Insurance for first-time cruisers

[AnnaJohn]

Hi there,

My family is planning a cruising for 16 days. Last day, my friend asked me to take travel insurance. I wonder why do we need to take the insurance as we are not regular travelers but after reading this article https://www.aspirefcu.org/blog/life-advice/should-you-invest-in-travel-insurance/ I thought to take the insurance since it is a 16 days trip. But do they insure for just one trip? My trip is in the next month, can I get the insurance for this trip?

[CruisingRavyn]

Yes you can still get and should get the insurance. Check out sites like insuremytrip.com. If you have health insurance that will be primary unless it is a governmental program like Medicare or Medicaid. These will NOT provide any coverage outside of the US. The travel insurance will provide secondary coverage but more importantly make sure it have adequate evacuation coverage. This is very expensive and if needed it will not be covered by your regular health insurance. Make sure to get AT LEAST a couple hundred thousand in evac coverage. I usually look for plans of $500k or more. You can find very reasonable premiums for your family. I purchased coverage for my family for about $70 for our next cruise. there are plans that will cover you for a year or per trip. Just depends on how much you travel. We do per trip as we only go cruising 1-2 times a year.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[Smyles]

Yes you should get the insurance. You can get insurance for just the trip. It really doesn't matter if it is a 3 day or a 16 day trip...insurance is wise. It is up to you how detailed you want your insurance. We always get medical coverage but we don't always get the trip cancellation/lost luggage part of it. In our mind we can estimate the money lost should we have a cancelled trip or lost luggage (and be able to cover that loss ourselves) but we can NEVER estimate how much money a medical emergency/accident will cost us therefore we ensure that is covered by insurance (so we don't have to cover it ourselves).

[Kerry's Girls]

Especially on a cruise where a sudden injury or illness could leave you in a foreign country or needing to be airlifted to the closest hospital, you want travel insurance (which should then also cover you for trip delays, etc.). Though unlikely, so many things can happen - if you're in even a minor accident on the way to the ship and miss it, if you don't have insurance you either lose the cruise or have to pay out of pocket to catch up to the ship; if the ship returns late and you miss your flight, the cruiseline doesn't reimburse you for that - you're supposed to have insurance to cover. I also use insure my trip - it's very reasonable - they just ask simple questions (what kind of trip, where, how much does it cost) and then you choose the coverage you want.

 

Have a great time - 16 days sounds heavenly!