How many cruise without travel insurance

[xxHadleyxx]

We pay a small amount per year, as a supplement to our regular health insurance, for health coverage when outside he EU (otherwise we are covered anyway). This includes evac, even from cruise ships.

 

As long as a catastrophic health issues is covered, we do not bother with other insurance. Like others, we have saved so much not buying it over the years that we could easily come out ahead even with a cancelled cruise or one that gets back late and we need new flights home, etc.

 

 

OP--in your case, I personally would make sure to have medical coverage.

[mommykim]

I have never bought insurance in 90 or so cruises but I am seriously thinking about it for the one I have coming up. How do you fill the forms out when you use points/miles to travel to and from the cruise?

[Docker123]

Insurance and passport, always.

 

Good health, or I'll health, is only part. Most of the people I know who have had major costs are because of accidents or things like appendicitis or other acute episodes.

 

This from the Australian New Zealand board. http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2013171

Edited March 27, 2014 by Docker123

[bayportkat]

While it is great to have the insurance for medical purposes, keep in mind that there are other good reasons to get it as well. Just look at the posts this week about cruises impacted by oil spills and mechanical failures, missing flights and spending days waiting for a flight home-those costs add up as well and would be covered by a good insurance package.

 

We used CSA in the past, many times and get a great policy with not only medical,coverage, but cancellation coverage, weather coverage, etc. We were in Hawaii a few years ago and my aunts flight home was cancelled due to a hurricane at home-she couldn't get a flight for several days and the insurance reimbursed her for hotel, car and food for her trip extension. Another time, my dad had a medical emergency and my mom had to fly home to him(she traveled with us while he stayed home). She was able to get reimbursed for the remainder of her trip and the difference in the flight home.

 

Those just a few of our experiences with the travel insurance. We rarely travel without it if anything has been paid in advance. I look at the cost as part of my vacation costs-not as extra, because if something should "go wrong" on our trip-be it weather, mechanical, health, etc related-I don't want to have to use our next years vacation finds to cover the costs involved. It is always taking a chance when you take insurance, but that is what insurance is-coverage in case something happens.

 

Definitely shop around and think about what your needs are and what kind of "hit" you can afford to take should something come up during your vacation. Have a fabulous trip!

 

 

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[ChattaCruzer]

Up until last May I was a healthy 47 year old planning a graduation cruise for my 2nd oldest child, which included the rest of the family and my oldest daughter's boyfriend. No worries and no insurance. I ended up in the hospital on Mother's Day, and on an operating table less than 48 hours later having open heart surgery because, basically, my heart sprang a leak and had to be repaired. A month and 2 days later we boarded the Freedom and had a perfectly wonderful cruise. I was lucky (in a LOT of ways).

 

DH and I just got back from 7 days on the Allure - with insurance. Lesson learned.

 

You NEVER know what may happen, regardless of how young you may be and healthy you may think you are.

[waterbug123]

Or what about needing to cancel a few days before the cruise because of an emergency.....you got in an accident on the way to work, or on the way to the cruise, family member passes away unexpectedly......your boss says at the last minute.... your job or the cruise?.... would be out the entire cost of your cruise if you cancel with in 7 days of sailing.....can you afford to lose that money?

 

As far as covering the actual cost of the cruise if you have to cancel at the last minute.... if you travel a LOT, like we do, in the long run it's cheaper to self insure. Let's say something happens and we can't go on the Brilliance next month...we'll be out about $1700. Big deall...NOT! We have saved FAR MORE than that by NOT buying travel insurance a hundred times over.

 

I don't think it's silly, just logical.....some families can't afford to lose that kind of money......I've heard it all working in a call center!

 

And many can, and so choose to self insure. What's the big deal? :confused:

 

 

As I said previously, we DO have medical evacuation coverage, but we don't worry about having to cancel at the last minute, or book a last minute hotel room or new flight when the cruise is delayed or something.

[goose30]

Going without insurance is like going commando! Never a problem unless or until you have an accident.

[Lazz]

Insurance and passport, always.Good health, or I'll health, is only part. Most of the people I know who have had major costs are because of accidents or things like appendicitis or other acute episodes.

 

This from the Australian New Zealand board. http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2013171

 

AGREED!! We have had to use the insurance twice. Both times due to emergencies at home that forced us to leave the ship early. Because we had passports, entering the foreign country to get to the airport was a snap. Both times the ship brought the immigration and customs agents right on the ship. The insurance covered everything including first class tickets on the plane, meals, rent a car, and an extra flight and hotel for me to go pick up my car at the dock. We were reimbursed for the unused portion of the cruise.

[trev71]

Always buy it and pray I never need it, I never cruise without it.

 

I know this is not a cruise story, but my mom went to Ireland shes 58 yrs old, healthly and got sick over there and needed a pace maker put in. The inusrance and travel insurance she bought was well worth it. The Final cost was very expensive over $50,000. not including travel costs and the cost to stay there longer, she since could not fly.

[workinmom3]

We also have never purchased it but after reading all these posts I'm rethinking. We are 50 days out...can we still purchase? I looked at insuremytrip but it was a little confusing. How do I know what I need. We have goo medical coverage but I guess I just worry about the evacuation possibility.

[cruisenfever]

Last year we had to cancel 6 cruises between October and January of this year due to unexpected health issues. Of course, all cruises were canceled after final payment. :eek:

 

Between RCI and Cruise Care we were refunded everything except the cost of the insurance. This also included airfare through Choice Air. Since all 6 cruises were booked with NC bookings, we received our initial deposits as well.

 

When you take into account how much each cruise cost it was worth the extra $$$ for that extra protection.

[SharkCruiser24]

On short 3/4 days I don't get it. We live twenty minutes from the port in south Florida and my parents live twenty minutes from port canaveral. But when we fly or it's a longer cruise we take it. As we get older and have children we will probably take it more often even on shorter cruises. It's a great value!

 

 

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[Ladysilver]

I would never dream of cruising without insurance. Had a bad experience on a cruise once. It was a nightmare and I never wan't to go through anything like that again. Lesson learned. :cool:

[cello56]

I think that people need to separate in their minds CRUISE INSURANCE from MEDICAL INSURANCE. My husband and I are willing to self insure ourselves for the CRUISE part - if we miss a cruise we will be disappointed, but will financially survive. However we always take out of country medical insurance while we cruise. Yes we have great medical insurance while in the USA, but we are not covered out of country. I think that a lot of people might be surprised if they read their policy to find out that they too are not covered.

 

On Monarch of the Seas a few years ago I saw a lady that slipped in her shower and sliced her leg open. It happened in the first hour of sailing! She ended up with a lot of stitches and was thankful that she bought the insurance. Her injury had nothing to do with age and was totally unpredictable. She just hit her leg at the wrong spot on something hard but not sharp. No ones fault, and totally unexpected.

 

Medical insurance is cheap. Why risk your life savings to pay for a medical evacuation?

[Allis154]

For us it depends on the trip. If I book last minute (within a couple of weeks), then no, don't get it.

 

With elderly parents, we like to be covered for the unexpected. We get cancellation at the very least, and depending on the time of the year and destination, interruption as well.

 

Never extra medical...we both carry that anyway.

[lattelady]

I've found it worth the peace of mind, from both a cancellation and a medical perspective. Having said that, we seldom bought trip insurance when we were younger.

 

Speaking of, I'm putting together a trip in May that includes a short cruise, Universal Studios/Harry Potter, and a conference. Does anyone know of a good insurance site to piece that together insurance purposes? I've already paid for the airfare, the cruise and the Universal Studios hotel package (includes tickets) and did not take any individual insurance as I believe it will be cheaper to cover the entire trip.

[cattolica]

We always buy travel insurance.

The cost that we have spent on insurance over the past two decades was well worth the cost.

 

In 2007 we had to get off a cruise halfway through due to the unexpected death of our 25 year old nephew. We were reimbursed for all the costs to get home from St. Kitts back to LA.....not an easy trip. Travel insurance reimbursed for all the extra costs including the 7 days we missed of the cruise. It was less than a $200 investment and we were reimbursed around $3500.

 

About 10 years ago my SIL and her husband went on their very first cruise. I begged them to get travel insurance. Thank heavens they did. The first day of the cruise her 40 year old husband fell and suffered a compound fracture of his femur. They were taken off the ship in Cabo. After contacting the travel insurance company they were sent back by a lear jet to LA. On that jet were a doctor and two nurses. He was in surgery in a matter of hours and on the road to recovery. If they had not had travel insurance they would have been out in excess of $75,000. That travel insurance was a couple of hundred dollar investment.

 

So, you don't have to be "old" to need travel insurance.

 

We originally were buying the travel insurance because of elderly parents. No claim was ever made due to their health.

 

Just something to think about.

[Emmasoma]

Fairly new to cruising and buy travel insurance (through USAA our reg. insurance people) when cruising to Europe or other foreign ports. Didn't buy it for an Alaska cruise out of Seattle. Figured we were in US and close to shore. Rather expensive for us due to our ages so we just weigh the figures. I can spring for an extra night in a hotel, but wouldn't want to pay for an airlift way out in the ocean or a hospital stay in Russia.

[boogs]

Well, that's just silly. You already paid for the cruise. If something happens that you can't go on the cruise, then all you lose is the experience of the cruise. And you probably save yourself a big onboard spending bill.

 

You have a strange view on life if you think that's "silly". If I pay several thousand dollars for something and don't use it, I wasted that money. That isn't very smart. Contrary to your opinion, I would lose much more than just the experience. If you can afford to throw money away, then bravo for you. But for many of us, we believe fiscal responsibility involves actually getting real value for our money.

 

Besides, if we get reimbursed for a cruise that we had to cancelled, now we have the funds to book another cruise at a fraction of the cost of a new cruise. That makes perfect sense to me.

Edited March 27, 2014 by boogs

[greatam]

 

Medical is another story. If you have a decent insurance plan supplemented perhaps by a medical evacuation program (e.g., MedJet Assist), you should be fine.

 

I hope you didn't mean this the way I read it.

 

1. If you mean a decent medical plan through your work or self insured, you better be taking a VERY close look at it now. Obamacare has changed a WHOLE LOT of plans. To provide 50 year olds with birth control and all that crap that 50 year olds don't want or need, quite a few plans have reduced what is covered out of country or out of network to cover the other crap that is REQUIRED by Obamacare. We are dealing with both BCBS and Humana on those very issues right now. What we USED to have (2013) we may no longer have if and when we finally are FORCED to change policies. 95% of out of network and our current limited overseas coverage is being curtailed on our company policy UNLESS we are willing to chunk out an extra $330 PER MONTH, PER EMPLOYEE. NOT going to happen in this company. I can buy a whole lot of very good trip insurance for what those extra premiums are going to cost, particularly for those employees who rarely leave the USA except maybe on their own personal vacation.

 

2. Med Jet Assist WILL get you to the hospital of your choice anywhere in the world but there are certain conditions.

 

What they won't do: evacuate you from a ship, evacuate you from the jungle of Cambodia, evacuate you from Antarctica, evacuate you from Machu Pichu, evacuate you from a safari in Africa. You MUST be in a hospital and doctor certified to be evacuated. This from FIRST hand experience in Cambodia. Got very, very sick in Phnom Penh. Didn't want to have to go to the hospital there. My travel insurance wanted to evacuate me to Japan. Med Jet could not help unless I actually went to the hospital in Cambodia. Finally made arrangements to hire a private nurse and driver to drive me to Saigon and my travel insurance made all the arrangements to get me into the Aussie hospital there without ANY money upfront. I thought I would have to pay for the nurse and driver out of pocket which was fine-cheaper than most deductibles on regular insurance policies. My travel insurance (Travelex) even paid for that. Med Jet contacted me AFTER I was admitted to the Aussie hospital and was more than willing to get me to the USA if I wanted to go. But they would have NOTHING to do with getting me out of Cambodia UNLESS I went to the hospital (I would have probably gotten sicker). Just an FYI that Med Jet is a great service at a very reasonable price. But there are a lot of people who believe they will evacuate you from a cruise ship (or the jungle or a safari in Africa). They won't.

[greatam]

Our online TA sells travel insurance at an extremely reasonable cost. I always buy it for cruises and travel abroad - it's worth the peace of mind should anything happen.

 

You really should take a VERY close look at those TA issued policies. A lot of them are done SPECIFICALLY for travel agencies (mostly large travel agencies) and they cover VERY little. And a lot of the restrictions are much more severe than what a self purchased policy restricts.

 

Just an FYI to actually look at what you are purchasing and READ THE FINE PRINT. I know not fun but it is your life and your money. Would be a real shock to find out that you must be delayed at least 8 hours (most self purchased policies are 4 or 6 hours) before the policy would cover missing the ship and all the extra expenses. Or that there is a limitation on shipboard medical/hospital treatment (saw this on a well known online TA's website).

[live2vayk]

I take usually one or two trips a year, and they are not really expensive trips, so it isn't the cost of the trip that eases my mind when I buy insurance, it is for all the other things you could need it for. Since 2005 I have used insurance for three events. 1) My mother died unexpectedly when I was on a cruise. Last minute airfare for my husband and I to catch a flight out of Grand Cayman to get home was OUTRAGEOUS. Not only did my insurance cover that $4,000 expense, it paid for the rest of our cruise that we didn't get to enjoy. And I will tell you, not to have to worry about paying for those flights at a time when I just lost my Mom was helpful. 2) Trip to Disney. Both of my children came down with strep throat. Insurance paid medical bills, as well as some of our trip expenses since we missed out on a few days of our trip. and 3) just this morning I filed a claim to be reimbursed for new travel arrangements I had to make because our flights for our cruise this past February were cancelled. I had allowed two extra days prior to the cruise for this, but the airline was so backed it up it could not get us to the port for three days!! I booked new flights and the insurance I purchased will take care of the cost.

 

There are far to many things in life that can happen to not have insurance IMO. But, it is a personal decision as you know!

 

Safe travels!

[greatam]

I've found it worth the peace of mind, from both a cancellation and a medical perspective. Having said that, we seldom bought trip insurance when we were younger.

 

Speaking of, I'm putting together a trip in May that includes a short cruise, Universal Studios/Harry Potter, and a conference. Does anyone know of a good insurance site to piece that together insurance purposes? I've already paid for the airfare, the cruise and the Universal Studios hotel package (includes tickets) and did not take any individual insurance as I believe it will be cheaper to cover the entire trip.

 

 

Most of the policies on Insuremytrip or TravelInsuranceStore will cover just what you want. Just put in the total cost of the trip, ages and ALL your prepaid non refundable expenses (don't leave out anything because some policies SPECIFICALLY state if you do not cover EVERYTHING, there is NO coverage). Then you have to decide if you have pre existing conditions which you could cover within the normal 14-21 day after initial deposit period or need to go to the few that will write pre exisiting condition coverage AFTER those initial deposits have been made. All depends on how long ago you paid for the cruise/air/etc.

[Arizona Cruz Chic]

I would never dream of cruising without insurance. Had a bad experience on a cruise once. It was a nightmare and I never wan't to go through anything like that again. Lesson learned. :cool:

 

 

I remember you posting about that. We also had one experience that was a lesson learned, the one and only time we didn't buy insurance :eek: I hope we can connect on the NV cruise and have a drink over "lesson learned"

 

***

[xnavydoc2]

A bit of analogy. I own a firearm. I hope to God I never have to use it, but will be glad I have it if I do. Same with travel insurance. Btw any anti gun people; spare me the arguments. Just making a comparison.