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Thread: Trip Cancellation Insurance

  1. #1
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    Trip Cancellation Insurance

    This is WAY off topic but I just discovered it and thought I'd pass along what I learned.

    My wife and I took a cruise a while back. The cruise line offered "trip cancellation insurance" but it was very expensive so we just took the chance that we wouldn't get sick just prior to the cruise. And everything worked out okay.

    But a couple of days ago, I was having lunch with a friend and we were talking about his dad, who had bypass surgery recently - very unexpected. He mentioned that his mom and dad had been planning to take a trip to England - in fact, my friend had made all the arrangements. Then he said, "It was lucky I put all the charges on my card, because my card provides up to $10,000 in trip insurance (for charges made on the card)."

    He said he had to get a certification from the hospital, but once he got that, the credit card company refunded all the travel expenses - no problems.

    Prior to my conversation with him, I didn't know that some credit cards offered free trip cancellation insurance.

    I'm not going to mention any particular cards, but if you search on "credit cards with trip cancellation insurance" you'll probably find some. It can save you thousands of dollars if you take a cruise or foreign vacation.

    Mike
    Last edited by Mike Henderson; 05-04-2016 at 6:59 PM.
    Go into the world and do well. But more importantly, go into the world and do good.

  2. #2
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    Most do, but their coverage is generally more limited than what you can buy. But it is free...

    They also often offer extended warranties, price guarantees and a bunch of other goodies.

  3. #3
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    There are other advantages to buying the travel insurance from companies selling same. For the once-in-a-lifetime 34 day trip we took 2 years ago, I elected to purchase the insurance for several reasons. It covered medical expenses while in the foreign countries, it provided extensive travel expenses to get you back home if you had a personal medical emergency while on the trip and other expenses too.

    It was not free but considering everything it covered, including the cost of the trip should you not be able to begin the trip, it was cheap compared to the cost of the trip.
    Ken

    So much to learn, so little time.....

  4. #4
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    Yes, I didn't mention medical insurance for when you're out of the country. When we travel out of country, I purchase trip medical insurance through USAA. The cost is quite modest, a bit over $100 for the two of us.

    There's a difference between "Trip Cancellation Insurance" and "Trip Medical Insurance". The cancellation insurance covers the situation where you have a medical emergency just prior to your trip (or really, any situation that is covered by the insurance, and there are things besides medical emergencies - one I saw was loss of a job).

    Trip medical insurance is for the situation where you get sick on the trip. It pays for treatment and (if needed) medical transportation back to the US (such as if you need special monitoring and can't fly a regular airline).

    Some "Trip Insurance" policies cover both situations. The medical part is pretty cheap - very few people get seriously ill on a cruise or foreign vacation.

    Mike

    [For the older folks here who are on Medicare - Medicare does NOT pay for medical services out of country. You need to get trip medical insurance. For younger folks, you need to check your insurance.]
    Last edited by Mike Henderson; 05-04-2016 at 7:58 PM.
    Go into the world and do well. But more importantly, go into the world and do good.

  5. #5
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    Quote Originally Posted by Wade Lippman View Post
    Most do, but their coverage is generally more limited than what you can buy. But it is free...

    They also often offer extended warranties, price guarantees and a bunch of other goodies.
    In searching, I found only a few credit cards that offer free "trip cancellation insurance" and most of them were limited to $1,500. There were very few that offered up to $10,000 in trip cancellation insurance. Most of the cards that offered up to $10,000 in trip cancellation insurance also had an annual fee.

    Mike

    [I'll also note that if you purchase trip cancellation insurance from a cruise line, I believe it will only cover things you purchased from the cruise line. So if you make your own travel arrangements, that air fare is not covered in the trip cancellation insurance you purchased from the cruise line. With a credit card "trip cancellation insurance" all aspects of the travel are covered up to the limit offered by the card - providing you charged all of it on your card.]

    [You can purchase trip cancellation insurance from a separate company and you can include everything related to the trip. But your cost will reflect the total dollar exposure that the insurance company has.]
    Last edited by Mike Henderson; 05-04-2016 at 10:35 PM.
    Go into the world and do well. But more importantly, go into the world and do good.

  6. #6
    We usually book our vacation many months in advance to save some $$$$$$. But you never know what the future holds so we always take out trip insurance just in case.
    On one of our trips [in Mexico] the wife became ill and the trip insurance covered all of her medical expenses.
    I was unaware that some credit cards offered trip insurance, I will have to check it out!!

  7. #7
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    Make sure you read the details. Caveat emptor.

  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by daryl moses View Post
    We usually book our vacation many months in advance to save some $$$$$$. But you never know what the future holds so we always take out trip insurance just in case.
    On one of our trips [in Mexico] the wife became ill and the trip insurance covered all of her medical expenses.
    I was unaware that some credit cards offered trip insurance, I will have to check it out!!
    Note that the insurance provided by the credit cards is "trip cancellation insurance" and not "trip medical insurance". But the medical part is pretty inexpensive. You can purchase it from a number of companies.

    Most cruises have a graduated refund schedule. So if you cancel 6 months before the cruise, you'll get most of your money back (this is without trip cancellation insurance). As you get closer to the date of the cruise, the amount you can get refunded decreases quite a bit. In the last 30 days, you won't get much back. So trip cancellation insurance really covers the last 60 to 90 days before the cruise.

    Mike
    Go into the world and do well. But more importantly, go into the world and do good.

  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by Nicholas Lawrence View Post
    Make sure you read the details. Caveat emptor.
    Absolutely true, including the "Trip Insurance" provided by a cruise line.

    Mike
    Go into the world and do well. But more importantly, go into the world and do good.

  10. #10
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    Mike,

    We started planning our trip 2 years in advance. We used a travel agency. Once the trip details were finalized, we put down 25% IIRC. The trip insurance we purchased, covered the cost of the trip if we couldn't go, it covered medical expenses, air transportation back to our home in the event either of us became ill during the trip and it also covered the costs to reschedule and continue the trip in the event we became ill during the trip. It covered a lot of other things too like lost baggage etc.

    When I looked at the cost of the trip, the insurance was cheap!!!!

    It is nice to know that some credit card companies will provide some free travel insurance.
    Ken

    So much to learn, so little time.....

  11. #11
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    You absolutely must read the policy exclusions.

    Many, most, U.S. airlines are not covered. Airlines in labor negotiations may not be covered. Read the exclusions on the web sites before you buy.

    If you take a tour, be cautious about buying insurance from the tour company. If the company goes toes up, what happens to your insurance coverage?

    Do a lot of policy and exclusions reading ahead of time, then enjoy your trip. I did. And the insurance was a waste for me because our trip was flawless, except for a bag that stayed in Canada and didn't make it to Milan with us. It got there several hours behind us and came by driver to our hotel, in the mountains near Turin. (No tour company was involved in that flight.)

  12. #12
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    My sister had to have emergency back surgery a week before she and hubby were to leave on a 3 week cruise. Fortunately, they had taken out one of the higher tier trip cancellation/interruption policies. It seems like her claim should have been a no-brainer. She had ruptured 2 disks playing pickle ball and her doctors said delaying the surgery was asking for paralysis. Well the insurance company fought her tooth and nail on every dollar of the claim. She spent over one hundred hours either on the phone, getting copies of her medical files, writing letters, etc. 4 months later she final received the last reimbursement.

    My wife and I had a second honeymoon trip to Hawaii planned for two years ago. As luck would have it, we were supposed to arrive in Hawaii the same day that two tornadoes were forecast to hit the Islands. We cancelled our trip and made alternate plans. I also had taken out trip cancellation/interruption insurance (with a different company). Again, they tried very hard to avoid paying the claim. There was no way to reach anyone with authority on the phone, only first level "agents" who could only read the same letter that the company sent through the mail. There was no way to email a claim agent; you had to call or write letters. You couldn't email claim forms or documentation, it had to be faxed. They finally paid most of the claim.

    Both my sister and I researched companies ahead of time and selected what we thought were well known companies with good track records.

    One thing I have found that is helpful is that one of the large travel insurance sites that offers and compares policies from multiple companies allows you to filter user reviews to only show reviews from people that have actually filed claims. You get a completely different picture of the companies when you do that. Because only some small percentage of people actually make claims, the "Star" review system is overloaded with high ratings from people that are only rating how easy it was to buy the policy. So you can look at a 4.5 star rated company, filter the reviews to show only those from folks that made claims, and you learn that they fight tooth and nail on every claim and use every loophole possible to deny a claim.

    There are good companies out there, but they are the exception so do your research! Don't rely on user ratings unless you can look only at ratings from people that made a claim.

  13. #13
    Clark Howard says NEVER BUY INSURANCE FROM CRUISE LINES! Usually it only covers what they were responsible for, less usual "acts of God clause." As an example, a typhoon would be considered a AOG. You get to take another cruise at a later date. Care to venture a guess as to why they are foreign flagged ships? They play by a set of rules that give them the most freedom to do as they please. Truly a case of buyer beware. No fun, and no mon.

  14. #14
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    Quote Originally Posted by Bruce Wrenn View Post
    Clark Howard says NEVER BUY INSURANCE FROM CRUISE LINES! Usually it only covers what they were responsible for, less usual "acts of God clause." As an example, a typhoon would be considered a AOG. You get to take another cruise at a later date. Care to venture a guess as to why they are foreign flagged ships? They play by a set of rules that give them the most freedom to do as they please. Truly a case of buyer beware. No fun, and no mon.
    This is true. Most are flagged in the Bahamas. If you wanted to sue one of them, I wonder if you'd have to sue in the Bahamas.

    Maybe this confidence is misplaced but I've used a company through USAA for trip medical insurance. USAA has been terrific with me for almost 50 years - great customer service. I don't think they would associate with another company unless that company was reputable.

    Mike
    Go into the world and do well. But more importantly, go into the world and do good.

  15. #15
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    Consider also medical insurance. My wife teaches nursing and sometimes works in the ER and ICU when they need people. She sees a lot of cruise ship passengers that came here for a last hoorah. They get on the boat and start eating, drinking, soaking up the sun, and they have a medical emergency. The ship leaves them at our hospital and now they are stuck here, and are in too poor health to fly. A medical flight to Miami is $30,000 and their insurance doesn't cover it. Our hospital is not the best equipped. Trust me- you want to be flown out ASAP.

    So here they are and their family has to fly in ($$$$) and figure out how to get their loved one home ($$$$) when they need to be focused on other things (getting them well and in some cases enjoying their last moments together.) In some cases they get better, are released, and are able to fly home. In other cases they never recover and expire here. Now the family has even more to deal with to get them home for burial.

    This happens more than you might think. We often see the ship come back to port, and the ambulance meets them at the dock. If a US citizen dies on a cruise, they take the body to their first US port of call. Our morgue is often full literally to capacity because we are usually the first US posession they get to. People go on the cruise because with their failing health they think it is a safer option. What could happen? We are just going to enjoy the ride and relax, right? They don't think about all the salt in all that buffet food, and they have a few rum punches, and they get more sun than they are used to, and their body just can't take it.

    My advice- if you or your loved one are elderly, have medical conditions, or if you are healthy and just want to take all precautions- GET INSURANCE, and make sure it covers medical evacuation by air ambulance. It's not just the frail that we see in our hospital- scooter accidents are a frequent cause for visits to our hospital, as are diving/snorkeling accidents and falling down drunk broken bones (we pour drinks stronger than the states). I travel internationally with my job- mostly in the islands. I have an insurance policy that costs me $300/year for myself and my wife. If anything happens to me anywhere in the world, (including here) I show my card and they fly me to the US. Mine is with MASA https://www.masa.global Perhaps your health insurance covers air ambulance, so you think you're safe. Mine does too, but what I learned is they have to go through a verification with that insurance and if you get injured at 8 PM like my friend did, that verification doesn't happen until after 9 AM the next day when the insurance verification lady gets to work. Also they may fly you to Puerto Rico (in my example) where you won't get much better care. With MASA, however, there is no verification needed. You show the card and they call the air ambulance and you get a $30,000 flight to the mainland for free.

    Sorry for being long-winded but I always urge people to consider this when traveling abroad. I'm a few thousand miles shy of a million miles with American Airlines, and well over a million combined with all the others. I live in a tourist location- I have seen it all. Take my advise- buy the insurance. Also, always insure anything you rent- car, scooter, boat, etc.- for the maximum value. I don't care what your Visa card says about covering rentals. It is going to be way easier if you buy THEIR insurance.

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