Tauck Travel Insurance
June, 2026 - My wife and I regularly use Tauck for our travels and the tours are always FIRST CLASS. We were supposed to go on the Blue Danube River Cruise from May 22 to June 02 aboard the MS SAVOR but unfortunately we had to cancel the cruise because UNITED airlines canceled our overseas flight and there was no seat inventory on any other airline that could get us to Budapest in time for the cruise departure. We gave ourselves an extra two days of travel in case of this kind of delay but despite that, United canceled our flight and failed to protect and re-book us, despite having paid for international first class fares. What has happened to UNITED???
My purpose in writing is to underscore the importance of buying Tauck's Guest Protection Plan insurance which is handled by AON. We filed our claim with AON for our trip forfeiture costs (50%) and AON was wonderful. They even asked us for additional expenses that we incurred as a result of the forced cancellation of our trip. We were fully reimbursed in a timely manner and the entire claim process with AON could not have been easier. We have always bought the insurance but never had to use it. Without a doubt, we ALWAYS will continue to purchase the insurance and we encourage all passengers to do the same.
Tauck is a first-class company and works with first-class partners. While we missed the long-planned cruise to celebrate our 43rd wedding anniversary, we did not lose any of the costs we paid Tauck as a result of the fiasco with UNITED AIRLINES.
THANK YOU to AON and Tauck. We will re-book the cruise and from now on use DELTA or AMERICAN airlines. This recent incident with UNITED is the third in a row. The airline was really declined with respect to Operations and more importantly, customer service.
Comments
You are free to spend your money as your please, but here's my counterpoint:
I have NEVER purchased travel insurance. With close to 20 trips with Tauck, NOT buying insurance has paid for two of them.
On some trips, particularly on long bus rides, the subject of insurance comes up in conversation on the bus. The vast majority of folks buy the insurance. Two I've met, who don't buy travel insurance include an actuary and an insurance company executive. The executive commented that travel insurance (not her field) is one of the most lucrative in terms of premiums collected vs. payouts. During my recent trip to Paris, I noted an impressive, shiny building that said Allianz at the top. Allianz is another travel insurance company.
For me, there are multiple reasons I don't buy insurance:
1. My premium credit card provides travel insurance (up to $10K, I believe).
2. Insurance has a negative expected value for the buyer (obviously, or they wouldn't sell it).
3. Like many Tauck travelers, I am well-off financially. So I consider myself self-insured, for anything not covered by my credit card. If a problem did arise where I wasn't reimbursed for a lost trip, while it wouldn't feel good, life would go on without any significant consequences.
As the old saying goes, your mileage may vary.
Kenneth, sorry to read about your experience. Very surprising that United couldn't find another flight for you with 2 days leeway. It would probably be worth contacting one of their executives who might discount your next booking.
I do the same as BKMD. A few years ago, you could stack your premium cards for trip insurance. For example, Chase Reserve would give you $10K per person, per trip, meaning $20K insurance for my wife and I. I also had a Chase Preferred card, which would also give us $10K per person per trip. So I'd charge $20K on the Reserve card and the rest on the Preferred card.
But Chase got wise to that and now they'll only allow you to recover from one card, meaning that we're limited to $20K per trip.
We've done a lot of trips, both with Tauck, Regent, and a few other companies. If I add up how much I didn't pay for trip insurance, it comes to a large sum.
If the day comes where I have to cancel a trip, I'll get the $20K and write off the rest as "self-insurance". The difference between what I lost and what I didn't pay for insurance on all those trips is the profit I made on the deal. Otherwise, that profit would go to the insurance company.
[I do take travel medical and repatriation insurance when we travel since Medicare does not cover you outside the US. That insurance is not very expensive, usually around $100/person per trip. You can even get a policy that covers you for all trips in a year.]
Let me add that I am not opposed to insurance, in general. Whenever there's a situation where the loss will have a major impact on your life, or your family's life, you need insurance. Example: a young couple who just had a baby and the mother is planning to stay at home with the baby. You should have a pile of term insurance on the father's life, enough that the mother can continue to live as she was, and provide for the child.
If possible, disability insurance would also be good in case the breadwinner does not die but becomes disabled and can't work.
I'll tell a story from my army days.
Back then, the army provided $10,000 in life insurance for each soldier, at no cost to the soldier. But they offered to increase it to $100,000 if the soldier would pay the premium by a deduction from his pay. Few soldiers took the increased insurance.
But when one sergeant made the presentation to the new soldiers, he always had a high acceptance rate – much higher than any of the other presenters.
So, one day the captain calls the sergeant in and asks him how he manages to do that.
“Well”, the sergeant says, “I tell them to think about this a bit. When it’s time to send someone out in an exposed position, who do you think they’re going to send? The guy with the $10,000 insurance, or the guy with the $100,000 insurance?”
The captain thought about this for a minute, then said, “That’s all, sergeant.”
I had the same thing happen to me with American Airlines.
The flying part…yes, also had the same thing happen with canceled flights on several airlines. It’s more common but not new.
While to a certain extent, yes, canceling a trip, you know what money you will loose. However, we take out insurance for anything happening on a tour, like illness or death. It happens more often than you would think. This is an extra consideration for Americans over the age of 65. Hospital treatments and stays can add up, so can evacuation back home or transport of a dead body. Years ago, when my father died unexpectedly on vacation, my mother would have been in a financial pickle without the insurance for his hospital ICU treatment and transport home from the undertaker. At the time, we also were much younger snd could not have helped her out with the huge cost. We use Tauck insurance and various others for other tours abroad. We have annual medical and evacuation insurance which kicks in any time you are over 100 miles from home. It includes everything from arranging flights, nurse escort, transport for your partner and even getting your car ot rented vehicle back. Here’s hoping we are never in that situation.
Also, now we use other insurance companies, we realize that Tauck insurance coverage is very reasonable. Try including ‘ cancel for any reason’ and the cost about doubles.
This topic has been discussed again and again here.
After having been on a cruise and seeing three people fall and break arms and two people fall and break noses - same cruise - 2 needed surgery...I ALWAYS get the insurance and if nothing else its a small price for peace of mind.
It is peace of mind to take out the insurance. You can certainly have the argument that it’s money wasted but our peace of mind is more important. We also have Medjet (for another just in case). I’ve had to use the Tauck insurance twice and I can’t complain how easy the claim process was.
Note that there's a difference between trip medical insurance and trip insurance that covers your trip cost. Tauck bundles both of them, which is convenient. I always take the trip medical insurance when we travel. I pass on the insurance that covers the trip cost because of the reasons I stated earlier. Trip medical insurance is not very expensive. Figure about $100 per person per trip - could be a bit more or less. The insurance that covers your trip cost would be quite a but more, probably close to 10 times as much.
The medical events you describe would be covered by the trip medical insurance.
But people should spend their money on what's important to them. If you feel the Tauck insurance provides you with peace of mind value, then purchasing it a good decision for you.
I get the “moral hazard” arguments for not buying the Tauck insurance. Roll the dice & hope it works out; individual choice; etc.
However, as British points out, most of us are over 65; who knows what could happen between booking the Tauck tour and completing the Tauck tour. “No-fault cancellation” plus emergency evacuation/medical insurance at a reasonable cost is worth it to me. I don’t really care if Tauck and/or AON make a fortune from it; that’s how insurance works.
Our only negative Tauck experience was in 2023, when I got COVID (and was very sick) on the MS SAVOR (without Tauck insurance), and was unceremoniously kicked off the ship with my wife in Vienna. When the unsympathetic Tauck Cruise Director found out we didn’t have Tauck insurance, he said, “This is not my problem; this is not Tauck’s problem; this is YOUR problem. Pack your bags and be ready to leave the ship at 3 pm.” That is a direct quote that has stuck in my craw for 3 years. He gave me the distinct impression that he would have been much more helpful if we had the insurance. The entire experience was a nightmare.
We now buy the insurance!
BTW the Cruise Director is still employed by Tauck!
We recently had to file a claim for taxi transportation to and from an emergency room. The tour director arranged taxi service to the closest emergency room and then to the next destination. The insurance company reimbursed us for the first taxi right away, but there was some discrepancy about the second taxi because the name of the taxi company said "taxi ambulance". AON assumed this was an ambulance and not a taxi and wanted us to file a claim with our medical insurance first. We explained the situation to the AON rep and had to deal with some red tape to get reimbursed. We then contacted Tauck customer care and they got in touch with their AON rep right away and the situation was resolved. It was helpful to have Tauck act as an advocate when there was a problem.
We buy insurance not only for our own sake, but in case there are problems with our families. Children, grandchildren...my husband has a 97 year old mother! My TA asked if she has underlying medical conditions...I said, she's old! I mean, if she were really sick, she wouldn't have made it this far! (😳).
Life's a crapshoot. Buying the insurance reduces the odds I'll ever need to use it. 🤷🏻♀️
We bought the insurance for our Seine cruise next spring. Just now realized that cruise cancellation only pays 50% while land trips are 100%. Aak! Would that be typical of other travel insurance? They only pay out 50% max and that is if you cancel something like 60 days ahead. I want the insurance in case I have my back go out a week before the trip or have a major accident just before the trip. Am I understanding this right?
Pam, I think you are confusing the cancel for any reason penalty with a medical reason to cancel.These two situations are different.
Most trip insurance, not trip medical insurance, has a list of events which allow you to cancel the trip and get your money back (except for the insurance payment). Examples are: your spouse or close family member dies, you get a jury duty call that you can't get out of, you or your spouse lose their job, etc.
If you chose "Cancel for any reason," and the reason you cancel is not one of the list of events that allow you to cancel, you will not get all your money back. Different companies allow different amounts but 50% to 75% are common.
The reason for that is so you have a penalty for cancelling. Otherwise, you could cancel a week before the trip and you'd only be out the insurance cost. They want to make it so that you will only "cancel for any reason" if you really can't go, but the reason is not on the list of events that you can cancel for.
I think you are wrong Mike. The Tauck cancel for any reason on land tours, you get all your money back apart from the insurance premium. We had to cancel a tour just days before and got all our money back.
Tauck may be different in that. Most other insurance companies will not give you 100% back for "Cancel for any reason."
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A Google search on "if i buy cancel for any reason insurance will i get all my money back"
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No, you will not get all of your money back. Cancel For Any Reason (CFAR) insurance usually only refunds 50% to 75% of your insured, non-refundable trip costs. You also do not get the cost of the insurance policy itself back.
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I did another search asking specifically about Tauck and it says what you said. 100% for land tours, 50% for "for river cruises, train trips, and events". I suppose that also includes ocean cruises. In both cases you do not get the insurance premium back.
You don’t get any insurance premium back for any insurance you buy for anything.
Yes, Tauck gives the amounts back you mention.
We had a tour booked with another company last year and we only got 70% back with the insurance we had.
I have been researching trip medical insurance and have only been seeing quotes per trip. Do any carriers offer a year of coverage? We have about five trips (not all with Tauck) during the next year and an annual policy may be less expensive; however, I am not finding one.
Have you looked at Squaremouth?
We have used GeoBlue (now Blue Cross Blue Shield Global Solutions). We get the Tauck insurance but supplement the medical with a second policy. This last time, we had two trips planned in a 12-month period so used their Multi-Trip option which basically covered us when traveling for a year.
I used Travel Insured International and bought annual travel medical insurance. But I've aged out - they won't sell it to me any more because I'm too old. I have to buy it on a per trip basis. Still not too expensive.
They have a deal with USAA and I'm a USAA member so I don't know if they only sell annual to USAA people.
If you go to their website, the way you get just the travel medical is to put zero in the cost of the trip.
Thank you everyone! I am off to research.
We recently had to cancel a river cruise within a week of departure due to a family death. Tauck immediately refunded to credit card all but the cruise penalty and told me what info I would need to file with Aon for the cruise portion. when Aon requested a doctor's signature I called Tauck. They contacted Aon who determined the death certificate was sufficient and the total cruise penalty amount was deposited to our bank in a few days. Delta refunded credits and we were all clear. First time we’ve used the Tauck insurance and it turned out to be an easy process.
That is the exact reason we also take out the Tauck insurance. Easy peasy.
And, yet, it has been a month since our cancelled/interrupted Prague to Paris riverboat cruise. AON has not reimbursed us. They notified me that they needed documentation that showed the amount Tauck reimbursed us for. Tauck didn't have the amount figured out when I called but said that they would give AON that information and that I shouldn't do so. I believed them. So I cashed Tauck's check, not thinking I needed to make a copy. I called the insurance company today to see if they had completed their end and was told that they were waiting because only I can provide the documentation of reimbursement dollars and that Tauck couldn't. So, another call today to have Tauck email me the information. Instead, they sent me a copy of "frequently asked questions for travel protection plans".
I have been surprised by a fair amount of misinformation given about this tour and really hope that when I call Tauck yet again that I will get out of this Catch 22 position.
Ask to speak to someone high in the chain of command. I don’t know when you’re calling, if you are just speaking with a travel representative. I’m sure you have a contact person assigned to your claim. I’ve had the best customer service when I ask to speak to someone high in the command chain. Then I write an email to the president explaining everything and cc’d others below her. You’d be surprised how fast you will get a response. Just a suggestion.
@the moores - If you deposited Tauck's check into your bank account, your bank has a copy of that check. See if you can work with them to get a copy sent to you.
If you have an online bank account you can probably access a copy on your computer right now. I agree with earlier commenters, call Tauck customer relations and pleasantly ask for a supervisor.