Hola! I've been reading up again. . . And have another question to put to you all:

Are "cruise" insurance and "travel" insurance duplicative?

Specifically, I'm looking at purchasing cruise insurance through Celebrity and travel insurance through Vayama (separately booked air). The carrier for Vayama is AIG.

Anyone know if I'd be buying duplicate coverages (or just too much insurance)?

It depends on the coverage you select. If the insurance for the air portion only covers the cost of the airfare, then it doesn't seem like the coverage is redundant. But I don't think you'd want double medical care or emergency evacuation coverage.

Another thing to look into: sometimes the cruiseline insurance will allow you to cancel up till the date of sailing for ANY reason (Princess does - not sure about Celebrity). Travel insurance typically only covers cancellations for a 'good' reason -- illness of passenger or death in the family. With Princess' coverage, you get between 75-90% of your cruisefare back in the form of a future credit if you cancel for any reason including 'just changed my mind' after final payment. Something for you to ask Celebrity about.

With travel insurance of any kind, the circumstances under which you will be allowed to recover your losses have to do with "covered" reasons, not good bad ugly or indifferent.The purchase of the cruise line's insurance is not mandatory.The cost is normally included in the quote.It's a money maker.If you purchase your cruise thru a travel agency, they may or may not require you to purchase an insurance "package".My agent will not sell a cruise without some sort of travel insurance, period.If they lose the sale, so be it.

Buying insurance for air portion might be just a waste of money. If your air carrier allows you to rebook within a year or so after you cancel, with some small charge, then there is no money loss and insurance will not pay you for canceled air tickets.

More food for thought - I've always been told by TA's not to get the cruise line's insurance simply because if they go bankrupt and don't sail, guess what the likelihood is of you recovering your costs at that point - yikes! The travel insurance we usually get has a provision for the carrier declaring bankruptcy.

I think abram hit it on the "double" coverage. Read the coverage provisions.

It's interesting that you mention a cruise line going bankrupt. In late Sept 2001, three days before we were scheduled to depart for a Med cruise, our TA called to tell us the cruise line had gone bankrupt. Their websirte was down, and they weren't answering calls or emails from TAs. We had insurance, but the insurance company asked us to write to Visa first, as we had charged the cruise. Within three weeks, Visa had refunded our money, so we never made the insurance claim.