When to buy trip insurance

[scootch]

I have heard good reviews for Trip Insured International and kids are insured for free, that is who I use. Never had to file a claim.

 

[2prettygirl]

Can you tell me which? The only one I've found so far is 2X the cost of purchasing with a company that has the 14 day time limit.

We always book with CSA Travel Protection.....cheaper rates than most through the cruise lines and great coverage.

 

[SuzanneSLO]

Directly from the CSA site
https://www.csatravelprotection.com/getquote_wd.do;jsessionid=EYuPNBVYY2oTSInYxhljDpU9
View attachment 143187

And, from the certificate explaining the policy (Custom) in detail (bolding mine):
We will not pay for loss or expense caused by or incurred resulting from a Pre-Existing Condition, as defined in the Definitions section, including death that results there from.

However, I see that it's listed as "Custom" there's no "Freestyle" option. I can't seem to get a "Freestyle" quote there. Maybe the Freestyle option is something that's only offered through comparison sites?

Some travel agents offer Freestyle as does at least one of the comparison sites: tripinsurance store.com. -- Suzanne

 

[mdgineok]

So if I, or any of my travel party, do not have any pre-existing conditions, identified by a medical diagnosis of some sort during the look back period, there would be no reason why I couldn’t wait to purchase a policy for my already booked cruise once I get my airfare bought? By waiting until I book the airfare it is cheaper to buy a single policy to cover both than two separate policy’s to cover the cruise and then the airfare. It seems that lots of people talk about CSA, they are good to deal with? I have looked at Travelinsure and Allianz but I don’t know anything about any of them.

 

[JJsmama]

I am wondering when i should buy too. Is there a sticky or a good thread about DCL insurance vs outside companies? Or if anyone just wants to inform us here... Thanks

 

[Aby]

We just found out that Costco.ca now offers travel insurance to Canadians, and the rates look very good too.

As far as when to buy your insurance, as others have mentioned it all depends on the specific policy and your own personal situation. For my husband and I, we are both healthy and fairly young, so I don't buy insurance until I know 100% that we both have the time off work, we're sure we're not going to change our mind on the trip, and at least 1 month prior to the date when penalties start to kick in. The policy I'm looking at specifies that it must be booked before any cancellation penalties are chargeable, but time limits for pre-existing conditions begins when you buy the policy - for example, for our health category, they will cover pre-existing conditions as long as they were stable (by their definitions) in the 3 months prior to buying the policy. Theoretically, by waiting a month or two to buy the coverage, something could pop up and therefore be ineligible for coverage, but the chance are very slim so we take that risk. Most trip cancellation/trip insurances are non-refundable so I don't like to book them too early in case we change our minds and want to move the dates or something. Some policies also can't be bought too early - the one I'm looking at now can't be booked until 180 days before the trip, but sometimes we book our initial plans over a year in advance!

To the previous poster, I think most people find that insuring their cruise outside is a better deal financially, but I think that if you purchase through DCL and the insurance company denies your claim for a trip you have to cancel, they will let you carry forward a good percentage (75%) to another sail date. This makes it somewhat like a "cancel for any reason insurance", but you don't get the money back, just future credit. Hopefully someone will correct me if I'm wrong on that. I'm not sure if there is a specific thread detailing DCL vs outside insurance companies.

Aby

 

[PrincessShmoo]

By waiting until I book the airfare it is cheaper to buy a single policy to cover both than two separate policy’s to cover the cruise and then the airfare.

You don't have to buy separate policies. You can just call them up and add whatever new costs you've added to your policy and they will charge the difference. Still just one policy.