Travel insurance advise

[krznkim]

Help! I was looking on the internet yesterday, and it appears that I can buy travel insurance at a much cheaper rate than my TA is charging. Does anyone have any advise on this? Should I buy on my own? Can anyone recommend an insurance company? Or maybe I shouldn't buy at all? All thoughts on the subject are appreciated!

 

Thanks!

[smeyer418]

there are literally hundreds of posts on this subject. Do a search first also look at www.imsuremytrip.com Ta's are not always the cheapest. You are paying for their profit. They don'tt do it for free. If its within 10% of most of these costs just remember for next time. Some TA's are adding the insurance for free as well.

[CaribbeanBound]

Yes, it is easy to do on your own.

 

Here are 16 VERY important things to consider when buying cruise insurance...

*****

[lougee1043]

dont buy from your ta and dont buy from the cruiseline --as posted go to

http://www.insuremytrip.com

[jerseygirl3]

Yes, you should buy travel insurance. It is a small price to pay for peace of mind.

 

Go to insuremytrip.com and put in your info. Typically we get 50,000.00 of medical coverage. We like Travelex Travel Lite policy. It is a primary insurer (meaning they pay first in full without your having to submit to your own insurance company), they are one of the most reasonably priced policies, and their customer service is fabulous. They pay on their claims without a problem.

[cruiseco]

dont buy from your ta and dont buy from the cruiseline --as posted go to

http://www.insuremytrip.com

 

Why not buy from your TA if the plan offered is what you want/need? For example, you'll see many posters here recommending the Travelex TraveLite plan. There's many hundreds of TA's who offer that plan at the exact same price as you would get it from Travelex directly or from a site such as insuremytrip.

 

Do some research then when you find a plan that suits your needs ask your TA if he/she offers it. If there's a problem you might appreciate having another person on your side.

[my1stcruz]

I'm lookin at Access America & I can't figure out whether we should go with the family package or the deluxe package. We are getting in 2 days before the cruise and I'm leaving the day after the cruise (the other in my party are leaving the night when we return from the cruise.

 

Also, I have a newbie question: trip cost per person-does that include air/hotel pre & post cruise?

[jerseygirl3]

Why not buy from your TA if the plan offered is what you want/need? For example, you'll see many posters here recommending the Travelex TraveLite plan. There's many hundreds of TA's who offer that plan at the exact same price as you would get it from Travelex directly or from a site such as insuremytrip.

 

Do some research then when you find a plan that suits your needs ask your TA if he/she offers it. If there's a problem you might appreciate having another person on your side.

 

The reason I recommended insuremytrip.com (and Travelex in particular) is because the OP mentioned that what their TA is offering them is much higher priced than quotes they've gotten online. So my guess is the TA is offering them the cruiseline's insurance if it's priced that much higher.

 

To the OP, you need to include in the trip cost anything that you would lose if you had to cancel (air, hotel...both pre and post, shore tours, etc.). If you are unsure of the cost for your air and other incidentals that might be added later, you can always guesstimate and adjust it later. Your premium will go up if your trip costs increases significantly, but play with the numbers and see what you come up with. I always make sure I estimate higher rather than lower, especially when I include airfare.

[cruiseco]

 

Also, I have a newbie question: trip cost per person-does that include air/hotel pre & post cruise?

 

It depends on the plan and your situation. First of all, at most you only want to insure trip arrangements that are pre=paid and non-refundable. So perhaps if you cancel the trip you might be able cancel the post-cruise hotel with no penalty in which case don't insure it.

 

With most plans you can insure as little or as much of your non-refundable trip arrangements as you'd like. But watch out for this exception:

 

With many plans, if you need coverage for pre-existing medical conditions you have to buy the plan within a certain number of days of making the initial trip deposit. But some plans tack on another requirement. For example, this is from Travelex:

 

". . . you are covered for these pre-existing conditions provided:

 

2. The asmount of Trip Cancellation/Interruption coverage originally purchased equals the full cost of all pre-paid, non-refundable expenses."

 

So, in this case if you needed coverage for a pre-existing condition (either for yourself or a non-traveling family member) and you choose not to insure any non-refundable trip arrangements such as air tickets you will lose that coverage.

 

If you don't need pre-existing condition coverage then not covering the air tickets (assuning they're non-refundable) then you can do what you want.

 

By the way, even though many air tickets can be used on a future trip if you have to cancel the trip they are technically non-refundable.