Cruise Trip Insurance

We are new to cruising and planning a 2019 Danube River cruise. We need to put down a deposit to hold our stateroom - then final payment is not due until early 2019. However, we have been advised that we should purchase trip insurance for the whole cruise price now in order to assure that we have pre-existing conditions coverage. I am having trouble understanding the logic. Why wouldnt we buy this coverage when we make the big final payment? Seems at this point our only exposure is the deposit. So if something happens in 2018 that causes us to cancel, we are only out the deposit. But if we prepay full cruise cost insurance and something happens this year - we are out the cost of insurance (which is more than the deposit). Maybe I am missing something?

Just to start the conversation...

Buy it with in 14 days of booking to be covered for existing conditions.

Cover only what you have paid in deposit for now and then when payment in full is due, up the coverage to cover the entire cost of the cruise. If you buy your own flights, up the coverage as soon as you buy them so that they will be covered immediately (since most of the time, we buy non-refundable flights).

There are a couple of websites that will help you compare premium costs. I think one of them is called "insuremytrip." Price isn't everything and it is important to understand what is covered by your premium. In any case, do not buy your insurance from the cruise company because it only covers the cost of the cruise package purchased from the cruise line.

We are new to cruising and planning a 2019 Danube River cruise. We need to put down a deposit to hold our stateroom - then final payment is not due until early 2019. However, we have been advised that we should purchase trip insurance for the whole cruise price now in order to assure that we have pre-existing conditions coverage. I am having trouble understanding the logic. Why wouldnt we buy this coverage when we make the big final payment? Seems at this point our only exposure is the deposit. So if something happens in 2018 that causes us to cancel, we are only out the deposit. But if we prepay full cruise cost insurance and something happens this year - we are out the cost of insurance (which is more than the deposit). Maybe I am missing something?

I understand your logic but if something /health concern happens you might not be able to purchase insurance or else be charged a premium price

Buy insurance ASAP-try insuremytrip.com or similar. Price will depend upon TOTAL cost of the trip (air, hotels cruise etc) and you age. Go through your insurance agent as something might be covered under your homeowners policy

Have a great trip

Carole

If you are using a Travel Agent, they have a special policy from Allianz that allows you to wait until 14 days after final payment and still get pre-existing coverage. But if a travel provider has a no-refund deposit, we take out the policy immediately for just that amount and increase the premium as we make additional non-refundable payments [generally just airfare and final payment]. The cost of the policy is always based on the total amount covered, and you get full credit for the earlier payments -- so the net cost is the same but you pay it over time. Also if we did cancel early enough that we choose not to make an insurance claim, we could roll the policy over to a future trip. This is one of the reasons we always use a Travel Agent.

It seems that our TA is more interested in the travel insurance than our cruise. Does the agent get a big commission?

It seems that our TA is more interested in the travel insurance than our cruise. Does the agent get a big commission?

No, your travel agent wants to make sure that you get the message so that when you fail to buy and something goes wrong, you can't blame him for your not buying it.

Unless you can afford to kiss thousands of dollars good-bye when you have to cancel at the last minute or have a major medical event while overseas, buy the insurance.

If you are bothered by the fact that your TA's company makes a commission on the product, you can buy your own policy directly from the company. It won't cost you any less but at least you won't be worried that the TA is more concerned about getting a commission than helping you to protect your investment.

Pre existing conditions coverages:

Generali Travel Insurance (used to be CSA) has the most liberal plan on pre existing conditions--you can buy their plans https://www.generalitravelinsurance.com/view-travel-insurance-plans.html w/ pre existing conditions coverage at final deposit of your river cruise.

Cancellations coverage:

However, you are booking far out so the cancellation coverage might be warranted depending on cost of your deposit v. cost of travel insurance.

We do not buy the river cruise company travel insurance because its very limited and only covers what you buy w/ the river cruise company---not air fare or pre post cruise hotel that we buy directly. GENERALI will cover all.

We are new to cruising and planning a 2019 Danube River cruise. We need to put down a deposit to hold our stateroom - then final payment is not due until early 2019. However, we have been advised that we should purchase trip insurance for the whole cruise price now in order to assure that we have pre-existing conditions coverage. I am having trouble understanding the logic. Why wouldnt we buy this coverage when we make the big final payment? Seems at this point our only exposure is the deposit. So if something happens in 2018 that causes us to cancel, we are only out the deposit. But if we prepay full cruise cost insurance and something happens this year - we are out the cost of insurance (which is more than the deposit). Maybe I am missing something?

Something might happen in 2018 that does not cause you to cancel but would cause you to travel with a new health risk. If you don't have that risk now, best to buy the insurance. I have canceled an entire cruise trip shortly before departure because of an injury of mine and filed a claim with a travel insurance company. The whole process was relatively smooth and I got fully reimbursed. However, I can tell you the travel insurance company was quite concerned about dates when I filed my claim. Date of all payments (with proof), cruise, air, hotel, everything - credit card statements with dates of payments, etc. I can understand the insurance companies concern, they don't wan't people buying insurance after they know of a new risk. In general, I am not a big fan of over-insuring things, and self insure whenever practical. However, I think travel insurance is a good idea. Even, if you can afford to self insure the cost of the trip, remember the travel insurance may also offer evacuation insurance, etc. Evacuation would be really costly, more so on an ocean cruise but even a river cruise could get complicated if you need care urgently.

Pre existing conditions coverages:

Generali Travel Insurance (used to be CSA) has the most liberal plan on pre existing conditions--you can buy their plans https://www.generalitravelinsurance.com/view-travel-insurance-plans.html w/ pre existing conditions coverage at final deposit of your river cruise.

 

Cancellations coverage:

However, you are booking far out so the cancellation coverage might be warranted depending on cost of your deposit v. cost of travel insurance.

 

We do not buy the river cruise company travel insurance because its very limited and only covers what you buy w/ the river cruise company---not air fare or pre post cruise hotel that we buy directly. GENERALI will cover all.

Generali didn't show up on InsureMyTrip, but going directly to their website, it looks like a better deal than those that are shown. Also better coverage and much more reasonable than what the TA was pushing, I mean recommending.

Some policies you must buy within 14 or 21 days for pre-existing conditions. My agent has a policy I can buy at final payment that covers pre-existing conditions.

If you don't have any pre-existing conditions you may be ok but one day between now and final payment you may come up with something and then you are caught. I am glad my agent has the policy she has.

Your agent is just looking out for your best interest.