Planning a Cruise to the Mediterranean this summer on Oceania. We purchased our own airline tickets and booked 2 nights in each city on either end of the cruise ourselves (not thru the cruise line). Now, what should I do about travel insurance in case of last minute need for cancellation? What sort of things should I know and ask about before buying the insurance. The trip will cost us "up front" fees of about $15,000). This, of course does not cover future excursion fees. Any advice?

I can't find it now, but I saw a site that had a chart comparing different travel insurance plans. Maybe someone knows what it is??

I bought my trip cancellation insurance through AAA (it's through AccessAmerica) . You don't have to be a a AAA member to buy it from them. There may be cheaper/better plans, but I just wanted to get it done.

I believe the website you are referring to Maire is www.insuremytrip.com which is highly respected. I have never purchased travel insurance but I believe that you only have so many days after you make your reservations to purchase the insurance. This website gives you a lot of different companies information and what is and is not covered and the premium information etc. I would get right on this dolciani so you don't miss the deadline that I think most companies have.

You usually have around 14 days to purchase insurance that includes pre-existing conditions. Otherwise the length of time varies with the company.

Yes, that's a good point. I had to buy plan within 14 days of buying my ticket.

Hi dolciani,

I just purchased Travel Insurance for our June Med. cruise a week or so ago. I used www.insuremytrip.com. Even though they are an internet company, you can call and talk to their representatives to help you select.

In regard to having to purchase Travel Insurance a few days (between 10 and 15 days) after you book / make initial payment on your trip, that's if you want to cover pre-existing conditions. You can still purchase Travel Insurance later... but any pre-exisiting conditions won't be covered. Also, 1-2 insurance companies have "cancel for any reason" insurance that must be purchased within a few days of booking the trip. I booked our cruise last fall, so I our insurance will not cover pre-existing conditions or "cancellation for any reason".

I compared 4 companies when I purchased: TravelGuard, CSA, TravelSafe, and Travelex. Travelex was the least expensive and had the best coverage (for our trip) as well.

Two things that were important to me were Trip Interruption Insurance (some cover trip cost, others cover trip cost + 50%) and travel delay insurance (# of hours of delay before coverage would kick in).

Carole

We used www.accessamerica.com for our travel insurance.

Hi...I purchased through Travelex, which provides all primary insurance instead of secondary insurance for luggage delay and medical coverage.

Insurance will depend on the ages of each person traveling and the amount of coverage required.

insuremytrip.com really helped me choose which insurance was best for my needs.