Carnival Cruise Insurance

[kdkirk]

We just booked a cruise with 2 non family members.  Our family consists of 4 people, so a total of six going, 3 cabins.  The 2 non family members asked about insurance, since each non family member is booked in a cabin with a family member, does the family member that is bunking with them need to also get cruise insurance.   They are paying their own way and paying the travel agent we booked though.  The booking I guess is all under our name.  The agent said that buying the insurance thru carnival that every one in the cabin has got to buy the insurance if one person gets it.  I haven't seen anything that states that so I'm unsure if that is the way it is or not.  Also this talk of insurance and trying to find the answer led me to this board and while here I see that going outside the carnival to buy insurance is cheaper, and maybe beneficial for the family to get also.  So that raises another question or more.

  Since everyone is under the same booking, can we get an 3rd party insurance policy that includes the non family members?  This may save everyone money.

If the non family members get the insurance thru carnival and we don't have to get carnivals insurance, say the non family member uses the policy and can't make the trip.  will the family member still be able to go on the cruise?  Will they just be in the cabin by themselves? 

If the non family members get the insurance thru carnival and we don't have to get carnivals insurance, can we get 3rd party insurance?

 

I believe that's all the questions I have for now.  Thanks in advanced for any input.

[CanWeGoYet?]

Good idea  to check around, I skip the Carnival insurance because it doesn't provide coverage for pre-existing condition.  Look into Squaremouth.com or Insuremytrip.com  You can get a side by side comparison of what coverage is offered on different plans, and you can plug in filters that are important to you.  I always get coverage for medevac, and primary coverage saves waiting on a denial / submitting paperwork to your regular health insurance first.  Squaremouth has a box to tick for cruise trip insurance, it has coverage high enough to cover treatment requiring medevac.  From what I've seen from my trip insurance policies, people on your plan have to be relatives or living at the same address, or they are not covered.  But you can double check with the plan seller, they are the experts.  

The companies will probably be happy to sell you a plan, but if something goes south you don't want to hear that for this reason or that - the coverage is excluded in this instance.  

I think if you book the trip insurance within 2 weeks of the first payment, pre-existing coverage is not expensive.  If you wait longer, it can get very pricey.  So good for you for checking into this right after booking.  

Edited October 22, 2019 by CanWeGoYet?

[GeezerCouple]

We get our insurance through a broker (no extra charge):

 

www.TripInsuranceStore.com

 

They handle policies from several vetted insurers (meaning, less chance of endless problems with claims, etc.), and each has a few policies.

 

Explain your specific situation, and they'll help you find the best fit policy for you group.

 

Note:  We've purchased policies from Travel Insured through TIS.

They (and some others) offer coverage for pre-existing conditions at no extra charge as long as the policy is purchased within 10-21 days of the INITIAL payment (e.g., deposit).  That is important to us, at least.  

Our policies also cover non-traveling family members (pre-existing conditions not excluded), and we had our first claim for that a few months ago.  It worked just as advertised, when *very* elderly MIL landed in the ER shortly before our planned departure.

 

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[kdkirk]

Thanks for all your responses, if one cabin mate gets the carnival insurance thru carnival does the other cabin mate also have to get it? 

[GeezerCouple]

1 hour ago, kdkirk said:

Thanks for all your responses, if one cabin mate gets the carnival insurance thru carnival does the other cabin mate also have to get it? 

 

If you still want to get insurance through Carnival, you should ask them directly.

Insurance is too important - and terms can be very specific and even vary from state to state - to get information from internet friends (or strangers).

 

You'd need to check with Carnival anyway, no matter what assorted posters state.

 

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[Jersey42]

21 hours ago, kdkirk said:

Thanks for all your responses, if one cabin mate gets the carnival insurance thru carnival does the other cabin mate also have to get it? 

Unfortunately, I don't definitely know the answer and @GeezerCouple gave you the best advice anyway.  However if you elect to purchase insurance, it is a good idea to make sure you know why you are purchasing the insurance and what you actually get.  For MOST people, cruise line insurance is not the best option. Most of the time coverage is weaker and often you pay as much or more than a good third party alternative. Plus, most of the time cruise line insurance has no waiver of pre-existing conditions. 

 

While comprehensive travel insurance covers a number of things, the "big ticket" items are usually trip cancellation, trip interruption, emergency medical and medical evacuation. Here are some notes I have on Carnival's Vacation Protection Plan.  I believe they are current, but you should confirm for yourself.

• 60 day look back for any pre-existing conditions. No waiver.  Pre-existing conditions clause pertains to all coverage except medical evacuation and repatriation.
• $10K limit on medical,  Great for minor things, not so good for anything more.
• $30K limit for medical evacuation.  Pretty low, although it might be ok for a cruise close to home.
• Cancel for any reason is a 75% future cruise credit and only covers cruise cancellation penalties,.
• Other Cancellation for covered reasons only. Covers expenses paid to Carnival plus independent airfare.  
• Trip interruption is limited to 100% of items paid to Carnival.  Transportation home is covered subject to the 100% maximum.

These are the big items I would compare to any third party plan you might consider.

[GeezerCouple]

7 minutes ago, Jersey42 said:

Unfortunately, I don't definitely know the answer and @GeezerCouple gave you the best advice anyway.  However if you elect to purchase insurance, it is a good idea to make sure you know why you are purchasing the insurance and what you actually get.  For MOST people, cruise line insurance is not the best option. Most of the time coverage is weaker and often you pay as much or more than a good third party alternative. Plus, most of the time cruise line insurance has no waiver of pre-existing conditions. 

 

While comprehensive travel insurance covers a number of things, the "big ticket" items are usually trip cancellation, trip interruption, emergency medical and medical evacuation. Here are some notes I have on Carnival's Vacation Protection Plan.  I believe they are current, but you should confirm for yourself.

• 60 day look back for any pre-existing conditions. No waiver.  Pre-existing conditions clause pertains to all coverage except medical evacuation and repatriation.
• $10K limit on medical,  Great for minor things, not so good for anything more.
• $30K limit for medical evacuation.  Pretty low, although it might be ok for a cruise close to home.
• Cancel for any reason is a 75% future cruise credit and only covers cruise cancellation penalties,.
• Other Cancellation for covered reasons only. Covers expenses paid to Carnival plus independent airfare.  
• Trip interruption is limited to 100% of items paid to Carnival.  Transportation home is covered subject to the 100% maximum.

These are the big items I would compare to any third party plan you might consider.

 

For those not too familiar with travel insurance, the bit Jersey42 mentioned at the very end, and the "100%" for trip interruption/transport home might be important.

 

Our Travel Insured policies (and many other 3rd party policies) offer 150% for interruption (NOT cancellation) can be very important.  If one needs to head home mid-trip, there would still be covered costs to recoup from that portion of the trip.  AND the cost of last minute one-way air tickets home can swamp costs made far in advance.  The extra 50% coverage accounts for that, and can be a big help.

This is the type of thing we wouldn't have thought about without those helpful discussions with TripInsuranceStore.

 

Also, getting "cash back" for a CFAR policy is much better (for us, anyway) rather than a "cruise credit", and one with a time limit, no less...

 

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[Jersey42]

2 hours ago, GeezerCouple said:

Also, getting "cash back" for a CFAR policy is much better (for us, anyway) rather than a "cruise credit", and one with a time limit, no less...

Good point on the cash back. The time limit to use the credits is typically one year for most cruise line CFAR coverage.  Carnival does not seem to have a written time limit, but it mentions that restrictions apply and call them for more information.

 

For others, it is also worth mentioning that a third party CFAR policy normally also covers all of your non-refundable prepaid expenses, not just the cruise cancellation penalties. So if you have other costs (such as airfare), this is an additional advantage to third party insurance.  The downside is, third party CFAR coverage is often more expensive than cruise line insurance.  A good broker can help someone wade through options so they can make the best decision for their circumstances.

[iamtrustworthy]

There's another big risk that someone inadvertently assumes when they have a future cruise credit from a cruise line. It's also the same risk when one has a future travel credit from a tour company.

 

My explanation might sound a little complicated because even though it's one risk, there are two parts to this:

 

1) The Cruise Credit is non-transferable so if something terrible happened where you are not able to use the credit within the time period, you will lose its value.

 

2) The Cruise Credit is not insurable. This means when you use the credit for the second cruise, you can't insure the value of the credits, so don’t cancel that second trip or you'll lose the full value.

 

If you have other prepaid and non-refundable trip costs paid via cash or credit card, you can insure those for the 2nd trip.

 

#2 also is related to #1 because you will need to find out if you cancel the 2nd cruise, will the cruiseline allow you to book another cruise within the same time period so you don't lose its value?

 

I hope this made sense.