advice for trip insurance

[Candiru]

I'm planning a trip to belize that involves a 50 mile boat trip to one of the atolls. There is a set day and time that I need to arrive at the pier for the transfer. If I miss the boat I need to hire a private charter, these run around 650$. What sort of insurance could I purchase that would cover this cost if my flight was delayed causing me to miss the boat?

 

[BDSC]

There are several companies that offer travel insurance and DAN also offers travel insurance as well. What I do on situations like that is I just plan to arrive a day early if there is a critical connection that has to be made. For example, most of the time when I do liveaboards, I just arrive a day early and spend the night at a local hotel. That way you have a full day to work out any luggage issues or whatever may come up. I doubt there is any real difference of the price of the flight and the cost of the hotel might actually be less than the cost of trip insurance. Sounds like you may be going to Turneffe Island Resort.

 

[Candiru]

I'll check out the DAN travel insurance. We wanted to arrive a day early, but we're already maxed out on trip length. We're going a little further out than turneffe island resort.

 

[BDSC]

A lot of these policies offer some sort of trip interruption coverage or trip delay coverage. I would think it would cover that example. Chances are you'll make it just fine. Hope so anyway.

 

[KeithG]

There are several companies that offer travel insurance and DAN also offers travel insurance as well. What I do on situations like that is I just plan to arrive a day early if there is a critical connection that has to be made. For example, most of the time when I do liveaboards, I just arrive a day early and spend the night at a local hotel. That way you have a full day to work out any luggage issues or whatever may come up. I doubt there is any real difference of the price of the flight and the cost of the hotel might actually be less than the cost of trip insurance. Sounds like you may be going to Turneffe Island Resort.

There are 3 distinct types of insurance to consider. Sometimes more than 1 is mushed together in a single insurance product. So it gets fuzzy. The term "travel insurance" is meaningless. It could mean any or all of the 3 types.

1) For this situation you need what is called trip interruption insurance. You are ready and willing, the other parties do not fulfill their commitments, you miss part or all of your trip.

2) Trip cancellation insurance is used when you voluntarily do not start your trip (you are sick, your dog died, ....).

3) Accident insurance is good if you break some part of your body while on your trip.

 

[KeithG]

P.S. we used to buy combined interruption, cancellation and accident insurance on a trip by trip basis from our scuba travel agent. this insurance generally cost about 10% of our trip cost. We also had to purchase it at the time of booking the trip (you generally can not buy cancellation after the fact ... since the only reason to buy it later is that you already know you are going to cancel the trip)

Since we travel more now, we purchase an annual policy. It costs about 1 1/2 times of what our old insurance did.

 

[BDSC]

Who do you buy your annual policy with?

 

[jonhall]

Often go with benefits provided with credit card, if flight was paid in full with it. With my Citi American Airlines cc, your situation may be covered under, "additional fares or tickets needed to rejoin a trip that has been interrupted." Coverage is up to $5000. Just used miles for flight/trip I'm taking next year, so benefits will not be provided. Purchased the trip/medical insurance offered while getting ticket for $27 (did it for the emergency medical/transportation) which is a first for me. Coverage limits are less than what DAN and other companies provide but those providers also cost a few dollars more and have different levels to choose from. My $27 coverage, when applied to your situation, would pay up to $500 under the missed connection coverage.

Since I live in Indiana, I could only get DAN's single trip travel insurance (as opposed to an annual plan) and know the price range is between $95-130 for me at age 61. The coverage for you situation would be $500-2500 depending on the level of insurance.

But beware! The fine print on some I've read is that the flight must be delayed for 3 hours due to weather.

 

[KeithG]

Who do you buy your annual policy with?

Our annual policy is a Blue Cross product. It is only valid for residents of a few eastern Canada provinces.

ALL insurance is state / provincial regulated. Different states (provinces) have different government rules. So the insurance products are different in many (most?) places.

 

[gummybun]

The OP ,Candiru, being from Wisconsin can purchase the DAN Travel insurance, where as if you live outside the US you can only sign up for DAN Dive insurance, that can look a bit like Travel/Trip Cancellation insurance as there is (some) coverage for this circumstance, but it is less all encompassing in the course of making a claim. I recommend reading this thread - which is a bit rambling but touches on some good points that we should all be aware of... starting off with if your traveling companion breaks a leg the day before travel, will my part of the trip also be covered or am I obliged to go on ahead?

DAN 'Preferred' Insurance PROBLEM

giffenk, above put in a lot on that thread, thanks for that giffenk! I rather wish there was an insurance wiki/sticky on this site to articulate the policies, coverage, terminology, geographic exclusions, etc. It is a really important topic that I think does not get enough notice.

Often go with benefits provided with credit card, if flight was paid in full with it.

I have heard good and bad stories from claims against credit cards, have you ever needed to make a claim? what was your experience?

As for staying over/spending time in Dangrida, if that is where you are embarking from, there was some dengue there several years back so be sure you take precautions.


EDIT, part of the confusion for me, is the DAN information online. For example, if you go here...

https://www.diversalertnetwork.org/insurance/compare.asp

they discuss 'trip interruption/cancellation' but here...

Scuba Diving Accident Insurance — About Scuba Insurance Programs — DAN | Divers Alert Network

there is no mention of it