Trip Insurance

[Jbutler]

Shopping trip insurance for a June 2018 cruise. What are your favorite companies/plans? Anything specific I should be looking for in the coverage paperwork?

 

[vacationer1954]

I like what I'm reading in Nationwide's cruise specific policies.

 

[MunFam]

I only use Travel Guard. I am a former travel agent

 

[DVC-Don]

Yep, Travel Guard is what I also use. I mainly want it for evacuation for medical emergencies to get back to the USA.

 

[Disneypeach]

I'm with USAA and going thru their website I get a discount from the public rates of C&F Travel Insured...haven't had to use them but the policy seems comprehensive.

 

[eva]

Travel Guard for us too.

 

[RedStars]

We use USAA

 

[NancyIL]

I buy mine from the Trip Insurance Store (www.tripinsurancestore.com). Interesting that several of you mentioned Travel Guard. When comparing them to several other companies, Travel Guard's emergency medical coverage was lower than other companies, so I never purchased their trip insurance. I have used CSA, Travelex, Travel Safe, Travel Insured, Global Alert, and HTH Worldwide.

 

[wanderlust7]

I bought trip insurance for the first time recently and did a fair amount of research. I used the chat on www.insuremytrip.com quite a few times with questions, they were very helpful and came on the chat very quickly. I did research on www.tripinsurancestore.com too, I like their comparison chart and their helpful articles.

Here are some things I learned:

- To cover preexisting conditions, many policies require purchase within a certain amount of time (varies but 30 days was the longest I saw) of when you put down ANY money for your trip. I did the chat to check if this applies to placeholder deposits as well and was told that it does. There are also policies that will cover preexisting conditions if you buy before final payment.

- Final payment is defined as when you paid off the cruise in full. NOT when the final payment due date is. I booked through Costco, which has final payment 2 weeks earlier than Disney's final payment due date (in case of issues I think). So I waited too long and ended up not covering preexisting conditions.

- Missed connection coverage will cover you for certain delays that cause you to miss the cruise.

- Some insurance covers kids for free. You can buy it for 1 adult and get the kids covered. Sometimes it can make sense for the adults to get different policies if there are different concerns. For example, I would want my DH to have the cancel for work reasons, but I wouldn't really need it.

 

[vacationer1954]

- To cover preexisting conditions, many policies require purchase within a certain amount of time (varies but 30 days was the longest I saw) of when you put down ANY money for your trip. I did the chat to check if this applies to placeholder deposits as well and was told that it does. There are also policies that will cover preexisting conditions if you buy before final payment.

Yes, that was the first thing that attracted us to Nationwide's cruise-specific policies.

- Final payment is defined as when you paid off the cruise in full. NOT when the final payment due date is.

Wow thanks! I didn't notice that. We still owe a good bit on our upcoming cruise. Now I know not to mistakenly pay it off without purchasing trip insurance, even though final payment is not yet due.

 

[srg128]

deleted...

 

[Doofenshmirtz513]

I won't name names, but when looking at a site that let you compare various policies, one jumped out as having much higher coverage levels compared to others at the same premium level. It also included coverage if work requires you to miss a vacation, which was valuable to us. When looking at 4-5 plans ranging in price by a couple hundred dollars, one stood out as better than the others, which is the one we bought.

 

[kiford]

It really depends on what you want covered. When we go on a cruise we will want coverage for lost luggage (if you miss it on the first day, it's a lot harder to get it later), anything that would cause us to miss boarding the first day, evacuation from the ship, having to cancel during after the PIF date for numerous reasons. If we go to WDW, for example, I'm not so worried about lost luggage or having to book emergency flights as it's not too far from home and not too expensive (although we probably would still get coverage for lost days of hotels, etc. or other non-cancellable costs). If we go overseas, we'd want to have more coverage for emergency flights due to the fewer number and higher costs. It all depends on the situation, what you would have to cover if something happened, costs that can't be cancelled, etc. Then you compare the price of the insurance to that. I typically just think of all of the possible scenarios that could happen, what would the impact be and what coverage I then want. That all determines the price. Also consider what other coverage you may have from credit cards or work/supplemental health insurance.

 

[NancyIL]

I bought trip insurance for the first time recently and did a fair amount of research. I used the chat on www.************.com quite a few times with questions, they were very helpful and came on the chat very quickly. I did research on www.tripinsurancestore.com too, I like their comparison chart and their helpful articles.

Here are some things I learned:

- To cover preexisting conditions, many policies require purchase within a certain amount of time (varies but 30 days was the longest I saw) of when you put down ANY money for your trip. I did the chat to check if this applies to placeholder deposits as well and was told that it does. There are also policies that will cover preexisting conditions if you buy before final payment.

- Final payment is defined as when you paid off the cruise in full. NOT when the final payment due date is. I booked through Costco, which has final payment 2 weeks earlier than Disney's final payment due date (in case of issues I think). So I waited too long and ended up not covering preexisting conditions.

- Missed connection coverage will cover you for certain delays that cause you to miss the cruise.

- Some insurance covers kids for free. You can buy it for 1 adult and get the kids covered. Sometimes it can make sense for the adults to get different policies if there are different concerns. For example, I would want my DH to have the cancel for work reasons, but I wouldn't really need it.

If you book a specific cruise, even if it isn't the one you plan to take - then the clock has started ticking to get the waiver of preexisting conditions. Depending on the insurance company - if you pay a deposit without booking a specific cruise, then the clock may not start running until you book an actual cruise: https://tripinsurancestore.com/initial-trip-deposit-date/ (scroll to the box at the bottom of the page)

 

[wanderlust7]

If you book a specific cruise, even if it isn't the one you plan to take - then the clock has started ticking to get the waiver of preexisting conditions. Depending on the insurance company - if you pay a deposit without booking a specific cruise, then the clock may not start running until you book an actual cruise: https://tripinsurancestore.com/initial-trip-deposit-date/ (scroll to the box at the bottom of the page)

Thank you! That is good to know for future reference!

 

[vacationer1954]

If you book a specific cruise, even if it isn't the one you plan to take - then the clock has started ticking to get the waiver of preexisting conditions.

At that point, the only options are to do without coverage for preexisting conditions, to pay for a preexisting condition waiver, or to purchase a policy that includes a preexisting condition waiver standard. That Nationwide policy I mentioned earlier is in that latter category: "The Pre-Existing Conditions exclusion is waived if You (a) enroll in this Certificate within final Trip payment; (b) purchase this Certificate for the full cost of Your Trip; and (c) are medically able to travel on the Effective Date." Some of the others in that latter category are worded differently, requiring you to be medically able to travel on the Final Payment Date, which I find a little disturbing because if I purchase the insurance now (when I book my flights) and then something happens between now and next April then we're not covered. That defeats the purpose of purchasing a policy with a preexisting condition waiver.