Paid $1,399 for their 17-day cruise, which they had to leave after five days. They had $99 return flights to Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., but ended up spending $550 (U.S.) each for a one-way ticket home when they got off in Barbados. They also racked up $300 in long-distance calls from the ship while making all their last-minute arrangements. Havelock thought the travel medical insurance he bought before the trip would cover his extra costs. But he was wrong. His mistake was not getting an all-inclusive package.

Instead, he bought trip cancellation insurance from his son’s credit card company, out-of-country medical insurance from his wife’s employer and baggage insurance from the cruise line. What he needed – and didn’t have – was trip interruption insurance to cover him once he left home. Many travel insurance policies will pay for the cost of your trip if you have to cancel before your departure date.

But that’s all. It’s worth asking if you’re covered for both trip cancellation and trip interruption.”Otherwise, you’re stuck with the balance of the cruise and you can’t enjoy it when you’re taken off at the first port,” says Michael Camacho of CSI Brokers Inc., which works with financial institutions to develop travel medical insurance products. Trip interruption is “an inexpensive add-on” to a travel medical policy, in his view. It’s helpful when you have a prepaid tour package.