Cruise Insurance Cost: 2025 Data Report

How Much is Cruise Insurance?

Comprehensive cruise insurance policies typically cost between 4%-10% of your total insured travel expenses. According to these industry benchmarks, a $10,000 cruise vacation could cost anywhere from $400-$1,000 to protect with comprehensive coverage.

Proprietary Squaremouth sales data from over 25,000 cruise insurance customers is consistent with this projection, revealing that the majority of cruisers are spending between $100-$850 on their policies. However, the average cost greatly varies depending on the type of policy you need.

Here's how average premiums break down:

• Medical-based plans that exclude cancellation coverage are significantly less expensive, averaging $108 per plan.
• Comprehensive cruise insurance plans with cancellation coverage cost $564 on average per plan.

It's important to understand that the cost of travel insurance varies significantly from person to person, due to a range of factors that influence pricing. Below, we break down how cruise insurance is calculated and the impact different factors have on cruise insurance premiums.

What Factors Influence Cruise Travel Insurance Costs?

Several factors can sway the price of your cruise insurance plan:

• Coverage Type: Comprehensive cruise plans cover all of your trip costs, while travel medical plans do not. However, that added coverage will increase premiums by over 400%.
• Trip Cost: If you opt for a comprehensive plan with cancellation benefits, your cruise insurance premium will increase with your trip cost.
• Traveler Age: Older travelers often pay higher premiums due to increased health risks associated with being at sea.
• Destination: Traveling to remote or high-risk destinations can result in higher premiums, due to a demand for greater coverage.
• Trip Length: Longer trips require more days of coverage, which correlates to higher premiums.

Here is a detailed look at how each of these factors can impact the cost of your cruise insurance plan.

How Coverage Types Impact Cruise Insurance Cost

The price of your policy increases as you add more types of coverage to your plan or increase the policy limits. This has the biggest impact on cruise insurance premiums.

There are two main types of travel insurance packages for cruises:

• Medical-only cruise insurance coverage
• Comprehensive cruise insurance coverage

Here is a look at how choosing between these types of coverage affects the total cost of your cruise insurance.

If you do not need coverage for your trip costs, you can save over 80% by excluding trip cancellation coverage and opting for a medical-only insurance plan. This is the most affordable option; however, these policies won't reimburse you for financial losses if you are forced to cancel your trip unexpectedly. That’s why about 2 out of 3 travelers purchase comprehensive plans that include Trip Cancellation and Trip Interruption coverage for their cruises.

Comprehensive cruise insurance costs 422% more, at an average of $564 per policy, but it offers superior financial protection.

Some comprehensive insurance policies offer the option to add a Cancel For Any Reason (CFAR) add-on to your travel protection, which can provide additional flexibility and peace of mind. This add-on is known to increase premiums by 46% or more, resulting in an average premium of $827.

How Trip Cost Impacts Cruise Insurance Cost

The total cost of your trip has a significant impact on the price of your cruise insurance. If you opt for a comprehensive plan, your premium will be largely based on the trip cost you insure.

Your trip cost is defined as the sum of all prepaid, non-refundable travel expenses you choose to insure, such as airfare, cruise bookings, drinks packages, hotel accommodations, and other payments you made leading up to your trip.

As a general rule, comprehensive travel insurance premiums typically cost between 4-10% of your total trip cost.

Squaremouth data shows that travelers typically spend $7,877 on their cruises, meaning that the average premium of cruise insurance policies sold through Squaremouth is roughly 7.2% of the total prepaid, non-refundable trip costs for our cruise insurance customers.

The table below shows how the cost of cruise insurance plans changes based on the cost of your trip:

The table above illustrates the significant impact of trip cost on the cost of cruise insurance. For example, if you triple your trip cost from $1,000 to $3,000, your premium will nearly triple as well. Using a $1,000 trip as the benchmark, that trend continues as trip costs increase. And once your cruise expenses exceed $9,000, you can pay as much as 13x for the cost of a policy.

How Age Impacts Cruise Insurance Cost

As mentioned previously, travel insurance premiums increase with age. Travel insurance for seniors tends to be the most expensive, as insurers account for health risks associated with advanced age.

The table below shows cruise insurance costs by age group for Squaremouth users over the past 12 months.

Cruise insurance premiums remain fairly unchanged across the different age brackets for travelers under 50, averaging between $300-$350. However, the price of cruise insurance rises sharply for travelers once they reach 50, and peaks for travelers over 70, as seen in the chart above. Travelers above 70 years old can expect to pay at least 150% more for cruise insurance than travelers under 50.

Apart from increased health risks, senior travelers tend to take longer cruises with higher price tags, which also leads to higher overall travel insurance premiums.

Just like age, the type of insurance coverage benefits you purchase has a significant impact on how much you'll spend on cruise insurance. Here is a look at how the coverage you choose can affect the cost of cruise insurance.

How Destination Impacts Cruise Insurance Cost

Typically, cruises to more remote locations or countries with higher health risks require increased coverage. While not a primary factor in determining the cost of travel insurance for a cruise, some providers may consider your travel destination when providing quotes.

In the table below, we examine the difference in insurance costs for domestic and international cruises.

International cruise insurance is roughly 18% more expensive than cruise insurance for the United States.

Factors contributing to this rise in cost include longer trips, higher medical expenses, and higher medical evacuation costs. International cruises typically come at a higher price, too.

The cost to insure international cruises can also vary based on the region of the world you are visiting. Generally, the more remote the destination is, the more you will spend on travel insurance. Popular cruise destinations close to the U.S. are far less expensive to insure than more distant destinations like Japan and Antarctica.

How Trip Duration Impacts Cruise Insurance Cost

Longer trips are associated with higher overall prices and require more days of coverage, leading to higher travel insurance costs overall.

Generally speaking, longer cruises also present a greater statistical probability for travel mishaps to occur as each day adds another opportunity for incidents to arise. Therefore, cruise insurance costs typically fluctuate based on the length of your trip, as seen in the table below.

As shown in the table above, there is a direct relationship between the length of your cruise and the cost of your policy. In general, doubling your trip length will almost double your policy premium. For example, insuring an 8-14 day cruise is 78% more expensive than insuring a 4-7 day cruise.

How to Find Low-Cost Cruise Insurance

Consider the following tips for getting affordable cruise insurance:

1. See if You Have Existing Coverage:
   Before purchasing travel insurance, check if you have existing coverage. For example, some travel credit cards offer trip reimbursement protections. These can eliminate the need to buy comprehensive coverage, allowing you to save money with a medical-only travel insurance plan.
2. Compare Plans, Coverage & Prices:
   Use a comparison service like Squaremouth that allows you to see travel insurance plans and prices from multiple providers in one place. This can save you time and money by allowing you to quickly compare coverage and pricing to find the best value for your money.
3. Take Advantage of Cruise Deals:
   Since the cost of your trip is a determining factor in the price of cruise insurance, saving money on the total cost of your vacation can help lead to lower travel insurance costs.
4. Buy Only What You Need:
   Be careful not to over-insure yourself. By opting only for what you need, you can save money on the final cost of your policy.
5. Only Insure Non-Refundable Expenses:
   Some of the bookings for your trip may include refundable expenses, such as a hotel before or after the ship. Check to see which bookings have built-in cancellation policies and exclude these from your trip cost when buying travel insurance.

Choosing Affordable Coverage

As mentioned previously, the type of plan you choose can directly impact the price you pay for cruise insurance by as much as 422%. Here is a quick breakdown of the different types of plans available, along with who they may be right for.

• Travel Medical Insurance: These medical-only plans are the most affordable type of cruise insurance, as they leave out trip reimbursement for cancellations and more. This is a great option if your primary concern is accessing reliable medical coverage while at sea.
• Comprehensive Travel Insurance: Comprehensive plans are the most popular option for cruisers, offering broader protection than medical-only plans. These plans provide all the same benefits as travel medical policies, plus they offer coverage for your trip expenses. These plans are the best option for getting broad-spectrum trip protection and securing full trip-reimbursement coverage.

Money-saving tips for add-ons

If your goal is to keep the cost of your cruise insurance as low as possible, you may want to forego add-ons.

That said, here are a few of our money-saving tips when considering add-ons:

Cancel For Any Reason (CFAR): CFAR coverage will raise the cost of your travel insurance policy by over 40%, but it allows you to cancel your trip for any reason at all and still be reimbursed for between 50–75% of your non-refundable trip costs.

Cost-saving tip: Review the fine print of comprehensive policies and only buy CFAR if your main concern isn’t already covered under the standard Trip Cancellation inclusions.

Interruption for Any Reason (IFAR): IFAR coverage allows you to pause or end your trip early for any reason and receive partial reimbursement for your unused trip costs. This coverage is especially useful for longer cruises or trips with multiple legs.

Cost-saving tip: Only buy IFAR if your main concern isn’t already covered by standard Trip Interruption coverage.

Coverage Limit Upgrades: Customization allows you to increase the payout limits for certain benefits like baggage loss, emergency medical assistance, medical evacuation, and trip delay coverage. We recommend $100,000 of Emergency Medical and $250,000 of Medical Evacuation coverage for cruises.

Cost-saving tip: Understand your needs, and don't overinsure yourself. Paying for coverage beyond the amounts we recommend above is likely unnecessary.

Rental Car Damage Protection: Rental car damage add-on covers physical damage or theft of a rental car, often at a lower price than the insurance offered at the rental counter.

Cost-saving tip: Some comprehensive policies include rental car coverage automatically. We also recommend checking your auto insurance policy, as it may include coverage for rental car damage.

Is Cruise Insurance Worth the Cost?

Cruise insurance is one of the best values in travel protection. When you consider the potential financial risk of traveling uninsured and compare it to the relatively small per-day cost of cruise insurance, it's clear that paying for insurance is well worth it.

For context, here is a look at how much common cruise disruptions could cost you if you were uninsured:

• Cancelled Cruise: If you need to cancel your cruise without coverage, you will lose all of your prepaid, non-refundable travel expenses. Squaremouth data shows the average cruiser spends $7,500+ on their cruises. Spending a few hundred dollars on cruise insurance is worth it if it can recoup the total cost of your vacation.
• Medical Emergency: Receiving medical attention while at sea or in a foreign country can be costly. Depending on the severity of the injury or illness, medical expenses could surpass $20,000. Some of the most affordable travel medical plans offer at least $50,000 of Emergency Medical coverage, helping you avoid any out-of-pocket expenses.
• Medical Evacuation: Depending on your location and the severity of the incident, medical evacuations have been known to cost cruisers up to $100,000. Costs can even surpass that if transportation back to your home country is required for treatment. Medical travel insurance is one of the most affordable coverage options and typically covers emergency medical evacuations, so you aren't forced to pay out of pocket.
• Missed Cruise Departure: Delays in your journey to your departure port may force you to miss your cruise departure. Without coverage, you will have to pay out-of-pocket to cover expenses needed to get to your next port of call. Basic travel insurance plans with Missed Connection coverage can cover the cost to catch up to your cruise.

When planning a cruise, insurance might feel like an optional extra, but in many cases, it's the smartest money you'll spend on the entire trip. For a relatively small upfront cost, the best cruise insurance plans can protect you from losses that would otherwise cost thousands. It's peace of mind for pennies on the dollar.

Methodology: Data from Actual Traveler Purchases

As America's largest travel insurance marketplace, Squaremouth hosts travel insurance policies from over 20 major providers in the industry. This allows us to analyze anonymized, aggregated pricing information in real-time from thousands of policies sold on our site to reveal the most common trends and data points among travelers. To arrive at the average cost of cruise travel insurance for this article, we analyzed internal data from thousands of travel insurance policies sold from November 1, 2024 to November 1, 2025.

Unlike other websites and media publishers who estimate the cost of travel insurance using a mix of hypothetical example quotes, our data is from actual travel insurance purchases made by Squaremouth visitors. The average premiums, costs, and prices we show in our content come from actual purchases, not hypothetical quotes. These figures account for a wide variety of traveler demographics, trip types, destinations, trip costs, and coverage options.

Why Trust Our Numbers?

Large media publishers often base their insurance cost figures on hypothetical traveler profiles, limited sample sizes, static point-in-time data, and quotes, not actual sales. While these can offer useful directional snapshots, they don’t reflect real consumer behavior or shifts in pricing over time.

In contrast, Squaremouth’s insights are based on real purchases made by real travelers. We provide anonymized sales data to give a much clearer picture of what travelers are actually paying for insurance today.

Because our data is tied directly to our travel insurance marketplace, we’re better equipped to provide cost insights across niche segments, making our averages more accurate, timely, and actionable for travelers seeking reliable pricing expectations.

Advantages of Squaremouth’s Data Approach:

• Real Sales Data, Not Sample Quotes:
  Because our data is based on verified insurance purchases, we offer far greater accuracy than those based on hypothetical quotes or limited sample sizes.
• Regularly Updated to Reflect Market Shifts:
  We track and update cost trends regularly to capture the fluctuations in policy prices brought on by seasonality, changes in demand, geopolitical events, and insurer policy changes.
• Highly Segmented Insights:
  Our data reflects the real purchase behavior of a diverse range of traveler demographics, destinations, and trip types, both domestic and international. Because our cost data is sourced directly from sales on our travel insurance marketplace, we can accurately break down cost metrics by specific subsets such as destination, traveler age, trip cost, state of residence, coverage type, filters used, and more.
• Holistic View of Travel Insurance Prices:
  Unless otherwise stated, our analyses encompass all levels of coverage, from basic medical-only policies to comprehensive coverage with add-ons, which gives a more complete picture of pricing.

For Media & Data Licensing Inquiries

Our cost data is freely available for journalistic and educational uses with proper attribution to Squaremouth. Please reference the data source at Squaremouth.com for any information used. For custom data access or licensing opportunities, please contact media@squaremouth.com.