Iceland Eruption a Known Event

[blackfly]

Been planning to book a 7 day cruise around Iceland from Reykjavik to Reykjavik in July 2025.  The current eruption is now considered a known event for travel insurance purposes.  I have read that travel insurance purchased after the eruption started will not cover you should your travel be impacted because of the eruption.  I realize that my travel is sometime in the future but the last time this volcano erupted was 800 years ago and it went on for years.  My main concern is flying into Reykjavik.  Right now the ash is being blown away from the airport 18 miles away.  If the eruption is still active and the ash plumb causes my flight to be cancelled insurance purchased going forward will not cover you.  Am I correct in my assumptions.

[GeezerCouple]

31 minutes ago, blackfly said:

Been planning to book a 7 day cruise around Iceland from Reykjavik to Reykjavik in July 2025.  The current eruption is now considered a known event for travel insurance purposes.  I have read that travel insurance purchased after the eruption started will not cover you should your travel be impacted because of the eruption.  I realize that my travel is sometime in the future but the last time this volcano erupted was 800 years ago and it went on for years.  My main concern is flying into Reykjavik.  Right now the ash is being blown away from the airport 18 miles away.  If the eruption is still active and the ash plumb causes my flight to be cancelled insurance purchased going forward will not cover you.  Am I correct in my assumptions.

 

I would definitely make that assumption, unless I had IN WRITING from the travel insurer that a cancellation or interruption due to this volcano WOULD BE COVERED.

And then I'd want someone to double check!
What is the point of not insuring "known events" if ... they will actually be insured (sometimes, often, or rarely)?

 

Also I'm confused by your wording:

This volcano has a "current eruption", "but the last time this volcano erupted was 800 years ago and it went on for years"...??

If your concern is about the length of the eruption, no one can predict when or for how long, etc.  (Okay, Iceland has a reasonable record recently of predicting some of these and evacuating areas, thank goodness.  But that isn't going to help in your situation for insurance purposes.)

 

Only the insurer can tell you whether your assumptions are correct, and then make sure you understand exactly what they are stating.

 

BTW, my larger concern right now would be:  that main airport is on (or very near?) that same peninsula.  What if (just asking for a friend...) some of that eruption shows up near or at the airport?  How do many, many people leave?

 

Full disclosure:  My opinions are affected by having been near (NOT *AT*) the dreadful, abrupt, and deadly volcanic explosion/eruption in New Zealand, Dec, 2019.

 

GC

[klfrodo]

I think you have a valid question. I can't count the number of times I've made an assumption that came back to bite me in the ass.

 

For that reason, I'd recommend that you reach out to a professional broker like Steve at TripInsuranceStore or someone at InsureMyTrip to get their advice.

 

Either way, once you buy a policy, I believe you have 10 days to review it and if it doesn't fit your needs, you can void the purchase.

My little thing that I might do in this instance would be to review this policy over the phone with whomever you buy it from, then follow-up with a written e-mail with return read receipt, that states something to the affect that as you both understood the policy on this date, you both agree that this is how we understand the policy. That way, if could lessen the he said/she said defense.

Edited March 18 by klfrodo

[CDNPolar]

17 hours ago, blackfly said:

Been planning to book a 7 day cruise around Iceland from Reykjavik to Reykjavik in July 2025.  The current eruption is now considered a known event for travel insurance purposes.  I have read that travel insurance purchased after the eruption started will not cover you should your travel be impacted because of the eruption.  I realize that my travel is sometime in the future but the last time this volcano erupted was 800 years ago and it went on for years.  My main concern is flying into Reykjavik.  Right now the ash is being blown away from the airport 18 miles away.  If the eruption is still active and the ash plumb causes my flight to be cancelled insurance purchased going forward will not cover you.  Am I correct in my assumptions.

 

What I am going to suggest is based on your statement:  "Been planning to book"

 

This means to me that you have not as yet booked?

 

A couple questions to consider:

 

1) Are you going to book your air directly yourself or through the cruise line?  If you are booking yourself, make sure you are booking air that can be cancelled for a small fee or changed for a fee.  We always look for cancel up to the departure time of the flight.  This might cost you a few bucks more, but it would be worth it.  We had to cancel $8K worth of air at for a trip booked in January, and it cost us $400.00 total to do so.  That was direct with the airline.  We have 3 round trips booked with Korean Air coming up and all three have cancellation up to departure at $200.00 per ticket.  No insurance, no medical reason necessary, just cancel if we want to.

 

2) If you are booking air through the Cruise Line, then they must have some contingency in place because if their passengers cannot get to the cruise, what are they going to do?  I would look into this.

 

Regarding insurance, I agree with both CC members above @GeezerCouple and @klfrodo have said above.

 

Good luck with this, but good on you for looking at this in advance and not booking blindly and then getting bitten in the backside later.

 

Edited March 19 by CDNPolar

[blackfly]

Looking at flying with Iceland Air and their highest economy class fare is refundable.  The hotel has refundable rates and all the shore excursions (private) are refundable.  The only cost that is not fully refundable is the cruise fare.  Everyone on this cruise has to fly in (unless you live there) so if the airport is closed due to the eruption there will be no one to take the cruise.

[klfrodo]

57 minutes ago, blackfly said:

Looking at flying with Iceland Air and their highest economy class fare is refundable.  The hotel has refundable rates and all the shore excursions (private) are refundable.  The only cost that is not fully refundable is the cruise fare.  Everyone on this cruise has to fly in (unless you live there) so if the airport is closed due to the eruption there will be no one to take the cruise.

With all of that being said, and the most important factor to you is the cost of the cruise, then I would consider purchasing the cruise lines insurance or Trip Protection policy, if they offer one. Now, I don't know what cruise line you are booking with, but the BIG cruise lines, (HAL, Carnival, Royal, NCL, Princess, Celebrity) offer policies that include CFAR (Cancel For Any Reason). You can cancel the cruise all the way up to the scheduled departure time on the departure date and receive a future cruise credit of anywhere from 70% up to 90% depending on the policy.

3rd party policies do offer this as an additional add-on price but also limit the cancellation time from to 48 hours prior to planned "trip" departure (not ship departure).

 

However, and this is how I buy insurance, I don't expect or purchase a policy with the idea that I will be 100% made whole. I see travel insurance as a shared risk. I ask myself what can I afford to lose and what do I need to share risk on. Losing the cost of the cruise will hurt but will not devastate me. A medical emergency on the other hand could financially break my bank.

[blackfly]

Covering the cost of the cruise is one side of the coin.  Most of our trips are international and our medical insurance is does not cover us when we are out of the country.