Travel Protection & Insurance

Why Should I Buy Travel Insurance?

Before we tell you why you should buy travel insurance, let us tell you what it is.

This insurance, sometimes called Trip Cancellation Insurance, is much more than that. While it does provide coverage for trip cancellations, and indeed that is why most people purchase it, it also covers trip interruption, in case you must abandon your travels before completed, as well as trip delays, delayed baggage, and lost baggage. It also provides supplemental medical insurance, emergency evacuation coverage, and sometimes accidental death insurance.

Travel insurance is available from a variety of sources. Most travel suppliers (cruise lines, tour operators, railroads, and others) have their own program. But travel insurance is also available from many different insurance companies.

Rates and coverages vary greatly. Some plans cover medical conditions which pre-exist the policy, if purchased within a certain number of days after the initial trip deposit. Some base rates on age, while others base rates strictly on the trip cost.

Now that you know what travel insurance is, let us explain why we highly recommend travel insurance for all our clients.  Here are some very real experiences of those who were covered, and those who were not.

Example 1:

Rob and his wife had booked a 10-day Mediterranean Cruise, at a total cost of $5,800.00, including airfare. They made final payment on the cruise in July, for a departure date in September. Once payment was made, there were severe penalties for cancellation, and the penalties increased each month, up to a 100% penalty just before sailing.

In early September, just one week before the cruise, Rob’s mother-in-law passed away. Obviously, the trip had to be cancelled. In this particular case, Rob had wisely chosen to purchase travel insurance, and his entire travel payment was recovered. Had he been without insurance, he would have been out nearly $6,000.00.

Example 2:

Mary and her husband were cruising to South America – a trip of 21 days. Just 10 days into the trip, Mary’s husband had a heart attack, and tragically passed away while onboard ship. She not only had to return home, she had to bring her husband’s remains with her.

Unfortunately, Mary had not purchased travel insurance. The cost to return home with her late husband was well in excess of $8,000.00. Therefore, to compound her loss, she was forced to cope with a tremendous financial burden.

Example 3:

Debbie was on a cruise to Alaska with her elderly mother. During the second day of the cruise, Debbie injured her foot, such that she had to be taken to the hospital at the first port of call, which happened to be Victoria, British Columbia. The medical bills for the ship’s infirmary and the emergency room in Victoria came to over $2,500.00 In addition, there was a question as to whether she would be able to return to the ship. If not, both she and her mother would have to return home. Debbie’s own medical plan did not provide any coverage outside of the United States.

In this case, Debbie had selected travel insurance. Its supplemental medical benefit covered all her medical treatment. Further, had she and her mother been forced to abandon the cruise and return home, the plan would have paid her the unused portion of her cruise fare and that of her mother – 8 days out of 10 – and would have covered the cost of the airfare for both of them. As it turned out, Debbie was able to return to the ship and complete the cruise, and she enjoyed it all the more knowing that her extensive medical bills were covered.

These are but a few examples of the many that can be told. While the vast majority of travelers who purchase insurance never actually need it, these examples illustrate what can happen if you do need it.

It’s Your Choice.

It is your choice whether or not to purchase travel insurance. We suggest, however, that you think of the dollars you spend on travel as an investment – an investment in fun – and often a rather sizable investment. It would be a shame for your investment to disappear, for lack of foresight, and the outlay of a couple of hundred dollars.

If you book travel with us, and choose not to purchase travel coverage, we may ask you to sign a waiver, attesting to the fact that we recommended that you purchase it, but that you declined.

Contact us to discuss travel insurance.