Annual travel insurance vs single trip

[kcdisneymom]

We have a spring break ski trip with rental car, then cruise in summer and possible Xmas at WDW. Anyone purchased annual trip insurance? Is it worth cost vs single trip? Concerned about rental car insurance, emergency medical during cruise.

 

[mousefan73]

We have only done the annual kind. But we live in Germany so I don’t think our policy would maybe compare to any US-based policy. For our policy we basically set a yearly amount for the trip insurance. This was not thought any medical that was a separate issue. We chose €5000 as our annual limit. Which is actually pretty low but there was a significant increase in the premium and we figure any additional losses we could just take. Also we do multiple trips a year so it only makes sense to do it this way this way each trip is covered in someway unless we make a claim.

 

[n2mm]

I’ve often wondered about this too. We are averaging 3 cruises a year.

 

[kiford]

We looked into annual insurance for this year as we purchased APs and have trips to WDW planned 5 times in a year. I got a quote from my TA and it was still less expensive to do it trip-by-trip. You basically have to price it out for the situation and determine which works best.

 

[wombat_5606]

I’ve often wondered about this too. We are averaging 3 cruises a year.

You should definitely look into it. Our annual coverage is $300. On top of that the renewal is even less expensive. The policy we have covers us up to a certain age and then it gets expensive. We are close to that age but we will get to keep it for a few more years.

 

[bumbershoot]

I’ve never known of an annual travel insurance product inside the US, personally.

 

[MillauFr]

Can't you get free insurance if you use a credit card?

 

[mmmears]

We have a spring break ski trip with rental car, then cruise in summer and possible Xmas at WDW. Anyone purchased annual trip insurance? Is it worth cost vs single trip? Concerned about rental car insurance, emergency medical during cruise.

This is a great question. We have 2 trips overseas within 12 months of one another so I'm looking into this after seeing your post. The same insurance co. we have used for our overseas trips seems to sell yearly travel insurance. I haven't had time to compare plans at this point.

 

[MillauFr]

Just get the Chase Sapphire Reserve credit cards. The benefits look pretty good...

Chase Sapphire Reserve's travel insurance perks include:

• Trip cancellation/interruption insurance covers prepaid non-refundable travel expenses such as tours, fares and hotels up to $10,000 per trip.
• Trip delay reimbursement covers expenses such as meals and lodging for flight delays more than six hours or requiring overnight stay up to $500 per ticket.
• Lost luggage is covered up to $3,000 per passenger, including checked baggage and/or carry-on baggage.
• Baggage delay insurance for essentials, such as clothing and toiletries, for bags delayed up to six hours at $100 a day for five days.
• Auto rental primary coverage for up to $75,000 for theft and collision damage on rental cars in the U.S. or abroad.
• Emergency evacuation/transportation while a trip for up to $100,000.
• Emergency medical or dental expenses covered up to $2,500 if you are 100 miles or more away from home.
• Travel accident insurance for up to $1,000,000 when you pay for travel via air, bus, train or cruise with your card.

 

[ember1205]

Can't you get free insurance if you use a credit card?

In my experience, you generally do NOT get "insurance" by paying with a credit card.

First and foremost, 100% of the purchase amount must be charged to the card. In some circumstances, the CC company may deny any sort of coverage if you don't pay the entire cost in a single transaction. Beyond that, exactly what they provide coverage for and how much they will reimburse you is severely limited.

Don't get me wrong - there are some cards and companies out that whose coverage (whether true insurance or not) would be suitable. It's something that you have to do your research on, however. And you may find from one trip to the next that its usefulness can change.

As it pertains to paying for DCL, there are ways to purchase Disney Gift Cards at as much as an 8% discount off of face value. If you buy them with a card that offers cash back on their purchase, you could end up at about 9% off in total. On a $5000 cruise, that's a $450 savings on the cruise portion alone. And that amount could buy you a really nice policy to cover the cruise, airfare, hotels, etc. for your entire trip. If you're also going to WDW as part of your trip, you can pay for all of THAT with gift cards, too - even more savings!

So, you have to weight cost of coverage versus actual benefit as well.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

We have a spring break ski trip with rental car, then cruise in summer and possible Xmas at WDW. Anyone purchased annual trip insurance? Is it worth cost vs single trip? Concerned about rental car insurance, emergency medical during cruise.

We started purchasing annual insurance a couple of years ago, when we started having multiple trips out of the country. Mostly due to the medical coverage. Since most (I say "most" not "all") US health plans do not cover out of country (including Medicare) it's worth the cost. And we haven't found it particularly costly.

I’ve never known of an annual travel insurance product inside the US, personally.

GeoBlue has annual travel insurance (health). Generally most annual plans cover medical coverage, not comprehensive. Some have small travel delay/baggage coverage.

 

[kiford]

In my experience, you generally do NOT get "insurance" by paying with a credit card.

Yeah - we just consider any insurance coverage on a credit card purchase as supplemental since the coverage we get is spotty, capped at low levels, and has a lot of exclusions. I would never use it as a substitute for purchasing our own.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

Yeah - we just consider any insurance coverage on a credit card purchase as supplemental since the coverage we get is spotty, capped at low levels, and has a lot of exclusions. I would never use it as a substitute for purchasing our own.

We are the same. I have a Chase Sapphire card and I still purchase separate insurance policies. I've read through the terms and conditions of the Chase Sapphire insurance and it never seems that it would suit our needs.

 

[Ralph&Pam]

I’ve never known of an annual travel insurance product inside the US, personally.

We have been purchasing an annual plan from Allianz for the last three years, and we are in the US. It is significantly less expensive than the DCL per-trip cost and the coverage limits for emergency medical and medical evacuation are much higher as well. We selected the maximum limit for trip cancellation, paying extra to get a higher limit. We did have one claim that was handled very efficiently, submitting our claim information and supporting documentation online. We had the settlement check in less than 3 weeks.

 

[pixiedustedme]

I buy insurance separately for every trip because I want everything buttoned down for every traveler: medical, no pre-existing condition exclusions, cancel-for-any-reason benefits, etc. I do not buy insurance from Disney.

 

[Cruising Engineer]

Following.....
Just checked the websites for 3 of the "Top Ten" cruise insurance companies.
Not to break any rules for DISboards: The 3 came in between $411 - $538, basic plan, 2 adults, no pre-existing conditions. Disney quoted us $370.
What am I missing that everyone is purchasing insurance from other than Disney?

 

[mmmears]

Following.....
Just checked the websites for 3 of the "Top Ten" cruise insurance companies.
Not to break any rules for DISboards: The 3 came in between $411 - $538, basic plan, 2 adults, no pre-existing conditions. Disney quoted us $370.
What am I missing that everyone is purchasing insurance from other than Disney?

Disney's insurance doesn't cover everything. If you don't book your flight through DCL then miss your cruise due to a cancelled flight then you don't get any compensation. If you miss a few days of your trip you don't get anything. You can't "cancel for any reason" either. (what if you lose your job? what if you're told at the last minute you can't travel? what if a family member (like parents) is suddenly ill?) When traveling with older family members, the medical expenses and flights home may not be covered in the event of something serious. Whether or not you would need more coverage is a pretty personal decision.

 

[Cruising Engineer]

Disney's insurance doesn't cover everything. If you don't book your flight through DCL then miss your cruise due to a cancelled flight then you don't get any compensation. If you miss a few days of your trip you don't get anything. You can't "cancel for any reason" either. (what if you lose your job? what if you're told at the last minute you can't travel? what if a family member (like parents) is suddenly ill?) When traveling with older family members, the medical expenses and flights home may not be covered in the event of something serious. Whether or not you would need more coverage is a pretty personal decision.

Thank you @mmmears. That is what I couldn't understand from other posts. So paying the rates of the "top ten" is, in the long run, worth the additional expense. Thank you again.

 

[mmmears]

Thank you @mmmears. That is what I couldn't understand from other posts. So paying the rates of the "top ten" is, in the long run, worth the additional expense. Thank you again.

You're welcome. Of course, YMMV. Our last cruise included flights to Europe, several nights in hotels in 2 countries plus quite a few private tours, so I wanted the non-cancelable portion insured, just in case. If you live in FL and book an inexpensive, short cruise, then it might be ok to just go with the DCL insurance unless you want more medical coverage. We also have aging parents on both sides of the family, and there's just no way to know if we can really go on a trip that is planned a year in advance.

 

[Cruising Engineer]

You're welcome. Of course, YMMV. Our last cruise included flights to Europe, several nights in hotels in 2 countries plus quite a few private tours, so I wanted the non-cancelable portion insured, just in case. If you live in FL and book an inexpensive, short cruise, then it might be ok to just go with the DCL insurance unless you want more medical coverage. We also have aging parents on both sides of the family, and there's just no way to know if we can really go on a trip that is planned a year in advance.

We're in NM, a B2B 3, 4 nighters, airline employee, and just the 2 of us. Your information helps me in deciding on the insurance unknowns. Thanks again.