Cruise insurance questions

[CisforCookie991]

Good morning,
I'm planning on rebooking our cruise scheduled for this year and started looking into third party insurance (for the first time ever, thanks to the helpful info I've seen on these boards). My original reservation includes DCL insurance, so I used that as a comparison point. I checked one of the insurance aggregator sites using my current reservation info and all of the policies are substantially cheaper than DCL's, sometimes 2-3x cheaper, including ones that appear to cover everything including covid issue (I didn't click on the details, just looked at the bullet points). Does that seem right? I've never bought third party insurance so I have no idea what the prices are supposed to look like.

Also, apologies if this isn't allowed, but can anyone recommend third party companies they've had good experiences with?

Thanks!

 

[lanejudy]

Yes, third-party policies are often much less expensive than DCL's and usually more comprehensive coverage for that lower premium. The trip insurance comparison websites are the best way to shop for this. I've never filed a claim, so can't really recommend one over another.

 

[CisforCookie991]

Thanks! I guess this is a case of paying more for the Disney name.

 

[stkgator]

If you plan to take multiple cruises or other trips, you should look at annual travel insurance plans - much less costly than paying for insurance for 2 or more individual trips.

 

[CisforCookie991]

Also good to know - we were hoping to travel more this summer, so will definitely look into that. Thanks!

 

[lanejudy]

Thanks! I guess this is a case of paying more for the Disney name.

Maybe, but DCL isn't the actual insurance vendor -- I don't recall the vendor offhand and DCL is simply a go-between. It's typical to have a higher premium when you purchase through the travel company rather than search out your own policy. Paying for convenience.

One other thing, though, is the coverage purchased through DCL has a secondary option often considered "cancel for any reason." If your claim is denied by the insurance, DCL will allow you a 70% credit to be used for a future cruise within a specified time period (maybe 1 year).

 

[starry_solo]

Maybe, but DCL isn't the actual insurance vendor -- I don't recall the vendor offhand and DCL is simply a go-between. It's typical to have a higher premium when you purchase through the travel company rather than search out your own policy. Paying for convenience.

One other thing, though, is the coverage purchased through DCL has a secondary option often considered "cancel for any reason." If your claim is denied by the insurance, DCL will allow you a 70% credit to be used for a future cruise within a specified time period (maybe 1 year).

Arch is the insurance vendor used by DCL.

 

[insureman]

Maybe, but DCL isn't the actual insurance vendor -- I don't recall the vendor offhand and DCL is simply a go-between. It's typical to have a higher premium when you purchase through the travel company rather than search out your own policy. Paying for convenience.

One other thing, though, is the coverage purchased through DCL has a secondary option often considered "cancel for any reason." If your claim is denied by the insurance, DCL will allow you a 70% credit to be used for a future cruise within a specified time period (maybe 1 year).

It's a little higher percentage credit. 75% Some of the coverages below. They still are more expensive with lees coverage than getting it on your own.

 

[CisforCookie991]

Thank you all so much! I would much rather have my money back than a credit that I may or may not be able to use within a year, so I'm definitely going to have to make sure I do all my research before DCL releases the summer itinerary.

 

[iannovich]

We have a third party plan that covers us for any and all travel for a full year. The cost for the policy was not much more than the DCL's coverage would have been for a longer cruise and it covers things like the flight to the ship, flights home and rental cars as well,... but if you look into an annual policy, be sure to check on what is included and when things won't be covered. Our policy does cover Covid stuff (including a ton of coverage for medical evacuation and even quarantine coverages), but does not if we're traveling to any area or on any conveyance against the advice of the government. So any Level 4 travel destination, and even 'cruising' itself being level 4 makes this particular policy mostly useless for DCL right now, unfortunately.

 

[CisforCookie991]

We have a third party plan that covers us for any and all travel for a full year. The cost for the policy was not much more than the DCL's coverage would have been for a longer cruise and it covers things like the flight to the ship, flights home and rental cars as well,... but if you look into an annual policy, be sure to check on what is included and when things won't be covered. Our policy does cover Covid stuff (including a ton of coverage for medical evacuation and even quarantine coverages), but does not if we're traveling to any area or on any conveyance against the advice of the government. So any Level 4 travel destination, and even 'cruising' itself being level 4 makes this particular policy mostly useless for DCL right now, unfortunately.

This is also something I would not have thought of. Thank you! Our current booking is concierge, otherwise I'd just cancel and wait until we're sure everything is safe. Every day, I regret booking concierge a little more.

 

[MomOTwins]

This is also something I would not have thought of. Thank you! Our current booking is concierge, otherwise I'd just cancel and wait until we're sure everything is safe. Every day, I regret booking concierge a little more.

I had two concierge sailings booked in Covid times and regretted them both. I ended up converting them to non-concierge. The deposit is still non-refundable but the significantly lower overall cruise cost of the cruise if something goes really wrong made me feel a bit better. We’ve sailed on one and have the other coming up in april and I think it was a good decision. Disney’s non-concierge service is so excellent I really didn’t feel like we missed out. And with how empty our upcoming double dip cruise is, I think my odds of getting a cabana are pretty decent without concierge. I actually could have had one on my last cruise but we wanted to other activities in CC day so decided a cabana wasn’t worth the expense.

 

[CisforCookie991]

I had two concierge sailings booked in Covid times and regretted them both. I ended up converting them to non-concierge. The deposit is still non-refundable but the significantly lower overall cruise cost of the cruise if something goes really wrong made me feel a bit better. We’ve sailed on one and have the other coming up in april and I think it was a good decision. Disney’s non-concierge service is so excellent I really didn’t feel like we missed out. And with how empty our upcoming double dip cruise is, I think my odds of getting a cabana are pretty decent without concierge. I actually could have had one on my last cruise but we wanted to other activities in CC day so decided a cabana wasn’t worth the expense.

Yup that is definitely the plan (I think you may have replied to my other post about booking connecting rooms?). At the time we booked it seemed like a good idea to go all out, since we had basically not left our neighborhood in almost a year, but this is definitely more hassle than it was worth and non-concierge DCL is a lot better than most other cruise lines anyway. Lesson learned. We were on the fence about a cabana anyway. And the connecting rooms will end up costing less than the concierge.