What Is Covered In A Travel Insurance Policy
Though each policy is different, cruise travel insurance in the United States will generally include some form of these essential coverages:
Trip Cancellation: If you have to cancel your cruise for a covered reason, youll typically receive a refund for any non-refundable penalties or expenses.
Covered reasons can vary from policy to policy, but will typically include illness or death of a passenger, traveling companion, or a close family member, loss of employment, natural disaster impacting your home, etc.
Trip Delay and Interruption: If you get in a car accident on your way to your flight or cruise, miss your flight or have a flight delay, or are otherwise prevented from reaching the ship in time to embark, your travel insurance policy will cover expenses for you to catch up with the ship in the first/next port of call.
Likewise, if you have to return early from your vacation due to illness or family emergency, your policy will reimburse you for unexpected travel expenses, and often, provide a refund for the time you missed on the cruise. Luggage loss and delays are typically included in some form, though coverage and reimbursement amounts can vary substantially by the plan.
Illness and Injury Coverage:If you get sick or injured during your cruise, travel insurance will reimburse you for medical expenses related to the injury or illness, up to a certain amount.
Do I Need To Have Had All Of My Covid Jabs To Be Covered
As long as youve had all of the Covid-19 vaccines youve been offered, you should be covered. If you havent been offered some doses yet or youre medically exempt then you can also be covered.
If youve refused any doses of the vaccine or havent been able to have a dose youve been offered, you wont be covered.
Do I Need To Tell You All Of The Places Well Visit On My Cruise Travel Insurance
Even if youre not planning on getting off the ship, youll still need to tell us all of the countries that youll be porting at. This helps us to make sure that we can offer you the right level of cruise insurance cover for that destination.
If youre planning on taking out Single Trip Travel Insurance, youll need to list all the countries on your itinerary individually.
If you choose an Annual Travel Insurance policy, youll just need to make sure that the countries youre going to, or porting at, over the next year are covered in the region you select.
Avanti Travel Insurance is a trading name of TICORP Limited. Avanti Travel Insurance is arranged by TICORP Limited which is registered in Gibraltar company number 111526. Registered office: First Floor, Grand Ocean Plaza, Ocean Village, Gibraltar. TICORP Limited is licensed and regulated by the Gibraltar Financial Services Commission number FSC1238B and trades into the UK on a freedom of services basis, FCA FRN 663617. Avanti Travel Insurance is administered by Howserv Limited which is registered in England and Wales number 03882026. Registered ofce: Britannia House, 3-5 Rushmills business park, Bedford Road, Northampton, NN4 7YB. Howserv Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority FRN 599282.
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Last Minute Cruises Can Sometimes Be The Cheapest Cruise Deal
Sometimes, but not always, the cheapest cruise deal is a Last Minute Cruise. You won’t get a wide selection of stateroom categories or a chance to select your stateroom location but if your schedule is flexible you just might find a cheap cruise price on a last minute cruise. Last minute cruises are cruises leaving in the next 90 days. The cruise line really wants to fill those last few staterooms and sometimes will offer them at a discount cruise price in exchange for you giving up your right to a full selection of cabin categories or deck locations. CruiseExperts.com makes it easy for you to poke around and see what’s available in last minute cruise deals. View our Last Minute Cruise Deals by clicking here and give it a try. This is one of our most popular website features.
When To Buy Travel Insurance For Your Cruise
You can purchase insurance plans up to 24 hours before your trip departure date, but we don’t recommend waiting that long. If you do wait, you may not be eligible for many important benefits, such as the waiver of the pre-existing conditions clause.
If you want to be covered for pre-existing medical conditions, you should buy insurance at the time you make your final cruise payment. Not all policies offer pre-existing coverage, but among those that do, each insurer dictates its own coverage window. The deadline is usually 10 to 15 days after making that final payment — or after booking your airfare, if you do that first.
If you aren’t eligible for this waiver, your insurer will look back into your medical history and will not cover any condition for which you sought medical treatment during that time.
When it comes to buying travel insurance, don’t worry if you’ve paid for your cruise but haven’t yet purchased your airline tickets. You can estimate the airfare cost when buying your travel insurance and then give your provider your exact travel itinerary once those tickets are booked. Likewise, if you’re arranging your plane tickets first, buy your travel insurance within two weeks of that purchase, and enter your full cruise fare, even if you have not purchased it or have only paid the deposit.
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You Want To Be Careful If You Have Pre
When you travel, its important to be fully covered, which means having comprehensive medical coverage that includes any pre-existing conditions. Otherwise, if you head into a doctors office overseas, have any tests completed, or visit an urgent care center or emergency room, you might find youre not covered.
Here, timing is extremely important. Cruisers seeking coverage of preexisting conditions as well cancel for any reason insurance generally must book within seven to 21 days of the first payment they make for a trip. The timing various by insurer.
Travel Insurance For Cruises Helps You Kick Back And Relax
People take cruises to spend quality time with friends and family, to explore new regions of the world, and sometimes even to get from Point A to Point B. But the key attraction of cruises is to relax, to let go of lifes little worries and unwind without a care. That said, its tough to relax if youre worried about bad weather, illness, lost luggage, missed flights, theft or international emergencies. A top-flight cruise travel insurance policy, such as the plans offered by Allianz Global Assistance, can offer recourse for the unexpected. Make sure you review your insurance plan carefully before you buy, because not all plans offer the same coverage.
When youre putting together that lengthy to-do list to get ready for your vacation at sea, be sure to put travel insurance for cruises atop the list. Theres nothing you can pack thats as versatile and critical to the enjoyment of your big boat trip. And if youve read enough right here to reach that same conclusion, start searching for the right travel insurance policy now. Bon voyage!
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Travel Insurance Is A Great Gift For A Traveler
One really convenient solution for many people to all of the above is to get travel insurance as a gift from a loved-one. Especially if you are going on a longer trip of multiple weeks or months, many families will offer to help out by buying a backpack or some other gear. Your travel gear is usually very personal so you want to pick it out yourself, but travel insurance is hard to screw up.
It can actually be an easy sell to parents in particular, because travel insurance feels like a gift to them even though your name is on the policy. As discussed, parents will worry, but theyll worry much less if you are properly insured. Youll feel better and so will they, so its an ideal compromise for both parties.
Insurance And Medical Incidents
Beyond trip cancellation, medical incidents while traveling present another major need for coverage, since its unlikely that your regular health insurance covers such expenses abroad. Most ships have onboard doctors, but visiting them isnt cheap nor is emergency medical evacuation in the case of more serious illnesses or injuries. Without , your out-of-pocket costs could be astronomical, McDaniel says.
Page of AIG Travel agrees. Even a short weekend cruise could turn costly if a traveler has an accident or becomes ill, and requires emergency medical treatment or a medical evacuation from sea, he says, pointing out that travelers are more prone to injury since they often take risks on vacationslike jet-skiing or hiking on unfamiliar terrainthat they might not take back home. Its important to ensure the policy you purchase covers the things you may need, such as pre-existing medical conditions or adventure activities, Page says.
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Buying The Day Before Departure
Procrastination happens. If you dont buy travel insurance when you make your first deposit, or start thinking about your trip, or when youre two weeks out, youre going to wait until the very last minute to buy.
Not the ideal time, but heres why thats still okay.
- Berkshire Hathaway Travel Protection lets you buy travel insurance up to 11:59 p.m. on the day before you leave. Think about it: You could have a 12:01 a.m. flight and get coverage at 11:59 p.m. the previous evening. Thats amazing.
- You booked your travel at the last minute, too. Lots of people jump on a last-minute, spur-of-the-moment bargain fare to some exotic locale. If youre one of those, its nice to know you can cover that impulse trip.
- You want to get the best handle on weather and other travel conditions. If youre a sky-watcher, you might want to wait to the last minute to buy.
- It doesnt cost any more to get covered the minute before you leave than it does the day you book your trip. Compare that to the rest of your travel, where waiting until the last minute can really cost you.
- And youre covered, which is the important thing.
Travel Insurance For Cruises Can Make Medical Emergencies More Manageable
When youre soaking in rays on the Lido Deck with a good book in one hand and a fresh mango smoothie in the other, the last thing on your mind might be a medical emergency. Even if youre in perfect health, you can never predict when you might break an ankle or suffer a heart attack.
If you’re treated on board, prepare to receive a hefty medical bill. Your regular health insurance likely won’t cover you. Additionally, in the case of serious injury or illness, you dont want to be caught in a scenario in which you need to be airlifted off the ship to a medical facility, and youre left to pay for this out of pocket. According to the Centers for Disease Control , this can cost as much as $100,000 a cost that may need to be paid in advance and thats for the medical evacuation alone.3
That’s why travel insurance for cruises is more than a nice to have its an essential. Allianz Global Assistance offers plans with both an Emergency Transportation and Emergency Medical benefit, in addition to benefits such as Trip Cancellation, Trip Interruption and more.
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Should You Take Your Ehic Or Ghic On A Cruise
Ehic and Ghics are free medical card, which can be used throughout the EU . Both entitles you to treatment in state hospitals at the same price as residents of the country you’re visiting.
If you have an Ehic already, it will still be valid until it reaches its expiry date. But now that the UK has left the EU the Ehic has been replaced by the Ghic, which is almost identical but isn’t valid in any non-EU countries.
It’s advisable that you take your Ehic or Ghic with you if your itinerary includes stops in any EU countries, as it could allow you to access state healthcare.
Medical facilities onboard a cruise are usually operated by private, non-state funded, healthcare companies. As a result, your Ehic or Ghic is unlikely to be accepted as a way of getting medical treatment.
You can find out more about how this work in our guide to the Ehic and Ghic.
How To Be A Better Prepared Cruise Voyager
Here are other tips for cruise passengers from Schreier at April Travel Protection:
- Check the expiration dates on your passports and be aware of possible travel insurance requirements in other countries well before you leave.
- Get an international plan from your cell phone/data provider for the time youll be away. The cost for calls and data through the cruise lines are exorbitant, and this will allow you to operate freely when in ports, says Schreier.
- Make sure youre up to speed on the entry requirements for the countries youll be visiting. This often includes vaccinations or inoculations required for certain places. You wont be allowed off the ship if you dont meet the countrys requirements, or in some cases you wont be allowed on the ship if youre missing certain requirements.
- Leave the water bottles that arent filled with water at home. Most cruise lines are aware of this trick and will confiscate your liquid if its flammable, says Schreier.
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Protection For Your Belongings
We all travel with luggage and items that are important to us. A good trip insurance plan will cover loss, theft, and damage to baggage and personal effects. Round Trip Elite also reimburses you for personal effects if your bags are delayed more than 12 hours. These benefits are typically secondary to other coverage, such as any reimbursement an airline would providing for losing a bag.
When You Don’t Need It
Consider your vacation an investment. Would you be OK losing that money? On a whole, if you’re spending a relatively small sum on your trip, insuring that investment is probably not worth it.
- Skip It: For U.S. travel
Traveling to Florida? Road-tripping around the American Southwest? You can probably skip any extra insurance. Travel within the U.S. is typically a less expensive investment and most people tend to plan only a few weeks in advance. ValuePenguin estimates the average domestic trip spans about four days and costs $576 per person.
Plus, if you have medical insurance, you’re typically covered for any emergencies that occur. As always, double check the fine print, but experts generally recommend opting out of trip insurance for short trips within the U.S.
- Skip It: If your card offers it
Check your wallet before buying any travel insurance, since some credit cards actually offer it as a perk. For example, the Chase Sapphire Preferred credit card offers built-in trip interruption insurance that reimburses up to $10,000 per person if your trip is cancelled or cut short because of situations such as an illness or severe weather. The Citi Prestige and Citi ThankYou Premier cards also offer baggage and trip cancellation protection.
So even if you are traveling outside the U.S., if your credit card’s coverage is thorough, you won’t need to purchase anything extra.
- Skip It: For flights
- Skip It: Just for flexibility
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Cruise Insurance Is Worth It
Cruise insurance can pay back prepaid expenses if a cruise cant sail, and the travel assistance that usually comes with cruise insurance can help with lost passports and other issues.
As a result, many cruise professionals recommend insurance for all their customers cruises, big or small.
Dont believe us? Ask the people whove benefited from cruise insurance:
Award-winning cruise agent Cat Zuniga sums it up: Ive seen too many scenarios with family members on their deathbed and clients about to depart to the Caribbean, where theyre begging me to get them their money back or reschedule their trip at no additional cost.
What You Should Know About Covid
When it comes to Covid coverage, travel insurance plans can vary from one another, so you should read your policy carefully and ask your insurance provider if you have questions, says Godlin.
Also, regulations around travel have evolved during the pandemic, with some countries requiring specific travel insurance coverage for entry. “As a result, we’re seeing new policies emerge to directly meet those needs,” she says.
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When To Purchase Coverage For Canadian Customers
Only a few travel insurance companies on InsureMyTrip offer plans that cover medical emergencies and evacuation as well as cancellation, delay, and baggage. Some companies offer cancellation-only plans as well. All plans available on InsureMyTrip must be purchased before you leave Canada, you cannot purchase any of these plans once you have departed. Importantly, you cannot purchase coverage for only a portion of your trip you must fully insure it. If you do not, then the plan would be considered invalid and not provide coverage.
Which Travel Insurance Should You Pick
SafetyWing is probably the most popular travel insurance among long-term travelers around the world. Their customer service is reliable, and theyre reactive when youre sending them an email. Need a document? Send them a message and theyll get back to you. They have various insurances, depending on where yo go, how long your travel, etc Dont hesitate!
Otherwise you can also try Allianz Travel, I heard really good things about them. Theres also IMG Global and HTH Worldwide among others. Dont hesitate to ask questions before making your decision. Send them an email or better, call them. Are you available 24/7? Do I have to pay in advance the fees? If this thing happen, will I be covered? Can I go to any hospital and be covered? Check the coverage limits, and of course the price of the insurance.
Youll notice the price varies depending on your age -the older you are, the riskier your profile is, the more you pay-. But the price also varies depending on how long youre gonna travel -insurance will be more expensive if you travel longer-, and also depending on your destination .
- Traveling soon? Check out my travel resources page! This list of travel accessories can also be useful for you!
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