Which travel insurance?

[meded]

I'm trying to decide between TravelGuard and CSA. My TA recommended CSA, so I'm leaning toward that, but I noticed that insuremytrip.com includes an asterisk for CSA that says "Coverage on this policy is less than requested or may be limited." I'm not sure how this applies, because the coverage with CSA actually appears to be greater than with TravelGuard (ie, the dollar amounts for coverage are larger and it includes flight insurance, which TravelGuard does not for the plan I'm considering). Any thoughts? Thanks!

[CruiseFever]

I'm trying to decide between TravelGuard and CSA. My TA recommended CSA, so I'm leaning toward that, but I noticed that insuremytrip.com includes an asterisk for CSA that says "Coverage on this policy is less than requested or may be limited." I'm not sure how this applies, because the coverage with CSA actually appears to be greater than with TravelGuard (ie, the dollar amounts for coverage are larger and it includes flight insurance, which TravelGuard does not for the plan I'm considering). Any thoughts? Thanks!

 

Great questions and common concerns!

 

Ok first, what are you trying to do? Do you have specific, real reasons for buying travel insurance or are you just playing it safe?

 

I only ask because your answer has a LOT to do with which direction you go.

 

Do you have any pre-existing medical conditions or reasons to believe ahead of time that you might have to cancel your cruise? Like maybe a job that could/would get you called away at the last minute. Maybe a relative that might have a health issue that would keep you from going. Or maybe you even have airline tickets on a carrier you have real worries about being in the air at the time you need them to be. USAir, for example, was dropped by Travel Guard for a while and not covered by any policy. Recently they took them back and are covering them but those can be important considerations.

 

Another consideration is if you have group health care insurance, will it cover problems on a cruise ship or an island? Ours, for example, covers illness anywhere in the world but at the "out of network" rate (duh) since we wouldn't be going through our primary care doc in, for example, St Thomas.

 

If you don't have any real concerns and are playing it safe, good for you. It surely is the safe way to go. I personally never bought it until DW got Cancer and had a real reason for it.

 

The quotes you get on Insuremytrip.com can sometimes be misleading. This is really NOT an area where the cheapest is the best...but I think you're finding that out. If you were buying a box of Cheerios that would be fine, they're all the same. Not so with travel insurance.

 

I'd say go with what your TA recommends if you trust them. In many states agents must be licensed to sell it and have been trained about the coverages they offer. If you have ANY questions at all though be sure you get the answers from your TA or from the insurance company itself. They all have 800 hotline numbers and people standing by 24/7 to answer your questions before during and after they sell you.

 

Or you could ask your home/auto/life agent who you may know better or have known longer and trust more. They might not handle it but they all know somebody who does

 

I know people that just swear by Princess Travelcare and Travelcare Gold and it IS rated really high. I like TravelGuard because in a lot of cases it provides as good coverage for less.

 

Good questions

[cruiseco]

I'm trying to decide between TravelGuard and CSA. My TA recommended CSA, so I'm leaning toward that, but I noticed that insuremytrip.com includes an asterisk for CSA that says "Coverage on this policy is less than requested or may be limited." I'm not sure how this applies, because the coverage with CSA actually appears to be greater than with TravelGuard (ie, the dollar amounts for coverage are larger and it includes flight insurance, which TravelGuard does not for the plan I'm considering). Any thoughts? Thanks!

 

 

That quote from insuremytrip about the coverage being less than requested depends on the search/quote parameters you entered. If a plan doesn't meet the criteria you entered that's the notice you'll get. What's most common is that a user will request $100,000 or more of medical coverage when the regular CSA plans have a $50,000 limit so the notice pops up. Without knowing exactly what coverage they're referencing it's impossible to know if it's a problem for you or not.