Travel insurance coverage question

[twistypencil]

I've got DAN insurance, which covers medical related expenses while diving. I'm booking an Aggressor liveaboard for the summer and it is going to cost me around 9k USD once I'm done with the costs. Because that is not insignificant, I'm looking into travel insurance. If I tear my rotator cuff, get covid, or some other situation shows up, I don't want to lose out on all that money, so I want trip cancellation coverage.

When I started to look at travel insurance options, I started to get confused. Even if I get the travel insurance from DAN, they provide medical coverage in addition to the trip cancellation coverage. How does that work, when I've already got medical coverage from DAN (and I have health insurance from my employer)?

I'm looking at DAN, Allianz (who has been great for covering hyperbaric before), World Nomads, Travelx, IMGlobal, Dive Assure... they are all very similar, but I'm unable to tell which will *actually* cover my liveaboard. Any experience, I'd be interested in hearing!

For those of you who are sharpening your keys to reply that you have traveled ten thousand different places, and never had a problem, so you never get insurance, please save your response for another thread, i've read too many threads here already on that subject. I know people are also going to give the helpful information that I should read all the coverage exceptions, and that it will be difficult to get them to pay, but that part i'm cool with. I'll read those, and I've had really good experience with Allianz paying without a whole lot of troubles in the past, so I know its possible.

Important information: I'm an american so I'm screwed by design when it comes to insurance.

 

[Johnoly]

I'm booking....

Just my experience & like you said, others will vary. When I did Galapagos and later Cocos, it was a big dollar trip and governments were restricting travel with no notice. I've frequently gotten trip interruption insurance with Travel Guard. (one of the largest by AIG) Twice I've made claims on the dozen times I've taken out policies and both times they paid the non-refundable portion in full with no hassle. The flights they got miles credited back to my account so in the end I lost nothing. B-U-T You must follow their policy instructions 100%. One of those is that you need to purchase the 'cancel for any reason' policy at the same day or 2 that you book ANYTHING for that travel - including ship, hotel, rental, flights, car, etc, etc. If you waited for the insurance til significantly after, it won't pay. If you have already booked anything, you may not be eligible for the policy restrictions. Cancel for any reason policies are the best way to go because it covers everything from government shutdowns, bankruptcy, disaster, missed flights=missed boat, etc There are other restricted policies that can still be purchased, but the claim restrictions are not worth it IMHO. The medical portion of my travel is covered by DAN's best plan so there is no issue there. Just be mindful there are strict time limits to purchase the best policies.

 

[twistypencil]

Ouf, thanks for the info. I first booked in October of 2023, and I started to make payments. I'm not due to go for another 5 months, but I'm worried I missed out on the window for the cancel for any reason policy.

 

[Ryan Neely]

We've used Allianz several times for months-long trips to Bonaire (in addition to DAN insurance). Twice we've had claims, and twice Allianz has come through without question. We did have to follow the policies directly.

We like Allianz so much that we've opened for their year-round travel insurance so we're also covered for smaller out-of-state trips (because, you know, medical insurance is often considered out of network by rote of being out of state).

 

[twistypencil]

I've had great experience with Allianz so far, twice had claims, and twice they paid in full without issues.

Did you use their travel insurance? I was wondering if it would cover liveaboard problems and scuba specific issues.

 

[Ryan Neely]

It was their travel insurance, yes. We were bot on a liveaboard (though I don't know why that would matter). On each trip either my wife or I were hospitalized (neither hospitalization was for DCI, though it was suspected at first). Importantly, we did have to pay up front because the foreign hospital wouldn't take insurance. We then filed the claims with Allianz and saw a full payment within two months.

This is an extreme but accurate insight into travel insurance and DAN insurance (if you haven't seen it yet):

 

[Tadpole Frogfish]

I've had great experience with Allianz so far, twice had claims, and twice they paid in full without issues.

Did you use their travel insurance? I was wondering if it would cover liveaboard problems and scuba specific issues.

Dive Assure (if I recall correctly) has a deluxe package that allows a liveaboard add-on. It is helpful both coverage for unexpected liveaboard accidents, such as electrical fires and resulting loss personal items including necessary land accommodation and missed dives, and travel insurance in detail that normal insurance might not cover, such as missing the port due to a "normal' flight delay.

Depending on where you are going (e.g. civil conflict), it might be best to just get the most comprehensive coverage. I must say I have not looked into Allianz beyond basic travel insurance. So perhaps if you find something decent, you can combine both --of course medical expenses will always require some level of pocket expense prior to receiving a 'pay-out'. Some packages only cover a portion of hyperbaric therapy including airlifting in liveaboard situations. You would have to shell out the remainder portions.

 

[living4experiences]

I'll just put it out there....I would never book on Aggressor, given their recent history of sinking boats and other poor reviews of passenger experience.

I got burned last December on my Damai II liveaboard because a noncovered event happened and all my claims have been denied. I had DAN Guardian insurance, an annual trip policy through Travel Guard, and a comprehensive single-trip policy through Generali. I also used the right Chase credit card to pay for the trip. What happened was a diver died on the liveaboard trip. It turns out that there is no coverage for a fellow passenger dying on your trip (liveaboard or other types of trips) unless he/she is your traveling companion or a relative. I looked into Dive Assure for their liveaboard coverage. They do have coverage for a death during the trip and the person doesn't have to be your traveling companion or related to you. However, the daily benefit for lost days of diving is something like $300 per day. These days, there are few quality liveaboards that cost you $300 per day. My daily cost as a single in a cabin was over $900. It was going to cost $1,100 for Dive Assure. I didn't buy it. This is from their website. Noticeably missing is coverage for an event, like fire, that doesn't sink the boat and a breakdown of the boat that's not related to air supply.

Trip Cancellations Due To:​

• Trip cancellation coverage due to a missed connection resulting in missing the liveaboard or in additional cost to join it.
• Trip cancellation coverage for missing liveaboard departure due to airline delays.
• Trip cancellation due to sinking of the liveaboard boat.

Lost Diving Days Due To:​

• Medical inability to dive.
• Weather conditions not enabling diving/sailing.
• Diving accident involving another passenger on the boat, causing the boat to abort the planned diving.
• Expenses not reimbursed by the tour operator for default /mechanical breakdown to air supply.
• Financial Default of the liveaboard operating company, or tour operator (Covered already by the Elite Plan).

Most U.S. health insurance policies don't have coverage outside the U.S. You can call DAN and talk to their insurance reps for clarification of coverages. I also use insuremytrip.com to search for policies that fit my needs each trip. It's an aggregator site of many of the major travel insurance companies.

 

[twistypencil]

I'll just put it out there....I would never book on Aggressor, given their recent history of sinking boats and other poor reviews of passenger experience.

I got burned last December on my Damai II liveaboard because a noncovered event happened and all my claims have been denied. I had DAN Guardian insurance, an annual trip policy through Travel Guard, and a comprehensive single-trip policy through Generali. I also used the right Chase credit card to pay for the trip. What happened was a diver died on the liveaboard trip. It turns out that there is no coverage for a fellow passenger dying on your trip (liveaboard or other types of trips) unless he/she is your traveling companion or a relative. I looked into Dive Assure for their liveaboard coverage. They do have coverage for a death during the trip and the person doesn't have to be your traveling companion or related to you. However, the daily benefit for lost days of diving is something like $300 per day. These days, there are few quality liveaboards that cost you $300 per day. My daily cost as a single in a cabin was over $900. It was going to cost $1,100 for Dive Assure. I didn't buy it. This is from their website. Noticeably missing is coverage for an event, like fire, that doesn't sink the boat and a breakdown of the boat that's not related to air supply.

Trip Cancellations Due To:​

• Trip cancellation coverage due to a missed connection resulting in missing the liveaboard or in additional cost to join it.
• Trip cancellation coverage for missing liveaboard departure due to airline delays.
• Trip cancellation due to sinking of the liveaboard boat.

Lost Diving Days Due To:​

• Medical inability to dive.
• Weather conditions not enabling diving/sailing.
• Diving accident involving another passenger on the boat, causing the boat to abort the planned diving.
• Expenses not reimbursed by the tour operator for default /mechanical breakdown to air supply.
• Financial Default of the liveaboard operating company, or tour operator (Covered already by the Elite Plan).

Most U.S. health insurance policies don't have coverage outside the U.S. You can call DAN and talk to their insurance reps for clarification of coverages. I also use insuremytrip.com to search for policies that fit my needs each trip. It's an aggregator site of many of the major travel insurance companies.

Are you saying that you have yet to find *any* insurance that would have covered your trip cancellation?

 

[also_anon_dc]

I don't think you need "cancel for any reason" coverage. That's meant to offer you the option to cancel if you just don't want to go anymore and is usually very expensive. I think you're looking for "trip protection" which would let you cancel if you have some kind of medical issue or a family member dies or something major like that. I typically use Trawick International and it looks like they have lots of reasonably priced plans that offer trip protection.