Why Cruisers Need Trip Cancellation & Trip Interruption During Hurricane Season

Although it’s only May, travellers are booking their fall cruises now. The 2019 State of the Cruise Industry Outlook predicts that cruise travel will continue to grow in 2019, with an estimated 30 million travellers expected to cruise—up 6% from 2018. Good news for travel insurance providers!

The cruise season dovetails with hurricane and typhoon season (from June to November), so informed travellers will want to cover their trips with travel insurance. Trip Cancellation & Trip Interruption or a stand-alone Trip Interruption plan are great plans to start with. However, travellers should know that coverage may be impacted if the Government of Canada issues an official travel advisory at the two highest risk levels: “avoid non-essential travel” and “avoid all travel”.

To help your customers understand the importance of travel insurance and how advisories impact their coverage, here are a few scenarios.

Tip: Let your customers know that the best time to buy travel insurance is as soon as they finalize their trip. If they don’t already have coverage, offer TuGo’s Trip Cancellation & Trip Interruption Insurance—it doesn’t have a purchase window, so they can buy it any time before their trip!

Cruising to a hurricane hotspot
Miguel booked a cruise to Florida and bought Trip Cancellation & Trip Interruption Insurance. Because he knows Florida is a hotspot for hurricanes, he’s vigilant about checking travel.gc.ca travel advisories for updates. If there’s an official travel advisory to “avoid non-essential travel” or “avoid all travel” due to a hurricane on the day he leaves on his trip, he may be covered if he decides to cancel his trip.

There’s a travel advisory in place for the cruise destination
Farrah and Chloe have booked their cruise to Belize and bought Trip Cancellation & Trip Interruption coverage. Two days before they leave, a hurricane approaches their destination, and the Canadian government issues an official travel advisory to “avoid non-essential travel”. The advisory is still in place on their departure date, so their coverage will cover the cost of their cancelled trip.

There's a typhoon in a current destination
Samir is in port on a cruise stopover in Japan, when a typhoon hits. He still has a week left of his trip, but the Canadian government issues an official travel advisory to “avoid non-essential travel” to the area. Samir decides to come home early. Since he bought Trip Interruption coverage before his trip, and there was no travel advisory in place when he left Canada, he can return home early while the travel advisory’s still in place; his travel insurance will cover the cost of his trip home.

If you’ve got customers travelling in the eye of hurricane season, make sure to find out where they’re headed and ensure they’re up-to-date on travel advisories by monitoring the Government of Canada’s website. As always, remind them that the best time to buy Trip Cancellation & Trip Interruption Insurance is when they book their trip.
 
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