Does Insurance Really Cover Hurricane Cancellations?

[claud925]

I always thought that insurance only covered you if you were not able to cruise due to illness, injury or death-in-family situations.

 

If you took out insurance and then discover your cruise is cancelled due to hurricane or an inclement-weather related instance, is your money fully refunded?

[RichardK]

Two different scenarios:

 

1. If the cruise line cancels the cruise and can't sail, doesn’t matter whether or not you have insurance -- the cruise line will refund your money.

 

2. If you can't get to the cruise point of embarkation because of a hurricane in your hometown area, then yes, the insurance will pay if you have to miss the trip, or are delayed, etc. However, you must have purchased travel insurance prior to the hurricane becoming a "named" storm.

[claud925]

Thank you, Richard - your explanation was exactly the information I was looking for!

[cruiseco]

A couple of other scenarios that have occured in the last couple of years:

 

#1 A hurricane causes the ship to return to port either earlier than expected or later than expected causing flight disruptions.

 

If you need to re-book a flight home because of this the insurance will usually pick up he cost of the new ticket or change fees.

 

If you need to get a hotel until the time a flight becomes available the insurance will usually pick up that cost also.

 

#2 Even if the cruise liine does reimburse you for a cruise that is cancelled due to weather, they may not cover your air tickets if they weren't purchased through the cruise line. The insurance should cover this loss.