Trip insurance - pros and cons

Rallydave can you clarify something for me? I want to make sure I understand. I have a Chase Shaphire reserve acct. in fact both my DH & I have an acct, 2 seperate accts because of recent 100,000 promos. Anyway because of when we booked our upcoming cruise the initial deposit was placed with a completely different unrelated card, but the final pmt and excursions are all paid for with DH new Chase Shaphire reserve account.

Are you saying that we did not need to pay for the entire trip (Deposit & final ) on one card and still be covered for the full pmt? And that had I paid part of the trip (even a small amount) with my 2nd Chase Saphire Card would get another $10,000 in coverage??? So paying for onboard expenses with that 2nd card could gain an additional TI coverage?

 

I'm getting pretty excited if I understand what you have discussed above and please forgive me for being so dense ;)

 

Can you clarify?

My post and the other more recent one are crystal clear (including Chase confirmation e-mails) that Chase cards cover each separate account limit, effectively doubling the coverage for the appropriate expenses that were paid for (in part or in full) using both cards.

After all, there are two airline tix, two cruise fares, etc. We almost always split the cruise deposit and final payment on the two United Explorer Visas. On occasion, particularly where FF points are concerned, we may even buy separate air tix using the separate cc accounts. The only downside there is that you then need to get the air tix records linked

(for equipment/seats changes) though that link sometimes may get lost.

Where your post asks a new question is when you mention additional onboard charges. IMO, these are consumables -almost all of which, if cancelled due to weather or medical or whatever are refundable and also probably excluded in your cc coverage anyway.

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Thanks Dave, yes my big concern was the deposit made with a completely different account (B of A Alaska Visa) and I was under the impression I had to pay for 100% of the Cruise with my Chase Sapphire Card in order to be eligible TI benefits.

Thanks Dave, yes my big concern was the deposit made with a completely different account (B of A Alaska Visa) and I was under the impression I had to pay for 100% of the Cruise with my Chase Sapphire Card in order to be eligible TI benefits.

Glad I could answer you question. Next cruise paying with 4 different cards and getting total of $40K coverage. Chase is one of the few that clearly says only a portion of the cruise needs to be paid with the Chase card. Have looked at others especially Amex and they clearly say all of the costs need to be paid with their card.

This makes the $300 OBC for Amex virtually worthless when compared to the many more perks with the CSR including triple Membership Reward Points vs. single with Amex and OBC has to be used or lost.

My post and the other more recent one are crystal clear (including Chase confirmation e-mails) that Chase cards cover each separate account limit, effectively doubling the coverage for the appropriate expenses that were paid for (in part or in full) using both cards.

After all, there are two airline tix, two cruise fares, etc. We almost always split the cruise deposit and final payment on the two United Explorer Visas. On occasion, particularly where FF points are concerned, we may even buy separate air tix using the separate cc accounts. The only downside there is that you then need to get the air tix records linked

(for equipment/seats changes) though that link sometimes may get lost.

Where your post asks a new question is when you mention additional onboard charges. IMO, these are consumables -almost all of which, if cancelled due to weather or medical or whatever are refundable and also probably excluded in your cc coverage anyway.

 

 

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Flatbush (and Ralkydave) thank you, I just needed to hear it 3 or 4 times to realize what you both were saying. I get it now. And while I understand normal TI, I had not given much thought until recently regarding the benefits provided thru my credit cards.

Have had several discussions with Chase and Chubb, the insurer for the Chase Sapphire Preferred, Sapphire Reserve, and United Explorer card and confirmed that Flatbush was correct and have contacted Bitbob with my findings which differ from their reporting. Have to be careful with this information. Must have two different cards with different primary owners and the maximum pp is the same as what the plan states. For CSR and CSP that is $20K and for United Explorer $10K

 

So with CSR and CSP by paying at least a portion of the cruise with each card coverage is $29K pp, with CSR or CSP and United, $20K for the person with CSR or CSP and $10K for the one with United or $10K each for both with United. Have this in writing and am posting the final confirmation of this issue below for everyone.

 

 

• Benefit Inquiry <BenefitInquiry@chubb.com>
  
• 
  
• Today at 7:33 AM
  

To

 

 

 

 

Message body

 

Correct. If you each have your account and charge eligible expenses to your respective account, you would be eligible for the benefits tied to that account.

 

 

Regards,

 

Benefit Assistance Center

Federal Insurance Company

202 Halls Mill road

Whitehouse Station, NJ 08889

 

Insurance is underwritten by Federal Insurance Company, a member insurer of the Chubb Group of Insurance Companies. The information that has been provided is general in nature, is descriptive only and is not intended to be a guarantee or determination of coverage or benefits. Whether or to what extent a particular loss is covered depends on the facts and circumstances of the loss and the actual coverage of the policy as issued. Limitations and exclusions apply. For the particular benefits, exclusions, limitations, and conditions of your coverage, please refer to the specific insurance Description of Coverage document that was provided to you by your financial institution with your credit card. You may also obtain a copy of your specific insurance Description of Coverage document by calling the number on the back of your card.

 

Hours of operation of the Benefit Assistance Center are Monday - Friday 8:00am - 5:00pm EST

 

 

 

 

From: ]

Sent: Tuesday, May 09, 2017 11:27 AM

To: Benefit Inquiry <BenefitInquiry@chubb.com>

Subject: Re: Trip Cancellation case 4751837

 

 

 

Thanks for the quick reply. To clarify and confirm what you said, I am primary on my Chase Sapphire Preferred Card and my wife is primary on her Chase Sapphire Reserve Card. Two completely different cards and different accounts and two different card products so believe from what you said, we are covered for up to $20,000 on each card and I do have the benefits booklet and $20,000 is the maximum coverage per occurrence on each account.

 

 

 

As to paying with separate cards, per your T's and C's, we only need to make partial payment with the cards to have coverage so yes, we will pay part of the total payment with each card. We won't pay the total per person as with two people the company applies payments across the two people. We paid a bit over $6,000 with my Chase Sapphire Preferred Card and final payment will be made in the amount of about $26,000 with my wife's Chase Sapphire Reserve Card. Providing the additional information, please confirm subject to the terms and conditions, we will be covered for up to $20,000 for myself and $20,000 for my wife.

 

 

 

Thank you,

Dave. Great job in finally getting what we hope is a "good" answer. Can't wAit to hear that a claim in excess of 20k is successful when two separate accounts owned by two different people are used

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Some things to ask/ponder no matter which insurance you are considering (cruise line / independent / credit card / etc):

• Is the travel insurance primary or secondary? Meaning, do you have to file all claims with any other insurance you hold first before your travel insurance will consider paying?
  
• Do you have hospital of choice? Or does the insurance company get to make that call?
  
• As has been mentioned, look at the travel insurance terms for pre-existing conditions.
  
• Do the pre-existing conditions terms apply to the traveler only, or also to any immediate family members staying home that you may need to cancel for (mother, father, children, grandparents)
  
• If you are traveling with companions and one or more companions have to cancel, will the insurance company pick up the tab if your costs change due to occupancy change?
  

I'm sure there are others, those are top of mind.

Covering a simple ship's doctor visit is rarely why anyone has to pick up a travel insurance policy. You want to cover cancellation within penalty, or major medical with evacuation (My last cruise had to divert less than 24 hours underway to medically disembark someone with a broken hip by tugboat for a medical flight back to the USA; before that had a death onboard in San Juan, so the family had to deal with getting the deceased, and presumably some of the travel party, back to the States, mid-vacation. The list goes on ...)

My "simple" visit to the ship's doctor a couple of years ago on Marina turned into a $4,000+ medical bill which included a day-long hospital visit (ordered by the ship's doctor) for some tests while we were in port. Fortunately, trip insurance covered everything, and we received a full reimbursement within a couple of weeks of returning home. Even a non-evacuation scenario can be expensive.

OP again.

Based on the very useful information, I decided to open a Chase Sapphire card to use for future travel to offset cancellation risks. The idea of decoupling the cancellation insurance from med+evac strikes me as ideal. Looking at prices online, med+evac seems like a prudent choice, possibly going with the annual policy that was mentioned if I start to travel more.

Thanks, everyone!

ETA: I also confirmed coverage with my health insurance provider, which is probably good advice all around.