I know I’ve been a terrible blogger this summer. Between our transition from Cruises Inc to CruiseOne, a very busy booking summer, and the birth of our first grandchild, something had to go...and the blog came in last!
With the all of the natural disasters that have occurred over the summer, from hurricanes to floods and fires, this seems like a good time to remind all of you about the importance of travel protection insurance. I wrote quite a lengthy post about it last year and won’t rehash everything here. What I will do, however, is add to our list of clients who were awfully glad they had purchased insurance.
A family of four was to depart the US for Rome and their Mediterranean cruise on the day Irene hit. Neither their scheduled flight nor any other flights from nearby airports were taking off, and if they delayed departure until Tuesday, they would miss almost half of their cruise. Insurance will reimburse them for their cruise. Another couple completed their cruise okay, but then couldn’t get home, resulting in hotel, meal, and other incidental expenses. Again, insurance will reimburse them. Just yesterday, a long-time client called to cancel is October cruise due to a medical condition.
It’s so easy to slough off insurance, vowing that “you’re going, no matter what!” Hurricanes and unforeseen disasters affecting your family can say otherwise. Please buy the insurance.
We hope you and your family were not affected by any of the above this summer. After 30 days of 100+ degrees, wildfires have broken out all across Texas, including San Antonio, and the threat will continue until this terrible drought is broken. If only we could shift some of the rains that have pelted the northeast and southeast toward us....
In brighter travel news, can you believe Sandals turns 30 this year? This popular all-inclusive, adult-only resort company keeps improving and expanding. You’ll find them in Jamaica, the Bahamas, St. Lucia, and Antigua, and the owners are now eyeing possible expansion into Barbados and Grenada. Each resort features a little something different. Some offer on-property golf courses; some focus on more upscale accommodations; others tend to attract younger honeymooners. Want seclusion, fewer guests, and butler service for everyone? then head to Sandals Emerald Bay on Great Exuma in the Bahamas, just opened in 2010. Love the over-the-water bungalow idea so popular in French Polynesia? Grande St. Lucian will be your resort...but wait about 16 months which is when the project should be completed. Want to visit Sandals’ roots where it all began back in 1981? Jamaica is your island with several properties from which to choose. Ben and I stayed at Sandals Ocho Rios, now renovated and renamed Grande Riviera, a few years ago and loved it! And we were able to tour both Sandals La Toc and Sandals Grande Antigua in 2009. Read more on the blog I posted then.
Families aren’t left behind by this company, either, since it also owns Beaches Resorts, which are also all-inclusive. Take your kids to any of them on Turks & Caicos or Jamaica, and they can not only romp around the resorts’ numerous water slides and pools, but they can also hug up on the Sesame Street characters that remain an integral part of programming.
So, ready for something different than a cruise this time? A Sandals or Beaches resort might be just the thing.
Showing posts with label Travel Protection Insurance. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Travel Protection Insurance. Show all posts
Thursday, September 8, 2011
Friday, March 5, 2010
CRUISE INSURANCE: TO BUY OR NOT TO BUY?
Once upon time, a client called at 6 am on a Saturday—his cruise day—and left a message on our answering machine saying he’d missed his flight. I know trouble when I hear it and called him back immediately. He confessed he’d overslept, and the airline rep wasn’t finding another flight that would get him to his ship in time. His 25-year-old twin sons had arrived earlier, boarded, and were already en route to Vancouver...without their cruise documents, which, by the way, their parents were holding. They had to make it to the ship.
Once upon another time, a client and her daughter were awaiting their flight from San Antonio to DFW to connect to their flight to Seattle. Thunderstorms in Dallas delayed their departure, however, and after finally arriving at DFW, they watched as two subsequent flights filled up without them, leaving no other flight that would get them to Seattle on time.
And then there was the couple about to depart for a Mediterranean cruise, when the husband ended up in the hospital for heart by-pass surgery.
We could go on and on. In all three of these cases—thankfully—our clients had purchased travel protection insurance and could file claims, receiving reimbursement for most of their losses.
And may I add that in all three cases, these clients had booked through a travel agent—Ben or me—who were more than willing to drop everything and work their individual cases on the spot.
The travel-related ones proved more complicated, of course. In the first situation, we ended up chartering a float plane to get the clients from Seattle to Vancouver—in time to make the cruise. You don’t want to know what the flight cost. In the second, our travel insurance company’s travel assistance department helped us secure a hotel in Seattle, a flight to Juneau, and a hotel in Juneau, while we arranged with the cruise line for them to board the cruise two days late. We just told her to keep those receipts.
The moral of these stories: buy the insurance! You might be tempted to consider it “just an unnecessary expense”; we consider it vital protection for your cruise investment.
Most travel insurance policies will refund your money if you must cancel your cruise due to medical reasons or a death in the immediate family. Some will offer a future cruise credit (or partial cash credit) if you cancel for a non-covered reason, such as work-related, financial, or a schedule conflict. And most include some level of emergency medical/dental coverage and air evacuation while sailing. The latter is especially helpful for those whose medical policies don’t cover them while on foreign soil or a foreign-flagged ship. And contrary to what many people think, most medical plans do not, including Medicare and military TriCare. Do you know what your personal insurance policy covers?
Our agency offers an excellent policy through Travel Guard, but there are times when the cruise line policy works better for our client. We recommend that you talk to your agent—us!—about insurance, and then make the decision that best fits your situation. But please purchase travel protection insurance from someone. For well over 50 cruises now, Ben and I have purchased insurance. Luckily so far we’ve not had to use it, but we’ve seen enough clients filing claims to know it could happen to us, too.
That’s what insurance is for, right? We’re betting against the cruise that all will go as planned; but if we’re dealt that one bad hand along the way, we are at least assured that we won’t lose the house.
Once upon another time, a client and her daughter were awaiting their flight from San Antonio to DFW to connect to their flight to Seattle. Thunderstorms in Dallas delayed their departure, however, and after finally arriving at DFW, they watched as two subsequent flights filled up without them, leaving no other flight that would get them to Seattle on time.
And then there was the couple about to depart for a Mediterranean cruise, when the husband ended up in the hospital for heart by-pass surgery.
We could go on and on. In all three of these cases—thankfully—our clients had purchased travel protection insurance and could file claims, receiving reimbursement for most of their losses.
And may I add that in all three cases, these clients had booked through a travel agent—Ben or me—who were more than willing to drop everything and work their individual cases on the spot.
The travel-related ones proved more complicated, of course. In the first situation, we ended up chartering a float plane to get the clients from Seattle to Vancouver—in time to make the cruise. You don’t want to know what the flight cost. In the second, our travel insurance company’s travel assistance department helped us secure a hotel in Seattle, a flight to Juneau, and a hotel in Juneau, while we arranged with the cruise line for them to board the cruise two days late. We just told her to keep those receipts.
The moral of these stories: buy the insurance! You might be tempted to consider it “just an unnecessary expense”; we consider it vital protection for your cruise investment.
Most travel insurance policies will refund your money if you must cancel your cruise due to medical reasons or a death in the immediate family. Some will offer a future cruise credit (or partial cash credit) if you cancel for a non-covered reason, such as work-related, financial, or a schedule conflict. And most include some level of emergency medical/dental coverage and air evacuation while sailing. The latter is especially helpful for those whose medical policies don’t cover them while on foreign soil or a foreign-flagged ship. And contrary to what many people think, most medical plans do not, including Medicare and military TriCare. Do you know what your personal insurance policy covers?
Our agency offers an excellent policy through Travel Guard, but there are times when the cruise line policy works better for our client. We recommend that you talk to your agent—us!—about insurance, and then make the decision that best fits your situation. But please purchase travel protection insurance from someone. For well over 50 cruises now, Ben and I have purchased insurance. Luckily so far we’ve not had to use it, but we’ve seen enough clients filing claims to know it could happen to us, too.
That’s what insurance is for, right? We’re betting against the cruise that all will go as planned; but if we’re dealt that one bad hand along the way, we are at least assured that we won’t lose the house.
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