Trip Insurance

Comprehensive trip insurance is valuable if you're booking a very expensive or complicated trip (particularly to an isolated region) or if you're booking far in advance. Comprehensive policies typically cover trip cancellation and interruption, letting you cancel or cut your trip short because of a personal emergency, illness, or, in some cases, acts of terrorism in your destination. Such policies also cover evacuation and medical care. (For trips abroad you should at least have medical-only coverage). Some also cover you for trip delays because of bad weather or mechanical problems as well as for lost or delayed baggage.

Another type of coverage to look for is financial default—that is, when your trip is disrupted because a tour operator, airline, or cruise line goes out of business. Generally you must buy this when you book your trip or shortly thereafter, and it's only available to you if your operator isn't on a list of excluded companies.

Always read the fine print of your policy to make sure that you are covered for the risks that are of most concern to you. Compare several policies to make sure you're getting the best price and range of coverage available.

Insurance Comparison Sites

Insure My Trip.com (800/487–4722. www.insuremytrip.com.)

SquareMouth.com (800/240–0369. www.squaremouth.com.)

Comprehensive Travel Insurers

Allianz Travel Insurance (866/884–3556. www.allianztravelinsurance.com.)

AIG Travel Guard (800/826–4919. www.travelguard.com.)

CSA Travel Protection (800/711–1197. www.csatravelprotection.com.)

Travelex Insurance (800/228–9792. www.travelex-insurance.com.)

Travel Insured International (800/243–3174. www.travelinsured.com.)

Okay. You know you can save a bundle on trips to warm-weather destinations by traveling in rainy season. But there's also a chance that a severe storm will disrupt your plans. The solution? Look for hotels and resorts that offer storm/hurricane guarantees. Although they rarely allow refunds, most guarantees do let you rebook later if a storm strikes.