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How many of you cruise without purchasing insurance?

ErickW

By ErickW,
in Cruise/Travel Insurance

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coevan

coevan

Posted
Posted
30 cruises.... never bought it.

 

 

I could have copied several posts, but this caught my eye. We were scheduled to cruise on the 14 Miracle Saturday January 13. Everything is going on as scheduled. We had a Friday morning flight, staying at the Marriott in Long Beach. Our extended balcony was in excess of $5200 for the cruise and $2000 in airfare(first class). Friday morning my wife got a call, her 86 year old father passed away. They live in Bakersfield, since we had tickets to L.A., we rented a car and drove to Bakersfield. We could not get a funeral scheduled until Monday Jan. 22. Now we have a week in a hotel and a week car rental. Fortunately we did not use Carnivals woeful insurance. We had $7000 in Nationwide Cruise insurance. It takes a month to get a birth certificate, but Nationwide already told me i will be fully covered. In less than a week Carnival already refunded $1600 in cheers, 2 internet packages and port charges and taxes. As some others have said if you had an accident that required medical evac, it could literally break the bank to the tune of $50,000

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firemanbobswife

firemanbobswife

Posted
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I could have copied several posts, but this caught my eye. We were scheduled to cruise on the 14 Miracle Saturday January 13. Everything is going on as scheduled. We had a Friday morning flight, staying at the Marriott in Long Beach. Our extended balcony was in excess of $5200 for the cruise and $2000 in airfare(first class). Friday morning my wife got a call, her 86 year old father passed away. They live in Bakersfield, since we had tickets to L.A., we rented a car and drove to Bakersfield. We could not get a funeral scheduled until Monday Jan. 22. Now we have a week in a hotel and a week car rental. Fortunately we did not use Carnivals woeful insurance. We had $7000 in Nationwide Cruise insurance. It takes a month to get a birth certificate, but Nationwide already told me i will be fully covered. In less than a week Carnival already refunded $1600 in cheers, 2 internet packages and port charges and taxes. As some others have said if you had an accident that required medical evac, it could literally break the bank to the tune of $50,000

Good point. Many people think it's only for them when in fact many policies cover for immediate family members if you need to cancel or leave the ship early.

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banzaii

banzaii

Posted
Posted

My mindset is: if you can't afford insurance, you can't afford to travel.

 

I have 2 boys 13 and 10 who have both had 4 operations each for various things and had broken bones etc. They are not accident prone, just active sporty boys who like to do what boys do!

 

While I have never had to make a claim, I buy travel insurance before I even consider buying a shore excursion.

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ErickW

ErickW

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Well as you all were posting, I was on the phone with the wonderful people at insuremytrip.com. Needless to say I just forked over a whopping $66 for total coverage that fits my family needs for this upcoming trip. I feel a little dumb to say the least for not researching 3rd party options before starting this! I was blinded by the fact of what I thought was a somewhat expensive price on the carnival website! Thank you all so much for your input, it has helped tremendously!

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sanger727

sanger727

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Posted

We don’t buy insurance. It really comes down to your personal situation and your risk tolerance.

 

1. As far as medical goes, we have high limit credit cards to front the money and insurance that covers us overseas via reimbursement.

 

2. As far as interruption goes - we always fly out a day ahead so we reduce the risk of missing the boat plus we always return from shore excursions with an hour or more to spare.

 

3. As far as cancellation. We are lucky to have union jobs so vacations are contractual and can’t be cancelled by work. We are young and healthy and wouldn’t miss the trip unless we were hospitalized, in which case, losing the cost won’t break us. We have very small families and if anyone was to become very sick or die shortly before/during the trip; I know they would rather us go than miss out for the funeral (all parents have husbands/wives still so primary planning won’t fall to us).

 

But only you can evaluate your situation for yourself.

 

 

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firemanbobswife

firemanbobswife

Posted
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Well as you all were posting, I was on the phone with the wonderful people at insuremytrip.com. Needless to say I just forked over a whopping $66 for total coverage that fits my family needs for this upcoming trip. I feel a little dumb to say the least for not researching 3rd party options before starting this! I was blinded by the fact of what I thought was a somewhat expensive price on the carnival website! Thank you all so much for your input, it has helped tremendously!

Awesome! So glad you will be covered!

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Drazil65

Drazil65

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We have purchased travel insurance for all our trips...for a very minimal investment it protects us and no thinking about it after that...has nothing to do with age...accidents and sickness don't know your on vacation...we always look for insure that pays primary coverage and advances hospital payment at time of service...just want it taken care of...

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Lunenburg

Lunenburg

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We have year round travel insurance. I have seen several folk who I hope had insurance on different cruises. On one cruise, a woman cut her foot badly on coral on an excursion to a beach - she needed stitches. On the same excursion, a guy broke a leg on the small boat to the beach - he was dancing and the boat lurched and he fell. Spent the rest of the cruise in a wheelchair.

 

On another cruise, a woman tripped and broke her arm in two places, she was put off at the next stop following Xrays onboard and had surgery and made it back before we sailed.

 

Another guy died on an excursion from a heart attack and later on the same cruise, someone had - I believe - a stroke and was taken off the ship.

 

There was a recent accident with cruiseship passengers on an excursion on a bus in Mexico - several deaths and injuries. I have also read of passengers falling from balconies, drowning in swimming pools onboard etc.and even lost at sea!

 

Insurance is worth the price - you are risking a lot without it.

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firemanbobswife

firemanbobswife

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We don’t buy insurance. It really comes down to your personal situation and your risk tolerance.

 

1. As far as medical goes, we have high limit credit cards to front the money and insurance that covers us overseas via reimbursement.

 

2. As far as interruption goes - we always fly out a day ahead so we reduce the risk of missing the boat plus we always return from shore excursions with an hour or more to spare.

 

3. As far as cancellation. We are lucky to have union jobs so vacations are contractual and can’t be cancelled by work. We are young and healthy and wouldn’t miss the trip unless we were hospitalized, in which case, losing the cost won’t break us. We have very small families and if anyone was to become very sick or die shortly before/during the trip; I know they would rather us go than miss out for the funeral (all parents have husbands/wives still so primary planning won’t fall to us).

 

But only you can evaluate your situation for yourself.

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And if one of you should get sick or in an accident, you're OK with forfeiting your expenses? My son had his appendix out at age 15, his dad in his early 30s. My husband sees car accidents involving people of all ages every day. It's totally your choice I understand that. But it's not just for old people or people with heath issues. As long as you're fine with losing your money should something happen, then that's all that matters. For me I would be pretty upset at having to deal with whatever is going on AND wasting all that cash when it is so cheap to protect yourself. Anyway, happy cruising and may you never find yourself in that situation.

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tallnthensome

tallnthensome

Posted
Posted

I used to buy the insurance thru the cruise lines. I changed for my upcoming cruise in June. I went with Geo-Blue Voyager thru Blue Cross. Covers out of country medical, evac, etc ..... $89 for the four of us for 9 days. Way better value vs almost $400 thru the lines. I'm not concerned about canceling the cruise itself and we always fly in early.

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sanger727

sanger727

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And if one of you should get sick or in an accident, you're OK with forfeiting your expenses? My son had his appendix out at age 15, his dad in his early 30s. My husband sees car accidents involving people of all ages every day. It's totally your choice I understand that. But it's not just for old people or people with heath issues. As long as you're fine with losing your money should something happen, then that's all that matters. For me I would be pretty upset at having to deal with whatever is going on AND wasting all that cash when it is so cheap to protect yourself. Anyway, happy cruising and may you never find yourself in that situation.

 

 

 

Yes. We would be.

 

I’ve saved enough by not purchasing insurance over the years to pay for a trip. I’m sure we will have to cancel someday and will make due with it.

 

 

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firemanbobswife

firemanbobswife

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Yes. We would be.

 

I’ve saved enough by not purchasing insurance over the years to pay for a trip. I’m sure we will have to cancel someday and will make due with it.

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Then that's all that matters. At about $50/$60 per trip for my insurance it would take an awful lot of trips to pay for one additional "free one". But only one incident to make it totally worth it and come out way ahead.

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tallnthensome

tallnthensome

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Posted
I never have boyfriend and I are in our Mid 20’s no medical issues so don’t see the point.
Accidents or emergencies don't discriminate because of your young age. Do you think you can't get into a car accident simply because you're in your 20's? Sudden Illness? Fall? That's young minded thinking .... What if you were on an excursion and broke your leg with a slip?
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jules71

jules71

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In 15 cruises, we have only purchased it once and that is when we went without our teenagers. Wanted to make sure we could get home quickly if needed. The times we didn’t buy it, we had some cancellation protection on our credit card and depending on where we are going our health insurance covered us. Since every card and policy is a little different, the first step is checking out what coverage you already have. At one point, we have even had work health insurance that included a Travel Med policy — that was great!

 

No longer have that and reading the horror stories about medical evacuation is making me consider it for our next trip.???

 

Insuremytrip.com is a good site to get info —explains different areas of coverage and will also give you a quote from several different companies.

 

 

 

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