Trip Insurance Question

[hlauburn]

We just booked a cruise today for August. The balance is not due until June, so up until that point, I can cancel without any penalty.

 

Since we'll be going with 2 small kids and during hurricane season, I think it's a good idea to get trip insurance, but I don't understand what the benefit would be of buying it now vs. right before we pay the balance (and are penalized if we cancel).

 

If I understand it right, if you purchase the insurance within a certain period of time after paying a deposit (14 days?), any pre-exisiting conditions will be covered, but I don't think that is an issue for us. Any otehr benefits to buying it early? What am I missing?

 

Thanks!

[cruiseco]

We just booked a cruise today for August. The balance is not due until June, so up until that point, I can cancel without any penalty.

 

Since we'll be going with 2 small kids and during hurricane season, I think it's a good idea to get trip insurance, but I don't understand what the benefit would be of buying it now vs. right before we pay the balance (and are penalized if we cancel).

 

If I understand it right, if you purchase the insurance within a certain period of time after paying a deposit (14 days?), any pre-exisiting conditions will be covered, but I don't think that is an issue for us. Any otehr benefits to buying it early? What am I missing?

 

Thanks!

 

The insurers know that the longer a traveler waits to buy insurance the less likely he/she is to actually do it. So they've come up with some incentives to encourage the traveler to make the purchase soon (even, as in your case, sooner than needed). These can be the pre-ex coverage, financial default coverage, eligibility for cancel for any reason coverage, etc.

 

So if none of those concern you and as long as you are willing to cancel the cruise if a possibly major pre-ex medical situation does crop up between now and the final payment date then you can certainly wait to buy the policy.

 

Or check out an insurer like CSA that has the much more consumer-friendly idea of treating travelers like adults and offering them the pre-ex coverage up until their final payment date for their cruise.

[CapsR1]

You may want to visit "insure my trip dot com" and compare prices now for insurance. They have several different policies to choose from and there is a "compare" feature as well.

[D4]

I purchase insurance within a couple weeks of booking. This gets us the pre-existing condition waiver and we can get the cancel for any reason option.

 

Even if you don't have medical problems, you don't know when one of you might develop some. Also if something happens like an Icelandic volcano shutting down flights, hurricanes, or an airline going out of business/striking, it is too late to purchase insurance.