Do you ever NOT get travel insurance for your cruise?

Who's a gambler? Anyone think their luck will hold out and nothing will happen? Tempting....think of all the times nothing has happened.

I bought it anyway. Why tempt fate?

I never leave home without it. So far I have been lucky and never had to use it and I hope my luck continues to hold out. But so far my house has never burned down either and I continue to buy home insurance.

I never leave home without it. So far I have been lucky and never had to use it and I hope my luck continues to hold out. But so far my house has never burned down either and I continue to buy home insurance.

+1 I agree

used my car insurance several times ;)

Travel insurance a few times

So far the house has been safe ;)

Who's a gambler? Anyone think their luck will hold out and nothing will happen? Tempting....think of all the times nothing has happened.

 

I bought it anyway. Why tempt fate?

Good for you... but your premise makes insurance companies rich.

I decided a long time ago, way back in the days of flight insurance, that I could do better by simply taking the premiums that would be charged and investing them, as would an insurance company.:rolleyes:

My risk analysis was easy. Ship board evacuation.. covered at no cost by NATO military agreements internationally though insurance companies will try to infer there is a charge. Those helicopter evacs done at sea are done by the coast guards and navy of all countries at no charge

Medical, well my health insurance covers me world wide for emergencies for no extra premiums. ( Kaiser) And my health and my wife's are excellent. So little risk there.

In addition, we do not travel to areas of high risk ( Africa, India etc ) which by the way have no interest for us.:o

Miss the cruise.?. I never buy a cruise that I can not afford to lose and in 20 years never had the situation arise. Transport back to the US... well the care given in many places is just fine and if it is critical, my health care will pay till I can be.

Air fare/ We have a million frequent flyer miles where could arrange almost anything

In the meantime, the deposits we make in our self insurance account for 20 years continues to grow by 15 to 20% every year to a rather substantial sum..

The situation changes if you have medical conditions and are of an advanced age and have a tight budget and limited medical coverage.

Point being examine you risk, and then choose the path that is best for you. Remember to be objective consider all the risk factors... Bear in mind that most of us are over-insured due to an aggressive sales and marketing program by the insurance companies.

If there is such risk in travel, then why are the companies all eagerly trying to sell you ? The truth I found is it is very very low risk and HIGH profit... fear:eek: sells.

Always buy it. At first it was because our parents were still alive and not in good health, now because we are not quite as young as we used to be.:D

I get the medical but not the cancelation. If you get sick and must be taken off the ship the bill can be 100k plus.

We get the medical insurance. Just do not want to take a chance with a huge bill. :confused:

Always travel insured. God forbid I need medical care in the US if the stories we hear are true about the astronomical costs we could incur!!

We both have parents in their 90ies so we get medical plus trip cancellation. We used medical twice. Compensation for the costs of injuries incurred on private tours, treated by the ship doctor. Silly accidents happen, both were just cuts and scrapes, even so, the costs added up to approx $250-300 each time:eek:

Always travel insured. God forbid I need medical care in the US!!

Exactly! For us non-Americans, that's the biggest nightmare imaginable.

We are covered, medically. So for us, the big thing is cancellation insurance. How I wish we had self-insured for the last 13 years. We could have saved a bundle. But now is not the time to stop buying the insurance.

I get the medical but not the cancelation. If you get sick and must be taken off the ship the bill can be 100k plus.

If you have to taken off the ship while at sea who would bill you? I am at a loss as to where a charge would happen? :o

In all US and NATO waters it is the militiary who evacuates you .... and they never bill , it is part of an international agreement on maratime nations.

Here in Hawaii we routinely send aircraft and medical personnel to ships of other nations maybe a thousand or more miles out at sea.. all at no charge. From my experience this is one of the great urban myths that Insurance companies foster .

The patient has to pay for the trip from the airfield to the hospital.. maybe $1000 tops.

Some years back a person 1300 liles south of Hawaii became sick seriously on a small boat..US citizen. The Coast guard launched a C130 , and air to air tanker and a CH53 heavy helo. from Hawaii. They arrived around midnight, dropped flares and 2 para-rescue medic parachuted into the sea, boarded the boat and stabilized the man. The Helo then closed in to pick them all up.

In the mean time the Army launched a C130 and a tanker along with mobil army field hospital team . They found an remote island with an abandoned air strip and set down and set up mecical suite.

The Helo arrived at dawn after refueling in flight and transfered the patient to the Army doctors...then returned to Honolulu. In the mean time the US NAVy has a Destroyer in the area and sent it to assist the damaged boat.. taking it to a safe anchorage.

Back at the island the man had life saving treatment then he and the mobil hospital packed up to fly to Honolulu where the man was transfered to a private ambulance for a 10 min ride to Queens Hospital for recovery

The man had to pay for the ambulance ride.... thats it and the hospital room.

I have personaly been party to incidents like this as a search and rescue coordinator for our AFRCC. so that others may live. Some envolving multi national assets and across many countries. Not one bill was ever sent, even though aircraft and personnel costs were hundred of thousands....

These are not the exception to the rule they are almost routine and on going.

We've few reasons to possibly cancel a cruise outside of ourselves. NOT bein' spring chickens, I think the medical coverage is well worth the schekels despite having decent coverage in the U.S. But the cost of the cruise is enough to warrant cancellation coverage, for us, if something did come up. Love our TA for taking care of that skeery stuff. :eek:

JMBobB

My leg was once broken very seriously by a rogue wave during a port call in St. Martin, midway through a Caribbean cruise.

I too have very good health insurance, and while they eventually paid the bill, the Hospital in St. Martin would not release me or my records until they had cash on the barrel-head ($5,000.00).

I had to arrange and pay for Ambulance transportation from the Hospital to the Airport (another $500.00).

Finally, because my doctors didn't want my leg "set" in St. Martin (surgery was required), American Airlines insisted that I purchase AN ENTIRE ROW OF SEATING in order to fly back to New York (at last minute, one way, full fare prices).

We have tons of FF miles too, but it is not permitted to use them to buy multiple seats on the same flight. After we got home, we fought that policy all the way up to the top executive in Travel Awards at American.....and we lost.

The plans to get me home were necessarily tenuous (lots of hands involved in making the arrangements) so those Airline tickets cost another ten thousand dollars. We couldn't exactly shop fares from my hospital bedside.

Self insuring sounds marvelous........until...

were still alive we bought the cancellation insurance. Now that they are gone...we self insure....except for the medical aspect...just for me. Because I have Medicare now...and a 2ndary policy they only cover 55K over seas...that is not enough. I have found a 1 year policy for $195.00 per year that I will take out for the medical aspect. My DH is covered by a Medicare alternative policy that covers him over-seas. Because my DH is older...at 77...the insurance is becoming VERY expensive. So...for the travel portion of the trip...we have decided to "self insure"...My thoughts...well...I already paid for it...so....what will be will be. To each his own!! LuAnn

I am a radiography student doing my internship in a hospital near a busy FL port. I see passengers come in the ER off the ships with all kinds of injuries. Some need surgeries that can't wait. So the passenger and family must debarked and forfeit the remainder of their cruise. It's sad to see the disappointment of dreams broken because there was no travel insurance.

I for one will always buy travel insurance!

We buy insurance now because my wife's mother could die at any moment. We also have grandchildren ages 5 and 7, and if something happens to them, we would need to come home immediately. We don't insure for ourselves; we insure if something happens to someone else.

Interesting! We have travelled widely - been to all 7 continents at least twice - were active divers all over the world for 35 years - now 79 years old and leaving tomorrow for 7 weeks on NG Explorer for a cruise on NE coast of South America - back to Africa in February, a month in the Arctic next summer and scheduled for a 3rd visit to the Antarctic in 2015. How many times have we bought insurance over 50 years of intensive travel? Twice. Once for a month long cruise along the West Coast of Africa last year and the 7 weeks we leave on tomorrrow. We have never had to cancel at a loss and always felt that having insurance provides too easy an out! Also, we have saved enough on premiums to pay for a few trips.

When we hit 80 next year, this may change abruptly!

Interesting! We have travelled widely - been to all 7 continents at least twice - were active divers all over the world for 35 years - now 79 years old and leaving tomorrow for 7 weeks on NG Explorer for a cruise on NE coast of South America - back to Africa in February, a month in the Arctic next summer and scheduled for a 3rd visit to the Antarctic in 2015. How many times have we bought insurance over 50 years of intensive travel? Twice. Once for a month long cruise along the West Coast of Africa last year and the 7 weeks we leave on tomorrrow. We have never had to cancel at a loss and always felt that having insurance provides too easy an out! Also, we have saved enough on premiums to pay for a few trips.

 

When we hit 80 next year, this may change abruptly!

Haha - that's a good one.

We have always bought insurance...until the TA we are doing next year. We didn't buy it within 10 days of signing up for the cruise, so it won't cover "pre existing conditions." When you are older, isn't EVERYTHING a pre existing condition?

My leg was once broken very seriously by a rogue wave during a port call in St. Martin, midway through a Caribbean cruise.

 

I too have very good health insurance, and while they eventually paid the bill, the Hospital in St. Martin would not release me or my records until they had cash on the barrel-head ($5,000.00).

 

I had to arrange and pay for Ambulance transportation from the Hospital to the Airport (another $500.00).

 

Finally, because my doctors didn't want my leg "set" in St. Martin (surgery was required), American Airlines insisted that I purchase AN ENTIRE ROW OF SEATING in order to fly back to New York (at last minute, one way, full fare prices).

 

We have tons of FF miles too, but it is not permitted to use them to buy multiple seats on the same flight. After we got home, we fought that policy all the way up to the top executive in Travel Awards at American.....and we lost.

 

The plans to get me home were necessarily tenuous (lots of hands involved in making the arrangements) so those Airline tickets cost another ten thousand dollars. We couldn't exactly shop fares from my hospital bedside.

 

Self insuring sounds marvelous........until...

 

We purchased the relatively inexpensive MedJet plan, which will fly us to hospital of our choice on private jet from anywhere in the world under the circumstances that you described, or whenever hospitalization is required. (The plan would not pay the $5000 hospital expenses that you described, however.)

I always purchase insurance. We have been on 12 cruises and had to cancel our 13th. The insurance has paid off twice. The cancelled cruise alone would have resulted in a $6,000 loss.

Everyone has to do what works best for them & their peace of mind

If you self insure & never had any problems that is great

Some day however your luck may run out ;)

JMO

Lyn

My leg was once broken very seriously by a rogue wave during a port call in St. Martin, midway through a Caribbean cruise.

 

I too have very good health insurance, and while they eventually paid the bill, the Hospital in St. Martin would not release me or my records until they had cash on the barrel-head ($5,000.00).

 

I had to arrange and pay for Ambulance transportation from the Hospital to the Airport (another $500.00).

 

Finally, because my doctors didn't want my leg "set" in St. Martin (surgery was required), American Airlines insisted that I purchase AN ENTIRE ROW OF SEATING in order to fly back to New York (at last minute, one way, full fare prices).

 

We have tons of FF miles too, but it is not permitted to use them to buy multiple seats on the same flight. After we got home, we fought that policy all the way up to the top executive in Travel Awards at American.....and we lost.

 

The plans to get me home were necessarily tenuous (lots of hands involved in making the arrangements) so those Airline tickets cost another ten thousand dollars. We couldn't exactly shop fares from my hospital bedside.

 

Self insuring sounds marvelous........until...

 

I bet that you guys have been on a reasonable, well more than reasonable number of cruises. I also bet that you have laid out in excess of the 10K in premimums over the many years. ( cant count the 5K because your insurance covered.) I know after 20 years of banking the premimums I would have more than ample resource to cover your entire loss in this case... it adds up and dont for get the interest/appreciation. from your savings.

The med jet option might be an option if you engaged in risky activites however. Again its all risk assement and management. Works for some not for others. For me yes, it does.

Always travel insured. God forbid I need medical care in the US!!

Your point?

I go to insuremytrip.com and usually get a policy from Travelguard which covers everything. The premium is pretty cheap, and it is "primary" or "first" coverage ( I don't know the exact term, but it means they pay first--I don't have to go throught my insurance first.)

The first 2 times I bought it, I made a claim, and they paid very fast with no hassle. (Cruise line went belly up, non refundable air fare, etc) They covered everything. I won't sail without it now. On my last cruise, I fell and broke my wrist--Travelguard would have covered all the medical bills on the ship. However, I was lucky--Carnival did not charge me a dime for the care I got on the ship.

If you get the insurance when you book, they will cover pre-existing conditions that may come up before you sail. If you break your leg before your trip and are unable to go, they will make sure you get reimbursed for the cruise fare, prepaid hotel, air fare,etc)

My recommendation....don't leave home without it!

Your point?

Very expensive for non US citizens without insurance for medical care

Just today on our news

A lady got a bladder infection while in Florida got meds but had a bad reaction to the drug

was in hospital for 4 days... the bill was about $20,000 :eek: