My wife and I are planning on
going to an all-inclusive resort in the
Caribbean in August and we're a little
concerned about hurricane season. Is
there anything we can do to protect our investment should a storm develop?
M.K., Marblehead
The National Hurricane Center predicts an active year, with 13 to 17 named storms in the Atlantic, 10 of those developing to hurricane status. And since you’re planning on traveling in the middle of the season, you should take every precaution, both in terms of money and health. The most common and reliable course is to purchase travel insurance. Both AIG Travel Guard (travelguard.com) and Travelex Insurance Services (travelex-insurance.com) offer trip interruption and cancellation plans that will reimburse all prepaid expenses (airfare, hotels, etc.) if a storm makes either your home or the place you will reside while on vacation uninhabitable. If a storm should form mid-trip, both companies have 24-hour, seven-day-aweek emergency call centers that will assist you in just about anything you need: medical treatment, rebooking flights, finding alternate lodging. The one catch: You need to purchase the insurance before the storm is named. Prices for policies are dependent on the age of travelers and the cost of the trip, but on average, expect to pay 5 to 10 percent of the total trip cost.
