Trip Insurance vs Cruise Insurance

[amalone1013]

Does anyone do specific cruise trip insurance? Or just regular trip insurance? It seems like regular would be fine, covers everything I need. I was looking and the cruise policy is $50 more and the only extras are things like $500 if a port changes prior to departure, or $100 if there is a ship service disruption, or up to $250 reimbursement if an itinerary change after departure means you miss a non refundable excursion you had booked. I'm just looking at it like, it's an extra $50 for $100-$600 if something happens (which is how all insurance is, I know) and it got me wondering if anyone usually buys that.

As an extra question, I don't see the non refundable excursion being an issue for us. We are doing a double dip this Summer and if we book any excursions this time it will be through Disney. If we can't go to Nassau or CC one of the days, is Disney going to charge us for excursions? I guess I would think not since you don't really pay ahead, it's just charged to your onboard account on the trip. Not sure we're going to book any excursions at all though.

 

[Gentry2004]

If Disney cancels an excursion, they do not charge you. We did regular trip insurance.

 

[Bonnie1222]

I have done both (all non-Disney). The Cruise insurance we purchased had the same, if not better coverage for what we wanted and gave us more flexibility on when we had to purchase it. (we could wait until just before final pay date). The cost was comparable if not less than the trip insurance. We are local so we drive to the port so we have no other travel to cover.

 

[lindsay0526]

We buy our own travel insurance because the coverage is better and it is cheaper. Disney’s insurance was like $500 for our family and I got ours for like $200-ish. I book travel insurance as soon as I book, because I always get the cancel anytime policy on big trips. The cancel anytime doesn’t cover the whole price of the trip, but refunds 75% of the trip (a $2000 loss versus a $8000 loss). I think we will drive, but I like having an all incompassing policy.

 

[Bonnie1222]

We buy our own travel insurance because the coverage is better and it is cheaper. Disney’s insurance was like $500 for our family and I got ours for like $200-ish. I book travel insurance as soon as I book, because I always get the cancel anytime policy on big trips. The cancel anytime doesn’t cover the whole price of the trip, but refunds 75% of the trip (a $2000 loss versus a $8000 loss). I think we will drive, but I like having an all incompassing policy.

Exactly. We always get cancel for any reason. For just the 2 of us we actually pay a little more, but there is absolutely no comparison on the coverage. We get 10xs the medical and evacuation coverage, the cancel for any reason and basically higher limits on just about everything compared to what DCL offers. It is well worth the little extra we pay.

Most important thing about purchasing insurance is to get the coverage you need and ensure it will take care of what you expect it to if you ever have to use it.

 

[amalone1013]

Thanks everyone. Our main concern is that we will have elderly grandparents at home and if we would need to cancel or go home early if something happened. We are also traveling with my ILs, so it is their parents we are worried about. I spoke with agents for the different companies too to make sure I understood what was covered, etc for that. We are 30 days out from PIF date now and I can't wait!

 

[Jenny Mauger]

We buy our own travel insurance because the coverage is better and it is cheaper. Disney’s insurance was like $500 for our family and I got ours for like $200-ish. I book travel insurance as soon as I book, because I always get the cancel anytime policy on big trips. The cancel anytime doesn’t cover the whole price of the trip, but refunds 75% of the trip (a $2000 loss versus a $8000 loss). I think we will drive, but I like having an all incompassing policy.

if you book your cruise on opening day, it's usually too early to book airfare (airline schedules aren't out yet) -- how do you book all encompassing trip insurance prior to booking the airfare?

 

[daisyx3]

I did trip insurance because I already had airfare, and if we have to cancel our trip the airfare will be a problem as well. Unfortunately I did not get "any reason" coverage. I think next time I will just get insurance right away (not through Disney) and estimate air based on prior trips. I have elderly parents and I am also worried that something might go wrong.

 

[lindsay0526]

Our insurance company said that you just add what you need as you pay it to the existing policy.

For example-
We booked the cruise with deposit ($1500, I think). I called and bought the policy, with $1500 coverage. We made another $1500 payment, and I called and added an additional $1500 coverage to our existing policy and so forth. Once we add airline tickets, you call and add that value to your policy.

I did have our company quote me for a $10,000 trip just so I could see how much it would be. But I have purchased more coverage incrementally. Make sense?

 

[Sorcerer's Dad]

Has anyone cancelled a cruise prior to the paid-in-full date and been able to get any refund at all from the insurance company on premiums paid?

 

[kiford]

We just purchase medical and trip interruption insurance which covers (our typical policy, anyway) cancellation or delay due to weather or transportation cancellation or changes leading to issues, family emergencies, personal emergency/illness, work issues, etc. Pretty much everything but cancel-for-any-reason which is an extra cost. We always book our excursions through DCL and, even if I didn't, I'd be looking for a company that refunds me if the ship does not dock or docks too late.

My father ended up getting a refund of a couple of thousand dollars due to weather delays in getting to Santiago for a cruise (different cruise line obviously) where he'd booked a couple of nights of hotel prior to the cruise. He was compensated both for the nights he didn't get there and extra costs incurred trying to find a flight that would get him there in time. He just purchased regular trip insurance.

I think you're probably better off getting general trip insurance and making sure that any non-DCL excursions have a clear refund/cancellation policy you're happy with or book DCL excursions (which are refunded automatically if cancelled or you don't get to the port or you get there too late to do them). I can't see why any insurance policy would compensate you for a missing/changed port if there wasn't a non-refundable excursion or additional cost involved. You aren't out of pocket for any costs if you skip a port; usually you get refunded a few dollars for port fees. And I'm not sure what a "ship service disruption" is - internet outage? And does a late arrival constitute an itinerary change for non--refundable excursions or does it only pay out if you actually don't visit the port? Personally "cruise insurance" sounds like a gimmick to me that costs more for a lot of good sounding things that may have a lot of fine print and exclusions.

 

[ahain]

if you book your cruise on opening day, it's usually too early to book airfare (airline schedules aren't out yet) -- how do you book all encompassing trip insurance prior to booking the airfare?

We just estimate how much our entire trip is going to cost (cruise + air + excursions) and insure for that amount right off the bat.