travel insurance

[Jaime4004]

We've cruised several times without insurance (it was a risk I was willing to assume at the time) but next cruise with probably be much more expensive, on Anthem, with my whole family of 5. So we will definitely get insurance this time but my question is, if I change cruises do I lose the insurance money or can I move it to the new cruise. Everything I read seems to say to buy travel insurance when you book the cruise. I have a Feb 2017 cruise booked, but may or may not be able to pay it off by then. I do this all the time, book in advance, if I can't pay it off I move it to another date (sometimes new ship, new port). Not sure if the travel insurance will allow me to do this or if I should wait to buy it until I'm sure we will definitely be on this ship.

 

[bumbershoot]

If there are pre-existing conditions in your family at the time you book the cruise, you want to ask the insurance companies when you have to get the insurance to get the PEC waiver. When we book with Royal through Costco, I have until final payment (or a certain number of days after) to book with the PEC waiver, and the insurance we have purchased in the past just would look back to see if anyone had had a recent change in their pre-existing conditions. Since no one has had changes at the time we've booked, it's not worrying us as much. But all insurance products CAN be different.

If there's nothing like that, you can be a little more relaxed about it. Insurance is, ultimately, for the NONrefundable parts of travel, so if you're cancelling before anything is nonrefundable,

As far as I know, the insurance is for the cruise you book, and won't move over if you change it.

 

[eskimoinparadise]

We've cruised several times without insurance (it was a risk I was willing to assume at the time) but next cruise with probably be much more expensive, on Anthem, with my whole family of 5. So we will definitely get insurance this time but my question is, if I change cruises do I lose the insurance money or can I move it to the new cruise. Everything I read seems to say to buy travel insurance when you book the cruise. I have a Feb 2017 cruise booked, but may or may not be able to pay it off by then. I do this all the time, book in advance, if I can't pay it off I move it to another date (sometimes new ship, new port). Not sure if the travel insurance will allow me to do this or if I should wait to buy it until I'm sure we will definitely be on this ship.

On RCL, we always add insurance when we book the cruise. We've moved cruise dates and ships several times over the past 5-6 years, and the insurance always follows along with the booking. Not sure how other lines handle switching ships/dates. One thing is that the cost of the insurance is based on the cost of the cruise, so if you switch to a different cruise, your insurance costs may change. We've only had to use the insurance once (fortunately) and we got everything back except the cost of the insurance. Again, not sure how other lines handle this.

 

[Jaime4004]

On RCL, we always add insurance when we book the cruise. We've moved cruise dates and ships several times over the past 5-6 years, and the insurance always follows along with the booking. Not sure how other lines handle switching ships/dates. One thing is that the cost of the insurance is based on the cost of the cruise, so if you switch to a different cruise, your insurance costs may change. We've only had to use the insurance once (fortunately) and we got everything back except the cost of the insurance. Again, not sure how other lines handle this.

Thanks! Do you purchase your insurance through RCL and that's why it moves to another booking?

 

[karmacats]

We've cruised several times without insurance (it was a risk I was willing to assume at the time) but next cruise with probably be much more expensive, on Anthem, with my whole family of 5. So we will definitely get insurance this time but my question is, if I change cruises do I lose the insurance money or can I move it to the new cruise. Everything I read seems to say to buy travel insurance when you book the cruise. I have a Feb 2017 cruise booked, but may or may not be able to pay it off by then. I do this all the time, book in advance, if I can't pay it off I move it to another date (sometimes new ship, new port). Not sure if the travel insurance will allow me to do this or if I should wait to buy it until I'm sure we will definitely be on this ship.

we've moved to a different cruise on the same line (royal) and were able to keep our travel insurance that we had purchased privately (i can't remember which insurance company, but it was one of the big ones on insuremytrip.com). the trick is you have to keep the same reservation number. we've also upgraded rooms so the prices have changed, and been able to adjust the insurance coverage amount upward and just pay the difference in premium, which is usually pretty minimal. not sure if you'd be able to adjust downward.

fwiw, we never purchase insurance at the time we book the cruise, since the cruise is fully refundable. there are a couple of policies on insuremytrip that will cover pre-existing conditions if you purchase the insurance within 24 hours of final payment, so that's what we do. if you want "cancel for any reason" insurance, that usually has to be purchased within 24 hours of booking, but it's so expensive we don't usually bother with that.

 

[Jaime4004]

thanks, all!

 

[eskimoinparadise]

Thanks! Do you purchase your insurance through RCL and that's why it moves to another booking?

We always purchase insurance through the cruise line. Since every cruise line we sail on, and virtually all of the major "private" sites all use the same carrier, it really doesn't make any sense to us to shop something to save a few bucks on a cruise that costs us $$thousands. We always book opening day, so an average reservation is about 600 days out when we book. That puts a PEC ~690 days from sailing.