TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums British Virgin Islands Travel Insurance?!!! Please Help?!!!

I will be going to BVI from US 7/3-7/11. Will be sailing with Moorings. Bringing my wife (44 y/o), kids (6,8 and 10 y/o) and I(44 y/o). Wanted to purchase insurance for cancellations due to weather or unforeseen medical emergency (kids getting sick prior to trip, med evac win the BVI etc..). Wasn't certain what items are needed in the insurance, flight cancellation, sailboat cancellation, interruption, medical evacuation etc... Also, are some insurance companies more reputable than others? I understand some are using insuremytrip.com, www.allianztravelinsurance.com, www.squaremouth.com, www.skymed.com. Seems hard to figure this out as the devil is in the details and each insurance has different packages and fine print. Any assistance or recommendaton anyone can lend to help this newbie would be deeply appreciated.

Thanks
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FYI - SkyMed is just medical evacuation Insurance, they don't offer any other kind of "travel" or "trip interruption" insurance. Allianztravel is just one insurance company so if you use them you are limited to only those policies that they offer. Can't comment on squaremouth.

You've already found one site (www.insuremytrip.com) that is very reliable and IMO the best to work with. On it you can compare the terms and premiums for 95% of the Travel Insurance policies that are available in the marketplace. The explanations you find there are clear, concise and easy to understand. They also have an 800 number you can call to talk with a "live" representative who will guide you through the process of selecting the policy that is "RIGHT FOR YOU".

And, YES, it is important that YOU read and understand the terms of the particular policy you purchase so you know it covers the risks YOU want to insure against (the representative at insuremytrip are very adept at helping you with that aspect. You should also know that they only deal with the top companies so no need to worry if the company that writes your particular policy is reputable. Give insuremytrip a call, to borrow and old insurance averting line you'll be in good hands!

Some premium credit cards also provide certain coverages as well - I ended up in hospital one trip and because itt was within three days of arriving Visa covered the cost of staying at Peebles.

We used AIG Travel Guard a couple of times. Coverage for all that you mentioned. Didn't get it this time and we will be with Mooring's on 7/20.

We use AIG. Match coverage to your needs. I'm not as concerned about trip cancelation/interuption as I am medical and medical evacuation to my home.

We used RoamRight. Seemed fairly cut and dry, simple to compare and choose the coverage I wanted.

Please forgive duplicate statements of other’s statements in this thread, as this is a note which I have typed up and saved to answer this type of question.

The first thing that you need to determine is what perils are MOST important to you to be covered and how much you are willing to pay to cover that risk. Insure My Trip allows you to compare different insurance policies straight up against each other and helps take some of the confusion out of the process. Insure My Trip is a TTOL sponsor and if you book through the link here on TTOL, we get a small commission and your cost is EXACTLY the same. Especially if you don’t understand what types of coverages are available, and the cost and the dollar limit coverage for each type, Insure My Trip is extremely helpful.

SkyMed is ONLY emergency medical evac. Most other travel policies have a component of medical evac in them, but you do need to look at the limits of coverage on other policies, as some have something like a $25,000 limit, which is NOT sufficient for the Caribbean, as it often will cost $50,000 or so for a true medical evac. SkyMed is also a TTOL sponsor and again, if you book through the link here on TTOL, we get a small commission, and your cost is exactly the same. SkyMed does offer annual policies, which can be very useful if you travel a lot. SkyMed is different than most any other medical evac policy because they take you HOME. Most other medical evac policies will transport you to the closest medically appropriate facility. For example, if you live on the US West Coast, but the nearest medically appropriate facility is in San Juan or Miami, you and possibly your relatives might have to stay in San Juan until you are cleared to travel further, which could be a long time.

Especially now that we are older, we ALWAYS book insurance that includes medical evac insurance. Now, we often book Allianz for cheap coverage for medical evac and emergency medical care, as our personal medical insurance will NOT pay out of the country, or it is all out of network, which means HUGE deductibles. If we book Allianz AT THE SAME time you book your air through the airline, it can be pretty cheap. We recently paid $62 for both of us for an Allianz policy with $50,000 medical evac and $15,000 emergency medical coverage, for an 11 day trip. The policy provides a small amount of trip cancellation/trip interruption/baggage delay insurance, but the main purpose for US is the medical evac and medical coverage insurance. We usually use it only for air tickets of relatively modest cost and a hotel of relatively modest cost. If it’s going to cost you $10,000 for your hotel or boat, then probably Allianz isn’t your best bet at all.

One note regarding trip CANCELLATION insurance. READ the terms of the policy, as far as what qualifies for it to kick in. Usually it will kick in if a person travelling becomes ill, or an immediate family member, but let’s say you are in a relationship with someone to whom you are not married, they are not travelling and THEY become sick. Many policies won’t cover that circumstance. Also, check to see what coverage there is for pre-existing conditions. Also, IF IT IS PURCHASED WITHIN A VERY SHORT TIME OF WHEN THE TICKETS ARE BOOKED, usually around a week, SOME trip cancellation policies will kick in if you decide to cancel for ANY reason and/or will cover pre-existing conditions. Usually those policies will cost more, but if you have a situation where you think you might need to cancel because of a work situation or a family member’s medical condition which qualifies as pre-existing under the policy, those types of coverages can be VERY important.

Thank you for the comprehensive review Carol Appreciate you mentioning the relationship between TTOL and medsky and insuremytrip.com.

Thank you for the reply. Certainly because insuremytrip.com is affiliated with TTOL and there is a fincial gain to had for our site, many of our members are directed there. I wanted to get objective recommendation of indiviual trip insurance companies that people had personal experience with to assist my in making an infomred decision.

Understand, Insure My Trip doesn't really sell insurance themselves. They are a tool to help you evaluate different insurance policies side by side, from a variety of different companies, and then purchase it. Most people have no clue what the cost is for different types of coverages and how the cost compares between different companies, and that's where Insure My Trip is very helpful.

Also check out DAN Divers Alert Network if you are focused mainly on medical coverage. I just looked for myself. Looks like it's pretty good. I've heard many great stories about DAN. Family membership is $55 for a whole year vs. just getting coverage for one trip!

Thanks for everyones imput. I ended using the insuremytrip.com website. IT is impresive that they will chat with you right on the website as you are looking and browsing and the comparision and viewing the certificates where really needed to get an idea of what suites your needs. I was about to pay for an insurance but couldn't find my charter company on the cruise optiion and wanted to double check if the insurance company covered chartering catamaraons. It turns out (according to the agent I talked with) that only a few of the insruance companies they list actually cover chartering/bareboats. I ended up booking Travelx with the agen who said it was covered which I ironically was number recommendation by my charter brooker. Go figure. My charter broker has also recommeded CSA and travel gaurd if that helps. Thanks

OK, that's a good point regarding not covering chartering cats, which is obviously very important. Thanks for posting.

Have you talked to the Moorings about the insurance they offer?

Travel Insurance
The Moorings offers a Charter Care Protection Plan for most U.S. residents. This optional travel insurance through Travel Guard costs $168 per person for a bareboat vacation and $262 per person for a crewed vacation and must be purchased before your final payment. Please visit the Travel Guard (link sends e-mail) website for details.

Travel Guard

I looked at the Moorings insurance. It wasn't advised by my Brooker (who used to work for Moorings) and Moorings charges for kids, while most travel insurances don't.

Travel Guard is one of many insurers on Insuremytrip in the sponsor link above. I just took out a SkyMed policy for two trips this year, both in the States. One for a seven day trip was $120 and the other for a six day trip was $90 both for the two of us. Money I hope goes to waste.