Question about insurance for cruise booked with voucher

[RobC1116]

We canceled a Viking cruise in late 2022 we had fully paid for, and received a "future cruise credit" voucher for the amount originally paid. We had two years to book something else, and an additional two years during which we could travel (so needed to book by July 2024 and travel by July 2026). We just booked a Viking cruise for December 2024. We never purchased an insurance policy for the original trip. I would now like to find a policy to cover the new trip, but I am getting confusing and conflicting information on whether or not there is any company/policy that will cover the cost of the voucher were we to have to cancel for a "covered" reason. Both squaremouth and insuremytrip agents said NO companies cover vouchers. But is this right? Does anyone know? Thank you.

[klfrodo]

With the "voucher" you have $0 cost to insure. 

Side note: I completely understand what you're trying to say, but in the insurance world, your voucher has 0$ value. Just like when you book a flight using miles. The miles themselves have 0 value. As a matter of fact, when you fly using miles, the airline considers you a non-revenue passenger.

That doesn't mean that you can't purchase a travel insurance policy, which you should do now that you're booked, so you can get the medical and evac coverage. You just won't be able to recover the cost of the cruise should you cancel.

Edited April 29 by klfrodo

[iamtrustworthy]

4 hours ago, RobC1116 said:

We canceled a Viking cruise in late 2022 we had fully paid for, and received a "future cruise credit" voucher for the amount originally paid. We had two years to book something else, and an additional two years during which we could travel (so needed to book by July 2024 and travel by July 2026). We just booked a Viking cruise for December 2024. We never purchased an insurance policy for the original trip. I would now like to find a policy to cover the new trip, but I am getting confusing and conflicting information on whether or not there is any company/policy that will cover the cost of the voucher were we to have to cancel for a "covered" reason. Both squaremouth and insuremytrip agents said NO companies cover vouchers. But is this right? Does anyone know? Thank you.

Hi RobC1116,

 

If you live in the USA, there are a few companies plans that will cover the value of your Future Travel or Cruise Credits that you received instead of a cash refund on a trip that was cancelled.

 

And, not unsurprisingly, there are other potential traps that could affect your travel insurance coverage that come with using travel or cruise credits.

 

Steve Dasseos

 

Edited April 29 by iamtrustworthy
typo

[CDNPolar]

10 hours ago, RobC1116 said:

We canceled a Viking cruise in late 2022 we had fully paid for, and received a "future cruise credit" voucher for the amount originally paid. We had two years to book something else, and an additional two years during which we could travel (so needed to book by July 2024 and travel by July 2026). We just booked a Viking cruise for December 2024. We never purchased an insurance policy for the original trip. I would now like to find a policy to cover the new trip, but I am getting confusing and conflicting information on whether or not there is any company/policy that will cover the cost of the voucher were we to have to cancel for a "covered" reason. Both squaremouth and insuremytrip agents said NO companies cover vouchers. But is this right? Does anyone know? Thank you.

 

I find online a couple of options that say they insure voucher value, however one thing that is likely a need to know is where are you?  Assuming you are in the US that will change what is available.

[GeezerCouple]

11 hours ago, klfrodo said:

With the "voucher" you have $0 cost to insure. 

Side note: I completely understand what you're trying to say, but in the insurance world, your voucher has 0$ value. Just like when you book a flight using miles. The miles themselves have 0 value. As a matter of fact, when you fly using miles, the airline considers you a non-revenue passenger.

That doesn't mean that you can't purchase a travel insurance policy, which you should do now that you're booked, so you can get the medical and evac coverage. You just won't be able to recover the cost of the cruise should you cancel.

We travel a lot with the air being using awards.

Fortunately, although that part of the trip - the "regular cash price of the air trip" - is not insuranble, for a very modest cost, we can re-bank the points (almost always, IIRC).  And we can insure that modest cost, which we only do because our insurance type requires that we insure ALL non-refundable costs.  Even though we didn't pre-pay that fee, we include it.  It's small enough that it's never kicked us into a higher tier of coverage (it goes by increments of the total cost), so it was always a non-issue.  Better to include anything that MIGHT be in the "everything"...!

 

And yes, we've recovered that "rebanking fee" a few times, although that was never a real concern, obviously.  But if we were filing a claim, we'll include everything there, too.

 

GC

[RobC1116]

16 hours ago, klfrodo said:

With the "voucher" you have $0 cost to insure. 

Side note: I completely understand what you're trying to say, but in the insurance world, your voucher has 0$ value. Just like when you book a flight using miles. The miles themselves have 0 value. As a matter of fact, when you fly using miles, the airline considers you a non-revenue passenger.

That doesn't mean that you can't purchase a travel insurance policy, which you should do now that you're booked, so you can get the medical and evac coverage. You just won't be able to recover the cost of the cruise should you cancel.

But in our case, we paid $$$ for the original trip that we then canceled. In lieu of an 80% refund (based on the timeliness of the cancellation), we received a voucher for the full amount we had paid. So now, the voucher has 0 value, and cannot be insured? If that is the case, we will just insure the costs over and above the voucher value

[Coral]

1 hour ago, RobC1116 said:

But in our case, we paid $$$ for the original trip that we then canceled. In lieu of an 80% refund (based on the timeliness of the cancellation), we received a voucher for the full amount we had paid. So now, the voucher has 0 value, and cannot be insured? If that is the case, we will just insure the costs over and above the voucher value

Check with Viking directly. I usually don't book with Viking but after COVID, many cruise lines were insuring vouchers and coverage is for the cost of the voucher.

 

You may want to call @iamtrustworthy also. Things changed after COVID and he mentioned he has some policies (assuming you are in US).

[klfrodo]

1 hour ago, RobC1116 said:

But in our case, we paid $$$ for the original trip that we then canceled. In lieu of an 80% refund (based on the timeliness of the cancellation), we received a voucher for the full amount we had paid. So now, the voucher has 0 value, and cannot be insured? If that is the case, we will just insure the costs over and above the voucher value

I believe @iamtrustworthy corrected me and stated that there are a couple of policies that may be able to help you.

Give Steve a call at Get the Best Trip Insurance Details, Advice (tripinsurancestore.com) and see what he says

 

[klfrodo]

6 hours ago, GeezerCouple said:

We travel a lot with the air being using awards.

Fortunately, although that part of the trip - the "regular cash price of the air trip" - is not insuranble, for a very modest cost, we can re-bank the points (almost always, IIRC).  And we can insure that modest cost, which we only do because our insurance type requires that we insure ALL non-refundable costs.  Even though we didn't pre-pay that fee, we include it.  It's small enough that it's never kicked us into a higher tier of coverage (it goes by increments of the total cost), so it was always a non-issue.  Better to include anything that MIGHT be in the "everything"...!

 

And yes, we've recovered that "rebanking fee" a few times, although that was never a real concern, obviously.  But if we were filing a claim, we'll include everything there, too.

 

GC

My airline of choice, Alaska Air, has never had a problem just rebanking my miles if I need to cancel. But, that could be because I have elite status with the airline.

[GeezerCouple]

1 hour ago, klfrodo said:

My airline of choice, Alaska Air, has never had a problem just rebanking my miles if I need to cancel. But, that could be because I have elite status with the airline.

 

We've never had any problem at all with rebanking miles either, with any of the programs we use.  But the programs/airlines we use have very modest "rebanking fees" to do it.  It's not enough to fret about at all, but since that IS included in the travel insurance, we do add it to the claim each time we've had to do that.

 

GC

[CDNPolar]

There ARE insurance companies that will insure vouchers.  They are few and far between and you have to search but they are out there.

 

I know of 2 in Canada, but they don't insure Americans.

[Coral]

11 hours ago, klfrodo said:

My airline of choice, Alaska Air, has never had a problem just rebanking my miles if I need to cancel. But, that could be because I have elite status with the airline.

Though I may need additional coverage such as medical on the cruise.

 

And cruise lines won't just "bank the cruise" if you need to cancel. Definitely different than using miles or points. Cruise lines have strict cancellation policies.

Edited April 30 by Coral

[jjunnila]

On 4/30/2024 at 5:36 AM, CDNPolar said:

There ARE insurance companies that will insure vouchers.  They are few and far between and you have to search but they are out there.

 

I know of 2 in Canada, but they don't insure Americans.

Hi CDNPolar are you able to share those Canadian insurers? I am looking for exactly this, coverage for the voucher portion of the cruise. Thanks!!

[CDNPolar]

15 minutes ago, jjunnila said:

Hi CDNPolar are you able to share those Canadian insurers? I am looking for exactly this, coverage for the voucher portion of the cruise. Thanks!!

 

I have never done it myself, but... these are ones that I searched one time and found...

 

Generali 

 

CLHIA

 

...and I believe that Manulife will also.