A heads up about Future Cruise Certificates/Reservations and travel insurance!

[lysolqn]

Just switched a future cruise reservation we made while on Reflection a year and a half ago for a different cruise which leaves in a few short weeks. We booked the original reservation as a "place holder" to secure onboard booking benefits until we knew when and where we wanted to use the certificate. Today I moved the certificate to a different cruise, leaving on a different date, from a different port, choosing different accommodations and having a totally different itinerary and I paid in full. I then moved on to purchasing travel insurance and learned the following: when using a future cruise certificate, the date on the original certificate remains the date of any booking for which that certificate is used, no matter how many months or even years later the certificate is ultimately used. It's important to keep in mind that that impacts the purchase of travel insurance insomuch as it precludes the purchase of many otherwise available insurance policies that provide pre-existing conditions coverage because such coverage usually doesn't go back more than a few months in time . There are, of course, some policies that will cover pre-existing conditions going way back in time but they are limited in number and - you guessed it! - considerably more expensive. Just a heads up!

[Luvcrusn]

Just switched a future cruise reservation we made while on Reflection a year and a half ago for a different cruise which leaves in a few short weeks. We booked the original reservation as a "place holder" to secure onboard booking benefits until we knew when and where we wanted to use the certificate. Today I moved the certificate to a different cruise, leaving on a different date, from a different port, choosing different accommodations and having a totally different itinerary and I paid in full. I then moved on to purchasing travel insurance and learned the following: when using a future cruise certificate, the date on the original certificate remains the date of any booking for which that certificate is used, no matter how many months or even years later the certificate is ultimately used. It's important to keep in mind that that impacts the purchase of travel insurance insomuch as it precludes the purchase of many otherwise available insurance policies that provide pre-existing conditions coverage because such coverage usually doesn't go back more than a few months in time . There are, of course, some policies that will cover pre-existing conditions going way back in time but they are limited in number and - you guessed it! - considerably more expensive. Just a heads up!

Thanks for the post. It seems logical, but is sometimes something folks may forget to consider when booking placeholders.

[Nanatravel]

Just switched a future cruise reservation we made while on Reflection a year and a half ago for a different cruise which leaves in a few short weeks. We booked the original reservation as a "place holder" to secure onboard booking benefits until we knew when and where we wanted to use the certificate. Today I moved the certificate to a different cruise, leaving on a different date, from a different port, choosing different accommodations and having a totally different itinerary and I paid in full. I then moved on to purchasing travel insurance and learned the following: when using a future cruise certificate, the date on the original certificate remains the date of any booking for which that certificate is used, no matter how many months or even years later the certificate is ultimately used. It's important to keep in mind that that impacts the purchase of travel insurance insomuch as it precludes the purchase of many otherwise available insurance policies that provide pre-existing conditions coverage because such coverage usually doesn't go back more than a few months in time . There are, of course, some policies that will cover pre-existing conditions going way back in time but they are limited in number and - you guessed it! - considerably more expensive. Just a heads up!

 

Logical and worth reminding folks like me who did book a Future cruise for 2020. I have annual TA insurance, so I'll just have to keep it in force. Hopefully, that will suffice for pre-existing coverage. I'll check with Travel Guard.

[lysolqn]

We've used several future cruise certificates/bookings in the past but never took into consideration that our deposits were paid well beyond the pre-existing conditions stipulations of the policies we purchased. Fortunately, we never had to make use of the policies but it certainly is something to keep in mind going forward.

[cargo13]

Have found GENERALI Travel Insurance (used to be CSA) to have the most flexible pre existing coverage option--up to final payment. We had situation with cruise cert/credit and they covered, more here: https://www.generalitravelinsurance.com/faqs/insurance-for-pre-existing-medical-conditions.html

 

Their customer service was very helpful and knows the cruiselines policies.

[JMG]

Yes.. we have obtained travel insurance to cover the cost of the initial deposit and then when we actually booked,,,we increased the insurance to the amount of the cruise...so, the pre existing conditions were covered. I guess we got a really good insurance person to offer us this solution to this situation.

[msmayor]

When you say you booked a 'placeholder', I assume that means you booked an actual cruise but intended to change it?

 

If so, that would seem to be where the problem lies. Booking an actual cruise with an actual booking number is what creates the first deposit.

 

We've purchased future cruise certificates on RCL and HAL but did not book an actual cruise...only paid for the certificate without assigning it to any cruise. Our trip insurance doesn't count the purchase of the certificate as the deposit - it's more like trading $100 for a piece of paper. There is no trip...yet...until I have a booking number.

 

(yes, I confirmed this with my trip insurance carrier)

[miched]

Thanks

 

Happy cruising 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌅

[wrk2cruise]

Yes.. we have obtained travel insurance to cover the cost of the initial deposit and then when we actually booked,,,we increased the insurance to the amount of the cruise...so, the pre existing conditions were covered. I guess we got a really good insurance person to offer us this solution to this situation.

 

We usually do this as well. On my last reservation there was a greater than zero percent chance we wouldn't be able to go on the dates booked. When discussing with the insurance company they told me they would typically be able to change the travel dates once as courtesy to retain the pre-existing conditions waiver and cancel for any reason coverage. We have used this same company for many of our trips.

[lysolqn]

We've always purchased future cruise certificates while on board rather than specific cruises, thus pre-existing conditions coverage was never an issue because the clock didn't start ticking until such time as we used a certificate to make a reservation. Our decision to make a reservation to use as a "place holder" this time was because X was offering upgraded accommodations, significantly higher onboard credit and additional amenities for the reservation as opposed to a certificate. We'll stick to certificates going forward.

[Luvcrusn]

The last time we purchased a future cruise certificate we had difficulty using it. Each time we booked a cruise and tried to use it something in the promotion was not combineable with the certificate. It was always better to not use it. After 6 years our TA finally was able to get them to refund the certificate purchase cost because they wouldn't even apply the dollar cost of the certificate to our cruise payments even without any additional benefits. Has anyone else had this problem?