How Much Coverage To Buy?

[florida lover]

Our cruise and airfare cost $5000.00 for each of us, then we have 9 days in London & Paris hotels (both Marriotts) Airfare was booked thru Princess EzAir. Should we get $5000 each for insurance or more/less? Cruise starts on May 27, 2011.

 

Thank you.

[CruisinGerman]

Definitely cover your cruise and airfare $5,000 x 2. And definitely make sure that your end date of the trip registered on your insurance doesn't stop at the cruise but includes all of the post-cruise and pre-cruise dates.

 

If you are staying at the hotels on a standard per-night basis, you probably wouldn't be risking cancellation or interruption fees except for perhaps the first night's credit card guarantee at each hotel. So perhaps throw in to include in the cost one night at each hotel.

 

However, if you are booking the hotels as a full pre-paid package, or as a non-refundable special rate on the chain's website, then by all means include the hotels.

 

In any case, assuming that we are talking about an extra $5000 total and that full cover travel insurance costs about 3% of trip cost in the United States, to really play it completely safe you are only taking about an extra $150 in coverage -- what's $150 more when compared to everything you're already spending?

 

Kind regards,

 

Gunther and Uta

[cruiseco]

Our cruise and airfare cost $5000.00 for each of us, then we have 9 days in London & Paris hotels (both Marriotts) Airfare was booked thru Princess EzAir. Should we get $5000 each for insurance or more/less? Cruise starts on May 27, 2011.

 

Thank you.

 

You should only insure those arrangements that are pre-paid and non-refundable (at most). For example, double check the hotels' cancellation penalties and figure your max loss exposure if you were to be a no-show. Probably the worst case is that they would charge you for the first night's stay. And don't double count it -- if the hotel is $150/night split it in half and only add $75 to each person's trip cost, not $150.

 

Then be aware of how much you HAVE to insure -- different plans have different rules if you need features like coverage for pre-existing medical conditions. For example, here's from one Travelex plan:

 

"The Pre-Existing Conditions exclusion is waived for You if You enroll in the Plan at the time You pay the deposit required for the Covered Trip (or within twenty-one (21) days of the initial deposit) and You purchase the coverage under the Plan for the full cost of the Covered Trip."

 

Other insurers don't care how much of your trip cost you insure. Why is this important? Say your total pre-paid, non-refundable arrangements adds up to $1525 per person and you're 60 years old.

 

With that same Travelex plan your premium would be $101. But if you only insure $1500 it drops to $75. In effect, if you insure the full amount you've paid $26 to insure $25. I hate that. But if you need the pre-existing condition coverage you have no choice other than to look for a plan that lets you insure less than the full amount and still gives pre-ex coverage like TravelSafe or CSA.

[Keith1010]

While you can cover the entire trip (the portion that is guaranteed) you can also insure for less than that if you choose. Think of the insurance as you would your automobile or home where the premium is lower the less you cover.

 

The amount you insure comes down to the cost of the premium versus how much risk you want to take.

 

Keith

[avw]

You have to read the terms of the plan you are buying. Some require that the full amount of non-refundable costs be insured, as a condition of the insurance. Others do not specify this.

 

It is not true that you can underinsure your home. There are penalties for underinsuring. In the event of a partial loss, you will only be paid a portion of your loss if you underinsure.

[donaldsc]

Cover what you do not feel you can afford to loose. Anything else is overkill.

 

DON

[Steviewonder1]

Two cruises ago my wife had gall stones in the middle of the cruise. We were medi-evac'd off the ship on the first tender of the day in Alaska the next morning. She stayed in the hospital two days and we stayed one additional day for doctor watch. The insurance covered half of the cruise and the air-fare back to Anchorage and to Seattle. Her health insurance covered the hospital. We had full coverage start to finish which means it covered us when we got on the plant to go to Seattle and all the way back home. Two days later she was in the hospital and passed the stone. We have always bought full coverage insurance. It only has to pay off once to get it's value.

[thescot123]

Never cruise with insurance as you are playing Russian Roulette. You never know when you might need it. You hear every week someone getting air evac of a cruise ship. For me, I used Travel Guard and usually pay between $59 to $77 for either a 5day or 7day cruise. They offer a way to customize the coverage. For me I prefer to up the medical evac coverage to $500,000 and the medical and to also make it the primary coverage. If you book it earlier enough they will waive any pre-existing.

[Keith1010]

Never cruise with insurance as you are playing Russian Roulette. You never know when you might need it. You hear every week someone getting air evac of a cruise ship. For me, I used Travel Guard and usually pay between $59 to $77 for either a 5day or 7day cruise. They offer a way to customize the coverage. For me I prefer to up the medical evac coverage to $500,000 and the medical and to also make it the primary coverage. If you book it earlier enough they will waive any pre-existing.

 

I think you meant to say never cruise without insurance. :D

 

Keith

[thescot123]

I think you meant to say never cruise without insurance. :D

 

Keith

 

Thanks for pointing out my typo. Yes, I did mean "Never cruise without insurance".

[Lou33]

Don't insure the cost of port charges and taxes. Those are always refundable by the cruise line. Even if you include these in your total cost, you will never collect on this from your insurance company. Many people don't know this.

[jc719]

What is the MINIMUM insurance that one can buy? Some coverages are based on the amount insured (like trip interruption and cancellation), while others (medical, evac, delay, baggage, etc.) appear fixed and independent of the amount insured. If I am willing to assume some of the risk, can I insure less than the full amount of the trip and cover up to the amount I choose. For example, for interruption, maybe all I want is to be covered for the cost to return home on an expensive ticket. Or, for some itineraries where the exposure is low, all I might want are the fixed coverages.

 

insuremytrip offers quotes for $0 trip cost.

 

Does anyone do this?

[Lou33]

What is the MINIMUM insurance that one can buy? QUOTE]

 

A some companies let you insure for less than the true cost, but from what I have seen, most companies will limit claims for trip interuption to no more than the cost of what you had insured. So if you insure your trip for $2,000, but your trip is interupted, and it costs you $3,000 to fly home, they will pay only $2,000.

 

We don't always buy travel insurance because we're already covered for medical by our health provider. But when I do, I try to buy the minimum. I don't cover taxes and port charges, those are always refundable. I don't cover airline tickets, because I could get a voucher for a future flight. And I certainly don't insure the cost of hotels because I don't pay that in advance.

 

On our last trip, our flight was delayed 24 hours because of mechanical problems, and we were able to file a claim for trip delay. But what was interesting was they paid the claim even though we never insured for the cost of our flights, just the cruise part.

[cruiseco]

On our last trip, our flight was delayed 24 hours because of mechanical problems, and we were able to file a claim for trip delay. But what was interesting was they paid the claim even though we never insured for the cost of our flights, just the cruise part.

 

With most comprehensive plans, the base benefits such as medical, emergency evac, trip delay, baggage delay, etc, are provided independent of any trip cancellation coverage you may have purchased. With most you can insure $0 of your trip cost and still get those other benefits.

 

If you need coverage for pre-existing medical conditions be VERY sure about the plan's rules. With some you cannot insure less than the full cost of the trip (including air tickets) and get that coverage. With others, they don't care. But if you buy a policy that demands that 100% of the trip be covered in order to get the pre-ex coverage and don't follow the rules they will deny your claim if it involves a pre-ex condition.