Travel Insurance

[barbarossa_hoosier]

What I have a problem with: Insurance company wants payment up front - within days of initial deposit, to cover pre-existing medical and cancel-any-reason, but assumes no risk until after the paid-in-full date. The term used on the amount to cover is "non-refundable prepaids". But 100% of Disney Cruise itself is refundable up to the paid-in-full date.

You sort of answered your own question. Until the paid-in-full date, you have no risk of losing any money; thus, the insurance would not need to cover any incurred expenses.

Note that "paid in full date" is the date that you are actually paid in full. The DCL paid in full date given is the date by which you are required to be paid in full. If you pay off your cruise in full prior to that date, then your paid-in-full date will be the date you actually paid in full, not the DCL-required PIF date.

 

[ember1205]

You sort of answered your own question. Until the paid-in-full date, you have no risk of losing any money; thus, the insurance would not need to cover any incurred expenses.

Note that "paid in full date" is the date that you are actually paid in full. The DCL paid in full date given is the date by which you are required to be paid in full. If you pay off your cruise in full prior to that date, then your paid-in-full date will be the date you actually paid in full, not the DCL-required PIF date.

If you PIF prior to the required date, you are backing yourself into a corner with insurance. Once you are PIF, insurance has to be in place or you have to at least notify them of the additional monies spent so they can add it to the policy and assess the additional premium. You have until the REQUIRED PIF date, however, to still cancel and get everything back. If you've already paid the extra premium, that will be lost.

In other words, don't PIF until you have to. And THEN tell the insurance carrier (you have a grace period to notify them of additional costs similar to initial booking).

 

[Sorcerer's Dad]

An update: Thank you for inputs.

I found out from the insurance company that should I cancel the trip prior to the date required for the cruise to be paid for in full, the insurance company will not return any premiums paid, but will credit the premiums paid to another trip within the next two years. And of course, 100% of what I paid Disney to that point would be refundable. While the insurance payments are non-refundable, they can be applied to a future trip.

The customer service rep indicated that the traveler can adjust the amount covered as the cancellation periods occur. In my case the cancellation fees are (6 nights or more - fall of 2020).
119 to 56 days Deposit per Guest for Non-Suites/Concierge Staterooms (what I covered initially)
55 to 30 days 50% of vacation price per Guest
29 to 15 days 75% of vacation price per Guest
14 days or less No refund

Representative stated that even if I paid in full right now, I would not have to increase the amount covered until I reach the 55 to 30 days prior (I paid the premium on the deposit only).

 

[ember1205]

An update: Thank you for inputs.

I found out from the insurance company that should I cancel the trip prior to the date required for the cruise to be paid for in full, the insurance company will not return any premiums paid, but will credit the premiums paid to another trip within the next two years. And of course, 100% of what I paid Disney to that point would be refundable. While the insurance payments are non-refundable, they can be applied to a future trip.

The customer service rep indicated that the traveler can adjust the amount covered as the cancellation periods occur. In my case the cancellation fees are (6 nights or more - fall of 2020).
119 to 56 days Deposit per Guest for Non-Suites/Concierge Staterooms (what I covered initially)
55 to 30 days 50% of vacation price per Guest
29 to 15 days 75% of vacation price per Guest
14 days or less No refund

Representative stated that even if I paid in full right now, I would not have to increase the amount covered until I reach the 55 to 30 days prior (I paid the premium on the deposit only).

That's great information - thanks for following up this thread with it.

While it might not apply for every carrier or policy, it should at least help open up some lines of thinking and questioning when researching policies.

 

[Jamesfam]

We purchase Allianz travel insurance for our upcoming cruise. They do not have the cancel for any reason and get 75% back as Disney insurance does (I believe I have the percent compensation right), but they do offer much better or-existing medical condition coverage (my husband has a genetic heart condition so this is important for us). And it covers for the main reasons we would cancel a trip anyway. Itwas half the cost of what the Disney insurance would have been. Of course every policy is different, so read carefully!

Just curious what you but as your destination when getting true quote from Allianz. We are doing an eastern Caribbean and I don't see that as an option

 

[Mango7100]

Just curious what you but as your destination when getting true quote from Allianz. We are doing an eastern Caribbean and I don't see that as an option

I don’t think we told them where we were going other than a cruise and Disney World trip afterwards...we did have to specify the $$ we were paying for the trip. We actually insured the cruise first and then added on the Disney trip afterwards...we just called and said what the $$ spent on the land portion and we paid the amount over the phone to get it added to our existing policy.

 

[Jamesfam]

I don’t think we told them where we were going other than a cruise and Disney World trip afterwards...we did have to specify the $$ we were paying for the trip. We actually insured the cruise first and then added on the Disney trip afterwards...we just called and said what the $$ spent on the land portion and we paid the amount over the phone to get it added to our existing policy.

Thank you for the information. Our trip is already booked, we are sailing in February. I wonder if I can still book through allinez or now have to go with Disneys insurance. Our final payment is due Oct. 11 so I was going to add the insurance before then until I looked into other companies

 

[ember1205]

You can book third party but you won't get pre-existing condition waivers.

 

[ahain]

Possibly related question:

What if you changed your cruise date? Would third party allow you to change the date? Would DCL trip insurance?

I had a December 2018 cruise booked with third party ins and then we changed it to December 2019. I assumed I got screwed on the insurance, so I did nothing. Now I realize I have no insurance for the December 2019 cruise. What might my options be?

Since December 2018 has come and gone, I believe you won't have any options on that policy. Perhaps you could have changed the date if you had called them BEFORE the December 2018 cruise and asked to change the date, you may have been able to do so.

 

[ahain]

Just curious what you but as your destination when getting true quote from Allianz. We are doing an eastern Caribbean and I don't see that as an option

I seem to remember that the website provided guidance and said to use the country of the first port of call as the "destination," but I don't remember 100%