Travel insurance ??? yes or no

[coachwardog]

:confused: Traveling on first cruise with family in July on Carnival Holiday out of Mobile. Wondering opinions on whether to purchase insurance. What all is it good for?

 

 

thanks Coach P :)

[kitty9]

Depending on what kind of insurance you opt for, it covers trip cancelation, trip interruption, illness, medical evacuation, lost luggage and many other things. Look at it this way, say one of your kids gets sick at the last minute and you have to cancel your cruise a few days before it was supposed to leave. You don't have insurance so you lose all that money. What if someone in your family falls and breaks a let, and has to be evacuated from the ship? Did you know that costs upwards of $30,000? There are many other reasons to purchase insurance.

[Arwenmark]

There is no question everyone SHOULD have insurance but do not buy it from the cruiseline. try insuremytrip.com it compares many policies. Also if you can get one that covers pre existing conditions that is good not only if one of you going has any condition but also anyone in family not going, a parent for instance or grandparent that might become ill or die when you are away, return would only be covered if it was not a pre existing condition or if you have the waiver.

if you are ill or injured out of the country medical bills must be paid before you can leave that country. and evacuation from a ship or another country can run over 100K.

Then there is trip cancellation, and missed connection coverage. additional baggage coverage. very many reasons to always get it.

[oneworld]

Why shouldn't you buy it from the cruiseline?

[trish1c]

You should not buy travel insurance from the cruiseline because you can get a better deal -- more insurance that covers more contingencies for a lower premium -- from other sources.

 

If you are a gambler, you do not have to buy insurance. You're betting you'll need it & the insurance company is betting you won't.

 

It usually pays for some or all of the following:

1. medical bills while you're out of the country / on the ship (your regular health insurance does not usually cover this)
   
2. costs of the trip if you miss the trip due to accident / illness either yours or a close family members
   
3. special transportation home in the event of an emergency Do you have any idea how much it costs to get air lifted?
   
4. lost luggage
   
5. hotel / meals in the event of an unavoidable delay

It's up to you.

[Arwenmark]

Why shouldn't you buy it from the cruiseline?

For one thing it costs more [generally] for less coverage and it does not protect you if your cruiseline goes bankrupt etc. and sometimes it does not offer refund but instead a credit for a future cruise.

It is just an all around better idea to buy it from a good third party insurer.

[oneworld]

I went to the Insuremytip.com website and requested a quote. How do I know which one to choose from? There are so many choices, I'm confused. Any tips or recommendations?

[jcruise67]

:confused: Traveling on first cruise with family in July on Carnival Holiday out of Mobile. Wondering opinions on whether to purchase insurance. What all is it good for?

 

 

thanks Coach P :)

 

Hey Coach, Jcruise here again. There is several types of insurance to choose from. It depends on what travel related situation you are leary of. There is insurance for flight delay and cancellations, baggage insurance, and ilness related insurance in the event you become too ill to travel. In any case, insurance requires documentation from doctors, airlines, cruise lines, etc. in order to cover your losses. Insurance is a scam. If your not traveling during seasonal inclimate weather possiblities and no one is sick or has an illness preventing travel, then I would not bother. DW and I will be on our 14th cruise this April and we never purchased insurance. Its just a matter of choice based on your travel-related situation.

 

John

[lougee1043]

I went to the Insuremytip.com website and requested a quote. How do I know which one to choose from? There are so many choices, I'm confused. Any tips or recommendations?

 

suggest you check out travelex travel plus --- there is a compare button on the screen that will put your choices side by side - you can also call them and ask specific questions

[Arwenmark]

Jcruise,

what happens if you are injured or have a heart attack on the ship? Do you have parents? or children that might be injured or become ill or die while you are away? Heaven forbid one of you died on the ship or in another country how much to get your body home?

Or are you independently wealthy and can handle the tens to hundreds of thousands some of those would cost you?

[debbruce]

Went to sites to insure our trip. After speaking to several agents, it seems that CSA would best suite our needs for travel from FL to the Caribbean in October.

 

We are thinking of the CSA Comfort Plan. Has anyone used this company before? Just concerned we might not be able to fly out of Orlando if hurricanes are around.

 

Sounds like it would meet our needs, but several years ago we purchased insurance from AAA and it was horrible. Agent told me don't worry and we were lucky that Royal Caribbean refunded all our money. The AAA agent was no help at all.

 

Thanks,

 

Debbie B in FL.

[oneworld]

Has anyone used Travel Guard?

[aredhel]

I've used Travel Guard (in the true sense of the word - made a claim last summer when my father's emergency surgery forced cancellation of a trip to Great Britain). I found them easy to deal with, and they paid my claim promptly.

[oneworld]

A friend of mine booked a cruise with Carnival and got their insurance and now wants to cancel and book on her own but she was told she couldn't cancel their insurance. Has anyone heard of this or have any suggestions?

[cherylandtk]

Oneworld-If she has already paid for the insurance, she already owns it. Next time she can shop around.

 

As for which companies--CSA, Travelguard and Travelex all have good reputations, and all offer several levels of coverage. Any of the companies on insuremytrip should be trustworthy.

[dkjretired]

Jcruise,

what happens if you are injured or have a heart attack on the ship? Do you have parents? or children that might be injured or become ill or die while you are away? Heaven forbid one of you died on the ship or in another country how much to get your body home?

Or are you independently wealthy and can handle the tens to hundreds of thousands some of those would cost you?

 

To add to the above post, many health insurance polices do not cover you if you are out of the country. ie: Medicare Check with your insurance company.

[4merlurker]

:confused: Travel insurance??? yes or no :)

 

YES!

[Sekhmet]

Just for your interest, insurance is compulsory for UK passengers. For example, from the Princess brochure - "All passengers are required to have travel insurance as a condition of travelling"; the others are similar. We don't use the cruiseline's insurance, as we have an annual worldwide travel insurance policy, details of which we have to give when booking.

As a comparison, Princess are quoting around $140 to $250 for the premium, depending on the length of cruise.

[bracket]

Dear Oneworld,

I am from the UK ( and am also a TA ) we have to have evidence of insurance when booking our holidays, however our insurance companies by law have to have a "cooling off "period . This means that we can cancel any insurance policy within a certain period of time ( normally 10 - 14 days ) and get a full refund. So if we do not have insurance already in place when booking a holiday, we can buy from the holiday company and then shop around (within the time factor given ) to find a better buy, we then let the holiday company know the new policy details and they cancel their insurance and give us a refund. Has your friend checked wether her policy contains a "cooling off" period and if so is there a time limit on it.

As many others have already discovered, cruise companies often charge a high premium for their insurance, you can often get a much better cover from other insurers for a far better cost, it pays to shop around ( get the best cover you can ).

[jcruise67]

Jcruise,

what happens if you are injured or have a heart attack on the ship? Do you have parents? or children that might be injured or become ill or die while you are away? Heaven forbid one of you died on the ship or in another country how much to get your body home?

Or are you independently wealthy and can handle the tens to hundreds of thousands some of those would cost you?

 

I forgot to mention that I have Medix (International Health Insurance) through my employer. What I guess I was attempting to convey was that I never purchase flight delay and cancellation insurance. As far as anticipating a family emergency while on vacation, I really never do. DW and I don't have children and thank GOD our families are healthy. I know things happen, but its not something we think about too often when traveling abroad. I'm not independently wealthy and I certainly don't anticipate my wife or I falling victim to something so severe that it would sucumb to our own death. I would say we've been very lucky over the years when on our cruises or anywhere else in the world when we traveled.

 

jcruise

[Nyiles]

check with your current medical insurance provider and see what is covered. I am with Blue Cross/Blue Shield of NC and found I do not need any additional medical insurance. Of course that doesn't take care of trip interruption and the like.

[madelinerose]

No brainer....minimal expense for peace of mind....wouldn't cruise without it.

[Nyiles]

Forgot to mention, although my medical insurance covers me, i still bought a policy from insureyourtrip.com to cover the other problems that may arise. It cost me $84 for the week to cover both my wife and I.:cool: