Trip Insurance

• No matter how you get to the port trip insurance is for you

• Not all insurances are the same

• Travelinsurance.com is an example of one to research options and compare them

• Insurance company should provide 24-hour service and travel alerts

• Why get it

  • Hurricane season, delays by airlines, FAA shutdowns, pilot strikes

  • Unforeseen issues

    • You lose your job, someone or you get sick, someone gets hurt

  • Air itinerary changes

    • Very tight connection and if missed flight coming home might not be covered

    • Minimal delay time if flight missed

• Can be helpful for small and large things (food, toiletries, luggage)

• Benefits of trip insurance

  • Takes care of trip cancelations/coverage

  • Post departure benefits

    • Emergency medical expense, Covid, stomach issues

    • Travel inconveniences trip delays, miss connections, hotel or transportation needed

    • Extra cost of hotel, food, and transportation due to Covid, weather, etc.

  • Baggage delay is covered a limited amount per day $250 - $500 per day

    • Airline will pay the first portion and will need to file a second claim and the insurance will pick that up

• How to choose each policy

  • Chronic health issue and what happens

    • Pre-existing exclusion waiver

  • Early travel inconveniences

    • Cruise misses one of the port of calls

    • River cruise does not sail because water level is too low

  • If booking through the cruise line the offerings might be more skeletal or minimal offerings compared to a third party offering especially on cancelation policy

• What to look for in a policy

  • AIG travel guard, travel X are great companies

  • See what is covered under trip cancelation policy

  • See what is covered under medical policy

  • Look at plans that evaluate/cover the biggest risk to the trip (i.e., hurricane)

  • Some plans will cover a hurricane warning cancelation

    • Go to NOAH website to learn more about hurricanes

  • Once a storm is named it is no longer an unforeseen event therefore might not be covered which is why booking the trip insurance early is important

    • You cannot buy insurance against the storm once it is named

• How close to sailing can you book

  • Can purchase up to 1 day before your departure day

  • If looking at trip cancelation policy the longer you wait to book the less, you can use the policy

  • Typically, the effective date of the policy starts the next day after you purchase it

  • When buy my plan until all arrangements made or after each item

    • Need to buy the policy 14 days after any chance/deposit to the trip

  • You then only pay the premium difference as you pay more for the cruise

  • Can refund difference if cost of trip decreases

• If you just want post departure date benefits you can book right before the cruise starts

• Typically cancel for any reason is an upgrade on the current policy option

  • If a hurricane is going through the area but the cruise is still sailing trip insurance will not cover if you want to cancel unless you have the cancel for any reason add on

  • Some plans have cancel for any reason but you need to cover both deposit and total cost of trip

• Annual trip insurance plans

  • If travel 3 – 4 plus times a year

  • Trip costs/cancelations do not exceed the $4,000 – 5,000

  • Need to evaluate the trip cancelation cap because once it is meet and you have other cruises still then you can run into issues

  • The cap is not per cruise but cumulative

  • Typically cover medical issues, trip delays, baggage issues

  • Annual will also be more expensive than buying individual plans