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cole
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We are interested in learning if anyone purchases their own travel insurance rather than purchasing it through the booking company and if they feel they can get a better price doing it themselves or not.

Cole

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I made a list of all the coverage offered by the insurance through Vantage and then went on line and compared it with all the major companies. I discovered that I could not match the same amount of coverage with any other company, including the company Vantage used! There are several factors to keep in mind: your age and general health and condition being primary and the solvency of the company you are using. For me personally, I am most interested in having to cancel at the last minute due to a health emergency or becoming incapacitated in a foreign country where I may need to be transported home on a medical evac. By comparing each item with several companies, it isn't hard to pick who gives you the most for the money. The key is to make sure you get the same or better coverage.

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We purchase independently as we book our own flights and hotels and want to cover everything. At our age, it is cheaper for us to purchase outside travel insurance and get all of the coverage we need.

 

We recently had to cancel our Christmas cruise due to illness in the family and are so grateful we had insurance to cover our significant out of pocket expenses.

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We are interested in learning if anyone purchases their own travel insurance rather than purchasing it through the booking company and if they feel they can get a better price doing it themselves or not.

Cole

I always purchase my insurance online. Lots of cruisers go to insuremytrip website and pick the policy that best fits their needs. After a severe weather incident(freak hail storm)at our connection airport at Newark in July 2009 caused our family to miss our complete Baltic cruise and precruise hotel I now use Travelguard Insurance. I do not work for and am not pushing any company , but these folks were great and although they were unable to get us to Copenhagen for our cruise they were able to get us home and we were able to recover most of our money.

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I always purchase my insurance online. Lots of cruisers go to insuremytrip website and pick the policy that best fits their needs. After a severe weather incident(freak hail storm)at our connection airport at Newark in July 2009 caused our family to miss our complete Baltic cruise and precruise hotel I now use Travelguard Insurance. I do not work for and am not pushing any company , but these folks were great and although they were unable to get us to Copenhagen for our cruise they were able to get us home and we were able to recover most of our money.

 

I noticed that Uniworld uses Allianz (which we are using for a 2014 river cruise) and their prices on line are over 1/2 of that which another river cruise company has quoted us. Think we might go with Allianz. Assume if Uniworld uses them, they should be good, but will also check Travelguard.

Thanks again,

Cole

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Can I just add my "Two Cents" do NOT under any circumstances buy travel insurance from the cruise provider.... Yes it appears at face value to be cheaper than what you can buy yourself. There is of course a very good reason for that.

Things generally NOT covered:

 

1. Pre-existing medical conditions, (think that Lipitor pill that just got adjusted to a higher dose)

Pre-existing conditions generally required coverage being purchase within 10 to 14 days of initial deposit.

(not final payment)

 

2. Usually cover the cruise only, not flights or non- refundable travel arrangements before or after the cruise.

 

3. Outside travel insurance covers from leaving your front door and having a car accident on the way to the airport.

 

4. Medical coverage overseas for hospitalization in something other than a third world country with substandard medical care... Think Former Russian States, some South America and other places in the world.

Proper coverage will get you transported and pay for care in a proper hospital.

 

5. Medical transport home! Can cost $10's of thousands of dollars.

 

6. Does not cover Bankruptcy of the cruise line you are booked with. Weird but true.

 

Remember Medicare and the vast majority of US medical insurance companies will not cover you out of the US.

Finally to get pre-existing medical coverage many if not most require you to book within 14 days and ....

 

Cover your ENTIRE trip and not just the cruise. So from leaving your front door and including all "Non-refundable" expenses. And they mean it, just read a story on Chris Elliott travel writer for many big publications of a couple who decided to not cover a ALL even though the terms of their policy had this requirement. They actually were close but a bit on the short side.. You adjust the value of your policy prior to leaving as the cost of the trip increases.

 

Sorry to be so long winded but this is a very Misunderstood travel necessity!

 

For US citizens a good place to start is reading the Cruise Critic board dedicated to Travel Insurance and then start your research at " insure my trip dot com"

 

Happy sailing! :)

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Can I just add my "Two Cents" do NOT under any circumstances buy travel insurance from the cruise provider.... Yes it appears at face value to be cheaper than what you can buy yourself. There is of course a very good reason for that.

Things generally NOT covered:

 

1. Pre-existing medical conditions, (think that Lipitor pill that just got adjusted to a higher dose)

Pre-existing conditions generally required coverage being purchase within 10 to 14 days of initial deposit.

(not final payment)

 

2. Usually cover the cruise only, not flights or non- refundable travel arrangements before or after the cruise.

 

3. Outside travel insurance covers from leaving your front door and having a car accident on the way to the airport.

 

4. Medical coverage overseas for hospitalization in something other than a third world country with substandard medical care... Think Former Russian States, some South America and other places in the world.

Proper coverage will get you transported and pay for care in a proper hospital.

 

5. Medical transport home! Can cost $10's of thousands of dollars.

 

6. Does not cover Bankruptcy of the cruise line you are booked with. Weird but true.

 

Remember Medicare and the vast majority of US medical insurance companies will not cover you out of the US.

Finally to get pre-existing medical coverage many if not most require you to book within 14 days and ....

 

Cover your ENTIRE trip and not just the cruise. So from leaving your front door and including all "Non-refundable" expenses. And they mean it, just read a story on Chris Elliott travel writer for many big publications of a couple who decided to not cover a ALL even though the terms of their policy had this requirement. They actually were close but a bit on the short side.. You adjust the value of your policy prior to leaving as the cost of the trip increases.

 

Sorry to be so long winded but this is a very Misunderstood travel necessity!

 

For US citizens a good place to start is reading the Cruise Critic board dedicated to Travel Insurance and then start your research at " insure my trip dot com"

 

Happy sailing! :)

 

You have convinced me ;). Great points and thanks for pointing them out for us.

Cole

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Can I just add my "Two Cents" do NOT under any circumstances buy travel insurance from the cruise provider.... Yes it appears at face value to be cheaper than what you can buy yourself. There is of course a very good reason for that.

Things generally NOT covered:

 

1. Pre-existing medical conditions, (think that Lipitor pill that just got adjusted to a higher dose)

Pre-existing conditions generally required coverage being purchase within 10 to 14 days of initial deposit.

(not final payment)

 

2. Usually cover the cruise only, not flights or non- refundable travel arrangements before or after the cruise.

 

3. Outside travel insurance covers from leaving your front door and having a car accident on the way to the airport.

 

4. Medical coverage overseas for hospitalization in something other than a third world country with substandard medical care... Think Former Russian States, some South America and other places in the world.

Proper coverage will get you transported and pay for care in a proper hospital.

 

5. Medical transport home! Can cost $10's of thousands of dollars.

 

6. Does not cover Bankruptcy of the cruise line you are booked with. Weird but true.

 

Remember Medicare and the vast majority of US medical insurance companies will not cover you out of the US.

Finally to get pre-existing medical coverage many if not most require you to book within 14 days and ....

 

Cover your ENTIRE trip and not just the cruise. So from leaving your front door and including all "Non-refundable" expenses. And they mean it, just read a story on Chris Elliott travel writer for many big publications of a couple who decided to not cover a ALL even though the terms of their policy had this requirement. They actually were close but a bit on the short side.. You adjust the value of your policy prior to leaving as the cost of the trip increases.

 

Sorry to be so long winded but this is a very Misunderstood travel necessity!

 

For US citizens a good place to start is reading the Cruise Critic board dedicated to Travel Insurance and then start your research at " insure my trip dot com"

 

Happy sailing! :)

Agree, but #5 may cost even hundreds of thousands of dollars for medical transport to U.S. for treatment or returning of a deceased person. We usually pay for an upgrade of this . Also many cruise line policies provide a new cruise,but not the return of your money. Heck, I have told my wife to just have me cremated and bring me home in a jar if I bite the dust overseas. Much less expensive. icon10.gif

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I will second all of the above responses. It is best to get your policy from a 3rd party vendor. Make sure that the amount you are insuring for is more than your actual costs. As mentioned, if your trip cost is $5725 but you have only insured for $5700 - the entire claim can be denied as not having sufficient coverage. I usually insure for at least $200 over my costs - I figure this includes checked baggage fee, transfers,etc.

 

As mentioned, it is also important to get your travel insurance very soon after placing the initial deposit to get pre-existing condition coverage. Just make sure to increase the amount of coverage as you purchase plane tickets, make final payment, etc.

 

Some plans offer cancel for any reason coverage - but this tends to be more expensive. Once you have a policy, or are thinking about getting one, make sure you read all of the details to see what is and what isn't covered. When there was a lot of unrest in Egypt a while ago, there was a period when the US State Dept. did not issue a travel warning to Egypt. Without this, some policies did not cover cancellation. Other policies specifically won't cover acts of terrorism.

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Agree, but #5 may cost even hundreds of thousands of dollars for medical transport to U.S. for treatment or returning of a deceased person. We usually pay for an upgrade of this . Also many cruise line policies provide a new cruise,but not the return of your money. Heck, I have told my wife to just have me cremated and bring me home in a jar if I bite the dust overseas. Much less expensive. icon10.gif

 

Believe it or not, a friend of a friend had that happen while her husband was in Germany and that is how he returned to the US! :eek:

Cole

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Thanks everyone for all of the excellent advice. It looks like you helped several with your responses.;)

Cole

Many thanks to you all. I've used the insuremytrip.com site for our other travels and based on a quick look it appears I'll be using them for our Christmas Market cruise next year.

FM

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  • 2 weeks later...

We've found http://www.squaremouth.com a good resource for comparing several travel insurance companies. We've had good luck with purchasing thrugh them for our river cruises with reasonable prices. Be sure to check on reimbursement levels for medical, pre-existing conditions, etc. Don't settle for vouchers from the cruise company insurance instead of cash reimbursement.

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