Budget friendly trip insurance

[eatatmidnight]

We are working on planning a WDW trip in January. Depending on cost, I think I'd like to purchase trip insurance in case we get an ice or snow storm here in Missouri. If you've purchased it and were happy with the plan and price, who did you use?

 

[OrangeBirdGirl]

We've used Battleface twice before and they seemed to be the best price. Read through details though on storms as when I recall looking over various policies you had to be delayed for a certain amount of time and it had to be a named snowstorm. The 2 times we purchased was not during winter season so I didn't read too closely with winter weather events.

 

[georgina]

I have never had to actually use any trip insurance I have purchased - I usually go on a site like squaremouth and compare rates and coverage. I have purchased from Tin Leg and Seven Corners most recently.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

We use insure my trip dot com for cruises because we want coverage for medical emergency evacuation off the ship. They are an agency who works with multiple insurance companies and multiple levels of coverage. They make it easy to compare plans.

For domestic land trips, I’d use the coverage provided by our Chase Sapphire card.

 

[slo]

I use this allianz travel insurance.
Thankfully I've never needed to make a claim.
A travel agent recommended this company to me, which is how I found out about it. Regardless what company you use, make sure you read everything in regards to if they'll cover something or not.

https://www.allianztravelinsurance....pJobID=3200116779&spReportId=MzIwMDExNjc3OQS2

 

[_19disnA]

Be sure to read the fine-print about what a particular policy covers. Many older threads on that where people found out it only covered certain situations. Never saw the need to buy trip insurance. One time we had some storm damage to our home shortly before a planned vacation and had to be home to coordinate the repairs. Called the airline and even though the tickets were the type you supposedly couldn't change, they agreed to let us change our travel to a future date for no charge. I think some airlines have those types of policies but don't advertise them.

 

[eatatmidnight]

Thanks for all of the suggestions and tips. After reading a whole lotta fine print, I don't think they'd cover the expenses for ice/snow reasons. I think we are going without. Also, some of the companies make it very difficult to find the fine print.

 

[georgina]

I don't usually get it for domestic trips, most things like airfare and hotels can be cancelled, but always for cruises and especially for international trips. Our recent 12 day tour of Africa, one couple had to cancel because just before the trip one of them had a detached retina that was surgically repaired, so he was unable to fly for a period of time. That's an awful lot of money to lose without insurance.

 

[LuvOrlando]

I think we ended up getting our first ever WDW package and the insurance with that in 2023 because it seemed to provide the best coverage in case of a trip problem and in winter months it can just as easily be terrible weather as it can be a random illness. We also used an airline credit card that has it's own trip insurance type coverage to overlap and cover as many bases as possible. If it wasn't for the pre-purchase ticket situation a same day cancel hotel and an airline with fairly easy change policies like JetBlue does the trick but now we need to do tickets in advance things are a bit more complicated.

 

[SL6827]

With any and every insurance type out there now denying as many claims as possible, I really worry about travel insurance. So I suppose my cruise for next that I have paid a substantial amount on with Disney gift cards, I will just go with DCL insurance. Its not as affordable as other policies but I am not sure if other policies would pay out on gift card payments. Anyone else have any experience with such?

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

With any and every insurance type out there now denying as many claims as possible, I really worry about travel insurance. So I suppose my cruise for next that I have paid a substantial amount on with Disney gift cards, I will just go with DCL insurance. Its not as affordable as other policies but I am not sure if other policies would pay out on gift card payments. Anyone else have any experience with such?

I would ask them. The one time I really would have filed a claim, we didn't get insurance. I didn't bother because it was only a 3-day cruise and wasn't a lot of money. Still, a huge tree fell on our house the day before sailing. I really don't think it matters how you pay. Once your claim is approved, they would reimburse you for insured travel plans that are non-refundable. Never say never but I can't see their MO being that they force DCL to refund your gift cards. That sounds way too complicated.

 

[lanejudy]

I can't see their MO being that they force DCL to refund your gift cards.

No, insurance can't force a business to refund gift cards. What they may do is require you to prove that you bought the gift cards. Reimbursement/refund through an insurance claim is a cash payout.

I have paid a substantial amount on with Disney gift cards, I will just go with DCL insurance.

As PP suggests, check with the insurance how they handle claims when payment was made with gift cards. You may need to keep the receipts from the gift cards. Alternatively, since purchasing insurance through DCL if the insurance denies your claim, you will get the 75% (70%?) credit with DCL for a future cruise within a limited time.

 

[SL6827]

No, insurance can't force a business to refund gift cards. What they may do is require you to prove that you bought the gift cards. Reimbursement/refund through an insurance claim is a cash payout.


As PP suggests, check with the insurance how they handle claims when payment was made with gift cards. You may need to keep the receipts from the gift cards. Alternatively, since purchasing insurance through DCL if the insurance denies your claim, you will get the 75% (70%?) credit with DCL for a future cruise within a limited time.

Right. We'll if we had to cancel I am sure it would be for a covered reason. Receipts for all the gift cards bought, given to me, ect. is a no go. So having Disney's insurance is better than nothing I guess.

 

[tvguy]

Covid kind of blew any option of budget travel insurance out of the water. Travel insurance went from a policy that was rarely used, and very profitable for insurance companies, to frequently used sending rates through the ceiling. I have only purchased travel insurance three times, all on cruises. On Disney in 2003/04, it cost $125 to cover 4 people on a $9,000 trip. On Celebrity in 2019 it was $25 a person ( a special promotional price ) and in September of this year on Princess, $1,200 to cover two people on a $11,000 trip.