We always purchase travel insurance when we cruise,

[barbie5401]

My honey lost his bottle of insulin, we had to go to the Hospital on board, they wouldn't just sell us the bottle of insulin, he had to have an exam, etc. The bill was over $400 and yet they didn't have a bottle on board, they were going to get it once in Cozumel. Luckily we found it and were still charged the extra fee to send someone into Cozumel to buy the insulin even thou we didn't need it and told them so. Long story short, luckily we had insurance, since this was a 4 day trip the medical bill was close to what we paid for the entire trip.

 

Insurance is a safe bet!

[PaulMCO]

Many policies have a pre existing coverage WAIVER. If you buy the policy within XX days (10 days to 3 weeks) of your down payment -- any preexisting conditions are waived.

 

For advance cruise buyers === if you cancel your trip (even before you fully pay for the cruise) -- you also lose the money you spent for the policy.

[cruiseco]

 

Let's say I am on arthritis meds. This means that if my dosage and/or condition do not change within 60 days before the cruise, then I am good. But if CSA's policy says 180 days, that means that there is much greater time period for something to change, and that is not a good thing.

 

Here's the relevant part of their pre-existing condition definition:

 

"PRE-EXISTING CONDITION means an illness, disease, or other condition during the 180-day period immediately prior to your effective date . . . blah, blah, blah"

 

For trip cancellation coverage the effective date is midnight the day after you buy the policy. Trip cancellation is a pre-departure benefit which means you're covered almost immediately (the coverage is "effective" almost immediately) up until the time you leave. So the "look back period" for CSA with regards to the trip cancellation benefit is the 180 day period prior to purchasing the policy, not the 180 day period prior to departure. Here's from the policy:

 

"Pre-Departure Trip Cancellation coverage will take effect at 12:01 A.M. Standard Time on the day after the date your premium payment is received."

 

The post-departure benefits such as medical or trip interruption have a different effective date. They only kick in once you leave home. so their effective date is:

 

"All coverages (except Pre-Departure Trip Cancellation and Post-Departure Trip Interruption) will take effect on the later of:

 

1) the date the premium has been received by us;

 

2) the date and time you start your Covered Trip; or

 

3) 12:01 A.M. Standard Time on the Scheduled Departure Date of your Covered Trip.

 

Post-Departure Trip Interruption coverage will take effect on the Scheduled Departure Date of your Covered Trip."

 

So for the medical coverage the period of time they would look at to determine if a medical condition is pre-existing or not is the 180 days prior to your departure. Different plan benefits, different effective dates.

[cruiseco]

 

For advance cruise buyers === if you cancel your trip (even before you fully pay for the cruise) -- you also lose the money you spent for the policy.

 

The premium will indeed be non-refundable but most of the major insurers will apply the premium to a future trip.

[SA Traveler]

OK, help me. You got some 'splaining to do, Lucy...(It's Friday afternoon and I've spent the week teaching 7th and 8th graders so my mind is mush.)

 

Let's say I am on arthritis meds. This means that if my dosage and/or condition do not change within 60 days before the cruise, then I am good. But if CSA's policy says 180 days, that means that there is much greater time period for something to change, and that is not a good thing.

 

Am I understanding this correctly?

 

That would be the way I interpret it.

[crzgrl66]

This may be a stupid question, but i'm a little confused. When I booked our cruise, RCCL automatically put the insurance on our invoice. We haven't paid in full yet. If we went ahead and purchased it from them, then does the look back start back to the date we booked or when we paid in full? :confused:

[cruiseco]

This may be a stupid question, but i'm a little confused. When I booked our cruise, RCCL automatically put the insurance on our invoice. We haven't paid in full yet. If we went ahead and purchased it from them, then does the look back start back to the date we booked or when we paid in full? :confused:

 

Here's the pre-existing condition definition from the policy wording:

 

"“Pre-Existing Condition” means an illness, disease, or other condition during the 60-day period immediately prior to your effective date for which you . . . blah, blah, blah"

 

Here's their definition of Effective Date:

 

"When Coverage Begins

All coverages (except Pre-Departure Trip Cancellation and Post-Departure Trip Interruption) will take effect on the later of:

1) the date the plan payment has been received by Royal Caribbean International;

2) the date and time you start your Covered Cruise Vacation; or

3) 12:01 A.M. Standard Time on the Scheduled Departure Date of your Covered Cruise Vacation.

 

Pre-Departure Trip Cancellation coverage will take effect on the day your plan payment is received byRoyal Caribbean International. Coverage begins at 12:01A.M. Standard Time of the effective date of the certificate if the required plan payment is received.

 

Post-Departure Trip Interruption coverage will take

effect on the Scheduled Departure Date of your Covered Cruise Vacation if the required plan payment is received."

 

So, again, the "60 day look back period" varies depending on the plan benefit/coverage you're looking at. For trip cancellation it's the 60 day period prior to the date you paid for the policy. For everything else (medical, trip interruption, etc) it's the 60 day period prior to your departure date.

 

Like all insurance, nothing at all happens until you actually pay for the policy. Just having it on the booking record but not yet paid for means that as far as the insurer is concerned (BerkleyCare) you have NOT got any coverage so the "look back period" clock hasn't started yet. If you have actually paid the cruise deposit PLUS the insurance cost then the look back period for trip cancellation would be the 60 days prior to the date your credit card was charged.

[Richiebaseball]

I have called several companies and have asked for qualification on the "look back" provisions. All of them include taking a prescribed medication as "treatment" by a physician. If you have found a company that doesn't consider taking maintenance drugs as "treatment" please be so kind as to let me know their name.

 

I have contacted the companies and what they say is what I posted. I also strongly suggested that people should read the policies during the trial period.

 

I'm sorry that you feel that people sharing their experiences with travel insurance on a board that people go to to find answers about such things is worthless. I, for one, have learned a good deal of important information from Cruise Critic boards.

 

Someone has already posted terms and conditions from one isurance company and there are others that have the same exclusions and waivers. I deal with insurance on almost a daily basis so while I'm not an insurance expert, I do have a little knowledge especially pertaining to travel insurance.

 

I never said or implied that sharing experiences were worthless. To come to that conclusion based on what I wrote takes a leap of giant proportions.

 

I stand by my statement which is to take any advice from any board like this with a grain of salt and check the information yourself. If you choose to do otherwise that is certainly your choice.

[jacari_ja]

and I am amazed at how much the prices have increased since the last time we bought it. I have checked insuremytrip.com and was shocked. Even so, we would never consider foregoing it.

 

My question to you out there is this: with which insurance companies have you filed claims and how easy was the process?

 

Thanks for any info.

I have put in aclaim and it was the most stressful 6 months it was due to our luggage going missing and we had to buy a few things to keep us going. They did not pay for very much and we were out of pocket.

Mary

[cruiseco]

 

I stand by my statement which is to take any advice from any board like this with a grain of salt and check the information yourself. If you choose to do otherwise that is certainly your choice.

 

I agree 100% which is why I always try to post the actual plan wording I'm referring to. When it comes time for a claim to be paid or be denied nothing else matters.

[donaldsc]

There are 2 basic kinds of insurance - medical / evacuation and what I will call "all risks".

 

IMHO, 'all risk" insurance is a total waste of money and I self insure for the items this type of policy covers. On the other hand, not having medical /evacuation could bankrupt you. We carry a policy that covers us for a full year as long as no single trip is longer than 2 months. It even covers us in the US if we are away from home.

 

If I remember correctly, it costs about $450 for the 2 of us.

 

DON

[sailor05]

There are 2 basic kinds of insurance - medical / evacuation and what I will call "all risks".

 

IMHO, 'all risk" insurance is a total waste of money and I self insure for the items this type of policy covers. On the other hand, not having medical /evacuation could bankrupt you.

DON

 

 

That's it in a nutshell. If you can afford to pay up to $100k to get med-flighted without it bankrupting you, don't get insurance. If you can't afford $100k, then I'd strongly advise that you get it. I could get through losing everything spent on the cruise, it would be a painful loss, but it's money already spent anyhow. I could pay for any medical services I get on the ship, again painful, but not enough to put us in financial ruin. $100k would be hard (probably impossible) to ever recover from. College money for the kids would be wiped out completely.

I pay for automobile insurance without really ever getting anything back, but in the case of a bad accident, the last thing I want to worry about is is money. Therefore, I bite the bullet and pay for something I never use. The same goes for travel insurance, you pray you never need it, but if you do, thank goodness you have it...

[okimot]

I realize that this thread is about insurance in the USA. But we live in England and have just renewed our annual travel policy. This gives us cover world wide. I am 75 and my wife is 77. Cost is just over £300 for both of us.

We think it is good value.

[stargate fan]

Thanks to many of you, I have learned things about travel insurance:

1)My health insurance DOES cover emergency hospitalization and medical evac anywhere in the world.

2)After speaking with reps from RC Cruisecare and CSA, the number of days for pre-existing days in prior to enrollment. Cruisecare is 60 days, while CSA is 180 days. I also learned from the Cruisecare rep to pay for the coverage up front, rather than add it to the cruise payment. So, since I have had no significant health issues from yesterday going back 60 days, all is good.

 

Thanks again for all the advice and information.

[4cruisecampers]

when do you buy the insurance? Some say wait???

[Donna1127]

In 2006, my daughter had a jetskiing accident in Cozumel. She was ok, just really shaken up and bruised. If we had to have her airlifted home, it would have been upwards of $20,000. Thats my justification for always taking insurance. I had her checked out by the ship's doc too..all covered.

 

We're heading to Coz again in Sept..hope she doesnt get it in her head to rent a jetski again..my old heart can't handle it.

[Bars7816]

It's based on your age and the total cost of your trip at InsureMytrip.com.

[ehfl]

I've only had to file a claim through the insurance provided by RCL. It was no big deal really.

[24butterfly]

Call your medical insurance company first. I was surprised that our Anthem policy covers 80% no matter where we are. That really helped me in choosing a policy that was less expensive.

 

 

Thank you so much for this advice: I called on Friday, and found out that what you stated WAS correct.....I was surprised. Even covers Medi-vac. the only thing it does not cover is if we willy nilly decide to go to a doctor for whatever b/c we feel like it....thanks again. Now I'm going to call our car insurance and find out what THAT covers.