When is the best time to purchase Travel Insurance? I will be getting my own and not through Carnival. I don't want to purchase too far in advance but I don't want to wait until it's too late either.

If you want to take advantage of the usual waivers for pre-existing conditions, you need to buy insurance very soon after your booking. Most insurance policies allow you one to two weeks from the time of the booking in order to buy a policy where they will cover pre-existing conditions.

You can compare different insurance companies at www.insuremytrip.com . As Dave says; if you want a pre-existing condition covered you must purchase within 7-14 days depending on the company. Keep in mind though, you may not have a pre-existing condition now. However; if you waited to purchase insurance you could have something happen that then becomes a pre-existing.