If you want sun, sand and clear-blue ocean waters, then pack your swimsuit, flip-flops and sunscreen for a glorious trip to the British Virgin Islands.
“When you need a place to unwind, relax, sit on a pristine beach or boat around, the British Virgin Islands is just the place,” says Scott Adamski, a spokesperson with AIG Travel Insurance. “This Caribbean destination is famous for yachting, snorkeling, scuba diving or simply doing nothing on a sandy beach. Tortola, Virgin Gorda and Jost Van Dyke are popular stops.”
Related: What Travel Insurance Do You Need For Yacht Charters?
When you plan a trip outside the U.S., Adamski recommends purchasing a travel insurance plan that includes coverage for trip cancellation, trip interruption, trip delay, medical expenses, medical evacuation and baggage loss.
“Travel insurance should ideally be purchased within 15 days of your initial trip deposit date,” Adamski says. This way, early-purchase provisions like a waiver of the pre-existing medical condition exclusion can apply. But, he says, your travel insurance plan can be purchased up to 24 hours prior to your trip departure date.
The average cost of travel insurance is 5% to 6% of your trip cost—or an average of $228 for a $5,000 trip—so buying travel insurance can be a smart move to safeguard your investment.
Here are travel insurance considerations for a trip to the British Virgin Islands.
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Trip Cancellation Insurance for When You Opt Not to Yacht
The main purpose of purchasing travel insurance is to offer you a safety net against unforeseen and unexpected events regarding your trip. If you need to cancel your trip due to a reason listed in your policy—like a serious illness or injury to you, a travel companion or a close family member—a travel insurance plan with trip cancellation insurance can reimburse you for pre-paid and non-refundable trip expenses.
For example, if two days before your trip to Virgin Gorda to celebrate your tenth wedding anniversary, your spouse needs an emergency appendectomy, you would have to cancel your island escape. So if you paid in advance to charter a yacht, stay in a beachfront cottage or take surfing lessons with a dedicated instructor, your policy could reimburse you for these costs.
Other reasons that are generally covered under trip cancellation benefits include:
- A death in the immediate family
- A sudden, unexpected job loss
- A serious family emergency
- Your travel supplier going out of business
- Unplanned jury duty
- Severe weather
- Civil unrest
- National transit strikes
Not all reasons to cancel your trip will be protected by standard trip insurance. For example, if you see that rain is predicted in Tortola for the four nights you had planned to travel, you can’t turn to your standard travel insurance plan for financial relief.
Covered reasons can vary significantly among travel insurance plans, so it’s important to read your policy carefully.
Weather considerations
Because the British Virgin Islands are in the heart of the Atlantic hurricane zone, Adamski says if you’re visiting between June and November you will want to ensure that your travel insurance plan includes coverage for trip cancellation and trip interruption.
“If a storm were to hit your destination during your scheduled trip, and [an AIG] Travel Guard travel insurance plan had been purchased before it became a named storm, you may be covered for unused, pre-paid, non-refundable trip expenses, subject to the terms of the insurance policy,” Adamski says.
“However, if the insured traveler wishes to cancel (or cut short) a trip due to fear of a current storm or future tropical cyclone, that cancellation likely would not be covered under a travel insurance plan,” Adamski explains. In such a case, adding the optional “cancel for any reason” (CFAR) coverage might be beneficial.
“Cancel for any reason” coverage
For the highest level of flexibility to cancel your travel plans, consider upgrading your policy to add “cancel for any reason” coverage. This higher-tier upgrade typically will increase the price of your travel insurance plan by an average of 50%. But for that extra expense, you will have the freedom to cancel your trip for any reason, as long as you cancel no less than 48 hours before your scheduled departure.
If you meet all the requirements of your “cancel for any reason” coverage, you’ll generally recover either 50% or 75% of your trip costs, depending on your policy. You won’t receive 100% reimbursement of your lost trip expenses.
To get a “cancel for any reason” upgrade, you usually must buy it within about 15 days of making your first trip deposits.
Trip Delay Insurance: Waiting to Wade in the Waves
You will likely need a connecting flight for a trip to the British Virgin Islands. If that flight is delayed because of torrential thunderstorms, your trip delay insurance can cover the cost of any extra meals at the airport, a nearby hotel room plus transportation costs.
However, travel insurance plans have a waiting period before your trip delay benefits kick in. For example, it may be six or 12 hours, depending on your policy. Look for a short wait time when shopping for a policy.
Your trip delay benefits can also reimburse any pre-paid and non-refundable outlays you will lose due to a delay covered by your policy. So if you have already paid for a private cabana and massage at your resort that you will miss out on, you can file for reimbursement for a travel insurance claim.
Trip Interruption Travel Insurance: Bye-Bye BVI
Life is unpredictable and that’s why trip interruption insurance is so important. If you’re enjoying the pristine beach in Virgin Gorda when your sister calls to tell you your father had a heart attack, you may want to cut your trip short and return home.
Typical covered reasons listed in a travel insurance plan for trip interruption coverage include:
- A death in the immediate family
- Injury or illness during your trip
- Injury or illness of a family member back home
- Severe weather
- Civil unrest
Your trip interruption benefits can ease both the emotional toll and financial worry of planning last-minute travel back to the U.S. These benefits generally cover the cost of a one-way economy flight home and a taxi to the airport. This coverage will also reimburse you any unused and non-refundable trip expenses you forfeit with an early departure from the British Virgin Islands.
If you want to cut your trip short due to an emergency with a family member at home, note that “family member” is defined differently among travel insurance plans. Be sure to check your policy for details.
Also, not all reasons will be covered under your policy’s trip interruption benefits. For instance, if you have a fight with your travel companion and decide you want to end the holiday early, you can’t rely on your travel insurance policy to pay your way home. In this case, you would have to personally cover your travel costs and losses.
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Travel Medical Insurance for Island Injury and Illness
Although there are abundant beautiful beaches and bays, there are also some precautions to take while traveling to the British Virgin Islands. Travel medical insurance can help if you get sick or injured while on vacation.
“From snorkeling and windsurfing to hiking and horseback riding, the islands offer plenty of adventure activities both on land and on water, but things aren’t always an island paradise,” says Lisa Cheng, a spokesperson with World Nomads, a travel insurer. Unexpected events can happen. You could get into an accident, get sunstroke or suffer from dehydration.
If you’re traveling to a foreign country, it’s important to realize that your domestic health insurance probably won’t work outside the U.S. Before your trip, contact your health insurance company to see if any global benefits are available. Likewise, Medicare isn’t accepted abroad, so senior travelers should have a travel insurance plan in place for medical coverage.
That’s why a robust travel insurance plan with medical benefits is so important.
If you get hurt on a snorkel excursion and need medical attention, travel medical insurance generally covers the cost of the following, up to your policy limits:
- Medical care
- Imaging
- Medicine
- Hospital stay
“In the case of a medical emergency, your plan could help protect you from getting stuck having to pay high medical bills,” cautions Cheng.
Keep in mind that “extreme” activities, for example skydiving and deep-sea scuba diving, are often excluded from travel insurance coverage. It’s prudent to review what type of activities are and aren’t covered, as it varies by policy. You may want to consider adding an adventure sports upgrade if you plan to do more than snorkel and sunbathe, or take a look at World Nomad policies, which cover many types of high-impact fun.
Medical Evacuation Insurance for Scrub Island Snafus
Cheng says that emergency evacuation can be especially important when you’re on an island and you may need to get to a specialty hospital elsewhere.
For example, if you are on a catamaran fishing excursion and have a seizure, emergency medical evacuation travel insurance covers air ambulance transport costs, up to your policy limits. You can be medevaced to the nearest adequate treatment facility, or even back home if medically necessary.
“Without travel insurance, emergency evacuation can end up costing an arm and a leg, so be sure that your travel insurance plan has a sufficient amount of coverage,” Cheng says. The World Nomads Travel Insurance Standard Plan provides $300,000 of emergency medical evacuation coverage and you get $500,000 under the Explorer Plan. But you can find policies that provide $1 million in evacuation coverage, such as the TripProtector Preferred plan from HTH Worldwide, if you feel you want higher limits.
Baggage Insurance and Coverage for Your Belongings
If your checked luggage decides it wants to vacation in Aruba instead of Tortola and never makes its way back to you, you can file a baggage insurance claim with your travel insurer. Be sure to get an incident report from your airline.
Your comprehensive travel insurance plan also protects your personal possessions beyond your checked luggage. If while enjoying lunch at the floating Willy T restaurant, your camera gets stolen from your backpack, you can file a claim for that loss.
Just be sure to get a report from the restaurant, local authorities or your tour leader, as you will need to submit this documentation when you file a claim.
Although the British Virgin Islands is a safe and friendly destination, petty crime can happen. If you have your watch stolen, or a necklace swiped, be sure to file a loss report.
Your policy will define per-item limits, maximum reimbursement caps and any exclusions like computers and cash. Be sure to read your policy carefully so you understand the scope of your coverage.
Baggage insurance is typically secondary to other claims you can make. This means you would need to try to get reimbursed by your airline or homeowners insurance first.
If you do get reimbursed through your baggage insurance coverage, note that it will likely be for the depreciated value for your items. Be sure to save receipts for any new items you purchase for your trip, in case you need to share them with your travel insurer.
Don’t Drink and Claim
Finally, Adamski with AIG says there is a very active party culture in the British Virgin Islands. Accordingly, it’s important for you to be aware that losses caused by or resulting from intoxication above the legal limit (at the insured traveler’s location) are generally excluded from coverage under the travel insurance policy.
“It is incumbent on the traveler to know what the legal limit is in the country they’re visiting, and also to be self-aware about the possibility of over-imbibing in a locale with a bustling party scene,” he cautions. If you lose your cellphone after drinking too much, you can’t rely on your travel insurance plan to compensate you.
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