Travel Insurance - Annual, Trip-specific, favorite carriers?

I have a Raja Ampat trip in 2022, for which I want to get travel insurance.  I've had DAN insurance for 20+  years (their annual plan) and always an additional "trip-specific" policy when I travel overseas. (overkill?) (Trip-specific meaning a separate plan I buy for a 2 week (+/-) day dive trip).   I only take a couple trips a year.

I'm wondering what travel  insurance plans people are getting these days for overseas trips?

Do I need a "trip-specific plan" if I have annual coverage? 

              Do you prefer DAN or DiveAssure for the annual plan - or another? 

             Do I need annual coverage at all?

What "trip-specific" carriers have you had good luck with?

In a perfect world, the plan would include coverage for the following:

• All the normal stuff (medical, trip cancellation, travel delay, lost bags, repatriation of remains ...) and so forth - but ALSO
• Cancellation for days you can't dive (for sickness or weather or...)
• Some sort of gear / camera loss coverage
• Covid coverage (many seem to have that now - although I'm not sure how good it is)
• Competitively priced

I've had good luck with Generali, RoamRight, and IMG.  I have never insured my trip-specific holiday through DAN or DiveAssure but they appear to have interesting coverages for those things I listed  above.

Thank you!

I assume by trip specific you mean regular travel insurance you take out to cover any sort of holiday.  DAN - at least the product offered in Australia  is specifically an secondary policy which makes up the difference between other cover and what DAN covers, if you read the conditions it doesn't cover a lot of the other stuff regular policies cover like cancellation, delays, theft etc.  As I understand it membership provides emergency evacuation and the plans cover diving injuries with quite high coverage costs to allow for the expense of things like chamber treatments. 

I don't have any specific recommendations apart from ensuring you read the fine print to see what is and is not covered and various restrictions.  For example they might include "COVID cover", but exclude government actions which would include border closures so you may not be be covered if you were prevented from travelling, or if flights were not available. 

The gear/camera loss restrictions for many policies often have individual item value restrictions which would make them worthless for anything more than a TG-6 for example, even if the total amount insured looks OK.  If you using a housed DSLR or similar the it may not cover the full value of that, but again read the fine print.  Watch out for details like no coverage for water damage which is a common exclusion.

Thank you for the info!

I think that DAN is only insurance regarding the diving activity. 
Not for other risks on the travel.

Before Covid DAN, VISA platin card plus "Fairsicherung" for photographic equipment seemed enough for our needs...

If travelling by plane now (MAYBE it will come so far in September) I will make a special, additional, insurance for covid associated risks...

Wolfgang

I've been doing a bit of research on the subject found that a number of the travel insurance policies (at least in the US) will insure you for COVID-19.  While that sounds good, you need to read the details.  They will pay (reimburse) IF you get sick with COVID while on your trip or if the fact you have COVID prevents you from going on your trip (you have to actually have the virus.  Being scared to travel doesn't count).  No doubt there are lots of terms and conditions that have to be met.  

Some plans are specific to scuba diving trips.  I like the fact they will reimburse if weather or illness (even a stuffy nose) prevents you from diving a day(s) on your pre-paid dive trip (with the proper documentation).  DiveAssure, for example, even has a specific rider for liveaboard trips.  Again - careful with the terms and conditions...    The dive specific travelers insurance plans (like DiveAssure) don't seem to have "pre-existing condition waivers" or cover you in case your family gets sick and you have to cancel your trip.

Regular travel insurance (not dive specific) will often cover you if you have to cancel due to a sick family member, lose your job, get stuck in jury duty and some, under certain conditions, have "pre-existing condition waivers".  Since they are not "scuba diving specific policies) they may or may not reimburse you for cancelled dive days.  Careful too when it comes to what they call "extreme sports".  Some companies exclude coverage for scuba diving all together, whereas some companies allow diving to 100 feet with a dive master. 

www.squaremouth.com is a good aggregator of travel insurance in the US.  Think of them as the Amazon of travel insurance.  I have used Squaremouth numerous times to select the right policy to meet my needs for each particular trip.  They even have a "no complaints guarantee" (which I have used) whilst fighting an insurance company for one reason or another.  (my guess is that Squaremouth does soooo much business in the US that travel insurance companies don't want to piss them off).  I haven't found their prices to be any different that bypassing them and going directly to the insurance company.