Insurance

[luvinacruise]

Just booked transatlantic/ western medditerian on the Epic...It's a 21 day cruise. Wondering about getting personal insurance and not through NCL. ANyone have any advise as to what to get? Experiences, cost, etc. husband wants to be transported back to states if an emergency happens.especially while doing the transatlantic... Thank you for any info...

[Cubechick]

Check http://www.insuremytrip.com for price comparisons from several companies.

[Mrs. H.]

For sure INSUREMYTRIP.COM is the best!!

[marelind]

We regularly buy TI and have never had to use it. We use Travel Guard. The one thing I can say is that we purchased insurance from them for a cruise and then canceled the cruise. They did not give us a refund, but they did give us a credit toward a policy to be used in the next two years. I had to keep track of the voucher and make sure I used it. When it came time to use it, I called their regular phone line, on the 4th of July even, and they handled it very easily. I just had to mail in a copy of the voucher and they sent me the new policy right away.

[djmess]

insuremytrip and squaremouth are both good sites to compare many different travel insurance options.

 

If you just booked and you want to have pre existing preserved, you will more than likely need to pay the insurance within 14-21 days of making the deposit on your cruise.

 

I've used both these companies and also have called then to clarify my questions. They have always been very helpful.

 

Something that I decided to do most recently since I will be in Europe for quite a bit of time is I looked for the travel insurance to be the primary coverage for medical versus seconday. My personal insurance is an HMO and does not cover anything out of state much less out of the country. If heaven forbid my appendix burst while cruising, I wanted to make sure things were covered from the travel insurance versus having to come home submit a claim to my insurance that will not be covered, then submit all that to the travel insurance company.

 

I haven't had to use my travel insurance for anything major like my example, but wanted to be a little better prepared/insured in my opinion

 

Good Luck and happy reasearching

[garycarla]

If your primary concern is transport, there are companies that offer ONLY that.

 

If you are two days from Europe or U.S in the middle of the Atlantic, nobody is gonna get you home right away. Helicopters only reach so far out into the ocean.

[fshagan]

I always buy trip insurance due to the high cost of medical evacuation, the fact that very few medical insurance plans cover you while on the high seas (even if they do cover you on foreign soil), and even the cost of returning a body should someone die (each of these events could cost from $10,000 to $25,000). Start adding together a medical evacuation at $15,000, a hospital stay that isn't covered because you became ill on the high seas at $45,000, and then medical transport home at $10 - $25,000, and pretty soon you're talking about real money.

 

The luggage insurance, trip refund, "miss the boat" transport to the next port, etc. are all not as important to me. But they add very little to the cost of the insurance.

[TravelDiva88]

I second (or third?) the recommendation to shop through insuremytrip

 

I will say I've purchased TravelGuard several times now, and unfortunately had to make a claim (death of a family member). They were fairly easy to work with, only one hiccup ( a miscommunication) and we had our claim check within 2 weeks.

[Mrs. H.]

I've used Travel Guard several times. Like them very much. Even had to make a claim once. No problem.

[jame_g]

I've had good experiences with insuremytrip.com. Easy to compare coverage and prices to find what best fits my needs. They've also been easy to work with when my travel plans have changed. Increasing the coverage as I added to my plans, switching the coverage to different dates and cruises when my plans changed due to family I was traveling with, and even working with the carrier to get me partial reimbursement to decrease the coverage when the new trip was less expensive -- although I would have been happy just to switch what I had bought to the new trip.

 

Look to get a policy with a pre-existing coverage waiver, and get it in time to get this waiver. To me this is one of the most important features that I always get. You never know what could happen after the waiver period passes that will qualify as a pre-existing condition, and then it's too late.

[coocooforshoes]

I bought insurance through NCL for our upcoming cruise. There are 4 of us. After reading the boards I priced insuremytrip.com and they were $15.00 less. I am staying with NCL for the convenience. Personally I did not think it was worth it to switch.:)

[djmess]

I bought insurance through NCL for our upcoming cruise. There are 4 of us. After reading the boards I priced insuremytrip.com and they were $15.00 less. I am staying with NCL for the convenience. Personally I did not think it was worth it to switch.:)

 

I've noticed this when I've cruised with my grandmother. Age seems to play a big factor in the non cruiseline insurance. My grandmother is 86 and it always seems cheaper to go with the cruiseline insurance. Also, I think some insurances won't even write a policy for ages over ... I really don't remember exactly and I'm not an insurance expert, just what I've noticed over the last several years

[garycarla]

I bought insurance through NCL for our upcoming cruise. There are 4 of us. After reading the boards I priced insuremytrip.com and they were $15.00 less. I am staying with NCL for the convenience. Personally I did not think it was worth it to switch.:)

 

Convenience is one thing. Coverage is another. No idea what one covers vs. another.

 

Another poster was here a few weeks ago. She tripped while on an excursion and suffered considerably, medically and financially. Insurance company did not cover it since she had been drinking (but was not drunk).

 

Just sharing.

[jame_g]

I wouldn't stay with the NCL insurance just for convenience. Besides the cost difference, there are probably significant coverage differences. The NCL coverage looked lower than what is offered through many of the non-cruiseline policies that I've purchased over the years. Plus the NCL policy doesn't appear to offer a pre-existing condition waiver. Many people find claims denied when they have a policy without this waiver.

 

And unless you specifically told NCL to bill you for the policy at the time of your deposit, it won't even be in force until final payment -- this factor alone causes many claims to be denied because of things that occur after the deposit and become a pre-existing condition by the time the policy is paid for at final payment.

 

Yes, the non-cruiseline policies definitely take age into account, and the price will increase. We purchased for my mother-in-law and had to pay more for her coverage, but we got a much better policy that covered the things we were concerned about which the cruiseline policy would not cover.