Sick dad?

[Lee2385]

Hi guys. My dad has been diagnosed with cancer. As of now he’s doing good. If I book a cruise and insure my trip and he starts getting bad can I cancel? Thank you

[CDNPolar]

So sorry to hear this.  Sending positive energy your way.

 

So much has to do with where you live, the insurance company etc.

 

You must read the terms of the policy.  

 

The policy we buy in CANADA states this as a covered reason to cancel:

 

A member of your immediate family, a member of your travel companion’s immediate family or your key-person develops a sudden and unforeseen medical condition or dies; or the person whose guest you will be during your trip is unexpectedly admitted to a hospital or dies.

 

I am going to say that if your policy states something similar, the key is "sudden and unforeseen".

 

Insurance companies are good at finding reasons to not pay so if you were to claim for this, then they would ask to see when the diagnosis was made and see that it was before you purchased the policy.

 

Probably not a covered reason.

Edited March 8 by CDNPolar

[Lee2385]

5 minutes ago, CDNPolar said:

So sorry to hear this.  Sending positive energy your way.

 

So much has to do with where you live, the insurance company etc.

 

You must read the terms of the policy.  

 

The policy we buy in CANADA states this as a covered reason to cancel:

 

A member of your immediate family, a member of your travel companion’s immediate family or your key-person develops a sudden and unforeseen medical condition or dies; or the person whose guest you will be during your trip is unexpectedly admitted to a hospital or dies.

 

I am going to say that if your policy states something similar, the key is "sudden and unforeseen".

 

Insurance companies are good at finding reasons to not pay so if you were to claim for this, then they would ask to see when the diagnosis was made and see that it was before you purchased the policy.

 

Probably not a covered reason.

Thank you. That’s what I’m wondering. If it’ll be “pre existing” wasn’t sure if he wasn’t on the cruise it would work

[CDNPolar]

1 hour ago, Lee2385 said:

Thank you. That’s what I’m wondering. If it’ll be “pre existing” wasn’t sure if he wasn’t on the cruise it would work

 

Probably not, but worth the call to an insurance company and ask them right out and give them the situation.  You have nothing to lose to ask.

[crystalspin]

5 hours ago, Lee2385 said:

My dad has been diagnosed with cancer. As of now he’s doing good. If I book a cruise and insure my trip and he starts getting bad can I cancel?

Hi Lee!

Both my mom and sister have very fragile health. I was so worried, I bought HAL's Standard Cancellation Protection just before Final Payment. This is CFAR (Cancel For Any Reason) protection, and refunds 80% of fare, plus you get all of Taxes and Fees, and all of other pre-paid ship's expenses like shore excursions and even flowers!

 

Although neither relative had a drastic down-turn, we did cancel at the last minute (24-hours or midnight of the second day before sailing to be on the safe side). All moneys were refunded to our credit card by a week's lapse! To a dollar of my calculations, except I didn't really think the flower arrangement would be refunded and it was!

 

They have a higher reimbursement plan, but it is considerably more expensive for only 10% more refund. (In our case, about $1000 payment for what would have been $2000 more.) Of course you do not get back your premium of any insurance. 

 

That is what worked for me.

[GeezerCouple]

5 hours ago, Lee2385 said:

Thank you. That’s what I’m wondering. If it’ll be “pre existing” wasn’t sure if he wasn’t on the cruise it would work

 

4 hours ago, CDNPolar said:

 

Probably not, but worth the call to an insurance company and ask them right out and give them the situation.  You have nothing to lose to ask.

 

CDNPolar has the correct answer.

It isn't going to do you any good to get assorted opinions here on CC. 

The ONLY thing that will matter is >> what your travel insurance POLICY explicitly includes.

 

And the covered events, and even the "definition" of the events can vary.

A lot!

 

We'd strongly suggest that you contact a travel insurance BROKER, one who can help you select among the policies from several different insurers.

 

We are among those here on CC (and elsewhere, of course!) who use

www.TripInsuranceStore.com

(There is no extra cost to use an agent or broker.)

 

But CALL them; don't rely upon the brief online summaries.

Your situation is an excellent example of why CALLING is important.  You want to know how "pre-existing conditions" are covered.  And what "pre-existing conditions" even covers to begin with.  And "pre-existing conditions" in whom?  Travelers?  Non-traveling family members?  Or?

Note that "pre-existing conditions" can be defined *VERY* differently by different insurers.  What will matter is what the definition is in the specific policy that you get.

OR... get a policy that does NOT exclude pre-existing conditions in the first place.  There are important restrictions on when one must start this type of policy, so don't delay.  It could be as early as within 10-20 days of making the very first trip payment, such as the deposit.

 

We've had several insurance claims, including some large ones.

And some of those were due to medical issues before we even left:  once, DH; another time, MIL.  These were cancellations at the last minute, when there was a 100% penalty.

Because we started the policy within a few days of making the very first payment, pre-existing condtions were NOT excluded.  But that was OUR policy.  Not all policies are like that.

 

We've also had 100% refunds for costs of travel interruptions once we were on a trip (both cruise and land vacations).

One very important thing is to get RECEIPTS for *all* expenses.  That's much easier at the time, and perhaps very difficult (or impossible) to try to get "later".

Our claims were paid within about 2 weeks of our submitting the necessary documents, and without any quarrel.  And we never felt that the "necessary documents" were inappropriate.  (The insurer has the right to do their best to deter or detect fraud, after all.  They never challenged a receipt that we submitted.)

GC

[Lee2385]

Thank you all so much!! I will def call before booking to be safe 

[CDNPolar]

Was not thinking, but CFAR could be your best friend here as crystalspin mentioned...

 

If you have not booked yet, but CFAR is available at the point of booking, that could be your option, but it can have its restrictions too including not full fare back.

 

All very good advice above....