Be careful - Costco's travel insurance has changed

[IBelieveInTheMagic]

I know quite a few of us book our cruises through Costco and there have been several favorable threads in reference to their insurance coverage, through Travel Guard. I just learned some information I wanted to share with others as I was a little shocked how much their coverage has changed and NOT for the better. I should also state - this is what I was just advised so if anyone else hears differently, please let me know.

To share, I was adding coverage for my mom and I and our cruise in 9/2014 as I just paid it off since my online check in date is towards the end of the month. I started by questioning why it was almost $100 for a cruise fare of $1177 when in the past a cruise this past September with some friends we paid either $1700 or $1900 and it was also $100 - quite a big difference. He said their coverage had changed. Yikes.

I was told they no longer cover airfare complimentary, like they have in the past. Luckily I used SWA points which I can get fully refunded if needed so I didn't need to add that.

He also stated they now allow you to "add" items that are nonrefundable or can't be cancelled and I thought of the hotel. He said yes that was an item that could now be covered if the hotel was non-refundable and I'd simply give him the amount. Here is where it gets weird. I asked him to add $140 to the quote and see what it did to the premium price and how about it went DOWN! Instead of it being $97.xx it was $94.xx. He also thought that was weird.

The biggest one, and unfortunately I thought of this question AFTER he had processed my payment, was they no longer cover pre-existing conditions unless it's within 21 days of you adding and paying for the insurance. In the past, if you added the insurance within 24 hours of paying in full, you were covered. We shouldn't need the coverage, but it was always nice to know it was added at no extra charge.

So for those that have used their services in the past it might be best to shop around and really make sure that the coverage is what you need. I had already compared to USAA and Travel Guard was still cheaper but in the future I'll do even more investigating if I need to add airfare and other charges.

I understand it's my responsibility to read the coverage items and ask the appropriate questions but I was a bit taken back as I've used them for at least 7 different cruises with DCL since 2012 and it was a big change. I'm fine with the coverage I have for the 9/2014 cruise, but it likely won't be okay for our future travel plans and we will go elsewhere likely. I hope this helps someone

Heather

 

[seidelhd]

The biggest one, and unfortunately I thought of this question AFTER he had processed my payment, was they no longer cover pre-existing conditions unless it's within 21 days of you adding and paying for the insurance. In the past, if you added the insurance within 24 hours of paying in full, you were covered.

Heather

Can you clarify this? It does not make sense to me. Did you mean within 21 days of booking the cruise itself? A month ago, I bought and paid for our Costco/TravelGuard insurance in full about 2 days before our PIF day for our cruise this summer.

Do you know when they changed the policy? My daughter recently developed seizures, so this is important. I'll have to recheck our policy, but I believe the pre-existing condition clause was still waived for us.

 

[Luv2Diz]

The biggest one, and unfortunately I thought of this question AFTER he had processed my payment, was they no longer cover pre-existing conditions unless it's within 21 days of you adding and paying for the insurance. In the past, if you added the insurance within 24 hours of paying in full, you were covered. We shouldn't need the coverage, but it was always nice to know it was added at no extra charge.

Thanks for posting this. We always book through Costco and take their insurance. I'm not clear either on what you mean by saying within 21 days?? I always book the cruise and take out the insurance at the same time, so not sure if we are affected by this.

 

[IBelieveInTheMagic]

Can you clarify this? It does not make sense to me. Did you mean within 21 days of booking the cruise itself? A month ago, I bought and paid for our Costco/TravelGuard insurance in full about 2 days before our PIF day for our cruise this summer.

Do you know when they changed the policy? My daughter recently developed seizures, so this is important. I'll have to recheck our policy, but I believe the pre-existing condition clause was still waived for us.

Thanks for posting this. We always book through Costco and take their insurance. I'm not clear either on what you mean by saying within 21 days?? I always book the cruise and take out the insurance at the same time, so not sure if we are affected by this.

First - my apologies! I was typing quickly on my lunch break and running behind as it was

I believe it's 21 days of booking the cruise you must add the insurance and pay for it in full (insurance). My best advice is to look at the policy itself. I later compared them and the one I just purchased no longer shows this:
Promotional Package
PRE-EXISTING CONDITION WAIVER
Included Per Insured

If you have the pre-existing condition waiver or coverage it should show for you (just like my other polices previously showed).

Hope this helps,
Heather

 

[su_A_ve]

Hmm. So it's more in line with what other providers do. The waiver is good as long as you book your insurance within a period of time from the initial booking...

 

[IBelieveInTheMagic]

Hmm. So it's more in line with what other providers do. The waiver is good as long as you book your insurance within a period of time from the initial booking...

Yes agree - that's very much in line with others (from what I remember researching). But the fact they dropped the "free" coverage for the airline tickets and raised the prices at the same time suddenly makes them a lot less attractive. If I wouldn't have asked why the price felt higher I would have never gone down this path and figured it out and learned what I did.

Their insurance has come up on the boards quite a bit, with very favorable comments so just want to make sure others are well aware

Heather

 

[seidelhd]

First - my apologies! I was typing quickly on my lunch break and running behind as it was

I believe it's 21 days of booking the cruise you must add the insurance and pay for it in full (insurance). My best advice is to look at the policy itself. I later compared them and the one I just purchased no longer shows this:
Promotional Package
PRE-EXISTING CONDITION WAIVER
Included Per Insured

If you have the pre-existing condition waiver or coverage it should show for you (just like my other polices previously showed).

Hope this helps,
Heather

I just checked our policy and it still shows:
Promotional Package
PRE-EXISTING CONDITION WAIVER
Included Per Insured

However, I'm concerned about our Summer 2015 cruise, which we booked on opening day. I guess I'll be calling my Costco travel agent this evening.

 

[Lisa Lisa]

Thanks for posting this, Heather. What a huge bummer! I bought insurance through Costco for our cruise last month and was planning to do so again for our April 2015 cruise. The two things they're doing away with are the very things that have swayed us toward them up until now! I loved being able to wait until PIF to purchase the insurance and still have PEC covered. We don't have any PECs, but some of our extended family members do. We have a cruise booked through Costco, so it would have been nice if they'd given us some type of notice!

 

[IBelieveInTheMagic]

Thanks for posting this, Heather. What a huge bummer! I bought insurance through Costco for our cruise last month and was planning to do so again for our April 2015 cruise. The two things they're doing away with are the very things that have swayed us toward them up until now! I loved being able to wait until PIF to purchase the insurance and still have PEC covered. We don't have any PECs, but some of our extended family members do. We have a cruise booked through Costco, so it would have been nice if they'd given us some type of notice!

You are very welcome

Yes, agreed I wish they would have notified folks somehow, even if on the phone. Clearly they can see how many cruises I've booked with them and how many travel policies I purchased with Travel Guard (meaning each one sees them individually). A quick - hey our policies have changed so you might want to review them would have been sufficient to give me a "head's up" at least. Like you, I now can't add insurance for the PEC for our June 2015 cruise so I'll definitely be shopping elsewhere, after I book and know more about our International airfare which of course can't even be booked yet.

Heather

 

[IBelieveInTheMagic]

I just checked our policy and it still shows:
Promotional Package
PRE-EXISTING CONDITION WAIVER
Included Per Insured

However, I'm concerned about our Summer 2015 cruise, which we booked on opening day. I guess I'll be calling my Costco travel agent this evening.

If it's not too much trouble, can you report back and confirm you are advised the same thing? With these big changes I surely hope they are consistent!

Thanks,
Heather

 

[sayhello]

You are very welcome

Yes, agreed I wish they would have notified folks somehow, even if on the phone. Clearly they can see how many cruises I've booked with them and how many travel policies I purchased with Travel Guard (meaning each one sees them individually). A quick - hey our policies have changed so you might want to review them would have been sufficient to give me a "head's up" at least. Like you, I now can't add insurance for the PEC for our June 2015 cruise so I'll definitely be shopping elsewhere, after I book and know more about our International airfare which of course can't even be booked yet.

Heather

Is the insurance still through Travel Guard? Or are they using another insurer? Costco insurance is also popular with folks booking Adventures by Disney, and I'm wondering if there are going to be changes to those policies also.

Also wanted to mention, if you purchase trip insurance early in order to get the PEC, you can approximate how much you think the airfare will be, and then adjust the cost up or down as soon as you know the actual price. I'd double-check with the specific insurance company just to be sure, but I have always been able to do that with all the policies I've bought.

Costco is still good coverage for folks who are "getting up in age", as they don't base the cost of the insurance on age like most outside insurance does. They base it just on the cost of the trip being insured.

Sayhello

 

[IBelieveInTheMagic]

Is the insurance still through Travel Guard? Or are they using another insurer? Costco insurance is also popular with folks booking Adventures by Disney, and I'm wondering if there are going to be changes to those policies also.

Also wanted to mention, if you purchase trip insurance early in order to get the PEC, you can approximate how much you think the airfare will be, and then adjust the cost up or down as soon as you know the actual price. I'd double-check with the specific insurance company just to be sure, but I have always been able to do that with all the policies I've bought.

Costco is still good coverage for folks who are "getting up in age", as they don't base the cost of the insurance on age like most outside insurance does. They base it just on the cost of the trip being insured.

Sayhello

As soon as I read your post I remembered something else. He said they - yes Travel Guard - base on price and age! Sorry SayHello

Heather

 

[Nannabelle]

New to the board but was alerted to this issue the first week of May..... Costco and Travel Guard changed everything as of May 1st and told no one about it. I found out on a thread on Cruise Critic and immediately contacted Costco Travel it was a week-end and the Customer Service folks knew nothing about it.

After many angry calls they agreed to extend to May 10 to purchase for all cruises booked thru Costco prior to May 1. The new coverage as mentioned above includes pre-existing IF purchased within 21 days AND is now more expensive and IS BASED ON AGE!!!!

Anyhow the long and short of it is that they currently seem to be "Grandfathering" the old coverage (if you booked before 5/1) you need to log into the site thru the Costco site while "logged into your reservation" AND have your Costco reservation number ready... You should see 4 options and will (currently and hurry) be able to get the old coverage, how long this will be available I don't know.

Our families cruise is not until April 2015 and had planned to wait to purchase the Travel Insurance but the new coverage (due to our age) cost almost $200 more than the quote I had gotten April 26th from Travel Guard phone agent.... Of course he also did not tell me that 4 days later the new policy was going into effect, likely he did not know. Anyway I purchased our coverage nearly a year prior to my PIF date in order to get Pre-existing Medical and save $200. My only other choice was to cancel and rebook and pay a new Initial Deposit in order to reset the "pre-existing medical" and end up paying a higher premium.

If you want the old policy I would check this out - it was correct as of yesterday but this whole mess seems to be changing on a daily bases.

Gonna be lots of angry Costco cruisers!

 

[Grammy j]

I am so thankful you all posted this info about CostCo and Travel Guard insurance. We booked 3 rooms on the Fantasy back in December of 2013 through CostCo for a 2015 cruise. We thought we had a year to get the travel insurance. Not so! I called Travel Guard today and the gal I spoke with couldn't tell me how long they would keep grandfathering people in. She didn't think it would be for much longer. We went ahead and bought our insurance for the 3 rooms. It included pre existing conditions and the complementary flight coverage. The new policy doesn't include this and is very expensive. If you can get the old policy, do it! It is a good deal! Thanks again for bringing this to my attention!!

 

[IBelieveInTheMagic]

New to the board but was alerted to this issue the first week of May..... Costco and Travel Guard changed everything as of May 1st and told no one about it. I found out on a thread on Cruise Critic and immediately contacted Costco Travel it was a week-end and the Customer Service folks knew nothing about it.

After many angry calls they agreed to extend to May 10 to purchase for all cruises booked thru Costco prior to May 1. The new coverage as mentioned above includes pre-existing IF purchased within 21 days AND is now more expensive and IS BASED ON AGE!!!!

Anyhow the long and short of it is that they currently seem to be "Grandfathering" the old coverage (if you booked before 5/1) you need to log into the site thru the Costco site while "logged into your reservation" AND have your Costco reservation number ready... You should see 4 options and will (currently and hurry) be able to get the old coverage, how long this will be available I don't know.

Our families cruise is not until April 2015 and had planned to wait to purchase the Travel Insurance but the new coverage (due to our age) cost almost $200 more than the quote I had gotten April 26th from Travel Guard phone agent.... Of course he also did not tell me that 4 days later the new policy was going into effect, likely he did not know. Anyway I purchased our coverage nearly a year prior to my PIF date in order to get Pre-existing Medical and save $200. My only other choice was to cancel and rebook and pay a new Initial Deposit in order to reset the "pre-existing medical" and end up paying a higher premium.

If you want the old policy I would check this out - it was correct as of yesterday but this whole mess seems to be changing on a daily bases.

Gonna be lots of angry Costco cruisers!

Well - that explains it! LOL and I wish I would have known this ahead of time. I just called Travel Guard and apparently didn't connect with the Costco Travel portion (I swear I have 3 different 800 numbers on my paperwork) however the agent took my information for one of them to call me back. I feel they should have grandfathered me in, especially since I booked this prior to 5/1/14 and I was already asking so many questions as to why. I'm going to ask they re-do my policy and/or at least give me a partial credit for the difference because it was the cost that I noticed was more compared to other trips.

I'll keep you guys posted and thanks for all those that shared too!

Heather

 

[Nannabelle]

I'm pretty sure you have a 15 day FREE look when you buy a policy.... To get the Costco policy pretty sure you need to log in thru your reservation to use the link to the Costco Travel Insurance link - the 800# was there too.... As I know I called while on the page.

Good luck!

 

[pillow]

Thanks Heather for posting this. I was planning to purchase insurance for my 92 year old grandmother from Travel Guard. Since its now based on age, I'm afraid to see what it will cost. I just booked her yesterday. Am I out of luck??

Jodie

 

[pillow]

So, I'm confused . . . I just pulled up my grandmother's res on Costco and linked to the Travel Guard insurance. I entered all required fields, and the system NEVER asked me for a birth date. Her total came to $75 (based on $1,975 cruise cost). When I reviewed the policy details, it said . . .

PRE-EX EXCLUSION WAIVER

The Company will waive the pre-existing medical condition exclusion if the following conditions are met:

1. This plan is purchased within 24 hours of making the final Trip payment;

2. All Insured’s are medically able to travel when plan cost is paid.

This appears to be the old policy before changes, correct??? I wonder why this is coming up for me today when I just booked for her yesterday. Should I go ahead and get it, even though we are almost a year away from the cruise date?

Jodie

 

[Nannabelle]

If your (grandma's) cruise was booked prior to May 1 you are able to purchase the "old" coverage that is not based on age. This coverage seems to be Grandfathered for those bookings prior to May 1..... Know that the coverage completely disappeared for several days and it was only after many complaints that Costco extended the coverage until May 10, then it disappeared again.... If you need this coverage for Grandma I would not try to wait until final pmt as they could still cancel this again... Just sayin!

I just read you booking date!!! Boy now I'm surprised as this has changed so many times... Did you Add Grandma to an existing booking or did you book completely a whole new cruise yesterday???

 

[pillow]

If your (grandma's) cruise was booked prior to May 1 you are able to purchase the "old" coverage that is not based on age. This coverage seems to be Grandfathered for those bookings prior to May 1..... Know that the coverage completely disappeared for several days and it was only after many complaints that Costco extended the coverage until May 10, then it disappeared again.... If you need this coverage for Grandma I would not try to wait until final pmt as they could still cancel this again... Just sayin!

I just read you booking date!!! Boy now I'm surprised as this has changed so many times... Did you Add Grandma to an existing booking or did you book completely a whole new cruise yesterday???

I booked a new res for her just yesterday. But I did it under MY membership number. My cruise was booked a while ago. Wonder if that has something to do with it. If I get the insurance for her now and something happens to her before her PIF date of 1/7/15, I would have wasted the $75 (cause I could have cancelled for free). I wonder how much it would cost her under the "new plan," which would be based on her age? Its a risk either way. Thoughts?

Jodie