Silversea Insurance

[dwelsh]

Has anyone on these boards had the opportunity of making any type of claims on the lines insurance policies? If so, how well were they handled?

[wripro]

The only time I have ever used Silversea's insurance is in 1994 when they included it in the price of the ticket. Other than that I would never use a cruise line's insurance program. If the line goes bankrupt you have no third party insurance company to cover you.

[Emtbsam]

The only time I have ever used Silversea's insurance is in 1994 when they included it in the price of the ticket. Other than that I would never use a cruise line's insurance program. If the line goes bankrupt you have no third party insurance company to cover you.

 

The policy that I have through the Silversea Guest Care program is underwritten by National Union Fire Insurance Company which is rated A by A.M. Best. The company is affiliated with A.I.G. The plan is administered by BerkelyCare. I do not know who is responsible for the Reassurance Program, but my guess is that you are correct about it being offered and backed by Silversea. What type of policy do you usually get? Can you say which company offers it?

 

Thanks.

[dwelsh]

The only time I have ever used Silversea's insurance is in 1994 when they included it in the price of the ticket. Other than that I would never use a cruise line's insurance program. If the line goes bankrupt you have no third party insurance company to cover you.

 

I believe that Silversea is a privately held company. Does anyone know how they are doing financially? Are the occupancy levels of the existing fleet at healthy rates? Thanks in anticipation of responses from you Silversea-ers.

[Keith1010]

You may know this already but one of the drawbacks when you purchase insurance from the cruise line is that it doesn't protect you if the cruise line went under. If you purchase the insurance privately many policies cover this but like pre existing they need to be purchased within the first couple of weeks of making a deposit.

 

The reality is that all of the luxury lines are obviusly not realizing the same margins as they did before the financial situation. However several of them (not all but several of them) are owned by strong parent companies.

 

Now I remember post 9/11 that we were looking at either Seabourn or Silversea and one of the reasons we went with Seabourn is we were concerned with the financial situation of Silversea. I believe one of the ships they took out of service for a while, (either the Cloud or the Wind) and I suspect the main reason was the passenger occupancy rate. The good news is that they did weather that storm and hopefully they will do likewise in the current situation.

 

Keith

[Keith1010]

I just wanted to add that like Wripro we never purchase insurance from the cruise lines. We do this on our own and we purchase a policy that is more comprehensive than the cruise lines at a lower cost.

 

Keith

[Wellseasoned]

Keith, the last time I researched policies, a few years ago, the Silversea Guest Care held its own, and an advantage was that you didn't have to purchase it within two weeks of booking in order to get pre-existing condition coverage. But I would love to know which one you use if it is more comprehensive and lower in cost. Please advise. Thanks

[Keith1010]

Wellseasoned, for the last several cruises I have used Travelex Insurance. They have a number of different plans and I have varied them depending on where in the world we are traveling and the duration of the trip. If you book within a couple of weeks of the deposit you get pre-exisitng and also coverage should there be a bankruptcy of the cruise line. The other thing I like is that they and a few others that you can consider act as the primary insurer so we can file with them for a health related item and not waste time to first file with our own health insurance company. They also have an A+ rating. A few points.

 

1. It is possible that your credit card company might help in a bankruptcy but one would have to see how that works.

 

2. If our travel plans fall through or change while we can't get our money back we can move the insurance to another trip.

 

And for us one other key. We do not have to insure the trip for 100% of the cost. We treat this as we do homeowner's insurance or auto insurance. On many cruises we have started to insure a portion of the cruise like we had a deductable and but at the same time we get 100% of the health benefits that we would regardless of how much of the trip we insure. We started to do this a few years ago when we had some very costly cruises and we decided we would take a chance on insuring a portion of it as the premiums would have been very high. In the end it's all about how much risk you want to take vs the cost of the policy.

 

Another one we have used in the past is Travel Guard.

 

I always think it's good to do the research each time we book a cruise. So, we'll compare a variety of plans and then make the decision.

 

Keith

[cechase]

Because of our age, we have always purchased insurance for our cruises, but with the exception of our Silversea cruise, the selection of insurance was through Icruise.com, and not the cruise line.

 

In October of 2007, my late wife was hospitalized for 15 days with severe bronchitis and other complications. We had booked and paid for a Royal Suite on Celebrity's Millennium for 14 nights out of Barcelona and ending up in Fort Lauderdale. Three weeks before the cruise, she had a follow up visit with her doctor, and he said in no way can she go on this trip and I had to cancel both the cruise and air. Fortunately, we had the insurance on the cruise, and we also obtained insurance through American Airlines for our business class flight from Reno, NV to Barcelona. It took about three months to process both claims, but finally we did recover our payments which were in excess of $20,000.00. The only sour point was that the insurance company did not reimburse us for the cost of the cruise insurance.

 

Some of the posters are missing a point in their discussion of insurance for a cruise. When you are a "seasoned citizen", there is always the worry of becoming ill and being airlifted from the ship and being treated in a strange hospital far away from home. A lifecare flight can be very expensive. Your medicare is not going to help you outside the US, however, if you have the level of Medicare Supplement insurance through AARP which I have, it does cover foreign medical care. In my opinion this latter reason for obtaining such insurance is very important especially for those older passengers.

[WesW]

Pls see the link below, best tvl insurance primer I've found:

 

http://www.travelinsurancereview.net/

 

Also, thanks to Keith's informative post on Tvl Insurance over eight months ago

in Ask Cruise question thread, we also researched Travelex and purchased our

cruise insurance via Travelex and our travel insurance for our trip to the Dolomites

next week via Travelex...further following Keiths suggestion we did not insure

for the whote trip cost but about 3/4 of the trips cost.

 

For comparison travel insurance sites, like the article recommends above we like

 

http://www.squaremouth.com

[dwelsh]

Thanks you all for your excellent answers to the insurance question.

 

No one has yet commented on their knowledge of the line's financial situation except to say that they survived the 9/11 travel aftermath. O and P&O (Australia) have recorded record bookings in the last month,is anyone aware of a similar report from SS?

[frockoff]

Do anyone just rely on the insurance that AMEX Platinum provide? That is if you pay for your cruise with your Amex card you are covered. I have always purchased separate insurance in the past, but now I have the platinum card, one of the features was complitmentary travel insurance. What would you do? Take out other cover?

[wripro]

Frockoff,

 

The Amex insurance, as I understand it, is medical in nature and covers evacuation etc. It does not cover trip cancellation or interruption. If that does not matter it might be sufficient.

[Keith1010]

Thanks you all for your excellent answers to the insurance question.

 

No one has yet commented on their knowledge of the line's financial situation except to say that they survived the 9/11 travel aftermath. O and P&O (Australia) have recorded record bookings in the last month,is anyone aware of a similar report from SS?

 

I am not sure how any of us would have knowledge of the SS financials.

 

Be careful on occupancy rates. The airlines fill their planes more than ever but at prices where many don't make money or realize very low margins.

 

Years ago with lower occupancy levels they appeared to make more money.

 

Many cruise lines have had to significantly reduce prices and include other extras to motivate passengers to book cruises. But there has been a tremendous cost to do that.

 

Keith

[Wellseasoned]

Thanks, Keith and others for the insurance info and suggestions. This will be helpful. Regarding Silversea financials, my info is that the LeFebvre's, owners of Silversea, are doing fine, thank you. At this point, I don't think you have to lose sleep over the line going under.

[CatServants]

After comparing the prices of independent insurance with Silvesea's (and Carnival's) prices, we have used Travel Insured (Worldwide Trip Protector plan) for our last three bookings. Although it does not (generally) cover preexisting conditions unless obtained within a short period (15 days?) of the initial booking, we just make sure to always insure within that period since I am "fortunate" enough to have some permanent health issues.

 

We did have to make one claim with Travel Insured when my father had to cancel on the Carnival cruise due to some cardiac issues (now under control :o). Travel Insured told me that we'd also be covered if I canceled, so I did, and they were as good as their word. They did require some documentation before they paid up, but it wasn't unreasonable and our claim was settled within a month.

 

As a data point, on a Celebrity cruise to Alaska in 2006 the gentleman in the cabin next to us had to be airlifted out from Alaska due to a heart attack. We heard afterward from him that the cost of all this was ~$50,000. So, if you only insure for a fraction of your booking, you are leaving yourself vulnerable.....

 

Randy

[CatServants]

But thinking about it some more, your only real vulnerability is the portion of cruise fare not covered, so (as usual) Keith is correct!

[south seas sue]

I just want to second what everyone has said about insurance. I have used Travel Guard and Travelex, by making a price comparison provided by insuremytrip.com. I have made claims for the following: doctor's visits on board ship with medication; theft from baggage. These were not costly, but it felt good to know the cost would be reimbursed with no question. I also agree that having the insurance co. be the PRIMARY carrier is important, so that you get reimbursement right away.

 

I have never thought of insuring my trip for less than the actual cost. That's an interesting idea. The premium is based upon the cost of the trip, so you are saving money if you insure for less, and yet you are still eligible for all of the medical and other benefits. Thanks, Keith, for that.

 

:D

[Jade13]

If you purchase the insurance privately many policies cover this but like pre existing they need to be purchased within the first couple of weeks of making a deposit.

 

Keith

 

There are policies that can be purchased at final payment and cover pre-existing conditions. Try squaremouth.com and look up HTH and CSA Luxe Web Direct.

[Jade13]

These were not costly, but it felt good to know the cost would be reimbursed with no question. I also agree that having the insurance co. be the PRIMARY carrier is important, so that you get reimbursement right away.

 

 

:D

Having the insurance as Primary can be a problem if you already have insurance. There were various reasons and someone (I think on the HAL board) posted a link to some articles.

[Keith1010]

Having the insurance as Primary can be a problem if you already have insurance. There were various reasons and someone (I think on the HAL board) posted a link to some articles.

 

I have spent a good amount of time researching all of this and don't see this being a problem at all. If you are aware of a problem please let us know what it is. Speaking for my wife and myself, we have never had a problem with insurance where the travel insurance company acted as the primary insurer and we have filed claims and received payments expeditiously.

 

The advantage is that if you have medical bills from your cruise you just file them with the travel insurance company. Depending on the company, they may ask you the name(s) of your own health medical insuranance companies. Since they act as the primary health insurance companies all we had to do was to fill out the claim, provide the bills (in the case of travelex originals) and in just a few weeks we received our payment.

 

If we didn't have this, then we would have had to have first filed our bill with our own insurance provider and in most cases we are just going through the motions since our own provider would not have covered us for this. We would have had to wait a few weeks and then we would have had to fill out the form with the trip insurance company and sent in the paperwork including the paperwork from our own provider showing whether we received any claim amount.

 

I prefer the fact that we file just once and not multiple times and let's say our own health provider covered this. The benefit of filing with the travel insurance company is that less claims with our own health insurance provider can't hurt in terms of our annual premiums as well.

 

My wife and I have been on two rather long cruises in the past few years plus shorter cruises. We each did get sick on the long cruises given the duration of these cruises and we had multiple visits and bills. All of this was handled very quickly and it was just nice not to waste our time filling out forms that would have been rejected anyway only to have done that again.

[Keith1010]

There are policies that can be purchased at final payment and cover pre-existing conditions. Try squaremouth.com and look up HTH and CSA Luxe Web Direct.

 

There are lots of search engines that can be used to research travel insurance providers. Many of us use insuremytrip.com

 

Other search engines include quotewright.com/travel-insurance and TotalTravelInsurance.com

 

I listed two companies that I have filed actual claims with because I had actually files claims with them.

 

I also listed a couple of ones that I thought were applicable to the question as they covered the cruise line or other provider if they went out of business.

 

The key about insurance is that each persons needs are different. If one doesn't care about one item but cares about something else then one needs to find a policy that addresses that item and so forth.

 

In short, the ones I listed while requiring payment within a few weeks of initial deposit to provide pre-existing they also have a couple of other benefits; they act as a primary provider and they also provide against the bankruptcy of the cruise line or other travel provider.

 

I would also read carefully the terms for each one to compare them and that includes the pre-existing periods.

 

As I always like to say, the "devil is in the details."

 

Keith

[Jade13]

I have spent a good amount of time researching all of this and don't see this being a problem at all. If you are aware of a problem please let us know what it is. Speaking for my wife and myself, we have never had a problem with insurance where the travel insurance company acted as the primary insurer and we have filed claims and received payments expeditiously.

 

The advantage is that if you have medical bills from your cruise you just file them with the travel insurance company. Depending on the company, they may ask you the name(s) of your own health medical insuranance companies. Since they act as the primary health insurance companies all we had to do was to fill out the claim, provide the bills (in the case of travelex originals) and in just a few weeks we received our payment.

 

If we didn't have this, then we would have had to have first filed our bill with our own insurance provider and in most cases we are just going through the motions since our own provider would not have covered us for this. We would have had to wait a few weeks and then we would have had to fill out the form with the trip insurance company and sent in the paperwork including the paperwork from our own provider showing whether we received any claim amount.

 

I prefer the fact that we file just once and not multiple times and let's say our own health provider covered this. The benefit of filing with the travel insurance company is that less claims with our own health insurance provider can't hurt in terms of our annual premiums as well.

 

My wife and I have been on two rather long cruises in the past few years plus shorter cruises. We each did get sick on the long cruises given the duration of these cruises and we had multiple visits and bills. All of this was handled very quickly and it was just nice not to waste our time filling out forms that would have been rejected anyway only to have done that again.

 

I have spent a lot of time researching because I have insurance that covers me overseas but at a higher out of pocket and larger deductible and percentage. We get secondary because of the reasons listed below.

 

It could be a problem if your claim is larger than the amount covered by your travel insurance. We always get secondary because of the way Primary would be applied if we needed to file with our regular Health insurance policy. Someone had posted a problem a while back.

 

If you belong to an HMO in the US which has 0 coverage overseas it may not matter.

 

http://www.tripinsurancestore.com/5/primary-secondary.shtml

 

"What Do Primary or Secondary Medical Coverage Mean and How Do They Differ?

 

Primary Medical Coverage means your medical bills are paid from the first dollar. No "coordination of benefit" claim forms need to be filed. You need to know that many travel insurance plans with primary medical benefits will still ask on the claim forms if you have other medical insurance. I (Steve) don't know why they ask if they are a primary plan, though.

 

Primary Medical Coverage works best if your medical claim is less than the coverage amount. That's because your travel insurance will pay the claim up to its limit. But, when the Primary travel insurance benefits are exhausted, your other insurance won't count your deductibles and co-pays as paid.

 

For example, here's what happens if you have a $70,000 medical claim with a travel insurance plan that has $50,000 Primary coverage:

 

1. You submit the $70,000 medical claim to the travel insurance. It pays $50,000 (its maximum)

2. You submit the remaining $20,000 to your medical insurance plan. Let's say it has a $5,000 deductible with a 20% copay.

3. Of the remaining $20,000 your medical insurance plan will pay $12,000 and you will be liable for at least that $8,000. You could be liable for more. Here's how:

 

Gayle B. said "I work for Blue Cross. Please keep in mind if your travel insurance pays primary to the providers, those medical providers do not have to apply the Blue Cross discount so the billed charges may be quite higher. I would check carefully and call your Blue Cross customer service number on the back of your ID card before you make a decision".

 

Secondary Medical Coverage means your medical bills are paid after any other coverage you have pays its share. This means that Secondary coverage will pay any deductibles, out-of-pocket expenses or co-pays up to its coverage limit.

 

Here's a little detail that's good to know: You probably will have to pay your medical bills yourself while on your trip. That's because travel insurance plans are "indemnification" plans (you will be reimbursed - indemnified) after your trip by the insurance company. Travel insurance is not a "pay on behalf of" plan. You don't just give the medical facility a card. In some cases, a few companies can advance payment to the medical facility, but it's on a case-by-case basis.

 

Here's another little detail that's good to know: Secondary coverage assumes you have other coverage that's Primary. If you have no other coverage Secondary, in effect, becomes Primary."

[Keith1010]

I have spent a lot of time researching because I have insurance that covers me overseas but at a higher out of pocket and larger deductible and percentage. We get secondary because of the reasons listed below.

 

It could be a problem if your claim is larger than the amount covered by your travel insurance. We always get secondary because of the way Primary would be applied if we needed to file with regular Health insurance policy. Someone had posted a problem a while back.

 

http://www.tripinsurancestore.com/5/primary-secondary.shtml

 

"What Do Primary or Secondary Medical Coverage Mean and How Do They Differ?

 

Primary Medical Coverage means your medical bills are paid from the first dollar. No "coordination of benefit" claim forms need to be filed. You need to know that many travel insurance plans with primary medical benefits will still ask on the claim forms if you have other medical insurance. I (Steve) don't know why they ask if they are a primary plan, though.

 

Primary Medical Coverage works best if your medical claim is less than the coverage amount. That's because your travel insurance will pay the claim up to its limit. But, when the Primary travel insurance benefits are exhausted, your other insurance won't count your deductibles and co-pays as paid.

 

For example, here's what happens if you have a $70,000 medical claim with a travel insurance plan that has $50,000 Primary coverage:

 

1. You submit the $70,000 medical claim to the travel insurance. It pays $50,000 (its maximum)

2. You submit the remaining $20,000 to your medical insurance plan. Let's say it has a $5,000 deductible with a 20% copay.

3. Of the remaining $20,000 your medical insurance plan will pay $12,000 and you will be liable for at least that $8,000. You could be liable for more. Here's how:

 

Gayle B. said "I work for Blue Cross. Please keep in mind if your travel insurance pays primary to the providers, those medical providers do not have to apply the Blue Cross discount so the billed charges may be quite higher. I would check carefully and call your Blue Cross customer service number on the back of your ID card before you make a decision".

 

Secondary Medical Coverage means your medical bills are paid after any other coverage you have pays its share. This means that Secondary coverage will pay any deductibles, out-of-pocket expenses or co-pays up to its coverage limit.

 

Here's a little detail that's good to know: You probably will have to pay your medical bills yourself while on your trip. That's because travel insurance plans are "indemnification" plans (you will be reimbursed - indemnified) after your trip by the insurance company. Travel insurance is not a "pay on behalf of" plan. You don't just give the medical facility a card. In some cases, a few companies can advance payment to the medical facility, but it's on a case-by-case basis.

 

Here's another little detail that's good to know: Secondary coverage assumes you have other coverage that's Primary. If you have no other coverage Secondary, in effect, becomes Primary."

 

Jade, I have BlueCrossBlueShield.

 

The bottom line is that it will not cover me for most medical expenses that occur outside the USA.

 

So, I purchase travel insurance as I have noted. I prefer to purchase it from a company that acts as the primary health provider. As I have mentioned, it is far easier when it comes to paperwork.

 

I now mainly get one of the policies from travelex insurance.

 

We are not talking about $50,000 medical insurance as noted in your example.

 

I am talking about a good deal more.

 

Depending on the policy I select the medical evacuation alone ranges from $250,000.00 to 2 Million Dollars.

 

Depending on the plan the basic Medical benefits range from $50,000.00 to $100,000. However, for just a few dollars extra I increase the amount to a minimum of $150,000 up to $175,000 per person.

 

That is quite a bit of insurance.

 

I feel very good about how we approach this and as I said I have submitted claims and found the plan suits me and my wife quite well.

 

In the end, each person can do what they think makes sense.

 

I am quite happy with my approach.

 

Oh, and one other item. God forbid someone got very sick and in this case submitted $100,000.00 in medical expenses to bluecrossblueshield. They may either be dropped from the plan in the future depending no their situaition or certainly they would face an extraudinary premium increase. This is why I want another company to be the primary provider.

 

Bottom line, for my situation I feel very confident this approach makes the most sense for me and my wife and we have traveled overseas extensively and for long periods of time and in many remote areas.

 

I am happy to know that you have an approach that works for you.

 

Finally, let's take your example with my insurance. If I had $70,000 in medical claims my travel insurance policy would have covered it all. If I filed with BlueCross, I would have paid a dedutable and then it my plan as many others would not have covered 100% of the items even if it covered all out of the USA medical costs. But it does not cover many of these costs outside the USA. Then add increased premiums and possibly having my policy cancelled.

 

If you don't agree with this that's fine. It works for me.

 

Finally, I really don't want to go back and forth on this. Each person needs to make an informed decision.

 

So, if you have another point of view, great. That certainly won't change my mind for the long list of reasons I've already provided.

 

Keith

[WesW]

Exceptional information posted on how travel insurance works when you need to file

a claim. Thanks all.