DAN Travel Insurance Review: A Deep Dive
Written by Antonio Cala.
Table of Contents
Whether you’re an experienced traveler, diver, or a passionate adventurer, having the right insurance when traveling is paramount. In this DAN Travel Insurance review, we explore its unique features, encompassing a wide range of services and thorough coverage specifically designed for traveling scuba divers.
For an in-depth analysis of insurance choices tailored for adventure travelers, check out the Ultimate Guide to Adventure Travel Insurance. Let’s get started.
DAN Travel Insurance Overview
Who Is DAN For
DAN Insurance is designed for international scuba divers embarking on diving liveaboard trips. Its primary offering is dive accident insurance, and you can supplement it with a traditional travel insurance policy to cover trip cancellations and baggage.
What's Included
DAN provides different types of coverage that can be confusing to understand the first time you see them. We will go into the details in the next section. For now, here is a summary of what they offer:
- DAN membership, which covers emergency evacuation and travel assistance services.
- Dive accident insurance, which covers injuries sustained while diving.
- Travel Insurance, providing medical coverage, trip protection, and coverage for baggage.
You can purchase them combined or separately (with some exceptions), but the following is the coverage you can get when combining all of them.
Emergency medical expenses: Up to $250,000. Provides coverage for the necessary medical, surgical and emergency dental care costs if you become sick or accidentally injured while on your covered trip.
Diving accident medical expenses: Up to $500,000. Coverage for hyperbaric chamber treatment, physician and hospital charges and emergency transportation by ground, air or marine ambulance.
Emergency Assistance & Transportation: Up to $1,000,000. Coverage of transportation in the case of illness or injury that is acute, severe or life threatening when adequate medical treatment is not available in the immediate area.
Trip cancellation: Up to 100%. Provides reimbursement for unused, non-refundable, pre-paid trip costs if you are prevented from taking your trip due to a covered reason.
Lost or damaged belongings: Up to $2,500. Provides coverage for loss, theft or damage to your baggage and covered personal effects during your covered trip.
You can see the full coverage of the DAN travel insurance here.
Limitations
DAN offers slightly different coverage depending on your location. They divide the world into different areas, and each of them has its own plans and membership options.
They also have distinct websites for each region of the world. While this article focuses on the plans offered to Americans, you can find specific plans for other regions on the following websites.
DAN Europe – countries in Europe
DAN Southern Africa – countries in Southern Africa
DAN World – Asia Pacific, Australia, Canada, China & Latin America / Caribbean.
DAN Membership vs Insurance
As mentioned in the previous section, DAN offers three main products: DAN membership, dive accident insurance, and travel insurance. Let’s analyze each of them.
DAN Membership
The DAN membership offers travel assistance services, emergency medical evacuation, a subscription to Alert Diver Magazine, a 24/7 Emergency Hotline, and more. It does not cover diving accidents, medical expenses, trip protection or equipment.
It’s an annual membership that can be either individual or for a family, and DAN provides two tiers: regular and enhanced membership.
Dive Accident Insurance
DAN’s dive accident insurance provides a cost-effective solution for divers seeking coverage against the expenses associated with dive injuries, which are not covered with the Membership.
It’s only available as annual coverage, and to purchase this insurance, you must first acquire the DAN membership. Three different tiers are offered: Master, Preferred & Guardian.
This dive accident insurance:
- Covers diving accidents and injuries, with some plans extending to non-diving and specified water sports accidents and injuries.
- Pays 100% of eligible accident medical expenses up to US$500,000.
- Provides coverage for divers aged 70 and over in the U.S. and Canada.
- Offers plans recognized worldwide.
Example quote for a 40-year-old diver from Florida.
Travel Insurance
DAN trip insurance covers your special adventures against certain unforeseen events along the way. Budget friendly rates make it the perfect companion for a quick road trip or international dive travel.
It works like a traditional travel insurance and provides coverage for medical expenses, travel protection and baggage.
Example quote for a $2,000, 1-week trip for a 40-year-old diver from Florida.
Pricing
Prices vary depending on where you live in the world.
Currently, the regular DAN membership in the US costs $40 for an individual & $75 for a family, while the enhance membership goes for $60 (individual) and $100 (family).
For a 40-year-old male from Florida, the dive accident insurance will cost from $44 (Master Plan) to $159 (Guardian Plan), while the travel insurance for a $2,000, 1-week trip will cost from $110 (Basic Plan) to $148 (Elite Plan).
For accurate pricing, please get a quote for your trip on the DAN website.
What's Covered & Who's Eligible
DAN doesn’t have a lot of limitations. Most people are eligible. Let’s look at the specifics.
Nationalities: Most nationalities are covered. You will need to purchase your membership & insurance with the corresponding DAN office that serves your area (see Limitations section above).
Pre-existing conditions: Pre-existing conditions are not covered.
Seniors Over 65: Includes coverage for divers age 70 and over in the U.S. and Canada
Trip Duration: Both the DAN membership and dive accident insurance are only offered as annual. Travel insurance is offered for single trips or annual.
Groups: Both membership and insurances are available as individual and family plans.
User Reviews and Testimonials
Insurance companies often receive negative online reviews due to issues such as complicated policy language, claim denials, slow processing times, and perceived unfair practices.
DAN also gets its fair share of negative reviews online, but overall most of the reviews online are positive reviews.
DAN vs Competitors
The real competitor of DAN for dive accident insurance is Dive Assure. When it comes to travel insurance, then there are many other providers out there.
Conclusion
DAN is the most popular insurance for divers traveling internationally. Their membership, combined with dive accident insurance, provides comprehensive coverage that every diver should have when traveling.
It’s the best option for travelers going on liveaboard diving trips.
However, the travel insurance part is less attractive. The fact that it doesn’t cover situations like hurricanes (a very common reason for liveaboard cancellations) makes other insurance providers more appealing for travelers seeking trip cancellation coverage.
Other Travel Insurance Reviews
If you would like to read more about other insurance companies for adventure travelers, you can check out our other reviews below:
If you would like to read more about insurance options for other type of adventure trips, you can check out our other reviews below:
- Skiing & Snowboarding
- Hiking Trips
- Mountaineering & High Altitude Trekking
- Mountain Biking, Bike-touring & Bike-packing
- Rock Climbing, Ice Climbing & Bouldering
- Kayaking, White Water Rafting & Paddle Boarding
- Fishing & Spearfishing
- Diving Liveaboards & Freediving
- Sailing, Kite Surfing & Surfing
- Adventure Cruises
- Adventure Motorcycling
DAN Insurance Reviews Online
When doing your research, you might want to read what other publications have to say about the DAN travel insurance plans. In my experience, the most honest and valuable reviews are found by real divers in forums like ScubaBoard or Reddit.
Here are some of the most popular threads I found interesting.
DAN insurance: worth it? – Scuba Board Forums
Using DAN as travelers insurance? – Reddit
About the Author
Antonio was born and raised in Southern Spain, and quit his job in 2013 to travel the world full-time with his wife Amanda for 10 years straight. Their passion for adventure took them to visit 150+ countries.
They cycled 25,000km + from California to Patagonia, sailed over 10,000NM around the Caribbean & Sea of Cortez, rode their motorbikes 30,000 kms+ across West Africa (Spain to South Africa) and visited Antarctica, among many other adventure expeditions. Today, they’re still traveling, currently around the USA with an RV.
Traveling to so many places, remote destinations and by different means taught them a lot about travel insurance, which policies to hold depending on the area and the type of adventure they were doing. Antonio now publishes regular content to help other travelers choose the best travel insurance for adventure trips.
Together, they also run the travel community Summit, the RV site Hitched Up, the boutique accommodation blog Unique Places and the popular newsletter Adventure Fix, where they share their knowledge about the places they’ve visited and the ones still remaining on their list.
Antonio Cala
Co-Founder of Adventure Fix