USVI-On-Line

Visiting this Thanksgiving and was wondering how trip insurance works w/ hurricanes. I looked at one and it was only covered if the island was uninhabitable or there was no carrier service. I would prefer one that allowed you to cancel if one was barreling down the pipe toward the island.

Is this common?

When researching travel insurance policies for the two trips we have booked during hurricane season this year, I discovered that Hurricane Insurance issued by the private carriers like CSA and Travel Guard, as opposed to the airlines or hotel companies, is more on the order of trip interruption rather than trip cancellation insurance. It covers you if you cannot get to you destination because of a hurricane-i.e. planes not flying or roads closed, but only for the delay until you can. It also covers you, on a PRO-RATED BASIS, if you have to be evacuated during your trip i.e. villa being boarded or hotel closing in the event a hurricane is coming, but the evacuation part has to be around the midpoint of the trip and not for going home say 1 day early. A lot depends onif and when an actual evacuation order has been given. It would cover you for a delay in transit home i.e. being sent by the airlines to Miami rather than Detroit due to lack of seats during an evacuation. It will also cover you for transit expenses if you are rerouted or turned around once you have commenced the trip and cannot get to your destination.
However, you cannot just cancel an entire trip because a hurricane is headed your way and you might have rain all week ahead of or behind the storm. The insurance claims department will verify with your hotel or villa rental agency the exact time and date that the villa became and remained boarded or uninhabitable, or when the hotel was closed and reopened. and whether or not a mandatory evacuation order for touists was given. If you elect to leave for your own convenience rather than for an evacuation I dont think you would have any luck collecting unless the hurricane actually hit the island. Its not Tropical Storm Insuance, its Hurricane Insurance.