Trip Cancelation insurance

[hollywood65]

We have traveled to Mexico the last week of May for over 15 years and unfortunately we had to cancel this year. We always buy the insurance on the trip and luckily haven't had to use it until now. One of our dogs had surgery last week and it cost twice as much as our trip did. He's doing better now, but it still sucks that there won't be any Playa for us this year!

[Route307]

That Sucks, I had to cancel a trip back in February and it killed me.

Glad ur pooch is doing OK.

Hopefully u can get away for bit somewhere else.

[policegirl]

I am so sorry you had to cancel your trip and I know that sucks!!But we would have done the same thing for our pooches...they are part of the family and I pray that your pup feels better soon!!

[hollywood65]

Thanks Policegirl and Route307, they are our kids for sure. He gets his stiches out tomorrow. Only 7 more weeks of trying to keep our frisbee dog to stay calm and not play!

[Stace]

Presumably you had "cancel for any reason" trip insurance, because people should know that regular trip insurance wouldn't reimburse you for cancelling over a sick dog (sad to say)---or did you have some kind of pet insurance that covered your losses?
Stace

[mexisv]

Sorry about the canceled trip and sick pup. Our pets are like little people, I understand.

We never buy insurance as we do hotel and airfare separate. If we have to cancel, the hotel won't cost, the airfare would be a penalty of $100.00 each and we can use the flight miles later. We just take our chance.

We have bought insurance when we bought a package deal though.

[hollywood65]

We get the "cancel for any reason" insurance. For about $100 a person we feel it's well worth it. It sucks having to cancel but at least we didn't lose all of our money. We'll just have to get by this year through everyone's trip reports and photos!

[Sand Flea]

Wow, sorry to hear about your dog, glad he is doing better! I've never had to cancel a trip so far and hope I never do because I'm foolish and don't buy insurance.

[Rissask]

Originally Posted by Sand Flea

Wow, sorry to hear about your dog, glad he is doing better! I've never had to cancel a trip so far and hope I never do because I'm foolish and don't buy insurance.

It does not make you 'foolish'. It makes you a bit more of a risk taker or good at risk calculation, perhaps. For things like cars and homes and lives and health- insurance is smart, since it can possibly save you hundreds of thousands- for trips, not necesarily, depending on circumstances.


I have bought it only once in 26 trips- and coincidentally that was the only time I needed to cancel. And as it turned out, it was WestJet plane tickets, which you can cancel for a $50 charge anyway and reschedule within one year- so the insurance was unnecessary anyway.

I think we have saved enough to pay for at least a couple trips over the years now. Of course if our health or our parents' health changes, or finances, it might be worth buying it, too. It depends.


We have ma

[Route307]

Originally Posted by Sand Flea

Wow, sorry to hear about your dog, glad he is doing better! I've never had to cancel a trip so far and hope I never do because I'm foolish and don't buy insurance.

I do not buy trip insurance. I have had to cancel one time (this past February)in over 30 trips to playa. These trips included 2 weeks after Wilma and during the swine flu .

Trip insurance is not for everyone.

[hollywood65]

Originally Posted by Rissask

It does not make you 'foolish'. It makes you a bit more of a risk taker or good at risk calculation, perhaps. For things like cars and homes and lives and health- insurance is smart, since it can possibly save you hundreds of thousands- for trips, not necesarily, depending on circumstances.


I have bought it only once in 26 trips- and coincidentally that was the only time I needed to cancel. And as it turned out, it was WestJet plane tickets, which you can cancel for a $50 charge anyway and reschedule within one year- so the insurance was unnecessary anyway.

I think we have saved enough to pay for at least a couple trips over the years now. Of course if our health or our parents' health changes, or finances, it might be worth buying it, too. It depends.


We have ma

True...After about 50 trips now I guess the odds were that we would need to cancel a trip at some point unfortunately. We weren't gonna get ins. this time but at the last minute we decided to. Sure enough less than 2 weeks later our little Flaco tore all the ligaments and stuff in his ankle and had to have the surgery. Plus I've had 3 surgeries in the last few months with the possibility of needing another. For the $100 a person I guess it's worth the piece of mind just in case. Hopefully won't have to cancel again.
Can't wait for your next trip report!

[Shammy]

Sorry to hear about your doggie but I'm glad he's on the mend. And while insurance isn't for everybody, I'm glad you had it and it allowed you to walk away with a refund. Peace of mind has it's price. If I had all the money that clients who didn't have insurance lost on trips they had to cancel unexpectedly (two in the last two days in fact), I'd be retired and living off that money right now!

[DavidB]

Remember it's not only trip cancellation insurance it's also medical insurance. After two trips to the hospital in the last 4 trips we'll probably keep paying the $150 a trip for the insurance.

[WaterRat]

Yep.

As I've said before, all insurance is expensive --- until you need it, and then it's a fabulous bargain.

This last trip we upgraded a bit, and it became our primary medical insurer. More important to us perhaps because we're divers, and the policy included coverage for diving accidents. If hospitalization was required, they would have forwarded payment immediately, and asked questions later.

Additionally, while the most expensive gear was in our carry-ons, the lost, delayed luggage clause would sure take the sting out of replacing the gear in our checked bags.

Total cost was $175.00.

[Rissask]

Originally Posted by DavidB

Remember it's not only trip cancellation insurance it's also medical insurance. After two trips to the hospital in the last 4 trips we'll probably keep paying the $150 a trip for the insurance.

Good point- many people too often confuse the two.

I would never leave the country with good out-of-country emergency medical insurance. A major car accident or medical emergency could conceivably break you (especially in the US- as Mexico is comparatively cheap.) We just don't need to buy any, as we are both covered by our work benefits plan-includes evac. Also a good idea to have a credit card with a very high limit just in case you have to pay up front and get reimbursed by the insurer-very common.