Travel Insurance for upcoming trip to Cozumel

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blue steal

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Location
Southern California/Redondo Beach area
# of dives
500 - 999
I have used travelsafe for the past few years as my travel insurance.
Learned my lesson several years ago when a hurricane hit the island and had none.
Looking at the reviews for travelsafe and they are not very encouraging.
Does anyone have suggestions for travel insurance for a two week trip in October.
I looked briefly at travelguard and also DAN has an offering both annual and for shorter trips.
I am and have always been covered with DAN dive insurance.
Thanks
 
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If your a member then DAN travel insurance will work.
 
Depends on what coverages are most important to you.
But the DAN insurance is provided by CSA Travel Protection which changed its name to GENERALI Travel Insurance. What I like about the new GENERALI plans is that they have sporting goods coverages---from theft, damage, delay.

Compare Travel Insurance Plans | Generali Global Assistance Sporting equipment coverages are included in the mid plan (called Preferred).
 
Depends on what coverages are most important to you.
But the DAN insurance is provided by CSA Travel Protection which changed its name to GENERALI Travel Insurance. What I like about the new GENERALI plans is that they have sporting goods coverages---from theft, damage, delay.

Compare Travel Insurance Plans | Generali Global Assistance Sporting equipment coverages are included in the mid plan (called Preferred).

Many plans have sporting equipment coverages. It will require some time, and reading policies, but they're there. Mind you, most, like me, will not consider it a good time. In fact, I'd rather sit in a dentist's chair. Sometimes the end justifies the means.

You do need to read the policies though. Some plans specifically exclude scuba diving. Some cover you to 120 feet, most that do cover scuba, cover to 130.

Companies do tweak their policies from time to time. The last two years, we used the same company and policy. This year I had to change; while our requirements remained the same, that particular policy no longer met those needs.

Our needs in no particular order:

1) Medical coverage (Primary because of the deductibles, and co-pay of our coverage here in the States). Most will wire money to gain your admittance to a hospital.
2) Reimbursement of costs because of cancelation because of family death or serious illness.
3) Reimbursement for travel delay and missed connections requiring an overnight stay due to lack of flights into our dinky airport.
4) Medical evacuation or repatriation of my remains should she finally be successful in poisoning me.
5) Coverage for the checked bag items in the event of an extended delay or loss.
6) And several other nice to have perks that for us, aren't deal breakers.

Edit to add: And if you're traveling during hurricane season, hurricane coverage in a number of different forms is available. That will require even more reading due to the various nuances of weather coverage.

Again, easy to find more for MUCH less than DAN.
 
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I'm not sure how you are defining "much less" but I'm not seeing a big difference in premiums for policies with similar coverage. Using a given set of parameters, DAN Preferred was $210, CSA/Generali direct $202, and 6 policies from InsureMyTrip ranged $195-235. Both DAN/CSA only offer cancel for any reason in the highest plan grade. I didn't see cancel for work reasons in any plan though involuntary loss of emplyment is a covered reason for cancellation. Maybe i'd have to get my boss to fire me and rehire me?
 
Dive insurance is one thing, travel insurance is another. I've never purchased travel insurance and I traveled to Cozumel in October annually for over a decade. One year a tropical depression decided to park itself over the island/region for a few days and that was bummer but no travel insurance would have kicked in as no mandatory evacuation order was issued. If it's windy and raining beyond belief due to a tropical depression and no mandatory evacuation order has been issued the insurance company is gonna say that's just tropical weather.

Realistically a hurricane could impact anywhere in October over a several thousand mile swath that generally spans from NC in the states all the way down to the depths of the southern Caribbean before you reach the ABC islands (Aruba/Bonair/Curacao) which are pretty much south of the hurricane zone. I say skip the travel insurance and travel with no concerns. The odds of you being at ground zero within 50-100 miles of the eye of a major hurricane in Cozumel during your 2 weeks in October are so small it's a waste of $ in my opinion. You caught your lightening strike of a hurricane in Coz already. I doubt you'll ever catch another hurricane strike on vaca there the rest of your life..
 
Dive insurance is one thing, travel insurance is another. I've never purchased travel insurance and I traveled to Cozumel in October annually for over a decade. One year a tropical depression decided to park itself over the island/region for a few days and that was bummer but no travel insurance would have kicked in as no mandatory evacuation order was issued. If it's windy and raining beyond belief due to a tropical depression and no mandatory evacuation order has been issued the insurance company is gonna say that's just tropical weather..

I disagree about the "no travel insurance would have kicked in" because there are policies that include cancel for any reason provision. And the insurance covers so much more than losses due to hurricanes. You could break your leg or lose your job just before departure. You could lose your bags with dive gear or get robbed at the hotel. You could get hurt on vacation and maybe need evacuation.

I do agree that travel insurance is overrated most of the time. For one thing, people tend to overinsure. They think airfare is $500, diving is $500, hotel is $500, and food/etc is $500. So $2000, right? Except insurance only covers your non-refundable cost. You can often get airline credit with a $200 penalty and cancel hotel and diving with adequate notice. You won't incur many costs if you never go, and if storms blow out diving then the charter isn't going to charge you. You can almost always mitigate your losses to some degree, if you already have DAN dive insurance and a good employee health insurance policy.

I could probably get hosed on my 5 vacations and still not be out what I've saved in premiums over the last 20 years. Assuming I can cover the medical in other ways. That's the wild card. That's the one that can blow away a lifetime of premiums. The cost of the vacation is absorbable.
 
Dive Assure is another option. If you call them instead of buying it online, you can opt for the travel insurance option without the dive accident. Alternatively, you can also get the travel insurance option with liveaboard rider without the dive accident, or you can get all 3 together which is what the online purchase will give you. For the most part, I favor Dive Assure over DAN's travel insurance if I am looking for dive product coverage (and by that I do not mean dive accident) - think nonrefundable liveaboards, dive resorts, etc.

If you are not really doing many prepaid/non-refundable services and products and are looking to just get coverage for hurricane or unfavorable weather, there are many other less expensive options out there. Their products also cover lost diving days, etc., and I think that adds to the cost. You should go with a more basic travel insurance option if you don't need all of the other fluff.
 

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