Your deposit and any other payments you make are all fully refundable until the date of final payment. As of final payment date,  the money becomes non-refundable.

Should you have to cancel due to a medical emergency for yourselves or immediate family on or after May 14, the cancellation insurance will refund to you the non-refundable amount that you lose. Insurance also covers trip interruption, should you have to leave the cruise because of a medical emergency, plus things like emergency medical transportation and medical expenses. And, the insurance now covers you if you have to cancel due to a bona fide work-related reason! The insurance does not cover you if you change your mind about going (after final payment date), or cancel for any other non-covered reason.

As in just about any insurance, you will not be covered for pre-existing medical conditions. For example, if you have diabetes and you saw your doctor about it a month before sailing, and then had to cancel your cruise the day before sailing because of a problem related to the diabetes, your insurance would NOT cover your losses, because the diabetes is a pre-existing medical condition.

However, the travel insurance companies now have a policy, such that if you purchase your insurance within two weeks of making the first payment on your cruise, then the insurance WILL cover you for pre-existing medical conditions. In my example above, if you see your doctor for diabetes on September 1, and then cancel on Sept. 14, 2008, you would still be reimbursed for your losses because you purchased the insurance within 14 days of deposit.

Also, the same applies to cancellations you may have to make due to illness in your immediate family. If, for example, your mother or son gets sick and you have to cancel because s/he's in the hospital, you will not be covered if the hospitalization is due to a pre-existing condition, unless you have purchased your insurance within 14 days of your first deposit.

You can purchase cruise cancellation insurance at any time, up until sailing. But you won't be covered for cancellations due to pre-existing conditions in yourselves or your immediate family unless you purchase the insurance within 2 weeks of first deposit.

The company we use for insurance is Travel Guard Insurance, as I find their coverage better than a cruise line's insurance. Using an insurance company other than the cruise line will also cover you on the rare occasion that the cruise line goes out of business before your cruise. If you purchase the cruise line's insurance and then the cruise line goes out of business, the insurance is not valid. Obviously, we are certain Royal Caribbean won't go out of business, but using an outside insurance company is a good idea for the better coverage as well. The type of Travel Guard insurance I use is the ProtectAssist Gold insurance, described as follows:

ProtectAssist® is an affordable alternative to our premier all-inclusive Cruise, Tour & Travel plan with a comprehensive package of travel assistance and concierge services available 24-hours a day, anywhere in the world.The Gold Plan (ProtectAssist) is an affordable alternative to our all-inclusive Platinum Plan. 

**** Plan offers:****

• Optional Cancel For Any Reason coverage!
• Cancellation due to Work Reasons coverage now included in base plan!
• Now includes Cancellation coverage due to involuntary Job Loss!
• Enhanced Medical and Emergency Evacuation benefits. Now primary coverage!
• Children age 17 and under covered at no additional cost! (Must be related to, and traveling with the primary insured)
• Optional Medical Evacuation to the hospital of your choice OR home! (with the purchase of Medical Coverage Upgrade)

With the Gold Plan, you receive coverage in the event of unforeseen Trip related expenses due to:

• Trip cancellation, interruption and delay due to a covered reason
• Being unable to go on Trip due to work-related reasons or involuntary job loss
• Emergency medical treatment or evacuation
• Lost, stolen or damaged baggage or travel documents
• Baggage delay
   

Additional insurance benefits available!
 If you purchase within 15 days* of your Initial Trip Payment, you'll receive:
 

• Coverage for financial default of an airline, a cruise line or tour operator. (Financial default is not covered for all travel suppliers.)
• Waiver of pre-existing medical conditions exclusion(Pre-existing medical conditions waiver applies to the first $30,000 of Trip cost per person.)
• Missed Connection benefit increases to $500 per person.
• Flight Guard coverage of $50,000 per person.

*Day one is the date the Trip payment was received.

Family Coverage

Coverage for children (age 17 and under) at no additional cost if all accompanying adults purchase coverage (child must be related to, and traveling with the primary adult and listed on the enrollment form).

Increase your coverage with these valuable additions to your Gold Plan.

Optional Coverages Include:

Cancel For Any Reason - 50% reimbursement of pre-paid nonrefundable expenses if you cancel your Trip for any reason not otherwise covered under the policy, up to 48 hours prior to your departure. (The Cancel for Any Reason upgrade must be purchased at the same time of base plan and it is only valid if purchased within 15 days of Initial Trip Payment. Coverage must be purchased for the full cost of all prepaid Trip arrangements.)

Medical Coverage Upgrade - Medical expense and emergency evacuation benefits are now doubled!  Includes Emergency Evacuation to the hospital of your choice or home. (Cannot be purchased separately.)

Flight Guard® - Additional coverage up to $500,000 due to a covered loss while flying.

Car Rental Collision Coverage - $35,000 in primary coverage. Covers cost of repairs due to covered damage to a rental car, up to the limit of coverage, for which the car rental contract holds you responsible. Subject to $250 deductible.

Comprehensive non-insurance travel services** automatically included with plan!
With the Gold Plan, every customer also has access to these valuable travel services when they travel:

- Arrangements for last-minute flight changes
- Hotel finder and reservations
- Rental car reservations
- Emergency medical assistance
- BagTrak -- lost baggage tracking
- Pre-Trip health and safety advisories
- Live e-mail and phone messaging to family and friends
- Cash transfers
- Airport transportation
- Golf course reservations
- Event ticketing
- Floral services
- Identity Theft restoration (Not available to residents of New York state.)
- Business Assistant

**Non-Insurance services are provided by Travel Guard Assist.

Please email Sandy with any questions regarding insurance.