Travel Insurance

[mrobinson]

Need some advice on which Travel Insurance to purchase. In past we've always purchased CSA Travel Protection thru TA.

 

However we are now Platinum Princess members and are looking at the Princess Insurance (with free upgrade to the Platinum Insurance).

 

The Princess Insurance is $20 more than the CSA - main difference from what I can see is:

 

Princess covers the cancel for any reason. CSA doesn't.

CSA provides much higher level of Medical Expense and Emergency Assistance (50,000 and 250,000) - where Princess only covers $20,000/$50,000.

 

So the main benefit I can see on getting the Princess is the coverage for cancelling for any reason.

 

We just found out last month that my month has end stage lung cancer and will probably only live 6 months at most. Our trip is early Dec 2009- so she probably will die before then but might not (she has bad dementia - so this is a blessing in disguise)

 

I'm leaning towards the Princess coverage because it gives us some flexibility in case she doesn't die but is near death right before the cruise - we could still cancel. Obviously both policies cover in case of death of family member.

 

My husband and I are very healthy (but in our 50s) - so we don't aniticipate neading the medical or emergency coverage - but you never know.

 

Just wanted to talk this through and see what you all thought - the extra $20 for princess coverage isn't a deal breaker - it's mainly what the coverage provides.

 

Buy Princess or other provider for insurance?? Thoughts?

[Toto2Kansas]

Keep in mind, if you are booking your own air, Princess insurance does not cover privately booked airfare. ;)

[Ken076]

Need some advice on which Travel Insurance to purchase. In past we've always purchased CSA Travel Protection thru TA.

 

However we are now Platinum Princess members and are looking at the Princess Insurance (with free upgrade to the Platinum Insurance).

 

The Princess Insurance is $20 more than the CSA - main difference from what I can see is:

 

Princess covers the cancel for any reason. CSA doesn't.

CSA provides much higher level of Medical Expense and Emergency Assistance (50,000 and 250,000) - where Princess only covers $20,000/$50,000.

 

So the main benefit I can see on getting the Princess is the coverage for cancelling for any reason.

 

We just found out last month that my month has end stage lung cancer and will probably only live 6 months at most. Our trip is early Dec 2009- so she probably will die before then but might not (she has bad dementia - so this is a blessing in disguise)

 

I'm leaning towards the Princess coverage because it gives us some flexibility in case she doesn't die but is near death right before the cruise - we could still cancel. Obviously both policies cover in case of death of family member.

 

My husband and I are very healthy (but in our 50s) - so we don't aniticipate neading the medical or emergency coverage - but you never know.

 

Just wanted to talk this through and see what you all thought - the extra $20 for princess coverage isn't a deal breaker - it's mainly what the coverage provides.

 

Buy Princess or other provider for insurance?? Thoughts?

 

The Princess Insurance IS now tempting because of the "Cancel for any Reason" (note that you get a future Cruise CREDIT, not a REFUND, which sounds like you might be OK with) and in your case the doubled Medical coverages. The main issue would be that the Princess Policy doesn't offer "Waiver of Pre-Existing Conditions", which the CSA and most other Policies offer -and- the coverages for the CSA and other Policies are generally much higher than for Princess Policy.

 

Sounds to me like you're basically trading-off the "Cancel for Any Reason" Cruise Credit for Mom's condition for "Waiver of Pre-Existing conditions" that doesn't necessarily benefit you.

 

Normally CSA would be the "better" policy, but in your specific situation, IMO the Princess Policy is the better Policy!!!!

[mrobinson]

Thanks for the reminder - I did catch that when reading the policy. However our privately booked air is only costing the two of us a total of $280. Got some cheap flights from Baltimore to Ft Lauderdale - so I don't care if we are out that money.

 

However after being on Saphire Princess last fall when they changed our Mexican Riveria cruise to a California coastal cruise due to swine flu- it would have been nice to have been able to cancel for any reason - we ended up going and got the 50% future credit.

[mrobinson]

Thanks - that is what I was thinking. We don't have any pre-existing conditions - so that doesn't apply to us.

 

I think I'll probably go with the Princess Insurance this time. And yess 100% credit is fine with us - since we've been taking a cruise a year -so we would use it.

 

Just needed someone else's opinion that it made more sense.

[Ken076]

Thanks - that is what I was thinking. We don't have any pre-existing conditions - so that doesn't apply to us.

 

I think I'll probably go with the Princess Insurance this time. And yess 100% credit is fine with us - since we've been taking a cruise a year -so we would use it.

 

Just needed someone else's opinion that it made more sense.

 

I think this is a good decision. The future Cruise Credit DOES make the Princess Policy tempting - we used it for our upcomming Alaska cruise, where we don't have airfare that we need to insure.

 

The concern for non-platinum cruisers is that the "regular" Princess Policy has much too low medical coverage, marginal MedEvac coverage and doesn't include "Waiver of Pre-Existing Conditions". The Waiver is actually advantageous to EVERYONE, as it makes it potentially much easier when you file a claim that the insurer isn't in a position find reasons to reject claims on the basis of "pre-existing"..

 

ken

[mrobinson]

I agree - without the free Platinum upgrade - I don't think I'd consider it.

 

Stupid question - but the price for the Princess insurance - that would include both of us - correct. It isn't per person price?

 

I know my CSA price covers both of us -

[Toto2Kansas]

I agree - without the free Platinum upgrade - I don't think I'd consider it.

 

Stupid question - but the price for the Princess insurance - that would include both of us - correct. It isn't per person price?

 

I know my CSA price covers both of us -

 

Princess insurance is like their hotel rates, per person. So, double what Princess is saying they will charge you for two passengers.

[Ken076]

I agree - without the free Platinum upgrade - I don't think I'd consider it.

 

Stupid question - but the price for the Princess insurance - that would include both of us - correct. It isn't per person price?

 

I know my CSA price covers both of us -

 

How did you determine the cost for the Princess Insurance: the cost is stated as 8% of the Cruisefare (not including the taxes) but for me it always comes out less. You might want to call Princess and verify.

 

ken

[TomCruises]

Need some advice on which Travel Insurance to purchase. In past we've always purchased CSA Travel Protection thru TA.

 

However we are now Platinum Princess members and are looking at the Princess Insurance (with free upgrade to the Platinum Insurance).

 

The Princess Insurance is $20 more than the CSA - main difference from what I can see is:

 

Princess covers the cancel for any reason. CSA doesn't.

CSA provides much higher level of Medical Expense and Emergency Assistance (50,000 and 250,000) - where Princess only covers $20,000/$50,000.

 

So the main benefit I can see on getting the Princess is the coverage for cancelling for any reason.

 

We just found out last month that my month has end stage lung cancer and will probably only live 6 months at most. Our trip is early Dec 2009- so she probably will die before then but might not (she has bad dementia - so this is a blessing in disguise)

 

I'm leaning towards the Princess coverage because it gives us some flexibility in case she doesn't die but is near death right before the cruise - we could still cancel. Obviously both policies cover in case of death of family member.

 

My husband and I are very healthy (but in our 50s) - so we don't aniticipate neading the medical or emergency coverage - but you never know.

 

Just wanted to talk this through and see what you all thought - the extra $20 for princess coverage isn't a deal breaker - it's mainly what the coverage provides.

 

Buy Princess or other provider for insurance?? Thoughts?

 

 

 

Nobody can advise you which insurance to buy!My only advice is that you visit InsureMyTrip.com and make your own "informed" decision!If you haven't already purchased the Princess (Berkeley Group Insurance) with your initial reservation,you may have already waived some of the "cancel for any reason & pre existing clauses for those policies.Most carriers only offer these benefits should the policy be purchased within 7-14 days of the initial booking.Check it out for yourself!

[fathercop]

I agree - without the free Platinum upgrade - I don't think I'd consider it.

 

Stupid question - but the price for the Princess insurance - that would include both of us - correct. It isn't per person price?

 

I know my CSA price covers both of us -

 

It is this free upgrade that usually has me choosing Princess' travel insurance, too.

 

We are using it for our upcoming cruise. However, I do not like that it does not cover non-Princess air. Princess air is almost always way more expensive than what I could get on my own.

[Colo Cruiser]

Us too Rich. :)

[Sunsailor]

We are using Princess platinum insurance for our cruise however we insured our air through Access America which insures many of the airline passengers. For $10 more we added medical and medical evacuation for our trip. It covers from departure to return and if necessary it will be secondary to the Princess medical.

If we were concerned about pre-existing conditions I would use Travelex which covers pre-existing conditions so long as you buy the insurance within 21 days of booking your trip.

(I would check to make sure it is still 21 days)

Just a note: We have had good results when we have made claims to both Travelex and Access America.

Hope this indfo helps.

[rdsqrl]

If it's any reassurance, I'll chime in and say that I had to invoke Princess's "cancel for any reason" clause for my cruise last New Year's, and was wondering how it would all work since I'd never had to cancel a trip/claim insurance ever before, and it couldn't have been easier. Naturally, I hope you don't have to cancel, but if you do, rest assured that on both ends, Berkley's and Princess's, the process was pretty quick and very easy. You fill out a form and send it in to Berkley, they send you a letter (it seemed like practically the next day!) declining the claim and referring you to Princess, and then all it takes is one phone call and Princess had a letter out to me within 7 days that served as my official "cruise credit" notification. Honestly, the whole thing from first phone call to Princess to cancel to opening the envelope with the cruise credit letter probably ate up no more than 30 minutes of my time total. As someone who hates wasting time on "administrative" crap like insurance and so forth, I have to give Princess's coverage major props. Good luck with whatever you decide, and my condolences about your mother.

[TomCruises]

I agree - without the free Platinum upgrade - I don't think I'd consider it.

 

Stupid question - but the price for the Princess insurance - that would include both of us - correct. It isn't per person price?

 

I know my CSA price covers both of us -

 

It is per person.Once again, I'll stress the importance of reviewing other options at insuremytrip.com.We have always been able to find policies that provide much better coverage (including airfare) at nearly half the cost of Berkeley,generally 4%-5% of total trip cost!