How many cruise without travel insurance

Thanks for the suggestions above. Someone mentioned USAA and as we are members I used their referral discount. The quote was definitely cheaper than the others I found so I went with them. USAA has never steered us wrong.

We usually use travel Guard to insure for medical evacuation and cancellation. For our last planned cruise, we used USAA. We had to cancel because of illness twice; once with each policy. Both were great and timely in getting us a refund and making us whole. USAA was more of a stickler for ALL paperwork, even though they had the requested info on another sheet, but that's what they needed so we complied. As I said, both companies made us whole. We would never travel without medical insurance( Medicare doesn't pay outside the US) evacuation would be way too expensive, and we've needed cancellation too.

We do a lot of travel and cruising, and buying trip insurance would just not make much sense. In any one year we spend at least 70 days on cruise ships and the cost of just insuring cruises (not considering our trips on land) makes little sense. We do purchase an Annual Travel Medical Policy (only $350 a year for both of us) which provides $250,000 of Medical coverage and $500,000 of Med Evacuation coverage. As to cancellation, we simply self-insure and are willing to take the risk of losing out because we have to cancel. By not having bought typical trip insurance we are now ahead by over $100,000 which is the least amount we have saved by NOT buying trip insurance over the past 40 years. If we had to cancel a trip and lost $10-$20,000 we would still be well ahead.

 

Insurance is about risk and each person needs to carefully assess the risk they are willing to take versus the cost of defraying some or all of the risk. We also warn most folks that most of the cruise line Trip Policies are woefully inadequate in terms of Medical coverage. Keep in mind that it does not take a lot of medical issues to quickly run-up a $50-$100,000 bill. We think that anyone who travels without at least $100,000 in medical coverage (many have this kind of coverage from their normal med plans) is taking a huge risk. And those on Medicare need to understand that Medicare pays ZERO for medical coverage outside the USA.

 

Hank

You know Hank, I am more concerned about medical evacuation/coverage than losing the cruise money. If I traveled as much as you I would do what you do too. I do not think we have ever spent $20,000 on a cruise either. The most we have spent is $9000.

I've been considering the pros and cons of getting the CruiseCare insurance for me (58) my mother (80), and my brother (50). Mom has Medicare and is in general good health for someone her age. My brother and I have medical insurance through our jobs.

So I'm thinking our medical is already taken care of?

As far as protecting our cruise and airline costs, I wouldn't want to lose out on $3,000+ apiece. $160 doesn't seem like all that much, maybe there's cheaper ones out there.

But I kept seeing posts here talking about being self-insured. I don't understand what that means. Could someone explain?

Edit: I just noticed the post that says Medicare won't cover outside the US. Hmmm, so maybe we need that for mom but not me & brother?

Depends on where I travel

Some local ones I will not get Insursnce but otherwise always do

Suggest you double check your work one that it covers you

With your mums age would be highly dangerous without insurance

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

We didn't buy it for our 1st because we weren't "in the know" so to speak. I did for our 2nd because it was a longer and more expensive cruise with flights included and if something happened I didn't want to lose the cost.

I have for last and our next one and are now aware of the issue of med. evac costs too and want to avoid that expense. Like others, better safe than sorry. I typically use TravelGuard as well.

I've been considering the pros and cons of getting the CruiseCare insurance for me (58) my mother (80), and my brother (50). Mom has Medicare and is in general good health for someone her age. My brother and I have medical insurance through our jobs.

So I'm thinking our medical is already taken care of?

 

As far as protecting our cruise and airline costs, I wouldn't want to lose out on $3,000+ apiece. $160 doesn't seem like all that much, maybe there's cheaper ones out there.

 

But I kept seeing posts here talking about being self-insured. I don't understand what that means. Could someone explain?

 

Edit: I just noticed the post that says Medicare won't cover outside the US. Hmmm, so maybe we need that for mom but not me & brother?

Self insure means that you're willing to eat the costs yourself (not have any insurance).

Medicare does not cover outside the US. And once you board a ship, you are considered "outside the US". And I'd suggest that you check your own policies. Many US health plans don't cover out of country. Some do, but not much.

"General good health" really doesn't mean a lot. Many things happen to totally healthy people. People slip and fall onboard frequently (remember the floor is in constant motion, and often slippery). I know of one family (Mom, Dad and 2 kids) who had to leave the ship (in Mexico) due to an appendicitis attack (one of the kids). If they hadn't had insurance the costs would have been way out of what I would want to pay. Evacuation costs can exceed $50,000 from some parts of the world.

Leaving the US I personally would not travel without insurance.

I want to focus on the concept of self-insuring. It is quite simple. The question of whether to purchase any insurance or not is simply a matter of risk versus price. If I offer you $10,000 of insurance for a $10,000 premium that covers everything up to $10,000 most would say it would be a stupid purchase. If I offer you a $5000 travel policy for $500 is that a good deal? Some would say yes, and others would say we will just "self insure" by not buying any insurance and taking the risk.

When I talk about travel insurance I like to break it into several parts. There is cancellation insurance which covers some or all of your cost of purchasing the trip. Your liability is limited to the cost of your trip...period. We are willing to "self insure" our cancellation cost which means we are risking losing all the advance money we pay for a trip (cruise cost, air, etc). Our reasoning is that we can obviously afford to lose the cost of the trip (because we are going to spend that money whether we take the trip or not) so we are willing to gamble which saves us an insurance premium that can often exceed 7% of the trip cost.

Another type of insurance is Medical and this is my pet peeve. Unless you happen to have medical insurance that gives you excellent international coverage (this is rare for most US insurance) you potential liability for medical is unlimited. You would run up a million dollar medical bill and how would you pay? Unlike the limited liability of trip cancellation, your medical liability is a game breaker. IMHO nobody should travel without some kind of decent international medical coverage. Most Trip Insurance policies (especially those sold by cruise lines) are woefully inadequate when it comes to medical coverage. Folks will pay hundreds of dollars for Trip Insurance that only offers $10,000 of medical coverage. So you have covered the loss related to your trip cost, but what happens if you have a major medical issue and incur $100,000 of medical expenses (not hard these days). You would be covered for the cost of your trip, and $10,000 of med, and you would have a $90,000 out of pocket expense. An annual Travel Medical Policy for $250,000+ is relatively cheap (less then $400 per year for most couples).

And then we have Trip Evacuation Insurance. This covers the transportation (and other related costs) of getting you back home in the case of a major emergency. If you have a heart attack in Tunesia you are going to want evacuation to somewhere in Europe for treatment...and this can mean a chartered Air Ambulance. Most Trip Evacuation policies will cover at least $100,000 of expenses which is probably enough...but many will give you $500,000 or more since they rarely have to pay a claim of more then $50,000. This type of coverage is included in many Trip Policies as well as Travel Med Policies. There are also some excellent annual Med Evacuation policies that offer more options then the typical insurance offered by other insurers.

I want to again emphasize that Medicare does not provide any medical coverage once you are outside the USA (with the exception of traveling across the Canada to get to Alaska) although there is coverage on a cruise ship within 6 hours of a US Port (this is complicated). Some Medicare Supplemental policies provide limited international coverage...but most do not! And the provided coverage can be several limited by several clauses so one must carefully read (and understand) the fine print.

Hank

Thank you Shmoo. My 'in good health' I just meant she isn't teetering on the brink. I do understand *stuff* happens, regardless of age and health. I was just puzzled about the term self-insured and you kindly answered that. :-)

Thank you Hank for a comprehensive explanation of more pros/cons. I tried to read what my own health plan covered for foreign incidences, but the online info was vague, so I'll call tomorrow.

I'll be getting it for sure for Mom, since Medicare won't be of use.

Thanks again to both for your input.

We have been traveling and crusing since l982, have over 50 cruises, never took out insurance til 2 years ago. We are both in good health but since my DH is 82 and I am 67 finally decided we needed to take out insurance for medical and evacuation since we travel internationally and Medicare does not cover anything outside the US.

We have used Travel Guard thru our TA for the past two years. Just purchased a policy for our October trip, this time the costs had gone up a lot because it was age based. Given the current costs, I am going to research insurance options before I purchase it again. Once again, we only wanted medicl/evac coverage, so we purchased the package from our TA based on our air fare costs only, still very expensive. Like to base insurance on airfare, then it covers us the entire time we are out of the country. Don't insure the cruise.

We are not really trying to buy cancellation insurance, only medical and emergency evacation to play it safe.

If I can find an annual policy would prefer to purchase over individual trip insurance. We generally travel 2 times a year about 3 weeks each. But sometimes we book a cruise then change our minds, cancel well in advance of final payment. So an annual plan would be better if I can find one I can afford.

In all the years we have travelled never had any medical emergencies beyond a ear infection and an insect bite.

It is great that you've been fortunate all these years.

I just bit the bullet and purchased the CruiseCare for Mom. I saw a few people mention something about 15 days from Deposit date. So my brother put a courtesy hold on these rooms late one night, then a day and half later put down the deposit. Our confirmations are showing hers as being Booked on July 09 and mine July 10, even though we paid deposit on July 12. So now I don't know if we are still within that 15 days.

Only reason I can think of for hers to be one day before mine is if he held one at 11:59pm and the other at 12:00am type of thing. Would hate to think we just barely missed it by 30 seconds. Sigh.

We always buy it, and hope we never need to use it. We both have elderly parents and the peace of mind is worth the cost for us.

DH and I haven't bought travel insurance in the 16 years we've been together, but we're getting older (he's 75 and I'm 61) and I may get it next time. DH says his Medicare supplement will cover outside of the US, but I'd want to look into that, and I know that traditional medical coverages won't pay anything for evacuation, having to stay later at your destination till you're healthy enough to travel, maybe having to fly home in Business Class, etc. I'm just as vulnerable as DH because I do silly things like go out jogging in local parks or go snorkeling in 42-degree water.

We had a bit of a scare on our last cruise; DH had an attack of gout more severe that I've ever seen and we were on a small ship in Alaska's Inside Passage. Fortunately, it was the night before our ONE stop in a populated port (most of the time we anchored in the middle of nowhere). The Captain got the name of a medical clinic near the dock in Klawock (pop. 854!) and we got an appointment that AM. They took good care of him and we took a taxi to the next town to get his prescription and were back on the boat in plenty of time. Phew. And of course Medicare applied since we were in the US. It was, however, a scary reminder that things could have been much worse.

Regarding the question about finding an annual Travel Med policy, we are happy with our Annual Travel Med policy issued by GeoBlue ( part of Blue Shield). This particular policy costs us $349 a year (total cost to cover both DW and moi) and gives us $250,000 of medical and $500,000 of evacuation. this policy covers the first 70 days of each and every trip we take during the policy year. It does not include and cancellation coverage.

Just about anyone can buy this policy online. There are some other similar annual policies such as one offered by AMEX to their card holders.

Hank

Sent from my iPad using Forums

When we were younger and our trips weren't as costly and my mother wasn't in a nursing home, we sometimes didn't get insurance.

Now, I'll even spring for insurance for relatively inexpensive concert tickets if it's available!

Our cruises have gotten pricier and our circumstances have gotten dicier.

Hence, yes to the insurance!

Regarding the question about finding an annual Travel Med policy, we are happy with our Annual Travel Med policy issued by GeoBlue ( part of Blue Shield). This particular policy costs us $349 a year (total cost to cover both DW and moi) and gives us $250,000 of medical and $500,000 of evacuation. this policy covers the first 70 days of each and every trip we take during the policy year. It does not include and cancellation coverage.

 

Just about anyone can buy this policy online. There are some other similar annual policies such as one offered by AMEX to their card holders.

 

Hank

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

Does that mean it would cover, say, 140 days if you have two trips that are over 70 days long? Or is it the first 70 days every year (cumulative)?

Just about anyone can buy this policy online. There are some other similar annual policies such as one offered by AMEX to their card holders.

I actually did go to the Amex site to see what they had about Travel Insurance. It just had a message saying they are currently not accepting applications for it at this time. Hmmm.

We self insure for everything but medical evac. The money we have saved over the years is more than enough to absorb the loss from canceling a cruise.

The Oceania board has a great thread going right now about the included trip cancellation benefit which is part of the Chase Sapphire card (if you use it to charge the trip).

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2073936

The United Explorer Chase card also includes cancellation insurance. We have the card, so we only buy a medical with evacuation for trips.

I didn't read through the middle section of posts, so I'm sorry if this was mentioned, but for those that might now realize, travel insurance will also cover certain things that happen prior to cruise as well as things that happen to your immediate family members prior to or during the cruise (it's not just for you while you're on the cruise/trip). But you must check your specific policy!!!

For example, maybe you are booked on a 2 week Med cruise, with flights, hotels, the whole shabang and your sister suddenly passes away back home. Certain trip insurance policies will cover the cost of the flights/cruise that you can't get refunded (if, for example, she passes prior to the cruise).

I have a real life example of travel insurance in use.... My Ex and I were booked on a cruise with another couple (our reservations were linked). We both took out the coverage. We were in excellent health, early 20s. However, the day before the cruise, my friends were hit head on by a drunk driver and had to spend the next 3 weeks in the hospital. Not only did the insurance cover the cost of their missed cruise and flights, but because our reservation was linked with theirs (and we had insurance as well) we could have chosen to not go on the cruise and be reimbursed (after much deliberations and at the insistence of our friends, we went on the cruise the next day)

For some people, eating the cost of airfare/cruise fare isn't much of a hardship. For me, it is. I only get to cruise every couple of years after saving my pennies. For my personal peace of mind, I am more than happy to pay $150-200 for the travel insurance. But it really is a personal decision.... to each their own :)

Melissa

Does that mean it would cover, say, 140 days if you have two trips that are over 70 days long? Or is it the first 70 days every year (cumulative)?

It is the first 70 days of each trip. In theory you could take five different 70 day trips in a policy year and have coverage for each trip. In our case, 2 years ago we spent 101 days cruising on three different cruises plus spent our usual 2 months in Mexico....and all were covered by that single policy. I do recommend that you go on their web site where you can read or download all the fine print. When it comes to insurance one should always read every word of a policy and not trust what anyone says....which is not binding. If you still have questions call or e- mail the insurance company and make sure that any answer is in writing.

Hank

Sent from my iPad using Forums

We always buy it and some credit cards have it as well ..

Always have medical insurance, as those costs could end up being tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars. Even ordinary things like a slip or a spill could end up with an injury and a huge bill - it's not about being in poor health or doing risky activities.

I don't have any other type of trip insurance, since the financial loss in those situations is slight, given the risk (IMO). I'm happy to risk a grand or two that something might or might not happen, but not to risk 10 or 20 grand.

Our last cruise, I woke up extremely sick (vomiting all day) 3 days before we set sail. I was better before the pre-boarding health screening time frame, but if it had been one day later, I would have missed the cruise.

Then our 9:00 am flight to San Francisco was cancelled. It was a very small airport (only one xray machine for TSA) and the next flight wasn't until 3 pm, which meant we would miss our connecting flight from SFO to Seattle, where we would board the next day. It was Friday of Labor Day weekend. They checked for alternate flights with other airlines and nearby airports and said ALL flights to Seattle were full. The only option they gave us was to fly from San Francisco to Denver, then standby from Denver to Seattle and *hope* there was room on the flight for both of us. We decided to try to drive to San Francisco. We made the flight, but only because we were frequent flyers with the airline and could use the premier line. The regular line was LONG! We also got to go through the premier line at TSA. The regular line was long. AND our connecting flight was 15 minutes late. We barely made the flight. If any factor had delayed us even 5 minutes, we would have missed the flight and would have missed our cruise.

I won't ever book without insurance!

17 Cruises completed = NO INSURANCE.

5 cruises booked = NO INSURANCE.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app