Questions about trip insurance

[crazymomof4]

I was just watching CNN ("scare-TV" for worry warts like me!) and they said the experts really have no idea how and where SARS will spread. As mentioned in other threads here, Orlando is a prime target due to the volume of international travel. With this in mind I am seriously considering insuring our 2 week WDW trip this Sept./Oct. If a breakout of SARS is announced just before we are scheduled to go I don't want to have to chose between losing thousands of dollars and putting our family at risk.
Since we have never had travel insurance I have a lot of questions: How much does it cost? What does it cover? Can you buy it after you have already put out money on the trip (deposits, etc.)? What are the grounds for collecting the money? In other words, would we be able to collect if we canceled due to a SARS breakout?
This is the last thing I expected to have to be thinking of when we scheduled this trip back in Oct. '02. It has really put a wet blanket on the excitement and pleasure I usually get when planning and anticipating a trip to Disney.

PS- For any "flame-throwers" out there, be nice! Please don't tell me I am over reacting. If the WHO and CDC don't know where this SARS thing is heading, neither do you! I have 4 kids to think about!

 

[BevS97]

In other words, would we be able to collect if we canceled due to a SARS breakout?

more than likely not. We have to get travel insurance as we are travelling from the UK, and it would not pay out for this reason. It would pay out if you were sick and couldn't travel, or if you have any other expenses caused by being sick before you went. If for some reason the government recommended that you didn't travel to WDW then you may have a case, but otherwise, I think it is pretty unlikely you would be able to claim.

I know SARS is very scary, but I REALLY don't think you need to worry - if you were travelling to Asia then I would be concerned, but I'm sure someone posted recently that more people had died in the USA of the regular Flu in the same time period, then had contracted SARS.

I'm not criticising you for being concerned, I can certainly understand it, but I wouldn't let it stop you enjoying your vacation.

bev

 

[MrsPete]

I can't claim to be an expert on trip insurance, but I did just look at it for a Disney Cruise, and I decided it wasn't worth the extra money -- however, that may or may not be true for you. Here are my rather rambling thoughts:

First, the insurance I looked at was expensive: it was 11% the cost of the whole trip. That's enough to pay all our souveniers, or a couple nice shore excursions, or all our family's tips. I have heard that you can get cheaper insurance from other carriers, but I didn't look into that.

I decided that the cancellation policies were fair enough without insurance: The cruises can be cancelled up to 60 days before travel without penalty. If you cancel with 30 days left, you can get something like a 75% refund. If you cancel with only 7 days left, you can still get a 50% refund. I'm saying these numbers without refering to my sources, so I might be wrong on the details. Since we are young and healthy, I think these cancellation periods are acceptable for us; you know your own situation better than anyone else -- how likely are you to have a last minute emergency?

Finally, I decided the insurance was a bad bet because it doesn't give you a refund on the cruise at all! If you cancel right at the last minute, you get 75% of your money credited toward another cruise, which must be taken within one year. So if you cancel the cruise, you can get a refund; if you use your insurance policy, you get credit toward another cruise. See why I say it's not a good deal?

On the cruise insurance, it will also pay something if you have a medical emergency outside the US. My health insurance does the same thing, so this was not valuable to me.

More to the point of your post -- dealing with a WDW vacation . . .

Consider what you could cancel/have refunded even if you don't get insurance. If you're looking at a Disney hotel, you can cancel without penalty fairly close to your travel date. Anyway, you probably have paid only one night's stay -- the rest will be due upon arrival -- so you don't have a tremendous amount to lose. If you've rented a condo from an individual, you probably can't get a refund. Have you already bought hopper passes? They won't expire, so you have nothing to lose there; save them for another year. On the other hand, if you have APs, you may be in trouble. So if you're booking the same ways I am, the most you could lose would be one night's lodging costs -- which is probably only slightly more than the insurance.

When you look at the policy, be completely sure of what it would pay. As I said, the cruise insurance will not put money in your hand -- it'll just make another downpayment on your next cruise.

Again, I don't claim to be an expert, but I decided it was not a good deal for my family. There are so many variables; you'll have to look at your own family's needs. If you decide to get it, do be sure to compare non-Disney carriers.

 

[crazymomof4]

Thanks for the replies! Sounds like trip insurance would not be a good idea in our case. Thanks for the input, it helped.

My husband and I have looked at our situation and as of now the only non-refundable $$ we have put into this trip is $180 deposit on the 2 wk rental of the off site house. The balance of the rental is due 8 wks prior to our arrival and is then NON-REFUNDABLE! Since this is a good amount, we will look at the SARS situation real well before we mail that off. If there is any chance of an outbreak in or near Orlando we have decided to postpone the trip. Not worth risking it with the kid's.