We should have got insurance...

[DesertDogs]

In the future, we will buy trip cancellation/trip interruption insurance, but having just pulled out our private medical insurance, we're covered for that for our trip. Plus we have life insurance through work and our AmEx card. (If something happens to us, our kids are SET.) So travel insurance would just be duplicating coverage I already have in that respect. But the accident did suddenly make me realize we need trip cancellation insurance next time!

 

Robin

 

Robin - Does your private medical insurance cover medical evacuation oustide the US? If not, you might also consider that. I think you can get an annual policy if you travel frequently.

[iflyrc5]

Just tried to get a quote from TruTravel but they don't cover residents from certain states and Indiana is one of them. Oh well:confused:

[Zeta3]

We are healthy in our 30s and we get travel insurance because you may need it due to things that have nothing to do with you at all. We ended up having to use our travel insurance because we were on a cruise that had a passenger with a medical emergency that caused us to turn back to port which resulted in arriving back into port for debarkation nearly 7 hours late. We (along with most of the passengers on the ship) missed our flights home. This was right before Christmas so we luckily were able to find 3 one way tickets for a cost of nearly $900. We bought the tickets, sent in our claim and were promptly reimbursed the entire amount.

[dcsam]

I think many assume they don't need insurance because they (the travelers) are in good health. However, we buy it in case we have to leave our vacation early due to an emergeny at home (i.e., ailing immediate relatives)

[Benita]

We are fairly young (40s) and healthy. Unfortunately, our parents are not. My father died the day we were supposed to leave on one cruise. Without insurance, we would have been out the price of the cruise - no big deal as we were able to afford the cruise in the first place.

The second time we used the insurance was the biggie and convinced me we would always take it. We were on a cruise with my father-in-law and he suffered a massive GI bleed and needed to be evacuated to a hospital in Jamaica. Between ambulances, hospital stays, hotel stays for my mother-inlaw and us and flights back to the US, the bills were close to $20000. If he needed air evacuation, it would have been about $25000 more and if it were air evacuation from Europe, it might have been triple that. Now we are talking serious bucks.

If you want to self insure, that is fine, but at least buy an air evacuation policy. Check with AMEX - they may cover that, but make sure that a policy would allow you to be flown home, not just to the nearest facility.

[bigwally]

Ever since my son's incident we both agree to a 1 week pre-cruise moratorium on motorcycling, mountain biking, skateboarding, etc. and I drive to work instead of riding. Even though we insure our trips it would be sad to miss a vacation!

 

I completely agree. I even go as far as to quit working on (and under) my cars, climbing ladders to trim trees and wash windows, etc.... I'd even go as far as to say that I drive more carefully. In effect, I wrap myself in bubble wrap for the preceeding couple of weeks. I nearly always have trip insurance these days but, after waiting almost a year for the break sometimes, I would MUCH rather go on my vacation than collect the insurance payoff!

[Growler]

Most of what I want to say on this thread has been said already, but because I've recently been in the position of having to actually CLAIM on insurance, someone else reading this might just be sensible enough to buy insurance now instead of 'taking the risk'.

 

I'm looking at my policy as I type, and here's some highlights of the level of cover. Cancellation, £6000. Emergency medical (including medevac if neccessary) £10M, yes Million. Personal Accident, £50,000. Personal Liability, £2M, yes Million.

 

That's just for starters, and how much do I pay for this insurance.....

 

......the princely sum of £140 per year. As many trips as I like, as long as none are over 45 days.

 

The claim I've just made was due to my wife suffering a brain haemorrhage/stroke 15 days before we were due to sail (she was perfectly healthy, and in her late forties). The claim came to £6,400.00, but could have easily been into the hundreds of thousands had she suffered her stroke in the US (we were booked on a New England/Canada cruise).

 

Please folks, it simply is not worth the risk - ALWAYS BUY INSURANCE.. Events such as that which happened to my DW come out of the blue, and cannot be anticipated. £140 was nothing compared to the potential loss of our house, pension and savings. YMMV.

 

Tim

[wander]

In the past and friend and I were going on a 21 day cruise. We were in our 40s and healthy and never before had insurance. Because of situations with all four of our parents we decided to get insurance "in case" a problem arose. Well, a problem did but now with our parents. THREE days before departure she went to the Doctor due to a new, fairly severe pain in her lower back. You guessed it, gall stones, a first for her. HOWEVER, while doing an ultrasound the next day the radiologist noticed something else that was wrong.

The upshot was that two days before our departure she learned she had cancer that needed surgery ASAP. So, the trip was off. The insurance was WONDERFUL to work with and we got every penny back quite quickly with the help of her surgeon's notes. The money we got back enabled us to go on a future cruise for no additional outlay. (Actually three because they were shorter.) We could have withstood the loss with out insurance, but we sure did enjoy the next cruises.

 

Now most of my cruising is to places outside of the US and I always get insurance for those. A 4-7 night repo. cruise, no.

 

Yes with age there may be more risk, but things can happen at any age.

[Cruisin'Lady]

my hubby checked...our medical insurance said they would cover us traveling to the Caribbean for medical if needed. Our airfare is free with alaskan airline miles...so we would not loose anything there but about $20 dollars in cash. The cruise and extra stuff, accourding to my hubby (yes he checked) are covered by our credit card. I haven't a clue to how that works but he talked to them I think. He seems definate about it.

 

So I guess its a gamble all together to not have it. Considering this is our second cruise ever and we did not have insurance the first time...I am sure we would get "bite" if we traveled every year on a cruise.

[janmcn]

I'm believer in insurance too...it's more than the cost of your trip...also medical evacuations, etc. that you are protecting. When we were in our 30's,young and healthy, we still got it...almost needed it on a cruise in the Caribbean when my husband was stabbed while we were on shore. If we hadn't made it back to the ship we would have had to have had him medivaced...costly!

 

Used the insurance when my dad became ill and died a few days later when we were within 2 days of leaving on a cruise...cancelled it with no problems.

 

It gives us peace of mind when we make our travel plans...but then there are those who don't mind taking chances...to each his own! <G>

Jan

[sail7seas]

My friend convinced me to buy insurance by putting it this way....Say you buy insurance for 20 cruises and only need it for one, financially you still come out ahead. It's all about the bottom line for me :D

 

 

Actually, your friend is probably in correct in the arithmetic.

 

If your cruise costs $5,000 and you pay $600 for insurance 20 times, how many cruises do you take before your insurance reaches $5,000 in premiums spent.

 

Answer, of course: just more than 8 cruises.

 

If you go by your friend's 20 cruise theory, if you are worried ONLY about insuring the price of cancelling your cruise, you will be out way more in premiums than you would have been if you cancelled one cruise.

 

Now, if you are talking medical evacuation.... that can be big money but can be covered very inexpensively with a wonderful yearly policy. Renews annually and the premium is very moderate. Young and healthy is not relevant to the accident where anyone call fall and break a leg etc

 

Robin..... VERY happy your DH was not hurt.

[Taxguy77]

We never insured until a friend (older, with a wife who had a medical condition) told us his story: She had some problems and had to be hospitalized halfway around the world. He stayed in the room with her one or two nights after which she was better, and they flew to the next port where they rejoined the ship. He did not need a dollar for all of that.

Since we were getting older, I thought maybe I should get insurance, and did on our next cruise, a riverboat trip which was cancelled! They gave us our money back, but the terms said' insurance is non-refundable. We had many calls regarding this, and finally they gave us free insurance on the next package through the company.:)

[Taxguy77]

We never insured until a friend (older, with a wife who had a medical condition) told us his story: She had some problems and had to be hospitalized halfway around the world. He stayed in the room with her one or two nights after which she was better, and they flew to the next port where they rejoined the ship. He did not need a dollar for all of that.

Since we were getting older, I thought maybe I should get insurance, and did on our next cruise, a riverboat trip which was cancelled! They gave us our money back, but the terms said 'insurance is non-refundable'. We had many calls regarding this, and finally they gave us free insurance on the next package through the company.:)

[PASSIONATE ABOUT CRUISING]

We've never bought trip insurance. (This will be our ninth cruise.) I don't know why. I'd read about it off and on here since I joined, I guess I just never thought it 'applied' to us since we're young-ish (late 40s) and in good health. Of course, I never worried about lost luggage before I started reading Cruise Critic, either. Sometimes ignorance IS bliss! :D

 

We leave on Sunday morning for a 22-day trip to New Zealand and Australia, including 14 days on the lovely Volendam.

 

I took the kids to dinner tonight at a favorite restaurant. My husband was trying to finish up some last-minute work so decided to meet us there. We had ordered when he called my cell phone. "I'm just outside the restaurant, and I've been hit! Send your dad out!" (My dad is a retired California Highway Patrolman.) My husband was not hurt, but he could have been. Some idiot turned left right into him! We're soooooooooo lucky it was just the car that was injured. All I could (can) think is "We shudda got insurance, we shudda got insurance, we shudda got insurance."

 

We'll be getting insurance next time! I will breathe such a sigh of relief once we're underway.

 

Robin

 

Hi Robin,

 

I'm thinking if you can afford a cruise, insurance is a must have. It's really worth paying that extra as you never know. It could save you a lot of money & heartache should you really need it. Travel with peace of mind.

 

I was only reading last week about a ship that left a Brisbane dock & was heading to the South Pacific. No sooner had it left, it was seen reversing. Fellow CCers were in the area so were curious to see why it was reversing. As it so happened, a boy had seriously injured his leg, an ambulance was called, he was seen being taken off the ship on a stretcher with the whole family in tow. That holiday ended before it even began. Hopefully the family had insurace, otherwise it was money down the drain.

 

I'm an Aussie, so I hope you enjoy visiting our shores!!!

 

Cheers,

PAC :D

[haligonian37]

I have purchased insurance through my travel agent (CAA) for every cruise I've been on but luckily never had to use it. But I'll second the "no matter how young or healthy" argument as my sister fell into that category. Her and my BIL had booked their first ever cruise, to Alaska, for this past May but a couple months before sailing she was diagnosed with cancer and had to have surgery. Thankfully her prognosis is very good (one more treatment to go) and not having to worry about losing thousands of dollars was a huge relief. The $200 they spent on insurance went a long way.....and the process was hassle free.

 

They were disappointed of course to have missed that cruise but have rectified that with a new booking on the Westerdam for the Caribbean in February!

[sail7seas]

That's one of the points I often fail to make.

 

Some folks insure their trip for $200 for two people and that is a good investment. Many years ago (a great many cruises ago), we decided to take the chance on self-insuring as we computed how many self-insured cruises it would take us until we were at 'break even' if we had to cancel.

 

Our insurance (because we book suites) was running around $800 depending upon length of cruise etc Some holiday cruises were hundreds more to insure. We are now so many thousands ahead, we 'got lucky' and find we made the right choice for us.

 

Not everyone's insurance is a small sum. Some of us get tagged with high premium because we spend so much more for the cruise. Each has to decide the risk they are comfortable absorbing. You have to decide if you can afford to self-insure and accept the risk.

 

(Again, I STRESS, we would never have done that if we didn't have world wide health insurance and separate medical evacuation. I don't care about lost baggage coverage and those sort of extra niggly extras. We are covered under other sources.)

[DesertDogs]

S7S - We also sail in suites and never even considered insurance. I knew we could live with the lose of the cruise price and never even considered the cost of medical evacuation. This is the first cruise we have insured because the cost of the cruise is more than I want to forfeit.

 

At this point we are ahead but I don't think we will book another cruise without insurance since our cruises are becoming more expensive the more we sail.

[sail7seas]

I totally understand and don't blame you in the least. There well could come a day when we will change our mind.

 

If you want excellent medical evac coverage for what we think a very reasonable annual premium, look at http://www.medjetassist.com

 

If you are eligible, AARP provides a fairly decent discount.

 

The advantage to MedJet is they bring you to the hospital of your choice which is quite unusual. With most coverage, you go where they choose to send you.

 

[sail7seas]

Desert Dogs....... I just noticed your countdown clock. Lucky you to be boarding VERY soon. Have a wonderful, safe cruise. Enjoy!

[DesertDogs]

S7s - Thanks for the info - Yes - we sail very soon, I was watching the ships depart SD today. We will be there soon! :)

 

I am packing now! :D

[kenish]

S7s - Thanks for the info - Yes - we sail very soon, I was watching the ships depart SD today. We will be there soon! :)

 

I am packing now! :D

 

Have a great cruise on Zaandam. Did you finish the bell rope?

[DesertDogs]

Have a great cruise on Zaandam. Did you finish the bell rope?

 

Yes! - The bell rope is finished. We are taking it with us and hopefully I will post a picture of it hanging from the beautiful Zaandam Bell!

[SarasMommy]

I am an only child who has no other family nearby except for a 77-year-old mother with major heart problems and diabetes. For me, purchasing insurance is a necessity.

[sail7seas]

Yes! - The bell rope is finished. We are taking it with us and hopefully I will post a picture of it hanging from the beautiful Zaandam Bell!

 

 

Bell Rope? I have a 'special interest' in the bells on the ships :) ;)........

Please share. What is your bell rope?

[DesertDogs]

Bell Rope? I have a 'special interest' in the bells on the ships :) ;)........

 

Please share. What is your bell rope?

 

My DH makes bell ropes, so earlier this year I asked for pictures of the Zaandam's Bell to determine the size. Kenish was kind enough to take pictures of the bell from their Alaska cruise so we could see the size of the bell and the rope.

 

Here is a picture of the bell rope that my DH made for the Zaandam. I will ask someone on the ship, not sure who, if we can hang it on the ship's bell. Anyone know who I should ask about this? I was going to ask the Neptune Lounge Concierge to help.

 

"A Ship's Bell Without a Bell Rope is Just Another Bell!"