Don't forget to check with your travel insurance before final payment

[JLMoran]

Hey all, just thought of something and wanted to remind you all -- If you have purchased travel insurance from a third-party, and you have a sailing that's scheduled to go close to when travel restrictions are currently estimated to end, and you haven't yet passed final payment date, take some time and give them a call to confirm a couple important things:

1. IF everything goes amazingly well and your ship sails on time, the itinerary isn't modified, etc. so that you do decide to sail, and you get sick with Coronavirus, will you be covered by the insurance's medical portion of the plan?
2. If your sailing ends up canceled and you then rebook the same itinerary (or close enough for government work) for a year out, will they allow you to modify the existing policy with the new sail date, or will you have to buy a new one?

I had to wait on hold for about a half-hour with Travelex, but I was able to confirm the answer to both of the above in my case was "Yes". This is a huge relief, as my final payment date is a week from now; if they had said I wouldn't be covered should one of us get sick, I would have canceled the booking now rather than wait to see what happens in August. Likewise, if I couldn't simply modify the existing policy with a new date, I'd cancel the booking now so I could also cancel the policy within their window and be able to get a full refund.

As it is, I'm now a lot more comfortable paying the final payment next week and then seeing what happens over the next couple of months.

[ehw51]

Thanx for the reminder. it´s appreciated

[SpeedNoodles]

Excellent advise, as always!

[sk8erguy1978]

Great advice! As I haven't purchased insurance for either cruise this year, I suspect no coverage for number 1. Wife is an essential employee as both an RN and volunteer EMT. Probably something I need to start researching yesterday.

[SpeedNoodles]

5 hours ago, sk8erguy1978 said:

Great advice! As I haven't purchased insurance for either cruise this year, I suspect no coverage for number 1. Wife is an essential employee as both an RN and volunteer EMT. Probably something I need to start researching yesterday.

I always look for insurance that has "cancel for work reasons" (If I didn't move fast enough to get 'cancel for any reasons').

[Matt]

Good advice!

[baltodave]

Great information (thanks!)  and for our next cruise we might choose Travelx.  We've been using Allianz and while they do let you change the dates, they do exclude COVID related illnesses. 

[sk8erguy1978]

6 hours ago, SpeedNoodles said:

I always look for insurance that has "cancel for work reasons" (If I didn't move fast enough to get 'cancel for any reasons').

Yep, me too. I don't worry about "cancel for any reason" policy, and usually wait until we get close to final payments. I'm okay (well not really) with paying a change fee if something comes up, but once the "big bucks" are on the line, I get insurance in place. I've been using Travel Guard since before AIG, however, I never actually "used" them but hear good things.

Actually, my biggest reason for the insurance is to not come home with a $20,000 dollar medical bill stapled to my credit card and beg my insurance for reimbursement. Like knowing the travel insurance *should* cover & help in emergencies for relatively cheap.