Travel Insurance if family memeber at home has terminal illness

sober_duck

Hi,

My father was diagnosed with terminal cancer last year. My boyfriend and I decided we should get married so my Dad could walk me down the aisle! My dad is still going strong at the moment and I'd like to book my honeymoon.

Obviously I'm more concerned about my Dad but if I do book the honeymoon I want to be sure I can cancel if my Dad get's worse. On speaking to a couple of insurance companies there is no chance they would cover us, if I had to cancel because of my Dad (with it being a known terminal illness).

Does anyone know if any companies do cover this, or has any advise on the best way to approach this?

Thanks
Kate

richardw

Sorry to hear about your Dad.

If someone offers you an insurance for this, the premium is likely to be very high.

Incapuppy

I honestly don't think you are going to be able to insure against this at all and even if you could the premiums would probably be astronomically high. The (very sad) facts are that you are aware that your Dad has been diagnosed with a terminal illness and you would be choosing to undertake a trip fully aware of the risk that you may need to cancel/cut short your trip.

The only way around this that I can think of at the moment is to book your honeymoon trip independently (ie: not as a package) and choose flights that can be re-scheduled for little or no charge and accomodation that you can cancel shortly before you were due to stay with little or no cancellation cost to yourselves.

WestonDave

Insurance works on probabilities - if there is a 50% chance that the insured event will happen (e.g. your holiday gets cancelled) then you would expect to pay at least 50% of the cost (plus something for profit!). This is where you are running into problems - the insurers unfortunately deem the chances of you cancelling due to your dad's illness as very high (at least in holiday cancelation terms) so you are outside the probabilities on which its worth them quoting. No-one would normally want to pay £1000 insurance to cover a £2000 holiday for example.

Maybe it would be worth setting aside some of your honeymoon budget for a couple of nights in a really special hotel in the UK - spa, fitness suite etc, and waiting until much nearer the time to book it, with a view to having the overseas style honeymoon later on. Personally I'd struggle to relax miles from home wondering if at any time I was going to get a call to say Dad had taken a turn for the worse - get home quick, whereas if I knew I was only an hours drive etc away, then it might be easier to focus on being a new couple.

Incapuppy

WestonDave wrote: »

Maybe it would be worth setting aside some of your honeymoon budget for a couple of nights in a really special hotel in the UK - spa, fitness suite etc, and waiting until much nearer the time to book it, with a view to having the overseas style honeymoon later on. Personally I'd struggle to relax miles from home wondering if at any time I was going to get a call to say Dad had taken a turn for the worse - get home quick, whereas if I knew I was only an hours drive etc away, then it might be easier to focus on being a new couple.

I think this is very sensible advice. Sure, going on a 'traditional' honeymoon is nice but not essential; many people don't do that either because of finances or individual circumstances. Being married and being together is what is really important.

peachyprice

Either that or take a last minute booking, i.e just days before, if you feel he's well enough at the time.

Mr_Wang

Book a nice little retreat somewhere beautiful and isolated in the UK, the Lake District for example.

My father died some years back and I wish I had spent more time with him, not messing about on planes and in airports and transfers etc... Book a nice little cottage somewhere with an open fire, and be a family because when all is said and done that's what marriage, and indeed life is all about.

LE3

if you phone up a major insurer & speak to them, they WILL insure if a close family member is ill. I did it when my Mum had cancer & I went to the USA for a week. They will need to evaluate the risk & may need a dr certificate about prognosis.
(Obviously you need to be factual about the diagnosis, not emotional "my father was diagnosed with xxx cancer on xxx date. He is responding well to treatment/Has been given a life expectancy of xxx time and the doctors do not expect his health to deteriorate whilst I am away, however I would like the reassurance that if he takes a sudden turn for the worse, that I will be covered")
Oh, and you need to be sure in your own mind what level of "got worse" would you want to cancel for? For me, I would expect cancellation because "Dad is likely to die in the next 72 hrs" not "Dad is a bit more uncomfortable now & needs a nurse to pop in and see him every day" - but you may feel differently ...

You won't be able to get the cover online, you'll need to talk to them, but it is possible.
When are you planning to get married? If it's March, go ahead & book the honeymoon now. If it's 2013, then I'd wait till much nearer the time to book when you'll have a better idea yourself of how he is ...

Murphy_The_Cat

Mr_Wang wrote: »

Book a nice little retreat somewhere beautiful and isolated in the UK, the Lake District for example.

My father died some years back and I wish I had spent more time with him, not messing about on planes and in airports and transfers etc... Book a nice little cottage somewhere with an open fire, and be a family because when all is said and done that's what marriage, and indeed life is all about.

Thanks for that post Mr Wang. Time with your family is absolutely precious and the memories of it can never be taken from you.

OP. have you considered postponing your honeymoon for 2 or 3 years ? its maybe no what you want to hear, but in the overall scheme of things it might work out well for all of you.

sober_duck

Thanks everyone for such quick and helpful responses with some great suggestions... greatly appreciated. I'll sit down and talk though with new hubby :-)

tori.k

I agree with the others you would only spend your time worrying about whats going on at home, why not consider somewhere like the scilly isles http://www.simplyscilly.co.uk/
It's sub tropical and absolutely stunning you would never believe your still part of England, it's the perfect place to soothe the soul
Flights are cheap and often on offer you can add to the experience by heading to penzance and taking the helicopter the overland views are spectacular.