Travel Insurance - Need Opinions

[jerseygirl3]

I thought that with Princess' travel insurance, if you cancel you only get a future cruise credit. Are you saying you actually get your money refunded? This might be more beneficial for my elderly parents as their cruises don't usually involve airfare and at their age, third party insurance is getting more expensive.

[cactusrose]

I thought that with Princess' travel insurance, if you cancel you only get a future cruise credit. Are you saying you actually get your money refunded? This might be more beneficial for my elderly parents as their cruises don't usually involve airfare and at their age, third party insurance is getting more expensive.

 

 

If you have Princess Gold and cancel for no reason (they call the voluntary cancellation) then you will get a 90% credit against a future cruise. Non Princess Gold is 75%. That's 90% or 75% of the cost of the current cruise, not the coast of the future cruise. You will get a full cash refund for any other covered reason.

[harrynterry]

In January 06 we had to cancel a cruise because my father-in-law broke his ankle in 2 places and was going with us. We had taken Travel Guard and did get our money back after canceling 2 weeks before sailing but not without a bunch of jumping thru their hoops and fighting with them. Got the TA involved and eventually got it settled. Makes me wonder what is the right way to go. I need to get insurance for our upcoming cruise, final payment is due end of the week.

[Solara]

I've been checking all about insurance since I posted this thread yesterday. If you cancel with the Princess insurance for a covered reason YES you do get a refund NOT future cruise credit.

 

As for your question of your husband having cancer. I've asked alot of questions and from what I understand if he is stable when you book, most of the independent travel insurance companies will waive the pre-exsisting clause if you book insurance right away.

 

My problem is I didn't book insurance and now final payment is due in two weeks. I found one company that will insure you if you pay for the insurance by final payment, which in this case will work for us. Hope this is OK that I say this but check with tripinsurancestore.com for quotes and coverage.

[Solara]

Cori, I meant for a pre-exsisting condition if you book by final payment then they will cover you. Hope this helps.

[jnc411]

Hi, thanks for the information, we are hoping to book a cruise soon, so our date of booking and our date of departure will be pretty close , say 60 to 90 days out, so we would book the insurance right away, I just didn't know if they would let us book insurance or not. We really want to travel some while he is feeling well, but I think insurance would be a must. And we have always , always booked with insurance before anyway. Just good to know that it is possible. Thanks again, appreciate the help.

Cori

[SoBaycruiser]

We've never taken out trip insurance because most of our trips were either short enough that we could withstand the loss or they were self-planned land trips. Now that we are retired, we are booking longer cruises. When is one suppose to get insurance? At the time of the booking when only a deposit is put down? We booked a cruise last Jan for Jan 2008. Final payment isn't until October. Recently we booked our airfare separately as well as a 4 day post cruise trip. That money is already spent. Is it too late to get these expenses covered? I'd appreciate any comments about the timing of trip insurance.

[Stevesan]

Princess posts the terms and conditions for Travel Care insurance on their web site. Just click on the pdf link:

 

http://www.princess.com/answer/travel.html

[Solara]

Has anybody had any claims or purchased HTH Travel Insurance. It's the only one I can find that covers pre-exsisting conditions when you pay up to final payment. I'm to late for anything else to include pre-exsisting.

[Artemis]

dteich1, CSA also offers a policy that you can purchase within 24 hours of final payment and secure pre-existing condition coverage. We had to make a very expensive claim for a cancelled trip when my non-traveling brother died of cancer...clearly, a pre-ex condition...and they paid on my first proof of claim with the requested supporting documents, no questions asked, no hassle.

 

Note, Princess does not include pre-ex coverage. No cruise line policy does. In my opinion, if you ever have to cancel because of the illness/death of a traveler or a non-traveling loved one, trying to beat the pre-ex exclusion, even when it seems clear to you/your doctor that the reason you canceled had nothing to do with it, is too much of a risk. For that reason, I, personally, never buy travel insurance that doesn't cover pre-ex conditions.

[Solara]

Just to clarify I called Princess and they only consider the people traveling for pre-exsisting not the non-traveling family members. I called and talked to a few different people. That is also what it says in the policy I have from Princess from my cruise in May.

 

Next time I'm just going to book my insurance right away and this way I won't have any problems because then they all waive pre-exsisting within 14 days of first deposit.

[Solara]

Still looing for opinion on HTH Travel Insurance as it will cover pre-exsisting up until final payment.

[mauiedin87]

In response to your question, for the AccessAmerica insurance through AAA, for our 19-day Panama Canal cruise next year we paid a total of $406 for the two of us. Considering our ages (79 and 66 respectively) that's very reasonable. I believe age has something to do with the price of travel insurance. We hope to never have to make another claim! We're actually thinking of getting some additional insurance through American Express!

[cruiseco]

If you have Princess Gold and cancel for no reason (they call the voluntary cancellation) then you will get a 90% credit against a future cruise. Non Princess Gold is 75%. That's 90% or 75% of the cost of the current cruise, not the coast of the future cruise. You will get a full cash refund for any other covered reason.

 

 

That's not quite correct/complete. It should be "90% or 75% of the penalty in place at the time of cancellation" instead of "90% or 75% of the cost of the current cruise."

 

Say you are canceling your $1000 cruise -- tou've gor the plan that has the 90% coverage -- when the penalty is 50% of your cruise fare. If you cancel for a covered reason you would get $500 back from Princess (the portion not subject to penalty). You would file a claim for the other $500 with the insurer. At the end you would have the full $1000 back in cash.

 

But if you cancel for a non-covered reason it would be:

$500 back from Princess (the portion not subject to penalty)

$50 is lost forever (10% of the penalty amount)

$450 held as a credit toward a future cruise

 

If you had canceled for a non-covered reason at a point where the penalty was 100% of the cruise fare then this would happen:

$0 back from Princess

$100 is lost forever (10% of the full penalty amount)

$900 held as a credit toward a future cruise

[Solara]

Just wanted to let everyone know how helpful and knowlegeable www.tripinsurancestore.com was. I was able to make the best decison for me based on their help They have a wonderful detailed website and also great people to talk to on the phone. :)