Come On Folks......Please Give Me your Opinion......

[sail7seas]

As I have stated here many times in the past, we never buy travel insurance. (Our regular medical insurance pays anywhere in the world; we have emergency medical evacuation coverage from AmEx Platinum; our air tickets are fully refundable and we are usually willing to self-insure the price of our cruise.) We have saved so much through our many cruises of not buying insurance that even if we had to cancel now and 'take the hit' and get no reimbursement, we would be thousands of dollars ahead.

 

BUT....with this incredibly busy Hurricane Season. With another horrible storm approaching named Ivan and presumably with more to come..........I am thinking this might be an exception and maybe it would be worth it to buy coverage for our October 2 Zuiderdam cruise.

 

We have an "S" for only one cruise this time (DH could not leave his office for our usual b -to-b's); we have one night pre-cruise and two nights post cruise booked at Pier 66 (independently---not through HAL this time).......I suppose the cost of it all (excluding our first class air) tickets comes to something around $4.000.

 

Would you buy the insurance or continue on as we have (with huge good luck) done so far?

 

 

(I'm not concerned or interested about pre-existing health conditions.....I know that is too late to write now and it is not my issue.)

[Lois R]

7, I am single and 46...I take insurance and I am healthy;) ...for 47.00 I get $1,000.00 worth of insurance. Never had to use it but glad I have it......(hoping the Z sails on Saturday for me)

[FlorenceItaly]

If it were ME, and based on what you have stated, and if you were only purchasing it ONLY because of hurricane concerns, I would say NO. My logic is that the odds are in your favor of no hurricane problems, since we have seen so much already....make sense??

 

Marie

[imsulin]

s7s - call before you buy, and if you buy, get a 3rd party policy. Before 9/11, many trip insurances covered "acts of terrorism". Right afterwards, they either didn't cover it, or the coverage was greatly modified. Trip insurance companies lost millions after 9/11. Now, I'm not trying to compare 9/11 and Frances, but disasters which involve paying out lots of dollars can often result in policy changes for coverages like weather. Just my thoughts.

[LAFFNVEGAS]

I totally agree with Marie, if buying strickly because of hurricanes I definitely would not. We have already seen how HAL handles this with full refunds. I think you will be fine 4 weeks from now.

 

The only part you could be caught with would be the cost of the airline ticket and I doubt if the hotels for your pre and post stay will charge you if there were another hurricane.

[Roboat]

That's a good question. You may recall that I posted a question, before Frances dominated the news, asking whether anyone had ever had a cruise cancelled (not a port change, but an actual cancellation.)

 

No one said they had a cruise cancelled, and I imagine this board has quite a few experienced cruisers, as I know S7S is. That made me feel better about not having bought insurance for my Oct 16 Zuiderdam cruise.

 

Then, I saw HAL's very generous offer to refund the full amount to those wishing to cancel. Not to saythey can afford to do that twice in the same year, but it was also encouraging.

 

So I am still leaning toward not taking the insurance for the 10/16 trip.

[sail7seas]

Wonderful responses. Thank you very much. Good things to think about.

 

 

Lisa....the only part we are not concerned about losing money on are the air tickets. First Class, fully refundable tickets.

 

 

I would not have thought about insurers changing their coverage predicated upon losing alot because of Charley and Frances....good point. Of course, they cannot keep eliminating what they will cover as when the list gets to short for what is covered, people will stop buying it at all.

 

They can only refuse coverage for just so much or they become unwanted/unneeded.

 

Thanks again.

[gliles]

Hmmm, we ever used to. The last 2 cruises we have and I don't know why we decided to do, we just did. The last cruise, my luggage didn't arrive with us and I will tell you that insurance didn't ease my mind much. What I will say is thank heavens that we came in a day early because my suitcase didn't show until the next day. It cost us extra to go back to the airport to get it because I didn't trust that it would be delivered on time (and I work for the airline!). We are fairly young (ask S7S, she can guess ;) ) and thankfully have no health issues but you never really know. We do have medvac international insurance through work so it is more of a concern about something happening that wouldn't allow us to go.

 

However, as S7S says, if we bought it every year that we didn't need it, we could have taken a few more cruises with the money we saved not buying it. Airfare isn't a concern with us either.

 

So in short, I don't know! :eek:

[digby]

I had to cancel my first cruise on the day before we were to leave. I got my entire 7K back without a hassle. I would never take a cruise without insurance.

[imsulin]

Actually, some trip insurance companies have added MORE coverage, rather than decrease coverage. For example, the price for air evacuation has increased from $20,00.00 pp to $50,000.00 pp with Travel Guard, and the amount of medical coverage has also increased. I'm not rich, don't fly first-class everywhere I go, have just a regular AMEX card, and only cruise 1-2 times a year, so trip insurance works for me! I just bought my Travel Guard (Cruise, Tour, and Travel) policy on-line for $109.00. This will cover my cheap (coach) air, my (cheap inside) Zui cruise next April, my (cheap) pre and post hotels, and is the primary coverer, so I wouldn't have to use my cheap BC/BS insurance. Works for me!!

[FlorenceItaly]

I had to cancel my first cruise on the day before we were to leave. I got my entire 7K back without a hassle. I would never take a cruise without insurance.

 

Who were you insured with? We had a VERY positive situation with Berkley Care in getting a full refund(minus the insurance cost itself) when we had to cancel a cruise due to a medical emergency with a family member.

 

Marie

[JDee]

S7S asks: Would you buy the insurance or continue as we have (with huge good luck) done so far??

 

I would continue w/o insurance for Caribbean cruises being self-insured since it appears that you can eat the loss w/o much discomfort. Believe your only extra ordinary risk would be in the event an air evacuation is required due to an accident or sudden serious medical problems.

 

I never insure on Caribbean cruises either, loss would be limited to the cost of the cruise. However, that air evacuation sometimes gives me shudders, even though I live in Florida. Air evacs cost serious $$$$. I may be sorry one day......

 

If I were to do European or other long distance cruises, I would most like purhcase it, even for Alaska/Hawaii. I wouldn't care to eat the cost of the cruise, air fare, etc....

 

Either way, hope your good luck continues, and even if you decide to purchase insurance, hope you won't need it.....

 

Happy cruising....

[imsulin]

Air evacuation - depending on where you are - can cost from $20,000 - $50,000.

[sail7seas]

JDee....thanks so much for your helpful response. Thanks everyone for your great responses.

 

 

I totally agree, JDee, about insuring for European cruises. Each time we have cruised in Europe, we have written insurance for those cruises as they were 13-15 day cruises, in an "S" and the bill was VERY considerable. We did not want to risk eaing that sort of loss.

 

 

I think you may have missed in my post that I stated we have MEDICAL EVACUATION COVERAGE through Am Ex Platinum as that would be enough reason for us to be writing insurance if we did not have that. Those bills can be staggering.

 

I asked DH what he thought a few minutes ago and he said......No Insurance. If there is a Hurricane and we cannot/do not go, we'll deal with it. My darling has spoken!!! :)

[mhshapiro]

Insurance really depends on individual circumstances. Because of some preexisting medical conditions, we always buy the insurance. We had to use it once when we had to cancel a fairly expensive cruise a few days before departure because of a medical emergency. So far we are ahead of the game.

[dakrewser]

Sail -

 

 

Rather then look at total cost, consider potential loss. Your plane fare is not an issue. Your hotel shouldn't be, either, since I assume you can cancel the reservation up to 6 PM on check in day. That leaves only the cost of the cruise itself. Check with your own insurance agent to see if they can write coverage, compare to to the standard travel insurance companies and then assess the cost (and the coverage) versus the benefit.

 

-dave

[sail7seas]

dave......You and I think very much alike.

 

About a year ago, I was discussing this whole travel insurance issue with our Insurance Agent at the time I wanted to purchase a yearly policy which would cover all of our travel. He researched and could not come up with anything that approached what I wanted.

 

I then asked about doing just as you suggest.... his prices were ludicrous. Thanks, good bye....see 'ya later.

 

We are so far ahead financially by the very good luck of having taken a great many cruises and not insuring most of them. (As stated above, for a $20,000 cruise in Europe etc, (with pre and post cruise very costly hotel stays and "bad" cancellation policies.....then we take coverage). The vast majority not.

 

Thankfully, we are able to absorb a reasonable loss. But, this progression of Hurricanes has me pondering the "odds".....isn't that what insurance is all about. Insurance company bets that (a) I will have to cancel; Or (b) I bet them I will NOT have to cancel. Somehow the odds are tilting a little away from my side of the ledger sheet, it seems. :(

 

We probably will do as we always do.......choose to absorb the loss if we have to cancel a Caribbean cruise.

[Krazy Kruizers]

We always buy the insurance.

Some of our cruises are $$$$$ - so don't want to take the chance of losing big bucks if something were to go wrong the last few days before the cruise.

[gliles]

Aren't the people who were scheduled for 9/4 refunded with or without insurance? The HAL site doesn't indicate that the refund is just for those insured.

[sail7seas]

I think I recall you saying, KK, that you have had to cancel in the past and did collect on the insurance and, of course, it was great you had coverage that time.

 

We, so far, have never had to cancel. (We have not written insurance on over 40+ cruises. We have insured some that were paricularly costly and we insured some of our earlier ones when HAL had a decent system.) So.....we have saved thousands and thousands of dollars thus far in unpaid premiums. If we have to cancel a $4,000 or $5,000 Caribbean cruise, we are still way ahead financially. If we take a hit on a cruise or two because we cancel and do not have insurance and when we start to approach parity as to how much OUT of our pocket for uninsured losses versus how much IN our pocket as unpaid premiums, then we will have to evaluate what to do as to future cruises.

 

This one particular time, it is 'feeling" to me as though this hurricane season bodes nothing good. Sometimes one gets a "feeling" a "sense"....a woman's intuition and I always pay attention when I get that intuition. I do not always act but I always consider it.

 

That is where I am now and why I asked the question.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Yes we have had to cancel twice.

Once in 2000 when DH had a heart attack 3 weeks before an Australia/New Zealand cruise.

And again in 2002 when DH's mother died about a week before we were to do a cruise out of Montreal.

Never had any trouble with insurance.

[sail7seas]

Aren't the people who were scheduled for 9/4 refunded with or without insurance? The HAL site doesn't indicate that the refund is just for those insured.

 

 

Yes, Gretchen. I think you are correct as to THIS time. Who says they will do it again if there is a NEXT time? They are not required to. It is way more than they need to do.

[bookworm0911]

The reason to insure is because you, the insured, might have to cancel yourself because of illness or accident to you or your family. An act of God causing the cruiseline or airline not to be able to provide their product, such as a hurricane, or an 'event' such as terrorism is going to be refunded to you, so I would not insure because of those reasons. Insure against something that could happen to you and not something that would affect the cruiseline itself.

[Krazy Kruizers]

And HAL will still have a lot of work tomorrow - some people may not be able to fly our right away - planes have to first get to the airports. And then some people may have to stay overnight in a hotel until they can get a flight home - more arrangements HAL has to make.

Then there are a lot of Floridians who take buses from various cities to the cruise ship - buses have to be brought in - more arrangments.

Some roads may still be washed out.

Some areas may not have electricity.

Problems - Problems - HAL still has a lot of work.

And they are being very generous.

[Tatka]

We've never bought insurance, and had non-refundable tickets but after this hurricane season I am re-thinking this...Or maybe in the future I won't be buying cruises during bad season.

 

I agree that after so many storms and hurricanes you , sail7seas, should be alright in October...plus you have refundable air, and HAL is offering very good refunds for the cruise itself.