Acruise is not just a vacation – it’s an investment.And you need to protect that investment.How? Purchasing some type of travel insurance is a necessity for any travel booking today. The need goes beyond personal factors that could surface,like a family medical emergency.The tragic events of 9/11 brought home the reality that the unforeseen can happen and disrupt even the best-laid travel plans. As a result, the purchase of travel insurance has skyrocketed since then.

When looking into insurance options for your group, you can consider two possibilities – purchasing

travel insurance offered by the cruise line or buying a separate retail bers have any elderly immediate family members or young children not accompanying them on the trip who could have an emergency and cause that member to cancel the trip at the last minute, or result in having to fly back during the trip? Also, travelers may already be covered under existing insurance or through their credit card,although some coverage may not extend out of the country.

Many cruise lines have customized plans developed with their insurance carrier. Most base the premium cost on the price of the cruise package,although Carnival’ is travel insurance policy. Regardless of

which option you select, it needs to be clearly included in the trip offering description. Secondly, if your

group opts to take a separate insurance policy it needs to be done immediately, at the time of deposit.

Why? Many retail travel insurance policies will waive certain exclusions (such as pre-existing medical conditions that might be under control at time of booking) if the insurance coverage is purchased immediately, usually within a week or two of when the original deposit was submitted to the cruise line.

First and foremost, each group member needs to decide on his needs, just like buying car or homeowners

insurance. What exactly should be covered if an emergency does come up and that group member cannot travel? Think in terms of the “worst case scenario" and work back from there.