Trip Insurance - Advice

[kathyr]

Hi Everyone,

After looking @ insuremytrip dot com

I then looked @ squaremouth dot com

I believe when looking @ these sites you can also READ the policies as another member had suggested. fine,fine,print...

I have to say they have the same information - HOWEVER I really liked the comparison page on Squaremouth...you can sort by pre-existing conditions,primary or secondary coverage etc...

I always buy insurance that has pre-existing conditions included but the other big thing I have learned was to buy Primary insurance.. as anything would go thru them 1st and then your other insurance 2nd.

I hope my information was helpful to the OP.

Kathyr

[MaggieMayToo]

Anyone had any experience with Travelex insurance... making a claim that is? I've purchased them in the past and was considering them for my upcoming Alaska trip, but I've never had to make a claim. Their prices seem reasonable at 1.5-2% of vacation cost.

[dep]

Never leave home without it.I have ALLWAYS purchased insurance thru RCCL. I had a problem once and had to use it. Went to ships DR major problem too long a story however the cost was $2000.00 . My personal insurance covered me "out of network" to the tune of 60%. The trip insurance covered 100% of the difference. All I had to do was fill out a short form enclose a copy of the check I got from my insurance and the bill from the ship I received the difference within 10 days.

[itsajoke]

Why buy your insurance separate from the CL? Have you had bad experiences? Do they not cover as much? I am platenium with Princess and get upgraded to their more expensive insurance for free now so that seems worth it. Why don't you recommend RCs?

 

There are a few reasons.

 

1. If you don't purchase air through the cruise line, with some cruise line policies your air isn't covered.

 

2. Many times you can find a policy with more coverage that is less expensive than the CL.

 

3. While this is a very very VERY remote possibility, if the cruise lines goes bust, your insurance is worthless.

[Citizen Jane]

I always book through insuremytrip...I read up on the policies that I think look the best then CALL insuremytrip telling them what I've found and what my needs are to see what they think. There are things that you wouldn't think of that are issues with some policies. Example? We travel with my Mom who lives in Florida and I buy a policy that covers all of us. Some of the companies will not let you buy policies for travelers in different states traveling together while others will. The helpful person at IMT explained that to me and found me a comparable policy with better coverage in a couple of areas that was actually cheaper than the first policy I was looking at. I hope I never have to make a claim (actually, I probably should have when RCI lost a bag of mine last year but didn't think about it), but I feel so much better having insurance--even when I book it stupidly late like for this trip!:rolleyes:

[Gonzo70]

I have found outstanding rates with Trutravel.

[cruzfiend]

I was wondering if anyone who had trip insurance, did it pay for you to re-book on another airline when your flight was canceled.:confused:

 

I received a check for the refunding of the cost of our flight we had to book because our other one was cancelled. I'm glad we had insurance:p

[Tucker in Texas]

I have found outstanding rates with Trutravel.

 

I got the TruTravel super saver insurance. I could not find anything out about it from asking on Cruise Critic or other sources other than my own research. That told me it was backed by Nationwide which gave me some confidence. It was, also, rated A+ vs. A on other ones and their coverage seemed a tad better. The million dollar medi-vac really got my attention! The only downside to me was you had to pay extra to raise medical to $50K (but still cheaper than other policies) and to cover pre-existing. I found out later that if you buy it within 21 days of depositing, that fee will be waived.

 

As luck would have it, I had to collect on it since I got a stopped up ear on the cruise rendering me deaf as a post. The ship hit me up for close to $200 for treatment. $70 to walk through the door, another charge for the doctor and a charge for drops in the ear. When I called TruTavel upon return, they pointed out it was secondary insurance and I needed to apply to Medicare first. I wasn't sure Medicare would cover me since I was out of the country but I had to apply and be turned down before TruTravel would take over. They immediately e-mailed me a claim form. Medicare took their sweet time in processing the claim. Before we got Medicare's claim settled,TruTravel contacted me on their own to inquire how the claim was going. I think they wanted to remind me that it was secondary insurance and assure me they weren't ignoring my claim. This really impressed me that the claim wasn't sitting in somebody's in-box gathering dust with the hope that I would go away. Once we got our payment from Medicare ($60) and submitted the paperwork, I got a check within a week or two for what TruTravel covered.

 

I called them about the pre-existing waiver fee being waived if the policy was bought within 21 days of deposit and she assured me that I had read the clause correctly. Everyone I have talked to there has been super nice.

 

Tucker in Texas

[sadie8]

We usually purchase travel insurance through our TA. We had a claim on our last trip due to weather. Jet Blue rebooked our canceled flight for the next day and Access America paid for our hotel costs and taxi costs during our travel delay.

[maggieq]

Maybe I'm just a safety net person, but we always buy travel insurance mainly due to the fact we usually book several months in advance. We also have had close experience (not us but dear friends) with having health issues out of the US on a cruise and having to be evacuated. Travel insurance can be priceless if you are staring at a $20K billl to be flown off of a ship or flown back to the US in an emergency. That said, my only hard advice is to buy your insurance separately from your cruise line. Whether it is from CSA, CSV, Travel Guard, Access America or Travelex, you MUST read the policy to get a clear (if one can get a clear answer from legal docs...) understanding of what is covered and what is not. We have used Travelex for years and luckily have not had to file any claims ( ... darn, now I have jinxed myself!!).

 

Bottom line... get travel insurance from a reputable firm and understand what it covers. Oh, and I pray that you just lose that money by not having any issues at all!

 

 

I second that, I always buy insurance for our vacations. What concerns me the most is a medical emergency and having to be airlifted to an island for treatment. I always get at least $500,000 coverage for this.....is that enough?

 

Yes, I want my money back if I get sick before my trip or have to go to the doctor on board but the emergency evacuation is what scares me.

[Blue Darter]

I was the recipient of a jury summons that happened to fall at the end of our cruise last year. We had reservations to fly home on Monday from San Juan, but my summons was for Monday and I would not know if I had to report until 6pm that Friday. We initially decided to book for Monday since the air fares happened to be lower than the Sunday Flights and we use hotel points for our overnights. As a result of the summons, we switched our flights to Sunday. We had Travel Guard insurance. We submitted the appropriate documents and received reimbursement for the change fees plus the increase in airfare to travel on Sunday versus Monday.

 

READ the coverage of the company that you intend to utilize! Not all premiums cover the same things!

 

While I admire your devotion to civic duty (no sarcasm intended...I get really riled up with folks that are willing to concoct any excuse to avoid jury duty), why on earth would you change your vacation plans....especially if it meant you had to give up an extra day in tropical San Juan? I've never heard of a U.S. judicial circuit that didn't (almost automatically) grant a waiver when you had pre-booked travel. Most courts (in Florida anyway) don't even require documentation.

 

I guess my wife and I have been living on the edge and tempting fate....never bought travel insurance but might consider in the future just to cover medical issues. I'd be aggravated if I "lost" airline/cruise fare, but think it's a better deal (for us anyway) to "self-insure" those costs. Medical costs are a completely different animal though...since both of us will be 50+ by the end of the year (OMG...life as we know it is almost over ;)), it might be time to look into medical coverage at least.

 

Andy