Cruise insurance

[ToyFoxFan]

We are booked on Enchanted  for 10 day Caribbean Feb. 2024 and want advice on what insurance to purchase. Should we get thru princess or go with someone like Allianz. Advice is appreciated

[Hlitner]

You might want to come over to the Cruise/Travel Insurance blog (under discussion topics) where we discuss this issue a regular basis.  But the reality is that much depends on your own "risk tolerance."  The priority should be ascertaining that you have decent medical insurance that covers you outside of the country.  Check with your regular medical insurance about coverage (regular Medicare plans do not provide any coverage).  

 

If you want professional guidance, many here on CC suggest calling "The Trip Insurance Store" where their professionals specialize in travel insurance and represent multiple insurance providers.  Another option is to do your own research on web sites like insuremytrip.com or squaremouth.com where you can compare policies from various insurance companies.  And the other option would be to buy the policy sold by Princess.

 

Hank

[PaperSniper4]

1 hour ago, ToyFoxFan said:

We are booked on Enchanted  for 10 day Caribbean Feb. 2024 and want advice on what insurance to purchase. Should we get thru princess or go with someone like Allianz. Advice is appreciated

Consider both. There are benefits to Princess' "vacation protection" insurance as far as self cancellation go, but their medical, evacuation, etc coverage is a bit thin IMO.

 

 Doug

[milolii]

Here is a link to the insurance forum. https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/499-cruisetravel-insurance/

 

We use tripinsurancestore.com. We had a claim in June due to CoVID and are happy with the outcome.  

[PacnGoNow]

53 minutes ago, milolii said:

Here is a link to the insurance forum. https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/499-cruisetravel-insurance/

 

We use tripinsurancestore.com. We had a claim in June due to CoVID and are happy with the outcome.  

How did their prices compare?  TIA

[llarsen]

We have used Steve with Trip Insurance Store dot com for many years!

Amazing service. I just contacted him about my situation where our Passports may not arrive in time for our cruise and I will be beyond cancellation to see if a CRAR policy will help.

 

 

[PacnGoNow]

41 minutes ago, llarsen said:

We have used Steve with Trip Insurance Store dot com for many years!

Amazing service. I just contacted him about my situation where our Passports may not arrive in time for our cruise and I will be beyond cancellation to see if a CRAR policy will help.

 

 

Keep us posted.  Interesting 

[Coral]

1 hour ago, llarsen said:

We have used Steve with Trip Insurance Store dot com for many years!

Amazing service. I just contacted him about my situation where our Passports may not arrive in time for our cruise and I will be beyond cancellation to see if a CRAR policy will help.

 

 

While this isn't recent - I had an issue where my Mom's passport wasn't going to arrive in time. I called the number, paid an extra fee to have it expedited and we got it rather quickly. 

 

[Babr]

On 12/29/2022 at 9:22 AM, PacnGoNow said:

How did their prices compare?  TIA

The price of third-party policies is based on age, amount insured, length of trip, and levels of coverage. CFAR requires an additional premium. 
 

Cruise line insurance is a percentage of the cruise fare without regard to age.

 

There may be differences in cost between the two because of the pricing structure, but all policies are regulated by the laws of the states where they are sold so the cost of a third-party policy with be similar for similar coverage. The price is not affected by where you buy it.

[PacnGoNow]

2 hours ago, Babr said:

The price of third-party policies is based on age, amount insured, length of trip, and levels of coverage. CFAR requires an additional premium. 
 

Cruise line insurance is a percentage of the cruise fare without regard to age.

 

There may be differences in cost between the two because of the pricing structure, but all policies are regulated by the laws of the states where they are sold so the cost of a third-party policy with be similar for similar coverage. The price is not affected by where you buy it.

Thanks. I usually just buy PCL platinum ins. Wonder now about CFAR and how close to sailing it would cover you.  I need to read the policy.  
 

We only started buying insurance after the covid restart. Now, wouldn’t sail without it.

 

 

[Babr]

3 minutes ago, PacnGoNow said:

Thanks. I usually just buy PCL platinum ins. Wonder now about CFAR and how close to sailing it would cover you.  I need to read the policy.  
 

We only started buying insurance after the covid restart. Now, wouldn’t sail without it.

 

 

CFAR in a third-party policy has a time limit of at least 48 hours prior to departure, depending on the policy. That is no help for a last-minute flight cancellation like the ones that happened over Christmas.

 

Cruise line policies generally allow cancellation up to departure though I have not checked the Princess policy recently. Same-day cancellation requires quick action to notify the cruise line and the insurance administrator of intent to cancel in order to be on record before the ship sails. Otherwise, you are a no-show unless you can convince the insurance people that it was impossible to contact them in time.

[mjmalino]

If you are flying into port and not purchasing your flights through Princess realize that the insurance through Princess only covers what was booked through Princess, so if you got your flights separately, their insurance will not cover them.

[DHP1]

Our last 2 cruises (2022) we purchase Princess Insurance however, their medical coverage was low so we also purchase extra medical insurance from the bank. We just booked 14 day Europe cruise for 2024 and notice a “huge increase” in Princess Insurance.  For this specific cruise, Princess wants $550 each. Forget it. Almost double in cost now.  

Edited December 31, 2022 by DHP1

[PacnGoNow]

3 hours ago, Babr said:

CFAR in a third-party policy has a time limit of at least 48 hours prior to departure, depending on the policy. That is no help for a last-minute flight cancellation like the ones that happened over Christmas.

 

Cruise line policies generally allow cancellation up to departure though I have not checked the Princess policy recently. Same-day cancellation requires quick action to notify the cruise line and the insurance administrator of intent to cancel in order to be on record before the ship sails. Otherwise, you are a no-show unless you can convince the insurance people that it was impossible to contact them in time.

Really interesting. Thank you.  

Edited January 1, 2023 by PacnGoNow

[PacnGoNow]

2 hours ago, DHP1 said:

Our last 2 cruises (2022) we purchase Princess Insurance however, their medical coverage was low so we also purchase extra medical insurance from the bank. We just booked 14 day Europe cruise for 2024 and notice a “huge increase” in Princess Insurance.  For this specific cruise, Princess wants $550 each. Forget it. Almost double in cost now.  

It still says 8% standard and 12% platinum of the cruise cost on their website.

This is higher for 2024?

[milolii]

On 12/29/2022 at 7:22 AM, PacnGoNow said:

How did their prices compare?  TIA

I would think you would need a side by side comparison. Our trips often involve more than just the crusie. We usually book our air separately, so we may need to insure that. The medical is better as some report.  The other thing is by using the AARP gift cards, we reduce the amount of insurance we buy, as we only insure what we pay for the cards. It adds up, especially with a longer  crusie.
 

I did recently book a last minute 5 day trip on the Royal, no air.  The price was about the same.  Princess included the CFAR with a future credit? (I guess that is how it works)   However, with no air and last minute, I didn’t see a reason from that.  So I went with tripinsurancestore.com.  It’s worth talking with them. I use Deanna. 

[Barry ATL]

Steve at trip insurance store dot com is great!  They are knowledgeable and will talk to you on the phone.  I always double insure.  I get a policy to cover the cruise cost with some evacuation coverage (you can never have enough of this coverage). 

 

We also add a GeoBlue policy (the Blue Cross-Blue Shield travel product).  The reason for that is they are the largest insurer of ex-pats and operate like regular USA insurance.  They have a worldwide network of doctors and hospitals.  When you visit one of them, they will bill GeoBlue directly with nothing out of pocket.  I do not have the resources to cover a $10,000 hospital bill and then wait for re-imbursement.  

 

In all, these two policies together are just a little more than what the cruise companies provide and have MUCH better coverage.

 

By the way, Steve only represents a few companies because he has vetted them over the years.  He makes sure the companies he represents will pay and have no "gotchas" in the coverage.  His website has many articles that explain the different types of coverage and what they recommend.

[tml1230]

Allow me to add my support for the trip insurance store! as mentioned above, anyone who travels a lot should consider the Geo Blue trekker option with its annual  coverage option. we found that also on the trip insurance store website.

safe travels!

[capriccio]

@ToyFoxFan if you haven't discovered the Cruise Travel Insurance forum, check it out:  https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/499-cruisetravel-insurance/

 

We also use the Trip Insurance Store for our cruise insurance.  CC invites Steve periodically to take questions and he has a current thread:

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/2558-qa-cruise-insurance-with-steve-dasseos-of-the-tripinsurancestorecom-janfeb-22/

 

[ski_mom]

On 12/31/2022 at 8:01 PM, milolii said:

I would think you would need a side by side comparison. Our trips often involve more than just the crusie. We usually book our air separately, so we may need to insure that. The medical is better as some report.  The other thing is by using the AARP gift cards, we reduce the amount of insurance we buy, as we only insure what we pay for the cards. It adds up, especially with a longer  crusie.
 

I did recently book a last minute 5 day trip on the Royal, no air.  The price was about the same.  Princess included the CFAR with a future credit? (I guess that is how it works)   However, with no air and last minute, I didn’t see a reason from that.  So I went with tripinsurancestore.com.  It’s worth talking with them. I use Deanna. 

 

If you end up making a claim and you had used princess gift cards to pay for the cruise, do you get actual money back, or do you get gift cards back?

 

I'm booking an extended family trip for 10 and it makes me a little nervous buying that many dollars worth of gift cards in case something would happen to make us have to cancel.  When it's just my husband and me, I don't worry as much about it because we would use the gift cards within the next year or so anyway.

 

[Babr]

1 hour ago, ski_mom said:

 

If you end up making a claim and you had used princess gift cards to pay for the cruise, do you get actual money back, or do you get gift cards back?

 

I'm booking an extended family trip for 10 and it makes me a little nervous buying that many dollars worth of gift cards in case something would happen to make us have to cancel.  When it's just my husband and me, I don't worry as much about it because we would use the gift cards within the next year or so anyway.

 

If you are thinking of third-party insurance, check to see what is recognized as a form of payment. You’ll find it under Definitions or ask the person selling you the policy.

 

There are policies that will insure vouchers but only the amount you actually paid, not any excess value. So FCC granted for goodwill or gift cards purchased at a discount would not be covered at face value.

 

If you are considering Princess insurance, ask the same question.

[llarsen]

On 12/31/2022 at 8:19 AM, llarsen said:

We have used Steve with Trip Insurance Store dot com for many years!

Amazing service. I just contacted him about my situation where our Passports may not arrive in time for our cruise and I will be beyond cancellation to see if a CRAR policy will help.

 

 

Update: Turns out that the CFAR would not help in our case if we needed to cancel due to our passports not arriving in time.

The reason being is that we use FCC to pay for our cruise, and the insurance company considers the initial deposit date, the date in which you first left a deposit on the trip in which you received FCC.

 

So this is another reason why I only use Steve Dasseos at TripInsuranceStore when buying insurance. If you don't know all the fine print and exclusions you will be out of luck. Leave it to an expert. He also has a lot of examples of insurance stories and information on his website and blog.

[PacnGoNow]

9 minutes ago, llarsen said:

Update: Turns out that the CFAR would not help in our case if we needed to cancel due to our passports not arriving in time.

The reason being is that we use FCC to pay for our cruise, and the insurance company considers the initial deposit date, the date in which you first left a deposit on the trip in which you received FCC.

 

So this is another reason why I only use Steve Dasseos at TripInsuranceStore when buying insurance. If you don't know all the fine print and exclusions you will be out of luck. Leave it to an expert. He also has a lot of examples of insurance stories and information on his website and blog.

How could it be CFAR then?  You’re saying, if you used FCC’s  to pay for the cruise, it won’t be covered under CFAR?

TIA

[Babr]

7 minutes ago, PacnGoNow said:

How could it be CFAR then?  You’re saying, if you used FCC’s  to pay for the cruise, it won’t be covered under CFAR?

TIA

 

When you buy insurance with CFAR, it must be purchased within 14-21 days of the initial deposit. The FCC’s used to pay for the cruise set the initial deposit date at the  time of original booking so the subsequent cruise does not qualify for CFAR coverage.  It falls outside the required time window.
 

Under normal circumstances, CFAR would cover any reason for cancellation beyond those listed in the policy.

[Clampram]

Last week I spent about 3 hours going through all of the available options for health and cancellation insurance. Hubby is a Veteran and uses the VA and I use Blue Cross plus Medicare.

I chose the Princess Platinum because we wanted to be able to use the CFAR function. But, the Princess insurance for medical is a bit puny and maxes out at $20,000 per person. So, I am using an additional insurance for medical and repatriation through American Express (Build you own policy) and this was only $64.00 for the 2 of us but gives us $100,000 of medical.

We are doing a 2 week Hawaii cruise with a stop in Mexico so I wanted that additional medical for piece of mind. I read last week that the average hospital stay is 10,000 plus for 24 hours