Cancellation Insurance

[shaycamp21]

ARGGH I lost my post, I'll try again.

This summer we have an amazing vacation booked for this August (If found some great deals). Spending a fews days with my friend and her family in California (flying out of BUF to LAX), a few days @ Disneyland (Good Neighbour Hotel) and then off to Honolulu for a 7 day cruise on NCL and finally three days in Waikiki.

I have normally been a risk taker with previous DCL cruises and trips to WDW and never bothered with cancellation insurance (just medical) but for this trip I am leaning towards getting it. In the past, too I had heard that cancellation insurance had so many clauses that it was very difficult to get money back anyway if you had claim so it was not worth the expense. However we've had a few glitches since we booked this vacation. First the cruise line pulled the ship we were on from their fleet (which ended up being a good thing since they moved us onto a better ship at no additional cost), then ATA went under and we lost our flights to Honolulu (fortunately Visa is reimbursing us) but we had to pay $800 more to rebook our flight to Honolulu.

So I am taking these as signs that we should get cancellation insurance. We already have medical insurance (a one year plan from RBC that covers up for up to three weeks out of the country--great if you do day shopping in Buffalo). I would like to know about your experiences with cancellation insurance. Is it worth it and which provider would you recommend (something that is budget friendly)?

I need to make a move on this fast as my final payment for my cruise is coming up and I won't be able to purchase it after that.
Any input would be greatly appreciated.

 

[phabric]

I had a cruise booked for 2007 and had full coverage with RBC. My husband was layed off 4 months before cruise. Cruiseline refunded deposit but I had paid for hotel, car, air fare. All my out of pocket expenses with proof that I had paid and proof of layoff was covered with RBC.

In 2006, I had a Christmas cruise with my 2 sisters and their families. We were to stay an extra day after cruise in Ft Lauderdale. When we arrived back to Ft Lauderdale from the cruise, we were informed our mother was on her deathbed. I was able to reschedule my flight and was covered for all out of pocket expenses with proof.

We have done 9 cruises and I always taken full coverage with RBC. There is not much $ difference between medical and non medical coverage even if I have my company's health coverage. I would rather be over covered encase something happens.

 

[minnie56]

Please, protect this great trip?

As mentioned above, very little difference between Insurance with Medical and without. You can purchase after final payment time, but buy asap..while all is good with your health and those travelling with you.. Should you be diagnosed with anything right now...whatever it be...and it causes you to cancel or interrupt your vacation at some point--this now becomes a 'pre existing' condition and you will not get your money back!

Such a small add on to an already pricey trip!

 

[Northstar]

Try pricing it out at insuremytrip.com. Make sure you check the box that says you're Canadian as not all are sold in Canada.

My experience has been that trying to get cancellation insurance after booking is very tricky. They seem to suspect that the reason you want to buy the insurance is that you're thinking of cancelling!

I think some of the general travel policies through banks and credit card companies.... the ones that you buy for a whole year, that cover all of your travel medical... have a rider you can buy to cover cancellation of a specific trip/amount for medical emergencies/reasons only. Or at least that's what my RBC lady was telling me on the phone trying to get me to buy more insurance! Anyway, worth checking out what you can get on your existing travel medical policy.

Good luck!

 

[trivial]

It's such a small amount compared to the cost of a trip... if you don't use it, it's not a lot of money lost. But if, on the other hand, you don't buy it and something goes wrong, that's potentially a lot of money lost. Why gamble?

 

[Mickey1Fan]

I never travel without all RBCInsurance coverage - baggage, cancellation, medical (beter coverage than my employer)...it is a small fee compared to what you could lose.

 

[Canadamom]

I've only bought insurance once for our past trip so I don't have a lot of experience, but this is what happened to us...We were involuntarily bumped from our flight and were delayed by over 16 hours (and yes, we arrived to check-in on time ). As a result, we couldn't get to our connecting flight, we lost a night of our prepaid non-refundable accommodation and a day of our pre-paid Disney tickets. We called the insuring co. within 2 hours of knowing we were delayed, called again immediately when we returned home, and returned all paperwork and receipts to the insuring company a day after the forms arrived to us. They told us we are not covered for these expenses under "trip delay" as it was "carrier-caused". Nor were we covered under "trip interruption" because even though trip interruption covers carrier-caused reasons, it doesn't cover pre-paid non-refundable expenses. The part of the policy that I asked about where it said pre-paid expenses were covered under trip delay, they said..."oh, that's under "missed connection"...(though it didn't say that anywhere on what we had printed out). Apparently we weren't covered under that either as we were delayed 16+ hours and you are only covered if you are delayed 2-5 hours. And yes, I clarified that unusual answer with the person on the phone..."So you're saying that...?" I don't want to discourage you from trip insurance...I'm sure there are many successful claims out there...but for us it was a waste of money.

Oops...I just realized you were asking about trip cancellation insurance, and our trip wasn't cancelled, so maybe I shouldn't have posted a response. Though, I'm not sure what we would have been covered for with cancellation insurance the way it went for us.
Whatever you decide, have a wonderful trip!!

 

[trivial]

Canadamom, just out of curiosity, which insurance company were you dealing with?

 

[Canadamom]

AIG TravelGuard...gold plan. We're currently appealing the claim denial, but aren't really expecting anything. Loopholes are loopholes I guess.

 

[ferris198]

My mother had a cruise to Hawaii booked a couple of years ago.
Unfortunatley she was hospitalized just prior to departure.
Her cancellation insurance was with PC Financial and they were excellent to deal with.
They settled the claim without any questions asked.
It helps that I am an insurance broker and was able to read the fine print, and other stuff that they put into these contracts, but her claim was settled with no questions asked, and we received the refund within about 4 weeks.

 

[trivial]

I also purchased comprehensive (cancellation and medical) travel insurance with PC Financial, and while our trip went without any problems, I've also had auto insurance with PC Financial, and had an accident while covered (where I was technically considered to be at fault). They couldn't have been easier to deal with; no hassles at all.

 

[imtheonlyone]

We took the disney offered coverage this year for the first time. Our flight from syracuse got cancelled due to a storm. The company helped us with dealing with disney on the cancellation of our reservation for a day, found us a hotel in syracuse for another night and then after they got the claim form paid for that room by reimbursing us...59 coverage...saved about 300...good deal.

 

[talicskai]

I've only bought insurance once for our past trip so I don't have a lot of experience, but this is what happened to us...We were involuntarily bumped from our flight and were delayed by over 16 hours (and yes, we arrived to check-in on time ). As a result, we couldn't get to our connecting flight, we lost a night of our prepaid non-refundable accommodation and a day of our pre-paid Disney tickets. We called the insuring co. within 2 hours of knowing we were delayed, called again immediately when we returned home, and returned all paperwork and receipts to the insuring company a day after the forms arrived to us. They told us we are not covered for these expenses under "trip delay" as it was "carrier-caused". Nor were we covered under "trip interruption" because even though trip interruption covers carrier-caused reasons, it doesn't cover pre-paid non-refundable expenses. The part of the policy that I asked about where it said pre-paid expenses were covered under trip delay, they said..."oh, that's under "missed connection"...(though it didn't say that anywhere on what we had printed out). Apparently we weren't covered under that either as we were delayed 16+ hours and you are only covered if you are delayed 2-5 hours. And yes, I clarified that unusual answer with the person on the phone..."So you're saying that...?" I don't want to discourage you from trip insurance...I'm sure there are many successful claims out there...but for us it was a waste of money.

Oops...I just realized you were asking about trip cancellation insurance, and our trip wasn't cancelled, so maybe I shouldn't have posted a response. Though, I'm not sure what we would have been covered for with cancellation insurance the way it went for us.
Whatever you decide, have a wonderful trip!!

That's sounds completely wrong to me ~ I am a TA and any insurance company I have ever sold would have covered that ~ considering you have given us all the details ~ I would definitely appeal their decision. I just had a claim for a family that had their Buffalo flight cancelled due to weather and they missed one day of their holidays. Disney actually refunded the one night and pass cost but the insurance company paid for meals/phone calls/extra parking and new flights. I think you are being scammed.

Teresa

 

[trivial]

That's sounds completely wrong to me ~ I am a TA and any insurance company I have ever sold would have covered that ~ considering you have given us all the details ~ I would definitely appeal their decision. I just had a claim for a family that had their Buffalo flight cancelled due to weather and they missed one day of their holidays. Disney actually refunded the one night and pass cost but the insurance company paid for meals/phone calls/extra parking and new flights. I think you are being scammed.

I'm no expert, but that's what it sounded like to me as well. I know one thing: I'll be staying far away from AIG.

 

[Canadamom]

Our appeal went in the mail earlier today. We were quite shocked by the whole thing...and what I posted earlier is exactly what happened as far as our delayed trip and then what we were told by the insurance company. The last person I spoke with was in the arbitration department and I asked who to address an appeal letter to once I determined I was getting nowhere. The whole thing has proved to be quite frustrating for us. And really, we're not asking for much I don't think.

 

[talicskai]

Our appeal went in the mail earlier today. We were quite shocked by the whole thing...and what I posted earlier is exactly what happened as far as our delayed trip and then what we were told by the insurance company. The last person I spoke with was in the arbitration department and I asked who to address an appeal letter to once I determined I was getting nowhere. The whole thing has proved to be quite frustrating for us. And really, we're not asking for much I don't think.

good for you ~ let us know what happens ~ I'd be interested in the reply

Good Luck ~ Teresa