Jump to content

What's the best travel insurance?


JuliaMS
 Share

Recommended Posts

I need help too! I only need insurance that covers if a family member back home dies before our trip or the person traveling doesn't go into the hospital for some odd reason and so by that we would have to cancel. also I only want the cruise amount that I paid for our trips and any medical or evacuation needed - what are your thoughts on this. We have a rccl visa card so haven't checked into that and I have bcbs, any thoughts? I keep going to the insuremytrip.com,etc and get all confused

 

Not sure exactly what you are asking, but most policies cover cancellation for the death of any immediate family member, or illness of an immediate family member who is travelling with you and is unable to go.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We obtain our insurance thru a national travel club (I know I cannot mention name here).

 

It covers from the minute we get in our car, to airport to cruise and emergencies till we are home.

And over the years the cost has risen, like everything else.

 

We used it once when we were in hurricane Charlie a few years back on a land vacation in Disney World.

 

You have to see what is best for you.

 

Good luck.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Most policies I've ever purchased have premium bands where the premium increases with every $500 of trip coverage. What that means is covering a trip for $2,001 costs the same as one that is $2,499, because its all in the same 'band ($2,001-$2,500).

 

This is a good point, and another point to consider is that each person should be insured for the full value of their own non-refundable expenses. For example, if two of you are travelling under a BOGO60, your non-refundable expenses are going to be different (first person travelling will need to insure for a higher amount).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I am going to focus on the OP's question of what's the best travel insurance. The answer is that there is simply no such thing...as folks need to choose the insurance policy/coverage that best meets their own needs and wants. What is good for one may be awful for another. For example, we will have cruised 103 days in 2016 plus spent another few months living in Mexico. For us, any type of typical travel insurance would have been very expensive and make little sense. So we simply purchase an annual travel medical policy ($250,000 of med coverage) and self-insure any cancellation risk. I should add that over the years we never purchase cancellation insurance and are now more then $100,000 ahead of the game (when considering the amount of money saved by not buying cancellation insurance). That strategy fits our travel pattern...but would certainly not be right for many cruisers.

 

So before you shop around for insurance (if indeed you need any insurance) ask yourself what you need and then go look for the product that best meets your own needs.

 

Hank

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Good question. We don't ususally get insurance, but my gut is uneasy about a transatlantic trip next spring - varying information, changes, extended day at hotel, etc. We learned today that because we did not book insurance 21 days after the original deposit, pre-existing conditions were not included. However, we talked to Travel Insured and American Express Insurance, and both clarified the pre-existing condition. If your medication or diagnosis changes 60days (90 days for AMEX) prior to 'purchasing the insurance policy', then pre-existing conditions would apply. for example, if blood pressure medication changes 45 days before you purchased the insurance, and you had a medical condition related to blood pressure (stroke), you would NOT be covered.

 

It's very confusing, so you need to shop around, and remember... if an insurance company can get out paying a claim, they will use their resources to do just that.

 

Good Luck, Logbog

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Good question. We don't ususally get insurance, but my gut is uneasy about a transatlantic trip next spring - varying information, changes, extended day at hotel, etc. We learned today that because we did not book insurance 21 days after the original deposit, pre-existing conditions were not included. However, we talked to Travel Insured and American Express Insurance, and both clarified the pre-existing condition. If your medication or diagnosis changes 60days (90 days for AMEX) prior to 'purchasing the insurance policy', then pre-existing conditions would apply. for example, if blood pressure medication changes 45 days before you purchased the insurance, and you had a medical condition related to blood pressure (stroke), you would NOT be covered.

 

It's very confusing, so you need to shop around, and remember... if an insurance company can get out paying a claim, they will use their resources to do just that.

 

Good Luck, Logbog

 

We usually get Travel Insured, and need that waiver of the pre-existing condition exclusion. So we need to start the coverage within 21 days of that first payment.

(And TI has paid two large claims, with no nonsense, so we definitely want to stick with them when possible.)

 

However, once we had a deposit on a cruise we really didn't expect to take, but we wanted to "claim" a specific suite.

Then... we decided to go.

 

So after speaking with Steve at TripInsuranceStore, we used CSA, which required starting insurance no later than within 24 hours of FINAL payment (which is narrowly defined, but not unreasonably).

But if someone also wants the CFAR, that's rather expensive done later with CSA (we didn't get it).

We didn't have a claim (good!!) so we can't comment about that.

 

It's just nice to know there is a backup to the Travel Insured coverage, which is still definitely our first choice.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What are the procedures for actually using travel insurance to pay for medical costs, evacuation, hospitalization, etc., on board ship or in a foreign country? Does one have to pay up front and then get reimbursed? Or do foreign hospitals, doctors, the cruise line, etc. file claims for you and then you get billed for anything the insurance might not have covered? Do travelers have to be in communication with the insurance company in the midst of a medical emergency in order to get approval for the charges?

 

Hope these questions don't seem silly, but I honestly have no idea how this works.

 

Thanks!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What are the procedures for actually using travel insurance to pay for medical costs, evacuation, hospitalization, etc., on board ship or in a foreign country? Does one have to pay up front and then get reimbursed? Or do foreign hospitals, doctors, the cruise line, etc. file claims for you and then you get billed for anything the insurance might not have covered? Do travelers have to be in communication with the insurance company in the midst of a medical emergency in order to get approval for the charges?

 

Hope these questions don't seem silly, but I honestly have no idea how this works.

 

Thanks!

 

Hi, and no, your questions aren't silly at all.

And in fact, it's good to think about this in advance, before there is some sort of time crunch and/or stress of a medical emergency far from home.

 

We've had 2 claims, both with Travel Insured.

We didn't contact them either time until we got home, but the second time, we did email Steve (TripInsuranceStore) to ask IF the situation was covered (it was a strange one, at least to us). He contacted TI for us, and emailed back that it was indeed covered, and how to file the claim (which part of the coverage to use in wording the cover letter, etc. - VERY helpful!).

 

In general, one must pay upfront (charge card, for the receipts!), and request payment later with the claim.

 

In ONE place (not one of the two cases where we had a claim), we saw a sign in a hospital ER payment window about how they would ONLY accept "guarantees" from "known travel insurance companies".

I have no idea how well that would actually work.

 

In any event, just make sure you get RECEIPTS (did I mention getting RECEIPTS ;) ?) for *everything*. The insurer WILL want to have copies of all of them.

This would include onboard expenses (medical center, etc.), special transportation (even if just a taxi to a doctor), hospital, purchase of supplies, hotel bills for extra stays, any extra meals needed, etc., and if appropriate, extra expenses for flying home on a different date/flight.

 

We never had to document extra costs for changing flights, but if we did, we might call the insurer. But we'd also print out some comparable flight costs, to show other possible costs, or availability (or lack of availability of seats), etc.

 

IF you purchase your coverage through Steve/TripInsuranceStore, then I'd turn to them first. They are a great buffer, and also have tons of experience with claims, and helping clients, etc.

And since they aren't the "bean counter", I just felt better communicating with them. They can also try to sort things out if there is a problem with a claim, but best to avoid that if possible, of course.

 

So it's a good idea to have some charge cards with good extra credit limits available.

I don't know how it would get handled if there were critical charges that were higher than the available credit - and I hope we never find out.

(I'd like to think the insurer would somehow help, but I have no idea if that would happen. Maybe someone else here has had some experience with that...?)

 

If the costs are due to a medical problem, you MUST get a letter from a doctor stating that you were unable to travel for any dates that there are extra expenses.

We had gotten receipts for doctor's visits and also had the hospital records (quite a bundle of papers!), but we didn't have that letter. So we had to email to get it, and thank goodness we had his e-address on the bills.

Now we know, and we'd just ask the doctor to scribble a note right then and there. (This one letter meant thousands to us!)

 

We never found the documentation required to be unreasonable. The insurer certainly has the right to make sure that the claim is valid.

 

And we'll keep using Travel Insured whenever possible!

They were very helpful with the claims process.

 

For evacuation home, we have MedJetAssist, which kicks in only after one is admitted as an inpatient more than 150 miles from home (for USA based, anyway). I'm pretty sure that they just make all off the arrangements; that's more like a pre-paid situation. However, we haven't used them, although last year we came too, too close to calling them...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 5 months later...

One Person's Travel Insurance Experience:

 

We had the misfortune to require medical assistance for my wife on our Princess cruise out of Fort Lauderdale in

December 2017. We also had the good fortune to have purchased Travelsafe Travel Medical Insurance, (available in the U.S. and Canada), before our departure. This is the only company I could find that covered treatment for pre-existing conditions, but only if you purchased the plan within 20 days, or less, following your initial trip deposit.

 

So, just a brief summary of our circumstances. My wife spent 26 hours in the ship's medical center, and was subsequently transferred by ambulance to a Fort Lauderdale hospital for further treatment when the ship docked. She spent another day and a night in hospital, and then we flew home back to Ontario Canada. The insurance company kept in contact with me throughout to ensure we had everything we needed.

 

The ship charged my credit card about $6,500 for "medical services rendered" before we disembarked. Fortunately the hospital agreed to invoice the insurance company directly. After returning home I submitted a claim for the cruise ship medical costs, a night in a Ft. Lauderdale hotel for me, meals, flight change costs, and some other miscellaneous expenses, all totaling about $7,000. This was paid about 10 - 12 weeks after the claim was submitted.

 

So, to quote a T.V. commercial of some years ago, and apply it to travel insurance: "Don't leave home without it."

 

NOT ALL TRAVEL INSURANCE PLANS ARE CREATED EQUAL, TAKE THE TIME TO READ YOUR POLICY BEFORE YOU BUY, AND CERTAINLY BEFORE YOU NEED TO USE IT.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
There is so much difference in what is covered. What are some of the best travel insurances? Cancel for any reason, medical evacuation (medical flight back to US is over 100,000), trip delay, covering expenses like hotel if one party is hospitalised, or other things I don't even know to look for. We usually get the insurance from the cruise line but I have a feeling I could do better elsewhere.

 

This is going to sound like a snarky answer but the best travel insurance is the one that fits your specific needs best. Since we do not know you and you have provided no information about your needs in your post, none of us can answer your question intelligently.

 

DON

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This is going to sound like a snarky answer but the best travel insurance is the one that fits your specific needs best. Since we do not know you and you have provided no information about your needs in your post, none of us can answer your question intelligently.

 

DON

You are responding to a post from October 2016, and OP has already gone on her cruise. I am not sure why people (poster right before you) insist on pulling up old threads instead of starting their own.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
 Share

  • Forum Jump
    • Categories
      • Welcome to Cruise Critic
      • New Cruisers
      • Cruise Lines “A – O”
      • Cruise Lines “P – Z”
      • River Cruising
      • ROLL CALLS
      • Digital Photography & Cruise Technology
      • Special Interest Cruising
      • Cruise Discussion Topics
      • UK Cruising
      • Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
      • Canadian Cruisers
      • North American Homeports
      • Ports of Call
      • Cruise Conversations
×
×
  • Create New...