Travel Insurance

[fshagan]

We are on regular part-B Medicare, and our Supplement (plan G) insurance does cover medical out of country, with a lifetime maximum of $50k.

 

We get medical coverage anyway because the plan G coverage does not cover "repatriation of remains" or "medical evacuation" specifically, and I like to have higher medical coverage than $50k.

[ontheweb]

14 hours ago, DinaS said:

In my opinion, trip cancellation coverage is the least of our concerns for travel insurance.  An emergency medical evacuation, and a few days in a hospital can easily cost upwards of $100,000.   

 

THAT is the reason we get travel insurance.

Right, it would hurt to lost what you paid for a trip, but that is money you expected to have spent. Presumably it would not bankrupt you. OTOH, a huge medical bill plus medical transportation back to the USA could totally wipe you out.

[RocketMan275]

11 hours ago, LGinPA said:

 

golden,

 

Which Chase Sapphire card do you have?  I'm quite familiar with the Chase Sapphire Preferred only, since I have that one. And it covers what you said but has NO  MEDICAL coverage. I use it for all my travel, but also buy the GeoBlue Trekker annual medical plan since we travel out of the country more than once a year. 

 

The Sapphire Reserve does indeed cover medical. But I don't have that one so I can't speak for it's medical coverage limits. 

 

Like the others here said, the loss of $$ from a cancellation can be peanuts compared to possible medical emergencies and evacuation expenses.  

The reserve card does provide for medical although the coverage is quite low, only $2500.  

Get GeoBlue.

 

Emergency Evacuation and Transportation

Pay for at least a portion of your common carrier trip with your Chase Sapphire Reserve card. Then, if you or an immediate family member become injured or sick during your travels and need emergency evacuation, the card could provide up to $100,000 in coverage.

Trips must be at least 5 days in length, not more than 60 days, and the traveler must be more than 100 miles from home.

This is not reimbursement coverage — you must call the benefits administrator at the time of the incident to initiate emergency transport.

Emergency Medical and Dental Benefit

It’s rare to find any medical or dental coverage provided on a credit card, but the Chase Sapphire Reserve card offers this benefit for its cardholders and qualifying family members.

Here’s how the coverage works:

Provides up to $2,500 ($50 deducible) for emergency medical or dental services during a covered trip

Up to $75 per day for 5 days for a hotel if ordered by the attending physician

Emergency medical/dental services, hospital room, ambulance, medicines, and supplies are examples of covered items

The trip must be more than 100 miles from your residence

 

https://upgradedpoints.com/credit-cards/reviews/chase-sapphire-reserve/travel-insurance-benefits/#:~:text=It's rare to find any,services during a covered trip

[RocketMan275]

11 hours ago, LGinPA said:

 

golden,

 

Which Chase Sapphire card do you have?  I'm quite familiar with the Chase Sapphire Preferred only, since I have that one. And it covers what you said but has NO  MEDICAL coverage. I use it for all my travel, but also buy the GeoBlue Trekker annual medical plan since we travel out of the country more than once a year. 

 

The Sapphire Reserve does indeed cover medical. But I don't have that one so I can't speak for it's medical coverage limits. 

 

Like the others here said, the loss of $$ from a cancellation can be peanuts compared to possible medical emergencies and evacuation expenses.  

The reserve card does provide for medical although the coverage is quite low, only $2500.  

Get GeoBlue.

 

Emergency Evacuation and Transportation

Pay for at least a portion of your common carrier trip with your Chase Sapphire Reserve card. Then, if you or an immediate family member become injured or sick during your travels and need emergency evacuation, the card could provide up to $100,000 in coverage.

Trips must be at least 5 days in length, not more than 60 days, and the traveler must be more than 100 miles from home.

This is not reimbursement coverage — you must call the benefits administrator at the time of the incident to initiate emergency transport.

Emergency Medical and Dental Benefit

It’s rare to find any medical or dental coverage provided on a credit card, but the Chase Sapphire Reserve card offers this benefit for its cardholders and qualifying family members.

Here’s how the coverage works:

Provides up to $2,500 ($50 deducible) for emergency medical or dental services during a covered trip

Up to $75 per day for 5 days for a hotel if ordered by the attending physician

Emergency medical/dental services, hospital room, ambulance, medicines, and supplies are examples of covered items

The trip must be more than 100 miles from your residence

 

https://upgradedpoints.com/credit-cards/reviews/chase-sapphire-reserve/travel-insurance-benefits/#:~:text=It's rare to find any,services during a covered trip

[golden6911]

Thanks for the advice!  I will look into adding supplemental medical insurance to our trip. 

[DaisyGoldberg]

For those using any kind of insurance, please still take a high level credit card with you. Insurance coverage is between you and your insurance company - the medical center expects immediate payment. 

 

My mom got covid and a lung infection and we had an $11k bill. On checking in, I had used my low level card because I wanted those specific points for what I expected would be an end of trip charge of a few hundred bucks, tops. Fortunately I had the large limit one with me and was able to go to Ship Services and swap it out so we could cover her bill.

 

I can only imagine having to have money wired or doing a cash advance through the card on top of everything else.  Nobody expects to have an emergency on board, and probably most issues are expensive but not astronomical.

 

The care was very good and in a way I'm glad we got to deal with it on the ship and not an emergency room at home where she would have had to wait for hours to even be seen. But I feel for those who save for a vacation and never think of such an expense hitting them.

[genealogyfan]

Another site to compare and look at the different policies of travel insurance is 'insuremytrip.com" It'll give you an option to compare insurance policies and select options you want. I also check to see the cost that AAA offers with their travel insurance. I mostly get it for medical evac, medical etc.. but nice to cover expenses. 

 

Last year I finally used travel insurance (luckily not for a medical reason). Our connecting flight on Air Canada got canceled twice (original and rescheduled one), and we were stuck overnight in Montreal. Air Canada made everyone book their own hotel as they claimed they ran out of vouchers. We booked a hotel at the airport  (no help from Air Canada). They lied and claimed we would get reimbursed for all expenses. I submitted all the receipts to Air Canada to get reimbursed. Then they claimed they had a max hotel cost for reimbursement and my hotel was over that max. They only reimbursed me for the hotel part up to their max.  I used my travel insurance to get the rest of the money that Air Canada didn't cover.

[ihate2cruise]

I highly recommend Steve at trip insurance store dot com. Very knowledgeable and helpful. Contact via phone or email. See below for links to his Q&A's here on Cruise Critic.

Safe travels and may you never need to use the insurance 😉

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/2500-qa-cruise-insurance-with-steve-dasseos-of-the-tripinsurancestorecom-read-only/

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/2484-qa-cruise-insurance-w-steve-dasseos-of-the-tripinsurancestorecom-june-2020-read-only/

[pghflyer]

A few thoughts:

 

• Having eaten an entire cruise (the second one we ever booked) due to not appreciating the importance of insurance for cruising, I am now acutely attuned and recommend it.  
• We primarily use the Chase Sapphire Reserve which does have a mind-blowing $550 annual fee BUT (just the highlights) includes $300 travel credits, reimbursed Global Entry (worth $25 a year), credits/ discounts on DoorDash and Lyft, plus Priority Pass (airport lounges) membership AND these expanded Travel Insurance benefits.
• We got stranded in New Zealand when the Auckland airport flooded in January this year.  First time to ever file a travel insurance claim. Within 6 weeks of filing my claim (online, super easy), I had all my incidentals and extra hotel stays reimbursed as a direct deposit to my account ($650, we are pretty low key). I am organized and kept detailed receipts, but I found it very easy and expeditious.
• The main thing - the travel coverage (and MOST travel insurance) only covers very specific events. They usually do NOT cover the most common scenarios such as carrier arbitrary cancellations and flight changes that are not due to weather. You would get some coverage for delay, but not things like missing a whole cruise.  
• Chase Reserve covers your rental car and does cover Medical - $100K emergency evac and $2,500 for medical and dental (yeah that won't go far anywhere if you have anything important). Depending on what your medical insurance will cover for out of state/country medical, you may need a supplement here.

Edited March 24, 2023 by pghflyer

[Landl cruiser]

On 3/19/2023 at 8:18 PM, RocketMan275 said:

Oh, but it does.  Many military retired live overseas.

https://www.tricare.mil/Plans/HealthPlans/TFL/TFL_O

 

I can vouch for TFL coverage.   On the Prima in December, my wife visited the Medical Center , and we got a bill for over $5K.  We filed a claim thru TFL and received a check about a month later for the full amount.  

 

[RocketMan275]

4 minutes ago, Landl cruiser said:

I can vouch for TFL coverage.   On the Prima in December, my wife visited the Medical Center , and we got a bill for over $5K.  We filed a claim thru TFL and received a check about a month later for the full amount.  

 

Glad to  hear that.  BTW, I made a lot of mistakes in my life but getting a military retirement wasn't one of them.  I had eight  years active and a friend encouraged me to join the guard when I left the service.  TFL is great and so is the retirement check.

I had hand surgery about six years ago.  I saw one bill over $20k.  I was out of pocket about $8 for pain medicine.  

I started getting all these promotions for medicare supplemental insurance after I turned 65.  I called Humana because they were the tricare provider in this area.  The very nice lady told me that she would be more than happy to sell me supplementary coverage but since I TFL, i had the best supplementary insurance available and it was free.

When I had my neck fusion, they asked if I had insurance and I told them tricare.  The lady sort of grimaced and asked Tricare or Tricare for Life.  When I told her TFL she smiled and said "we like TFL, they are much better than tricare."

[Landl cruiser]

9 minutes ago, RocketMan275 said:

Glad to  hear that.  BTW, I made a lot of mistakes in my life but getting a military retirement wasn't one of them.  I had eight  years active and a friend encouraged me to join the guard when I left the service.  TFL is great and so is the retirement check.

I had hand surgery about six years ago.  I saw one bill over $20k.  I was out of pocket about $8 for pain medicine.  

I started getting all these promotions for medicare supplemental insurance after I turned 65.  I called Humana because they were the tricare provider in this area.  The very nice lady told me that she would be more than happy to sell me supplementary coverage but since I TFL, i had the best supplementary insurance available and it was free.

When I had my neck fusion, they asked if I had insurance and I told them tricare.  The lady sort of grimaced and asked Tricare or Tricare for Life.  When I told her TFL she smiled and said "we like TFL, they are much better than tricare."

It wasn’t quite free, I served for 26+ years to get that “free” medical.  But you are right, the retirement check sure is good.   Much better than the $68 a month I got when I first enlisted in 1964

[RocketMan275]

4 minutes ago, Landl cruiser said:

It wasn’t quite free, I served for 26+ years to get that “free” medical.  But you are right, the retirement check sure is good.   Much better than the $68 a month I got when I first enlisted in 1964

The lady I talked to said it was 'free', not I.

I remember one day in one of my ROTC classes, IIRC in 1968, when the instructor came into the room and excitedly told us that with the new pay raises just passed a 2Lt would now make $300 per month for the first time in history. 

 

I remember one month in 1972, IIRC, when I made 1Lt, went over two, and the VOLAR raises kicked in, all in the same month.  We could afford a Pizza Hut instead of Chef Boyardee, but no more than once a month.

[Landl cruiser]

2 minutes ago, RocketMan275 said:

The lady I talked to said it was 'free', not I.

I remember one day in one of my ROTC classes, IIRC in 1968, when the instructor came into the room and excitedly told us that with the new pay raises just passed a 2Lt would now make $300 per month for the first time in history. 

 

I remember one month in 1972, IIRC, when I made 1Lt, went over two, and the VOLAR raises kicked in, all in the same month.  We could afford a Pizza Hut instead of Chef Boyardee, but no more than once a month.

🤣 I remember those days very well .   I was enlisted and was envious of officers pay.

[RocketMan275]

1 minute ago, Landl cruiser said:

🤣 I remember those days very well .   I was enlisted and was envious of officers pay.

 

We had several married junior enlisted draftees in my unit.  They had a rough time of it.  VOLAR helped a lot.

[SeekingKillerWhales!]

On 3/17/2023 at 6:04 AM, shof515 said:

I always buy insurance directly from the insurance company and i get better coverage. i use http://insuremytrip.com

Agree with this. They can work with difficult situations - i.e. 5 people traveling together who are all linked to one person. (Me and four friends who didn't know each other.) We got it set up so we were all covered if one person couldn't go for covered reasons. The only time everyone would have dropped out was if I could not go, but still that's a fairy complicated request and the price was good. 

[vanchelle]

We always purchase insurance but Not through our cruise line. I use a common site insuremytrip but the last two cruises we just used the policy our TA quoted us. 
I actually juuuust submitted and received some money due to flight delays two weeks ago. It happened to be an Allianz policy and we got $200 back within 30 hours of my online claim submission. 
I’m in agreement with many others  that it feels reassuring to invest in it  even if we don’t need it 9 out of 10 trips!

[SGCruiser2013]

On 3/24/2023 at 5:01 PM, Landl cruiser said:

I can vouch for TFL coverage.   On the Prima in December, my wife visited the Medical Center , and we got a bill for over $5K.  We filed a claim thru TFL and received a check about a month later for the full amount.  

 

 

@Landl cruiser Can I ask whether you received & discussed billing while on the ship, or did they send you a bill later? Curious as to how NCL handles medical center visits.

[GeezerCouple]

32 minutes ago, SGCruiser2013 said:

 

@Landl cruiser Can I ask whether you received & discussed billing while on the ship, or did they send you a bill later? Curious as to how NCL handles medical center visits.

 

Make sure to get the receipt right away, *before* leaving the ship.  There won't be a problem; they'd like to get that off their list once it's paid.  It won't be as easy to get copies later if you aren't right there on the ship.

 

I missed part of your question.

You pay right there, with a charge card.

Then you get reimbursed by your insurance after submitting the bill and proof of payment (the receipt).

 

GC

Edited March 30, 2023 by GeezerCouple

[happy cruzer]

Trying to determine how to protect against airline failures such as mechanical failure or no crew avalible.  So far Cancel for any reason (i.e. at time of departure) or travellin days early seem to be only options?

[Landl cruiser]

2 hours ago, SGCruiser2013 said:

 

@Landl cruiser Can I ask whether you received & discussed billing while on the ship, or did they send you a bill later? Curious as to how NCL handles medical center visits.

It was charged directly to our onboard account and we had to file a claim after we got home 

[MedCruise_2022]

Thank you for all these valuable information! All these confirm that we need travel insurance.
We are purchasing an annual “AllTrips Premier” with Allianz Travel to cover international travel to Japan this March, a Cruise to Eastern Caribbean in August, and an NCL Cruise to Eastern Mediterranean (with pre-and post-cruise stays) in October – for the period March 2024 to March 2025. Like many of you, we make sure that we are covered for medical and transportation/evacuation emergencies while on international travels.

The “AllTrips Premier” with Allianz Travel while providing good coverage for medical and transportation/evacuation emergencies, will only cover $2,000 for Trip Cancellation.

Hence, reading from the various inputs in this group, we are inclined to buy the NCL BookSafe Travel Protection—as additional coverage especially for “Enhanced Cancellation Protection” and for any medical needs while on the ship.
Or is the NCL Travel Protection still necessary?
For context, we are both seniors (H- 72 yo with Medicare and Supplemental Insurance; W- 68 yo with Medicare Advantage Plan with some international health coverage).
Thank you for your kind inputs/advice.

 

[Travelling2Some]

On 3/20/2023 at 10:15 AM, golden6911 said:

Thanks for the advice!  I will look into adding supplemental medical insurance to our trip. 

I once bought medical only because we were leaving the country but it was just a cheapo trip.  I was very pleasantly surprised at how inexpensive it was!

[ChrysFox]

Thank you, everybody, for the very useful information in this thread.

You've helped me understand some of my options, and what to look for when getting Travel Insurance.

I'm much more confident now that what I selected is the plan that's right for me.

[fshagan]

9 hours ago, MedCruise_2022 said:

The “AllTrips Premier” with Allianz Travel while providing good coverage for medical and transportation/evacuation emergencies, will only cover $2,000 for Trip Cancellation.

Hence, reading from the various inputs in this group, we are inclined to buy the NCL BookSafe Travel Protection—as additional coverage especially for “Enhanced Cancellation Protection” and for any medical needs while on the ship.
Or is the NCL Travel Protection still necessary?
For context, we are both seniors (H- 72 yo with Medicare and Supplemental Insurance; W- 68 yo with Medicare Advantage Plan with some international health coverage).

 

The $2,000 coverage is for the non-refundable fare costs, basically the fare price. Your port fees and taxes, prepaid gratuities / service charges, etc. will be refunded by NCL if you cancel regardless of why you cancel.

 

Look at your NCL price breakdown ... we find about half of our payment to NCL is refundable (we pre-pay the onboard service charges). Take a look at the non-refundable costs and you can then determine if you need additional insurance. Also, it may be cheaper to contact Allianz and see if they can provide a rider with more than $2000 coverage.

 

Also, Medicare Supplemental Plans C, D, F, G, M, & N cover 80% of emergency care costs in foreign countries, with a lifetime maximum of $50,000 for my Plan G. It is a reimbursement type plan, and doesn't cover things like repatriation of remains, medical evacuation, etc. We always buy travel medical even though we have that coverage. But it's good to know that coverage exists.

Edited February 25 by fshagan
Add Medicare Supplement Plan information