Travel Ins. Question

No question about whether or not to get travel insurance, but when? I just booked a cruise for early next Oct. Both my dh and I are both in fairly good health and on the usual meds that 60 yr. olds might be on. No change in the past few months. Should I put the insurance on now, within the 21 days for pre-existing conditions.

I know we could only put it on the initial deposit, but I'm not clear on what the insurance companies mean by pre-existing. Also, we're not 100% sure that we'll go on this cruise yet. Until final payment is made in July or we purchase airfare, nothing is written in stone.

What do you do?

No question about whether or not to get travel insurance, but when? I just booked a cruise for early next Oct. Both my dh and I are both in fairly good health and on the usual meds that 60 yr. olds might be on. No change in the past few months. Should I put the insurance on now, within the 21 days for pre-existing conditions.

 

I know we could only put it on the initial deposit, but I'm not clear on what the insurance companies mean by pre-existing. Also, we're not 100% sure that we'll go on this cruise yet. Until final payment is made in July or we purchase airfare, nothing is written in stone.

 

What do you do?

We always buy insurance as soon as we've made the deposit. But, we don't put down the deposit for "just in case" we want to cruise. We commit when we book.

Those 21 days for pre-existing condition are counted from the day of initial deposit. For example, if you paid your deposit on the prior cruise in September, you are past 21 days.

Some companies allow this: insure your deposit only, and add more and pay as you pay full amount or buy the flights. Call your insurance company to confirm.

Those 21 days for pre-existing condition are counted from the day of initial deposit. For example, if you paid your deposit on the prior cruise in September, you are past 21 days.

 

Some companies allow this: insure your deposit only, and add more and pay as you pay full amount or buy the flights. Call your insurance company to confirm.

We bought a FCC on Princess more then 3 yrs. ago. I didn't want to lose the benefits of that if I didn't book a cruise, so the cruise I put the deposit on seems the most likely one we'll do. Money wasn't put on the date of the cruise until Oct. 27th. I know if I did insure it and didn't go on this cruise I could move the insurance to another in the future. I believe that to get within the 21 days pre-existing I'll have to do it tomorrow.

We self insured for years... by that I mean no insurance. We are 82 and 67.

We have cruised and traveled since the early 1980s.

Started purchasing insurance a few years back, but don't do it on the cruise fare... because we sometimes we change our minds. Instead, I purchase insurance at the time of final payment, on the basis of the airfare not the cruise. Do so because then our entire travel time out of the USA is covered, sometimes we stay extra time before or after a cruise when we travel. I also don't worry about pre existing conditions because we are basically very healthy even though up in years... so we still take some chances.

I did look into purchasing an annual travel health insurance package from Travel Guard that is sold for business travelers, which provides for medical care and evacuation. Since I am not really trying to insure the trip, an annual plan for health and evacuation when out of the country is all I really need. I found such a plan was fairly reasonable. One does not need to be a business travel to purchase it. I got a quote in August for about $500 for the two us for the year.

I have not purchased the plan yet. Just put a deposit on a cruise today, so will probably buy an annual package with travel Guard.

With the deadline of 21 days coming up to purchase for pre-existing, I think I'll go ahead and purchase it just for the deposit. I have so many days to look the policy over and can still get my money back. I usually book with insuremy trip.com. Not all policies offer coverage for pre-existing.

The cost of it is getting higher as we get older, but, we had 3 times in our 25 yrs. of travel that we had to cancel within 2 wks of going. Insurance is something we never want to get our moneys worth out of!

With the deadline of 21 days coming up to purchase for pre-existing, I think I'll go ahead and purchase it just for the deposit. I have so many days to look the policy over and can still get my money back. I usually book with insuremy trip.com. Not all policies offer coverage for pre-existing.

 

The cost of it is getting higher as we get older, but, we had 3 times in our 25 yrs. of travel that we had to cancel within 2 wks of going. Insurance is something we never want to get our moneys worth out of!

Have you considered taking the Princess insurance? I always take it, more for the medical coverage than the coverage for the cruise fare. I pay for it at the time of booking. I had occasion to file a claim a couple of years ago and it reimbursed me for ever cent of my onboard medical care. The cost is a percentage of the cruise fare. And there is no age related factor.

You should be able to get on the Princess website and take a look at their coverage.

I've not seen any policy that you get just for your deposit---and who told you that you can only get insurance for your deposit? We always purchase insurance at the time of booking, and we cover the entire cost of the cruise. What if you have to cancel at the last minute, once you've paid for the whole cruise, but only have coverage for the couple hundred dollars of the deposit? We had to cancel a cruise two days before departure due to a death in the family---thankfully we had insurance and got all our money back.

I always purchase insurance within a couple days of booking. What if something happened to me in-between booking and buying insurance months later?

I always purchase insurance for any travel outside of the country after I pay the initial trip deposit. Annual Travelguard policies cover very little; read them carefully. I am most concerned with medical costs and getting home if something happens; those expenses can be astronomical. I am less worried about the cost of the trip.

You can initially insure your deposit, and then, as you incur more costs, you inform the insurance company. Travelguard requires you to do this to have "pre-existing condition" coverage. If you cancel your trip, TG will let you transfer your policy to another one.

I buy insurance because unexpected things happen, even to people in very good health.

Unless I was really unsure about taking the cruise, I'd buy insurance for the whole cruise within the 21 day period of initial deposit. Be sure to note that some policies require it to be purchased sooner than that.

I'm like several of you; though I would hate to eat the cost of the cruise itself and related expenses (hotels, air, etc.) we could handle that. We can't handle several hundred thousand dollars for a truly catastrophic event. I use Insuremytrip as well and study the policies as best I can to find the best medical and evacuation coverage. It also has to be a policy that covers pre-existing conditions not only for us but for family members because of elderly parents. We're looking at the possibility of having to cancel our Dec. cruise because of my mother's health.

We have had payouts three times for trips cancelled because of health (not ours). With the right documentation, we have always been fully reimbursed.

I'm not a fan of the Cruise line insurance because it does not have very good medical and evacuation coverage; not sure about pre-existing conditions. The good thing about it is that prices don't seem to rise with age.

Things can happen even to the young and healthy, as we have found out, unfortunately.

We buy MedJet annually. For trip insurance we do not insure the cost of the trip. We do get medical with a very high limit.

I've not seen any policy that you get just for your deposit---and who told you that you can only get insurance for your deposit? We always purchase insurance at the time of booking, and we cover the entire cost of the cruise. What if you have to cancel at the last minute, once you've paid for the whole cruise, but only have coverage for the couple hundred dollars of the deposit? We had to cancel a cruise two days before departure due to a death in the family---thankfully we had insurance and got all our money back.

We have always done the following, at least the last few years. When we make the initial deposit, say $500. I insure that much. When final payment is made I'll add the total amount that the cruise, airfare, etc. is costing. This way the total amount of the cruise and non-refundable travel is covered. I had asked Insuremytrip.com about this. That way, should we have to cancel the trip before we need to use any of the benefits of the insurance, the insurance co. gives you a little time to transfer the insurance to another trip. I did this last yr. I was booked on an RCCL cruise, but decided to go on NCL a few months later. I had put the travel insurance on when the trip was booked. They allow you to change the ship or airline or date.

I've not seen any policy that you get just for your deposit---and who told you that you can only get insurance for your deposit? We always purchase insurance at the time of booking, and we cover the entire cost of the cruise. What if you have to cancel at the last minute, once you've paid for the whole cruise, but only have coverage for the couple hundred dollars of the deposit? We had to cancel a cruise two days before departure due to a death in the family---thankfully we had insurance and got all our money back.

It's not like we're only going to insure the cost of the deposit, you're just insuring what you can lose. When final payment is made you MUST add on the full cost you would lose should u have to cancel. If you insure with your travel agent most likely they won't offer u that. We do our own insurance and include airfare, non-refundable tours, etc. I never knew this until someone directly from the insurance co. told me. Like they say, "if u don't ask, u won't know."

I always purchase insurance for any travel outside of the country after I pay the initial trip deposit. Annual Travelguard policies cover very little; read them carefully. I am most concerned with medical costs and getting home if something happens; those expenses can be astronomical. I am less worried about the cost of the trip.

 

You can initially insure your deposit, and then, as you incur more costs, you inform the insurance company. Travelguard requires you to do this to have "pre-existing condition" coverage. If you cancel your trip, TG will let you transfer your policy to another one.

 

I buy insurance because unexpected things happen, even to people in very good health.

Like you I don't care about insuring the trip, I only want to cover accident/ medical costs and getting home if something happens... Travel Guard - Business Travel annual coverage will cover these expenses. Accident/Medical was $50,000, emergency Evacuation & Repatriation of Remains $500,000, plus some miscl other trip interruption etc., which I don't care much about.

As I say Travel Guard quoted me about $550 I think for the two us for an annual policy. I checked into it after pay nearly $800 at final payment for a standard Travel Guard policy which I have purchased in the past through my travel agent for about 50% less. This year the rate doubled. I thought the new rates were too high so called Travel Guard and explored other options for future coverage. I was interested in an annual policy... so if we cancelled a trip it did not matter. We only travel once or twice a year.