Do you need travel insurance? Some people won’t leave home without travel insurance, while others believe it to be unimportant.
Yes, you need travel insurance, especially if traveling to Ras Al Khaimah.
- If you are from a country whose citizens must apply for a visa before traveling to the UAE, travel insurance is an absolute requirement. Presenting proof of travel insurance is a mandatory prerequisite when applying for a UAE tourist or visit visa.
- If you are from a country whose citizens can travel to the UAE on a visa-on-arrival basis (i.e., where you get a 30- or 90-day visa upon arrival at the Ras Al Khaimah airport), you still need travel insurance. You don’t have to apply for a visa before you can travel to the UAE, but it’s highly recommended that you obtain travel insurance anyway to ensure you’re protected from unexpected expenses during your trip.
Understanding the Risks: What Travel Insurance Covers
Travel insurance is an agreement between you and an insurance company. The latter agrees to reimburse you (up to an indicated maximum amount) for unexpected expenses incurred due to covered incidents or events during your trip in exchange for your premium payment.
Travel insurance policies usually cover trip cancellations and interruptions, medical emergencies, and the loss of baggage and personal items.
Trip Cancellations and Interruptions: Protecting Your Investment
Travel insurance typically covers expenses when a scheduled trip on an aircraft, train, or sea-going vessel is cancelled, diverted, or delayed by the carrier, causing inconvenience and extra expenses on food, accommodation, service charges, unused tickets, and new tickets, among others.
Some travel insurance policies may cover cancellations and delays you yourself caused (e.g., when you miss your boarding time), but only for certain reasons, such as you becoming ill, inclement weather, or the threat of job loss.
Trip curtailment is also usually covered. When you must cut your trip short because of illness or a natural disaster, your insurance company may reimburse incurred expenses, subject to terms and conditions.
What trip cancellation, delay, and curtailment expenses does travel insurance usually cover? They may include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Non-refundable travel and activity tickets
- Replacement travel and activity tickets
- Forfeited payments for unused services and arrangements
- Rebooking fees and cancellation charges
- Transfer charges
- Accommodation expenses
- Meal expenses
Medical Emergencies: The Most Important Reason to Have Coverage
Travel insurance is highly useful in medical emergencies, and it’s crucial to get travel insurance with medical coverage when you visit Ras Al Khaimah. If you become ill or are involved in an accident while traveling, travel insurance with medical coverage can pay for your medical and associated costs, which may include:
- Hospitalization
- Emergency room treatment
- Medical repatriation
- Medical evacuation
- Mortal remains transportation and repatriation
- Funeral and burial expenses
- The care of minors who are left uncared for because of your incapacity
- Compassionate visit arrangements
Lost Baggage and Personal Items: What to Do When Things Go Wrong
If your travel insurance provides coverage for lost baggage and personal items, you can file a reimbursement claim for the value of the contents of your missing bags and suitcases. This will come in handy if your carrier or airport staff loses your baggage or if somebody steals your luggage at the airport, seaport, or train station.
If your carrier sends your bags to another destination or fails to check them in as expected, leading to a baggage delay, travel insurance may cover the cost of buying clothes and other items you will need as you wait to be reunited with your luggage.
If your insurance covers the loss of personal documents, you may be reimbursed for the cost of replacing these lost documents. If it’s a lost passport, you may be reimbursed not only for the cost of obtaining a replacement passport but also for the associated transportation and accommodation costs you will incur applying for and waiting for a new passport.
Key Factors to Consider When Deciding
You have many travel insurance plan options. What are the key factors to consider when deciding on which travel insurance policy to get?
What’s Your Destination? Medical Coverage by Country
Destination is the most important consideration. Choose a travel insurance plan that provides coverage in your destination country. You need travel insurance for the UAE if you’re traveling to the UAE.
Look deeper than destination availability. Review the specific terms, especially the medical coverage that comes with an insurance plan, and make sure its medical benefits are aligned with the medical costs in your destination country.
The Cost of Your Trip: When to Insure Your Investment
Consider the total cost of your trip and the individual costs of your booked activities, tours, transportation, accommodation, and other prepaid arrangements. A good rule of thumb is to ask yourself: Can you afford to lose the amount you’ve already spent on your trip if things don’t go as planned?
To illustrate this point, let’s suppose you’re planning a two-week Ras Al Khaimah getaway. You booked your stay at The Ritz-Carlton Ras Al Khaimah, Al Wadi Desert, one of the top luxury hotels in Ras Al Khaimah. Your extravagant stay package includes a daily buffet breakfast at Kaheela, a multi-course dinner at Farmhouse By Syrco, and various treatments at The Ritz-Carlton Spa & Rainforest.
You wanted to experience the top things to do in Ras Al Khaimah, so you booked a half-day mangrove kayaking tour at Al Qawasm Corniche. You have also bought tickets to the best adventure activities in Ras Al Khaimah, including Jais Flight, Jais Sky Tour, Jais Ropes Course, and an overnight stay at Bear Grylls Explorers Camp. To complete the experience, you also booked and paid for luxury car rentals and a Ras Al Khaimah desert safari.
With such an itinerary, you’ll suffer considerable losses if you cancel your trip because you’ve fallen ill or if you forfeit paid-for room nights and activities because of flight cancellations and delays. With travel insurance, however, you may be able to recoup most (if not all) of your financial losses.
Your Health: Pre-Existing Conditions and Age
Travel insurance is particularly critical if you have pre-existing conditions or are at the age where health issues can suddenly come up and ruin travel plans. Of course, make sure your travel insurance explicitly covers trip cancellations and curtailment due to medical reasons, particularly pre-existing conditions, because some insurance plans do not cover them.
Types of Travel Insurance: Choosing the Right Policy
Choose the type of travel insurance that meets your travel requirements. Make sure to get one that protects you for the entire duration of your trip, not just while you’re actually traveling on an airplane, boat, or train.
Below are other factors to use when deciding on the right insurance policy.
Single-Trip vs. Multi-Trip Policies
When purchasing travel insurance for the UAE, you need to choose between the single-trip or multi-trip variant. The multi-trip policy makes sense if you have a multiple-entry visa and you plan on maximizing it by visiting the UAE multiple times.
Comprehensive vs. Medical-Only Plans
Travel insurance can be comprehensive or medical-only. Comprehensive insurance is better if you want to be protected for nonmedical travel disruptions. It is particularly valuable if you have expensive hotel stays, tours, and activities in Ras Al Khaimah prepaid and booked.
Add-ons for Specific Activities (e.g., Adventure Sports, Cruises)
If your travel insurance excludes high-risk activities and you plan to do them during your trip, it’ll be wise to procure add-on coverage for these activities. Maybe you plan to challenge the Via Ferrata mountaineering and rock climbing adventure or try hot air ballooning in Ras Al Khaimah. In this case, add coverage for these activities to your travel insurance.
FAQs About Travel Insurance
Can My Credit Card’s Insurance Be Enough?
It depends on your credit card. Check the specific terms, conditions, and inclusions of your credit card’s travel insurance. It may only insure you when you’re in transit, when you’re actually traveling from one place to another, instead of insuring you during the entire trip.
What is “Cancel for Any Reason” coverage?
Cancel for any reason coverage is a travel insurance add-on or upgrade. It gives you peace of mind and flexibility, as it provides partial reimbursement in case you cancel your trip or activities for reasons that are not usually covered by travel insurance.
What are common exclusions to look out for?
Adventure activities are common exclusions to look out for in travel insurance policies. Your travel insurance plan may also exclude pregnancy and childbirth expenses, elective surgeries, and medical emergencies associated with pre-existing conditions.
