Cruise cancelled before final payment

[gaylemh]

If you purchase insurance when you make a deposit on a cruise, and you decide before final payment to cancel the cruise, will the insurance company reinburse your premium paid?

[VegasCrossfire]

To the best of my knowledge -no - you do not get your premium refunded. We try to wait until just a couple of days before final payment to buy our insurance, just for that reason.

[Host Caroline]

To the best of my knowledge -no - you do not get your premium refunded. We try to wait until just a couple of days before final payment to buy our insurance, just for that reason.

 

This is good in theory but if you have preexisting condition(s), as a general rule, most companies (there are I believe a couple of exceptions) require you to purchase the insurance within 7-21 days of deposit to be covered should you need to cancel due to that /those medical conditions. In that event, better to be safe and risk losing the premium than lose entire cost of cruise bec. you didn't factor in the preexisting condition(s) when you decided to buy and then end up cancelling later after final payment.

[cherylandtk]

Some companies may allow you to transfer the policy to a new cruise.

[6rugrats]

No, your premium is not returned because the insurance company has been covering you since the date you purchased the policy. They have been at risk for anything covered under your policy.

 

As stated, usually you can transfer the policy to another trip.

[cruiseco]

with most insurers you have about 10 days to cancel the policy for any reason and get a refund of your premium. After that, it's usually yours.

 

The reasoning is this: The cruise line may not apply any cancellation penalties until the final payment has been made and your initial deposit may be refundable if you cancel. But that deposit amount actually at risk right away should the cruise line go bankrupt as has happened many times over the years, most recently I believe with Renaissance. Since just about all of these policies include financial default coverage, if the cruise line (or other travel supplier) goes belly-up and can't refund any deposits all of the policy holders would be entitled to make a claim.

 

So, your money is indeed at risk (however unlikely) from the moment you put your deposit down on your cruise and the insurers are justified in thinking that that risk justifies a "no refund" policy.