Best time to buy insurance??

[bling19572010]

When is the best time to buy cruise insurance before or after final payment? I plan on buying it from Insure My Cruise.com. Also, I probably won't purchase airfare until after final payment is made. Will that affect when I need to purchase insurance?

[Sueseb]

Usually if you want pre-exsisting medical conditions covered, it must be purchased btween 7-14 days of booking, depending on the company you are using.

[kitty9]

If you, or anyone in your immediate family (even those not traveling with you) have any pre-existing conditions that could cause you to cancel your cruise, the insurance has to be purchased within 10 to 14 days of booking your cruise. You can cover pre-existing if purchased later, but that will cost you much more money than if you had purchased it at the time of booking. If you don't have any pre-existing issues, it doesn't matter when you buy the insurance, but most will buy it at the time of final payment.

[bling19572010]

Fortunately, I don't have to worry about pre-existing conditions. Thanks for the info!

[CaribbeanBound]

Of course, it's nice to get the insurance early so you don't have to fight over whether the health problem actually was pre-existing or not. (Cynical view, I know) but I don't know of any downside to buying the insurance early.

 

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

*****

[Jimsgirl]

Unless you simply change your mind about taking the cruise. Changing from ship A to ship B (same cruise line because of changes to ports of call.) can result in loss of Ins premium.

[Happy ks]

I can think of two big downsides to purchasing insurance early, if you don't need it for pre-existing conditions.

 

1. I absolutely hate to give money to anyone before I need to, especially and insurance company.

 

2. If you have to cancel your cruise before the final payment date, you are out the insurance premium, money for nothing. You may be able to apply it to another trip, but I'm sure there are hoops to jump through for that.

 

We have no pre-existing conditions, so we buy ours right before the date where we would lose our money if we had to cancel, usually 60 days before the cruise.

[flag fan]

Wouldn't someone not necessarily know whether they have "pre-existing conditions." Wouldn't almost any heart attack or stroke be due to some condition that led up to the medical problem? Wouldn't anything other than an accident be due to a "pre-existing condition?" To my knowledge, I have no medical problems, but I wouldn't want to find out be uninsured if something happens overseas. Can someone explain what "pre-existing condition" means for insurance purposes. It its not a problem, I will stop buying insurance when I first book a cruise and wait until closer to the sail date.

[happy cruzer]

Hey, Flag Fan

 

I think you are going to have to do a little research to make sure you get what you want.

First, I seems like you are buying your insurance from the cruise or TA. Probably want to look at insuremytrip.com and use the pointer to the insurance survey posted by CaribbeanBound on this thread.

 

Second pre-existing conditions my be yours or your immediate families conditions, requiring you to cut your trip short to be with them if they get ill. But you are going to have to research all the details- How does the policy define family member (usually not a grandparent, etc.) and what is a pre-existing condition, and what conditions do they cover (you need to know what you want covered, for example if you fall and break your leg, do you want to be medi-vated to the US, alot of the policies would get you treatment on ship or in port and not bring you back to the US.

 

So there are no simple answers. Good luck making a good choice.

[flag fan]

Thanks for the advice.

[cherylandtk]

The most common definition of pre-existing condition is any condition for which you have received medical treatment or evaluation in the prior xx number of days. Conditions which require medication, but are stable and have had no change in medication dosage or prescription are usually excluded. You have to read each policy individually to determine the exact limits and coverages.

[jerseygirl3]

I've always purchased insurance within the time frame indicated for pre-existing conditions to be covered. Up until a year ago, we had no pre-existing conditions to consider, but I still wanted to be on the safe side so I always got it within that time frame. Who knows if a sibling or parent or in-law may have an insigificant medical issue that becomes significant at a later date. A little over a year ago, my seemingly perfectly healthy 45-year-old husband had a massive stroke. Completely out of nowhere. Not sick a day in his life. Didn't even have a cold in the past 15 years that I've known him. In the course of an 11 day hospitalization and a medical work-up, it was discovered that he has Sarcoidosis. The doctors feel it must have in some way contributed to his stoke (possibly the Sarcoidosis got into his brain) since they can find no other possible explanation. Now mind you, they also tell us that the Sarcoidosis has invaded his lungs and lymph nodes, and he's probably had it for many years but it was asymptomatic. So would an insurance company consider that a pre-existing condition? Most likely they would. Could they have denied a claim based on that information? Possibly. Of course, now that we know his medical condition, we always purchase the insurance immediately.

 

BTW, in the past, I've often changed my travel plans and never had any problem with the insurance company simply switching the premium over to the new travel plans. I've even changed a cruise from a Hawaii cruise in April to a Caribbean cruise the following year. If the new travel plans cost less, they will not refund back the difference, but I don't care since it's not usually that much $$$ involved. And they didn't make me "jump through hoops." I simply had to send an email stating my new travel dates and costs. If the new trip cost more to insure, they simply charged my credit card the difference. No problems whatsoever.

[cherylandtk]

For insurance purposes, the sarcoidosis would not be considered 'existing' until your husband first sought treatment. Regardless of how long the disease went unrecognized or unnoticed. So for him, it 'started' right after the stroke. But only for the travel insurance.