Cruise Insurance-What has it actually paid for?

[CMM]

Seems like there is plenty of talk about why cruise insurance is important, but what I would like to ask experienced cruisers is what have you personally been paid for as a result of having cruise insurance.

Like if you missed your cruise did they actually pay for it. Did you get $ to cover doctors visits etc.

I am curious as you often see it posted that claims have been filed, but I am interested in what the actual outcomes have been.

Also maybe there are some benefits I am not aware of.

 

Thanks for sharing any experiences.

[jlp20]

....Like if you missed your cruise did they actually pay for it. Did you get $ to cover doctors visits etc.

I am curious as you often see it posted that claims have been filed, but I am interested in what the actual outcomes have been.

Also maybe there are some benefits I am not aware of.

 

Thanks for sharing any experiences.

 

In our case, we lived very near the cruise center and had no transportation costs to claim. Since we had to cancel the cruise before we left, there were no medical costs involved. We got the cost of the cruise and pre booked excursions. The out of pocket cost was the price of the insurance itself. got the check in about 4 weeks.

 

You should be aware that "MOST" medical insurance policies do not cover you outside the borders of the United States.

[EmpressofPurple]

I had two bags damaged between when we delivered them into the hands of the dockside porters and when they were brought to our stateroom; insurance covered the replacement cost of the bags (although Princess's own insurance probably would have done the same).

 

That's all I've ever had to use it for, but always have it in place, mostly in case of necessary unexpected change to travel plans due to unexpected illness, flight cancellations, etc.

 

-D

[AliceJ]

On our first cruise, DD became sick and we had bills from both the ship's infirmary and a local doctor in the Caribbean. Had our normal health insurance not covered this, the travel insurance would have.

 

On our second cruise, we got stuck overnight in Houston (all of the airports near home were shut due to a blizzard). Travel insurance paid for our hotel and meals while we were delayed.

 

We never cruise without travel insurance - there's just too much (big and little) that can go wrong!

[AliceJ]

Duplicate post!

[Toto2Kansas]

Insurance is one of those things that you pay for and often times don't use, but that doesn't mean you don't need it. There are many times I have watched someone evacuated by helicopter from a ship because of illness or serious injury. I sure would have hate to pay that bill that could run into the tens of thousands of dollars plus.

You never know when an injury could occur (case in point, friends took their first cruise, he went to go into the men's room, tripped and fell and broke his hip. These were not elderly passengers by any means, barely middle age, he just fell hard and wrong).

 

We haven't had to use cruise insurance for many years (knock on wood), but we still purchase it for each cruise. Back when we did use it, normally it was for an illness caught while cruising. Insurance paid for all the doctor bills, meds and even follow up care after returning home.

 

It is like having a health insurance plan. You pay every month even though you don't get sick or injured. You wonder sometimes why the heck you are paying so much for something you don't need. Then POW, you need an operation or have a serious illness that would have been very expensive and possibly depleted your entire savings if you would not have purchased insurance to cover the costs.

 

Cruise insurance is just something that most feel more comforable traveling with. And that is without going into things like lost baggage, late flights, missing the ship, etc.

[Genessa]

When our friend and travelling companion died, our cruise insurance paid for the portion of our cruise we didn't use, our airfare back home from the Caribbean, hotel stay the night we had to spend on the island, taxi, food.

For his wife, the insurance paid the same, plus the cost of bringing his body home.

 

We had another cruise booked, with non-refundable airfare and received that money back, from a different insurance company, also.

 

thank goodness we had the insurance.

[Twinsmomct]

I'm just filling out the paperwork to get reimbursed for the cruise we missed on the Crown (2/17-2/24). Two days before we were to sail I ended up in the hospital and the doctor said I'd be there at least 48 hours. I'm now getting his portion of the forms filled out so that we can get back all the money we spent on the cruise and on the airline tickets. It was the only thing that made me feel better about missing the cruise -- knowing that we would get our money back and that we will use it on a future cruise.

 

When my sister found out we were missing our cruise, she went out and bought insurance for her April trip. Guess my experience spooked her!

 

Patty

[paul929207]

Nearly two years, my mother fell when a large wave hit her ship in the Med.

 

The travel insurance paid the ship doc's charge, the ambulance to get her to the hospital in Rome, all charges for 4 weeks in the Rome hospital, flew a nurse from the US to Rome to accompany my mother home hen she was strong enough to travel, upgraded my mother & the nurse to first class for the flight home. Finally, the nurse got a cab at Newark airport and took my mother to her local hospital (45 minutes away) and got her checked in.

 

When you buy any insurance you hope you will never need it, but in this case it sure was.

 

Paul

[harrynterry]

We had a Panama Canal cruise in early January planned last year for 5 of us.

My father-in-law was one of the party and took a fall (at his girl friends house & she was also a member of the travel party) right before Christmas and broke 2 of the 3 bones in his ankle. He was in a cast after surgery and required a lengthy stay in the hospital. He lives with us so we are the care-takers. Our insurance paid the full cost of 5 us for a mini suite and balcony cabin. We

NEVER travel with cruise insurance!! Not worth the chance of losing $5000+ for a trip like that!

[newkim]

I have used my travel insurance on 2 separate occassions. Once I hurt my foot on one of the islands. I hobbled around for a day and then decided I should go to see the ships doctor. After having xrays in the ship's medical centre, it was determined that I broke my toe. All expenses were covered my the travel insurance.

 

On another occassion, I fell about a week before an upcoming cruise. I injured my shoulder very badly and the othropedic surgeon said there was no possible way I was travelling the following week. I was quite sad when I completed the insurance paperwork but very happy that all was reimbursed (cruise, transfers and flights). Instead of losing all of the money that I had paid for the cruise, I was only out the cost of the insurance.

 

We always travel with my MIL, who is now 83, her travel insurance costs more than for my husband, son and myself combined but I don't even question the cost. It is just part of the expense for the trip. We always buy the insurance and hope that we don't need to use it. So far, we have needed it twice and I hope those are the only times we will need to claim on the insurance. We have our next cruise in less than 2 weeks and yes of course we have travel insurance too.

[2B@C]

If you do need to make a claim, say for medical service, are you billed at that time and reimbursed later, or does the insurance take over right away? Do different insurance companies have different policies?

[Toto2Kansas]

All of the travel insurance (from different companys) that we have purchased in the past, you make initial payment for services when rendered. When you arrive home, you fill out the forms to the travel insurance carrier with receipts. Also, most are secondary in payment. In other words, IF your personal insurance will pay, the travel insurance pays second.

Our BC/BS does not cover us if we are traveling out of the U.S.A.

[MNYTRPS2GO2]

We had to cancel 24 hours prior to departure due to illness. We were refunded our full cruise fare less the cost of insurance. We were using Frequent Flyer points for airfare so we were also reimbursed $100 each to rebook airfare using the same points at a later date.I had no medical bills since I was diagnosed by my family doctor and tests done were covered by own medical insurance...

[AZPam]

On our very first cruise one in our group fell and broke her hip. The insurance paid to have her air evac from Isla Margarita to Miami, paid for the surgery and 2 weeks in the hospital there, medi evac back to Phoenix from Miami and the additional 6 weeks in rehab. Also paid all expenses for her daughter who went with her and stayed in Miami during surgery.

 

2 years ago, 3 days before leaving, another in our group fell in the shower and broker her leg in 3 different places, needing surgery. They didn't have insurance and lost the entire cost of their trip.

 

I won't leave home without for any trip, cruise or not.

[doven]

Do get cruise insurance. We learned the hard way and will never go without it again.

 

On the Jan Grand cruise to the Western Carribean, my husband's mother passed away 3 days after we left Texas. Not only did we lose the entire cost of our trip (we were on the cruise Saturday afternoon-Wednesday morning), it cost us a lot to fly home from Belize because of the circumstances.

 

Needless to say, I'd rather have trip insurance and not need it vs. getting in the mess we found ourselves in!

[SailAways]

We are presently working on a claim for a canceled cruise.

 

We will not receive the cost of the insurance as a refund, but we never would leave home without insurance. It is an expense which we just consider as part of the cruise.

 

Friends of ours were on an Alaskan cruise, when the husband had a heart attack. He and his traveling party were transported; he and his wife via medi-vac to the nearest hospital, stayed there for five days, then flown from Alaska, to Washington State, again hospitalized, and after seven days, was transported to his home. All lodging, food and travel expenses were paid for the entire traveling party. They had full coverage for the two of them, in their 60's. They felt that the money spent for insurance was more than well spent. They paid zero for his event.

[CrusinAgain]

Our brand new luggage got injured from the airline and the insurance bought new luggage after proving ours could not be fixed and the homeowners policy deduction was higher than the luggage.

[Christine Cruisin]

In our case, we lived very near the cruise center and had no transportation costs to claim. Since we had to cancel the cruise before we left, there were no medical costs involved. We got the cost of the cruise and pre booked excursions. The out of pocket cost was the price of the insurance itself. got the check in about 4 weeks.

 

You should be aware that "MOST" medical insurance policies do not cover you outside the borders of the United States.

I usually get Princess Care Insurance, is that enough and are there better ones? I have medical problems (broke my foot on our last cruise to Europe, but hobbled around on cruthes for the rest of the trip!).

[Christine Cruisin]

In our case, we lived very near the cruise center and had no transportation costs to claim. Since we had to cancel the cruise before we left, there were no medical costs involved. We got the cost of the cruise and pre booked excursions. The out of pocket cost was the price of the insurance itself. got the check in about 4 weeks.

 

You should be aware that "MOST" medical insurance policies do not cover you outside the borders of the United States.

I usually get Princess Care Insurance, is that enough and are there better ones? I have medical problems (broke my foot on our last cruise to Europe, but hobbled around on cruthes for the rest of the trip!).

[PATfromCA]

In 2001 we stayed for an extra day in Vancouver after completing a HAL Alaska cruise. The day after was September 11th and the Twin-Towers attack. We were unable to get flights back to California and had to stay in Vancouver for another four days before taking a bus to Seattle.

 

Our travel insurance paid us $200 per day for living expenses (the hotel was over $300). After returning home we requested and completed a claim form and received payment within a few weeks. They did not pay for the unused airfare from Vancouver to Seattle nor the bus cost. The insurance company claimed that either HAL or Alaska Air should cover those items. Both companies refused.

 

We had previously scheduled this same cruise in the spring and had to cancell due to DWs knee surgery. In this case, the insurance paid all costs.

 

We always buy insurance!

[aggieastrosfan]

I used it on the Grand in 2005 when my digital camera was stolen. I filed the claim when I got back, and had the money within a couple weeks to replace the camera. :)

[SailAways]

I usually get Princess Care Insurance, is that enough and are there better ones? I have medical problems (broke my foot on our last cruise to Europe, but hobbled around on cruthes for the rest of the trip!).

 

It seems that this would depend upon the actual cruise which you are taking, the length of the cruise, and your age. (In our 70's, we always obtain full coverage - even when traveling by land).

 

I personally, do no believe that the cruise line insurance covers everything which you would need when facing a debilitating injury or illness while in a foreign country.

 

I could well be proven wrong, but it seemed as we were researching insurance, that the independent agencies covered much more at or near the same cost.

[smwg]

We (my husband says I did, I say he did) lost our camera in Cozumel a few years ago. I filed a claim with the insurance, purchased from Princess. They sent me a check for a depreciated amount of the camera's original purchase price. About $20 less than what I hoped for, but at least I got something back! I was happy.

[Lynda90]

Due to an illness in family, I had to cancel a cruise at the last minute. I received 100% of my money back in a very short period of time.

 

Another time, something came up and I had to cancel a cruise. This was a non-covered reason. I received a credit in the amount of 90% of cruise cost. Used it the following year on another cruise.

 

I would never, never be without travel insurance when I travel. All it takes is one time of something happening, and you would be very sorry that you didn't get it.