Trip Insurance Gets Real: When Sickness Derails Your Caribbean Cruise

Trip Insurance* Gets Real

Find out what happened when Cynthia’s plans for her Caribbean vacation went awry and she had to use her trip insurance benefits to save the day.

Cynthia was excited! She was going on an awesome trip — a 9-night cruise in the eastern Caribbean with three of her college buddies she hadn’t seen in over a year. They’d each taken jobs in different states so it was tough to get together on a regular basis. They’d been planning and looking forward to this for months.

 

She was packed and ready a full week ahead of time, but unfortunately she hit a snag. The day before she was scheduled to leave, she woke up with a fever of 102 degrees, a headache, chills, and a sore throat. She scheduled a sick visit with her doctor that same day. Unfortunately, the doctor told her she likely had the flu and should not travel.

What’s a girl to do?

Cynthia was really bummed to miss the trip with her friends. She called them and told them the bad news. They’d have to go without her. There was one, small silver lining — Cynthia was pretty savvy and lucky for her, she'd bought trip insurance a few days after she paid for her airfare and Caribbean cruise.

How did Cynthia’s trip insurance benefits help her?

Let’s take a look at the expenses for her trip and find out what happened when she called the insurance company to file her claim.

• Airfare from her hometown of Milwaukee, Wisconsin to Fort Lauderdale → $278
• 9-night Eastern Caribbean Cruise → $1,408
• Total Expenses for her Trip → $1,686

Cynthia filed her claim and provided receipts for the amount she spent to purchase her trip. She also provided a note from the doctor which verified the reason why she wasn’t able to travel. Her RoundTrip plan reimbursed her for $1,686, which was the non-refundable amount she paid for her trip. Non-refundable means the airline and the cruise line did not refund any of her cost to her.

How much did the trip insurance cost her?

$76 — that’s a pretty good return on her money!

Trip insurance is priced according to your age and trip cost. Cynthia is 29 years old, and her trip cost was $1,686 (including the cruise and airfare).

We’ve talked so far about savings in dollars, but what about the stress?

When Cynthia realized she was going to miss her trip, she was pretty upset. Think how much worse it would have been if she had lost the money she paid for the trip and had to skip going! Now, she can put that money in the bank and use it to take a trip in a few months.

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Do you have exciting travel plans in your future?

You never know what’s going to happen before or during a trip. Weather, sickness, traffic accidents on the way to the airport, and a host of other things can occur and derail your plans, causing you to lose the money you invested in your trip. For a relatively small cost, you can insure your trip so you don’t lose the money you spent if you need to cancel, interrupt, or delay your trip.

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*Trip insurance is included as part of a travel protection plan which contains both insurance benefits and non-insurance assistance services.

Important Information from the United States Fire Insurance Company

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