No Stress No Strings Cancellation policy

[its_my_dime]

We were offered this policy as part of the booking package. Purchasers should know the following, both positive and negative, about this policy as per their web site and personal research.

 

1) It cost $25/day/person. Normal trip cancellation insurance costs between 6-9% of the amount insured

 

2) SeaDream will let you cancel up to 24 hours before sailing for any reason (or basically, no reason). Normal cancellation insurance requires a "covered reason" ... mostly medical or something really bad like a house fire.... and may not pay for preexisting conditions.

 

3) The SeaDream policy does not give you medical, evacuation, baggage and other iinsurance that frequently included with trip cancellation policies. If you want it, you need to purchase it separately from another company

 

4) The policy only covers what you paid SeaDream. It does not cover airfare or what you pay for other types of insurance.

 

5) IMPORTANT: The policy does not reimburse in cash...it transfers your payments to a future voyage up to the full amount of the payment and is good for 2 years from the trip you cancel.

 

6) Effectively, you could call a few days before the sailing, ask about the profile of other ships passengers (assuming they would tell you) and transfer your trip to a future date. As noted above, you would still be responsible for airline penalties and other insurance costs.

 

7) IMPORTANT: SeaDream is not offering third party insurance. They are providing an additional service for an additional fee. If (and this is NOT a prediction) SeaDream were to fail between the time you made paid for your trip and before you took your replacement trip (assuming you cancelled), you probably would receive nothing and would lose your entire fare.

 

Each individual needs to "do the math" and figure out whether this is a good deal, depending on personal circumstances.

[carlylecat]

WOW - a thread that isn't about children....I have always self insured and would like to know others opinions..especially about this sd policy...does it make it easier for you to book sd or is it just a leftover 9-11 reaction..never had a trip cancel problem but our lives are prettty scripted and we have been quite fortunate health wise with both ourselves and our families -

 

the agent we used for our june 11th sd1 sailing was aghast when i declined the insurance...her boss who I have worked with for three years and have a lot of respect for called me and explained her reaction as not a loss of comission/revenue but that most folks took insurance due to the cost of the cruise....the only time we ever cancel is when work gets in the way and either my wifes company or mine has made it up to us....

 

Our agent did recommend and speak highly of the sea dream policy after we declined third party but it still did not entice me....and I am a pretty big insurance guy...probably way over insured on life and home coverage but see value in that....I just can't get into the trip cancel stuff

 

please let me know what you think....and if you ever have had to cancel and what the claim process was like...

 

also does having children on the cruise affect the insurance cost...sorry just kidding, couldn't help it :)

[its_my_dime]

I posted this on another board that discussed BerkleyCare, the policy frequently offered by cruise lines to potential passengers, but the information is sufficiently general to be useful here. It has been cleaned up for coherence (I hope) and augmented somewhat:

 

>Trip insurance is a very, very complicated subject -- much more than it needs to be. The policy must be read each time before being bought because they change. Berkleycare has a variety of policies offered by cruise lines, etc. In my experience, they tend to be expensive. Selling insurance is a high profit activity for cruise lines.

 

Berkleycare notwithstanding, note the following items that I believe are very important, among others:

 

Medical. If you are on Medicare, you are NOT covered out of the US (with very limited exceptions). Accordingly, I believe that at least $50,000 of medical is criical for those on Medicare-- perhaps twice that if you are going to exotic destinations. You also need medical evacuation...but note, that doesn't bring you home, it brings you to the nearest hospital that can treat what you have. Some credit cards provide evacuation. You also need coverage so that, if you are in a hospital for a month, someone can stay there with you.

 

Pre-existing conditions waiver. The last Berkleycare policy I saw did NOT offer this. Many companies offer it if you pay within, say 2 weeks of your deposit and insure your whole trip. My own feeling is that not having preexisting conditions waived is absolutely looking for dispute by the insurance company. If they can link an illness that caused you to put in a cancellation claim to medication or a recent doctor's visit, you may not get paid. I personally would never buy a policy that didn't waive preexisting conditions.

 

Primary vs Secondary. Many policies offer secondary coverage for baggage, etc. (your insurance company pays first; they pay what is left, if anything.) Note that medical coverage on some policies is also secondary so that if you have other medical insurance, you need to go to your own company first. Therefore, if you buy secondary medical coverage and you have a Medicare supplement with a lifetime limit, that limit gets eaten into first before the secondary policy pays. In my opinion, secondary coverage is only useful if you have very high deductibles on your main policies. The fine print often has to be combed to determine whether the coverage is primary or not..

 

Carrier bankruptcy. It has happened. But some companies have an "excluded list" and if your carrier is on it and goes under, you don't get paid.

 

Age-based premiums. Some companies base their premium on your age. Check the "break" points for both of you. You could save money. (Note to Carlylecat: It is less expensive to insure children!!).

 

After 9/11, travel insurance virtually doubled in price. The most expensive policies used to cost 6% of a trip; now they approach 10%.

 

We have always bought insurance for our trips but found that policies other than those sold by the cruise companies offer better values.

 

Note that some cruise lines and travel groups sell a "cancel for any reason virtually up to sailing date" policy (for say, a 10% premium or, in the case of SeaDream, $25/pp/day) . Policies offer either a cash refund or rebooking options. While these are frequently a good value, this is NOT insurance. It is a service offered by the company for a fee. If the company goes bankrupt, you DON'T get paid.

 

Also note that, on most travel insurance web sites, if you put in your travel agent's number (get it from your agent), your agent will get the commission on the purchase; otherwise, it just accrues to insurance company.<

[DisneyJen]

Until recently (the last 18 months or so) DH and I would decline trip insurance. Now we purchase it as DH's mother is not well and we need the option of postponing/cancelling if need be.

[Welshapple]

This discussion on cruise insurance is very interesting and, I think, helpful to a lot of cruisers.

 

We too always use a travel insurance company, as opposed to taking the cruiseline's insurance, but until recently we were unaware that if one were to cancel a cruise - not for any insured reason, but by reason of a change of mind or circumstance - then some insurer's will allow you to transfer your coverage to another cruise without penalty. If your new trip cost is greater than your original one then you will be charged for the difference on a pro-rata basis, but that is the only cost.

 

Unfortunately we have had to cancel two cruises due to unforseen circumstances and we have been able to make changes and get confirmation of new coverage on the insurer's website within 24 hours. I was most impressed and, needless to say, relieved!

[vandrefalk]

I'm sorry, It's My Dime, but I think you have misunderstood SD's insurance package. SD strongly recommends insurance, and it costs $25/day -- not the "No Stress, No Strings" program. That is an extra bennie. The benefits in brief: Trip cancellation and interruption up to $50K (cruise only); travel delay up to $1,000; baggage/travel documents loss, theft or damage up to $3K; baggage delay up to $500; medical expense up to $20K; emergency evacuation up to $50K; Travel Guard assistance; 24 hour Live Travel assistance. Benefits paid for by SeaDream Yacht Club and administered by Insure America. I paid $203/person for Nov 04 cruise and $175/person for the Jan 06 cruise.

I ALWAYS buy insurance -- first several cruises we had no need for it, but we had a 14 day cruise terminated after 3 days by the death of my mother-in-law. That policy was with Berkeley. I shudder to think how much money we would have lost if we didn't have the insurance.

So, please don't confuse the "No Stress, No Strings" with being their only insurance.

Vandrefalk

[frequent traveler]

Good advice Vandrefalk --

 

If you need comprehensive travel insurance -- be sure you explore all avenues of coverage -- we always buy "no fault" insurance -- cancellation for any reason, its a little bit more expensive, but no need to provide doctor certifications, etc.

 

Hope you never have to use it, but its good to have.

 

FT