Every travel agent worth their salt ends a new cruise booking with the question, “Would you like trip insurance?” Too often our clients quickly dismiss the suggestion with a wave of their hand, not wanting to tack on an additional expense to their cruise vacation (which we most likely got them a great deal on!).

Before you dismiss the idea of trip insurance, think again. In general, it’s easy to rebook a missed flight or get credit for a hotel room. But cruise lines have seriously tough cancellation policies. If for some reason you cancel at the last minute, and you didn’t take our advice to buy travel insurance, then you will most likely lose your entire cruise fare, with no possibility of a refund or credit.

But why on earth would you cancel last minute, you ask. Reasons could include a death in the family, sudden illness, missed flight, freak weather storm or a job layoff, just to name a few.

You can take all of those reasons and toss them out the window when you buy travel insurance. It costs just a small percentage of your cruise and can save you a lot of heartache and grief if something does happen.

We can help you figure out which insurance option is right for you. Together we’ll consider factors like pre-existing condition waivers and whether buying from a travel-insurance specialist is better than directly from the cruise line (in our experience, it typically is). We’ll also go over the policy with you to make sure you understand every line, as well as help you use the policy to recoup any expenses if needed.