Travel Insurance success story

[BopRN]

We had to cancel our B2B Allure cruise for this month with less than a month to go because my husband has to have an unexpected spine surgery. We had ordered travel insurance through insuremytripdotcom with a pre-existing condition clause since both of us have uncertain health issues. SO thankful that we did! We had a non-refundable deposit and I am happy to report we are getting EVERY penny back! RCCL refunds the taxes which I didn't know and the insurance covers the rest. I never like paying for travel insurance and have always gotten it for our cruises, but have never had a claim. If we didn't have it, we would have lost $4100 since we were only a month out! SO worth it!! You never know what tomorrow may bring!

[Cruisin4aTan]

Great to know

[Clarea]

Glad it worked out for you, and good luck to your husband with the surgery.

[kag19]

Glad it worked out for you!!  Good luck to your husband, wishing him a speedy recovery!

[puppycanducruise]

Glad everything worked out for you.

Best wishes for your husband's surgery.

Thanks for letting us know.

[barbeyg]

Thanks for letting us know your experience.  We too buy the insurance...you never know.  

 

Hope all goes well for your husband.

[JRudy33]

We have always gotten travel insurance through the cruise line.  Is it better to buy the insurance from another source?  How do the prices compare?

[Debitoo]

I grumble when I buy it, but I DO buy it. Hope I never have to use it and stop grumbling. 🙊

 

Hope your husband makes a full recovery and you're back to cruising soon.

[sdrocks]

Thanks for the information.  We too always get travel insurance as my husband has health issues.  We've only had to

use it when our trip was delayed by weather & we lost a day of cruising, but all reimbursed completely.  I also don't

like paying the premiums, but would  hate more to lose thousands of dollar.  

[dani negreanu]

We always buy insurance. Just part of the cruise's costs... 

 

Wishing your husband a speedy and full recovery.

[BopRN]

JRUDY33........I follow Consumer Advocate Clark Howard's advice on many things and he always says to buy travel insurance from a 3rd party. The reason is because any company is going to have their own best interest at heart, not yours. So we always choose another insurance company.

Edited February 6, 2019 by BopRN

[SRF]

The insurance from the cruise line is 3rd party.  The cruise line does not insure.

 

We had insurance through Royal Carib when my mother had medical issues.  We did this due to cost (through other brokers, the premium was VERY high due to their age).

 

NO problems with dealing with the insurance or getting reimbursed.  The insurance company even negotiated with the med evac company to have them accept the insurance coverage for payment in full (quoted rate was $29,000, insurance coverage was $25,000) and got them to do so.  Also, they arranged to pay the hospital directly.

[papaflamingo]

We also always buy insurance.  It really only take one cancelled cruise to see the value.  In 2011  my Mom passed away 2 weeks before a Med cruise.  I had insurance. I got  more than $4600 back!  Up to that time I hadn't put anywhere near that amount out as premiums.  So well worth it.  

Edited February 6, 2019 by papaflamingo

[leisuretraveler223]

Glad it worked out. But there is an old axiom: the plural of "anecdote" is not "evidence".  Insuring the cost of a trip is universally considered an inefficient investment tool. There are much better ways to invest.

[sas80]

21 hours ago, BopRN said:

We had to cancel our B2B Allure cruise for this month with less than a month to go because my husband has to have an unexpected spine surgery. We had ordered travel insurance through insuremytripdotcom with a pre-existing condition clause since both of us have uncertain health issues. SO thankful that we did! We had a non-refundable deposit and I am happy to report we are getting EVERY penny back! RCCL refunds the taxes which I didn't know and the insurance covers the rest. I never like paying for travel insurance and have always gotten it for our cruises, but have never had a claim. If we didn't have it, we would have lost $4100 since we were only a month out! SO worth it!! You never know what tomorrow may bring!

We booked travel insurance for a trip to Rome last March.  The insurance cost $160.  We decided to stay a day extra due to storms in NYC and potentially getting stranded on the day we were supposed to fly back.  We kept our receipts, filed a claim and received about $300 back in hotel, meal and incidental charges.  Worth every penny AND we got an extra day to sightsee.

 

insuremytrip.com

 

Ill add a shout out for Delta.  We used @Delta twitter to reschedule our flights.  EASY PEASY

Edited February 6, 2019 by sas80

[sas80]

20 hours ago, JRudy33 said:

We have always gotten travel insurance through the cruise line.  Is it better to buy the insurance from another source?  How do the prices compare?

insuremytrip.com

 

better insurance than what the cruise line offers

[sas80]

21 hours ago, BopRN said:

We had to cancel our B2B Allure cruise for this month with less than a month to go because my husband has to have an unexpected spine surgery. We had ordered travel insurance through insuremytripdotcom with a pre-existing condition clause since both of us have uncertain health issues. SO thankful that we did! We had a non-refundable deposit and I am happy to report we are getting EVERY penny back! RCCL refunds the taxes which I didn't know and the insurance covers the rest. I never like paying for travel insurance and have always gotten it for our cruises, but have never had a claim. If we didn't have it, we would have lost $4100 since we were only a month out! SO worth it!! You never know what tomorrow may bring!

Well hello there my little chickadee!  We finally booked another cruise, after 8 years :)

[S.A.M.J.R.]

50 minutes ago, leisuretraveler223 said:

Glad it worked out. But there is an old axiom: the plural of "anecdote" is not "evidence".  Insuring the cost of a trip is universally considered an inefficient investment tool. There are much better ways to invest.

Who buys insurance as an investment tool?  I would think you would hope an investment tool pays off (ie: you make more money than what you put in).  I don't know anyone who hopes an insurance policy pays off (until they have something happen). 

 

Now, in theory, if you take enough trips, the premiums would eventually match the cost of a missed trip.  For example, lets say insurance costs you $200/trip.  And you routinely go on $4000 trips.  After 20 trips, if you hadn't purchased the insurance, you're "ahead of the game".  However, if you would have needed that insurance on one of the trips, you're better off having it.  And let's not even discuss becoming stranded or requiring an airlift at sea.

 

Obviously cheaper cruises and cheaper insurance change the math.  But for those who only go on a trip a couple times a year, or, heaven forbid, every couple of years, insurance makes a lot of sense.  Of course, there are also people who get the drink package ($600-700/cruise?) not to save money but because "it's easier". 

[SRF]

4 hours ago, leisuretraveler223 said:

Glad it worked out. But there is an old axiom: the plural of "anecdote" is not "evidence".  Insuring the cost of a trip is universally considered an inefficient investment tool. There are much better ways to invest.

 

I insure my trips.  But not for the cruise cost.

 

By the time of the cruise, it has been paid for, and if I don't know, it will be disappointing, but not a financial disaster.

 

However, medical and med evac costs could be a massive financial hit.

 

Some insurers will sell you a policy for a $0 trip cost.  It covers all the other stuff, but not trip cancellation or trip interruption.  Typically costs $32.

 

Covering the cost of our upcoming cruise, would cost a bit over $500 more.  So, if I cancel 1 out of 15 cruises, I am still ahead without covering the cruise price.

 

 

[MalteseMama2]

On 2/6/2019 at 8:28 AM, leisuretraveler223 said:

Glad it worked out. But there is an old axiom: the plural of "anecdote" is not "evidence".  Insuring the cost of a trip is universally considered an inefficient investment tool. There are much better ways to invest.

We don’t see getting insurance as an investment, but as part of what makes our cruise enjoyable. It’s budgeted into our vacation costs. We’ve used it twice. Once when the airline didn’t get our luggage to Vancouver in time to make the ship- long story. It covered the clothes we purchased. 

Last Dec we were still on our cruise as we watched a major snow storm develop that would likely affect our flights home. We simply changed flights, stayed in Orlando an extra night and were reimbursed for everything- including dinner in Orlando. 

 

 

[TeeRick]

Hope everything is better with your husband.

[1novascotian]

I have always bought insurance (just in case) and never needed it until last March as we were leaving for my first cruise.

 

A blizzard hit on Friday and my flight was cancelled. The airline told us they couldn’t get us out until Sunday (we would be landing in Fort Lauderdale after we were scheduled to board the ship). 

 

This airline that shall not  be named would not do anything for us, we suggested flying us into Orlando, Tampa, even Atlanta and we would find our own way from there. The “best” suggestion they could give us was to drive to Montreal (a 12 hour drive in good weather- all of eastern Canada was being impacted by the storm) for a flight that left in 10 hours time. 

 

Ended up having to buy a $900 one way plane ticket with another airline for Saturday to get there on time. New flight was fully reimbursed. 

 

Good luck/well wishes to your husband on a speedy recovery! Hopefully you guys will be cruising again in no time.

[cruisequeen4ever]

So happy for you! Hope your hubby has a successful surgery!

[tutzig]

As a travel agent, I always recommend my clients get insurance.

 

I have  had clients decline it and got walloped in their pocket when they had to pay for everything.

 

I have also has plenty of clients that have bought it and ended up needing it!

 

and obviously plenty that have gotten it, and never used it. No one has ever complained that they got the insurance and didn't need it.

[leisuretraveler223]

On 2/8/2019 at 9:05 AM, MalteseMama2 said:

We don’t see getting insurance as an investment, but as part of what makes our cruise enjoyable. It’s budgeted into our vacation costs. We’ve used it twice. Once when the airline didn’t get our luggage to Vancouver in time to make the ship- long story. It covered the clothes we purchased. 

Last Dec we were still on our cruise as we watched a major snow storm develop that would likely affect our flights home. We simply changed flights, stayed in Orlando an extra night and were reimbursed for everything- including dinner in Orlando. 

 

 

Purchasing cancellation/ reimbursement insurance IS in fact an investment in the strictest sense.

 

**DISCLAIMER: I am only talking about cancellation/reimbursement insurance, NOT health or medical transport coverage**

 

Hear me out: If you pay for a cruise, and suddenly don't go on the cruise, you are no poorer.  You just lost out on a vacation.  And while that definitely sucks, it is no more of a financial hardship than you wold incur from taking the trip.  Probably less of one, as you won't spend the additional money you likely would while cruising.

 

People can say they don't "see" cancellation coverage as an investment.  But this is EXACTLY what it is.  You are making an investment that might pay off the cost of a cruise.  From that standpoint, it is considered a poor investment vehicle.  Buy an insurance policy to cover the cost of the cruise, and there are two possibilities:  either you need it and it pays off handsomely (often 10-20 times the cost of the purchase), or you don't need it at all, it doesn't pay off, and you LOSE the entire cost of the coverage.

 

So reimbursement or cancellation insurance is an investment opportunity that most likely will be a complete loss, but has a small possibility of paying out handsomely.  There is no in-between.  Most investments have a more modest but stable return.

 

If you like the coverage for "peace of mind", so be it.  But if you really crunch the numbers, chances are very high, you will come out way better in the long run if you don't buy the cancellation insurance and invest that money in a more stable and reliable mechanism.  At the end of the day, there is still only one ledger of gains and losses per se.  So, you might get a $2,500 payoff on a $200 investment, but you probably won't.  If you instead put that $200 into something else, the ledger will ultimately almost always look better.