May need to cancel a 7-day cruise, can we buy insurance now?

I purchased a 7-day cruise for whole family of 5 people at Norwegian about 1 month ago, but my wife will have a medical exam next week, the result may not be good and we may have to cancel the trip due to that. It will be 3 days prior to the departure of the cruise, and according to the policy, we may not get any refund, it's over $4000 :(

The doctor said she can write up a doctor note for us, but I don't think we can use it.

Is it possible to buy insurance now? Like http://www.insuremytrip.com and http://www.allianztravelinsurance.com ?

My concern is that the insurance may deny our claim for reasons like pre-existing condition. Buy my wife is not diagnosed with any illness now, she could still go if the exam result is good. It all depends on the medical exam result next week.

Welcome any constructive suggestions!

Have you made the final payment on the cruise?

 

My concern is that the insurance may deny our claim for reasons like pre-existing condition. Buy my wife is not diagnosed with any illness now, she could still go if the exam result is good. It all depends on the medical exam result next week.

 

The diagnosis of a specific illness doesn't mark the date that illness is considered "pre-existing". Here's one example from Travel Guard:

"PRE-EXISTING MEDICAL CONDITION EXCLUSION:

The Insurer will not pay for any loss or expense incurred as the result of an Injury, Sickness or other condition of an Insured, Traveling Companion, Business Partner, or Family Member which, within the 180 day period immediately preceding and including the Insured’s coverage effective date: (a) first manifested itself, worsened or became acute or had symptoms which would have prompted a reasonable person to seek diagnosis, care or treatment; (b) for which care or treatment was given or recommended by a Physician; © required taking prescription drugs or medicines, unless the condition for which the drugs or medicines are taken remains controlled without any change in the required prescription drugs or medicines."

So the first date your wife had any symptoms or when her doctor scheduled further tests was when the condition became "pre-existing". The fact that no specific diagnosis has been given is immaterial. I can't think of any plan which purchased now would cover this situation.

I purchased a 7-day cruise for whole family of 5 people at Norwegian about 1 month ago, but my wife will have a medical exam next week, the result may not be good and we may have to cancel the trip due to that. It will be 3 days prior to the departure of the cruise, and according to the policy, we may not get any refund, it's over $4000 :(

 

The doctor said she can write up a doctor note for us, but I don't think we can use it.

 

Is it possible to buy insurance now? Like www.insuremytrip.com and http://www.allianztravelinsurance.com ?

 

My concern is that the insurance may deny our claim for reasons like pre-existing condition. Buy my wife is not diagnosed with any illness now, she could still go if the exam result is good. It all depends on the medical exam result next week.

 

Welcome any constructive suggestions!

You possibly could purchase a plan that would include pre-existing conditions but it would be high being this close to the cruise. I would phone Steve at www.tripinsurancestore.com 1-888-407-3854 immediately and ask him. He is very helpful. At this time your wife has not seen a doctor or had the exam yet so it might be possible. Phone and ask him.

At this time your wife has not seen a doctor or had the exam yet so it might be possible.

No, it's not possible. This would be like calling an insurance agent to purchase a fire insurance policy while your house was burning.

You can't do it. Doesn't matter that she hasn't had the exam. You already know about it and your doctor knows about it. No doctor is going to commit insurance fraud, and you shouldn't consider it either. Insurance would deny this claim.

This is a tough situation and I hope you get positive news.

More details in the other thread OP started about this. After reading this (and there's some amazingly bad "advice" on this thread) I'd again have to say not possible:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=43927078#post43927078

No, it's not possible. This would be like calling an insurance agent to purchase a fire insurance policy while your house was burning.

 

You can't do it. Doesn't matter that she hasn't had the exam. You already know about it and your doctor knows about it. No doctor is going to commit insurance fraud, and you shouldn't consider it either. Insurance would deny this claim.

 

This is a tough situation and I hope you get positive news.

 

More details in the other thread OP started about this. After reading this (and there's some amazingly bad "advice" on this thread) I'd again have to say not possible:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=43927078#post43927078

Thanks for that link which gives a LOT more information than was provided on this post. With the little information provided on this thread I just made the suggestion to talk to an expert at the insurance company (who has in the past helped our family) to see what he thought and if any insurance was a possibility.

Hopefully everything will work out. It's another lesson to buy insurance when you purchase an expensive vacation.

Once final payment occurs, there is not a single policy on the market that I'm aware of that would cover your situation. Nobody will sell you a Cancel for Any Reason policy, and you'd almost certainly be snagged under every single pre-existing condition exlcusion out there.

I think at this point you need to hope for the best at your wife's appointment. If the news isn't good, I would write a heartfelt letter to NCL asking to re-schedule your cruise. Acknowledge that you are asking for something outside the regular cancellation policy and are kindly requesting an exception. Don't be surprised if they say no.

In my opinion, you should still buy insurance for your cruise. No, it won't pay if you need to cancel because of your wife's current health issue, but it could cover other potential problems.

If you're concerned about losing $4,000, then do you care about other more costly things that can happen? What if someone in your family needs to be medically evacuated? Do you have a spare $50,000 or so to pay for that out-of-pocket? (Anybody can have an appendix emergency or fall and need surgery.)

Since you said your wife might catch up to the cruise, does she have a passport to fly to a foreign port? Would she have to travel alone?

I wish your family the best.