Best value travel insurance for Canadians

[always_wright]

Just like the title says, I am looking for the best value in travel insurance for our cruise in Jan 2015. This is our second cruise; our first cruise was 7 years ago when we were young, stupid and reckless and knew nothing about the necessity for travel insurance.

 

Our PVP of course tried to sell us on the Carnival travel insurance which we have declined after reading many negatives about it on the CC forums. We want to purchase a decent travel insurance package that wont cost an arm and a leg for our family of 4. I don't have the first clue where to look as we've never purchased travel insurance before and I'm not sure if some of the names I've seen mentioned on CC are exclusive to US citizens.

 

Thank you in advance for your help! :D

[alleauna]

Just like the title says, I am looking for the best value in travel insurance for our cruise in Jan 2015. This is our second cruise; our first cruise was 7 years ago when we were young, stupid and reckless and knew nothing about the necessity for travel insurance.

 

Our PVP of course tried to sell us on the Carnival travel insurance which we have declined after reading many negatives about it on the CC forums. We want to purchase a decent travel insurance package that wont cost an arm and a leg for our family of 4. I don't have the first clue where to look as we've never purchased travel insurance before and I'm not sure if some of the names I've seen mentioned on CC are exclusive to US citizens.

 

Thank you in advance for your help! :D

 

We also had never purchased travel insurance until we started going on longer cruises, much further from home, and our employee health insurance policy had changed. After much research on insuremytrip.com and investigating the top companies that had the lowest rates, we went with Travel Safe. Though we have not made an official claim with them, the couple of times we've called (once to help with our 1st purchase, 2nd to inquire on coverage for a lost cell phone), they were very kind and helpful. After our first purchase, I always do it online now and I know there is a box to tick for either "USA" or "Canada" when I'm making our purchase.

[goodml]

We've used tripinsurancestore.com several times over the past few years and our son had a claim once. It's sort of a primitive looking site but the owner and the staff are excellent to deal with. They actually have a separate site for Canadian snowbirds who winter in the southern US. Our son had to cancel a land based vacation due to a work issue and was reimbursed for the cancelled trip really quickly. Of source that's with the actual insurer not the broker but it speaks to reliability at least.

[always_wright]

Thank you for the info! I've just finished pricing on Travel Safe based on the suggestion and I'm incredibly surprised at how little it actually is for that insurance. I'm certain that the Carnival Insurance was more money!

 

Just to be clear; when I am inputting our traveller names/ages/trip cost, am I taking the travel costs and dividing it between the number of travellers?

[seeing this world]

I have a rider on my house insurance for trip insurance. Manulife. It cost us $106 a year good for 30 days out of country, renews after stepping foot in Canada for 30 minutes for another 30 days. Great for day trips to the USA for shopping or dinner. Covers everyone who lives in the house. It gives great coverage and i don't have to think about travel insurance for the year. It is a very reasonable cost. Check your house insurance to see if you can get it. I live 20 minutes from the boarder so it is great for those day trips.

[alleauna]

Thank you for the info! I've just finished pricing on Travel Safe based on the suggestion and I'm incredibly surprised at how little it actually is for that insurance. I'm certain that the Carnival Insurance was more money!

 

Just to be clear; when I am inputting our traveller names/ages/trip cost, am I taking the travel costs and dividing it between the number of travellers?

 

Yes, I add up all non-refundable expenses and divide it among how many are going, just as you stated. Our non-refundable expenses are usually only our Early Saver cruise fare (with taxes, fees, & port expenses). I'm with you...it's surprisingly inexpensive. I love the peace of mind it brings!

[AmberCascades]

We also ended up with Manulife. I have my company health insurance with Manulife as well. My DH made the arrangements, but he is an expert comparison shopper and he found the best deal was paying an annual fee which covers both of us. We found that with the individual trip insurers the coverage was just per trip and then we had separate fees for each of us. The low annual fee will cover every trip we go on (3 planned in the next 12 months).

[goodml]

Correct me if I'm wrong, the annual policies are for travel medical only right? They aren't cancellation policies are they?

[AmberCascades]

I don't know about other plans. We were specifically looking for cancellation insurance, coverage if we had to leave the cruise early, flight issues, etc. Insurance for our trips themselves. We already had out of country medical with my work benefits.

[always_wright]

I have a rider on my house insurance for trip insurance. Manulife. It cost us $106 a year good for 30 days out of country, renews after stepping foot in Canada for 30 minutes for another 30 days. Great for day trips to the USA for shopping or dinner. Covers everyone who lives in the house. It gives great coverage and i don't have to think about travel insurance for the year. It is a very reasonable cost. Check your house insurance to see if you can get it. I live 20 minutes from the boarder so it is great for those day trips.

 

Great tip! I would've never thought to look through our home insurance. We live about 2hrs from the border but we cross every few months for weekend trips to Buffalo and Erie. TBH, I've never considered that we should be insured even when we do road trips. We have medical coverage through our employer health benefits but nothing else for those trips.

 

I will check that out!

[K&P Luv2Cruise]

Great tip! I would've never thought to look through our home insurance. We live about 2hrs from the border but we cross every few months for weekend trips to Buffalo and Erie. TBH, I've never considered that we should be insured even when we do road trips. We have medical coverage through our employer health benefits but nothing else for those trips.

 

I will check that out!

 

You may also want to check with CAA if you are a member, or your major credit card (I use MC).

Edited June 11, 2014 by K&P Luv2Cruise

[always_wright]

You may also want to check with CAA if you are a member, or your major credit card (I use MC).

 

I sometimes think I should get CAA just for all the retail and travel perks! :p

TBH, I have never been able to justify the purchase of a CAA membership - DH is a mechanic, I work in tire sales, we're both very tight knit with many in the automotive community in Central Ontario. They're poor excuses though, especially when we're road-trippers.

 

I probably should get CAA! lol

[seedaz]

We have researched in depth travel insurance for Canadians who are travelling by air, land, and cruise and finally found an insurance site that was extremely helpful with our needs. I would highly recommend Travelsafe.ca for Canadian cruisers!

[jmcancruise]

We have gone with travelguard on some trips. Had to make a claim a couple of trips back because I broke my arm. They came through on the claim, but wouldn't settle until I had settled my medical end of things. I had medical through my work policy. So yes I got my money but it was slow.

[Retired911]

I already purchased travel insurance from Carnival for cruises in November. I just checked Travelguard and it is a little more than 1/2 the price. Would I be able to cancel Carnival's insurance?

[Christine Frances]

We have used Medoc through Johnson for years. We have an annual policy that costs about $25 per month for both os us covering multiple trips of less than 40 days. Excellent travel/cxl insurance coverage as well as a high medical evac limit. If you have problems with the "get a quote" feature" just give them a call. Don't know why it isn't working for me lol

 

https://www.johnson.ca/travel/medoc/splash-en.jspx

Edited June 14, 2014 by Christine Frances