Cancel for any reason Insurance vs Rick Steve's cancellation policy

I think since you have specific scenarios in mind you should call and talk to someone in the tour office.

Meanwhile, here is the link to the Tour Conditions page:
https://www.ricksteves.com/tours/tour-conditions#cancel

Here's what it says about you or someone in your group getting Covid:

"Documented illness due to coronavirus and/or COVID-19 may be considered a Creditable Event. However, fear of infection or concern regarding prevalence of the virus in the tour location(s) will not be considered a Creditable Event."

Inability to do items listed on the tour itinerary:

"Itineraries are subject to change: Europe is full of surprises, and we need to be flexible enough to take advantage of whatever comes along  (good or bad!)  so that we may provide you with the best possible tour. Uncompleted portions of the tour itinerary are not cause for refund."

And I will just add that this clause was in place before Covid. There are times that the tours just cannot do the things listed....sometimes it's an unexpected closure of a museum or site, sometimes it's weather, etc.

Part of the risk with any tour in Covid times is if you can commit to going no matter what and hold out long enough to see if the tour company cancels. If you cancel before the tour company does, you cannot expect a refund unless you meet their guidelines.

If you go with CFAR, DO read those policies completely and do not assume something meets the CFAR reasons. I was shocked a couple of years ago when I discussed it with a Travel Guard representative and what I thought might be a CFAR was in fact NOT a reason they would cover. Also understand how much of a refund you will get. Often it's 50-75%.

There is only one source of information that will be accurate on this and that is Rick Steves Tours. I would call them with your questions.

I imagine that this is quite a complicated subject with constantly changing protocols. No one wants someone with covid, or who thinks they might be ill, to come on a tour because they “don’t want to lose money.” On the other hand, the tour company also has bills to pay. I do think that throughout this pandemic Rick Steves Tours has demonstrated a level of integrity and concern for both the well being of its customers and their travel experience. I feel confident their policy will represent this approach.

What Pam said. “Cancel for any reason” does not actually mean ANY reason. There are exclusions, which should be spelled out somewhere in the policy. Anything pandemic-related is a common exclusion you may find.

Yeah I figure I probably should probably contact someone from Rick Steve's. I was just kinda wondering if anyone last year when things were really fluid week to week, how Rick Steve's handled things. I understand a single museum or event being unavailable on a tour happening, but when the whole itinerary being unavailable due to a whole city, like London locking down is kinda a different thing. So was just wondering if anyone had experience last year with how Rick Steve's handled this last year or did they just expect you to have insurance to handle this. Did people have good experiences last year with RS cancellation/rebooking policies?

Yes. Last year all RS tours were cancelled.

He didn’t have tours last year and cx them all. He then refunded all who had reserved. Some states require in-full refunds while others don’t. I think Washington does.

But in normal times, if you cancel past the deadlines, its a credit for use on future tours, not a full refund. Isn't that correct? I don't think insurance pays out if you're getting compensation from the provider, which a credit would be.

Yes Stan, that is one thing I am trying to take into account. If a tour had to be cancelled due to lockdowns etc, and I got a credit from RS I would be fine with that. So I wouldn't necessarily want to buy CFAR insurance (although I haven't researched how much more $$ that costs). If RS didn't cancel and credit a situation where say for example NO indoor activities are allowed only outside activities then it seemed like I would want CFAR.

The reason you may want CFAR is air fare since it is not part of a RS tour.

"So was just wondering if anyone had experience last year with how Rick Steve's handled this last year or did they just expect you to have insurance to handle this. Did people have good experiences last year with RS cancellation/rebooking policies?"

I have some general thoughts on tour operators, pandemic refunds and treatment of customers. I post a LOT on Trip Advisor and watch the Senior Forum pretty closely.

In seeing complaints being posted there, I'll tell you that in my opinion, Rick and RSE were in the top 1% of exceeding customer expectations from March 2020 until that Fall when everything was cancelled. He treated his customers fairly, abided by WA state law regarding refunds AND probably the most important, kept people informed. I remember fairly early on he sent out information to customers indicating that they were cancelling tours on a rolling basis and would be refunding within 2 weeks of cancellation. It was clear that they were trying to spread out their cash hemorrhage and as a previous tour customer that would have been OK with me. You did need to hang on long enough to allow them to cancel instead of cancelling yourself.

Meanwhile over on Trip Advisor people were being advised to check Elliott.org and contact the Attorney General's offices in the state where their tour company was headquartered when tour companies were refusing to refund money for tours they cancelled. There are people who are still struggling to get back thousands of dollars from companies that did not follow the law in their state. Some of those companies are continuing to book tours so have some cash flow but are not refunding.

In my opinion, Rick and company are very ethical. You know he kept his Edmonds-based employees employed for the whole pandemic out of his pocket? Yes, they are deep pockets and we all helped deepen them but wow...

If a tour had to be cancelled due to lockdowns etc, and I got a credit from RS I would be fine with that. So I wouldn't necessarily want to buy CFAR insurance.

You are on two different pages. If the tour operator cancels you look to them for a refund. In the case of RSE, they are based in Washington State where a tour operator must refund customers within two weeks of cancellation. If YOU cancel, you fall under the RSE cancellation policy which is spelled out on the website. If you fall outside of that policy because you cancelled late or some other reason then you would look to your travel insurance. If you have CFAR coverage and you cancel for a covered cause (usually quite broad but not everything is covered) you’ll get some money back based on the particular policy. If you have a calamity (you break your leg getting on the plane) you’d look to your travel insurance again. In that situation, you don’t need CFAR coverage, you’ve got a covered claim.

In case you are not aware, most basic cancel-for-any-reason policies pay out 50% of the covered costs if you don't bump into a limitation or exclusion built into your policy. You can pay extra for a policy that pays out 75%, but that still leaves you out 25%. And you pay quite a bit extra for a cancel-for-any-reason policy as opposed to a standard travel policy.