Viking travel insurance vs. choosing own insurance

[Janie1229]

Hello, looking for feedback on purchasing Viking's travel insurance vs. purchasing your own. This will be my first time on Viking, and for previous trips I have always purchased my own trip/travel insurance. The Viking insurance is very expensive - is it worth it? I'm told if you cancel for any reason you get "credit" for future trip, but not sure it's worth it just for that purpose. I do not intend to cancel unless for emergency/medical reason which would be covered by other trip insurance. The "credit" means you'd have to be okay with Viking holding thousands of your dollars for extended period of time, and would also mean you would be dedicated to rebooking another Viking cruise. 

 

Any feedback is welcome, thank you!

[CDNPolar]

1 hour ago, Janie1229 said:

Hello, looking for feedback on purchasing Viking's travel insurance vs. purchasing your own. This will be my first time on Viking, and for previous trips I have always purchased my own trip/travel insurance. The Viking insurance is very expensive - is it worth it? I'm told if you cancel for any reason you get "credit" for future trip, but not sure it's worth it just for that purpose. I do not intend to cancel unless for emergency/medical reason which would be covered by other trip insurance. The "credit" means you'd have to be okay with Viking holding thousands of your dollars for extended period of time, and would also mean you would be dedicated to rebooking another Viking cruise. 

 

Any feedback is welcome, thank you!

 

I have not purchased Viking's insurance because as a Canadian we are not eligible.

 

I do know that it is expensive and yes, you are right the CFAR part - Cancel For Any Reason - is managed by Viking and not TripMate who sells the insurance.

 

The CFAR must be purchased within a certain time frame of booking, but that does mean that for any reason you choose you can cancel.  Your cancellation reason does not have to meet one of the insurance companies reasons.

 

You are also right that you will get a voucher for the non-refundable amount of your trip paid and booked through Viking and yes, Viking are going to hold your cash until you rebook.

 

Just a caution that vouchers with Viking have rules attached to them that you may or may not be agreeable to.  There are many discussions on CC about vouchers, and for me and my past experience with Vouchers, I would avoid them.

 

For us we don't have the option of purchasing Viking's insurance, so we have always had to purchase our insurance privately.  We have knowledge of the different packages available to us and know what we want and we buy that and are satisfied.

 

The one point is that you don't have to purchase Viking's insurance and there may be advantages to buying your own.  Also, some insurance companies also offer CFAR insurance if you felt you needed it.

[Janie1229]

2 minutes ago, CDNPolar said:

 

I have not purchased Viking's insurance because as a Canadian we are not eligible.

 

I do know that it is expensive and yes, you are right the CFAR part - Cancel For Any Reason - is managed by Viking and not TripMate who sells the insurance.

 

The CFAR must be purchased within a certain time frame of booking, but that does mean that for any reason you choose you can cancel.  Your cancellation reason does not have to meet one of the insurance companies reasons.

 

You are also right that you will get a voucher for the non-refundable amount of your trip paid and booked through Viking and yes, Viking are going to hold your cash until you rebook.

 

Just a caution that vouchers with Viking have rules attached to them that you may or may not be agreeable to.  There are many discussions on CC about vouchers, and for me and my past experience with Vouchers, I would avoid them.

 

For us we don't have the option of purchasing Viking's insurance, so we have always had to purchase our insurance privately.  We have knowledge of the different packages available to us and know what we want and we buy that and are satisfied.

 

The one point is that you don't have to purchase Viking's insurance and there may be advantages to buying your own.  Also, some insurance companies also offer CFAR insurance if you felt you needed it.

Thank you. I was pretty shocked at Viking's price for their travel insurance and am confident I can find good coverage and probably half the price. I would not want to cancel and have Viking hold my $$ and whatever other restrictions apply to that scenario. My biggest reason for purchasing travel insurance is (a) medical coverage should something happen during trip; (b) coverage/refund for canceling prior to trip for a covered medical reason; (c) coverage for missing any part of the trip due to flight delays/cancellations. 

[CDNPolar]

3 minutes ago, Janie1229 said:

Thank you. I was pretty shocked at Viking's price for their travel insurance and am confident I can find good coverage and probably half the price. I would not want to cancel and have Viking hold my $$ and whatever other restrictions apply to that scenario. My biggest reason for purchasing travel insurance is (a) medical coverage should something happen during trip; (b) coverage/refund for canceling prior to trip for a covered medical reason; (c) coverage for missing any part of the trip due to flight delays/cancellations. 

 

Then you are good to buy on your own.  Many do.  Just understand the medical portion and pre-existing conditions if any.

[Phutch9136]

Absolutely you need travel insurance. Don’t travel without it. Even covers reimbursement for lost baggage which is common. We use Allianz. You can speak to a person or buy online on your own. Rate goes up as you age. 

[lackcreativity]

So far, we have always used the TripMate insurance through Viking, and before that even with Globus land based tours. Yes, I have learned there are multiple good reasons why that may not be a good choice.

 

We had an excellent experience with TripMate during a case of food poisoning in Venice that interrupted a land based tour. However, that was ten years ago and fortunately we have not had a similar experience since. My recommendation may be out of date.

 

In the past, the voucher associated with a CFAR claim was acceptable to us. We love Viking, and always figured that we would book another cruise. We also figured we would never cancel except for a cover reason. Experience has led us to realize that neither of those predictions are guaranteed! 

 

Since we are now closer to the end of our travel days than to the beginning, and since we have learned about the possible pitfalls with the vouchers, we are more leery. We accepted and used a voucher one time without issue, and were grateful to have the option. However, I am not sure we would want to do so again.

 

Sorry if my mixed message does not help your decision. I guess I am saying that you have to consider all your circumstances. Hope you enjoy Viking as much as we have! 

 

 

[CPT Trips]

4 hours ago, CDNPolar said:

 

Then you are good to buy on your own.  Many do.  Just understand the medical portion and pre-existing conditions if any.

You probably know, but buy the insurance in the time frame needed for pre-existing conditions. 
As a previous poster noted, the price of insurance increases with age, cruise line/travel provider insurance tends to be flat rate. It pays to shop, we use on-line brokers. 

[sharkster77]

The risk one takes buying insurance from the tour company is that if the tour company goes under, the insurance may be useless.  Always buy trip insurance from a third pary.

[CDNPolar]

50 minutes ago, CPT Trips said:

You probably know, but buy the insurance in the time frame needed for pre-existing conditions. 
As a previous poster noted, the price of insurance increases with age, cruise line/travel provider insurance tends to be flat rate. It pays to shop, we use on-line brokers. 

 

Cannot agree more.  I think that many buy insurance and really do not understand the ins and outs of insurance.  Folks think they are covered and aer possibly not covered.

 

Read every policy and ask many questions.

 

Understand effective dates.

 

Understand coverage for pre-existing conditions and what a pre-existing condition is.  (You might be shocked)

 

Understand stability periods.

 

 

[knoxclone]

I recommend always using third party insurance unless you MUST use cruise line insurance for specific reasons (World Cruise, aging out of third party CFAR, etc.) 

 

Almost always better coverage, less expensive and you will not be subject to vouchers vs. cash compensation. 

[CPT Trips]

I don’t know at what age cruise line insurance becomes less expensive than third party coverage, but it’s over 76. 

[CielBleu]

I would say absolutely not to buying the insurance policy through Viking.  You yourself mentioned a few good reasons not to purchase it.  I won't go into the specifics, but after what happened with Vantage (Sharkster alluded to the situation above), with customers losing thousands of dollars, it further emphasized the danger of purchasing insurance from a tour or cruise company.

[BigAl666]

I certainly take your point, and based on your situation it seems to make sense to go third party.

 

We're old and used to always buy 3rd party through a broker - but it definitely wasn't cheap at our age and with the pricetags of Explorer Suites and business class international airfare. Viking TripMate coverage has actually been significantly cheaper on our trips in the past 5 years or so.

 

As others have noted, pre-existing condition definitions and coverage vary significantly and older folks in particular need to be mindful of what the coverage really is.

 

Interestingly enough, we take the Viking insurance partly because of their self-insured CFAR voucher provision. It has worked very well for us in the past during Covid and other times, and it doesn't really bother me that Viking has my money, as we'll almost certainly cruise with them again. We've done 15 Viking cruises so far and have another 4 booked at the moment.

 

After their IPO I'm not really concerned about Viking's ability to pay in the foreseeable future.

 

But everyone should do what's right for them - I'm happy with what we're doing.

[PaulS]

We were on a Viking Christmas Markets cruise last December and my wife needed to be hospitalized in Vienna. We had purchased the VikingTripMate insurance because it was just easier.

Be aware, if you need to use the medical features of the TripMate insurance, it is secondary insurance meaning you have to file a claim with your regular health insurance before TripMate will pay anything. That feature made the reimbursement process quite long and involved. While they ultimately paid, I would not use the Viking insurance again. In the future, I will use third party insurance that is primary, meaning they will pay first.

[Janie1229]

On 6/16/2024 at 8:05 AM, Phutch9136 said:

Absolutely you need travel insurance. Don’t travel without it. Even covers reimbursement for lost baggage which is common. We use Allianz. You can speak to a person or buy online on your own. Rate goes up as you age. 

I purchase travel insurance with every trip my husband and I do. I'm not saying that I'd travel without it. I'm asking specifically about Viking's travel insurance and whether it's worth the high cost. Seems like the only real "perk" is the ability to cancel for any reason - but you only get future cruise credit in that case, which i'm pretty sure I don't want Viking holding my $$$$ for any extended period of time. And that's holding me hostage to a future Viking trip which again not sure I want that either. So I will be looking at my own insurance probably. But I always look for insurance that has high primary medical coverage first and foremost, and then good coverage for trip delays. 

[Janie1229]

On 6/16/2024 at 10:31 AM, lackcreativity said:

So far, we have always used the TripMate insurance through Viking, and before that even with Globus land based tours. Yes, I have learned there are multiple good reasons why that may not be a good choice.

 

We had an excellent experience with TripMate during a case of food poisoning in Venice that interrupted a land based tour. However, that was ten years ago and fortunately we have not had a similar experience since. My recommendation may be out of date.

 

In the past, the voucher associated with a CFAR claim was acceptable to us. We love Viking, and always figured that we would book another cruise. We also figured we would never cancel except for a cover reason. Experience has led us to realize that neither of those predictions are guaranteed! 

 

Since we are now closer to the end of our travel days than to the beginning, and since we have learned about the possible pitfalls with the vouchers, we are more leery. We accepted and used a voucher one time without issue, and were grateful to have the option. However, I am not sure we would want to do so again.

 

Sorry if my mixed message does not help your decision. I guess I am saying that you have to consider all your circumstances. Hope you enjoy Viking as much as we have! 

 

 

Thank you! Since I have never traveled on Viking before, it leaves me very hesitant as I don't know if I'd want to get future cruise credit. That really seems to be the only difference between Viking and purchasing travel insurance on our own. I have no pre-existing medical conditions but still purchase the insurance within the 7-14 days required for this anyway,.

[Janie1229]

9 hours ago, PaulS said:

We were on a Viking Christmas Markets cruise last December and my wife needed to be hospitalized in Vienna. We had purchased the VikingTripMate insurance because it was just easier.

Be aware, if you need to use the medical features of the TripMate insurance, it is secondary insurance meaning you have to file a claim with your regular health insurance before TripMate will pay anything. That feature made the reimbursement process quite long and involved. While they ultimately paid, I would not use the Viking insurance again. In the future, I will use third party insurance that is primary, meaning they will pay first.

Thanks for your input - yes I always buy trip insurance that has medical coverage as primary. 

[CDNPolar]

@Janie1229  There are other companies that offer CFAR Insurance, and it is expensive.  This is one of the reasons that Viking's TripMate is expensive.

 

Remember that in this case, TripMate (the insurance company) is not underwriting the CFAR, that is Viking and you will as you noted above only get a voucher if you use CFAR.

 

We hedge our bets on travel cancelation insurance in the following way.

 

1) Regardless of when you purchase your Viking cruise in the USA and Canada (as long as it is not a longer segment cruise) the first penalty does not kick in until 120 days from sailing.  This means you can cancel and get your money back for all but the deposit.  

 

2) Then you have a sliding scale of refund from Viking down to 30 days before sailing.

 

We don't buy cancelation insurance for the full amount of our trip because we hedge that as much as 120 days out if all looks good, then we move forward.  

 

We have an annual plan that only pays $5K per person, and a credit card that pays $2.5K per person, so until somewhere in the final 30-45 days is when we might actually lose a bit of money by canceling.

 

Insurance is a game in my mind and we play it to spend the least possible and hedge some of our bets...

[JordanF]

I have always used Insuremytrip.com, and have been satisfied.  This includes paying lower premiums and having the occasional smaller claim paid.  One time we had to cancel for medical reasons after we had paid for most of the trip and could not get a refund--the insurance paid in full.  It appears that most cruise lines (river and ocean) sell trip insurance underwritten by an insurance company anyway--just at a higher price.  I think the cruise lines try to sweeten the pot with the CFAR benefit.  There may be individual reasons to buy that--but absent that, it seems like they are just charging you for a more generous cancellation policy.

[Host Jazzbeau]

It may not seem like something to worry about, especially with a big company like Viking, but one added benefit of third-party insurance is coverage for Vendor Default.

[texasstar]

Another vote for Insuremytrip.com.  They will give you options that you can compare from different companies.  They are also very good if you have questions.