Is trip insurance a good idea for this time of the year?

Your input would be appreciated.

I would say absolutely. We always advise our guests to purchase travel insurance, but that time of year you would be especially wise to do so.

Seconded.

There is a link to Travel Guard on this site - www.thebelizevacationguide.com. They offer good coverage including hurricane scenarios.

Unless you absolutely can not afford to lose the money you have paid for a vacation trip insurance is an absolutely terrible idea. It is expensive because the commission and administration is normally 60% to 70% of the premium and about 15% to 20% is corporate profit and overhead the remaining 10-15% are what is called the loss ratio which means that is the percentage of the premium collected that is paid out to the policy holder and that also includes the cost of paying the claims handling people.
Those are the economics but if it would devastate you to lose the money then you should consider it.

Travel insurance is always a great idea, especially for an expensive trip. Covers cancellation, delays, baggage loss, some weather issues (hurricanes if forced to delay or change your trip or need to evacuate, etc), even some pre-existing medical conditions for self or family (depending on the coverage chosen). Rates starts at $39 pp depending on plan chosen, trip cost and age so can be very inexpensive for basic coverage. People who had insurance and had European delays due to the volcanic eruption were covered, those without were SOL.

Barbara K that is absolute rubbish. How can you make a statement that it is always a good idea. If you have seen one travel insurance policy you have seen only one of thousands of policy forms. Some are not worth the paper they are written on and some are quite good but even the best don't pay for every contingency that could happen or at least limit the amount they will pay. Your statement about European delays because of the ash clouds is not accurate. Some were covered and some were not. A lot of the payouts associated with that situation were made by the airlines themselves. Seldom are things completely black and white and certainly to say that travel insurance is always a good idea fails the smell test.

Hummmm just when i was going to reserve comment!
The Divers Alert Network insurance company announced this year they would no longer cover divers living outside the United States and Canada.
so i researched new insurance companys for my crew.
I found www.TravelerEMS.com
they cover us with the chamber and travel insurance to boot. cheap and easy.

I have never paid more than $40.00 per person for coverage, and was advising the original poster (as we do with ALL our guests) that we suggest that they purchase travel insurance as their hotel payments are non refundable. Someone traveling to the Caribbean in late August would be wise to invest the additional $40.00 IMO

This was 105. and included the chamber but its for the year.

@ shuffles: I have paid for a deposit equal to 1 night's stay @ Ruby's ($25 USD) + my airline ticket.

I have recieved some good information and I thank you all for your advice.