Travel Insurance

[mrchris11731]

Booked on my first cruise, norwegian sun to alaska late august. Do most people get travel insurance. I am flying a day early to Seattle so i don't think i need it. Am I being foolish I would love some insight thanks so uch

[Roz]

Depending on the policy you purchase, travel insurance covers a number of events. For instance, if you became ill, will your med insurance cover you on the ship or in a foreign port? What if you have to be evacuated from the ship via helicopter ($20,000-25,000), do you have enough in savings to cover the expense? What if a family member dies or becomes critically ill and you have to fly home during the cruise?

 

Flying to Seattle a day ahead of time won't help you in these situations.

 

Roz

[newmexicoNita]

TAke out insurance, please. Check the website for travel insurance, ask your TA what they recommend or use, but whatever it covers so many things and it is money you hope you waste. NMnita

[waltd]

All you need to have is one travel issue and you could be out thousands of dollars. The cost is worth the peace of mind.

[tstruth]

Booked on my first cruise, norwegian sun to alaska late august. Do most people get travel insurance. I am flying a day early to Seattle so i don't think i need it. Am I being foolish I would love some insight thanks so uch

I like yourself am going on my first cruise in April and did not think I needed Insurance. However, after reading these boards I did decided to purchase insurance. I went to insuremytrip.com, and they give you many quotes, was really not that expensive.

The big factor I was not even thinking about was a medical emergency (like having to be med flighted off the ship) that would be way too costly.:eek: So for peace of mind we got the insurance.

[Dorothy]

I , too, get my insurance there. I would encourage you to get insurance because most medical insurance does not cover you in foreign countries. Also, to be airlifted in an emergency, if needed, can break the bank. Be safe, not sorry.

[Nectarologist]

Make sure you buy the policy the you need. I myself would go to the site that tstruth mentioned b/c there are more options that fit my needs as opposed to that via ncl. Also know if your own health ins. will cover you outside the US, you may be paying for health insurance when you already have it covered by your employer's plan (but gotta check the specific terms). Bottom line is everyone has different needs so just take the time to read all the terms to see if a plan is right for you. Can be a bit time consuming but if you plan on buying it at least get what applies to your needs. have a great trip!

[electricron]

I always get travel insurance.

 

Compared to the price of the cruise, bar bills, excursion bills,

the price for the insurance is miniscue. The potential savings are significant.

 

Many will spend more cash dinning at the speciality restaurants where there's free food at the main restaurants than what the travel insurance costs.

 

There's plenty of other things you can pinch if you have a limited budget.

[LMA5876]

Never purchased trip insurance before but decided to do so for some strange reason for our NCL Dream (02/18-02/25) Texaribbean Cruise and unfortunately had to use it when my husband had a severe allergic reaction to the horses when we went horseback riding in Roatan. Onboard physician and staff were great. Glad we had insurance and will never travel without it again.

 

 

Linda

[CruisinMK]

I use CSA travel protection. When I travel alone I often just get the "zero cost" insurance, which means you aren't insuring the dollar value of your trip, just getting health insurance/emergency evac, some things like that. Really cheap that way. Big peace of mind travelling in foreign ports, etc..

When I travel with family with health issues I insure the full value of everything.

 

Make sure you understand the bit about pre-existing medical conditions before you buy, policies vary significantly on that point.

[Cinnamon Seahorse]

We, too, purchase the insurance for medical, airlift, and repatriation costs.

 

Probably the best response I saw on the subject of "travel insurance, should I or shouldn't I?" advised that those who question paying the extra cost are those most in need of the coverage--that they don't have the type of assets that would protect them in the event of a major medical situation out of the country.

 

I know that certainly applies to us!

 

Happy, stress-free sailing, Carla

[cruiser-dude]

I did not purchase the NCL travel insurance for our trip and was lucky that nothing happened.

 

Since that time, I have researched and found a GREAT plan that allows you to choose whether you want the trip price covered as well as other things AND/OR medical, emergency evacuation, etc. It is SO inexpensive for the medical, emergency, etc. that I would never go without it again. Pre-ex is waived if you purchase before your final payment is due.

 

If Cecilia can tell me whether it's okay to give you the link, I can send it to you...

[Cosmopolitan]

Get insurance!

 

For the first time, this year, we did not purchase the insurance....DH broke his ankle right before the cruise.

Had surgery 7 days before we sailed.

Had to wait for the surgeons OK to sail.

 

If we had taken the insurance...we would have cancelled.

I did not call NCL to try to work something out but I was really sorry that we had not taken the insurance.

 

NCL was wonderful helping us on/off the ship at all ports as were the butler, concierge, housekeeping, et al.

 

Lesson learned...ALWAYS take the insurance;)

[professional student]

I use CSA travel protection. When I travel alone I often just get the "zero cost" insurance, which means you aren't insuring the dollar value of your trip, just getting health insurance/emergency evac, some things like that. Really cheap that way. Big peace of mind travelling in foreign ports, etc..

When I travel with family with health issues I insure the full value of everything.

 

Make sure you understand the bit about pre-existing medical conditions before you buy, policies vary significantly on that point.

 

The policies offered by NCL are rather expensive compared to some others. I found one online, but a good friend is a travel agent, and she brought up that some pre-existing condition clauses may apply. She also advised that most US medical insurance does not cover one when out of the country, and most auto insurance policies are the same.

I am a very athlethic 33 yr old, but suffer from 3 ruptured discs in my back from a car accident last spring...still in treatment for them, but not going to let a little pain get in my way of having a great time! :) This is something we do have to be cautious about, though. We purchased a policy through our travel agent, through Access America, 800-284-8300.

 

This policy has slightly higher limits than the ones we found online. It was under $140 for two people. It does have a small list of things not covered, but it does cover scuba diving if less than 130 ft below and diving with a dive master...(We did this in St. Thomas...great idea for beginners, and no fee for diving certification, no purchase of equipment, just a short classroom instruction, rental equipment was included in the price, and a group of 3 people on dive with instructor! One tip, look for places which offer this online, instead of booking through the ship) This policy also covers complications with an existing pregnancy. It does NOT include high risk things such as skydiving, bungee jumping, hang gliding, parachuting, caving, heli-sking (never heard of that one), mountain climbing, or learning to fly.

 

I don't sell insurance, hope it was OK that I posted the name and number for that company here?!

[professional student]

Get insurance!

 

For the first time, this year, we did not purchase the insurance....DH broke his ankle right before the cruise.

Had surgery 7 days before we sailed.

Had to wait for the surgeons OK to sail.

 

If we had taken the insurance...we would have cancelled.

I did not call NCL to try to work something out but I was really sorry that we had not taken the insurance.

 

NCL was wonderful helping us on/off the ship at all ports as were the butler, concierge, housekeeping, et al.

 

Lesson learned...ALWAYS take the insurance;)

 

 

I'm so sorry that happened to y'all! Hope he's feeling better soon!!! :)

[MidtheNight]

In the majority of cruises/travel you will never ever need to use any portion of travel insurance. It's just that one time though that something happens that will make anyone a believer.

 

Definitely get insurance. Check out, read and understand just what you are getting and only get what you feel you need. For the little bit of $ it's worth the piece of mind.

[Barb Nahoumi]

Never leave home without it.

 

Barb

[Mooshmellow]

Definitely worth getting. NCL prices are high so check out some others with your TA or on-line. We compared prices at insuremytrip.com, but then called the one we chose directly and saved a small fee that way. They also covered our children (passengers 3 & 4) for free! When we did an upsell, I called them back and increased the coverage and there was no extra charge! Guess we stayed under some range limit.

[Host CMLA]

professional student and cruiser dude...you can post travel insurance information if it's part of a discussion. You can't create post just to tell about your insurance company. Hope that helps. :)

[OCLadies]

I've always purchased the insurance on past cruises thinking about the "what if's" I needed Medical attention or something like that, but that's not what happened last year.

 

We were booked on the NCL Star for a 10/05 Mexican Riviera cruise and had purchased the "basic" insurance thru NCL ($99.00). Boy was I glad that we had! I'm self employed and all you know what broke loose at the office at the last moment and we were unable to make our sailing. Instead of loosing the entire cost of the cruise, we were able to cancel literally the day before sailing and get a 75% credit for a future cruise.

 

We're using that "credit" for our 4/06 Mexican Riviera cruise now. What I did learn was that if we had purchased the "premium" coverage thru NCL (for only $50.00 more pp) the credit is 90%. This time we upgraded our insurance. Better safe than sorry and should you need to use the coverage....well, just let me say that last year we forfited over $600 and had we purchased the "premium" coverage we'd have had more of the $$ in "our" pocket and not NCL's.

 

BUY BUY BUY

[7SeasLover]

In our younger days we did not purchase insurance and in retrospect we're lucky nothing bad happened. In my 50's I do purchase insurance. I used my insurance once when my luggage was crushed (literally) and held together by tape and ropes. Dunno if the cruise line crushed it or the plane. When we got to our destination (Canada) my bag never came out! Finally a trolly with all the damaged bags rolled into the area.

 

It was smashed further when we got back to Los Angeles. It was completely unusable. I took a few digital photos, mailed them with my claim to the insurance company along with the receipt for my replacement bag. A few weeks later I got a check in the mail paying for 100% of the cost of my new bag.

 

The bag that was destroyed was about 10 years old.