This is an exciting time—- you’ve just booked your vacation, honeymoon or cruise and you are so excited. Then comes the dreaded question, do you want to protect your travel investment with travel insurance.
Vacations and honeymoons can take months of dreaming and planning, but it may only take a few minutes to ruin your dreams if you have to cancel your trip or get sick while traveling. Travel Insurance can protect you from the unexpected.
What is travel insurance
Travel insurance can provide reimbursement for pre-paid, non-refundable expenses incurred when you are forced to cancel or interrupt your trip due to covered reasons.
What might be some examples a covered reason?
- Illness, injury or death of the traveler, traveling companion and certain non-traveling family members.
- A terrorist act committed by an organized terrorist group in a city that you are scheduled to visit within 30 days.
- Financial default of the travel supplier.
- Strikes, adverse weather or natural disasters that cause the complete cessation of travel services.
- Employer termination- if you have been terminated due to no fault of your own after being employed by the same employer for a certain amount of time.
What else might covered by travel insurance?
- Missed connections that cause you to miss flights or cruises
- Travel delay that may cause additional expenses
- Emergency medical or dental coverage
- Emergency medical transportation
- Loss, damage or theft of luggage and personal effects
- Baggage delay
- Assistance services to help solve medical, legal or travel related emergencies
Why should I take travel insurance?
Each travel supplier, such as cruise lines, tour operators, airlines and hotels, have set cancellation penalties. They can range from $25 per person up to 100% of the price paid, depending upon when the trip is cancelled. Insurance may cover these fees.
On a personal note:
Insurance is something that we hope we never have to use but let me relay a story of when my family had to use Travel insurance.
A number of years ago, my family, along with friends and relatives, embarked on a cruise out of Miami, Florida. On day 3 of the cruise, we were docked in Cozumel. My husband wasn’t feeling well. He went down to the infirmary because he was exhibiting symptoms of a heart attack. After running a couple of tests, we were told that he would have to be transferred to the hospital in Cozumel.
Let me break down some of the charges incurred:
Infirmary medical bill=$350
5 days of the cruise lost=$2500
Hotel in Cozumel for 4 nights for myself and children=$600
Meals in Cozumel for myself and children=$250
Air fare back from Cozumel to NJ=$2400
Hospital bill=$3000
Total charges = $9100
Cost of insurance for the family at that time was -$186
Amount saved by taking travel insurance – $8914
What else did the insurance cover?
- The doctors from the insurance company spoke to the doctors from Cozumel to monitor my husband’s medical situation.
- Assistance with getting home. My airline confirmations were faxed to the hotel. I didn’t have to call any airlines to get flights home.
- All medical bills not covered by our health insurance would have been covered for up to 1 year after the initial claim.
- Peace of mind. There was 24 hour assistance just a phone call away.
Of course honeymooners will never cancel their honeymoon-right?
My niece was so excited about her honeymoon to Hawaii in September. They had planned the perfect itinerary, with the perfect hotels and already planned some of their excursions. Ten days before their wedding, the groom broke his leg and ended up in a cast up to his thigh. This was not the perfect way to honeymoon in Hawaii, so 7 days before the honeymoon, we completely changed the entire honeymoon package.
What was the end result? Sara and Tim took a longer honeymoon in January after his leg was completely healed. They ended up taking an extra day, since one of the resorts was offering 1 free night. We did have to switch 1 hotel since it was booked but they loved the new hotel even more. The new package cost a few hundred dollars more than the old one since they were now traveling in peak season but the entire honeymoon package was cancelled and rebooked with no problem what so ever.
Do I purchase travel insurance for my personal vacations- YES,without a doubt!
PLEASE NOTE: MY VACATION LADY IS LICENSED TO SELL TRAVEL INSURANCE TO RESIDENTS OF NEW JERSEY.
We can certainly offer you travel insurance if you reside in other states. Just give us a call and we can steer you in the right direction.