What trip insurance coverage do we need?

[fishinglady]

How does one decide what kind of trip coverage and how much is needed? - I've never had it on the 4 cruises I've been on, but these boards have made me nervous enough about it that I'm looking in to it for our October cruise on the Conquest out of Galveston. I went to one of the websites, but there's 20 or 25 choices - trip cancellation, trip interruption, medical evacuation, etc., etc. There are 6 of us going - 2 50+ women, reasonably good health, our daughters (25 & 26), son (36) and granddaughter (4). All of us have health insurance, all except one local to Texas. I'm mainly concerned about the remote possibility of a last minute health issue for one of us, or a major hurricane.... - Any advice or guidance would be appreciated!!

[swkittrell]

On all 5 cruises we have gone on we purchased cruise insurance from the travel agent. Did you use a travel agent? You may ask whoever you booked your cruise with what they recommend. All the things you listed were covered under one policy. It always covers everything you mentioned.

[RDSLS]

The kind of insurance you buy is a personal matter, so it is difficult to tell you what will suit you best. We use Travelex Lite because we weighted the benefits side by side to others in the same price range and Travelex lite always scored better.

[Keith1010]

Not sure if you used the web site but a good one to use is insuremytrip.com

 

What one needs in insurance is really up to them.

 

Most people get insurance for a couple of major reasons and these are not in any particular order. First, is to have coverage should they have to cancel the trip due to a health issue prior to the cruise. Second, is to have health coverage should they get sick on a cruise and need medical attention. Third, and I think this is an important one to consider is having insurance in case one needs to be evacuated from a cruise ship while at sea as this one could be very costly. Most plans include other items such as some coverage for lost or damaged luggage, etc.

 

For my wife and me, the most important two components are having insurance to cover all or part of the cost of the trip (you don't have to insure it all just like a car or house where you can have a deductable) and the medical evacuation insurance. But, again, each person has different reasons for insurance.

 

Some companies act as your primary health provider during the trip so if you get sick you can send your bills to them first and they will address them for you. Others act as your secondary health insurance provider meaning that if you get sick and have you own health insurance you have to first submit to your health care provider before you can submit to the trip insurance company.

 

Again, you might want to start with insuremytrip.com

 

My experience is that I do much better buying this on my own then through the cruise lines.

 

Again, read the fine print to make sure there are no surprises.

 

And all of this comes down to how much risk you want to take.

 

Keith

[CaribbeanBound]

This should help a lot...

 

Here are 16 VERY important things to consider when buying cruise insurance...

*****

 

Go there first, and then follow the link to Insure My Trip.com for comparison pricing.

[lougee1043]

i would never buy insurance either from the cruiseline or from a ta-- buy direct and you dont have to worry about a ta going out of business or a cruise line either for that matter --

check and compare coverages at http://www.insuremytrip.com