Vacation Protection...did you buy it?

[terjul]

Got a call from Carnival last night wanting to review the travel insurance and make sure I understand everything it covers. She said that normally 90% of the guests buy it, so I was curious, how many people actually purchase it and if so, have you ever needed it.

[gtalum]

Take a look at insuremytrip dot com. You can get better coverage for much less money.

 

Regardless how you do it, IMHO it's always a goo idea to have travel insurance when traveling out of the country.

[Ken076]

Got a call from Carnival last night wanting to review the travel insurance and make sure I understand everything it covers. She said that normally 90% of the guests buy it, so I was curious, how many people actually purchase it and if so, have you ever needed it.

 

You'll find that the third part Insurers like TravelInsured, TravelGuard, CSA, etc., offer higher coverages for a lower premium - several insure kids free with insured adults. Ken

[amillard222]

I don't buy it but I don't fly to the port. And I arrive 1 day early so I really don't see the need to buy it

[terjul]

Take a look at insuremytrip dot com. You can get better coverage for much less money.

 

 

Thank you so much for this website. I'll purchase the insurance through one of these companies. Normally we purchase through Carnival, but they can be pricey.

[gtalum]

I don't buy it but I don't fly to the port. And I arrive 1 day early so I really don't see the need to buy it

 

Trip delay and cancellation coverage is only one small part of travel insurance. The health care coverage (most US insurance policies don't cover care overseas) and emergency medical evacuation are the really important parts.

[mondello]

Got a call from Carnival last night wanting to review the travel insurance and make sure I understand everything it covers. She said that normally 90% of the guests buy it, so I was curious, how many people actually purchase it and if so, have you ever needed it.

We've cruised 4 times with 5&6 booked for Dec. Never bought any cruise insurance. I figure over a lifetime of cruising I'd probably spend more on insurance than any money I'd receive in claims. The actual premium is reasonable and probably worth it for peace of mind. We may buy it when we get older or book in hurricane season. Our Dec. B2B is the first time we booked so far in advance so, maybe now we better start considering it more. All I know is it would take a lot to make me miss a cruise.

[texasnana]

I buy it to protect ourselves. My husband is retired and has company medical insurance. Our medical insurance DOES not cover us outside of the US. If we were to get sick or hurt on the ship we would have to pay out of pocket. I want the piece of mind of safe travel. Also i like you can cancel for certain reasons. I personally want travel insurance and will always buy it out of US and even in the US if trip needs it.

[gtalum]

I figure over a lifetime of cruising I'd probably spend more on insurance than any money I'd receive in claims.

 

So I take it you don't have homeowners' or auto insurance, since this is true in those cases too?

[kayhold]

I don't buy it, but we live close to port and arrive the night before. Only a serious illness or injury would prevent us from going and the likelyhood of that happening is very, very small. Yes, it can happen, but its not likely. We don't have sick family members, we don't have issues getting time off work.

 

There is absolutely nothing that would require an immediate return home - our health insurance covers us abroad, and I'm not traveling anywhere I can't get medical care. If anything happens back home, it can wait until I get home in 5 days or under.

 

For us, it doesn't make sense and in the even we can't go, it's not a huge amount of money lost because we stay on under 5 days cruises due to school and work schedules ad we book super early.

[kayhold]

So I take it you don't have homeowners' or auto insurance, since this is true in those cases too?

 

 

There is a HUGE difference in a $700 cruise and a $200,000 house.

 

And car insurance is required by law, on almost every state.

 

If it weren't, and I had a car worth $500, no, I wouldn't insure it. A car worth $10,000? Absolutely.

[gtalum]

There is a HUGE difference in a $700 cruise and a $200,000 house.

 

And car insurance is required by law, on almost every state.

 

If it weren't, and I had a car worth $500, no, I wouldn't insure it. A car worth $10,000? Absolutely.

 

Sure, but what happens if you get injured in Belize and you need to be evacuated back to the US? That can run $50,000 or more easily.

[mondello]

Sure, but what happens if you get injured in Belize and you need to be evacuated back to the US? That can run $50,000 or more easily.

How many millions of people cruise every year and how many people need a med-evac from Belize every year. Buy the cruise insurance if you wish.

[terjul]

The coverage is also for emergency evacuations off the ship if necessary (because of an accident or any other reason). According to Carnival, the Coast Guard costs are $50,000 per person. My biggest reason for purchasing travel insurance is what if something happens to a member of my family while we're in port and we can't make it back to the ship before it sails. The insurance will cover all our costs to get to the next port, or home if necessary, in addition to all medical.

[Ksea1961]

I did not buy it this time. Driving to port. Only going to FL and the Bahamas and it's not hurricane season. We have excellent medical coverage.

[truchattycathy]

OP, I buy it thru Travelguard. I find it hard to believe that 90% of people buy it. Among the friends I cruise with, no one else buys it, just my family and I. I do buy it for the medical insurance, not the cruise reimbursement. I have just seen too many people have health issues on a cruise.

[Rottweiler Puppy]

I don't buy it but I don't fly to the port. And I arrive 1 day early so I really don't see the need to buy it

 

Pray you never get hurt on sick on the cruise. For around $20 its not a bad idea to have it just in case.

[skittl1321]

I have a hard time believing 90% of people buy the vacation protection from Carnival. There are too many horror stories from first time posters here about how their vacation was ruined (and the response is almost always - you should have bought insurance)

 

That said- buy independently, not from Carnival.

 

We bought insurance for one of our 3 cruises, as the ports took us further away from home than normal. We are aware that when we don't buy insurance we are self-insuring. It is a risk, but one we can afford. Losing the cruise would suck, a medical evacuation would be a huge hit- but it is a gamble we knowingly take. (Although I just found out my medical insurance covers me internationally, not sure if that includes medical evac back to the US, but it would cover me at a local hospital and on ship.)

[cruzmax]

We always purchase travel insurance, and glad we do! A couple years ago, DH got ill the day before our cruise, ended up in hospital. Because we had insured our cruise trip, it was one less thing for me to worry about during a stressful time. We aren't 'old', but one never knows what life will bring.

That said, it is everyone's personal choice.

[mondello]

Pray you never get hurt on sick on the cruise.

That which doesn't kill you only makes you stronger and if I die on a cruise there be worse ways to go.

[cruisenanny]

I never buy it. Got burned once, when last minute we couldn't go on our most expensive cruise ever (over 4k, a lot for us to spend on a cruise). I still don't ever buy it, but I know i should, at least on the more expensive trips. Certainly won't hear me whining if I get burned again..

[spleenstomper]

I buy through the website mentioned and I pay attention to trip cancellation coverage and med evac coverage.

[ChefSusan]

We always take out travel insurance, as you never know what might happen on a cruise.

[ibcnusoon]

I get travel insurance for peace of mind. We don't get the hefty add-on called "cancel for any reason", figuring we won't cancel for any reason anyway, especially if we already purchased airfare.

 

We purchase it for the medical coverage, even though we have coverage at home. We also like it in case of an accident or fall, and heaven-forbid we need to be airlifted off the ship.

 

Lets say you hurt yourself and go to a hospital in port and you are kept there for observation and you're ship is getting ready to sail. Your personal medical insurance is not going to help you catch up to the ship, but travel insuance will.

[mondello]

I don't understand why the Hosts here allow folks like you to treat other posters like that.

 

Really? Calling them an idiot?

I deleted the hurtful comment to make you feel better. What goes around, comes around. They basically were questioning my intelligence about something they knew nothing about. BTW, the mods do delete posts all the time.