TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums British Virgin Islands Travel Insurance

Good morning everyone! We are flying out on June 17th and I'm getting nervous with the amount of COVID around us (especially since we have two teenage daughters - one who is graduating high school). We have been taking two VI trips a year (USVI and BVI), and we have never purchased travel insurance - I guess we have been lucky. My main concern is one of us contracting COVID here and not being able to travel (we are a family of 4). We will be on the boat for 15 nights, so I am less concerned with contracting the virus there, but obviously this is also a consideration. It feels right to buy the insurance for this trip, so I've looked around and I keep seeing AXA as a top option. The basic plan is $550. Any thoughts? Thank you!

Buy it

There are several risks:

One of you might catch it and you can't travel. That happened a few months ago to a TTOLer. He struggled to get his insurance to pay up.

One of you might test positive in the BVI. This happens: our neighbor was supposed to travel back to the States this week and tested positive. Return trip is delayed a couple weeks. They own their home, but you could have to pay for lodging, plus increased airfare.

Your flights could get delayed/cancelled. This has been a big issue. My niece's Jet Blue flight was so delayed by crew shortage that she missed her connecting flight in San Juan. Even Cape Air has been struggling.

Someone gets sick and needs to be evacuated.

There is a link here for Insure My Trip. Look at your options. Insure for whatever would be a hardship if you had to pay out of pocket.

I'm not familiar with that particular company, but a policy that covers Covid quarantine costs seems like it would be very helpful in your situation. When purchasing ANY insurance, the most important thing is to see what it actually COVERS and what the limits are for each type of coverage, based on what you feel is your potential exposure. Lately, we have been really concerned about having travel evac insurance, since both of us are older. For younger people such as yourself, those quarantine expenses and the possibility of trip cancellation due to a positive test are big concerns. As always, you can check coverages side by side on Insure My Trip, a TTOL sponsor. If you click on the link here, TTOL gets a small commission, and your cost is exactly the same. It's been a while since I've used it, but I assume you can still sort on there by the most highly recommended insurance dealing specifically with Covid.

Buy it for sure ! We used heymondo , reasonable and a nice printable one pager to show if asked .

We have purchased travel insurance with quarantine coverage ever since Covid started - 7 trips so far and knock on wood haven’t had to use it but you never know. We typically sail for 2-3 weeks and that price is on the mark. We use Safe Voyager from Trawick.

The fact that the US makes you test before returning is a total game changer.

It's a game of Russian roulette and with 4 people that's a lot of bullets in the gun.

Not really.

Thank you everyone! I talked to Insure My Trip today and the lady was knowledgeable, but not the nicest honestly (poor customer service skills). She said that if anyone in our party had been tested for COVID over the past 90 days - regardless of the outcome - they would deny any claim related to COVID. I was tested due to a sinus infection 3 weeks back and was negative, but she was adamant that this ruled me out. I then called AXA and they said that as long as a doctor says you can’t travel, you are covered. We are going to buy the Gold plan with AXA ($730 for 4). The Insure My Trip policy was $620, but the policy definition seems ridiculous for those who have tested over the last 90 days for any reason - including required testing for previous trips.