Viking Sea Baltic Jewels & Midnight Sun June 19, 2016

Just signed up for a 29 day cruise on Viking Sea for June 19, 2016. We are doing the Baltic Jewels & Midnight Sun. We have 12 days left to decide on trip insurance for cancel for any reason waiver. At a cost through Viking of several thousand dollars, does anyone have any suggestions on options to this. We have elderly parents that trip cancellation is a strong consideration. Thanks in advance.

We are also on the June 19, 2016 "Into the Midnight Sun." When researching insurance I learned that not many companies would insure our cruise this far out. I went with RoamRight, which I purchased through insuremytrip dot com, a broker for many plans.

You can call the broker and get excellent advice as well as study the plans online.

I believe you only have to insure your initial deposit, rather than the entire cruise, and then insure the remainder of the cost when you make the final payment. That way you will pay only a fraction of the cost of the insurance until final payment. So if you decide to cancel before final, you can get your cruise deposit back, without having paid a bundle for insurance. Of course, once final payment if made, you will have to add to the insured amount and pay the big premium.

Since Viking requires final payment in mid-Dec, you are only "stalling" for 2 1/2 months. But please double check with the insurance co. you decide to go with to make sure this strategy works for CFAR and waiver of pre-existing conditions.

Good luck and let us know what you do.

john

Thanks for your reply. Just got back from out of town and went on line to check out insuremytrip.com and RoamRight. The 12 plans were more expensive than the one through Viking which is TripMate except for one. I went on line to check out some reviews on TripMate and didn't feel a great level of comfort but since the cruise is with Viking I wonder what other people have experienced with Viking and their trip insurer. Have you had any experience with them or why did you search for a plan outside Viking. I know from the Insuremytrip.com cost is related to trip duration, cost and age but i thought they would be less expensive not more.

I have never purchased insurance from the operator of a tour or cruise. Reason - in the unlikely event that the operator goes out of business, you probably won't have insurance to reimburse your costs.

Also, I have found that being able to select from hundreds of policies I can tailor my needs exactly, rather than take the one-size-fits-all from the operator.

I'm not pushing InsureMyTrip because I have any interest in that company, rather I find it very convenient to compare the plans/benefits side-by-side on the web and call them with questions. They will take the time to compare policies they sell with the ones from Viking if you ask them. You might be better off (cost wise) going with Viking, but there are other things to consider.

john

Thanks John for your quick response. I now have more options to consider than before. Hope to meet you on a great cruise that hits a number of ports on our bucket list. Hopefully Viking Oceans is as good as our trip with Viking Rivers we just returned from. Unfortunately, this is after paying for a trip with Viking by the 17th of December, 550 days in advance. Ain't that sweet. Got to love it. Take care. See you in 612 days.

you might want to look at the trip insurance area of CC forums.

Also remember that until much later you can cancel with Viking without penalty. What you are guarding against now is the pre-existing conditions clauses in most travel insurance policies. I'm waiting just a little longer for my 4/2015 sailing to purchase my policy.

We are also on the June 19, 2016 "Into the Midnight Sun."

john

John, I hope that you will join the roll call for "Into the Midnight Sun." A year and a half out and we already have four CCers in the conversation.

I didn't even know that this Viking Oceans forum existed until TopCat mentioned it in his latest post on the roll call. But, I think I'm going to stay away from here for a while, until the first sailings are over and the kinks have been worked out. I don't think I can handle the birth pains. Year two will be different (and it will have its own problems).

John, I hope that you will join the roll call for "Into the Midnight Sun." A year and a half out and we already have four CCers in the conversation.

I posted something on the roll call way back on January 31st but haven't seen anything posted after that. Is that roll call still active?

I posted something on the roll call way back on January 31st but haven't seen anything posted after that. Is that roll call still active?

Yes.