What's the best travel insurance?

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.

Your question is not one that others can really answer...because the best insurance for one person may not be the best for you...it all depends on what type of coverage you are looking for.

You need to decide what options are most important to YOU...and then find the policy that covers most/all of what you want and need. That will be the 'best' policy for you.

Your question is not one that others can really answer...because the best insurance for one person may not be the best for you...it all depends on what type of coverage you are looking for.

 

You need to decide what options are most important to YOU...and then find the policy that covers most/all of what you want and need. That will be the 'best' policy for you.

Absolutely not answers you should be getting from a forum

Google travel insurance.....you will get lots of options

A quality credit card that offers trip cancellation/interruption insurance as a benefit.

Absolutely not answers you should be getting from a forum

Strange response. Forums can be just as good as anywhere else to research. Common sense and intelligence regarding the topic are still required. But, nothing wrong with asking here.

We buy cruiseline insurance to cover the basics. Then we buy GeoBlu annual policy to add additional medical and evacuation coverage. My husband had to visit the medical center on our last cruise and both paid promptly. Works for us. :)

I compare policies on insuremytrip.com. Depending on the vacation, my requirements vary.

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The best travel insurance?

The one you never need.

Real answer

Impossible to suggest. What coverages are important to me may not be important to you. Travel insurance is like an ala cart menu.

Do I want $100,000 in medical coverage or do I want a million

Do I want 4 hour trip delay or 12 hour trip delay

Do I want waiver of pre existing medical conditions or not.

Do I want Cancel For Any Reason

Do I want job related coverage

http://www.tripinsurancestore.com

Some other insurance web sites:

www.insuremytrip.com

www.squaremouth.com

www.quotewright.com

Everyone needs are different. When I purchase insurance I make sure there is enough medical coverage as Medicare does not cover you out of the country. Do you need the coverage to primary or secondary? How much medical evacuation coverage do you need? This is the most important one for us. Had to use it once and the entire cost was covered. How much coverage do you want for hotels, flights, lost luggage. Just remember that you must pay everything up front and then file a claim with your travel insurance when you get home.

We usually buy the insurance through the cruise line, but have never needed it (thank goodness!) We had a small deposit on a cruise from about a year ago and just recently made final payment. Some health issues had arisen prior to final and we had some concern about pre-existing coverage. From other forums it seemed tripinsurancestore.com had a good reputation and we appreciated being able to call and ask questions. Steve was very informative. Here is the information from email confirming our purchase:

Steve Dasseos

TripInsuranceStore.com

1-888-407-3854 (toll free US & Canada)

1-816-282-6858 (local)

Mon - Fri: 8:30 am - 7 pm ET

Saturday: 11 am - 4 pm ET

Sunday: 2 - 4 pm ET.

We have only dealt with the purchase side of travel insurance and that usually goes fairly smoothly, but hope this will help.

There is a forum on CC dedicated specifically to travel insurance.

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

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

You're overthinking the problem and getting lost in the forest not seeing the trees.

All else fails and you can't or don't want to research,,, can't go wrong with Travelguard Gold.

Strange response. Forums can be just as good as anywhere else to research. Common sense and intelligence regarding the topic are still required. But, nothing wrong with asking here.

Not really financial decisions & levels of risk are personal decisions.

I expect most if not all people are not qualified on this forum to give such advice.

Plus as this forum is multi-nationality it adds to the confusion.

(for the record I would never buy insurance off a tour operator or travel agent as I can get the same for less elsewhere...but that does not mean it does not suit some people.....I also would never travel without insurance)

I use insuremytrip.com. It will give you several options to chose what's best for you .

I'm just looking for suggestions on where to look and suggestions of what to look for. I am still going to do my own research. Just trying to find good places to start. And maybe some personal experiences.

We use Allianz for our trip insurance. We had to submit a claim with them as well.

There was that crazy guy up in Chicago who started a fire at the airport and our flights home from Disney were "cancelled". Indeed the flights were not cancelled but the agent gave us bad information. We had to stay an extra night at Disney, meals, etc. Allianz covered everything. The airlines covered our flight changes as no one knew what was going on.

Filing the claim was easy, they were incredibly kind and we had reimbursement in less than a week.

I'm just looking for suggestions on where to look and suggestions of what to look for. I am still going to do my own research. Just trying to find good places to start. And maybe some personal experiences.

I might be wrong but I think the American Travel Insurance Market is not as developed as the British..probably due to Health Insurance market being more developed in the U.S.

Our televisions our full of adverts of price comparison sites who all do insurance with multiple providers e.g. go compare, money supermarket, compare the market, confused.com .

Do they not exist in the U.S.?

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

If all you want is a refund of what you've paid and it's for a slightly obscure reason, get 'cancel for any reason' on your policy, ignore whatever else it covers if you're not going to use any of that, and if the price is what you feel is reasonable then you're set.

I might be wrong but I think the American Travel Insurance Market is not as developed as the British..probably due to Health Insurance market being more developed in the U.S.

Our televisions our full of adverts of price comparison sites who all do insurance with multiple providers e.g. go compare, money supermarket, compare the market, confused.com .

Do they not exist in the U.S.?

Travel insurance is still not anywhere near as common as it is in the U.K.. There are a lot of reasons, the number of people that never leave the country, people who only ever vacation at relative's homes that they drive to, the fact that you can use your existing health insurance anywhere in the country, the lack of tour operator led vacations etc.

We do have insurance comparison sites but because each state sets its own rules about insurance products, it's very complicated.

Travel insurance is still not anywhere near as common as it is in the U.K.. There are a lot of reasons, the number of people that never leave the country, people who only ever vacation at relative's homes that they drive to, the fact that you can use your existing health insurance anywhere in the country, the lack of tour operator led vacations etc.

 

We do have insurance comparison sites but because each state sets its own rules about insurance products, it's very complicated.

Got it :)

Guess further reasons not to use here as a source of advice without stating which state you live in ?

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

You mention that you have 'bcbs'...but realize that not all US medical insurance policies will cover you outside of the US. You could find yourself with a heap of medical bills if someone gets sick or hurt either on the ship or on one of the islands...

You should also be aware that some insurance policies will only provide coverage if you insure the TOTAL amount of your trip. Take a look at what the policy requires you to cover in order to have the benefits you desire.

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).

My base cost always includes the full cruise fare plus my airfare...those are always (to me) non-refundable. I won't include the hotel for my night-before as that is normally refundable with cancellation. I won't include any excursions I purchase through the cruiseline as those would be refundable. Anything that is a 'sunk cost', though, gets insured.

You mention that you have 'bcbs'...but realize that not all US medical insurance policies will cover you outside of the US. You could find yourself with a heap of medical bills if someone gets sick or hurt either on the ship or on one of the islands...

 

You should also be aware that some insurance policies will only provide coverage if you insure the TOTAL amount of your trip. Take a look at what the policy requires you to cover in order to have the benefits you desire.

 

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).

 

My base cost always includes the full cruise fare plus my airfare...those are always (to me) non-refundable. I won't include the hotel for my night-before as that is normally refundable with cancellation. I won't include any excursions I purchase through the cruiseline as those would be refundable. Anything that is a 'sunk cost', though, gets insured.

Thank you - makes sense

Guess further reasons not to use here as a source of advice without stating which state you live in ?

No one here can be an expert on every policy out there. That's why we tell people to read the policy, compare policies, look for specific things, etc.

When you get a quote on the (US) insurance sites, they will ask you a lot of questions beforehand, such as your residence, age, where you are going, when, when you first booked, etc, to give you the most accurate quote possible. You still should read/compare policies before purchasing.