Should you buy travel insurance through a cruise line? Maybe not, experts say

Philip Perrey took a cruise with his family to Mexico in November, but navigating the travel insurance they purchased to protect their trip proved to be anything but a vacation.

A few months before the trip, he got a refund from Celebrity Cruises after the insurance he'd purchased for him and his wife, Lindsey, through the line had been canceled by mistake.

He bought a new policy through a separate provider, which came in handy when his flight to Miami was delayed and he had to rebook with another airline, reimbursing him for part of the original fare. "It was just not the way you want to start a cruise vacation," Perrey, 45, told USA TODAY.

But when he tried to help his in-laws – who had joined him, his wife and his parents on the cruise, and also purchased insurance through the line – get reimbursed, he had no such luck. Aon Affinity, which administered the coverage for his in-laws, asked for documentation from the airline stating the reason for the delay, Perrey said, which he did not know how to get (though his parents were able to get reimbursed without providing that document).

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"It left a really bad taste in my mouth on that policy," said Perrey, a minister based in St. Charles, Missouri. "We love Celebrity, we're going to keep cruising (with) Celebrity ... but I'm not buying their insurance."

While purchasing travel insurance through a cruise line can be convenient, experts say the coverage may not be as comprehensive as plans passengers can buy separately through third-party providers, and they may want to think twice about the type of policy they choose.

"Royal Caribbean Group guests can purchase travel protection through our trusted partners to protect their vacation purchase," a spokesperson for Royal Caribbean Group, the line's parent company, said in an email. The company "does not service the travel protection program," the spokesperson added, and directed inquiries about Celebrity's coverage to Aon.

Aon did not immediately answer USA TODAY's questions about Perrey's experience.

Should passengers buy travel insurance through a cruise line?

When booking a cruise, buying travel insurance can be as simple as ticking a box during checkout. "That's why it's so successful," said Suzanne Morrow, senior vice president of InsureMyTrip. "Because it's easy, and you don't have to think about it." (Cruise lines typically work with third-party insurers for the policies they provide.)

She said travel companies may also use "scare tactics" to incentivize those purchases. "They'll put in, 'Are you sure want to put X amount of dollars at risk?'"

But those policies may not provide the kind of protection customers are hoping for.

Morrow said travelers should first ask themselves if they want cash or credit. "A lot of the cruise line insurance, it's not (that) you get a refund. It's (that) you get cruise credit for a future cruise," she said.

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