Now that you’ve earned your way into your golden years, it’s time to travel and experience more of the world, don’t you think? One of the best ways to indulge your golden years is to travel by cruise. On cruises, you won’t have to plan much and you’ll be able to see places like the Caribbean, the Alaskan forests or just about any other destination! There are different types of cruises, including European river cruises, which offer some fantastic views, cuisine, and culture.
Before embarking on a journey like never before, travel insurance is a must for senior travel. We hope you never have to use it, but travel insurance can pay for itself (and much more) if something like a travel or medical emergency occur during your trip.
In this article we’ll cover:
- Why get travel insurance for your cruise?
- What Cruise Travel Insurance Coverage Should Seniors Get?
- Why not get travel insurance directly from the cruise line?
Here’s why having cruise travel insurance for seniors is the best way to travel with peace of mind.
Why get travel insurance for your cruise?
Travel insurance is one of the best investments you can make to protect your trip –and your wallet! You may have saved for a while to take your next trip or maybe you have had some medical problems come up that you’re worried about getting worse during your trip. Let’s say you have to cancel your trip or incur a medical emergency on your trip and get a hefty bill once your return home. Your insurance policy could help pick up the bills and reimburse you for those unexpected bills and expenses.
What cruise travel insurance coverage should seniors get?
When taking a cruise vacation as a senior, there are some coverages to look for that could benefit you in the long run. Age is definitely a factor in the price of your plan when comparing travel insurance, but it’s best to get a plan with the coverage you need (which is often cheaper than you think!). Benefits included in a comprehensive travel insurance policy such as trip cancellation, missed connection, and emergency medical evacuation are just a few to name.
Some cruises aren’t cheap and often require you to fly to where your ship is departing. Those airfare tickets can add up quick! Double-checking you have coverage like Trip Cancellation in case you needed to cancel for an unforeseen reason is always recommended. This way, if you do have to cancel your trip for a covered reason, your prepayments won’t go to waste.
Missed connection is a great coverage to look for when cruising because it protects you if you miss your departure flight or sailaway. For example, if winter weather prohibited you from getting to the airport in time to board your flight and you missed your cruise departure, you’d be able to submit a claim for reimbursement of additional lodging, meals, and local transportation to meet up with your cruise.
Emergency medical evacuation coverage comes into play when you’re hurt or need to be evacuated to a medical facility, like a hospital. Of course, there are doctors on the cruise ship and near the ports along the way as you travel, but they aren’t always best equipped to treat all medical emergencies. With a comprehensive travel insurance policy, If you get injured during your cruise for any reason, you can call the 24/7 emergency assistance line to get help fast.
Why not get travel insurance directly from the cruise line?
While we always opt for travel insurance, we’ve found that most insurance policies offered by cruise lines falls short. Not only does cruise line insurance tend to be more expensive, it also lacks standard coverage categories. Things like pre-existing conditions and Cancel For Any Reason coverage aren’t available and you might not have the ability to increase the amount of coverage to your plan through the cruise line. Here’s an article describing more of the discrepancies, but we can speak for ourselves and say this wouldn’t give us the peace of mind we’re looking for when it comes to senior travel! The best way to find the right travel insurance coverage is by comparing policies from different providers.
Pre-Existing Conditions Coverage for Senior Travel
Medical conditions can be many people’s kryptonite to traveling. If you’re worried about a pre-existing medical condition flaring up on your trip, you’ll want to purchase an insurance policy with what’s called a Pre-Existing Condition Waiver. If you need to seek medical treatment on your cruise related to your pre-existing condition, this waiver won’t count your recent medical changes against you when filing a claim. Don’t wait to buy this insurance though! You must purchase it within 14-21 days of your initial trip deposit to be eligible.
Cancel For Any Reason Coverage for Cruises
The option to upgrade to Cancel For Any Reason coverage isn’t often available with most cruise line insurance offerings. If you’re worried your reason of cancelling your trip isn’t covered under the normal Trip Cancellation coverage, then this might be a great option for you. Cancel For Any Reason coverage allows you to cancel your trip for any reason at all, as long as you cancel at least two days before your trip departure. You won’t get quite as much reimbursed –usually up to 75% of your nonrefundable trip costs– but it’s nice to have the flexibility in canceling your travel plans if you need to.
Increasing Your Coverage
With most comprehensive travel insurance policies, you have the option to increase the amount you insure for your trip. However, cruise line insurance doesn’t usually let you do this. Let’s say you paid for and insured most of your cruise and airfare, but add on some nonrefundable tours that aren’t insured under your policy. If you had to cancel your trip or your trip departure gets delayed and you miss those tours, you’ll be out the money. On the flip side, if you had increased the trip costs insured for those nonrefundable prepaid tours, you would be able to submit a claim and get reimbursed.
Peace of Mind
Last, but one of the best things that cruise travel insurance offers, is peace of mind. It might not even occur to you, but for some people, knowing they’ll have coverage and not face hefty bills if an emergency came up is a dream come true. You’re going on a cruise vacation to get away…not deal with other issues on while you travel.
As we age, we take on more health risks when traveling. However, when armed with cruise travel insurance, senior travel should excite you!