Disney Cruise Travel Insurance - 2024 Review

Known for their amazing trips for families, Disney cruises also provide spectacular cruises for adults as well. Adults can enjoy exciting nightlife, intimate dining experience and luxurious spa treatments. Plus, with Disney's signature service, attention to detail, and rich storytelling are some of the reasons why Disney cruises are voted among the best at sea.

Our Cruise – 3-Night Bahamian Cruise

Our trip is a 3-day Caribbean cruise to the Bahamas, January 21 – 24, 2022 for 2 travelers aged 62 and 60. It leaves from Port Canaveral, FL and cruises to Nassau and on to Disney’s own island – Castaway Cay, before returning to Port Canaveral.

Total cost for the cruise and a cabin with a private veranda is $1,767.08. As pricing for airfare, if needed, can vary greatly depending on when purchased, we have not included it in our example.

Upon checkout, we’re asked if we’d like to purchase the Disney Protection Plan for an additional $126.24. Interestingly, this plan can be individually purchased, so one traveler could purchase the insurance (for $63.12), while the other traveler could decline.

What Disney Cruise Travel Insurance Includes

The Disney Protection Plan is a basic policy covering Trip Cancellation and Trip Interruption (up to $10,000 maximum trip cost), $10,000 for medical coverage and $30,000 for medical evacuation. The plan also comes with a Cancel For Any Reason (CFAR) benefit which will provide a 75% future cruise credit valid for one year. While this is nice, we always prefer cash as you may not be able to cruise next year.

Comparison Quotes

Based on our sample couple, ages 62 and 60, we created comparison quotes using Cruise Insurance 101 travel insurance marketplace engine. The trip cost used for the comparison is the cruise cost for both travelers is $1,767.08.

When traveling outside the United States, we recommend a minimum coverage of $100,000 in Medical Insurance, $250,000 in Medical Evacuation, and a Pre-existing Medical Condition Waiver. We used these criteria to choose the selected quotes.

The least expensive plan with adequate coverage on our quote from Cruise Insurance 101 is the Trawick Voyager. This plan would be comparable to the Disney Vacation Protection Plan without the Cancel For Any Reason (CFAR) option.

This policy provides $250,000 of medical coverage and $1 million of medical evacuation per person. Unlike the Disney Vacation Protection Plan, it also provides a waiver to cover any pre-existing medical conditions provided you purchase the policy on or before the final trip payment is made. Total cost for both travelers is $117.11. This policy has 25 times the medical coverage and 33 times more medical evacuation coverage for $9.13 LESS than the Disney Vacation Protection Plan.

For a Cancel For Any Reason policy, we chose the Trawick Voyager (CFAR 75%), because it is the least expensive plan with Cancel For Any Reason (CFAR) benefits and would be comparable to the Disney Vacation Protection Plus Plan.

This policy is similar to the Trawick Voyager but adds the Cancel For Any Reason (CFAR) benefit. This policy also provides $250,000 of medical coverage and $1 million of medical evacuation per person as well as a waiver to cover any pre-existing medical conditions provided you purchase the policy on or before the final trip payment is made. Finally, it provides the ability to cancel for any reason not listed in the policy and receive a 75% refund (in cash, NOT cruise credit) of the non-refundable trip cost. Total cost for both travelers is $199.06. This policy has 25 times the medical coverage and 33 times more medical evacuation coverage for a minimal $72.82 more than the Disney Vacation Protection Plan.

Next, we broke down the benefits of each policy in a side-by-side comparison.

Benefit	Disney Vacation Protection Plan (with CFAR)	Trawick Voyager	Trawick Voyager CFAR 75%)
Trip Cancellation	Trip cost up to $10,000	100% of trip cost	100% of trip cost
Trip Interruption	Trip cost up to $10,000	150% of trip cost	150% of trip cost
Medical Insurance	$10,000	$250,000	$250,000
Medical Evacuation	$30,000	$1,000,000	$1,000,000
Baggage Loss/Damage	$3,000	$500/article up to $2,500 per person	$500/article up to $2,500 per person
Baggage Delay	$500	$600	$600
Travel Delay (Incl quarantine)	$500	$2000pp ($150/day) (optional upgrade to $4000 or $7000)	$2000 pp ($150/day) (optional upgrade to $4000 or $7000)
Missed Connection	No	$1,000 per person	$1,000 per person
Cover Pre-existing Medical Conditions	No	Yes, if purchased on or before the final trip payment	Yes, if purchased on or before the final trip payment
Cancel For Work Reason	No	No	No
Interrupt For Any Reason	N/A	No	No
Cancel For Any Reason	75% of trip cost (cruise credit only)	No	75% of trip cost
Accidental Death & Dismemberment	None	$25,000	$25,000
Cost of Policy	$126.24 (7.14% of trip cost)	$117.11 (6.62% of trip cost)	$199.06 (11.2% or trip cost)

Cost Comparison

Overall, the Disney Vacation Protection Plan has minimal coverage for traveling outside the US. Their Cancel For Any Reason (CFAR) coverage only provides a cruise credit valid for one year and does not refund in cash. This can be an issue for travelers who may not be able to travel the following year. Trip costs would be lost in this situation.

By shopping for cruise insurance through Cruise Insurance 101, our two travelers can save a bit over $9 purchasing the Trawick Voyager policy and have much better medical coverage and medical evacuation coverage than they would get from the Disney Vacation Protection Plan. If receiving a cash refund instead of a cruise credit is desirable, then the Trawick Voyager (CFAR 75%) would be a great option as it has much higher medical coverage and medical evacuation coverage and provides a refund in cash instead of a cruise credit, for about $73 more than the Disney Vacation Protection Plan.

In the following sections, we discuss know what to look for when shopping for travel insurance for your Disney cruise.

Trip Cancellation

A significant concern for travelers is Trip Cancellation. If you became ill or had an accidental injury prior to your departure date, you may have to cancel your travel arrangements, resulting in financial losses. While disappointing, Trip Cancellation is doubly painful without cancellation insurance.

The Disney Vacation Protection Plan permits cancellation for the following reasons:

• Unexpected injury, illness, or death of traveler, traveling companion or family member.
• Hijacking, quarantine, jury duty, subpoena
• Residence uninhabitable by natural disaster, fire, flood, burglary
• Involuntary termination (layoff)
• Revocation of military leave
• Trip delayed more than 50% of scheduled duration

Unfortunately, Disney’s list of cancellation reasons lacks some important coverages.

We recommend policies also include:

• Strikes
• Terrorism
• Default or bankruptcy of the common carrier or travel supplier
• Cancel For Work Reason (should a traveler be required to work during the trip)
• Employer-initiated transfer of 250 miles or more
• Destination uninhabitable or unreachable by fire, flood or natural disaster
• Mechanical breakdown of a common carrier
• Mandatory evacuation
• Hurricanes
• Documented theft of passports or visas.

The Disney Vacation Protection Plans only pay a maximum of $10,000 for Trip Cancellation, instead of the full trip cost. It also does not cover any travel arrangements booked outside Disney.

Both the Trawick Voyager and the Trawick Voyager (CFAR 75%) policies can cover all travel arrangements, regardless of where you booked them. In addition, they both offer a 100% refund for covered Trip Cancellations, a 150% refund for covered Trip Interruptions, and a broad list of covered reasons, including cancelling due to contracting COVID.

Trip Interruption

A Trip Interruption is a situation during your trip that causes you to miss some or the rest of your vacation. It’s like Trip Cancellation but happens during your travels.

The most common trip interruption is the injury or illness of a traveler. If you had an injury or illness on your vacation but can continue traveling after treatment, trip interruption reimburses the unused portion of the trip, and the cost to rejoin the trip in progress.

Trip interruption also includes a family member who had a sudden grave illness or passed away. If your covered situation requires curtailing the trip and going home early, Trip Interruption also reimburses for the unused portion of the trip, plus the added cost of going home early.

In the Disney Vacation Protection Plans, Trip Interruption benefits share the same list of covered reasons as Trip Cancellation and have the same $10,000 cap.

Travel insurance plans like the Trawick Voyager and Trawick Voyager (CFAR 75%) offer 150% of trip costs for interruption. Therefore, they cover up to 100% of the unused costs, plus up to an additional 50% to cover transportation costs to return home.

Cancel For Any Reason

Cancel For Any Reason cruise insurance provides the highest level of flexibility and reimbursement if you must cancel your trip for any reason not covered by the policy.

If you cancel your Disney cruise for a reason not listed in the Disney policy, they grant future credits for 75% of the prepaid, non-refundable cancellation fees paid to them. Credits expire after one year, are non-transferrable and not redeemable for cash. Disney, not their insurance policy, provides this part of the Vacation Protection Plan. When it comes to refunds, we always prefer cash since future credits may not be used.

Alternatively, travel insurance policies like Trawick Voyager with Cancel For Any Reason included pay a 75% cash refund of all prepaid, non-refundable trip costs including arrangements made outside of Disney. This could include flights, hotels, rental cars, excursions, and transfers.

Cancel For Any Reason policies have several stipulations:

1. Purchase the policy within 10 - 21 days (depending on policy), of your initial payment or deposit date and
2. Insure 100% of the prepaid trip costs subject to cancellation penalties or restrictions. For additional prepaid non-refundable payments made after the purchase of the policy, insure within 10-21 days (depending on policy), of each subsequent payment added to your trip, and
3. Cancel your trip 2 days or more before your scheduled departure date.

Medical Insurance for Emergency Treatment

One of the most important factors in selecting trip insurance is having adequate Medical Insurance when you travel. Anything can happen, including accidental injuries or sudden illness.

If you have a medical emergency when traveling and don’t have proper medical insurance coverage while overseas, you could find yourself with huge, unexpected hospital bills. Many Americans mistakenly believe countries with universal health care will treat them for free. Unfortunately, this is not the case.

Instead, Americans receive treatment at private hospitals, not public, and must pay like anyone else. Admission for inpatient care can cost $3,000-$4,000 per day, plus the cost of treatment, x-rays, surgeries, and specialists.

A common misconception is that Medicare will pay for hospitalization overseas.  Unfortunately, they won’t. Medicare does not pay providers outside the US. Some Medicare supplements do cover overseas, but have lifetime limits or reduced benefits, and pay for emergencies only. They can still require you to pay 20% of the costs. As a result, you could go on vacation and end up with medical bills in the thousands.

Cruise Insurance 101 urges overseas travelers to take travel medical insurance of at least $100,000 per person. In a medical emergency, $100,000 provides ample health care and helps protect your retirement savings from unexpected financial burdens.

The Disney Vacation Protection Plan provides a $10,000 benefit for Medical Insurance. Trawick’s Voyager policies includes $250,000 per person of Medical Insurance, so you can receive proper treatment without ending up in debt.

Emergency Medical Evacuation

Medical Insurance isn’t the only potentially expensive part of a trip. Emergency Medical Evacuation transports you from the place of injury or illness to the closest hospital. Once you’re stable enough for transport, Medical Evacuation brings you home via commercial flight or, if necessary, private medical jet.

Medical flights can cost up to $25,000 per hour and regular health insurance does not cover it. In addition, the US State Department does not offer any medical treatment or evacuation assistance for US citizens. Cruise Insurance 101 advises travelers to get at least $250,000 Medical Evacuation to assure there’s enough coverage to get them back home from almost anywhere if they experience a serious medical event.

The Disney Vacation Protection Plan includes Medical Evacuation up to $30,000 total.  The Trawick Voyager plan provides $1,000,000 per person for Medical Evacuation, so you can feel secure knowing you have adequate coverage to transport you back home if needed.

Pre-existing Medical Conditions

A significant concern for senior travelers can be pre-existing medical conditions. A Pre-Existing Medical Condition is one in which you’ve received medical treatment, testing, medication changes, added new medications, or received a recommendation for a treatment or test that hasn’t happened yet. Most travel insurance policies exclude pre-existing conditions unless you purchase the policy within the required time period from your initial trip deposit date (called the Time Sensitive Period). Otherwise, the insurer will look backward 60, 90, or 180 days (depending on the policy) from the date you purchased the insurance to see if there are any pre-existing medical conditions they won’t cover. This is called the Look Back Period. Any medical conditions older than this Look Back Period, unchanged or stabilized with no medication dosage changes are covered, as are any new conditions that arise after you purchase the policy.

If you must cancel, interrupt, or seek medical treatment for a medical condition while traveling, travel insurance policies typically exclude claims related to pre-existing medical conditions. However, if you purchase the policy within a few days of your Initial Trip Payment or Deposit date, many policies add a Waiver to the policy that covers pre-existing Conditions. As a result, there is no Look Back Period and pre-existing conditions are covered.

The Disney Vacation Protection Plan does NOT cover pre-existing medical conditions.

However, the Trawick Voyager policy DOES cover pre-existing medical conditions as long as you purchase the insurance on or before the final trip payment.

Price and Value

The Disney Vacation Protection Plan carries minimal coverage and can be more expensive than other viable options. They limit the maximum trip cancellation or interruption refund to $10,000 total. In addition, the medical insurance coverage is only $10,000, and only $30,000 for medical evacuation, which may not be adequate for a serious illness or injury. Cancellation reasons are limited and the Cancel For Any Reason option only grants future cruise credits that expire after a year. Overall, the Vacation Protection Plan offers limited value for the price.

In contrast, by comparison shopping, we found the Trawick Voyager was less expensive than the Disney Vacation Protection Plan. It includes superior medical and evacuation benefits, 100% refund for trip costs for covered cancellation, 150% refund for covered trip interruption, and a robust list of cancellation reasons.

The Trawick Voyager (CFAR 75%) plan was $73 more than the Disney Vacation Protection Plan but provided much better coverage all around and most importantly refunds 75% of trip costs back in cash, rather than future credit.

Conclusion

The Disney Vacation Protection Plan provides travelers with a minimal insurance policy that could leave travelers unpleasantly surprised during an emergency. Medical coverage and medical evacuation limits are low, and there are a limited number of covered cancellation and interruption reasons, as well as insufficient trip cost reimbursement. Though they have a strong partner in Disney, the insurance itself is rather weak. Overall, we rate it a 7 out of 10.

Travelers planning a Disney cruise vacation will find the best value for their money and peace of mind when they shop for travel insurance at Cruise Insurance 101 Travel Insurance Marketplace. There, you can review dozens of options and select the best policy to fit your needs.

To help you find the best policy, Cruise Insurance 101 recommends having at least $100,000 in travel medical coverage and $250,000 emergency medical evacuation when traveling outside the US. And, if you purchase the policy within the 14-21 days of initial trip payment, please consider a travel insurance policy with the pre-existing condition waiver included to ensure the most coverage for your money.

If you are planning a Disney cruise in 2022, be sure to pack insurance before you travel. You never know when you may need it.

Have questions? Chat with us online, send us an email at agent@cruiseinsurance101.com or alternatively call us at +1(786) 751-2984/strong>. We would love to hear from you.

Safe Travels!