Travel insurance

[reemurcruise]

We have booked our first cruise July 2014, when should I get travel insurance as the few I have enquired said to wait until July this year.

Also, can you recommend a company?

Maree

[robinph]

We have booked our first cruise July 2014, when should I get travel insurance as the few I have enquired said to wait until July this year.

Also, can you recommend a company?

Maree

 

I have found when booking online that you cannot do it until 12 months out from the cruise, I don't know about if you were booking over the phone, but all I can reccommend is to do it as soon as you are allowed to. Robin:)

[pattle66]

I would do it as soon as possible. As soon as I outlay money for a deposit I buy travel insurance. You never know what may happen.

[didiaust]

I would do it as soon as possible. As soon as I outlay money for a deposit I buy travel insurance. You never know what may happen.

 

 

I always did the same ... deposit .... insurance. Don't wait if you can take the insurance now ..I am sure the costs are same. Now we get free insurance using our platinum Visa... provided we use our Visa to pay at least $250 and it's great. We use our Visa for everything so not a problem. I have even had a Overseas (Bali) private hospital operation and stay for 4 days and had no problem with this TI.

 

Di

[johndon]

We use our Amex Gold card for travel insurance which is provided by Amex at no extra cost if the cruise is paid for on the card. One thing to look out for though is that most Australia TAs put a surcharge on the use of Amex and some other cards whereas Princess and overseas TAs do not. The amount of the surcharge can easily amount to the cost of a travel insurance policy on a cruise cost of five or six thousand dollars. There are other benefits with our Gold card as Amex now give two Qantas frequent flyer points for every one dollar spent at a major supermarket and most service stations. The FF points soon add up towards that connecting flight for a cruise. I would expect that most of the other similar credit cards with other financial institutions would offer similar incentives.

 

John

[Pushka]

I do it immediately. Some health issue could arise now, and while it might not prevent you travelling, it could be an issue while you are away. If you dont get Insurance until later (after that health issue becomes known) you may not be insured for it.

[jessica3152]

We have been using Travel Insurance Direct lately http://www.tid.com.au Their pricing is very reasonable and significantly cheaper than that offered by the travel agent or our health insurance company.

[Aus Traveller]

We have been using Travel Insurance Direct lately http://www.tid.com.au Their pricing is very reasonable and significantly cheaper than that offered by the travel agent or our health insurance company.

 

Another vote for Travel Insurance Direct. We have an annual policy because we cruise quite often.:)

[cruisine21]

Another vote for Travel Insurance Direct. We have an annual policy because we cruise quite often.:)

How is TID's claims process?

[Pushka]

We had to claim on my sons TID insurance when his friend was in a motorbike accident in North Thailand. They were amazing. Liaised with the lads family daily, used a Thai translator to speak to the Thai surgeons, arranged Surgery, then medi vac to a Bangkok Hospital, hotel costs in Bangkok for my son and then medi vac back to Australia and flight for my son. Cannot recommend their claims process highly enough.

[Sutho]

Firstly IGNORE all those who say do it immediately. It is not worth it.

 

If your depisit is minimal, the best time to pay for travel insurance is the day before the full balance of the holiday is due. When you have the full trip paid then you get insurance. It is dead money purchasing insurance for something that you have not paid for.

[Pushka]

Firstly IGNORE all those who say do it immediately. It is not worth it.

 

If your depisit is minimal, the best time to pay for travel insurance is the day before the full balance of the holiday is due. When you have the full trip paid then you get insurance. It is dead money purchasing insurance for something that you have not paid for.

 

Did you actually read why I said its a good idea to organise it ASAP? You are covered for anything that occurs as soon as its purchased while waiting until later will preclude you for any medical issues arising during the post deposit phase. Those issues may not stop you from taking the trip but could come back to bite during the trip.

 

Eg.

 

Situation 1 Purchased Insurance April 2013. Trip April 2014.

 

Lets say, back injury occurs June 2013. You recover and go on your trip. You are completely covered if you travel and have a recurrence of this injury during your trip.

 

Situation 2. Trip April 2014. Purchased Insurance when final payment made, lets say January 2014. Same back injury in June 2013. This injury is now considered a pre existing injury and you are NOT covered for any back related issues you may experience during your trip.

 

I say, ignore Sutho.

[Sutho]

Did you actually read why I said its a good idea to organise it ASAP? You are covered for anything that occurs as soon as its purchased while waiting until later will preclude you for any medical issues arising during the post deposit phase. Those issues may not stop you from taking the trip but could come back to bite during the trip.

 

Eg.

 

Situation 1 Purchased Insurance April 2013. Trip April 2014.

 

Lets say, back injury occurs June 2013. You recover and go on your trip. You are completely covered if you travel and have a recurrence of this injury during your trip.

 

Situation 2. Trip April 2014. Purchased Insurance when final payment made, lets say January 2014. Same back injury in June 2013. This injury is now considered a pre existing injury and you are NOT covered for any back related issues you may experience during your trip.

 

I say, ignore Sutho.

 

That is a ridiculous scenario to submit. If you have had a serious injury to stop you travelling then you are not going anywhere.

 

Besides it does not work anyway because too many medico legal doctors would find a way around it which is what insurance companies do.

 

Many people who travel have had issues in the past which may re occur but in the mean time they could be fit and healthy. When a fit person signs up for insurance they do not have to divulge entire medical history. People could have broken limbs, cancers removed, joint problems from workplace injury, hernia all in the past and be fully recovered and they are considered fit and healthy.

 

Going by your scenario if a person was to get sick on a cruise then the insurance company could quite easily get the persons medical history and say "oh I see you have had a similar condition as an infant you are not covered"

[rugbypopsie]

I always purchase my travel insurance early on...usually immediately after making a booking...it might be "dead" money but it is really only a very small amount of money in comparison to the problems you may have without insurance.

 

Sue

[Pushka]

That is a ridiculous scenario to submit. If you have had a serious injury to stop you travelling then you are not going anywhere.

 

Besides it does not work anyway because too many medico legal doctors would find a way around it which is what insurance companies do.

 

Many people who travel have had issues in the past which may re occur but in the mean time they could be fit and healthy. When a fit person signs up for insurance they do not have to divulge entire medical history. People could have broken limbs, cancers removed, joint problems from workplace injury, hernia all in the past and be fully recovered and they are considered fit and healthy.

 

Going by your scenario if a person was to get sick on a cruise then the insurance company could quite easily get the persons medical history and say "oh I see you have had a similar condition as an infant you are not covered"

 

You need to read the terms and conditions Sutho. And you also contradict yourself.

 

It is a perfectly normal scenario to have an injury and feel fully recovered from that and take a journey and later experience a recurrence. If you have insured yourself before that injury you are covered. If you insure yourself after that injury, you are not. It's pre existing.

 

Policies stipulate "ever suffered...." So yes, if you have had a pre existing injury before you took out insurance and you ignored that and then went on to claim, they WILL trawl back through your medical records. You consent to that once you make a claim.

[Sutho]

It is dead money to purchase early and a gamble worth taking. Once you purchase travel insurance you are not going to get a refund on it should something prevent you from travelling.

 

I do not care what scenario comes up if it is serious enough to stop your travels then you simply do not pay the full fare, pull out and lose nothing.

 

For me it is a gamble worth taking. I do not live my life panninig for injury or illness.

[Pushka]

You still don't get it. But not my problem really.

[Sutho]

You still don't get it. But not my problem really.

 

From a financial perspective it is a waste of money.

 

I am gambling on the fact that any injury incurred since a holiday booked would be either too minor to recur, or so serious it would prevent travel alltogether. From that basis any my financial reasoning it is dead money and not worth getting early and loosing money on insurance you cannot get back.

[Royalty X]

From a financial perspective it is a waste of money.

 

I am gambling on the fact that any injury incurred since a holiday booked would be either too minor to recur, or so serious it would prevent travel alltogether. From that basis any my financial reasoning it is dead money and not worth getting early and loosing money on insurance you cannot get back.

But what if the trip you booked is non-refundable? If you have fallen ill or injured yourself before you travel, you may not be entitled to a refund from the cruiseline/airline/hotel, etc if you decide to cancel your trip. But you would be able to recover all the lost amounts via your travel insurance (if purchased).

[The_Big_M]

As we've seen elsewhere, some posters are very dogmatic.

 

My view is that people have different situations so what suits one may not suit another. I think others can make up their own opinion from different perspectives offered.

 

I'd say the typical insurance cost is a few hundred dollars. Compared to the cost of the holiday, it is typically small, say a few per cent.

 

As for it being dead money, I'd say it's unlikely to make a material difference. Even if you could hold off paying it for a year, and invested it in a 'high interest saving account' at say 3.5%, for a say average amount of $300 that works out to the huge sum of $10.50 'lost' money.

 

Now is what you're risking e.g. refunded deposits/booking fees, or even worse denied claims as above from incidents that arise going to cost you more than $10.50? Seriously?

 

Put another way, it's easy enough to find way more than $10.50 between insurance providers. Do some shopping around and you've probably saved more than holding off for 'dead money' would gain you.

 

Lastly, you get insurance for peace of mind. Isn't peace of mind worth $10.50?

[cassamanda]

Question for those who book through US TA. Do you remove the agency offered Travel Insurance when receiving your booking confirmation if you have your own existing worldwide annual Travel Insurance?

Is the USA offered insurance different to that obtain here?

[Pushka]

I'd always take out Australian Insurance. I'm not sure if you need to be in the USA to take out their insurance anyway. TID is excellent value.

[The_Big_M]

Yes, I wouldn't take out the US insurance. At least some - and I'd expect all - are different in terms of their conditions and practices and I wouldn't be surprised if you are naturally excluded.

 

The mechanisms and practices would also be different. I wouldn't be surprised if the first thing asked if you ever had to call was what is your SSN? :-)

[reemurcruise]

Thanks for all the replies, I will take out insurance as soon as I can, I like the security and peace of mind, I don't see it as dead money at all.

Thanks again

Maree

[johndon]

There is no need to worry at all about travel insurance if you pay with your selected credit card (Amex Anz etc) because as soon as you pay for ANY travel be it an air fare from Sydney to Perth, a Cruise, an overseas flight or even a couple of nights in a motel, just as long as your travel or accommodation expense is paid on your card you are automatically covered. There is no paper work, no applying for the period of the travel, nothing up front.

Your credit card statement with the record of your payment to the relevant TA or airline etc is all the Credit Card company needs to verify your eligibility for their policy cover.

I was most uncomfortable with this aspect. I like something in my hand to say that I am covered before I travel but although I have not claimed on a credit card insurance cover, postings on this forum from those who have claimed have reported an easy, uncomplicated process free from procrastination and attempts to wriggle out of paying up on a claim as I have personally experienced with a well known Australian Travel Insurance company.

The annual fee for my Amex gold card more than covers the cost of just one travel insurance cover so if you regularly cruise, fly or travel using motel or hotel accommodation you would be well advised to consider one of these premium credit cards

 

John