Celebrity drops the ball sometimes...

[PartyAllDaTyme]

Not that trip insurance would have helped here, but I believe the above statement is a fallacy anyway. 8-10% of a trip isn't inexpensive, in my opinion. As long as you have medical coverage of your own, I don't think it's unreasonable in any way to self insure a trip.

 

I may not be able to speak directly for your case, since you're a Canadian resident-- I never worked with Travel Guard Canada except to take after hours emergency calls. But, in general and specifically for TG US--

 

Premium costs are mostly determined by the cost of the trip and the age of the traveler. It's not a straight-line increase-- the premiums go up in brackets of $500-$1000 and each bracket is evaluated for risk independent of the other brackets. In other words, insuring a trip cost of $3000 per person will be so much, but $3001 may be quite a bit higher. And, statistically, the risk of trip cancellation can be quite different for a trip of, say $5000 per person versus $6000 per person. These are all reasons why your cost might be 8-10% of the trip cost.

 

Nothing you can do about age, but if you have no concerns for pre-existing medical conditions or want to get Cancel For Any Reason coverage, you can choose to insure whatever amount you choose, even $0, which dramatically lowers the premium, and you still have all the other benefits-- only trip cancellation and trip interruption are dependent on trip cost, and there's still even a flat rate for interruption that can be applied to return airfare. (Pre-ex waiver and CFAR require you to fully insure all of your nonrefundable prepaid trip costs.)

 

If all you need is medical and evac and you already have your own insurance for that, great, but just because you have medical doesn't necessarily mean it will cover an evac. Keep in mind that many credit cards offer some travel protection as a perk. In the long run, you'll save money by self-insuring-- insurance companies are for-profit entities, after all. For many, though, losing the cost of the trip if they have to cancel, or if they are not able to get medical coverage outside their home country, means that travel insurance gives them the peace of mind of not constantly having to have it in the back of their mind, "What happens if...?" They can relax and enjoy their cruise.

 

I want to stress that I no longer work for Travel Guard, so I'm not shilling for them. There are many other companies that do a fine job, as well.

[PartyAllDaTyme]

We would never travel to port on the day of the cruise though.

 

Amen to that.

 

A standard line I used when discussing trip interruption or trip delay benefits with cruisers was "The ship will not wait for you if you're late." I would also strongly recommend flying in (or even driving in) the day before, mentioning that advice had nothing directly to do with the insurance, just my experience as a past cruiser myself. For some people on a budget, though, it adds an additional cost that they can't afford (need both a flight and a pre-cruise hotel), or they can't get the extra vacation day.

 

If you live a short distance from the cruise port, it also hardly pays to go a day ahead, but leave plenty early. You can get to Ft. Lauderdale (or wherever) and kill some time at a park, library, museum, restaurant, or what have you.

[MissMapp]

The last thing I want to have happen before leaving on a cruise is to start the vacation feeling anxious and stressed. We always arrive at the departing port city at least one day before sailing.

[Ladesign]

Not that trip insurance would have helped here, but I believe the above statement is a fallacy anyway. 8-10% of a trip isn't inexpensive, in my opinion. As long as you have medical coverage of your own, I don't think it's unreasonable in any way to self insure a trip.

 

 

must be different over here. just checked on web , worldwide multi trip annual insurance inc snow sports would be £120 for me and the missus. in the last 12 months we have done 2 cruises & 2 ski holidays . cost about £8500. so the insurance would be circa 1.4%

[yoshi14]

On one of our Celebrity cruises, a few years ago, we took a flight where we had to change planes. Something we usually do not do or will do again. Changed planes in Tampa to find that the our flight was delayed coming into Tampa by 2 hours and of course would be late leaving. Their revised arrival time in Ft. Lauderdale would put us in at about 3:00 pm which gave us little time to get to ship. We Called Celeberty to advise them of our problem. We arrived at the port at about 3:45 to find one check in desk open just for us. We were the last ones one the ship. Maybe things have changed since then, but back then, they did wait for us. I remember many years ago on the Azure Seas, we watched two ladies running for the ship as the gangway was being raised. The ship left them on the pier. Those ladies had to hire a water taxi and get on the ship while underway. Was interesting to watch. First they threw their purses onto the ship, then their shoes, then climbed up the short ladder to the service port to get onboard.