Scenic Luxury Tours Travel Insurance - 2024 Review

Background

Scenic Luxury Cruises & Tours provides exciting and culturally rich ocean and river cruises to some of the most sought-after destinations in the world. They pride themselves on taking 5-star travel to a higher level and luxuries you would expect to pay extra for, such as butler service, are included in the cost of your cruise, making your vacation an unforgettable experience.

Our Scenic Luxury Cruise: The Best of the Balkans

For this review, we use a sample couple, ages 55 and 60, who selected a 15-day cruise through the Balkans for $9,200.

The trip begins in Budapest and ends in Bucharest and travels through countries considered the ‘crossroads of Europe’.

As you proceed through the booking process, you are given the option to include free return airfare OR receive $1000 off the trip cost per person, but not both. You must select one or the other. We opted to find our own airfare and took the $1000/pp discount instead. This reduces our overall cruise cost to $7200.

Another option you are presented prior to purchase is the ‘Deposit Protection’ plan. This $125 per person upsell lets you reschedule your booking within 24 months (whether you use it or not) without losing the original non-refundable deposit. However, travel insurance renders this charge irrelevant. Simply cancel the trip for a covered reason and the insurance reimburses you for the deposit so you can rebook when ready. Therefore, we declined this upsell. Our final total cost after taking the $1000pp discount comes to $7200 for both travelers.

How to Buy Travel Insurance with Scenic’s Partner – TripMate

Scenic does not sell their own travel insurance.  They have partnered with TripMate to provide travel insurance. You must go to the TripMate website for a quote and to purchase. In 2019 TripMate was acquired by Generali Global, so the policies they provide are Generali policies.

When looking at the insurance on TripMate, we have a choice of the Travel Protection Plan or the Travel Protection Plus Plan which is their Cancel For Any Reason (CFAR) policy. Coverages for both are listed below:

Trip:

Medical:

Baggage:

The Travel Protection Plan provides $50,000 of medical coverage and $100,000 of medical evacuation coverage. Pre-existing medical conditions are automatically waived if the policy is purchased within 14 days of the initial trip deposit or payment.

Choosing the Travel Protection Plus provides the same coverage but adds the Cancel For Any Reason benefit to provide a 75% refund of the trip cost if cancelling for a reason not listed in the policy.

In terms of price, for our sample trip, choosing the Travel Protection Plan would be $782 while the Travel Protection Plus Plan would be $1174.

Now let’s compare with travel insurance we can find in the open marketplace for our trip.

Alternatives to Scenic’s Travel Insurance

Travel Insurance covers the financial costs of an unexpected event while traveling from lost bags to medical treatment. Trip Insurance shines when it can cushion worst case scenarios.

Therefore, we recommend traveling with at least $100,000 of Medical Insurance protection, $250,000 Medical Evacuation, and a Pre-existing Medical Conditions Waiver. For trips further afield such as Antarctica or Southeast Asia, we recommend having a minimum of $500,000 of medical evacuation.

To find alternative options to Scenic’s insurance through TripMate, we ran comparison quotes for the $7,200 trip using the Cruise Insurance 101 travel insurance quote engine.

The least expensive policy that meets our minimum requirements is the Trawick First Class. This policy provides $150,000 of medical coverage and $1 million of medical evacuation coverage as well as providing a waiver for pre-existing medical conditions as long as the policy is purchased withing 14 days of the initial trip payment or deposit. Total cost for both travelers combined is $377.74, which is $404.16 LESS than the Travel Protection program offered by TripMate.

Next, we look at a comparable Cancel for Any Reason (CFAR) policy. The least expensive policy that meets our requirements is the Trawick First Class (CFAR 75%).

It also provides $150,000 of medical coverage and $1 million of medical evacuation coverage as well as providing a waiver for pre-existing medical conditions as long as the policy is purchased withing 14 days of the initial trip payment or deposit. Total cost for both travelers combined is $642.16, which is $531.85 LESS than the Travel Protection Plus program offered by TripMate.

Both Trawick plans offer greater benefits at a much lower price than Scenic’s travel insurance through TripMate! Let’s see how the policies compare side-by-side:

Benefit	Scenic Luxury Cruises’ Protection Plan	Scenic Luxury Cruises’ Protection Plus Plan (with CFAR)	Trawick First Class	Trawick First Class (CFAR 75%)
Trip Cancellation	100% of trip cost	100% of trip cost	100% of trip cost	100% of trip cost
Trip Interruption	150% of trip cost	150% of trip cost	150% of trip cost	150% of trip cost
Medical Insurance	$50,000	$50,000	$150,000	$150,000
Medical Evacuation	$100,000	$100,000	$1,000,000	$1,000,000
Baggage Loss/Damage	$1,500	$1,500	$500/article up to $2,000 per person	$500/article up to $2,000 per person
Baggage Delay	$500	$500	$400	4300
Travel Delay (Incl quarantine)	$750 ($150/day)	$750 ($150/day)	$1000 per person	$1000 per person
Missed Connection	$750	$750	$1,000 per person	$500 per person
Cover Pre-existing Medical Conditions	Yes, if purchased within 14 days of deposit	Yes, if purchased within 14 days of deposit	Yes, if purchased within 14 days of deposit	Yes, if purchased within 14 days of deposit
Cancel For Work Reason	No	No	No	No
Interrupt For Any Reason	No	No	No	No
Cancel For Any Reason	No	75% of non-refundable trip cost	No	75% of trip cost in cash
Accidental Death & Dismemberment	$25,000	$25,000	$25,000	$25,000
Cost of Policy	$782 (10.9% of trip cost)	$1174.00 (16.3% of trip cost)	$377.74 (5.2% of trip cost)	$642.16 (8.9% or trip cost)

Cost Comparison

Overall, both the Protection Plan and Protection Plus Plan have minimal coverage for an extremely high price.

By shopping for cruise insurance through Cruise Insurance 101 our two travelers can have 3x times the medical coverage and 10x more medical evacuation coverage than the Scenic Luxury Cruises’ Plans.

The Trawick First Class is $404.16 LESS than the Protection Plan while the Trawick First Class (CFAR 75%) is $531.85 LESS than the Protection Plus Plan. The savings with these policies could be used for airfare, additional excursions, or shopping.

In the following sections, we discuss know what to look for when shopping for travel insurance for your Scenic Luxury Tours & Cruises trip.

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 Scenic’s Protection Plan and Protection Plus Plan provide a wide range of cancellation reasons listed below, which are similar to the reasons listed in policies available at Cruise Insurance 101:

• Unexpected injury, illness, or death of traveler or non-traveling family member
• Involvement of a traffic accident that causes you to miss your cruise
• Residence uninhabitable by natural disaster, fire, flood, burglary
• Destination uninhabitable or unreachable by fire, flood, or natural disaster
• Revocation of military leave
• Subpoena or being called to serve jury duty
• Hurricanes
• Documented theft of passports or visas
• Employer-initiated transfer of 250 miles or more
• Mechanical breakdown of a common carrier
• Terrorism
• Default or bankruptcy of the common carrier or travel supplier
• Strikes

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.

Both the Travel Protection and Protection Plus Plans provide 150% refund of trip costs as do the Trawick First Class and First Class (CFAR 75%) policies.

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 Scenic cruise for a reason not listed in their travel policy, there is no refund with the Protection Plan, but you would receive a 75% refund in cash with the Protection Plus Plan. Surprisingly, they do refund in cash instead of cruise credits like other cruise lines. When it comes to refunds, we always prefer cash since future credits may not be used.

Travel insurance policies like the Trawick First Class (CFAR 75%) also pay a 75% cash refund of all prepaid, non-refundable trip costs including arrangements made outside of Scenic. This could include hotels, 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.

Scenic’s Protection and Protection Plus Plans only provide a $50,000 benefit for Medical Insurance. Both the Trawick First Class and First Class (CFAR 75%) policies includes $150,000 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 $35,000 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. However, if traveling to Asia or Africa or beyond, we recommend a minimum of $500,000 for Emergency Medical Evacuation due to the distance from the US.

Scenic’s Protection and Protection Plus Plans include Medical Evacuation up to $100,000 per person. The Trawick First Class and First Class (CFAR 75%) plans offer $1 million 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 Protection and Protection Plus Plans cover Pre-Existing Conditions as long as the policy is purchased within 14 days of the initial trip payment or deposit. This is also the case for the Trawick First Class and First Class (CFAR 75%) plans.

Price and Value

The Scenic Protection and Protection Plus Plans offer lower than expected coverage for the high price. The medical insurance coverage is only $50,000, and the medical evacuation coverage is only $100,000, which may not be adequate for a serious illness or injury. We were pleased to see both plans offer a Pre-Existing Condition Exclusion Waiver, robust cancellation reasons and cash refunds when using the Cancel For Any Reason option. While better than many other cruise insurances, the price for this coverage is very high.

In contrast, by comparison shopping, we found the Trawick First Class policy comes in at $377.74, which is $404.16 LESS than the Scenic Protection Plan while the Trawick First Class (CFAR 75%) comes in at $642.16, which is $531.85 LESS than the Scenic Protection Plus Plan. Both Trawick plans include superior medical and evacuation benefits, as well as the pre-existing medical condition waiver if purchased within a Time Sensitive Period of 14 days from the deposit date, and a robust list of cancellation reasons. The extra savings over the Scenic plans could be used for additional excursions, shopping, or meals.

Conclusion

The Scenic Protection and Protection Plus Plans provide decent coverage in most areas but not enough medical coverage for our comfort. Their upsell of the Deposit Protection Plan should be avoided as this benefit is a waste of money and can be adequately covered by regular trip insurance. Overall, we rate it a 7 out of 10.

Travelers planning a Scenic Luxury Tours 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 Scenic Luxury Tours vacation 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 (786) 751-2984. We would love to hear from you.

Safe Travels!