Best protection for flights if I or cruise line cancels cruise

[Native Floridian 26]

We are looking at a Baltic cruise in May that will require round trip airfare from Florida to Copenhagen. With the cruise line if they cancel of course I would be able to get the refund, but if I have booked flights independently that are non-refundable, what type of insurance should I look for? Is there any that will be covered if the cruise line cancels the trip? What about if we decide to cancel and can still get a refund from the cruise line? How can we get refunds on the flights if we don't have free cancellation on them? Just trying to find the most economical way to cover any losses for airfare. Thank you.

 

[iamtrustworthy]

10 hours ago, Native Floridian 26 said:

We are looking at a Baltic cruise in May that will require round trip airfare from Florida to Copenhagen. With the cruise line if they cancel of course I would be able to get the refund, but if I have booked flights independently that are non-refundable, what type of insurance should I look for? Is there any that will be covered if the cruise line cancels the trip? What about if we decide to cancel and can still get a refund from the cruise line? How can we get refunds on the flights if we don't have free cancellation on them? Just trying to find the most economical way to cover any losses for airfare. Thank you.

 

Hi Native Floridian 26,

 

I don't know any plans that will refund the airfare.
 

Here's common policy wording:

 

"CHANGE FEE

We will reimburse You, up to the Maximum Benefit Amount shown in the Schedule of Benefits, for the change fee charged by a Common Carrier for changing a ticket or the fees assessed by Your Travel Supplier for changing Your original Travel Arrangements for covered Unforeseen reasons:

1. listed under Trip Cancellation and Trip Interruption;

2. Common Carrier delay. (the delay must be documented by the Common Carrier);

3. You or Your Traveling Companion are not directly involved in and are delayed due to a traffic Accident, while en route to the Your Scheduled Trip Departure City or Scheduled Destination or Return Destination. The traffic Accident must be documented by a police or news report;

4. Your Travel Supplier cancels and/or interrupts Your Trip.

These benefit(s) will not duplicate any other benefits payable under the policy or any coverage(s) attached to the policy."

 

In other words, it won't reimburse you for the cost of your airfare. And, since it's not obvious from reading the policy, if your cruise was cancelled and the dates changed to a new trip, you would not be able to re-use your policy for the new trip because filing a claim on this policy means you "used the policy". You would have to buy a new policy to cover the new trip.

 

Currently, I don't think this Change Fee benefit is of much value because now most airlines will let you change the dates without a fee.

 

Steve Dasseos

 

 

[pghflyer]

Yeah this has been my biggest beef with travel insurance, especially now.  For the last couple of years (and probably rest of this one too), my highest risk is cruise line cancelling the cruise, changing visited ports and offering refund, or changing origin/ destination..........and in those circumstances, I haven't found a single travel insurance that would cover non-refundable tickets in this case, other than "cancel for any reason" which often adds up to more than my flights in total.

[geoffw2]

I have booked a cruise 18 months in advance, and can't get Travel Insurance more than 12 months in advance (in Australia).  Any suggestions for a sensibly priced cruise travel policy for Aus citizens?

[iamtrustworthy]

13 hours ago, geoffw2 said:

I have booked a cruise 18 months in advance, and can't get Travel Insurance more than 12 months in advance (in Australia).  Any suggestions for a sensibly priced cruise travel policy for Aus citizens?

Hi geoffw2,

 

Unfortunately, I don't know anything about Australian plans.

 

Steve Dasseos