Jump to content
Cruise Critic Community

Is Trip Insurance Worth It?

Islandbear

By Islandbear,
in Carnival Cruise Lines

Recommended Posts

Islandbear

Islandbear

Posted
Posted

Our family missed our November 6th cruise on the Legend due to my Father In Law having a heart attack four days prior to the trip. Even though he wasn't traveling with us, it would have been impossible for us to go on vacation while he underwent surgery.

 

I called Travel Guard to see what our policy covered and held my breath. the answer was quick and concise.... 100%. The entire cost of the cruise and all pre-booked shore excursions. (Delta gave us a 100% credit or they would have been covered too.)

 

Thank you Travel Guard! You guy are great and deserve credit for making a stressfully event painless.

 

FYI Grandpa is doing fine.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
M&MGirl1

M&MGirl1

Posted
Posted

Many hopes & prayers that your FIL recovers quickly! What a stressful thing to have happen right before the holidays. I'm so glad Travel Guard was so great about your claim.

 

It only takes one claim for YEARS worth of buying travel insurance to pay off. IMHO it's definitely worth the small cost to not have to worry about what you'll do if and when something goes wrong.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
CruisefromNY

CruisefromNY

Posted
Posted

Started buying insurance after a cruise we took in January 2006. I was recovering from an emergency appendectomy 8 weeks before we were scheduled to leave. (MD gave me the green light to go to relax) OK....but

 

On this cruise I saw folks cruising with us (in no particular order):

 

A young special needs girl get hit by a taxi

A woman slip an fall in the buffet area and sustain some serious cuts.

An older man slip and fall going into the cruise terminal. He broke his glasses and suffered some facial cuts and bruises.

We left port and had to head back to bring a man who had taken ill off for medical attention.

 

After that NEVER AGAIN would I sail without it.

 

Fast forward to October of 2010, three days before were to leave on a TransAtlantic fom Rome, my youngest brother passed away, Travel Guard's folks took great care of everything and I got back 100%. We had the refund within three weeks with minimal paperwork.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
halos

halos

Posted
Posted
Our family missed our November 6th cruise on the Legend due to my Father In Law having a heart attack four days prior to the trip. Even though he wasn't traveling with us, it would have been impossible for us to go on vacation while he underwent surgery.

 

I called Travel Guard to see what our policy covered and held my breath. the answer was quick and concise.... 100%. The entire cost of the cruise and all pre-booked shore excursions. (Delta gave us a 100% credit or they would have been covered too.)

 

Thank you Travel Guard! You guy are great and deserve credit for making a stressfully event painless.

 

FYI Grandpa is doing fine.

 

Great news all around!! :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites
afcj1

afcj1

Posted
Posted

Insurance is so worth it. My sister had her camera stolen out of her suitcase (I know, I asked her why she packed it:rolleyes:) anyway...the crooks (at the airport between Denver and Orlando) mangled her suitcase to get it unlocked, trashing it. The insurance paid her for the camera and the airline took care of the suitcase.

 

For the 1st time I just bought travel insurance for a trip in January. Since I could easily have weather challenges, I figured that the $27 was well worth my piece of mind.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
richkinkade

richkinkade

Posted
Posted

Why would a person post a question if he has his own answer already? I've easily saved enough money NOT BUYING travel insurance to pay for two cruises. It's grossly overpriced for the risk.

It's a personal choice, of course, but I never buy cruise insurance.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
sparks1093 Great Review Rare

sparks1093

Posted
Posted
You will get lots of opinions but IMHO, medical and evacuation is definitely worth it. Everything else I self insure.

 

DON

 

Why would a person post a question if he has his own answer already? I've easily saved enough money NOT BUYING travel insurance to pay for two cruises. It's grossly overpriced for the risk.

 

It's a personal choice, of course, but I never buy cruise insurance.

 

As dondaldsc says medical and medical evacuation insurance is a must (I have read too many stories about $30k plus medevacs), and I have found that a comprehenisve plan is not that much more than stand alone medical. Self insuring is all well and good, but ship does happen and if I can get reimbursed for a loss that's a plus. (And I'm sure you've heard of "rhetorical question";)).

Link to comment
Share on other sites
pe4all

pe4all

Posted
Posted

Got back all but $5 on a $5,000 claim last Dec. After I book a cruise, my next call is to Travelguard to get insurance. As we book at least 1 year in advance, it is a no-brainer for us. Can't predict a year forward - or even 1 minute forward! Better safe than sorry. BTW - that claim we put in "covered" all the $$ we ever laid out for all the policies we purchased for ANY cruise or land vacation we have ever taken - and we travel "big" at least 3x a year with 4 of us!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Room Service!

Room Service!

Posted
Posted
Why would a person post a question if he has his own answer already? I've easily saved enough money NOT BUYING travel insurance to pay for two cruises. It's grossly overpriced for the risk.

 

It's a personal choice, of course, but I never buy cruise insurance.

 

I believe the quiestion was posted for those who have asked this question before.

We always buy insurance. Haven't found it to be overpriced, and definitely would not be overpriced if we needed it.

I mean no disrespect here but your picture shows that you are not spring chickens. Might be time to change your thought on the insurance. ;)

Link to comment
Share on other sites
elcuchio24

elcuchio24

Posted
Posted
As dondaldsc says medical and medical evacuation insurance is a must (I have read too many stories about $30k plus medevacs), and I have found that a comprehenisve plan is not that much more than stand alone medical. Self insuring is all well and good, but ship does happen and if I can get reimbursed for a loss that's a plus. (And I'm sure you've heard of "rhetorical question";)).

 

Again, it depends on your situation and personal choice. DW and I's medical insurance covers international evac, as well as having an AMEX with certain insurances to cover missed flights. As far as the cruise itself goes, we are young and have no children, so the chance of missing/canceling is pretty slim. Not to say that it couldn't happen, but if it did, losing out on 2-3k would not be that huge a deal for us.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
CruisefromNY

CruisefromNY

Posted
Posted
Again, it depends on your situation and personal choice. DW and I's medical insurance covers international evac, as well as having an AMEX with certain insurances to cover missed flights. As far as the cruise itself goes, we are young and have no children, so the chance of missing/canceling is pretty slim. Not to say that it couldn't happen, but if it did, losing out on 2-3k would not be that huge a deal for us.

Though I understand what you are saying, Wouldn't it be cheaper to buy the insurance than lose 2-3K if something happens?

Especially because you are young, the insurance costs are small.

 

As I stated in my earlier post, it wasn't due to us getting sick that caused us to cancel but the sudden death of my youngest brother.

We got back all but the $158.00 it costs to insure us 50 somethings.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
unfdoug

unfdoug

Posted
Posted

Here's one that happened to some friends of mine last week on a sailing out of FLL. They always bought travel insurance and the line's travel insurance was $99 (or so) and they said they were tired of wasting their money on it. Turns out his wife had a heart attack on board and had to get airlifted from San Juan to Jacksonville, Fl. 20k medijet rid. If they would have gotten the coverage it would have covered up to 50k (is what he said). Travel insurance is def a smart move.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
elcuchio24

elcuchio24

Posted
Posted
Though I understand what you are saying, Wouldn't it be cheaper to buy the insurance than lose 2-3K if something happens?

Especially because you are young, the insurance costs are small.

 

As I stated in my earlier post, it wasn't due to us getting sick that caused us to cancel but the sudden death of my youngest brother.

We got back all but the $158.00 it costs to insure us 50 somethings.

 

....because the chances that something happens is so slim. That's just the chance you take, but again, we cruise 2-3 times a year so it adds up. IMO it doesn't make sense to pay for insurance if 95% chance we won't need it. We've cruised...what, 15 times? So if we ever did miss a $2k cruise, we're already saved enough by NOT getting insurance to pay for it:)

Link to comment
Share on other sites
richkinkade

richkinkade

Posted
Posted
As dondaldsc says medical and medical evacuation insurance is a must (I have read too many stories about $30k plus medevacs), and I have found that a comprehenisve plan is not that much more than stand alone medical. Self insuring is all well and good, but ship does happen and if I can get reimbursed for a loss that's a plus. (And I'm sure you've heard of "rhetorical question" ).

The interesting thing is that we read "stories" all the time about things that are extremely rare. I've only seen one post on here (over a period of a dozen years or so) about a person who claims they actually paid for medical evacuation from a foreign port for something occurring on a cruise. Even that person later explained that she had to pay for the evac with a credit card and be reimbursed by insurance later and that most of their bills (originally claimed to be $100k) were reimbursed by regular medical insurance, not cruise insurance.

Another person who initially claimed to have a child evacuated from a cruise later admitted that the child was taken off the ship after it arrived back in Florida and the cruise insurance paid nothing.

More often, people claim that "a friend" had it happen to them, or worse, that they heard that the Coast Guard charged someone for an actual evacuation from a ship, which they do not do. Someone on this thread talks about "a friend" paying for a medical emrgency in Puerto Rico but for older Americans Medicare covers medical care in Puerto Rico http://www.medicare.gov/publications/pubs/pdf/11037.pdf

Of course, if there was no hospital in Puerto Rico that could provide appropriate care, "Medicare helps pay for necessary ambulance transportation to the closest appropriate facility that can provide the care you need."

You are certainly free to believe third-hand scare stories all you want. I'm skeptical. If I can avoid wasting money on unnecessary and overpriced insurance that's a plus. Are you selling cruise insurance?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Go to topic listing
  • Forum Jump
    • Categories
      • Welcome to Cruise Critic
      • New Cruisers
      • Cruise Lines “A – O”
      • Cruise Lines “P – Z”
      • River Cruising
      • ROLL CALLS
      • Cruise Critic News & Features
      • Digital Photography & Cruise Technology
      • Special Interest Cruising
      • Cruise Discussion Topics
      • UK Cruising
      • Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
      • Canadian Cruisers
      • North American Homeports
      • Ports of Call
      • Cruise Conversations
×
×
  • Create New...