Please tell me about travel insurance

[familycruises]

Have you used it?

Are there companys that are better than others?

is it worth the expense?

Any info appreciated.

Thanks!

Yvonne

[LuAnn]

I have used it in the past because I had two elderly parents and I wanted to be able to cancel if needed. I usually booked it through CSA Vacation Guarantee 866 733-8511 or csavg40.com at the recommendation of my travel agent. I could have used my policy last year, when my Dad died 1 week before we were to leave for Alaska...but I decided I would be miserable anywhere and went...but it was nice to have the option. I haven't quite decided what to do now that they are both gone but think I will continue to purchase it in case we need it!

[vmom]

I wouldn't travel without it.

 

check out www.insuremytrip.com.

 

You'll be able to get information on a variety of policies and costs. I prefer travelex light or travelex plus myself.

[Boo's Mom]

Yes, you really should purchase it.

 

insuremytrip is a great site.

 

I usually end up purchasing a policy with Travelex. They have more than adequate coverage....with a low price.

[stillfrantic]

I had TravelSafe for a Holland America cruise last summer. Hurricanes came, ship didn't leave on time. I was in an out of town airport for 2 nights. The insurance paid for hotel room and meals. The line refunded our money but if they had not, the insurance would have picked up the lost days.

[Betterbrown]

On a recent cruise I was talking to a man about travel insurance. He said he thought his home policy covered Medical Evacuation outside the United States. I said unless it has a hefty rider in it, then it does not. I checked with my health insurance provider before we left for the cruise and he told me this. The cost of Medical Evacuation from the ship and the islands is almost always 1000's of dollars even for a relatively short trip. For this reason alone I would purchase travel insurance, not to mention the cruise and baggage protection provisions. You can go on-line at insuremytrip.com and get simultaneous travel insurance quotes from several companies. I hope this helps.

 

Betterbrown

[whit53]

I ALWAYS get Travel Insurance. Go to www.insuremytrip.com and I usually get the Travelex policy. It is the least expensive and it has an A+ rating. I just consider it part of the cruise expense.

 

Jan

[CCJack]

I just filed a claim for a RCL cruise that I had to cancel. I had a ruptured disk in my back and had to cancel one week prior to sailing (bummer). My advice is to research using insuremytrip.com or quotetravelinsurance.com. Generally policies offered by cruiselines are more expensive. However, RCL does have a nice feature where you can cancel for any reason and get cruise credit back. One thing that I learned is that it is very, very easy to buy a policy (credit card, name, travel dates, amount, and you are done.) But when it comes time for a claim - it gets very difficult. Mine was a simple cruise and air, and my claim was about 50 pages long. They will want every peice of documentation - verifying your payments, your credit card statements, the written refund policy of ther cruise line and airline. And if sickness or injury are involved you need to provide not only a form filled out by a doctor - but ALL your doctors you have seen for any reason for a certain time period. Here is my best advice though - you should buy your insurance ASAP - do not wait until close to your final payment (many people wait because prior to your final payment you can get your money back from RCL.) Here is why- lets say you are fine today and book your cruise (no pre-existing condition). then you injure yourself prior to final payment (and prior purchasing insurance) but you think you might still be well enough to go, and want to go, so you make your final payment. You can still purchase the insurance, but if you are not well enough to go they are not going to cover you because it would have been a pre-existing condition at the time of policy purchase. Note, however, that many policies DO cover pre-existing conditions, but you have to purchase the insurance within a certain time of your FIRST payment. Such as within 1 day or 14 days, etc. www.insuremytrip.com will explain pre-existing. But if you are well now, purchase now - no matter when your final payment is due. The other advantage of purchasing early is that many policies will actually refund your money - if you cancel prior to final payment - I found that hard to believe but it is true for some policies.

[wrp96]

For my 1st 2 cruises, I didn't get travel insurance, but won't travel without it from now on. On my 2nd cruise, I got hurt and had to be treated in the infirmary. The cost was $175 which my medical insurance wouldn't cover because it was out of the country. Because I didn't have travel insurance, I was out the $175 dollars. Even RCI's insurance would've only been about $100, and you usually can find coverage for less through a 3rd party.

[Retired not Expired]

On a recent cruise I was talking to a man about travel insurance. He said he thought his home policy covered Medical Evacuation outside the United States. I said unless it has a hefty rider in it, then it does not. I checked with my health insurance provider before we left for the cruise and he told me this. The cost of Medical Evacuation from the ship and the islands is almost always 1000's of dollars even for a relatively short trip. For this reason alone I would purchase travel insurance, not to mention the cruise and baggage protection provisions. You can go on-line at insuremytrip.com and get simultaneous travel insurance quotes from several companies. I hope this helps.

 

Betterbrown

 

I had a heart attack May 1. My 30 minute med evac between two towns was over $7000. Hate to see what an island med evac would cost. Luckily, I purchased insurance for my two upcoming cruises two days before my heart attack. Therefore, no pre-existing if I have another prior to or while on the cruises. Insurance, the only time you spend money and hope you get nothing for it. But I wouldn't be without it.

[pokyd]

I wouldn't go without it either. Here's what happened to me:

 

My travel partner didn't have the insurance. Thought it was a waste of money. One week before the cruise he injured his knee playing tennis and could not walk. Had to cancel and lost all his $$. I, meanwhile, went on the trip (with his blessing!) and had the cabin all to myself.

 

Moral of the story: Just because you're healthy now doesn't mean a freak accident can't ruin your trip. Why be out the money too? Get the insurance.

[fodorspeter]

The answers you're going to get are generally going to come from people who have had to use insurance. You aren't going to hear from the thousands who haven't - whether they bought it or not. I have been on thirteen cruises, have never bought insurance and have never needed insurance. Here's my advice to you - check your company medical coverage, your homeowners insurance and your credit card coverages to see what, if anything, is already covered. In my case, the VISA that I have has cancellation coverage as long as I use the credit card to purchase the cruise. My homeowners covers my luggage and expensive electronics that I take along. My company medical insurance (because they are self-insured) will cover medvac and out of the country medical services. I'm not saying that everyone is like me, but before I thru that kind of money out, I'd check it out thoroghly.

 

Peter

[CFCruiser]

jwith2boys,

 

I'd like your opinion on my situation. My mother-in-law is booked to cruise with a large group of gals in late October. Our final payment is due tomorrow(85 days out). My sister-in-law is paying for her cruise. 2 weeks ago, MIL tells us she went to the doctors for pain in her hip. She has been advised to have a hip replacement surgery. Since then, she has seen a surgeon to talk about how to procede. The surgeon told her to wait till after the cruise to have the surgery.

 

You mentioned in your post that if you file a claim you must have forms filed out from your doctor AND any doctors you have seen within a certain period of time(how far back?). After reading that, I wonder if we should bother with insurance since we're so close now and settling a claim may be hard to do. My SIL was considering getting insurance in case MIL gets worse and can't travel, but will these doctor visits cause her to be denied on the pre-existing condition clause? Thanks for your input.

[awm]

Can someone point out the main difference in these other travel protection companies and RCCL?

I booked thru RCCL and their Insurance is about the same in cost as the other ones I've seen. Is the coverage thru RCCL not as good??

[kenandlaura06]

For the relatively low cost of travel insurance, I get piece of mind, which for me is priceless.

[stuNYC]

You have to be aware of your own medical situation of that of your loved ones. If there is a risk that because of their medical condition at the time of booking is stable but "fragile", YOU MUST BUY IBSURANCE; otherwise, that fickle finger of fate may hit and you are out $$$$$$$$$$$$$$.

 

I myself use Access America and unfortunately have had to cancel as many cruises as I've gone on due to medical emergencies within my family.

 

It is cheap protection. It is like carrying an umbrella,when they are forecasting the possibility of rain. I call that my insurance policy that ensures that it will not rain.

[pcur]

OK, here I am.....the one who's cruised for 32 years and purchased travel insurance once....

 

:eek: :eek: , you all say!!

 

Well, I checked our HMO policy and it covers us anywhere in the world, including air evacuation and ambulance. Yep, in the fine print. Scratch one reason to buy travel insurance.

 

Then, I go by the cost of the cruise. I'm going to either eat the air cost, or get a credit (if it's Southwest, bless them, whom we fly on to FL). If the cruise is a long one and pretty pricey, then I seriously consider the travel insurance.

 

We used it for our Med cruise 3 years ago. I bought it through RCI, because as the previous poster said above, they give you a credit toward a future cruise.

 

So, it's a balancing act between air refunds, cost of cruise, etc. Our upcoming Brilliance cruise is one I will probably get it for. We lose $400 on the air if we cancel, and the cruise is 12 days, so it's more expensive.

[fodorspeter]

One other comment. It always kills me to read how they will never cruise without it and it gives them such piece of mind. And yet, when they schedule their $7,000 ski vacation to Vail or their $5,000 vacation to Disney World or their $10,000 vacation to Paris they don't purchase travel insurance. Have you ever wondered why cruise insurance is so cheap? They're not losing money folks. Its because one out of a thousand actually collect something.

 

Peter

[stillfrantic]

Peter: Who said we didn't buy it for US vacations?

[AFT_LOVER]

We have rode the merry go round of insurance companies with close to 20 cruises since 1996.

 

When it comes to cancelled flights due to snow, ice, power failures CSA is tops. We had Access America & they want a 24 hour airport closure to refund money. Cruiseline Insurance thru Berkley of CA doesn't cover any bad weather which they call ACT OF GOD. Another refused coverage when NWA went on strike & Princess didn't book us on another airline even when we were not flying for a week. We heard about the strike on day 1 of the S Carib cruise on CNN. So we lived at the airport in San Juan for 2 nts til they returned to work with 20,000 other folks.

 

But for Spring cruises, if we get a bargain on Berkley we will use it as all medical was paid onboard with no charges on our AMEX that we used for the cruise. RCCL was included a few cruises with insurance in the rate. So we take it!

 

Thanks for the words on Travelex, we will check them out for Freedom OS cruise Oct 2006. No bad weather........

[familycruises]

Thanks for all the advice!

I am considering travel guard for all of us. I will wait 6 months for there to be 180 days between my dad's doctor appointments.

[Retired not Expired]

Peter: Who said we didn't buy it for US vacations?

 

Exactly. Some people don't want to buy any type insurance, but will sure be there with a sad story and their hand out when they need it.

 

As far as travel insurance, if you can afford to lose the investment, don't buy it. But if you want the investment returned if you lose out on the travel, buy it. If your HMO or home insurance will cover you, fine. I wouldn't buy it either. But if it doesn't and you don't buy the insurance, don't come asking me to help pay the medical bills if you have a $30,000 med evac, etc. I do without, if neccessary, to make sure my family is protected.

 

Sorry folks. I don't mean to sound so negative. Just tired of so many asking for donations because their house burnt with no insurance, etc. They have a boat in their yard, beer in the cooler, cigarettes in their pockets, color TV's, DVD's, etc., but they can't afford insurance.

[pcur]

Actually, we're overinsured. That's why we don't buy any that we don't think we need.

 

I buy it for the more expensive cruises. 5 - 6% of the trip cost is worth it to me if I'm shelling out multiple thousands of dollars. But, I won't if I'm flying Southwest who will credit my airfare, and my cruise is under $2,000. Since my medical is covered and my air is reusable, then I don't see the need.

 

Also, I wouldn't dream of asking anyone for anything. If I rolled the dice and crapped out, then it's on me.

[beachguy]

One other comment. It always kills me to read how they will never cruise without it and it gives them such piece of mind. And yet, when they schedule their $7,000 ski vacation to Vail or their $5,000 vacation to Disney World or their $10,000 vacation to Paris they don't purchase travel insurance. Have you ever wondered why cruise insurance is so cheap? They're not losing money folks. Its because one out of a thousand actually collect something.

 

Peter

 

(beachchick here)

 

We buy travel insurance for every trip, no exceptions. We both have disabilities (and older parents) and are unwilling to risk our travel money. In fact, no other insurance that I know of will cover you if an immediate family member becomes ill or (Heaven forbid) dies right before your trip and you end up having to cancel. I'm certain that my medical insurance, homeowners insurance, and such won't cover the loss if I have to cancel because my mother is in the hospital. Plus, many medical insurance policies don't cover any problems out of the US or have limits and/or co-pays. Can you imagine the 20% co-pay on a medical evacuation at sea? A $30,000 evac (not at all unheard of) would mean $6,000 out of my pocket. No thank you! Plus, keep in mind that an 18 year old can have a serious accident just as easily as an 80 year old.

 

And yes, we have had claims paid on our travel insurance.

 

Retired not Expired: I absolutely agree with you about all the people who can't be bothered to insure (their homes and cars in particular), but come whining to the government (that would be you and me, the taxpayers) to reimburse them when something happens. I'm particularly annoyed by things like the Malibu multi-millionares who keep getting government assistance to rebuild after mudslides and such. In CA homeowners who want to be covered for earthquake damage have to buy the additional coverage (and you bet we do). Is it so hard to insure for higher risks (such as mudslides, floods, earthquakes, and hurricanes) in areas that are prone to them?

 

(Thanks for letting me get out that rant.)

 

beachchick

[Betterbrown]

PCUR,

My HMO certainly does not cover Med. Vac. outside the continental U.S. I bet you I have a less costly HMO than you do for continental U.S. coverage per thousand dollar unit of coverage; not that it is cheap. Also, I think you should ask around about other people's coverage; I think you will find yours is the exception to the majority of policies.

Betterbrown