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Carnival Travel Insurance


cmjb4ever

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So yesterday I decided to buy travel insurance and I went to Carnival's site and added the protection plan. We don't cruise until Sept. 7 and our final payment isn't due until July 9, so I haven't yet paid for the insurance. We have an early saver booking. Then on the advice of posters on here, I shopped for third party insurance and found something cheaper than Carnival's, so I purchased it. When I went online to remove Carnival's from my bill, it gave me a message that I cannot remove it during the penalty period. Does anyone know what this means? I am stuck with having two travel insurance policies? Please help!!!

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We've never purchased insurance, so I can't help you with your question, but we, too have an early saver and cruise in November. Could you tell me more about the 3rd party insurance that you purchased. We may like to do something like that. I hope it works out for you to get your insurance from Carnival taken off.

 

C. Anne

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The Carnival Berkely Policy itself states that "The plan cost is non-refundable once you enter the cancellation penalty period...". when you book a cruise, the Final Payment Deadline (aka Cancellation deadline) is the day you have to make your final payment.

 

Your only hope is that the 3rd party Policy you purchased has a 10-day examination period, such that you could use that to cancel the 3rd party policy, IF that can be done after Final Payment Deadline.

 

What specific Policy did you purchase?

 

ken

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We've never purchased insurance, so I can't help you with your question, but we, too have an early saver and cruise in November. Could you tell me more about the 3rd party insurance that you purchased. We may like to do something like that. I hope it works out for you to get your insurance from Carnival taken off.

 

C. Anne

 

I’ve been researching the Carnival Berkley Policy versus various 3rd Party Policies as listed on www.insuremytrip.com and www.buyamericaninsurance.com .

I did find some surprising (little known?) coverages in the Carnival Policy:

 

  • The Carnival policy is fully refundable if you cancel Cruise Booking & Trip Insurance prior to Final Payment deadline.
  • If your Carnival insurance claim is declined due to a Pre-Existing Medical condition, you will still receive the claim amount as credit toward a future cruise.
  • Carnival Insurance guarantees a $1000 payment to the Hospital if required for your admittance.
  • Carnival Insurance arranges for your Medical Evacuation and guarantees (pre-pays) the transportation company.
  • According to Carnival and Berkley Reps (and the Trip Insurance Airfare FAQ’s) the Carnival Insurance Trip Cancellation coverage also covers Non-Carnival Airfare!!! I have some trouble believing this! But from a carefull reading of the words of the Policy, one could infer this to be the case!!!

With Respect To other 3rd Party Policies, the Carnival Berkley Policy is “lacking” in these areas:

  • Carnival Policy has No Waiver of Pre-Existing Conditions
  • Carnival’s $30,000 Medical Evacuation coverage is barely adequate for the Caribbean and very low for European Cruises.
  • Carnival’s $10,000 Medical coverage is pretty low.
  • Carnival has no Accidental Death & Dismemberment (AD&D) Coverage for Airline Flights or for the Cruise.
  • Carnival’s premiums are overall higher than the 3rd party policies which have better coverages. The Carnival premiums are MUCH higher for younger travelers, who can save 50% or more, with higher coverages, by using the 3rd party policies.

The following 3 Policies stand-out for the indicated reasons:

PATRIOT T.R.I.P. is an (almost) comparable policy in coverages (except for too low coverage for Medical Evacuation and for Baggage Delay/Loss), with MUCH lower premiums.

TRAVEL INSURED LITE EXPANDED is about 25% less expensive for Senior Travelers and some 50% less expensive for Younger Travelers. The policy offers much higher Medical Expense and Medical Evacuation coverages, and includes Waiver of Pre-Existing Conditions, optional AD&D coverage, 1 kid per adult insured FREE, and Trip Cancellation coverage for Extended School Schedule.

CSA FREESTYLE looks to give the “best bang for the buck” with much higher/better coverag (for all but Baggage Delay/Loss). The policy includes coverages for Missed Connection, Waiver of Pre-Existing Conditions when purchased as late as FINAL Payment, Rental Car CDW, and AD&D Flight coverage. The premiums are lower for Seniors and quite a bit lower for Younger Travelers, but you can decrease those premiums by 20% more if you purchase your policy less than 20 days before sailing (I suspect that you lose the Waiver of Pre-Existing conditions).

Noteworthy coverages are indicated in bold.

· Several Policies include EXTENSION OF SCHOOL YEAR as a covered reason for cancellation: CSA, TRAVEL-INSURED

· Several policies specifically include MISSED [AIRPORT] CONNECTION coverage: CSA, PATRIOT-TRIP, TRAVEL-INSURED

· Several Policies include EMPLOYER LAYOFF as covered reason for cancellation: CSA, TRAVELEX, PATRIOT-TRIP

· Several policies cover Kids free for insured parents: TRAVELEX, TRAVEL-INSURED

· Several Policies offer CANCEL FOR BUSINESS REASONS option: CSA, TRAVELEX, TRAVEL-INSURED, AIG

· Several Policies offer CANCEL FOR MILITARY REASONS OPTION: TRAVELEX

· Several Policies offer CANCEL FOR ANY REASON option: CSA LUXE (up to 100% Refund), TRAVEL-INSURED (75% Refund), AIG CRUISE (75% Refund), TravelSafe

· Several Policies provide 150% OF TRIP COST reimbursement for Trip Interruption which better covers Expenses AND Airline Ticket.

· Several Policies offer Accidental Death & Dismemberment (AD&D) coverage for covered Airline flights.

· Several Policies return your premium if you cancel your cruise booking.

· The CSA Policies offer “Last Minute Purchase” 20% discount for purchase 20 days before departure.

· Travel Safe has the most detailed Policy.

For policies marked “secondary”, you will have to FIRST file with any of your existing Medical Plans, Homeowner’s Policies, or Credit Card Policies that apply; the “secondary” policy will cover (up to it’s limits) any expenses not paid by your PRIMARY policies.

For whichever of your Health Coverages (your own Health Plan or your Trip Insurance Plan) is PRIMARY, you probably want to use the Doctors/Facilities enrolled with that PRIMARY plan, in order to maximize benefits.

WRT premium costs, The Cruise Line policies noticeably discriminate against young and middle-aged cruisers – younger cruisers in particular should seriously consider these 3rd party policies that also factor age into the premium calculation. For Cruisers over age 60 the 3rd party std policy premiums are fairly close to those of the Cruise Lines, but with much better coverages than the Cruise Line coverages.

Ken

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I got Travelex Max from insuremytrip dot com and I do think there is a review period, so maybe I can cancel that. I just called Carnival and was told that I cannot cancel their insurance since I'm early saver. It would have been nice if that had been posted right on the website when I made one simple click. For the record, I did read the policy plan information before I made that click. It's not in that information. Oh well, even if I can't cancel Travelex, it's a nominal loss.

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I got Travelex Max from insuremytrip dot com and I do think there is a review period, so maybe I can cancel that. I just called Carnival and was told that I cannot cancel their insurance since I'm early saver. It would have been nice if that had been posted right on the website when I made one simple click. For the record, I did read the policy plan information before I made that click. It's not in that information. Oh well, even if I can't cancel Travelex, it's a nominal loss.

 

The rep is a bit confused on Carnival and Berkely, but it doesn't affect your situation.

 

 

The Quote I gave you is directly from the Berkely Trip Protection Policy.

 

TravelEx policies have a 10-day Review period which is stated as long as you haven't departed on trip or exercised a claim , so I think you may be OK on cancelling that policy ASAP. That's a shame, as that Policy has some nice benefits (Kids free with insured adults, employer layoff, reimbursement for airline change fees, etc.).

 

The Carnival Policy is still "adequate", just more expensive and not as wide/great a coverage as that TravelEx policy!!!

 

To ensure optimum "Pre-Existing conditions" coverage, the best time to buy the 3rd party polcies is at time of Cruise Deposit.

 

ken

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I got Travelex Max from insuremytrip dot com and I do think there is a review period, so maybe I can cancel that. I just called Carnival and was told that I cannot cancel their insurance since I'm early saver. It would have been nice if that had been posted right on the website when I made one simple click. For the record, I did read the policy plan information before I made that click. It's not in that information. Oh well, even if I can't cancel Travelex, it's a nominal loss.

 

For the benefit of others!!!! With Carnival's Trip Protection Insurance, if you cancel your Cruise prior to the Final Payment deadline (and haven't made an insurance claim), the premium for your Carnival Trip Protection Insurance is refundable.

 

If Early Savers cancel prior to final Payment deadline they lose their deposit (but may transfer to a different cruise for $50pp) but in my opinion their Carnival Trip Insurance premium would still be refundable.

 

ken

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cmjb4ever - I just re-read your initial post, indicating you're not even close to final payment deadline!

 

Your issue is that if you cancel your cruise prior to final payment deadline, your Carnival Trip Protection premium IS refundable, but the case where you want to keep the cruise and cancel the Policy, isn't addressed in the Policy.

 

You should be able to cancel the TravelEx policy, but first maybe call the Carnival Protection Plan Hotline 800 number and ask"if I keep the cruise can I cancel the Carnival Protection Plan prior to Final Payment Deadline? and How?"

 

ken

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I got Travelex Max from insuremytrip dot com and I do think there is a review period, so maybe I can cancel that. I just called Carnival and was told that I cannot cancel their insurance since I'm early saver. It would have been nice if that had been posted right on the website when I made one simple click. For the record, I did read the policy plan information before I made that click. It's not in that information. Oh well, even if I can't cancel Travelex, it's a nominal loss.

 

It is posted right on the website before you purchase.

 

Travelex Travel Max

 

Refund Policy10 Day Free Look

 

Contact them and you should be fine to get a refund.

 

Howard

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Thanks, Ken. I will call Carnival back. I just think it's crappy that it wasn't made more clear that I couldn't remove the insurance prior to final payment. But I can cancel Travelex then it's not a big deal. Live and learn!

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The following 3 Policies stand-out for the indicated reasons:

 

Your mileage may vary, but...

 

I've researched the policies in the past and have no reason to redo the searches as I've found Travelex provides the best all-around policy when you put their pricing together with the coverage they provide. Medical coverage is primary and limits are high. We've purchased with them our past 3 cruises and yesterday just purchased for our cruise next year.

 

Howard

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Hey, Ken - what exactly is the CSA plan and how do I get in touch with them as I am about 20 days from sailing and haven't gotten insurance yet. A 20% discount would be really nice! Thanks, Beth

 

The CSA policies are available through insuremytrip dot com and full details are there - you can compare with many others easily in a table format. However, even with a 20% discount they are similarly priced with the comparable Travelex policies, have lower limits of coverage, and medical coverage is secondary, not priimary.

 

Howard

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Thanks for all that info. Looks like travel insure would work best for us next year. If all 4 kids would be free that should save a lot, then having the school extension policy would benefit us too since some times snow days push us long. We'd be able to chance booking closer to the scheduled end of the school year if we had a policy to cover the extension.

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Thanks for all that info. Looks like travel insure would work best for us next year. If all 4 kids would be free that should save a lot, then having the school extension policy would benefit us too since some times snow days push us long. We'd be able to chance booking closer to the scheduled end of the school year if we had a policy to cover the extension.

 

 

checkout the Policies - I believe it's one kid free per insured adult for the Lite and LiteExpanded policies and all kids free with the more expensive Protector Policy. Also check the TravelEx Polcies for Under 16 Free (I didn;t check if TravelEx has Extended School Yeqar coverage).

 

ken

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Update: I called Carnival several times last night and FINALLY got them to remove the travel insurance without any penalty. They kept telling me that because I booked early saver, it was non-refundable. I kept arguing that I added it after booking and that nothing told me that it was nonrefundable when I have not even paid for it yet. I also told them that I'd take OBC instead of removal, but they finally removed it. So I can stick with Travelex Max. Thanks for the advice!

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  • 1 month later...

My wife and I wouldn't cruise without travel ins. If you ever have to use it, it will pay for itself. So many things can happen while on vacation. We have alway use Berkley Ins. with AAA. It is a little more than Carnival's Ins, but I think the extra cost is worth it.

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We have alway use Berkley Ins. with AAA. It is a little more than Carnival's Ins, but I think the extra cost is worth it.

 

What coverages is your AAA Berkley policy providing that Carnival's is not? Why do you believe the extra cost is worth it?

 

If the AAA policy is more expensive than Carnival's, then unless you've got specific numbers showing why the extra cost above Carnivals make your AAA policy better, we already know that you can get much better coverage for much less money elsewhere.

 

 

Howard

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