The cruise plan is the one almost nobody finds. WaveCare is built for sailing and carries a cruise-specific benefit set, yet it sits behind the better-known ExactCare range. The underwriter is the strongest argument here — no AM Best grade sits above it. The weakest is the spread: from $15,000 medical on ExactCare Value to six figures on LuxuryCare, and BHTP's own pages disagree on what LuxuryCare's limit actually is, showing $100,000 in one place and $150,000 in another. Confirm the figure your quote returns before you compare it with anything.
| Plan | Emergency medical | Evacuation | What it is for |
|---|---|---|---|
| WaveCare | Up to $75,000 | Up to $750,000 | The cruise plan. Cruise-specific benefits |
| LuxuryCare | Published pages disagree — $100,000 or $150,000 | Up to $1,000,000 | The highest limits, and the only CFAR upgrade |
| ExactCare | Up to $50,000 | Up to $500,000 | Two children 17 and under covered free |
| ExactCare Value | Up to $15,000 | Up to $150,000 | Cheapest entry, and secondary cover |
| AirCare | None — flight-only | Not included | A supplement, not a policy |
Who is actually behind it
Short section, because there is nothing to untangle. Berkshire Hathaway Travel Protection is a division of Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance Company. NAIC# 22276. Rated A++ by AM Best, the top of the scale.
So the consumer brand and the underwriting company sit inside the same Berkshire Hathaway Specialty structure. Less corporate separation than with most brands in this market — though distribution, administration or producer entities can still be involved depending on where you buy. There is no separate underwriter to go and look up.
Worth knowing what that buys you, and what it does not. An A++ rating settles one question completely: can this company pay what it owes. It says nothing whatsoever about whether it will decide it owes you.
Two different questions. The second one comes up later on this page.
Pick the trip, not the tier
Six plans, each built for a different shape of holiday. Start with the first one. That is the cruise plan — and the one you would never have found on your own.
Up to $75,000 emergency medical
Up to $750,000 evacuation — three times the $250,000 figure commonly cited as a sensible minimum
The plan almost nobody finds. Built for sailing, with a cruise-ship disablement benefit — a fixed payment, listed at $500, if your ship is confined without essential services — and cover described as extending to a cruise line's financial default.
Two things to check on the certificate. The disablement benefit is a fixed sum rather than an open limit. And financial-default cover is usually written against specific defined conditions rather than as blanket bankruptcy protection — match the wording to your itinerary before you rely on it. You also have to know the plan exists at all: search this brand and you land on ExactCare instead.
BHTP's own pages disagree here. Its general plan page describes up to $100,000; its WaveCare-versus-LuxuryCare comparison shows $150,000. Primary either way — confirm the figure returned with your quote and certificate
Up to $1,000,000 evacuation — the highest in the range
Trip cancellation for trips up to $100,000 a person, and the only plan in the range that can carry cancel-for-any-reason at all.
That CFAR upgrade reimburses 50%, not the 75% most of the market pays, and it is capped at $10,000 of insured trip cost. It must be added at purchase, within 15 days of your first deposit.
Up to $50,000 in current published materials — distributor listings vary, so confirm on the quote
Up to $500,000 evacuation
BHTP's own wording: coverage for two children age 17 and under is included in the premium of every insured adult, provided they are related to and travelling with that adult. Paired with primary medical, this is the benefit that moves the arithmetic on a family booking.
It is on the mid-tier ExactCare only — not ExactCare Value, not ExactCare Extra, not the specialty plans. Easy to miss when the names look this similar. Confirm the plan name on your quote, not just the brand.
Up to $15,000 emergency medical
Up to $150,000 evacuation
The cheapest way into a Berkshire Hathaway policy, with the same fast claims handling as the rest of the range.
Cover is secondary rather than primary, there is no free-children benefit, and — the one that matters most here — this plan is reported to omit missed-connection cover, which is the single most cruise-specific benefit there is. On $15,000 of medical, many travellers heading overseas would want more than this carries.
None — this is flight-only cover
Not included
Delays, cancellations and lost luggage, paid on fixed benefits rather than receipts. Cheap, narrow and quick.
No medical cover of any kind. A supplement, not a policy. It should never be the only thing you carry on a cruise.
High limits, built for activities most policies exclude
Up to $750,000 evacuation
Covers skydiving, rock climbing and scuba — the shore excursions that standard policies quietly exclude, which is exactly where people get hurt.
A specialty plan, so the family and cancellation benefits differ from the ExactCare range. Read it as a different product rather than an upgrade.
Notice what just happened. You did not pick a coverage level. You described a holiday, and the plan chose itself.
That is a better way to sell insurance, and it has one failure mode: you have to know the right plan exists. Search this brand and the general policy is what you find. WaveCare sits one click sideways, with three times the evacuation limit — and cover reaching the cruise line's own financial default. Which is the one risk a cruise line's own plan can never touch. It would be claiming against its own funeral.
Which makes this page mostly a signpost. The product is good. The shelf it sits on is badly lit.
Scored on the eight that vary
The same eight dimensions every policy on this site is measured against. Compare carriers on anything else and you are comparing brochures. Scored across the range, because here the range is the product.
Each score is Seabound's judgement, not a figure published by any insurer. The underlying limits are researched from the carrier's own materials and stated as they appear there. The score answers one question: how well does this dimension serve someone booking a cruise? Ten means best-in-class for cruising. Five means adequate. Below five means a gap worth planning around. Where a benefit exists but only on one plan in a range, the score is marked down, because a benefit you cannot buy at your price point is not a benefit you have. Limits vary by state and the certificate you are issued is what governs.
Enormous spread across the range — up to $15,000 on ExactCare Value against six figures on LuxuryCare. Worth knowing that BHTP's own published pages are inconsistent on the LuxuryCare limit, showing $100,000 in one place and $150,000 in another; confirm what your quote returns. The budget end is thin for international travel either way, and that drags the score down.
The strongest in this series so far. Up to $750,000 on the cruise plan and up to $1,000,000 on LuxuryCare, against the $250,000 figure commonly cited as a sensible minimum. On the number that ruins people, this range is hard to beat.
Primary on LuxuryCare, WaveCare, ExactCare and ExactCare Extra — and primary in the base plan rather than a paid upgrade, which is rarer than it should be. ExactCare Value is the exception and is secondary, so the budget plan may need another health plan to process the expense first. Marked down for that one gap alone.
Available across the ExactCare plans and LuxuryCare, with the usual conditions — full trip cost insured, medically fit to travel. Marked down for the clock: 15 days from your first deposit, which is tighter than the 21 days much of the market allows.
The weakest line on the page. 50% reimbursement where the market standard is 75% — and a low ceiling on the trip value it will apply to. LuxuryCare alone, added at purchase, inside fifteen days. If flexibility is what you came for, this is the wrong carrier.
The reason to buy here. Filing is a photograph and a click, payment runs through the company's own Burst platform, and ExactCare Extra can pay flight-delay claims automatically without you filing at all. BHTP's own materials claim claims are processed up to five times faster than the industry average — that is the company's figure rather than an independent measurement, but the speed-first design is real and visible in the product.
WaveCare is a purpose-built cruise plan rather than an adapted one — a fixed cruise-ship disablement benefit, enhanced luggage cover, and cover extending to a cruise line's financial default under the conditions its certificate defines. Marked short of ten because you have to know it exists, and because the default wording rewards reading.
Coverage for two related children age 17 and under is included in the premium for each insured adult on ExactCare, subject to the plan's eligibility conditions. Generous, and held back a point because it applies to that one plan rather than across the range.
Limits verified July 2026 and stated as up to figures. Published limits differ between distributors for some plans, benefits and availability vary by state, and insurers revise these quietly. The certificate you are issued is what governs.
Who it suits, and who should skip it
The scores hide the shape. This carrier is not evenly good. Exceptional at two things, poor at one.
Buy it if the catastrophic number is what worries you. Up to a million dollars of evacuation cover on LuxuryCare. Up to three-quarters of a million on the cruise plan. Against the $250,000 figure commonly cited as a sensible minimum. On the one line item that ruins people, nothing else in this series comes close.
Buy it if you have ever had a claim go quiet. Photograph, click, paid. The company claims processing up to five times faster than the industry average — its own figure rather than an audited one — but the design is visibly built for speed, and on one plan flight delays pay without you filing at all. Anyone who has chased a reimbursement for eleven weeks will understand the appeal.
Skip it if you want flexibility. Cancel-for-any-reason pays 50% here where the market pays 75%. One plan only. Capped at $10,000 of trip cost. Fifteen days to buy it. That is the worst CFAR on this site, and no amount of claims speed makes up for it.
Think hard about the budget end for anything international. ExactCare Value carries up to $15,000 of medical, secondary cover, and is reported to omit missed-connection protection — the benefit that gets you to the next port when a flight strands you. For many international cruises that is less protection than most travellers would be comfortable carrying.
And read the definitions. The recurring note from people who have claimed is that decisions follow the wording exactly — what the policy means by a family member, a travelling companion, a covered reason. Fast is not the same as generous. Know which one you bought.
Straight answers
Which Berkshire Hathaway plan should a cruiser buy?
WaveCare, and most people never see it. Purpose-built for sailing — up to $75,000 medical, up to $750,000 evacuation, a fixed cruise-ship disablement benefit, and cover described as extending to a cruise line's financial default. That last one is worth understanding rather than assuming: a plan sold by the cruise line itself cannot cover that line failing, because you would be claiming against the company that just went under. Read the certificate for what default actually means — these benefits are written against defined conditions, not as blanket bankruptcy cover. Search the brand and you land on ExactCare instead.
Why is the cancel-for-any-reason so weak?
Because the company is not competing there. Berkshire Hathaway has built its reputation on claims speed and enormous evacuation limits, and cancel-for-any-reason is where it lets the rest of the market win. Half your money back rather than three-quarters, on one plan, inside a fifteen-day window. That is a deliberate position rather than an oversight — but it is still a gap, and if flexibility is the thing you are buying, buy it somewhere else.
Is the claims process really that much faster?
Speed is what the company sells. Filing is a photograph and a click, payment runs through its Burst platform, and one plan pays flight delays automatically. The "five times faster than the industry average" figure comes from BHTP's own materials, so read it as a marketing claim rather than an audited statistic — though the design behind it is genuinely unusual. The counterweight, reported by reviewers: claims are decided strictly on policy definitions. Fast is not the same as lenient. Read what your policy means by "family member" and "travelling companion" before you need to.
How long do I have to buy?
Fifteen days from your initial trip deposit if you want the pre-existing condition waiver or cancel-for-any-reason — tighter than the 21 days much of the market allows, and the single most common way people lose benefits here. You must also insure the full non-refundable trip cost and be medically able to travel when you buy.
Who actually underwrites it?
Itself — section one covers the structure. The part worth carrying away is what it means at claim time: the brand and the underwriting company sit inside the same Berkshire Hathaway Specialty structure, so there is less corporate separation than with most names in this market, and no separate underwriter to go and look up. Distribution and administration entities can still be involved depending on where you buy. The balance sheet behind it is rated at the top of AM Best's scale.
Why do different Berkshire Hathaway pages show different medical limits?
Because they do, and it is worth seeing rather than smoothing over. BHTP's general plan page describes LuxuryCare medical cover of up to $100,000, while its own WaveCare-versus-LuxuryCare comparison shows $150,000. That is a conflict between two of the company's own pages, not a reporting error — and it is precisely why this site treats published marketing figures as a starting point rather than an answer. Run a quote, read the certificate you are issued, and treat that document as the only binding number.
Are there places it will not cover?
Yes. LuxuryCare excludes certain destinations, and the list is the kind of thing insurers revise as circumstances change — so rather than reproduce a snapshot here, check the current certificate against your itinerary before you buy. Most cruise routes are unaffected. A repositioning voyage or an unusual port list is worth the two minutes.
Ask us about cruise insurance
Tell us about the trip, and who's going.
What your booking is exposed to, which coverage types your group needs, and which deadline is closest to biting you.
Seabound Journeys is an independent travel advisory and does not sell insurance. Answers come from this guide and are general information rather than advice about your policy.
Sources and verification
Every limit on this page was taken from the carrier's own published materials, not from a summary of them. Where published figures disagreed, both are shown rather than reconciled. Here is what was read.
All plan limits, the trip-shape product structure, the children-included conditions and the claims-speed claim were taken from BHTP's own pages.
The general plan page and the WaveCare-vs-LuxuryCare comparison give different LuxuryCare medical limits. This guide publishes the disagreement rather than choosing a figure.
"Financial default" is not the same as blanket bankruptcy protection, and terms like "family member" and "travelling companion" are defined in the certificate.
The "up to 5× faster" claims figure is the company's own, not an audited statistic, and is attributed as such throughout.
Verified July 2026. Insurance terms change, ratings are revised, and carriers update plan documents without announcement. This page records what the sources said when it was checked and carries that date deliberately. The plan document issued for your state is the only binding version — nothing here replaces reading it.
Joey Boleslawski is the founder of Seabound Journeys and a CLIA-affiliated travel advisor with more than twenty years in the hospitality industry. He researches and writes every guide on this site himself, and books the sailings he writes about. The scores on this page are his judgement, not an insurer's figures — the limits behind them come from the carriers' own published materials, listed in full above. More about how this site works →
Six plans, eight scores, one fifteen-day deadline. Back to the plans →
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