Confused about insurance. Can you help?

[izodlacoste]

I'm taking what is to be a major trip for my family next summer. We have booked an expensive cabin through the cruise line on a trip out of Europe. We are making air arrangements ourself and will be flying business class from US to europe (expensive) and staying a few nights before and after cruise in Europe.

 

I want to make sure I'm covered for everything including medical emergencies as well as if our flight is canceled or if we have to cancel before the trip.

 

The trip is not until June 2011. I have not made airline reservations yet.

My final payment for cruise is not due until 45 days before the cruise which is sometime in April 2011.

 

Should I book insurance through the cruise ship and then book a separate policy for the air and other time i'm in Europe? should I book one policy for Whole trip. I'm don't care about insurance for personal belongings/luggage (we travel light) but if heaven forbid something happens before or during the cruise to any of us (or our non-traveling family) we want to be covered fully. We have great health insurance here but i know that won't cover us when we are in Europe.

 

Thanks for any guidance you can give me. I'm usually pretty on top of things but this travel insurance is confusing me.

[sirwired]

I would cover the entire trip under a single comprehensive 3rd-party policy. If you get one for the cruise, and another for everything else, you will be paying twice for coverage for much of your trip.

 

SirWired

[darienill]

I just got back from a RCI Australia cruise. I purchased the cruise line insurance and our flight was cancelled, midtrip. The airline provided a room for the night. We missed the sailing. The insurance policy states that "trip delay" is covered. We were delayed and filed a claim. The claim form asks for travel expense, hotels and meals. The policy also states that it covers you even if you book your own air.

We had to catch the ship in route and had expenses of $2700 for four people. The policy covers costs up to $500 for delay. If we had to cancel the cruise we were covered for 75% of the cost.

Medical coverage is seperate. We had a medical claim also and had to go to our own medical insurance first before we could file with the agency.

I used every part of the insurance and found that a lot of things were covered. I'll know for sure when the check arrives. You can read all the gory details on my review when I post it on Rhapsody.

[Host Caroline]

You can always purchase insurance now for the cruise and up the amount of coverage when you purchase your air tickets. If anyone has preexisting conditions insurance will need to be purchased in a "window" after deposit to cover that.

[NW Pacific]

We booked out first trip to Europe a Med/Greek Isles trip Oct.2009 ( cruise is Oct 2010) we always buy trip insurance but wait to do so before final payment, due to the fact if we need to cancel before final payment is due we get our full deposit back, if we had bought insurance at the time of booking and decided to cancel we would loose the cost of insurance. Point is, now you cannot buy "cancel for any reason" insurance unless you purchase it within like 20-30 days of depositing on your cruise. Contributors on this board have always advised not to buy insurance from your cruise line, but taking into consideration current events, I have with my TA done reserach and feel comfortable with going with the cruise line insurance because if worse should happen and we cannot go or get there for an uncovered resaon we would at least get 75 percent of the cruise credited for another cruise or if buying the premium pkg. 90 percent. Other insurances as far as I can find will give nothing for an uncovered event. As far as your air travel, check with you carrier to see if worse situation occurs you would be credited for a future flight, more expensive tickets are usually refundable, but economy in my experience is not. If you have already deposited on your cruise, which I think you have look for your best options for something in return if the worse scenario happens. Happy travels

[sirwired]

I guess which way you go depends on how often you cancel trips that far in advance. If you rarely cancel trips, except at the last minute for emergencies, then the normally less expensive, and far more comprehensive, 3rd party insurance is a good idea.

 

If you regularly change you mind well before your trip, then provider-sold policies can make sense.

 

For me, I'm unlikely to cancel my plans until pretty close to my travel date, so I get 3rd-party insurance, which due to how comprehensive it is, I get without a Cancel for Any Reason rider.

 

SirWired

[Madcap Minx]

We have just tried to book a cruise with airfare and insurance to cover everything only to find out that Princess no longer covers the airfare even if you make it through them. They will cover the cancellation fees and they say the airline will then give you a voucher for future flights. There could be many instances where you would not be able to reuse that particular airfare. I have always done everything through the cruise line and think this new policy is extremely unsatisfactory for older travelers. does anyone know a good 3rd party insurance company as all the ones we have looked up online have bad reviews.

[cherylandtk]

I have used tripinsurancestore.com several times, and can recommend going through them. I am sure there are other good sites as well, but I like this site because

 

a)they only sell what they consider to be the policies that will stand up in case of trouble, which also means you only compare a handful of policies not pages and pages worth and

 

b) the owner Steve has done a lot of work to write and post lots of explanatory pages that explain what trip insurance is and is not, what kinds of things are covered and what things one must watch out for. It is a very good primer on the ins and outs of travel insurance.

[SakeDad]

I purchased TravelGuard when I cruised with my mom and never needed to file a claim but they seemed to have good coverage compared to some of the others. You can get it through your travel agent or on their website directly. I know they have "cancel for any reason" as well. Also, if you purchase your air seperately if you buy the insurance for the cruise you can add the airfare in for a "total cost" package. But make sure whoever you buy it from they will cover pre-existing and air, even when booked seperate.

Have a great trip!