Since there was some chatter on this thread about dive travel insurance policies and cancellation coverage, I wanted to copy and paste this post over that I wrote in another thread since I think it is somewhat relevant.
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I wanted to post an update. I put a deposit down for a liveaboard/trip in October 2019 and as always, I am interested in purchasing dive travel insurance with a liveaboard rider from Dive Assure. I have purchased many policies from them before but this one was a bit different. Unfortunately, Dive Assure's online system does not allow you to purchase coverage this far in advance; they only allow you to purchase coverage for trips up to 18 months in advance. I shared with them that this poses to be a problem because many liveaboard operators publish schedules and accept bookings 2-3 years in advance and even have sailings selling out this far in advance. It is even more crucial because they are the only insurance provider (to my knowledge) that extends specific liveaboard coverage. In order to receive trip coverage for financial default, the fine print stipulates that you must purchase coverage within 14 days of initial trip payment in order to receive that benefit. In addition, trip cancellation is also an issue. That is where the 18 month window poses to be a problem. Airlines in financial trouble are not unheard of - even in Europe. My travels take me back to Indonesia this time and that is always a worry, along with the other companies I am paying money to.
I e-mailed customer service to explain my situation. Their standard response was that I would not receive financial default coverage because it would not be purchased within 14 days of initial trip payment (my first deposit). I replied that I did not think I should be penalized for this because their online system does not allow purchase of it, not because I did not want to purchase it within that time frame. I asked if I could purchase coverage via phone instead. They said that they would look into it and respond in a timely manner. Since I was close to the 14 day window, they said that when approved, either way, it would count as though my policy were purchased within the 14 day window. Communication was excellent and they kept me updated.
I just received an e-mail this morning confirming that they are able to register me for coverage manually. However, they are only able to extend trip cancellation coverage starting at 18 months prior to departure. This would allow me to have coverage for financial default but if I need to cancel my trip between now and the 18 month before departure mark, I would not be covered. Once I am within the 18 month window, trip cancellation coverage would become active. It isn't ideal, but this is a compromise that I am willing to accept. I have excellent credit card coverage for trip cancellation which covers this "hole" but I thought this experience was really interesting and I wanted to share it with others who are considering dive travel insurance/liveaboard riders with Dive Assure. I think if I did not have such good credit card cancellation coverage, this would not have been acceptable. The take home message is if you are purchasing a trip that is more than 18 months from now, you can call or e-mail to have an exception made with caveats.
I hope this helps someone else.
, it's almost like as if Aggressor was acting as if advised by a lawyer... "Your honor, on advise of my legal counsel, I will elect to bla bla bla, 5th. bla bla" ...
Since this is the show that I won it at last year I was planning on stopping by their booth and asking what is up. First and foremost- I have yet to have ANYONE reply to emails or phone calls, let alone my voucher be extended as promised.
