RCI insurance vs. others

okay, DH and I were discussing our stupid decision last night to forego the insurance offered by RCI.

But thanks to all of my new RCI friends sharing their experiences and troubles :D ........we are definately going to add insurance for our trip.

Can we do this through RCI now...even though we have already booked?

How do they figure the cost of your insurance? Is it a certain percentage of your total?

Are there other companies (reputable - that you have personally used before) that you can get the insurance through that is cheaper?

Would you choose RCI's insurance or another company if the other was cheaper?

I am new, so I apologize for all teh questions, but I don't know anything about this! :eek:

I use STATRAVEL.com, they are a student travel site but insure anyone. The policy is very comprehensive and when I got hurt on the cruise. they paid up within a couple of weeks.

There are a ton to pick from, go to insuremytrip.com for a comprehensive list. I don't buy the insurance until final payment, but that is a personal choice. RCCL is pretty expensive in comparison to third party companies.

I'm sure you can add insurance, especially if you just booked! And yes, it's a percentage of the cost of the trip.

The only real downside to the RCI insurance will be if RCI goes belly-up! Then, the insurance wouldn't be able to pay! But, as long as RCI remains solvent, then the insurance should meet your needs.

Okay If RCI goes belly up you don't have a cruise anymore and any travel insurance company can go belly up. I don't know that the ones on the internet have to comply with the same laws as a traditional insurance company. We have used RCI becuase the cost has been equal to others we have found who have been in business and are incorporated in the USA. Some of the difference could be age as some travel insurance company raise the rate based on age. RCI is not age dependant. Shop around but don't wait too long as some insurance carriers have pre-exisiting clauses.

We take Cruise Care from RCCL as it meets our needs. I have priced a few others and compared Cruise care with others for everything they cover and Cruise care has been the most reasonable but I have not priced or compared all policys yet so there may be others out there such as the one mentioned above. It's important to compare policys and not just the cost as travel insurance can vary on what it covers and the amount it covers to and limitations and exclusions. Either way its always good to have travel insurance as many U.S. health insurance companies will not cover or will not cover all costs if you are injured or become ill outside the U.S. The trip cancellation, lost luggage coverages, etc. is good also of course.:) You can just call RCCL or your TA to arrange insurance for your cruise.

We also took the RCI insurance. Did not really find anything else much cheaper, and since it has been a long time since I booked, I would have the pre-existing condition thing to deal with if I changed, so I am leaving it will RCI since I took that at the same time I booked. This is the first year we took insurance, but as we are getting older and DH had a slight heart attack last year, we figured it is time to start getting it.

Your decision to forgo insurance isn't necessarily "stupid." It's all a matter of how much financial risk you are willing to assume if something goes wrong and either prevents you from taking your cruise or results in catastrophic medical expenses that might not be covered by your existing health insurance.

We don't usually buy trip insurance at this point because we are willing to assume the risk of losing some portion or all of our cruise fare if we have to cancel after final payment has been made. More importantly, we have health insurance that covers us internationally, including the cost of medical evacuation to the United States from a foreign port.

When we do buy insurance, we have found that RCI's coverage suits our needs best because of the "cancel for any reason" coverage that will give us a 75% credit toward a future cruise if we cancel for an uncovered reason and because at our ages (50s) the policy tends to be less expensive than the competitors as RCI charges the same price (about 10% of the base cruise fare) for everybody.

Obviously, your risk tolerance, ages and other factors will likely be different from ours, but it's not always "stupid" not to purchase insurance. You need to do your own risk/reward analysis and then decide.

Not that you asked about any of that, LOL.

Yes, you can still purchase the insurance from RCI up until final payment. Pre-existing conditions (say you or a parent has a heart condition) won't be covered by the policy. From what I've read on CC, the other companies often allow 15 days from the initial booking to purchase coverage, which will apply to pre-existing conditions.

As for RCI going bellyup, RCI doesn't write the policy as they are not an insurance company - they contract it out (can't remember the name of the company). The policy does not cover cruiseline (or airline) insolvency, as I recall. I'm not sure that the independent companies' policies cover it, either, but haven't done sufficient research.

Good luck, welcome to Cruise Critic, and happy sailing!

Okay If RCI goes belly up you don't have a cruise anymore and any travel insurance company can go belly up. I don't know that the ones on the internet have to comply with the same laws as a traditional insurance company. .

Any company marketing a travel insurance plan has to register with your state's department of insurance, has to comply with all of your state's regulations, and is subject to all of your state's enforcement/compliance capabilities.

The major third-party insurers are all backed by a reputable underwriter. For example, all of the plans on insuremytrip are A.M. Best rated "Excellent" or higher. Remember, after 9/11 devastated the travel industry several cruise lines went belly-up. No travel insurers did.

We also buy our travel insurance from STA - good rates, well-rounded coverage and backed by a reputable company (BerkelyCare, might even be the same underwriter used by RCCL?).

We've used them since our youngest got involved with foreign exchange about 5 years ago. Haven't ever had to file a claim, but Sue L and others here have mentioned some positive experiences when using the coverage.

Yes, you have to buy within 14 days of your initial vacation payment to be covered for pre-existing conditions by STA's policy.

Dave

Critterchick,

I believe that Royal Caribbean's insurance does cover pre-existing conditions as long as the insured has not had a change of treatment for the condition within the 60 days prior to purchasing the insurance.

Another vote for STA. We used to use insure my trip, but found STA has more coverage for less money. And, yes, my dad got insurance thru RCCL and it was Berkeley, the same that STA uses.

We used to travel without insurance, but now it's just not our health, it's others. We won't travel without it. You can go to their website to get the insurance.

Check it out.

Go to insuremytrip.com You can make a comparison with all the different companies and see what they cover. Their rates are cheaper than what RCI offers. We always use CSA and have had to file a claim twice with them and always go reimbused in a timely manner. Once we got stuck in Miami for 3 days due to a major snowstorm in NY and our hotel, food, rental car was covered for the 3 day delay and another time our son got sick and we sent in the bill from the ships's doctor and was reimbursed in full. Its well worth the money.