Travel Insurance Yea or Nay

[dis@dills]

I will be traveling to Aulani in late June with family from different parts of the country. I have never purchased or even inquired for that matter about travel insurance?

Any suggestions, tips or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance for your assistance.

 

[CMOORE185]

I think your responses will cover both sides of the coin. I personally never get it, but I can understand someone who does. Sorry, I guess I wasn't much help to you. Good luck with your decision.

 

[jekjones1558]

We always get travel insurance for Hawaii because the airfare and hotel costs are expensive. The DVC insurance is actually a good deal because it covers airfare (don't know if there are limits to the airfare costs) and it is only $79/use year. I would at least check that out for details. We buy the DVC Travelex every year because we always fly. If you buy it when dues are paid it covers pre-existing conditions also. Since we have 1150 points, $79/use year is a super bargain.

 

[Resqlt]

We never considered gettting the insurance until we started going in February. We live in NY so we never know if snow will play a role in the flights at that time of year. It is not a bad deal especially if you are planning more than one trip in a year as it covers the entire year, not just one trip.

 

[BWV Dreamin]

We always get travel insurance for Hawaii because the airfare and hotel costs are expensive. The DVC insurance is actually a good deal because it covers airfare (don't know if there are limits to the airfare costs) and it is only $79/use year. I would at least check that out for details. We buy the DVC Travelex every year because we always fly. If you buy it when dues are paid it covers pre-existing conditions also. Since we have 1150 points, $79/use year is a super bargain.

Does the airfare have to be booked by Disney? This was the problem with insurance thru DCL. If the DVC insurance includes covering any airfare booked for the trip than that is a great deal!

 

[Brian Noble]

How badly would it hurt to lose the non-refundable payments you've made? How badly would it hurt to have to pay for an extra hotel night if your flight is delayed, or a couple days' worth of clothes if your bags are delayed? How likely is someone to miss the trip due to illness etc.?

For most of my trips, I tend to "self insure": the airfare is usually not a big deal, and most other costs are refundable. For e.g. a cruise, I am much more likely to take the insurance, because that's more than I'd want to lose.

This was the problem with insurance thru DCL.

Good point. This is one reason we purchased insurance through a third-party; we booked our airfare separately. insuremytrip.com will allow you to compare policies.

 

[DenLo]

I could see that the cost of flying from overseas would warrant travel insurance or even airfare from the west coast to Orlando but I would read the fine print on the DVC travel insurance to see that every guest is covered, because I think it only covers the members. Like others posted we use travel insurance for a cruise, but it's true if you book airfare separately it's not covered--unless you get a different insurance, which we usually do.

 

[aymekae]

We got trip insurance for our first WDW vacation, since we were flying from the west coast to Orlando during hurricane season.

We did not get trip insurance for our DCL cruise in December because we felt we had an extremely low risk for canceling and hurricanes were not an issue.

We did not get trip insurance for our upcoming Aulani vacation in November. Our flights were booked using miles that we can get credit for up till the day before we fly, so I'm not concerned about that. Rental car and whatever else is refundable.

I like how the PP says they self-insure. That's basically what we do. We weigh the risks vs. what we would be comfortable losing in all events.

 

[saintstickets]

We always get travel insurance for Hawaii because the airfare and hotel costs are expensive. The DVC insurance is actually a good deal because it covers airfare (don't know if there are limits to the airfare costs) and it is only $79/use year. I would at least check that out for details. We buy the DVC Travelex every year because we always fly. If you buy it when dues are paid it covers pre-existing conditions also. Since we have 1150 points, $79/use year is a super bargain.

I guess I need to call and ask a different person because they told me it only covered $5 per DVC point lost if the trip had to be canceled. I specifically asked about airfare and was told it was not covered. Sighhhhh...guess the right hand didn't know what the left was doing!

 

[jekjones1558]

I guess I need to call and ask a different person because they told me it only covered $5 per DVC point lost if the trip had to be canceled. I specifically asked about airfare and was told it was not covered. Sighhhhh...guess the right hand didn't know what the left was doing!

Correct. It does only cover $5/point. We do not buy for that provision. We buy for all of the other stuff: medical, baggage, trip interruption, etc. Here are the provisions regarding airfare:

(e) airfare cancellation fees and/or change fees up $1,000 per reservation for flights in connection with the Timeshare Trip commencing within two days of the Timeshare Trip;

(f) the fees incurred by You for re-depositing frequent traveler awards (frequent flyer miles, hotel point rewards, etc.) in Your account if You used awards for any part of a Timeshare Trip which is canceled for a covered reason (the Insurer will not pay more than an aggregate amount of $500 for all Timeshare Trips and for fees paid for re-depositing frequent traveler awards).

Because we make multiple trips per use year by air, $79/use year is a bargain for us. Other insurance, just for air, is at LEAST $25 per person per trip and often more.

 

[dbs1228]

There is a whole explanation of coverage on the DVC website for the insurance, if you have not read through it you should before you call. It gives a pretty good description of what is covered and will help you ask more specific questions.

 

[RweTHEREyet]

I have thought about it every time they have offered it, but have never decided to take it. If we book Aulani, we might do it then.