insurance

We are due to cruise the Norwegian Gem on July 5th and have a question about travelers insurance. We have gone on two cruises in the past and didn't buy insurance but our travel agent is insisting we were quite risky doing that. (??) Does anyone out there have any opinions about whether it is really needed or not or what you recommend??? Any help would be great.

It's a personal decision - I never travel without "cancel for any reason" insurance. Can you afford to lose the entire cost of your cruise if you have to cancel at the last minute? If the answer is no - then you should get insurance.

And if you got hurt or ill on the ship can you afford to pay thousands and thousands of dollars to be evacuated off the ship to a hospital?

Laura

We did not have it on our first 3 cruises. On our 2nd cruise we were lucky to have been flying in the day before as we had an emergency landing in TN and spent over 5 hours at an unscheduled stop. Had we been cruising that day we would have missed the ship. On our 3rd cruise we had multiple close calls (ie cooler smashing windshield on the way to port and DF passing away 3 days after just to name 2 of them). We decided we would rather be safe than sorry starting with our 4th cruise and started purchasing insurance. On our 7th planned cruise DGM passed away the day before we were to set sail as we were driving to NY. Luckily we had insurance and could turn around go home without losing our vacation money.

Friends of ours never purchased insurance until they saw our experience. They started buying it for their cruises. Last year his DM passed away. They got word that things were going down hill fast just before they were to board the plane for their cruise. She passed away just before they got to the hospital 5 hours away. They were very relieved they had started purchasing insurance.

Do not purchase through the cruise line. They have a crazy mark up. Go through Insure My Trip .com and compare prices for what you need.

We always purchase travel insurance. We buy 3rd party insurance. We purchase it shortly after paying our deposit so that pre-existing medical conditions are covered. We buy our insurance through the trip insurance store. You can call and speak to one of their agents who will help you decide which insurance is best for you. You might also want to read the postings on the CC insurance board.

http://www.tripinsurancestore.com/index.shtml

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=635

Sometimes this topic brings up a lot of discussion but personally, we can't afford to lose the money a trip costs so we always take out cancel-for-any-reason, etc. insurance. In addition to the possibility of missing the cruise, have read lots of stories on CC about people getting hurt, etc. and needing to come home, even when young and healthy. It's a personal decision, as another poster said.

Thanks for all the advice. We decided it's better to be safe than sorry and called our travel agent to purchase the insurance.

Insurance is something that you want to lose money on. If you have to file a claim, you have almost always had a problem. Beyond that, you have to decide if you are willing to take the risk on your own family.

Chase United Airlines card has a pretty decent trip cancellation (but not for any reason) as a benefit - if you use that card to charge a portion of your trip. Adding a medical from GeoBlue, if you have huge out of network medical on your primary health insurance, might be a consideration (also has some limited flight ambulance).

Our first cruise is coming up and we got insurance. But not cancellation trip insurance. We can afford to lose the price of the cruise, it would suck but it wouldn't be the end of the world. What we don't want to be stuck with is an evac bill or a hospital bill from out of the country.

Medical and evac insurance was pretty cheap for what is covered. I doubt we would ever cruise without it.

We would only get trip insurance if we went on some expensive $5-6k+ cruise. but thats just us.

Insurance is something that you want to lose money on. If you have to file a claim, you have almost always had a problem. Beyond that, you have to decide if you are willing to take the risk on your own family.

Got very ill on a Transatlantic cruise last year. High medical bills on the ship that my insurance didn't cover. But, the insurance I took out with insure my trip dot com - covered all but $50.00

First time we used the insurance, DH's dad had a massive heart attack and surgery one week prior to sailing. He was in cardiac intensive care (for a month). We cancelled and were reimbursed 100% after filing claim including cardiac surgeon's info.

Second time, I was in Pisa in October and fell and hurt wrist and elbow. Ship doctor did xrays said it wasn't broken - badly bruised. Got a copy of report and xrays. Finished cruise, home a week and arm was feeling worse by the day. Saw orthopedic - turns out fractured both scaphoid and radial head. Fractures were present on X-ray but ship doc didn't see. In all fairness my ortho said it was easy to miss since ship doc is not ortho hand specialist. Long story short, yes my personal insurance has paid for each appt, cast, many PT sessions, elbow surgery and now more PT. All in all, we have put out approx $1900 of our own due to co-pays, deductibles, then January had to meet deductibles again. My travel insurance is paying that. Granted if I fell while not on my trip I would have to pay this. But I went on trip with peace of mind knowing I was covered for med evacuation, etc and am using this portion of the insurance.

Final time, for spring break we were booked in 2 cabins on breakaway for our family. My father in law passed away from cancer. When we booked the trip in December he was given 6-12 months. He passed early march. I did book my insurance within 1 week of cruise and called to verify if we were covered if father in law did pass since he was battling cancer. They said yes. He died march 6 th and our trip would have been march 23rd. We cancelled - sent in paperwork for claim along with death certificate and we received our refund check on Friday.

We have taken many cruises and bought the insurance each time. Most we never needed it but it was peace of mind.

We purchase our insurance through travel guard and have been very happy with the handling of our claims.

then in retrospect it seems like quite a large unnecessary expense. If you buy it and need it, then it's the best decision you ever made. I wouldn't spend much money on insurance for a cruise within the US where our own Medicare and supplemental insurance would cover us, but extra evacuation and medical coverage insurance is an absolute necessity for going out of the US.

Thanks for all the advice. We decided it's better to be safe than sorry and called our travel agent to purchase the insurance.

If your TA is buying insurance through the cruise line I would not recommend that. Instead go to insuremytrip.com and compare some of those policies. You can also phone them and ask questions. They are brokers so represent a variety of companies.

I always get travel insurance any time I leave the US. I don't get cancel for any reason as a way to keep the expense down. I have never had to use a claim, but if I did, it would probably be for a death in the family or serious health issue, which a standard policy covers.

On the river cruise I took a few years ago, two different passengers had serious health issues. One fell off a curb and broke her shoulder. She couldn't fly home commercial because of the way her arm was stabilized and had to be upgraded to First Class. Her insurance covered that as well as the hospital / x-rays, etc.

I was in Canada last year on a bus trip and one passenger ended up going to the ER or seeing a doctor on three separate days. Turned out she had a massive sinus infection but it took 3 visits to get properly diagnosed and treated so that she wasn't miserable. They had to reschedule their flight home to delay 2 days so she could recover a bit before attempting to fly. All of this was covered by their insurance. Some people think their major medical insurance from the US will cover things in Canada and this isn't the case most of the time.

I work very hard to save for all of my vacations and really can't afford to lose the entire cost if something were to go wrong. Purchasing insurance is a personal decision based on your comfort level. I always recommend at least looking at the costs at InsureMyTrip.com and then making an informed decision.

With money you have already spent, you can decide whether or not to insure it. There's no further risk other than the disappointment of spending money and getting nothing for it.

With future liabilities (Medical, principally) you need insurance in the same way as you need house insurance - in hopes that you don't have to use it.

We are due to cruise the Norwegian Gem on July 5th and have a question about travelers insurance. We have gone on two cruises in the past and didn't buy insurance but our travel agent is insisting we were quite risky doing that. (??) Does anyone out there have any opinions about whether it is really needed or not or what you recommend??? Any help would be great.

a) You insure for money that you do not want to or can not afford to loose. We buy medical and evacuation and self-insure for everything else.

b) Your travel agent can not force you to do anything. If he pushes too hard, tell that if he continues, you will fire him and book with another agent. Yours sounds like someone I would not deal with.

c) The reason that he and also cruise companies push so hard to sell things is that they all make a ton of money on the marginal items such as insurance.

d) If you do feel that you really need insurance, figure out what insurance coverage you really need and then e-mail InsureMyTrip.

DON

Ten cruises-no problems-always have purchased the insurance and never had a problem-starting to wonder if it is worth it-. Then On a previous cruise mother nature intervened and we had one of the worst snow storms in years. Despite my feverish efforts for days to get to Florida by any means possible, we sat in a hotel room and watched it snow. Several weeks later we used our cruise insurance credit and our vacation was saved. Cant imagine not having it.

Two experiences-

My wife came down with a severe respiratory infection while on a cruise. Was treated on board, then spent 3 days in a hospital before she could fly home. Insurance covered almost everything.

Last year, a week before a 30 day cruise, my wife broke her foot. We had to cancel and the insurance paid.

All it takes is one time and it will cost more than all the premiums you paid.