Travel Insurance

[Four Bears]

We put a deposit down last January on on cruise for January 2013. Our PIF date is looming and I am looking at travel insurance.

MIL is not the healthiest of people and my biggest fear is that if something should happen that she is hospitalized we would want to be covered.

Also I live in the Northeast. Weather in January is iffy at best (we are flying in the day before for a buffer).

So I am looking for coverage for those main reasons (besides the usual ones).

It looks like most of the "cancel for any reason" policies require you to purchase it within so many days of the initial payment. Which means we are SOL. I take it that my deposit 6 months ago was my initial payment. [Slaps forehead]

And MIL has pre-exisiting conditions, but she is stable right now. How does that work?

Not so worried about weather delays, as this seems to be standard for most policies.

Help!

 

[sayhello]

We put a deposit down last January on on cruise for January 2013. Our PIF date is looming and I am looking at travel insurance.

MIL is not the healthiest of people and my biggest fear is that if something should happen that she is hospitalized we would want to be covered.

Also I live in the Northeast. Weather in January is iffy at best (we are flying in the day before for a buffer).

So I am looking for coverage for those main reasons (besides the usual ones).

It looks like most of the "cancel for any reason" policies require you to purchase it within so many days of the initial payment. Which means we are SOL. I take it that my deposit 6 months ago was my initial payment. [Slaps forehead]

And MIL has pre-exisiting conditions, but she is stable right now. How does that work?

Not so worried about weather delays, as this seems to be standard for most policies.

Help!

Take a look at CSA and HTH Worldwide at www.insuremytrip.com. Both those companies have policies that will give you a pre-existing condition waiver if you purchase the insurance prior to or within 24 hours of making your final payment. They're a bit more expensive, but at this point, they're your best bet to cover your situation.

How pre-existing conditions work is this. Each policy will have a defined "Look Back" period. (Usually 2 to 3 months). If the person either is in good health, or has a chronic condition that is unchanged (neither the condition or the treatment has changed within that lookback period) then they are considered to not have a pre-existing condition.

Sayhello

 

[GrandCanyon]

I'm a serious analyzer ... my spreadsheets have spreadsheets. In the end, we went with TruTravel, the only one with an A+ rating on insuremytrip.com. As you do your own comparrison, be sure the read the reviews of those that have had to file claims, and not those who never did.

 

[Green Tea]

If you transfer your reservation from DCL to Costco, you can get the trip insurance at final payment and it includes the preexisting coverage waiver. Plus you should get an onboard credit or Costco gift card.

 

[kcashner]

To answer your question of how a pre-existing condition works, the insurance policy will specify a "look back" period. This may be as little as a month or as much as a year depending on the policy. If you make a claim because MIL became ill or died, they will look at the medical records beginning at the time you purchased the insurance. If she was stable with no change in treatment during the "look back" period, it would not be considered pre-existing. If she had changes of status or changes of treatment during that time, it would not be covered unless you purchased pre-existing coverage.

 

[Four Bears]

Thank-you for the input, my travel agent is also recommending travelex

Off the website to do a side by side comparison

 

[tajz90]

We use Travelex and have made a claim with them. They were awesome. No issues whatsoever

 

[Jkatkinson]

If you transfer your reservation from DCL to Costco, you can get the trip insurance at final payment and it includes the preexisting coverage waiver. Plus you should get an onboard credit or Costco gift card.

How do you transfer the same reservation from DCL to Costco?

 

[Four Bears]

We just transferred our ressie made ON the ship last cruise to our Travel Agent. Just gave her the information and she handled the rest.

 

[pillow]

If you transfer your reservation from DCL to Costco, you can get the trip insurance at final payment and it includes the preexisting coverage waiver. Plus you should get an onboard credit or Costco gift card.

I second this. Their travel insurance is very reasonably priced + the cash card is the best deal I've found in terms of perks from TAs.

Jodie

 

[pillow]

How do you transfer the same reservation from DCL to Costco?

You must fill out the TA authorization form on the DCL website and fax it in (or snail mail or scan). You would name Costco as TA (no specific agent). Then call Costco a couple days later and have them pull up your res and tie it to your Costco membership number. Its very easy. We just did this for the first time in order to get the cash card. There must be a balance due on your account in order to transfer. In other words, pay off the cruise AFTER Costco receives it.

Jodie

 

[sullins5]

You must fill out the TA authorization form on the DCL website and fax it in (or snail mail or scan). You would name Costco as TA (no specific agent). Then call Costco a couple days later and have them pull up your res and tie it to your Costco membership number. Its very easy. We just did this for the first time in order to get the cash card. There must be a balance due on your account in order to transfer. In other words, pay off the cruise AFTER Costco receives it.

Jodie

If you do this, and you had a discount with DCL for your cruise, would you still get the discount with Costco? Do they honor DCL discounts when you transfer? TIA!

 

[pillow]

If you do this, and you had a discount with DCL for your cruise, would you still get the discount with Costco? Do they honor DCL discounts when you transfer? TIA!

Yes - everything transfers over. Just note that they can't take the Disney rewards card or gift cards for payment. I had to use my gift cards to make payment to DCL and THEN transferred the res over. Here is a thread on this -

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2930293&page=6

Jodie

 

[sullins5]

Yes - everything transfers over. Just note that they can't take the Disney rewards card or gift cards for payment. I had to use my gift cards to make payment to DCL and THEN transferred the res over. Here is a thread on this -

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2930293&page=6

Jodie

Thanks! Gonna check out that thread right now!

 

[sayhello]

Thank-you for the input, my travel agent is also recommending travelex

Off the website to do a side by side comparison

Travelex is a very good company, I've had good experience making a claim with them. But you will not get a pre-existing condition waiver with them at this point.

Sayhello