Travel Protection for Wave Season
Every year after the holiday season, Wave Season begins, offering cruisers some of the best deals of the year. Savvy travelers and agents know this is a great time to book, but also remembering the importance of travel protection for such a trip. TripAssure is providing the top travel protection tips for Wave Season.
Shop Early
Just as Wave Season encourages early shopping, travel protection contains the most value to those who purchase soon after booking. All TripAssure plans offer the Pre-Existing Conditions Waiver if the plan is purchased within 15 days of the initial trip deposit date. Similarly, the TripAssure Complete plan also offers Cancel For Any Reason (CFAR) benefits within this time frame (there are a few other requirements we will discuss later in the article). The last reason is a basic concept of insurance; a plan must be effective before a peril occurs in order to provide benefits. If you wait to buy insurance until the loss is known, it is too late to purchase travel protection for that incident. A common example is that a plan must be purchased before a storm is named in order to cover that tropical storm or hurricane.
Consider the Trip Cost
TripAssure travel protection plans allow you to choose the amount of trip cost to insure. This should include any pre-paid and non-refundable travel arrangements, whether cruise, flight, lodging, tours, etc. The reason this is important is because it sets the benefit limit for Trip Cancellation and Trip Interruption coverage. The only instance where TripAssure requires the full trip cost to be insured is to qualify for the CFAR benefit in the Complete plan. Travelers may also choose to insure zero trip cost and still receive other benefits such as Emergency Medical, Medical Evacuation, Travel Delay, Missed Connection, Baggage, etc.
Don’t Cut Your Arrival Too Close
Experienced cruisers know not to plan their arrival too close to the ship’s departure. But there are situations that can be out of the control of even the best planners. TripAssure plans include Missed Connection coverage to help when a flight delay of 3 or more hours results in missing the cruise. Travelers may be reimbursed for additional transportation costs to catch up to the cruise, usually at the next port of call.
Hurricanes Have Their Own Season
Every year, for half of the year, the Atlantic Hurricane Season presents potential threat to summer and fall travel. Officially June 1 through November 30, may cause cruises to be cancelled, delayed, or re-routed, resulting in a variety of potential losses for travelers. Flight cancellations, cruise cancellations, last minute changes in cruise itinerary, and these are just a few examples. TripAssure plans include multiple benefits to help during extreme weather: Trip Cancellation, Trip Interruption, Missed Connection, and Trip Delay. Learn the specific details of hurricane coverage in the TripAssure Travel Protection Guide for Hurricane Season.
Make It Your Choice
Cancel For Any Reason, or CFAR, is the benefit that allows travelers to make the decision themselves of whether to take the trip or cancel, no explanation required. TripAssure Complete includes this benefit at no additional cost if the requirements are met. As previously mentioned, the first 2 are to insure the full cost of the trip, and purchase the plan within 15 days of the initial deposit date. Next is that travelers have until two days before departure to utilize this coverage benefit. Once the trip is within 2 days, it can no longer be cancelled under CFAR. Last is that CFAR will reimburse 75% of the trip cost. This is different from Trip Cancellation, which requires the trip be cancelled due to a covered reason, and will reimburse 100% of the trip cost. The TripAssure Complete plan includes both categories, so a traveler cancelling the trip would choose which benefit to claim, based on the situation.
This information is meant to be a summary of the travel protection benefits and trips for Wave Season. Please always refer to the plan documents for specific details and please contact TripAssure with any questions.