Cruise Insurance: Matter which one?

Last time I sailed, I bought the cruise lines insurance package (RCI). This time the agent (Orbitz) sold me insurance through Berkley Travel. There seem to be lots of others....does it matter which insurer? Are there big differences in benefits and costs? I am paying $55 per person for a 7 night Carribbean, and it will cover my flights, which I am getting via frequent flyer miles.

Yes it does matter. Check the various rates and what they give you. Barkley is the cruise lines choice most often. Check Insuremytrip. com. There are others with better coverage, make sure you have medical evac etc. You will probly have to stick with the insurance now if you are beyond the 14 day marker but you should reaerch all parts of your trip. At least you have insurance.

Hopfully a Hawiian Cruise

[img]http://escati.linkopp.net/cgi-bin/countdown.cgi?trgb=000000&srgb=00ff00&prgb=4169e1&cdt=2006;12;5;11;00;00&timezone=GMT-0500[/img] Until we sail away on the ocean blue



Navigator of the Seas Western Crib 08/03
Dawn Princess - Eastern Carb
Dawn Princess Panamal Canal

We were supposed to sail on the Summit Feb 2nd sailing.Thank goodness we had the insurance,I herniated a disc in my back and had to have surgery. We went thru Berkley. We rescheduled-for the April,5th sailing. It was important that we had insurance that covered a pre-exhisting cause...just in case.We were very happy with Berkley-they gave us our money back no problem.

cmason,

One thought to remember, if you book insurance through the cruise line and the cruise line goes belly-up, so does the insurance. This is not likely on the big lines but it has happened a couple of times.

Bibb

From the North banks of the Piscataqua.

[B][I]<font color="red>Test</font>[/I][/B]

More food for thought. The last time I saw the numbers, I believe five years ago 62% of the surveyed passengers had cruise insurance and last year the number was down to under 40%. We have been on eleven cruises and have never purchased insurance. You'll see some replies to this thread from people who really benefited from insurance coverage. But remember, for every one of those there are thousands who didn't need it. Insurance is a numbers game. The reason it appears so cheap is because of the staggering odds against having to use it. My personal opinion on insurnace is it should be used for those catastrophies in life that could alter your lifestyle unless you hedge the risk. Loss of life, home and auto are my risks. If I lost a couple thousand on non-refundable cruise expenses, so be it. Now, keep in mind everyones situation is different. My health insurance covers things like medvac helicopter rides, health care in foreign countries, etc.

Peter

The best description of what to look for in deciding which policy to buy is at [url="http://www.travelinsurance-info.com"]http://www.travelinsurance-info.com[/url]

They really lay out what to look for and what to avoid in the major policies.

Another factor to look into when purchasing trip insurance is to make sure this policy is in first position. A lot of the policies require you to make a claim with your homeowners insurance first, which isn't something you want to do these days.

[img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_cool.gif[/img] I like the peace of mind the insurance provides, because, you never know. I feel it's a small investment, ESPECIALLY since we're cruising during hurricane season. Isabel was just last year and like my mother always says "Better safe than sorry".

Have a great cruise!

Karen [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif[/img]
Karen

Carnival Miracle 10/24/04
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Well for us there is no question. A cruise is allot of money for us. When we had to cancel due to my surgery, if we didnt have the insurance that would have been it.The money we saved for our trip would have gone to the cruise line and we would have missed out on a fabulous time. For us the several hundred dollars we spent on insurance was certainly cheaper then the 4,000 we would have lost. So i guess allot of it depends if you can afford the money loss or not to take a chance

[quote name='cruiseco']The best description of what to look for in deciding which policy to buy is at [url="http://www.travelinsurance-info.com/"]http://www.travelinsurance-info.com[/url]

They really lay out what to look for and what to avoid in the major policies.[/QUOTE]

Nice site, thanks sooo much. While insuremytrip.com has good information, it does tend to the legalese. This has some great info in plain english

I'v always gotten insurance threw CSA. My TA also advised me about buying with in the cruise line. I get some of my airline tickets with MBNA travel rewards points and was told the insurance doesn't cover them, not sure of the other companys. So I don't add them in the trip total. I thought I read above someone used frequent flier miles, might want to check on that one.

[quote name='cmason']Last time I sailed, I bought the cruise lines insurance package (RCI). This time the agent (Orbitz) sold me insurance through Berkley Travel. There seem to be lots of others....does it matter which insurer? Are there big differences in benefits and costs? I am paying $55 per person for a 7 night Carribbean, and it will cover my flights, which I am getting via frequent flyer miles.[/QUOTE]

You should VERIFY that is does cover your frequent flyer flights. I do not know of any insurance that will cover this.l

There are differences between insurance policies. Some do not cover bankrupcy of the tour or cruise companies. Others, like Access America, only cover certain companies for bankrupcy and they only cover American based airlines. Others, will not cover certain airlines for different acts - for example, Travelguard will not cover strikes on Alitalia. Some will waive preexisting conditions if you purchase the insurance within 14 days of the trip deposit. Others will not waive conditions for which you have submitted a claim in the previous six months. Policies purchased from the cruise line will not usually cover preexisting conditions and will not cover you, should the cruise line default. It is important to read the fine print. I usually look at the web site [url]www.insuremytrip.com[/url] and compare the policies - specifically for bankrupcy protection and preexisting condition policies.

As someone stated earlier, some are secondary and some are primary coverage. I've used Travelex in the past because it was "primary" coverage, ie., they pay first. But so far have been lucky to not have to use it.

If you want to read something interesting, check out a claims form for lost luggage. They want to know what the price was, when you bought it, and do you have a receipt for each item, then they pay a percentage. Sure, I kept all the receipts for my underwear I bought last year.