Travel insurance

[Canadaclyde]

I just found out my travel insurance will not cover us for any cruise booked during the time cruise travel is banned by the Canadian govt. I was recently on the Volendam, and booked two grand cruises in 2021 and 2022. It looks like both of these cruises will not be covered by our insurance, hence I am going to request HAL give us back our deposits. (Note, even if the cruise travel ban is lifted prior to the cruise departure date, the insurance will not cover us because we made the purchase while the travel ban was on.) 

 

I suggest you look into your travel insurance carefully and find out what your coverage is.

 

[Cruisepucks]

Thank you for the heads up. I had not thought of that. Will check our policy as we did book a river cruise for 2021 after the cruise advisory was issued by Canada.

[semibeater]

I may be foolish but I don't purchase travel insurance.  That is a risk I'm willing to take. So far I'm ahead of the game. 

[Tom O.]

I usually don't buy insurance either, because I have never cancelled a vacation, and have never had any problem while on vacation.

But for the Baltic cruise I purchased last November, I did buy insurance, mostly because I was concerned about having a medical emergency. Well along comes this pandemic, and we decided for the first time to cancel our cruise.

As I understand it, because I chose to cancel the cruise myself, it is not covered. But since we canceled in time for a deposit refund, we are supposed to get a refund from HAL. I hope I get the refund, but I am not optimistic about it.

In the meantime, we have non-refundable expenses of our airline tickets and a hotel. I believe if the airline cancels our flight, our insurance will pay us back for these expenses - we'll see about that.

So I am holding on to the airline tickets and hotel, and will hope for the best on those. 

Right now it looks like purchased insurance for the first time, and even though we canceled the cruise, the insurance may not pay us back for our losses.

[DaveSJ711]

1 hour ago, semibeater said:

I may be foolish but I don't purchase travel insurance.  That is a risk I'm willing to take. So far I'm ahead of the game. 

 

We've cancelled cruises and land-based trips due to cancer surgery, a death in the family, unrest in the country we were going to visit, and a better travel deal we found.  We recovered most of what we paid under the travel insurance we purchased.  Insurance will also cover our Scotland/Ireland trip in June and our Italy/Malta trip in October should we decide to cancel either or both because of the outbreak.  (We always add "cancel for any reason" coverage to our policy.)

Edited April 4, 2020 by DaveSJ711

[ontheweb]

11 minutes ago, Tom O. said:

I usually don't buy insurance either, because I have never cancelled a vacation, and have never had any problem while on vacation.

But for the Baltic cruise I purchased last November, I did buy insurance, mostly because I was concerned about having a medical emergency. Well along comes this pandemic, and we decided for the first time to cancel our cruise.

As I understand it, because I chose to cancel the cruise myself, it is not covered. But since we canceled in time for a deposit refund, we are supposed to get a refund from HAL. I hope I get the refund, but I am not optimistic about it.

In the meantime, we have non-refundable expenses of our airline tickets and a hotel. I believe if the airline cancels our flight, our insurance will pay us back for these expenses - we'll see about that.

So I am holding on to the airline tickets and hotel, and will hope for the best on those. 

Right now it looks like purchased insurance for the first time, and even though we canceled the cruise, the insurance may not pay us back for our losses.

I think it .depends on your state rules re: insurance. I know when I booked our cruise for this summer (which we just cancelled earlier this week), I was told by our TA that according to NY State rules our insurance would be totally refundable if we cancelled because we had a refundable deposit so nothing at risk when we booked and that meant according to our state's laws the insurance would be refundable. I have an e-mail from the insurance company that they are reviewing it, so I will find out.

[wyobean]

We purchase insurance based on the price of our trip. If it is an inexpensive trip we do not insure it. If the cost is above the threshold of what we can afford to lose we get insurance. Have used it once for a death in the family. Everyone has to determine what their threshold is.

[Canadaclyde]

Unfortunately, we've had to make claims on our insurance numerous times in the past ten years. My husband had a stroke which resulted in us having to cancel a three month vacation rental. My mom fell and broke her hip while we were on vacation, so we had to go home two weeks earlier than anticipated. Our insurance reimbursed us the two weeks rental as well as the expenses for driving home to Canada. Two years ago a family member passed away so our vacation was postponed a week. Our insurance company covered the cost of cancelling and rebooking our flights. In addition, we've had several medical issues that resulted in doctor's appointments and medications for which we got reimbursed. We probably wouldn't travel without coverage. 

[ontheweb]

4 hours ago, Canadaclyde said:

Unfortunately, we've had to make claims on our insurance numerous times in the past ten years. My husband had a stroke which resulted in us having to cancel a three month vacation rental. My mom fell and broke her hip while we were on vacation, so we had to go home two weeks earlier than anticipated. Our insurance reimbursed us the two weeks rental as well as the expenses for driving home to Canada. Two years ago a family member passed away so our vacation was postponed a week. Our insurance company covered the cost of cancelling and rebooking our flights. In addition, we've had several medical issues that resulted in doctor's appointments and medications for which we got reimbursed. We probably wouldn't travel without coverage. 

Yes, it's the medical coverage that is important since a major medical bill can wipe anyone out. As for the cost of the cruise itself, that can be looked at as something you were paying anyway. It would not be nice to get nothing for that money, but it would not potentially bankrupt you like a medical bill might.