What do you think about NCL Travel Insurance

[garycarla]

....Honestly, I have found one and only one add-on product offered by NCL which I think is a good deal, and that's the UDP.

 

Just a chuckle here - not an opinion of the worth to some people.

 

I don't get that package as there is no way we would do a specialty every night. sometimes we just are not in the mood for a full dinner - and surely have trouble deciding in advance.

 

Glad it works for some people.

 

NOW - BACK TO THE INSURANCE QUESTION: I wonder how many people buy life insurance for newborns - because they "love them"?

[Shawnino]

NOW - BACK TO THE INSURANCE QUESTION: I wonder how many people buy life insurance for newborns - because they "love them"?

 

I think I can answer that. Those products are of the Whole Life variety--not strictly about short coffins, but something along the lines of "For only $50/mo., not only is it life insurance, but when Junior turns 25 he'll have $10,000 to [shove up his nose, post bail, etc.]." Show Junior you love him!

 

Now for anyone who does the math, it's clear that a simple savings program offers greater rates of return and flexibility, but alas, as with travel insurance, the industry depends on customers not being able to do the math.

[triptolemus]

Good luck, whatever people decide. I own shares in Travelers and in Berkshire Hathaway, so the more people who are scared silly, the better I do.

 

but when Junior turns 25 he'll have $10,000 to [shove up his nose, post bail, etc.]." Show Junior you love him!

 

Frankly -- if I may -- I find your attitude to be quite condescending and off-putting. What's your motivation, exactly? Where the hell do you get off referring to others in this manner?

[garycarla]

Frankly -- if I may -- I find your attitude to be quite condescending and off-putting. What's your motivation, exactly? Where the hell do you get off referring to others in this manner?

 

I am guessing you may want to put me in that same club. The other posters made some good comments. Very rational and real life.

Edited August 24, 2014 by garycarla

[Shawnino]

Frankly -- if I may -- I find your attitude to be quite condescending and off-putting. What's your motivation, exactly? Where the hell do you get off referring to others in this manner?

 

Good for you! I make my points as colourfully as I can. Insurance is a dreadfully dry topic in my opinion, and my attempt at black humour to make it more readable isn't your cup of tea. I guess, somehow, I'll have to try to survive without your approval.

 

You will notice, however, that I'm not referring to others as you claim. I'm mostly referring to myself (answering people's honest questions about my own insurance profile; confessing to owning shares in insurance company stock, and what that implies--I need people to buy insurance!). I did provide a detailed explanation of the brokerage, insurance, and international reinsurance markets. (If that post put people to sleep I apologise--I hope no one was reading it while driving!) I did refer to a fictitious Junior who blew his whole-life policy. That might have been aimed at myself too--but it wasn't aimed at anyone on this board.

 

I'd ask you to get over yourself, but I'm not sure you can. So just put me on your 'ignore' list. Cheers.

[jackson bernard]

When I booked our cruise for April 2015 I did take the Travel insurance offered. But now I have 2nd thoughts about it. The cost is approx. $230.00 for 3 of us. I can't remember if I took it for my other cruise or not :eek:

The one thing that is stopping me is that when we were on our last cruise someone had to be helicoptered off and taken to the hospital :( The ship even changed course to get closer to land. (I believe he suffered a heart attack but was ok - Thank GOD!) But I remembered someone saying that he hoped he took out the travel insurance otherwise this was gonna be an awful expensive trip .

Was wondering what your thoughts are on Travel Insurance.

 

I read it's better to get coverage if you want it, is from someone other than the cruise line so you are covered in case they go belly up.

[triptolemus]

I'd ask you to get over yourself, but I'm not sure you can. So just put me on your 'ignore' list. Cheers.

 

Done.

[Shawnino]

I read it's better to get coverage if you want it, is from someone other than the cruise line so you are covered in case they go belly up.

 

This is an interesting argument. I'm pretty sure it's inaccurate. The cruise line usually acts as broker; the actual policies are are usually written by somebody else (say, Travelers Group). Travelers might package thousands of these up and pass them off to Berkshire, who might aggregate policies from all sorts of companies, and sell them to Swiss Re, who then puts them on the market as Insurance Backed Securities.

 

So the cruise line going belly-up might be no big deal, but some company or hedge fund we've never heard of in Europe going belly-up could be really bad. (Swiss Re ain't going anywhere... I just used the name as an example.)

 

The value in going away from NCL, as garycarla, PP5, and others have suggested, is that you should get a lower rate. The question then becomes "how much is your time worth?"--is it worth saving $50 if it takes several hours of your time to find the better deal? Maybe yes, maybe no. If you can save it in 10 minutes, well, if you've already decided to buy, it's an obvious good move.

 

I once worked at a place where the CFO proudly announced "it took all morning and half the afternoon, but [he] saved $43 on a plane ticket to Europe for a meeting".

 

"All... morning.. and half the after--...," sighed the CEO, not knowing whether to laugh or to cry. (He settled on punching a hole in the wall. Now that's executive leadership, kids. OK, well, maybe not.)

Edited August 24, 2014 by Shawnino

[jackson bernard]

This is an interesting argument. I'm pretty sure it's inaccurate. The cruise line usually acts as broker; the actual policies are are usually written by somebody else (say, Travelers Group). Travelers might package thousands of these up and pass them off to Berkshire, who might aggregate policies from all sorts of companies, and sell them to Swiss Re, who then puts them on the market as Insurance Backed Securities.

 

So the cruise line going belly-up might be no big deal, but some company or hedge fund we've never heard of in Europe going belly-up could be really bad. (Swiss Re ain't going anywhere... I just used the name as an example.)

 

The value in going away from NCL, as garycarla, PP5, and others have suggested, is that you should get a lower rate. The question then becomes "how much is your time worth?"--is it worth saving $50 if it takes several hours of your time to find the better deal? Maybe yes, maybe no. If you can save it in 10 minutes, well, if you've already decided to buy, it's an obvious good move.

 

I once worked at a place where the CFO proudly announced "it took all morning and half the afternoon, but [he] saved $43 on a plane ticket to Europe for a meeting".

 

"All... morning.. and half the after--...," sighed the CEO, not knowing whether to laugh or to cry. (He settled on punching a hole in the wall. Now that's executive leadership, kids. OK, well, maybe not.)

 

Please note:....not refunded in the event of the airline’s or Norwegian Cruise Line’s insolvency

 

This is from page 4 of NCL's plan

Edited August 24, 2014 by jackson bernard

[Shawnino]

Please note:....not refunded in the event of the airline’s or Norwegian Cruise Line’s insolvency

 

This is from page 4 of NCL's plan

 

OUCH.

 

Does it say who underwrites the policy? (Are they underwriting it themselves?)

[rednose83]

Actually, lots of people post saying you should always get insurance. There are lots of posting about "incidents" that happened and people collected. Very few posts about "I bought it and never used it".

 

Any business person will assure you that the insurance companies are making good money on this product.

 

Should people buy it? For most people, some sort of insurance does make sense. But for most, they have no idea what is covered and what is not. I know many do it for emotional and often irrational reasons. Just look at the people that buy life insurance for newborns "because they love them". Now there is a bad buy.

 

I guess I'm guilty of relaying the times I used vs the times I bought it.

 

So, let me try to figure it out.

 

I have bought it approximately 9 cruises so roughly $1,000 in premiums.

 

We collected $4946 back from our (covered) trip when I had to visit the hospital in Juneau, AK for an emergent procedure.

 

So, by my estimation, I have bought it 9 times- and wasted my money 8 times, using it once. However, I am still $3946 in the black.

 

My DH claim was paid by our normal health insurance.

 

My original thoughts on the matter still stand. If you have insurance that will pay and the financial loss on the cruise will not break you- don't get the insurance.

 

If you do not have insurance that will pay, the losing the money on the trip will devastate you- buy the insurance.

 

This calculation will look different for everyone.

 

For example, I will be booking a last minute cruise tomorrow. The non-refundable cost is less $800. My health insurance covers worldwide. We will not buy trip insurance because of the coverage our health plan offers and losing the $800 would not kill us (we also have limited coverage from our credit card so it might not be a total loss- I'd have to see exactly what that coverage would entail). In this scenario, I'd be risking a guaranteed $100ish dollars to save a possible $800.

 

Now, let's say I was on the current Legend cruise to Australia and had plunked down $10,000+ in non-refundable travel costs. You can bet your bottom dollar I'd be buying travel insurance. In this scenario, I'd be risking a guaranteed $250 dollars to save a possible $10,000+.

[jackson bernard]

OUCH.

 

Does it say who underwrites the policy? (Are they underwriting it themselves?)

 

Stonebridge something. But it still looks like they won't cover you if the airline or cruise line goes out of business.

[Shawnino]

Stonebridge something. But it still looks like they won't cover you if the airline or cruise line goes out of business.

 

Thanks.

 

If I understand it right, that's really poor: If I understand it right, you're out of luck if either NCL, Stonebridge, or whoever Stonebridge packages it off to goes out of business.

 

And thanks for correcting me. People can sign away whatever rights they want in a contract it seems, but I was under the illusion that, since NCL was "only the broker", NCL going belly-up wouldn't be a concern.

 

So your point is now a slam dunk IMO: If you're buying, don't buy through NCL.

[garycarla]

I would not buy from the cruiseline - but not because they might go out of business. That is very, very low on my list of concerns.

 

Do people really worry about that?

[Nisky18]

When I booked our cruise for April 2015 I did take the Travel insurance offered. But now I have 2nd thoughts about it. The cost is approx. $230.00 for 3 of us. I can't remember if I took it for my other cruise or not :eek:

The one thing that is stopping me is that when we were on our last cruise someone had to be helicoptered off and taken to the hospital :( The ship even changed course to get closer to land. (I believe he suffered a heart attack but was ok - Thank GOD!) But I remembered someone saying that he hoped he took out the travel insurance otherwise this was gonna be an awful expensive trip .

Was wondering what your thoughts are on Travel Insurance.

=====================================

I've always taken the travel insurance, especially after hearing about issues some people have had while traveling, like with health or other unexpected accidents that have occurred. I'd rather be pound wise and penny foolish than the other way around. Since my mother is now 90 years old, I want to feel protected if I can't make the trip. I looked over the NCL policy and it looks pretty good.

[Reebster]

I've booked seven polices total, all for cruises except one. The most a policy has ever cost me is for my upcoming 10-day European cruise with four-day stay in Rome for two at $125, total. I've paid roughly $700 total through the years for all seven policies.

 

The first time I purchased nsurance was because we were cruising to Alaska and my grandmother was ill. I wanted the protection just in case we had to cancel. While in Seattle pre-cruise, though, DH had to go to the emergency room with an internal illness. We had medical insurance, but it was a high-deductible plan, so $3000 of the hospital visit plus $150 for prescriptions was not covered. Our travel insurance reimbursed is for every single thing that our health insurance didn't cover, including deductibles, co-pays and taxi rides to and from the hospital. It was a great relief to not have to pay anything out of pocket. He was treated and released from the hospital in time for us to make our scheduled sailing, but he had to check in a couple of times with the ship doctor. Those costs also were covered. I think it was around $200. Four more cruises and no claims.

 

One trip to Costa Rica two years ago ended up with a snorkeling accident that again resulted in a $500 travel insurance claim because the deductible on our regular health insurance had not been met. The travel insurance folks paid it without question.

 

Hopefully our upcoming cruise will not require any claims, but I still feel that spending $700 and getting more than $3700 back through claims (with absolutely no hassle when filing) makes it a decent choice for me.

[sparks1093]

I do not have home insurance, no.

As I posted, if I had dependant children, I could see the case for life insurance.

 

Indeed, in reality, anything can happen.

The likelihood is, it won't.

The only thing that keeps the insurance industry going is the irrational fear that "it will likely happen to me".

 

Travel insurance rates are insane.

When you pair that with the possibility of of not being able to collect a claim because of a technicality, it is very difficult to build the logical case to buy insurance on a cruise of less than a month that isn't traveling to say, Antarctica.

 

You are right- $33 per person was an astronomical amount for me to pay for my last travel insurance policy. I'll put that $33 in the bank and when I face a $30,000 medevac bill have the funds to pay for it;).

[sparks1093]

As I've mentioned before, insuring against catastrophic events (your $500,000 home burning down, a cancer diagnosis that costs you $1,000,000 to treat) is sensible. Insuring against leisure activities being interrupted makes little sense.

 

Insurance companies make huge money on these policies.

 

All of the anecdotal evidence of "Having trip interruption insurance saved me a ton" won't change that.

 

The premiums are several times higher than they should be. So if you're paying $500, you should probably be paying $100.

 

Third party insurance sites are a little better than the cruise line, but still bad.

 

Foreign medical insurance makes sense.

 

Insuring your $3000 trip does not.

 

If you still want to do it, that's up to you, but at least be honest about it and don't come out here claiming that you're getting a good value.

 

What many overlook is that a good travel insurance policy covers more than trip cancellation or trip interruption- they also cover medical expenses and medevac expenses. Those last two items are the main reason that I buy travel insurance in the first place because frankly I don't have $25k to $50k just sitting around not being used. Yes, medevac stand alone policies are available as are stand alone medical policies but buying a comprehensive policy is not that much more than buying those two.

[fshagan]

Regarding the trip insurance not covering bankruptcy of a company, my experience has been that is not universal. We have one trip coming up where none of the insurance policies in the price range I was choosing would cover the cost of the air tickets if that particular airline went broke (other things would be covered as long as they were still in business). This was clearly stated during sign up, in bold yellow letters at the bottom of the sign up page. Because the airline tickets were very cheap, I was comfortable with forgoing the money if we had to buy more expensive tickets later. The policies that did cover that particular airline added 20% of the airline ticket cost to the policy to cover them, and my personal risk tolerance can handle that.

 

I have never looked at NCLs insurance, always preferring to choose my own. The medical portion of the insurance is what is most important to me, and trip cancellation, trip interruption, luggage claims, etc. are not as important. I usually get at least $150,000 per person medical and evacuation, and love it if the policy has a provision for return of a person's remains.

 

I fail to see what a company's profit margins have to do with anything. People worrying about that should throw away their iPhones and buy an HTC Android phone immediately. Apple is ripping you off because their profit margin is so good!

[Warm Breezes]

I typically pay 5% (or less) of the cost of our cruise for comprehensive travel insurance that includes pre-existing condition, medical, medivac, trip interruption and trip cancellation through insuremytrip. The trip interruption and trip cancellation portion of this is an extremely small portion of what I am purchasing, not the huge amount some are making it out to be. I have made a claim once for a trip cancellation. I received my money back within 3 weeks of the cancellation. I have so far received more from the insurance company than I have I paid on insurance premiums for the 10 cruises I have purchased it on and could purchase insurance on quite a few more cruises before the insurance company is making money on me again...and remember my premiums pay for the medical and medivac as well as the trip interruption and cancellation. IMHO it is a good use of my money. Others feel differently and that is their choice. I will continue to purchase it and there is nothing that can be said here that would make me believe I am spending my money foolishly.

Edited August 25, 2014 by Warm Breezes

[Shawnino]

I would not buy from the cruiseline - but not because they might go out of business. That is very, very low on my list of concerns.

 

Do people really worry about that?

 

I'm on record here as travel insurance being a bad buy, so take this in that context:

 

No, I don't worry about NCL going out of business. Of course not. But what would trouble me here is the buck-passing mentality. I'm not worried about NCL going bust, but:

--Stonehenge shouldn't be worried about NCL either

--At no point is any broker (NCL), counterparty (Stonehenge), or someone else further along the food chain stepping up and saying "no matter what happens, we've got your back".

 

If people choose to buy, they should be confident that they'll be paid out. Fine print like this does not inspire confidence.

[sparks1093]

I'm on record here as travel insurance being a bad buy, so take this in that context:

 

No, I don't worry about NCL going out of business. Of course not. But what would trouble me here is the buck-passing mentality. I'm not worried about NCL going bust, but:

--Stonehenge shouldn't be worried about NCL either

--At no point is any broker (NCL), counterparty (Stonehenge), or someone else further along the food chain stepping up and saying "no matter what happens, we've got your back".

 

If people choose to buy, they should be confident that they'll be paid out. Fine print like this does not inspire confidence.

 

Coverage for carrier financial default is available on some third party policies and they outline the terms and conditions (and exclusions). This is not a big concern of mine so I don't look for a policy that offers it (and I just confirmed that the last policy I purchased did not have it). As long as the policy that I buy has decent coverage levels for medical and medevac the rest is icing.

[CarolRoy]

Looking at other insurance besides NCL insurance. NCL seems high to me for our cruise to Bermuda in Sept. 2015. We take a bus to the port. So no airfare will be involved. I only like to insure for the cost of the cruise without including gov. tax/port exp/fees that is shown on our invoice. What has anyone done? Do you insure for the whole amount or just for the "guest fare" without the extra fees that is shown on the NCL invoice?

[bjinouno]

Which covers each of us in the room, for pre existing conditions, to and from the port, in our own car or a service car, air lift Full refund if sick or cancel for one of the covered reasons.. and of course it covers port charges and tax. wouldn't have it any other way, Just used it for my husband who couldn't travel last minute and was refunded 100% of his fare towards our limo ride.

[GeezerCouple]

Looking at other insurance besides NCL insurance. NCL seems high to me for our cruise to Bermuda in Sept. 2015. We take a bus to the port. So no airfare will be involved. I only like to insure for the cost of the cruise without including gov. tax/port exp/fees that is shown on our invoice. What has anyone done? Do you insure for the whole amount or just for the "guest fare" without the extra fees that is shown on the NCL invoice?

 

You might want to post your travel insurance questions on that part of CruiseCritic:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=635

 

You might want to provide (or you might be asked) about whether you have medical insurance that will cover you in ALL of the ports, and also for the ship's medical care, etc.

 

That is a different type of 'risk' than "risking the cost of the trip".

 

And you might want to read through some of the other topics there, or just browse, in case any of the other questions/circumstances ring a bell for you.

 

And you also might want to call Steve and his associates at

 

TripInsuranceStore.com

 

They can explain the different types of coverage, and how much each type costs.

They won't try to upsell you.

 

TALK to them, don't just read the policy summaries on their website (or on any other website). The fine print AND your own circumstances matter a lot.

 

Just remember that medical or medevac (to get off the ship OR later to get back home) can be totally different than "just the cost of the trip".

But deciding to cover the full cost of all non-refundable travel expenses is a very personal issue.

You need to do whatever *you* feel most comfortable about, and don't pay much attention to those who carry on too much about extremes.

 

GeezerCouple