Cost of Travel Insurance for Canadians on Disney Cruise (ballpark figures)

[Thrifty Canadian]

Hi everyone! I apologize if this has been asked elsewhere- I am still having troubles navigating the boards. Our family is going on a Disney Cruise next Feb and I'm doing all the planning/booking myself. I have never traveled before and have no clue how much I might be looking at in by way of travel insurance. Traveling are one adult, one teen and one child. Am looking for a general figure for both basic emergency medical coverage and a pretty much full insurance package. I do not wish to get Disney's offered insurance.

I will, of course, search around for proper amounts, but that's going to wait until a bit closer to the date. I just want to use this info to help with my general savings goal.

Thanks!

 

[Gigi22]

Hi everyone! I apologize if this has been asked elsewhere- I am still having troubles navigating the boards. Our family is going on a Disney Cruise next Feb and I'm doing all the planning/booking myself. I have never traveled before and have no clue how much I might be looking at in by way of travel insurance. Traveling are one adult, one teen and one child. Am looking for a general figure for both basic emergency medical coverage and a pretty much full insurance package. I do not wish to get Disney's offered insurance.

I will, of course, search around for proper amounts, but that's going to wait until a bit closer to the date. I just want to use this info to help with my general savings goal.

Thanks!

Trip insurance for a cruise can be expensive, so it *really* pays to shop around. Like any insurance, the cost will vary with type of coverage, length of trip, and your age.

It took me quite a while to find my current insurance. Check if any of your credit cards offer travel insurance, also check if you have any travel insurance available through your employer. If you belong to CAA, check their travel insurance. Try Costco. Some posters on this board have used the insurance available from President's Choice. I used to use RBC travel insurance, but I found it too expensive at over $500 for two adults for a ten day cruise. I now use the annual travel insurance provided by my former employer's (I'm retired) insurer, as it was the best price at less than $100 for the entire year.

Also, remember that the dollar value of your insurance is in Canadian dollars, but if you have to use the insurance while away, the payment will most likely be in US dollars, so the dollar amount of your coverage should take that into account. Finally, your medical coverage should specifically mention coverage for evacuation by air ambulance.

 

[hardis5]

Like PP said, the cost will vary wildly between providers so there is no sense even ball-parking but pricing out options based upon your own circumstance. Add if looking for trip cancellation, you'll need to know the value of the cruise as well.

We have used President's Choice several times (one of few that will cover non-related travelers under one policy) but the last few years with the number of trips taken we have bought annual coverage for unlimited trips less than 15 days through Desjardines as we've found from a medical perspective it has been little more than a single trip in cost (you only pay for the adults as all dependants are covered for free). We used for an incident in Jamaica and before we left the medical facility, we had the claim forms e-mailed (and paid within a week of returning).

 

[Gigi22]

And, just watched a feature on CBC News Network. Another reason not to use RBC, if you make a medical claim, they recover costs from your regular health insurance, which can wind up costing you a lot over time.

 

[disneymath]

When I've priced things out, the all-inclusive plan has usually been the better option (roughly the same price) as emergency medical alone. I used RBC in the past, but it is $$$$. For our Norway/Iceland DCL cruise, we used PC Financial ... about half the cost of RBC.

One caution with PC, their cancelation/interuption clause states that you must make every attempt to catch up to your cruise at some point or you forfeit any right to a claim. Other companies may also have this stipulation, but it was news to me.

(Long story short, we had departing flight issues and it seemed like things weren't meant to be, so we were just going to cancel. Thankfully the PC phone agent suggested I read the page with that clause before we went ahead and cancelled ... gave me renewed incentive to convince the airline to mske things right and get us to where we needed to be on time.)

 

[Starwind]

And, just watched a feature on CBC News Network. Another reason not to use RBC, if you make a medical claim, they recover costs from your regular health insurance, which can wind up costing you a lot over time.

I have read many many travel medical insurance policies and except for ones that are insured through one's existing health insurance provider, they ALL have clause allowing to recover $ from other insurance you are covered by. While there may be one out there that doesn't, i have yet to find such a beast...

SW

 

[Blackadder337]

First thing I would recommend as some have done here, is check with your or your spouse's (if applicable) employer to see if they have insurance coverage with someone. I'd especially check if you or spouse (if applicable) is employed somewhere that us unionised. Quite often Unions have all sorts of pre-existing arrangements with insurance, travel, cell phones etc..

I called Johnson Insurance (Medoc) and for $114 per year (taxes included), I cover 2 adults, 1 child, which gives top ups to my regular medical insurance while travelling, lost luggage, plus I have trip cancellation insurance for up to 10 trips a year, providing each trip is no longer than 17 days at a time.

If we've ever had a problem, I call their 1800 # and within 30 minutes of my call they've got some sort of remedy in the works.

But the obvious hope is that you buy the insurance and waste the money because you don't end up using it. But its a good kind of money waste

 

[Thrifty Canadian]

Thanks, everyone! I'm very much OK with 'wasting' the money, I just wish to limit how much I 'waste'. lol I will start calling around when I am able to finally book my flight (still a bit too far in advance).

 

[allybabba98]

Wow, I didn't think that insurance would be that much. We have been spoiled, for our "land" trips I was able to get insurance for five people for $75.00
When we landed at the Orlando airport on our September trip my five year old fell and broke his arm Thank goodness we had insurance to cover everything. I will never travel without insurance as you never know...but I honestly did not think it was that much. Good to know. Thanks.

 

[disneymath]

Just to add, trip insurance costs usually go up depending on both the length of the trip and the value of the trip.

I've looked into the annual plans through my work benefits provider, but the cancellation/interruption only covered trip value up to $2000 CAD per person and trip length of up to 14 days.

In most cases, 14 days is not the issue, but $2000 won't usually cover airfare and a 7 night DCL itinerary.

Also, with PC Financial kids get free medical insurance when travelling with a parent or grandparent, but they do need to have cancellation/interruption purchased if you want that.

 

[minnie56]

I have a travel insurance policy attached to my homeowners insurance via Intact Insurance.
$250 a year for 4 adults, up to 30 days maximum, Unlimited trips.
Covers cancellation, interruption and medical up to 2M pp.
Best thing I ever bought 10 years ago now!

 

[Applemomma]

Hi everyone! I apologize if this has been asked elsewhere- I am still having troubles navigating the boards. Our family is going on a Disney Cruise next Feb and I'm doing all the planning/booking myself. I have never traveled before and have no clue how much I might be looking at in by way of travel insurance. Traveling are one adult, one teen and one child. Am looking for a general figure for both basic emergency medical coverage and a pretty much full insurance package. I do not wish to get Disney's offered insurance.

I will, of course, search around for proper amounts, but that's going to wait until a bit closer to the date. I just want to use this info to help with my general savings goal.

Thanks!

I used to get trip insurance (I've never had to buy cruise insurance though) through PC Insurance but my last Disney trip I decided to call the insurance broker that I have my house and auto through. I didn't need medical since I already am covered for that. They did a bit of research and came up with a policy that was almost half what PC was. Plus because I was talking to a real human I was able to tailor the policy to what I needed. My daughter's boyfriend was going with us on my dime but they arranged a separate policy for him in case anything happened on his families end that might prevent him from going with us. I was really pleased with the whole process, not to mention the savings.