Cancelling Cruise Insurance

[ibcnusoon]

[quote name='maddycat']We always buy third party travel insurance with in 14 days of booking a cruise. That way we are covered for pre-existing medical conditions. If you book the cruise and buy insurance at the time of booking and then later cancel the cruise, you might be able to transfer the insurance to another cruise. You'd have to contact the travel insurance company and ask them.[/QUOTE]

We do the same thing, book within 2 weeks of first deposit in order to have any and all conditions met, including pre-existing medical issues.

Also, if you purchase insurance within 10-30 days (depending on policy) after first initial payment, and you later need to cancel, you can be reimbursed if you need to cancel for a medical reason (or someone in your family is sick and you no longer want to travel). If you wait and purchase insurance closer to final payment, you won't get this option and if you need to cancel last minute, you're out of any money you invested in that trip.

[luvscruising2007]

[quote name='Ken076']There's a miscommunication here -

The [B]RCI Berkely Policy[/B] does NOT have "[I]Waiver of Pre-Existing Condition[/I]" coverage, no matter when you purchase it - the RCI Policy has a 60-day lookback window for pre-existing conditions, which will not be covered if deemed "pre-existing" during claims processing. You can/should confirm this by calling Berkely directly.

So-called 3rd party policies like TravelEx, TravelInsured.....require that you purchase (pay for) their Policy within 14-21 days of booking your cruise in order to get "[I]Waiver of Pre-Existing Conditions[/I]" and to be able to additionally purchase their optional "[I]Cancel for Any Reason[/I]" coverage (CSA allows you to purchase up to Final payment to get the Waiver). If you don't purchase the policy within the 2 or 3 week initial window, you are then subject to their lookback window for pre-existing conditions, which can vary from 60 to 180 days.

Ken[/QUOTE]

I stand corrected. However, the Berkley policy only looks back 60 days for pre-existing conditions. Their policy cost is not based on age but cost of cruise. So for someone my husband's age and my age it is the best policy for us.

[Ken076]

[quote name='irishgal432']I haven't bought the insurance yet but the company will be Travelguard. They have a deal with a big box retailer that sell large quantities of items. They have a special number to call to get through to Travelguard. When I googled travelguard and tried that number and talked to the rep she had to transfer me to the rep that handles the big box retailer. I was assured that I would get the pre existing waiver as long as I bought it before or within 24 hours of final payment.[/quote]

I checked this out this morning - sure enough, they DO indicate provision of the pre-existing waiver if you purchase before or within 24 hours of final payment! Good Deal! ken

[Ken076]

[quote name='luvscruising2007']I stand corrected. However, the Berkley policy only looks back 60 days for pre-existing conditions. Their policy cost is not based on age but cost of cruise. So for someone my husband's age and my age it is the best policy for us.[/quote]

We're in the same age situation. If only Berkely would up the Medical and MedEvac coverage a bit! ken

[Familygoboston]

[quote name='irishgal432']I haven't bought the insurance yet but the company will be Travelguard. They have a deal with a big box retailer that sell large quantities of items. They have a special number to call to get through to Travelguard. When I googled travelguard and tried that number and talked to the rep she had to transfer me to the rep that handles the big box retailer. I was assured that I would get the pre existing waiver as long as I bought it before or within 24 hours of final payment.[/QUOTE]

[quote name='Ken076']I checked this out this morning - sure enough, they DO indicate provision of the pre-existing waiver if you purchase before or within 24 hours of final payment! Good Deal! ken[/QUOTE]

We have purchased this TG policy on insure my trip dot com with 24 hours of final payment...you have to do your research and check mark "compare", then look under pre existing conditions waiver...if it says within 24 hours of final payment you can do this policy when you pay the final payment. If you buy one of the other policies, it has to be within a certain window after initial booking. it will be clearly spelled out under that section on the "compare"

Some people prefer to self insure figuring things rarely go wrong, and what they save will cover the problem when they do, but in the places we travel usually, med evac and uncovered emergency medical expenses are more than I want to self insure, and more importantly, without the cash in hand, ( most I know don't carry around the 10's of thousands it costs to hire a medical helicopter) no one may be willing to provide the care you need even if you say "i can pay", without proof, so the insurance company can provide those services without you having to worry about how to wire huge sums or prove you can pay to someone who doesn't speak your language!

However, I am not sure I'd pay to insure airfare...
#1 some CC's offer airfare insurance as part of their "deal" if you buy the air with their card

#2 even if they don't it is a $75-$125 dollar fee to "change" your airfare to use it for another cruise or trip down the road. That seems to me to be cheap enough to take the risk. It's not like you lose the whole airfare, (unless you pass away) you just have to pay to change it, and you can change it to anything and what you paid is counted toward the cost of the new ticket. So essentially air is already "insured" by having the change fee available to you. Over many uneventful flights, with the insurance money you save, you can easily afford one change if you should have an "event".

Luckily, I have never had to make a claim, but my TA tells me she has had great luck with Travel Guard for their clients who have. I don't always buy from her if I can get a better deal on insure my trip.

[gelo7]

[quote name='Paul65']Agree with the others. There is no need to purchase insurance at the time of initial booking. Almost all insurance plans allow you to purchase at the time of final payment or shortly thereafter. There are even plans that you can purchase well past final payment, but they may not allow a pre-existing condition coverage.[/QUOTE]

I concur.

[Ken076]

Via TravelGuard (or InsureMyTrip) all of the popular TravelGuard Policies (except Basic which offers no waiver) must be purchased w/in xx days of initial trip deposit in order to get "Waiver of Pre-Existing conditions". ken