superior policy with cancel for any reason.  Chase and Allianz basic  are not cancel for any reason

That is 100% correct Mary ;however ,cancel for any reason is  a no bargain insurance plan . Most people need coverage against the huge downsides of medical costs & or transporting them back to a home hodpital or their  home . I was once hospitalized in Rome Italy . If I was not able to get on a commercial jet I would have been stuck in Rome or be willing to pay over $100,000 medical jet costs . We are both 85 years  young  &  I can buy a yearly  policy for as little as $276 .00 for  both of us for one year . In our case I onlt need med vac insurance & the least expensive Allianz ins plan gives us that plus more medical & more baggage coverages . We have a Medicare HMO which insures  us even out of the USA for emergency medical  with a $110 co pay .  So in reality it is a total cost of $276 .00 to be completely covered . We can not get med jet assist because we are too old . So we  are careful where we travel to .