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FAQ's - Travel Protection
What is Travel Protection Insurance? Travel Protection is vacation insurance and it's designed to protect your vacation investment in the event you must cancel due to unforeseen circumstances that may interfere with your ability to travel, or if things to go wrong while you are on your cruise.
Travel Insurance covers:
- Cancellations due to sickness, death, injury of you, a family member, domestic partner or traveling companion
- Travel delays due to inclement weather or natural disasters
- Bankruptcy of an airline, cruise line or other travel supplier, when this plan is purchased within 14 days of initial deposit
- Terrorism (domestic and international)
In addition, Travel Protection covers:
- All pre-existing medical conditions, when this plan is purchased with 14 days of initial deposit.
- Lost, stolen, or damaged baggage and personal effects
- Emergency medical expenses
- Expenses incurred if your travel is delayed
- Emergency transportation to an adequate medical facility, with an escort when medically necessary.
If must cancel your cruise or incur expenses or penalties for any of the reasons covered above, Travel Protection Insurance will reimburse you for covered costs.
Should I buy Travel Protection?
We highly recommend you purchase Travel Protection Insurance. All cruise lines charge penalties if you must cancel your cruise within their penalty periods. And it is unwise to expect that they will make an exception, even under the direst circumstances. Travel Protection will refund these penalties if you cancel for a covered reason.
You should also buy Travel Protection because most Americans have little or no health care coverage when they travel outside the country. When you board a foreign-flagged cruise ship, you physically enter another country. For those who do have health coverage in effect outside the US, medical evacuation is not included. Airlift transportation from a ship to a qualified medical facility can cost thousands and thousands of dollars, and without travel protection, you have no coverage and pay out of pocket, often up front!
Travel Protection covers emergency medical transportation when necessary. Medical facilities on cruise ships and in resort destinations are extremely limited and may be inadequate for your condition. While the medical facilities on many of the newest cruise ships are state of the art, they are not hospitals. They are designed only to stabilize a patient until more comprehensive care can be obtained. It is not safe to assume that a cruise ship is equipped to treat every illness or injury. If you must be evacuated, your Travel Protection would cover the costs.
Cruise Line and airlines claim little responsibility when things go wrong. It is not the responsibility of the cruise line to connect you with the ship if you miss it. And if you're flying to the port of embarkation, the airline is obligated only to fly you there and may not be willing or able to send you somewhere else to pick up the ship. Travel Protection will reimburse you the costs incurred for missed connections and fly delays.
Any one of the above reasons is good enough to buy travel protection, but consider that every one of them applies to everybody all the time! The bottom line is that travel protection is the only way you may get your money back if you have to cancel your cruise.
What does a Travel Protection Policy include?
A typical travel protection policy includes three main benefits:
- Trip cancellation/interruption
- Major medical with medical evacuation
- Baggage protection
Most policies offer some type of travel delay coverage, but it may or may not cover delays to strikes or other labor problems.
The trip cancellation benefit is designed to reimburse you up to the total cost of your vacation in the event a medical emergency forces you to cancel under penalty with the cruise line. Trip cancellation benefits apply prior to the start of the cruise, while trip interruption coverage works for you after you have left home. If an emergency to anyone traveling, or to those immediate family members left behind, causes you to cut the trip short, trip interruption is intended to reimburse you for the missed portion of the vacation and the out-of-pocket expenses necessary to return home. Without these two important benefits, you have no recourse but to lose both cruise and the money you've paid for it.
Major medical and medical evacuation benefits offer you medical protection outside the area covered by your primary care provider without a deductible. In addition, emergency medical transportation, including helicopter airlift, is covered to transport you to a medical facility where you can be treated.
Baggage protection provides you with reimbursement for lost, stolen or damaged luggage. Most people do not consider the repercussions of taking a cruise without their clothing! Baggage benefits can provide you with the necessary cash to replace some of the missing articles so that your cruise is not a complete fashion emergency.
Should you need assistance with your existing reservation, our Client Services Department is available to assist you Monday thru Saturday, between the hours of 9:00am-6:00pm ET. They can be reached at 1-800-439-1909 (press 2 when prompted) or email your request to Service@wmph.com.
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