Insurance Exclusions

[luv4cruises]

We have been cruising for years, happily adding insurance at final payment. Now, that as of last year,  I have a pre-existing condition I have spent much time talking to my TA., Allianz,  and AON (Celebrity Cruise Care) about an upcoming cruise that I booked with an onboard future cruise deposit.

I’ve received lots of info, some of it conflicting, and none of it in writing. 
The most shocking information provided by both the AAA rep for Allianz and an AON rep is that you have to pay for, not just book, your insurance, when you purchase a future cruise deposit  on board. 
The Allianz rep answered my TA’s questions below:

 

Quick questions Barbara:

 

1: Passengers made the Future Cruise Deposit onboard. They make the booking few months later after came back from the trip. The 14 day pre-existing conditions window to purchase insurance at the day of booking begins OR a day that they made the future deposit onboard?  BH: They would need to purchase insurance within 14 days of returning home to get pre-ex.

 

2: You can purchase the insurance within 14 days from the deposit date for the amount of deposit OR you have to purchase a full amount of the invoice?  BH: Can can insure the deposit within 14 days and then increase coverage within 14 days of additional payments.

 

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Even my AAA TA was incredulous at this info.  He kept telling me how can you insure a future cruise you don’t know the complete cost of.  I insisted that he investigate further. Looks like Barbara answered that question, 

 So all of my future cruise open onboard deposits  are NOT eligible for the Pre-Existing condition waiver since I have not insured the deposits within 14 days of returning home nor applied them to a specific cruise. In addition Allianz told me you have to buy a policy that covers the entire cost of the cruise in order to have the pre-existing condition waiver. (If you don’t have the pre-existing condition  waiver you have to have met certain medical conditions within the 120 days prior to the policy purchase some of which are no new or changed prescriptions for that condition, doctor’s care etc.) in order for that condition to be covered.  Something as simple as a change in blood pressure meds would exclude coverage for a heart attack or stroke.   In addition a recent article in USA Today stated that Covid coverage is often not included. An Allianz rep subsequently told me medical would be covered but not quarantine or transportation for Covid. That makes X’s Cruise With Confidence Covid coverage important.  That will end soon. 
 

The Cruise Care(X’s insurance) rep also confirmed that you had to purchase the insurance when you made the $200.00 deposit on board.  
It is all so confusing - not outlined anywhere in writing. 
 
One Allianz rep also told me that annual policies have same exclusion. All conditions must be met before the first trip of the year.

Another told me that medical would not be covered for pre-existing conditions. ?????

 

PLEASE understand whatever policy you purchase if you have pre--existing conditions.  I remain concerned and confused. I would hope to see these exclusions completely outlined in writing  and outlined by Future Cruise reps on Celebrity Ships. If you have any additional info please share it.

I love cruising!

Take care all.

[TeeRick]

Thanks for all of this info.  Maybe you could re-post it on the travel insurance category board here on CC too?

[Babr]

There may be other options. Some companies allow the pre-existing waiver if you purchase the insurance by final payment. You still have to qualify by being able to travel at the time of purchase, and yes, some require that you insure all nonrefundable expenses. The waiver will exempt you from the look-back period.

Covid is a separate issue. Many policies cover it as any other illness.

 

You just need to broaden your search. A broker such as Trip Insurance Store, which offers policies from several companies, can advise you.

[luv4cruises]

Thank you, Babr.  You must be an expert. I guess I have weekend HW.  My final payment is due Monday. I may be forced to settle for X insurance since their look back period is only 60 days I have not had any medical issues in that time that would exclude my ore- existing condition.  So much to learn. 
 

I love cruising!

[JaneStarr]

I use the trip insurance store: https://tripinsurancestore.com

They have only vetted policies (from several different companies) and can help you figure out how best to get Preexisting condition coverage. Their owner, Steve Dasseos, is a frequent contributor on the CC insurance board.

 

They offer at least one policy that will cover P/E conditions if purchased w/in a short time of FINAL trip payment. I believe it’s one of the CSA policies, but I don’t have time to check.  You need to insure 100% of all pre-paid, non-refundable trip costs in order to   keep P/E coverage.  (That’s usually your cruise fare w/o refundable taxes/fees/port charges, non-refundable airfare, any pre-paid non-refundable hotel cost, etc.)

 

I’ve found the rates to be very competitive with CruiseCare.

If you put a deposit on a specific “next” cruise, it is possible to insure only the amount of the deposit and just insure the non refundable increased costs as they are incurred. That even locks in your age as of the date you make your initial insurance payment.

 

Do yourself a favor and check with Steve or the woman that work for him. They are very knowledgeable and helpful. I’m just a very satisfied customer who has successfully filed a claim with their help.

Jane

Here’s the contact info:

steve@tripinsurancestore.com

Call Steve, Deanna or Kim at 888-407-3854 or 816-282-6858, or email us for the right Travel Insurance advice from the most recommended travel insurance website
Monday - Friday 8:30am - 6 pm, Sat 12 - 4pm, Sun 2 - 4pm ET

 

Example: We got a CSA Freestyle policy through them for a 2/4/22 cruise w/in 24 hours of my final payment. It includes Pre-existing condition coverage. Price was $309 for $4K in coverage based on ages 63 & 64 in CT and 12 day trip. We didn’t insure air because we are using Travel Bank credits.

Edited January 22, 2022 by JaneStarr
To add an example. See photo showing our options

[JaneStarr]

You may want to read Steve’s blog on Covid quarantine coverage (and lots of other interesting topics)

https://tripinsurancestore.com/blog/

[Arizona Wildcat]

A suggestion - do a quick search before opening a new thread.  I counted 2 threads on insurance in ONE HOUR and 6 in the last week.  Much like posts about ports - detailed info is available in the insurance and port categories.

[luv4cruises]

Thank you, Jane Starr!

 

I just spoke with Steve.  He is the first insurance person with whom I have spoken who was knowledgeable and articulate enough to answer my questions and explain my insurance options!  
 

i love cruising!

[JaneStarr]

12 minutes ago, luv4cruises said:

Thank you, Jane Starr!

 

I just spoke with Steve.  He is the first insurance person with whom I have spoken who was knowledgeable and articulate enough to answer my questions and explain my insurance options!  
 

i love cruising!

Happy to help! Cruise insurance *IS* complicated.

I hope Steve was able to find a satisfactory policy for your needs.

 

In the case of my above-mentioned cruise, the CSA Freestyle policy cost no more than Celebrity CruiseCare! (Since private insurance is age-rated, unlike CruiseCare, that won’t alway be the case as we age.)

One feature that I neglected to mention that I always check with Steve is to confirm is that P/E conditions are also waived for non-traveling family members. We have elderly Moms who might suddenly need us. That CSA Freestyle policy covers that need.

 

Another nice thing about purchasing insurance privately, is that we are able to insure our non-refundable airfares.

 

 

[GeezerCouple]

2 hours ago, luv4cruises said:

Thank you, Jane Starr!

 

I just spoke with Steve.  He is the first insurance person with whom I have spoken who was knowledgeable and articulate enough to answer my questions and explain my insurance options!  
 

i love cruising!

 

1 hour ago, JaneStarr said:

Happy to help! Cruise insurance *IS* complicated.

I hope Steve was able to find a satisfactory policy for your needs.

 

In the case of my above-mentioned cruise, the CSA Freestyle policy cost no more than Celebrity CruiseCare! (Since private insurance is age-rated, unlike CruiseCare, that won’t alway be the case as we age.)

One feature that I neglected to mention that I always check with Steve is to confirm is that P/E conditions are also waived for non-traveling family members. We have elderly Moms who might suddenly need us. That CSA Freestyle policy covers that need.

 

Another nice thing about purchasing insurance privately, is that we are able to insure our non-refundable airfares.

 

 

We learned about Steve (and his associates) here on CC just before DH's first cruise, and thank goodness.

I had a LONG talk with Steve:  "what about this?" "what about that?", etc., and that discussion helped us to get the right policy.  This was our first "expensive" (well to that point in time, ahem!) trip since our honeymoon.  And... just under 2 weeks before our planned departure, DH had a medical emergency, and the only traveling we were going to do for several weeks was all for medical care.

We are SO glad we had that policy.  I know many say, "well, you've already paid for the trip, so "you can afford" the loss.  Well, sure.  However, I know that if we had forfeited that money on that particular trip, it would have left such a bitter taste that we probably wouldn't have planned another trip like that.  And we would have missed out on so many wonderful trips!

 

We've since had several more claims, a few of them large, including when very elderly MIL landed in hospital with heart trouble days before another trip we had looked forward to.  (Never did find a cruise itinerary to match that one, unfortunately - still looking! - but we did later manage to salvage our 2 week stay in Italy that was supposed to be "post cruise".)

 

But DO *speak* to one of them.  There is no way that the online summaries can capture all of the fine print, or help one understand exactly if *your* situation is/is not okay for policy X, etc.

 

Steve is terrific.  So far, any answer he has given us has been right on the mark, whether it's what we "wanted to hear or not"!

 

And do not - repeat DO NOT! - rely upon any articles in the regular press.  I've found uncountable errors in those, some of them very egregious.  Plus, there's no way to understand if what they describe would apply ot *you* and *your* situation.

 

And as OP found, Travel Agents also aren't [usually] licensed travel insurance agents.  If they get something wrong, guess who pays the penalties/costs involved?  Not them!

 

I can't speak for Allianz about pre-existing conditions, but one additional strength of dealing with a travel insurance *broker* is that they work with more than one insurer.  So they aren't going to "push" you to a policy that doesn't quite work for you, because they'll probably have other policies that would be a better fit... such as about pre-existing conditions.

 

Finally, *READ* the policy.  Yes, the entire policy.  YOU might spot something that seems not to fit your specific situation.  Far better to ask about it right away (or during the several day review period), than to realize it at a claim time.  Yes, call and ask:  "I see this part here... does that apply to us??"  You'll get an answer, or perhaps some additional questions first. Steve was great about asking background information, so he could find the best policy for *our* specific situation.

 

Ours happened to be with Travel Insured, and we keep getting the same type of policy, and we, alas, continue to occasionally make claims.  And those claims get paid promptly.

 

By the way, having a policy that does not exclude pre-existing conditions might also make a claim based upon a medical situation faster to pay.  There would be no need for the insurer to scour through past medical records to see if there is any disqualifying condition... because it wouldn't matter.

 

GC

[luv4cruises]

Thank you GC!  I can’t believe I have literally missed the boat on cruise insurance after more than 50 cruises.  My recent pre-existing condition was my wake-up call. I will be purchasing a policy from Steve and feel so much better on making final payment for  my April cruise on Monday. Another bit of info he gave me was that my brilliant plan to cancel the cruise and then rebook it to meet the insurance purchase deadline would not work. If I booked the same cruise the insurance company would use the original booking date.  Thank you all for providing the information I needed to obtain the best policy for us. 
Stay well and happy cruising!

I love cruising!

[GeezerCouple]

15 hours ago, luv4cruises said:

Thank you GC!  I can’t believe I have literally missed the boat on cruise insurance after more than 50 cruises.  My recent pre-existing condition was my wake-up call. I will be purchasing a policy from Steve and feel so much better on making final payment for  my April cruise on Monday. Another bit of info he gave me was that my brilliant plan to cancel the cruise and then rebook it to meet the insurance purchase deadline would not work. If I booked the same cruise the insurance company would use the original booking date.  Thank you all for providing the information I needed to obtain the best policy for us. 
Stay well and happy cruising!

I love cruising!

 

Steve (and the others at TripInsuranceStore.com) don't try to sell someone a policy that really isn't going to work for their needs.  And I've never known them to try to "upsell".

 

In fact, one time Steve actually talked us out of buying insurance for one trip, and thus deprived himself of a "sale".  (There was indeed a reason we didn't need it for that trip, something I hadn't thought about.)

And another time, early on, he stopped us trying to purchase a policy that may well have ended up being denied had we needed to make a claim.  This was not too long after that first trip was cancelled.  We had asked Steve about the claims process, so he knew DH had the medical emergency.  So maybe a week or two later, I called, all eager to make reservations for some other trip a few months in advance.  He started to take the information, and then stopped cold, and asked, "Is [DH] able to travel today?"  Me:  "No, but he'll be fine by June."  Steve:  "You can't get that insurance today.  You both need to be 'fit to travel' on the day you start your coverage."   I had not noticed that bit of "fine print" (my bad!). Thank you, Steve! (Again! 🙂 )

 

About two months later, I asked DH's doctor, again, "Can [DH] finally travel overseas if we wanted to go today?"  When the physician said, "Sure.  Where are you going?"  So I asked him to write that down, right then and there.  He took out an Rx pad, and wrote down that '[DH] is fit to travel today.' and he dated and signed it.  We never needed that backup, but I kept it handy for quite some time, lest there be another claim, especially anything even vaguely related to that condition.  We always get coverage that does not exclude pre-existing conditions, so as long as he was "fit to travel", if there was a flare-up of somethiing... that would be very unfortunate, but wouldn't violate the terms of any insurance.

 

He also alerted us to why a particular annual coverage wouldn't work for us.  The annual limit for cancellations would probably have almost run out with a single large claim. That alone wouldn't have been a problem, of course.  However, if it did, then for any remaining trip(s) within that coverage year, it would be too late to get the type of coverage we needed, because it would no longer be within the 20* day deadline of first payment.

 

* The number of days for that deadline can vary with the policy and with the traveler's state of residence, so always check carefully.  Don't use a number that someone else mentioned etc.

 

GC

[Hutcha]

On 1/22/2022 at 6:50 AM, luv4cruises said:

I may be forced to settle for X insurance since their look back period is only 60 days I have not had any medical issues in that time that would exclude my ore- existing condition.

I may be wrong, but the preexisting look back is to determine if you have a condition that would exclude you from being covered. If you have not been treated for the condition during the look back, you have no preexisting condition. Paying for the coverage waives any conditions during that period, as long as you are able to travel when you buy the policy. 

[luv4cruises]

1 hour ago, Hutcha said:

I may be wrong, but the preexisting look back is to determine if you have a condition that would exclude you from being covered. If you have not been treated for the condition during the look back, you have no preexisting condition. Paying for the coverage waives any conditions during that period, as long as you are able to travel when you buy the policy. 

That is what Steve from Trip Insurance Store explained to me. Thank you for responding!  I am so grateful for all the shared knowledge,  experiences, and updates from fellow Cruise Critic participants.  We love cruising! 

 

 

[iamtrustworthy]

8 hours ago, Hutcha said:

I may be wrong, but the preexisting look back is to determine if you have a condition that would exclude you from being covered. If you have not been treated for the condition during the look back, you have no preexisting condition. Paying for the coverage waives any conditions during that period, as long as you are able to travel when you buy the policy. 

Hi Hutcha,

 

In addition to being treated for the medical condition during the lookback period, there are more reasons that something would be defined as a Pre-Existing Medical Condition:

 

A Pre-Existing Medical Condition includes any condition that’s been tested, treated, examined, consulted with, received advice on or had symptoms of. This also includes any adjustments or changes in any prescriptions or medication.

 

Steve Dasseos