Travel Woes: Getting Travel Insurance

The last thing most of us think about when we plan a cruise is the list of elements that can go wrong before and during our vacation. While it’s important to research the best attractions, museums, lunch spots and shops to visit during your days in port, it’s equally important to spend a few minutes thinking about protecting the investment you’ve made.

When you hear stories like that, you may be tempted to forgo travel insurance because, hey, the cruise line’s got you covered. However, there are a host of other issues that can scuttle a vacation: personal illness, the illness or death of a family member, cancellation of plans by a travel companion, airline delays, lost baggage or a travel agency going out of business — none of which would be the responsibility of the cruise company. In these instances, travel insurance provides the greatest protection.

Sometimes, purchasing insurance is a no-brainer because you want to cover easy-to-foresee issues. For example, your elderly mom has been getting sick more often these days, and it’s possible the illness will flare up and you’ll need to cancel your trip in order to stay home and care for her. Or perhaps you’re traveling to an exotic destination for a once-in-a-lifetime splurge. You certainly can’t afford to lose all the money you paid months (even a year) in advance, should something prevent you from taking the trip. Sometimes, though, trouble pops up in ways you’d least expect. It’s good to be covered just in case — especially when insurance fees are usually just a small percentage of your vacation expenditure.

Now in a new age where flight delays, Covid-19 quarantines, and canceled vacations can unexpectedly turn your travel plans upside-down, it is more important than ever to work with a seasoned travel expert that understands travel protection.

One misconception about travel insurance is that it’s only necessary for travelers in ill health, those who pack valuable items in their suitcases or those who plan wildly expensive trips. It’s important to recognize that travel insurance policies can bail us out of a multitude of quagmires. For example:

Trip interruption. You’re two days into a 10-night Mediterranean cruise, and you’re sitting by the pool when the captain comes over the public address system to share some unfortunate news with passengers. The ship has developed a serious mechanical problem, which will necessitate the cancellation of the entire voyage; you’ll need to disembark at the next port of call. While the cruise line will generally assist passengers in such predicaments, a travel insurance policy will give you ultimate coverage and reimburse you for any unexpected out-of-pocket expenses (like a hotel stay while you wait for an available flight back home) that the cruise line won’t cover. Additionally, your insurer’s hotline may actually be able to get you home faster than the ship’s guest services department, which is busy trying to rebook 2,000-plus passengers.

Trip cancellation. You’re unexpectedly stricken with appendicitis a week before your cruise embarks. If you don’t have trip insurance and cancel your cruise now, you’ll be hit with an excessive cancellation penalty and may even lose out on the value of the trip altogether.

Trip delay/missed connection. You’re on the way to the airport when your taxi breaks down, and you end up missing your flight. Or you’re on the first leg of flights to the cruise port, and a mechanical delay means you’ll miss your connecting flight — and your ship. Travel insurance covers these sorts of trip delays and missed connections.

Baggage delay/loss. You make it to the Port of Miami on time, but the airline misdirected your luggage to Cleveland. Your formal attire — and all your other clothes and accessories — will literally miss the boat. Some policies include coverage to make sure your bag gets to the next port of call. Likewise, if the airline permanently misplaces your bag, trip insurance will help cover the loss.

Medical expenses. It can happen so fast. One minute you’re focusing your camera lens on the Parthenon and jockeying into the best position for the shot; the next minute you’ve stepped on a rock, slipped, fallen and broken your ankle. You require immediate medical treatment. The appropriate coverage will get you patched up right away without exorbitant out-of-pocket expenses. (Note: In many countries, you must pay a doctor or hospital up front, but a travel insurance policy will reimburse you for those expenses in a timely manner.)

Financial default by a travel provider. No one wants to think about this but in times of financial upheaval, due to global pandemics. We all need to be cognizant of the financial health of our travel suppliers. (Case in point was the shuttering of Crystal Cruises.) Some insurance policies cover financial default of airlines, hotels, cruise lines and tour operators. (Note: Many policies offered directly through cruise lines do not include financial default coverage. Check each policy carefully before purchasing.)

Emergency evacuation/repatriation. If you watch the news, you’ve probably seen video clips of helicopter evacuations from cruise ships in the middle of nowhere. This may be necessary in cases of health threats — such as heart attacks or strokes — in which you require immediate care that goes beyond what’s available in your ship’s sick bay. If the next port of call is too far away, a medevac may be the only option to save your life or the life of a loved one. Trip insurance may also cover the repatriation of remains if a death occurs during an insured vacation. Note travel insurance bought from cruise lines is normally woefully inadequate in this respect.

Involuntary job loss. You and your best friend have been planning to cruise together for more than a year. Two months before embarkation, your friend loses his job and can no longer afford to go on vacation. Without insurance, you may be left holding the bag to either pay an additional single supplement to continue with your plans, or to cancel and get hit with the full force of the cruise line’s cancellation policy. (Note: Not all policies offer job loss coverage, and not all policies cover both you and your travel companions; check the terms of your policy, and ask the insurer if it’s available as part of a package or add-on service.)

War or terrorism. Acts of violence from war, terrorist activity or strikes are generally included in insurance policies. However, like so many other aspects of insurance, there are caveats. It’s always advisable to carefully check your policy’s description of coverage to determine how these events are covered. For example, sometimes a policy will cover a traveler if an act of terrorism occurs in his/her hometown or trip destination within a certain number of days of embarkation — as few as seven or as far out as 30 days.

Covid-19 or other health situations.  If you are overseas and become quarantined you may be liable for extra expenses such as hotel, air travel and more. Why take chances, talk to our agents about coverage for this scenario.

Travel Vouchers. When using voucher credit with travel providers, they will offer you their own insurance but will fail to tell you that insurance will not cover one penny of the cost of the vouchers. In other words, if you pay $15,000 of the cruise booking with vouchers and purchase the cruise line insurance you are completely out of luck. Not one penny of your original cruise purchase now being paid with vouchers for the new vacation is insurable with travel provider insurance. You have to get third party insurance.- not the worthless policy offered by the travel vendor. Another reason you should always work with our agents first and not be fooled by double-talk.

Yes … and no. It’s not strictly necessary for everyone in your group to purchase a policy, but you’ll receive more comprehensive protection if you do. The first thing to know is that your insurance policy only protects you; if you want the rest of your family or travel companions to have the same protection, then they must be added to your policy (or take out their own). The one exception is that some policies cover children under 17, traveling with an insured guardian, at no additional charge. Check the policy’s fine print.

However, one of the most appealing aspects of travel insurance is the fact that traveling companions and family members (spouses, domestic partners, children, grandparents, grandchildren, daughters- or sons-in-law, nieces and nephews, etc.) count when it comes to covered reasons for canceling your cruise. If your travel companion falls ill and can’t make the cruise, or your aging mother is rushed to the hospital, your policy should reimburse you for canceling your trip.

Let’s take this example: Sue and Jim are traveling together. Sue buys an insurance policy, but Jim does not. A week before the cruise, Jim gets appendicitis and must cancel his trip. Since he doesn’t have trip insurance, he forfeits all of the money he’s paid to the cruise line and airline. Since Sue has insurance, she can cancel her trip and make a claim on this “event” (her traveling companion getting sick and canceling). She can do this since her policy includes traveling companions in its cancellation coverage.

But it gets trickier. Say it’s Jim’s father, not Jim, who gets sick, forcing Jim to cancel his cruise. In this case, Sue is also out of luck, despite her insurance policy. That’s because her policy protects her if something happens to her travel companion and he’s forced to cancel — but not if he cancels because something happened to a member of his family. However, if they both had travel insurance, Jim could be reimbursed for canceling his cruise because his father’s illness is covered, and Sue would also be reimbursed because her travel companion canceled for a covered reason.

Insurance policies of all types are tricky, and it’s not always clear what’s covered and what isn’t. When you’re researching policies, carefully read the description of coverage, and call the insurer to resolve any questions you may have. Here are a few things that aren’t usually covered by travel insurance:

Weather. Don’t bother filing a claim because it rained each day of your Caribbean cruise. Inclement weather is not covered. (Of course, if a hurricane impacts your trip, then trip delay, trip cancellation or trip interruption coverage will be available to you.)

Itinerary changes. Travel insurance covers your trip, and if you work with our travel experts, can even cover missed travel destinations.

Frequent flyer award tickets. Airline tickets purchased with frequent-flyer miles aren’t covered. However, insurers will reimburse the redeposit fee if you cancel the award before embarking on the first leg of the flights, or cover the change fee if you must reschedule your return ticket due to a covered event.

Policy additions

In addition to comprehensive packages, insurers also offer a cadre of a la carte add-ons. They may include:

Cancel for any reason.

As the phrase suggests, you can cancel your trip for any reason (perhaps you changed your mind and are no longer interested in the cruise itinerary) and are still covered — a luxury normal insurance policies won’t allow. Read the description of coverage to find out what percentage of your trip deposits are reimbursed under this type of “cancel for any reason” terminology. (Sometimes a policy includes 100 percent reimbursement, and sometimes it’s as little as 50 percent.) These policies are very expensive and may only make sense in certain circumstances — say, a very costly itinerary or world cruise.

Airline accident coverage. This supplemental, add-on insurance provides extra coverage in the case of an aircraft accident. The insured can select coverage in a variety of dollar amounts; half a million dollars in coverage can cost less than $50 per traveler.

Car-rental collision coverage. If your plans include the rental of a vehicle, car-rental collision coverage can be useful. This type of coverage can cost $10 or less per day.

Upgraded medical coverage. Some companies offer an add-on that upgrades the amount of medical coverage and/or lowers your deductible.

Emergency evacuation. While evacuation/repatriation is generally included in top-of-the-line policies, you may also purchase more comprehensive, stand-alone evacuation policies from companies like MedJetAssist. The company will send a plane and medical personnel to you no matter where you are and no matter what your health crisis is. You get to choose where you’ll be evacuated to … no questions asked. A stand-alone emergency evacuation policy is a good choice if you don’t plan on getting other insurance but still want coverage for a medical emergency.

Policy revisions

Policy correction. If a policy has errors in the information, such as spelling, birthdates, etc. a correction can be made with the insurance provider. Usually a correction form can be filled out on-line.

Policy revision, new date. If your insured vacation time has changed, you will need to contact the insurer to make changes prior to the original vacation date. If after that date, you are at risk but may still be able to update the original date.

Policy revision, new date. If your insured vacation has been canceled voluntarily or by the travel vendor, but the new travel date is unknown, you will need to contact the insurer to get an insurance voucher to be applied when the new travel date is known.