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Buying trip insurance from a cruise line?

Those of us over a certain age remember when you bought a plane ticket, checked your bags and were on your way.  We got good service, free meals and no extra fees for baggage or whatever.

Is that going to be the trend with cruise lines now?   We all know that cruises are a great deal….lots of bang for the buck as they say.  But the cruise lines, with all their discounts and special offers, may also need to add on some extras in order to stay afloat (pun intended).  After all, if the food is so great in the main dining room, why the need to pay $25 or more per person to eat in a “specialty restaurant”?

One major cruise line is now automatically adding trip cancellation insurance to all their quotes on the phone.  Now, we consider trip cancellation insurance to be a good investment….but not necessarily the plans sold by the cruise lines.  Often times you can get better coverage at a lower cost by booking through a travel agent that will offer insurance from another company.  The particular cruise line we mention will remove the insurance from the price they quote you, but you have to request it.

One major cruise line is now automatically adding trip cancellation insurance to all their quotes on the phone.  Now, we consider trip cancellation insurance to be a good investment….but not necessarily the plans sold by the cruise lines.  Often times you can get better coverage at a lower cost by booking through a travel agent that will offer insurance from another company.  The particular cruise line we mention will remove the insurance from the price they quote you, but you have to request it.

For more about trip cancellation insurance click here.

 

Home » travel insurance

Be careful where you buy travel insurance

With a large investment in a tour or cruise, it naturally makes sense to purchase travel insurance.  Among the things such policies normally cover is medical evacuation.  This means that if you are injured or become ill on your trip the insurance company will pay to have you flown home.  But a recent case made headlines when a passenger on upscale cruise line Azamara received what we would have to call sub-standard treatment.  For the full story we suggest you click this link.  

The main thing we want you to take away from this story is the importance of from whom you purchase travel insurance.  Buying it directly from a cruise line or tour operator is not recommended for several reasons.  

As pointed out in the Frommer’s article, the cruise lines do not necessarily include everything that you might want, or possibly, need.  And if you buy directly from a tour operator and they were to go out of business (a rare ocurrence, but it has happened before) then you would have no guarantee of getting a refund for the tour or even for the insurance premium.  

But we want to point out a difference:  many travel agents who sell cruises or tours will sell you insurance that is purchased directly from the insurance company, and that is what we recommend.  Buy your cruise or tour through them, buy your insurance through them if you wish, but just be sure you are actually buying the insurance from the insurance company and not the tour operator or cruise line.

 And one final note:  horror stories like this make the news, but are few in number compared to the thousands of claims that are handled well.  For more about travel insurance click this page on our main website.