Alaska cruise insurance questions

[Mary Ellen1]

Hi.  We're cruising Alaska in 2 weeks.  7 days on the Royal Princess, Whittier to Vancouver.  Please help me decide what kind of policy we need?

 

I don't need/want Cancellation Insurance (having *not* purchased it ever in 30+ cruises, I figure we're self-insured against having to cancel at the last minute).  We're flying up to ANC the night before.  And there are no pre-existing conditions to worry about.

 

For Caribbean cruises, I  normally get a Med-Evac and Emergency Medical policy.  Do I need that for Alaska, since we're mostly staying in the USA?  (We may drive into Canada on a day-trip out of Skagway, and we'll debark the cruise in Vancouver.) 

 

I think what I'm mostly worried about is some kind of injury that might require hospitalization, or surgery, or being medically required to leave the cruise and fly home early.  On our first Alaska cruise, we watched the Coast Guard med-evac a patient off a cruise ship in Glacier Bay.  Yikes!  But in the USA, is a USA citizen billed for that?  (I don't think so?)

 

A little bit of Trip Interruption/Trip Delay insurance would be nice...

 

Thanks in advance for any advice you can offer, or specific policies to look at.

 

[klfrodo]

Nobody is ever billed when evacuated by the Coast Guard.

If you dont want cancellation, don’t need medical, but some concern about Trip Delay, Trip Interruption, and Repatriation of Remains,,,,, then Id recommend a policy that offers a full Comprehensive and Medical policy,, but just put the Trip Costs per person at $499.00.

That gives you the full medical/evacuation coverage plus a little assistance or reimbursement help with a trip delay or such at a very reasonable cost. I’d even save a little more by looking for a policy that covers medical as secondary since your work insurance will cover as primary for an Alaska cruise

[GeezerCouple]

1 hour ago, klfrodo said:

Nobody is ever billed when evacuated by the Coast Guard.

If you dont want cancellation, don’t need medical, but some concern about Trip Delay, Trip Interruption, and Repatriation of Remains,,,,, then Id recommend a policy that offers a full Comprehensive and Medical policy,, but just put the Trip Costs per person at $499.00.

That gives you the full medical/evacuation coverage plus a little assistance or reimbursement help with a trip delay or such at a very reasonable cost. I’d even save a little more by looking for a policy that covers medical as secondary since your work insurance will cover as primary for an Alaska cruise

 

I'd suggest double checking if there are any pre-existing medical conditions (defined in very specific ways for travel insurance, and sometimes differing from policy to policy).  In some cases, certain coverage are ONLY available if one insures for the *full* amount of all non-refundable pre-paid costs.

 

GC

[Mary Ellen1]

8 hours ago, klfrodo said:

Nobody is ever billed when evacuated by the Coast Guard.

If you dont want cancellation, don’t need medical, but some concern about Trip Delay, Trip Interruption, and Repatriation of Remains,,,,, then Id recommend a policy that offers a full Comprehensive and Medical policy,, but just put the Trip Costs per person at $499.00.

That gives you the full medical/evacuation coverage plus a little assistance or reimbursement help with a trip delay or such at a very reasonable cost. I’d even save a little more by looking for a policy that covers medical as secondary since your work insurance will cover as primary for an Alaska cruise

 

klfrodo: Thanks for the advice.  I didn't know that $499 was a good price point to use.  I'll look into that.

 

 

6 hours ago, GeezerCouple said:

 

I'd suggest double checking if there are any pre-existing medical conditions (defined in very specific ways for travel insurance, and sometimes differing from policy to policy).  In some cases, certain coverage are ONLY available if one insures for the *full* amount of all non-refundable pre-paid costs.

 

GC

 

 Thanks GC! 

 

[AlanF65]

The other thing to look at is if you are off the coast of Canada the nearest medical facility may be in Canada so you need to checks your coverage for that event.