Get cancellation insurance

[lighthousenutcase]

This becomes very important if your deposit is 20% of the trip and you end up having to cancel even for health reasons. Hurtigruten does not give a refund so beware. :(

[MoneyGuy]

I'm a financial planner who is able to sell this and I disagree. The money I've saved not buying this stuff is the equivalent of two trips for my wife and me. I expect one day to lose the cost of a trip but over many years will be up many thousands of dollars. The companies who sell this stuff agree with you, however. Their profits are huge.

[lighthousenutcase]

We are older and "things" happen so when HURTIGRUTEN would not give us our refund (20% of our trip) even thou we cancelled well within their terms of cancellation fees, I lost a bundle.

[sail7seas]

I'm a financial planner who is able to sell this and I disagree. The money I've saved not buying this stuff is the equivalent of two trips for my wife and me. I expect one day to lose the cost of a trip but over many years will be up many thousands of dollars. The companies who sell this stuff agree with you, however. Their profits are huge.

 

 

I agree as to cancellation insurance. We have self-insured for about our last 60+ cruises and have saved literally tens of thousands in unpaid premiums. We were willing to 'take the hit' at the time we stopped insuring many years ago. At this point, though we would hate to lose the price of a cruise, we'd still ben hugely ahead.

 

You have to be willing to lose the amount of your cruise on the early ones but quickly you get to the break even point.

 

[cruiseco]

We are older and "things" happen so when HURTIGRUTEN would not give us our refund (20% of our trip) even thou we cancelled well within their terms of cancellation fees, I lost a bundle.

 

If in fact they did not refund your money in accordance with your booking contract and the deposits and cancellation penalty terms then it's probable travel insurance wouldn't have helped you either. Travel insurance is not some sort of collection agency or dispute resolution service between you and your travel supplier.

 

If your paperwork says you should have received a 100% refund but you didn't get it, one of two things would happen:

 

1) If the non-payment was the result of a bankruptcy or financial default the policy may cover your loss depending on the plan and the coverages

 

2) If the non-payment is due to any other reason the travel insurer will tell you to take it up with a lawyer/arbitration/etc as "these cooks won't give us our money back" is generally not a covered event.