Is Cruise Travel Insurance Necessary?

If you are going to take a cruise, cruise travel insurance is very much warranted. When building coverage into your price, it is important to note that cruise travel insurance will amount to about 5% to 9% of your total cruise vacation cost.

First, you should know that things such as inclement weather, change of itinerary, childbirth, loss of employment, war, pre-existing medical conditions, and frequent flyer miles cannot be covered by cruise travel insurance.

If you are just taking a weekend trip and not much more, you might not want to spend the money on insurance. However, if any of the following pertains to your trip, it will probably be a good idea to get cruise travel insurance.

You should probably get insurance if you are going to be travelling in a rental car on any point in your trip, or if you are travelling during a season of the year when it is more possible that you might experience flight delays or cancellations, or if you plan to participate in activities other than just eating and shopping, like SCUBA diving, mountain climbing, or helicopter rides.

Cruise travel insurance also becomes important if you are travelling internationally with one or more scheduled layovers and if you are travelling outside of Canada, New England, Hawaii, Alaska, or the Mexican Riviera.

When choosing cruise travel insurance, it may well be advised to purchase from a third party insurer rather than the cruise line itself. The reasons for this are that cruise line insurance often does not offer as good protection as third party insurance, it generally only kicks in after your personal insurance has paid out, and sometimes will only pay you in cruise credits instead of cash.

Be sure that your cruise travel insurance includes coverage for medical evacuation. In the event of a serious medical emergency, you may need to be evacuated by helicopter or ambulance to a hospital or even home to the U.S. In these circumstances, you want to be certain that your insurance will cover the costs.

Your cruise travel insurance can also protect you against trip cancellation. Should something arise, like you get sick or are injured prior to your trip, you want to be able to get your money back. In most cases, you can get 100% insurance on all pre-paid costs of your trip. This means that should you have to cancel, for a legitimate reason, you can get back all of the money you have already spent on your trip. Please note that these are pre-paid costs, not just reservations. For example, if your hotel charges a one-night penalty should you fail to arrive, this would be a reservation cost and not covered by your insurance. Under such circumstances, it is better if you pre-pay your accommodations so the expense is insured.

There are many variables offered in cruise travel insurance and you can get additional coverage for lost or stolen baggage, flight delay or cancellation, and even storm watch protection should you decide to include these on your policy.

PureTravel is a leading cruise travel agent based in Sydney, Australia. We specialise in cruise travel bookings for Australians. To discuss all your cruise travel insurance and cruise travel needs, including luxury cruise travel, Alaskan cruises, Caribbean cruises and cruise liners, please contact Angela, Leigh-Ann or Daid on (02) 8814 7911, or use our contact form.

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