Holland America Platinum Insurance Cost: Everything You Need To Know

Booking a cruise involves investing a significant amount of money upfront. To protect that investment against unexpected cancellations or medical emergencies, many cruisers opt to purchase travel insurance. Holland America Line offers two plans – Standard and Platinum. So what exactly is the Holland America Platinum insurance cost and what does it cover? This comprehensive guide will explain everything you need to know about Holland America’s cancellation protection plans.

Overview of Holland America’s Protection Plans

Holland America Line provides cruisers with two options for cancellation protection and travel insurance:

• Standard Plan – Also called the Cancel For Any Reason Waiver, this plan offered directly by Holland America allows you to cancel up to 24 hours before departure for any reason and receive an 80% refund on cancellation fees.

• Platinum Plan – This plan combines Holland America’s cancel for any reason waiver to cancel up until departure and receive a 90% refund on cancellation fees, along with comprehensive travel insurance benefits including emergency medical coverage, trip interruption protection, and more. The travel insurance portion is underwritten by Nationwide.

The key differences between the plans come down to how close to departure you can cancel, the refund amount, and the inclusion of travel insurance benefits in the Platinum Plan.

What is Included in the Platinum Plan?

The Holland America Platinum Cancellation Protection Plan contains two main components:

1. Cancel For Any Reason Waiver

This waiver offered by Holland America allows you to cancel your cruise for any reason up to the day of departure and receive a refund of 90% of any cancellation fees imposed by Holland America’s published cancellation policy.

For example, if you needed to cancel 30 days before a cruise that has a 60 day cancellation fee deadline, you would normally have to pay substantial cancellation fees. But with the Platinum Plan’s cancel for any reason protection, you could cancel any time up until sailing and receive a 90% refund on those cancellation fees.

The key advantage over the Standard Plan is that you can cancel right up until departure rather than just 24 hours before.

2. Travel Insurance Benefits

In addition to the cancellation waiver, the Platinum Plan includes comprehensive travel insurance benefits underwritten by Nationwide Insurance. The main coverages include:

• Trip Interruption – Up to 150% of trip cost coverage for interruption due to covered reasons like illness/injury to you or a family member. Allows you to cancel after departure.

• Trip Delay – Reimbursement for accommodations, transportation, and meals if your trip is delayed more than 12 hours for a covered reason. Up to $500 limit.

• Missed Port – Up to $500 reimbursement if you miss a port due to delays.

• Medical Expense – Up to $10,000 coverage for emergency medical treatment during your trip for covered medical issues, including emergency dental.

• Emergency Medical Evacuation – Covers costs of emergency transport to proper medical facilities up to $25,000 limit. Also includes repatriation of remains if death occurs during trip.

• Baggage Loss/Damage – Up to $1,000 limit for loss or damage to baggage and personal effects.

• Baggage Delay – Reimburses reasonable costs for necessity personal effects if bags delayed more than 24 hours up to $500 limit.

–Travel Accident – $10,000 accidental death & dismemberment coverage.

• Worldwide 24/7 Emergency Assistance – Services like medical referrals, travel document assistance, emergency medical payments, and more provided by CareFree Travel Assistance.

What Does Holland America Platinum Insurance Cost?

The Holland America Platinum insurance cost is based on a percentage of your total cruise fare paid and any cruise tours purchased. It does not vary by age. Here are the costs:

• For cruises 6 days or less – cost is 8% of cruise fare
• For cruises 7-13 days – cost is 9% of cruise fare
• For cruises 14 days or longer – cost is 10% of cruise fare

For example:

• 7 day cruise costing $1,000 per person → Platinum Plan cost = 9% x $1,000 = $90
• 12 day cruise costing $2,500 per person → Platinum Plan cost = 10% x $2,500 = $250

Any additional add-ons like airfare through Holland America or pre/post hotel packages would also be included in the total used to calculate your plan cost.

The Platinum Plan does cost more than the Standard Plan, which ranges from 5% to 7% of cruise fare. But many cruisers feel the ability to cancel right up to sailing, higher cancellation refund percentage, and robust insurance benefits make the extra cost worthwhile.

When Can I Purchase the Platinum Insurance?

The Platinum Cancellation Protection Plan can be purchased any time up until Holland America’s standard final payment date for the cruise.

In general, the final payment date is:

• 60 days before departure for cruises 5 days or longer
• Full payment required at booking for cruises 4 days or less

So for example, if you are booking a 14 day cruise, you would have until 60 days before sailing to add the Platinum Plan coverage.

It’s generally advisable to add the plan when you put down your initial cruise deposit to get the full benefit of cancellation and travel insurance coverage as soon as possible.

Once you are inside the final payment date window, the plan cost becomes non-refundable if you have to cancel your cruise.

Platinum Plan Exclusions & Limitations

While the Platinum Plan provides excellent protection, there are some important exclusions and limitations to keep in mind:

• Pre-Existing Medical Conditions – Pre-existing conditions are covered provided you are medically fit to travel at time of booking. However, the policy will not cover any loss due to a condition that exhibited symptoms before purchase date that would cause an ordinarily prudent person to seek treatment.

• Certain Activities – Injuries stemming from professional or extreme sports, mountain climbing, motor sports, scuba diving below 120 feet, and other high risk activities may not be covered.

• Mental/nervous health issues – Losses directly resulting from anxiety, stress, depression, psychosis, or other mental/nervous health disorders are excluded unless hospitalized at the time of cancellation/interruption.

• Self-inflicted injuries/suicide – Obviously losses for medical costs or trip interruption stemming from self-inflicted harm or suicide are excluded.

• Substance abuse – Again, losses caused by or contributed to by intoxication, use of illegal drugs, misuse of medication, or alcoholism are excluded.

• Travel against medical advice – The policy will not cover losses for trips undertaken against the advice of a physician due to medical condition.

• Illegal acts – Losses stemming from illegal acts committed by the insured are excluded.

• Epidemics – The policy does not cover losses caused by or resulting from epidemics, pandemics, public health emergencies, natural disasters, or other excluded events. However, medical costs for treatment of COVID or other contagious diseases contracted while traveling are covered. Cancellation coverage related to COVID depends on Holland America’s refund policy rules.

It’s important to review the full policy terms to understand exclusions. But the Platinum Plan provides strong medical and cancellation coverage for most situations travelers face.

Is the Platinum Plan Right for You?

For many Holland America cruisers, the Platinum Cancellation Protection Plan provides valuable peace of mind. The ability to cancel up until departure combined with robust travel insurance coverages makes it a great option for the following cruisers:

• Those with pre-existing medical conditions
• Travelers wanting maximum cancellation flexibility
• Cruisers who tend to purchase costly excursions/packages
• Older passengers at higher risk for health issues
• Families with children eligible for free cruise fares (non-refundable)
• Any cruiser wanting maximum cancellation/medical protections

The plan cost may seem high, but represents only a small percentage of the total cruise vacation expense. For many, it’s worth the extra cost to protect their investment against unforeseen events. And the ability to cancel without penalty right up until sailing provides great flexibility if plans change for any reason.