Purchasing Trip Insurance - Estimating Cost of Trip

[ohmandi]

Hello.  We've booked a European cruise for September 2025.  We will probably do some pre-cruise and post-cruise land travel as well.  We have not yet booked flights or the pre/post travel.  I spoke with a trip insurance company to purchase a policy for just the cruise.  She said we should estimate the total cost of the trip and buy insurance at that amount.  Not knowing where or what we will be doing makes that difficult.  I know we can increase the value of the insurance as we add costs but the agent said that purchasing it in parts would probably cost us more money.   I wondered that if we estimate at a higher amount and then the trip is less, will they adjust the cost of the insurance?  Does anyone have any experience with this?  What is your opinion on estimating the costs of the trip?  Thank you.

[GeezerCouple]

You didn't mention which insurer or agent you used, but this doesn't seem to be the most efficient approach.

 

Why not call

www.TripInsuranceStore.com

but CALL, don't rely upon the short policy summaries on line.

 

For most policies, they'll probably suggest that you insure only what you have paid to date.  That not only avoids the "how much will the total be", but also avoids having you possibly pay more/buy more insurance than you need, due to needing to estimate.

 

You'd probably insure the deposit first, and then, as more and non-refundable costs are added, pay the extra insurance for those amounts.

Note that for some types of coverage one needs to start the insurance for the covered amount within 10-20 days of the FIRST payment (varies by state of residence).

 

GC

[ohmandi]

@GeezerCouple  Thank you for the reply. Trip Insurance Store is who I called.  We've bought many policies through Squaremouth and InsureMyTrip.  Given the recommendations in this forum, I thought I'd give Steve's company a try.  I'll call again and discuss it further with them. I'm inclined to just insure the cruise since it's so far away and take my chances on the rest.

[CDNPolar]

2 minutes ago, ohmandi said:

@GeezerCouple  Thank you for the reply. Trip Insurance Store is who I called.  We've bought many policies through Squaremouth and InsureMyTrip.  Given the recommendations in this forum, I thought I'd give Steve's company a try.  I'll call again and discuss it further with them. I'm inclined to just insure the cruise since it's so far away and take my chances on the rest.

 

You just have to be sure that you are paying only to insure non-refundable costs.

 

We rarely if ever book a hotel that is not cancellable up to the day of or at the earliest the day before.  We have had so many plans change, that we just feel it is worth the few dollars extra to have the option of cancelling or changing without cost.

 

If you are booking this kind of pre or post stuff, then you don't have to insure it as long as you can cancel by the deadline.

 

We also when booking our own air, book fares that allow cancellation for a fee with fare returned less that fee.  Again, just simpler.

[GeezerCouple]

1 minute ago, ohmandi said:

@GeezerCouple  Thank you for the reply. Trip Insurance Store is who I called.  We've bought many policies through Squaremouth and InsureMyTrip.  Given the recommendations in this forum, I thought I'd give Steve's company a try.  I'll call again and discuss it further with them. I'm inclined to just insure the cruise since it's so far away and take my chances on the rest.

I'm surprised that TIS simply said to insure the full cost far in advance.

That's who we use, and we ALWAYS start with insuring just the deposit, or whatever payment we've needed to make at the time.  And then we up the coverage as we up the *non* refundable costs.

Why pay for the insurance for the full cost of the trip so far in advance?

There may be some good reason(s) they suggested that, so please ask them directly.

 

I don't know what you mean by "I'm inclined to just insure the cruise since it's so far away and take my chances on the rest."

If it's "so far" in the future, why pay the insurance premiums now... unless there is something specific that is affecting this?

And WHY take your chances with the rest of the costs, unless those are negligible.  Or refundable, of course.

 

GC

[ohmandi]

@GeezerCouple  I just meant that since the cruise isn't until Fall 2025, I'll only insure its cost now as those payments are non-refundable.  I can add the flights/hotels/etc. to the policy as we book them which won't be until next year.

Edited April 14 by ohmandi
typo

[GeezerCouple]

1 minute ago, ohmandi said:

@GeezerCouple  I just meant that since the cruise isn't until Fall 2025, I'll only insure its cost now as those payments are non-refundable.  I can add the flights/hotels/etc. to the policy as we book them which won't be until next year.

That makes sense.

However, if that's what you meant, then what did

"take my chances on the rest" mean?

 

GC

[ohmandi]

@GeezerCouple  I meant take my chances on the cost of the trip insurance for the rest of the trip.  The woman at TIC said that the total cost of the trip insurance coverage could be higher if I purchased it in parts.

[GeezerCouple]

13 minutes ago, ohmandi said:

@GeezerCouple  I meant take my chances on the cost of the trip insurance for the rest of the trip.  The woman at TIC said that the total cost of the trip insurance coverage could be higher if I purchased it in parts.

 

This doesn't make sense either.

I still wonder if there is some other circumstance that is affecting their (her?) statements.

Keep in mind that we here on CC are very unlikely to have all the information you would have given TIS or any other insurance agent/broker.

 

GC

[iamtrustworthy]

On 4/14/2024 at 12:17 PM, ohmandi said:

Hello.  We've booked a European cruise for September 2025.  We will probably do some pre-cruise and post-cruise land travel as well.  We have not yet booked flights or the pre/post travel.  I spoke with a trip insurance company to purchase a policy for just the cruise.  She said we should estimate the total cost of the trip and buy insurance at that amount.  Not knowing where or what we will be doing makes that difficult.  I know we can increase the value of the insurance as we add costs but the agent said that purchasing it in parts would probably cost us more money.   I wondered that if we estimate at a higher amount and then the trip is less, will they adjust the cost of the insurance?  Does anyone have any experience with this?  What is your opinion on estimating the costs of the trip?  Thank you.

Hi ohmandi,

 

I'm surprised to hear that this is the advice you received from TripInsuranceStore, since this advice was the opposite of what we tell people.

 

Will you help me track down your phone call? My email is steve@tripinsurancestore.com and this is the information I will need from you (email it because this is private information):

Your name, the phone number you called us from and the approximate date and time of your phone call. And, did you speak with Deanna or Kim?

 

Thank you in advance,

 

Steve Dasseos

Edited April 16 by iamtrustworthy
typo

[ohmandi]

@iamtrustworthy  Steve, thank you for reaching out to me here and by phone.  I believe the confusion was just a misunderstanding. Your prompt attention and good communication surely helps to maintain the integrity of your business.