Do you buy the Celebrity insurance or something else?

[amypet]

We just put our deposit down for a cruise next year and are confused about insurance (and refundable deposits!)

 

Who here always buys insurance? Of those who do, do you go with Celebrity's insurance or something else like Travelex or TravelGuard? What do you recommend and why? Thanks for your help!

[CHEZMARYLOU]

We buy the Celebrity insurance and have for just about every cruise.  As we get older the cost of buying it independently is much greater than we pay through our cruise booking.  We did have occasion to use it once and were pleased with the reimbursement, including the payment of our medical co-insurance amount.

[mahdnc]

1 hour ago, amypet said:

We just put our deposit down for a cruise next year and are confused about insurance (and refundable deposits!)

 

Who here always buys insurance? Of those who do, do you go with Celebrity's insurance or something else like Travelex or TravelGuard? What do you recommend and why? Thanks for your help!

We have begun purchasing trip insurance during the past few years through Allianz.  Haven't had to use it so far.

[jelayne]

We buy a annual travel insurance policy with Allianz since we normally take 4-5 trips a year.  When we weren't traveling so frequently we purchased travel insurance on line ( not through the cruise line).  Our priority is and was medical coverage when out of the US and evacuation coverage, both of which were not great through the cruise line policy.  
 

A few days ago I got a survey from X asking about travel insurance and what coverage was most important, how often we get insurance, etc.  

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

Something else.  Generally not a good idea to purchase insurance from the provider.

 

[springfire]

We never purchase insurance with Celebrity.

[Mountain Traveler]

Like jelayne, we are most concerned with medical coverage and evacuation.  I discovered that many travel insurance firms will let you purchase travel insurance with a trip cost of zero dollars.  You then are only buying the medical coverage and evacuation (plus a few other minor coverages like lost luggage).  The cost was really low , for example $42 per person for a 3 week trip.  You just have to be ready to absorb the cost of losing the trip (thousands of dollars), but you are covered for the "biggies" which could be tens of thousands of dollars or more.

[alcpa1]

amypet,

If you scroll down a little further on Cruise Critic there is an entire thread dedicated to travel insurance.

We always purchase travel insurance and never buy from either the cruise line or travel agent. 

Shopping for the right policy is a chore which, in almost every case, must be completed within two weeks of the initial booking (deposit.)

 

[FlyerTalker]

Mrs FT and I never buy from the cruiseline, and we are like Mountain Traveler.  We purchase medical coverage and do not purchase coverage for the cruise itself, in effect "self-insuring" that expense.  Over the years, the monies that were not paid for covering the cruises has made up for most any future insured event that may happen.  We have been fortunate in that regard.

 

Just to be clear, this is NOT a strategy that would be appropriate for most people.  Insurance of any kind is a "risk mitigation" strategy, and every individual has different levels of risk tolerance and avoidance.  Which is why everyone should evaluate the costs and benefits of specific policies, both those offered by the cruiseline and those offered by outside companies.  Determine what is YOUR need and what policy provides the best cost/benefit return to meet YOUR needs (not those of someone else giving "advice").

[ipeeinthepool]

We always purchase the cruise line insurance, we find it an inexpensive way to have cancel for any reason insurance.  Especially as you get older, independent insurance gets much more expensive.  A credit from Celebrity is acceptable for us for any trips we cancel.  However we don’t find the medical insurance to be adequate, especially for anyone on Medicare.   We always purchase an annual policy from Geoblue to cover medical and evacuation costs.

[cwayne]

We always used Travel Guard in the past but purchased through Celebrity for our upcoming cruise. Rate was $100 less. 

[TeeRick]

There is also a CC board dedicated to this topic.

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/499-cruisetravel-insurance/

[marieps]

We used Allianz on our Transpacific in 2019 and were pleased with the coverage when we had a medical claim.

Edited June 10, 2021 by marieps

[gw2fll]

We go with someone else. Have found Nationwide Travel a good policy with great benefits. For example (depending on policy level purchased) you can receive payment for itinerary changes and port of call change. All-in-all we have been pleased with their service and product.

 

Looking forward to getting back onboard ship. Happy sailing everyone...

[iancal]

We never buy travel insurance from a travel vendor.  

[cruiserchuck]

If you buy the insurance from Celebrity, you are not covered in the event of financial default by Celebrity.  Most third party insurance policies cover financial default.  

[graphicguy]

I always get insurance.  But, I charge my cruises to my AMEX, which provides some pretty decent insurance at no charge for me.

[Pickels]

Never from the Cruise Line, have gone with InsureMyTrip, Travel Guard. 

[TFree]

1 hour ago, graphicguy said:

I always get insurance.  But, I charge my cruises to my AMEX, which provides some pretty decent insurance at no charge for me.

I am actually glad you mentioned this, @graphicguy.  Last I checked (several years ago), our Amex Platinum card did not provide much if any travel insurance (I was surprised to learn that at the time).  But I see that, effective 1-1-2020, they added some travel insurance benefits.

 

Tom & Judy

[graphicguy]

32 minutes ago, TFree said:

I am actually glad you mentioned this, @graphicguy.  Last I checked (several years ago), our Amex Platinum card did not provide much if any travel insurance (I was surprised to learn that at the time).  But I see that, effective 1-1-2020, they added some travel insurance benefits.

 

Tom & Judy

Yeah…..they made it a big deal last year when I booked my last (literally) cruise.  Covers a pretty fair amount of health related issues you may encounter on board and in ports.  

[FlyerTalker]

2 hours ago, graphicguy said:

I always get insurance.  But, I charge my cruises to my AMEX, which provides some pretty decent insurance at no charge for me.

 

Better check that.  Credit card insurance coverages have been cut back in the past few years, some quite significantly.

[graphicguy]

5 minutes ago, FlyerTalker said:

 

Better check that.  Credit card insurance coverages have been cut back in the past few years, some quite significantly.

I did before booking my most recent cruise 4-5 weeks ago!  

 

https://www.americanexpress.com/idc/en/benefits/the-platinum-card/platinum-insurance.html

Edited June 10, 2021 by graphicguy

[FlyerTalker]

5 hours ago, graphicguy said:

I did before booking my most recent cruise 4-5 weeks ago!  

 

https://www.americanexpress.com/idc/en/benefits/the-platinum-card/platinum-insurance.html

 

Well, you said "Amex", and since they have several dozen different cards -- forgive me for not perceiving that you were referring to the platinum card.

[wallysdtr]

I pay a portion of the cruise with my Chase Sapphire card.  I learned this from a poster years ago.   This has saved me a considerable amount of money. 

 

 

[FlyerTalker]

10 hours ago, wallysdtr said:

I pay a portion of the cruise with my Chase Sapphire card.  I learned this from a poster years ago.   This has saved me a considerable amount of money.

 

Hope you're not using your Chase Ultimate Rewards points to pay for your cruise.  Lousy return on your spend compared to other redemption values.