USVI-On-Line

We will be in STJ from 11/4-19, staying at Cinnamon Bay Campground and a villa near Coral Bay. All of our expenses are individual items, i.e. plane tickets, camping, villa, car rental, etc. I understand this is part of the hurricane season. Should we purchase insurance? If so, from where, and how expensive?
Tom

Been going to St. John since 1988, 3 times a year and have never bought insurance. Some of the trips are in October, November and we have never been burnt. We survived the bad weather October 2010 but still had tons of fun. It ends up being a personal choice. Even with insurance, getting a settlement is more than a challenge based on forum reviews.

We were delayed do to weather (not a hurricane) and like Kevino mentioned, it was a nightmare getting a claim paid.

You need to really read the fine print very carefully. The coverages vary widely and I think I remember reading that since STJ doesn't have mandatory evacuations, it might be difficult getting paid for a hurricane delay or cancellation. Someone wrote about not getting paid on a claim because they completed a certain percentage of their trip so the last 3 or 4 days weren't covered.

Many of the insurance policies don't cover hurricanes. I called insuremytrip.com and told them that was specifically what I wanted and they told me to go with either Global Alert or Travel Safe specifically for hurricane coverage. If a warning is posted but there is no mandatory evacuation most plans won't pay. I understand they don't issue mandatory evacs. because there is no place to go. Anyway, my understanding is that if there is a warning issued when we are due to leave we can cancel our trip w/o the mandatory evac. and even if planes are still flying. We could also choose to leave midway through our trip IF we could get a plane. That could be a problem with limited flights! Hope this helps!

I sure do hope you haven't jinxed it Pia, as we will be there in that same time frame.

We typically visit STJ in early November. We've experienced some rain (just missed the torrential rains in 2003), but nothing hurricane like; and rarely, even a full rained out day/night.

you should be fine in november!

You should be fine in November.

PA Girl remembers my posting about getting burnt with Trip Insurance that would not pay because we had already completed over half of our vacation and/or had 4 days or less left on our trip. Cost us an extra $1300 to stay in Gallows Point for 3 days or so, because we were kicked out of our villa.

Ah oh, awardb! Maybe I didn't need trip insurance for next week. I was afraid not to get it in hurricane season. That is the ONLY reason I bought it.

In spite of the non-coverage of my problem due to the details in the contract, I *still* buy it every year. The good policies DO cover hurricane interruption, as long as it happens before the trip or before the trip is half over. Also covers lots of medical and other reasons for trip interruption and/or cancellation.

So while I was most unhappy that it didn't cover *my* condition when it happened a couple of years ago, I still purchase it. What if something serious happened (covered, hopefully) before the trip that would cause us to cancel?
It's peace of mind, and I've now read all the fine print in the policies, so I know what they cover and what they don't.

I personally think you did the right thing, BackToTheIslands.