Trip Cancellation Insurance

I have never used trip insurance. Considering a 10 day liveaboard at Palau and wondering if I should use trip insurance. Pricing seems a bit steep for the insurance at ~5% of the cost of the trip. I believe nothing close to 5% of the people cancel out of such trips. But 5% is far cheaper than being out the total cost if something happens requiring cancellation.

Do people here use trip insurance often? Is 5% a typical cost?

I don't know about "5%"...but yes, I've used it on any trip in hurricane season.

Be careful about the grades available. e.g. Access America sells a couple different level at different premium costs. The one I bought unfortunately only kicked in with benefits if you lost > 48 hrs of your vacation time, so when our first attempt to land in Belize City occurred in the middle of a tropical storm, and the plane turned around and landed back at DFW instead (that was a looong day), we got nada.

I think the premium ends up being semi-related to how soon you buy ahead, but I haven't tested that. .e.g. if you buy way early they're insuring against a longer period of time before the event can go off successfully, since one of the things being insured is that YOU don't get injured in a way you're unable to take the trip....then again, you might also think they'd crank the premium right at the end to prevent buying when you already have a strong inkling (e.g. searching on www.hurricane.gov!) that a trip is about to go south on you Might make an interesting study testing out their online quoting with different dates to see how it influences their pricing....

In addition to DAN Preferred, I carry a non-diving medical policy for my foreign travel. It's with TravelGuard and is called "Business Traveler". It's an annual policy that costs about $450 including an option for $5000 of travel cancellation coverage. Above that amount, I self-insure. I have it principally for medical coverage, but the travel coverage is a nice kicker.

Here's the site: http://buy.travelguard.com/tgi2/proc/launch.aspx?br=tgdirect&intcmp=clc-001-Nav-2-ProductList&arc=000329&st=47&cn=1&dn=1&pcode=BUSTG&plan=124567&prc=008366

Go to the Description of Coverage tab for details.

I get a TravelGuard Gold policy for every trip I take, but I have a lot of scheduling issue that could come into play, and need to cancel for business reason that the policy offers. I've never had to file a claim, but several times I have to alter trips and make adjustments to the policies, and that has always gone smoothly.

I have never bought trip insurance in my 21 years of dive travel. I had one trip going to Bonaire a few years ago that was canceled because the Miami airport closed down for two days during a hurricane. The airlines fully refunded our money and the resort, Buddy Dive, gave each of us a credit to use in the next 12 to 18 months or something like that. I have found that at least the dive resorts will work with people to see that they at least get a credit for another trip.

I have probably saved enough money to take a couple of trips by not buying travel insurance.

I get family travel insurance FOC with my personal bank account and, for a small surcharge, it includes diving to 40 metres (diving to 30 metres is inclusive). This policy has paid out for me three times in the last four years for two cancelled trips and the theft of cameras in transit. If you are in the UK, the Lloyds Platinum account is one to look for. The only cost to me is to keep my credit balance above a certain level otherwise a very modest monthly fee is charged.

My annual travel policy (£120 year) covered my last trip that went south due to the diagnosis of a family member (father) with terminal cancer.