Do you always get the travel insurance when booking?

[WashyWashyHappyHappy95]

The kind offered through the NCL website.

 

I'm never wild about plopping down an extra hundred bucks, but figure if a bad bite of egg salad sent me to the medical center, that could easily be hundreds/thousands of dollars. If god forbid I slipped by the pool and broke an ankle and had to be evac-ed from the ship, that could be $10k+.

 

Anyone on here roll the dice and and not do this?

[mnventure]

I buy insurance right away....but from a third party. More coverage for cheaper. But I always buy insurance when I cruise.

[Sea Hag]

We used to not get insurance for late bookings of cheap cruises. Then I read here some posts about what it would cost if you got really sick and had to be airlifted off the ship. End of that no insurance for cheap cruises policy!

[ColeThornton]

I never buy insurance. I have a great health care program that covers me when I travel. As far as the travel part itself, I don't get insurance for missed flights, weather delays, etc. I'm so far ahead by not purchasing travel insurance that if for once I did need it I would still be ahead.

[kathybelcher2433]

I never buy insurance. I have a great health care program that covers me when I travel. As far as the travel part itself, I don't get insurance for missed flights, weather delays, etc. I'm so far ahead by not purchasing travel insurance that if for once I did need it I would still be ahead.

 

 

Same here.

 

 

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[huskerc]

We carry annual travel insurance for things like medical evacuation, etc. We do not buy any cruise cancellation or similar types of insurance.

[Viv0828]

We also have an annual medical and evacuation policy plus our credit card covers the cost of the cruise and other similar things up to 10K.

[crayola1932]

These days we always buy insurance when we cruise, in part because of the risk of trip cancellation. We buy from an outside company not NCL. We only partially insure the trip, to keep the cost of the insurance down. We want to at least cover the cost of our airfare, in case NCL cancels the cruise.

[kcwingwalker]

IMO travel insurance is a must. It's up to you who you decide to purchase it from.

 

We did have an onboard emergency on a NCL ship. What could have been a nightmare became a situation where we were completely covered by insurance. I will always to grateful to NCL for the professional and excellent care provided. Most of all the NCL staff was compassionate and made a difficult situation much easier for our family. The entire crew discreetly went out their way for us and refused tips and would say "we want to help you". Of course, we did leave more in our envelopes than usual.

 

Hats off to everyone at NCL!

[LadyShiva]

I travel with 2 family members with throat-closing allergies, so I buy trip insurance from insuremytrip.com when we cruise together. Already had to check out the Cozumel pediatric ER with my daughter when she had suspected appendicitis (the facility is great, but you prepay for every procedure - which was about $1K for ruling out appendicitis). Kiddo also runs a 103.6 fever predictably after jumping in any cruise ship's large pool. :rolleyes: Ear infection every.single.time.

 

With 2 people who might need helicopter evac for a bite of the wrong food, I tend to buy the $1M evacuation to hospital of your choice plan. :eek: Best money I've ever wasted! :D

[Davechipp74]

I tend to do most of my cursing between September and February. Leaving out of N.Y.C., this is a very volatile time of year, due to weather I have always brought insurance but never needed it. Than again I have car, life, and health insurance that i have never used as well. But one day I may need it.

[ColeThornton]

I tend to do most of my cursing between September and February.

 

 

Heck, I curse every month. No exceptions.

[April42749]

My credit card covers "medical cancellations", which I used once.

 

My medicare/insurance doesn't cover anything outside the US...so I always buy insurance "just in case I fall and break my leg" etc.

 

I'm 67; DH is 82. For a 7 day trip on the Gem to Canada it cost about $85 for the both of us.

 

It also includes trip interruption. DH got the flu in FL a couple of years ago...during a post cruise stay. Since that week was ruined we decided to stay another week. It covered the hotel, flight change expense, doctors visits, all meals, cabs to and from the airport. In other words...our extra week was completely covered by the insurance.

 

I think it would be silly for us to travel without it.

[kcwingwalker]

Heck, I curse every month. No exceptions.

 

Thanks! I needed a good laugh and you added some "shine" to a dreary day:)

[cml4958]

My mom did one of those cheapie cruises on the Dawn, I believe. She ended up getting sick and should have been taken off the ship at the next port and flown back to the US for evaluation and treatment but she had not bought insurance because it was a cheapie cruise. They treated her as well as they could on the ship but she had th emedical expenses on the ship and then my sister, who went with her, had to deal with calling us and letting us know what was going on. She had driven down to Florida and couldn't drive for long distances. It was a complete and total nightmare. Since then, trip insurance.

[zqvol]

The kind offered through the NCL website.

 

I'm never wild about plopping down an extra hundred bucks, but figure if a bad bite of egg salad sent me to the medical center, that could easily be hundreds/thousands of dollars. If god forbid I slipped by the pool and broke an ankle and had to be evac-ed from the ship, that could be $10k+.

 

Anyone on here roll the dice and and not do this?

 

Sometimes we do and sometimes we don't. Our medical insurance covers us out of the country and includes evacuation coverage. The real deciding factor is which line we are on and how much has the cruise cost. When I cruise solo on one of the mass market lines I never buy the insurance. If I lose the cost of the cruise I lose it. If we are on one of the luxury lines where we have spent over 15K for the cruise we will get insurance.

[Barb Nahoumi]

We always buy insurance.

 

Yes, both of us are healthy but you never know. An accident on board or in port could cost tens of thousands in medical bills and med-evac fees. We couldn't possibly foot those costs on our own.

[momto2js]

I have a close friend that was vacationing on a Caribbean Island. The third day of the trip, she was pinned between 2 cars in a freak low speed accident. Her pelvis and femurs were broken. Trip insurance took care of her care in-country and the medevac home. It was a freak accident, and could happen to anyone at any time.

 

This accident was recently but after talking to the folks from "Friends for Columbia" about their work with cruise passengers that are removed from medical reasons in Cartagena, I have never thought twice about the insurance price. We do buy from a third party, and get a good deal from the USAA partner.

[NMLady]

The kind offered through the NCL website.

 

I'm never wild about plopping down an extra hundred bucks, but figure if a bad bite of egg salad sent me to the medical center, that could easily be hundreds/thousands of dollars. If god forbid I slipped by the pool and broke an ankle and had to be evac-ed from the ship, that could be $10k+.

 

Anyone on here roll the dice and and not do this?

 

We don't buy from cruise line, partly because we want more evacuation insurance than it offers and partly because we want coverage for pre-existing conditions. So we always buy from third party. Our last two cruises we've purchased from TravelGuard.

[Sunshine2U]

I never buy insurance. I have a great health care program that covers me when I travel. As far as the travel part itself, I don't get insurance for missed flights, weather delays, etc. I'm so far ahead by not purchasing travel insurance that if for once I did need it I would still be ahead.

 

We're the opposite. We've had to cancel two cruises - one for death of family member, one because my mother got sick. So the money insurance has reimbursed us covers the cost of future insurance. We purchase outside insurance because of the broader coverage.

[1980dory]

I never buy insurance. I have a great health care program that covers me when I travel. As far as the travel part itself, I don't get insurance for missed flights, weather delays, etc. I'm so far ahead by not purchasing travel insurance that if for once I did need it I would still be ahead.

 

Likewise. After 10 cruises I figure my savings have paid for another cruise.

I did buy it one time and got sick on board. After visiting the doctor many times and receiving a large bill, my personal insurance covered everything but about $100. The policy I bought covered that AFTER my other insurance paid the majority. End result: Extra insurance is a waste of money.

Also, in my 10 cruises I have never seen or heard of anyone being evacuated off the ship. I'm sure it does happen but statistically, I think you have a better chance of winning the mega lottery or being struck by lightning.

I don't deny the need for certain insurance in our lives but I think this travel insurance is just a hard sell scare tactic for companies to make some very easy money. The cost/benefit just isn't there.

[1980dory]

Heck, I curse every month. No exceptions.

 

 

The hell you say! :)

[ms.sunburn]

I've never purchased insurance for any of the trips I've taken.

 

A few weeks ago, the day after disembarking from the Breakaway, my mother-in-law got sick and passed away unexpectedly. We had no warning this would happen.

 

Had this happened one week earlier we would have had to get off the Breakaway in Bermuda and fly home at our own expense.

 

Had this happened two weeks earlier our whole cruise, including the 4 days we booked in NYC, would have been cancelled.

 

So I've changed my mind about insurance. Next time around I'll suck it up and pay the extra.

[Warm Breezes]

Likewise. After 10 cruises I figure my savings have paid for another cruise.

I did buy it one time and got sick on board. After visiting the doctor many times and receiving a large bill, my personal insurance covered everything but about $100. The policy I bought covered that AFTER my other insurance paid the majority. End result: Extra insurance is a waste of money.

Also, in my 10 cruises I have never seen or heard of anyone being evacuated off the ship. I'm sure it does happen but statistically, I think you have a better chance of winning the mega lottery or being struck by lightning.

I don't deny the need for certain insurance in our lives but I think this travel insurance is just a hard sell scare tactic for companies to make some very easy money. The cost/benefit just isn't there.

 

We are the opposite we used our travel insurance due to a death in the family the day before our cruise. At this point having paid insurance on 11 out of our 14 cruises (did not get it on first three) we are still ahead of the game PURCHASING insurance. FWIW there was a medivac on our last CCL Dream cruise and there was a death onboard our CCL Inspiration cruise. We ourselves had many close calls were we were glad we had insurance in case things ended up differently than they did. We do not purchase through the cruise line. Better insurance and costs less through insure my trip .com.

[BDsquared]

We always purchase some sort of insurance from a third party. Sometimes just medical evacuation, sometimes more coverage, just depending on the circumstances.

 

Last cruise the med evac coverage was only $32 for our family of 3. :)