Many of our clients, especially those who book their charters far in advance, often ask about Travel Insurance or Trip Cancellation Insurance. These two terms tend to be similar and people often use them indiscriminately. Just to try and put a little order in the house, here’s what you should know about Insurance for your Yachting Vacation.
People mainly insure for these reasons
a) To protect themselves from financial loss if they cannot take their full or partial charter vacation due to a variety of reasons like, for example, illness, airline delays, another person or persons in the group not being able to travel and even, in some cases, work related issues.
b) To ensure that if an illness or an accident strikes them while they are on vacation, that they are covered for medical expenses in the foreign country and emergency air-lifts to a mainstream hospital.
So in summary
IF A FAMILY MEMBER GETS SICK…..
IF YOUR BAGGAGE GETS LOST…..
IF YOU MISS A FLIGHT CONNECTION OR YOUR TRIP IS DELAYED…..
IF YOU LOSE YOUR JOB….
IF YOU HAVE A MEDICAL EMERGENCY OR NEED EVACUATION…
IF YOU NEED LAST MINUTE ACCOMMODATION….
It would be wise to think of trip cancellation insurance from a reputable company that specializes in this type of insurance.
Some of the better bareboat companies like the Moorings, Sunsail and Footloose offer similar trip cancellation insurance packages that come in the form of what they call a “Charter Care Protection Plan”. This insurance lets you off the hook for the charter fees already paid (the deposit) and those that you have not yet paid (the balance) if you have to cancel.
Reasons for a claim
It should be noted that there have to be specific reasons for a cancellation claim. These are usually spelled out in the small print. It’s not an open-ended policy. You can’t cancel simply because you don’t feel like going. There is a type of policy that is less specific but more expensive.
Luckily, like most things, you can do all of this on-line now so long as you’re dealing with reputable websites and insurance companies like Travel Guard, for example.
You can always ask us, we have been working with trip insurance firms and helping people plan yachting vacations for nearly 30 years.
