cruise insurance

[ellen9731]

Peoples view on purchasing insurance for the cruise, and which ones might be the best.

[notentirelynormal]

Peoples view on purchasing insurance for the cruise, and which ones might be the best.

 

I would purchase the most you can from the cruise line. Since you didn't say where you are going giving you more advise is impossible. Obviously doing an Alaskan cruise is different than a world or Mediterranean cruise.

[Shorex]

Have a look at insuremytrip.com

 

You can compare prices and coverages, with coverages being the most important variable. Read the boring fine print. Understand the limitations and exclusions. Then choose the right policy for you, which might not be the right policy for me.

 

We choose (eyes wide open) to self-insure the cost of cruises less than 10k, while opting for, among other things, extra primary medical, including evacuation to a hospital in the US via MedJet.

[RuthC]

Have a look at insuremytrip.com

Better yet, call Insure My Trip. You can speak to someone knowledgeable about the various policies they have available. The representative will talk to you, asking questions you may not have considered, to come up with something that works best for you.

I have dealt with them by phone more than once, and been very, very satisfied that everything was fully covered.

[Putterdude]

Insurance rates per k continue to increase but a cruise vacation is a major investment for many people and IMO it is a still a wise decision to insure it. I usually rely on our TA to provide information re insurance.

[Scrapnana]

Does your regular medical insurance cover you outside of your home country? Are you wealthy enough to cover $50,000-100,000 medical costs if sick or injured? If you answered "yes" to either, you probably don't really need any travel insurance. For the rest of us, travel insurance is very important.

[Hlitner]

Does your regular medical insurance cover you outside of your home country? Are you wealthy enough to cover $50,000-100,000 medical costs if sick or injured? If you answered "yes" to either, you probably don't really need any travel insurance. For the rest of us, travel insurance is very important.

 

Well, as one who spends about 7 months a year traveling and cruising we do not even consider travel insurance. We choose to self-insure the cost of our trips since that is money we were going to spend anyway. As to medical, we simply buy an annual travel medical insurance policy from GeoBlue that covers the first 70 days of each trip we take during an entire year. That policy provides $250,000 or medical coverage plus $500,000 of med evac and only costs us about $350 a year (total cost to cover 2 persons).

 

Hank

[Keith1010]

First off there is no best insurance.

 

What works well for me might not work for you.

 

As mentioned earlier, I do use insurmytrip.com as it provides a very easy way to compare policies.

 

For me, I prefer an insurance company that acts as my primary carrier and I do this so that I can just submit my claim to them without first going to my own insurance company where likely it will be turned down.

 

When you get insurance think about two items.

 

First is the trip itself and that is should you miss the ship due to illnesses etc and are out the money of the trip is this a big deal versus the cost of the insurance. That will determine whether you insure 100% of the trip or possibly lesser amount.

 

Second, I do believe that you should be sure that you have insurance if your own does not cover it that will cover you for medical issues. It doesn't matter whether or not you are young and healthy because things can happen and some have absolutely nothing to do with age and can be very costly.

 

Related to this even if you do not want to insure the trip you can insure yourselves for the length of the trip in terms of medical insurance.

 

You could go with a policy that Hank mentioned but you can also just purchase many of the travel insurance plans too.

 

Finally, in recent years I because we have sailed some very remote areas of the world we have also gotten a separate medical evacuation policy too.

 

Just like auto and home insurance there is not one policy that fills all and people take different approaches such as deductibles and how they vary them based on cost versus risk and their own situation.

 

Keith

[dsrdsrdsr]

It depends where you are. But by and large, insurance is a good idea unless all possible costs are covered by other policies. If you're from the UK, they won't be.

[Hlitner]

The point of my coverage is that there is no "one insurance policy fits all." Many folks spend money on insurance they do not really need, and others under insure or not insure at all. Travelers should carefully review their own existing coverage (especially medical), assess their own needs, and then make an informed decision. Personally, we have a strong dislike of the policies sold by most cruise lines because most do not include sufficient medical coverage. Keep in mind that when you plan any trip you have a budget. Whether you take the trip of have to cancel (or interrupt) you are likely no going to spend any more money then if you had taken the trip. While insuring for cancellation might be desired, it is not going to be life changing. However, when it comes to Medical coverage (the leading cause of personal bankruptcy in the USA), not having adequate coverage exposes you to unlimited liability, could lead to personal bankruptcy, and may be a huge life changer. So while some folks get "sucked in" by the marketing of so-called travel insurance, they often ignore the most important component which is medical coverage.

 

Many cruise line trip policies only include $10,000 - $20,000 of medical insurance. This is not nearly enough coverage for those who lack other medical coverage.

 

Hank

[Scrapnana]

The point of my coverage is that there is no "one insurance policy fits all." Many folks spend money on insurance they do not really need, and others under insure or not insure at all. Travelers should carefully review their own existing coverage (especially medical), assess their own needs, and then make an informed decision. Personally, we have a strong dislike of the policies sold by most cruise lines because most do not include sufficient medical coverage. Keep in mind that when you plan any trip you have a budget. Whether you take the trip of have to cancel (or interrupt) you are likely no going to spend any more money then if you had taken the trip. While insuring for cancellation might be desired, it is not going to be life changing. However, when it comes to Medical coverage (the leading cause of personal bankruptcy in the USA), not having adequate coverage exposes you to unlimited liability, could lead to personal bankruptcy, and may be a huge life changer. So while some folks get "sucked in" by the marketing of so-called travel insurance, they often ignore the most important component which is medical coverage.

 

Many cruise line trip policies only include $10,000 - $20,000 of medical insurance. This is not nearly enough coverage for those who lack other medical coverage.

 

Hank

 

Will GeoBlue sell you insurance to cover medical if you are taking a cruise over 70 days?

 

I totally agree with you on the cruise line policies which usually cover you much better for cancellation or interruption than for medical.

[agabbymama]

My memory isn't what it used to be, so I don't remember exactly what cruiseline went bankrupt, but there was a lot of discussion on this board and in the news a few years ago, about a family left stranded in Singapore or Hong Kong. Once the ship pulled into port, the ships were confiscated and they had purchased the cruiseline insurance, but once the bankruptcy took place, the insurance was no good.

 

I have steered clear of cruiseline insurance since that time. As others have posted, you can self-insure if the amount isn't too high. I recently booked a HAL cruise to Alaska and went with HAL Air at a cost of $549 for two of us. I checked the insurance rate and it was $549 for the two of us, so I didn't purchase insurance as I would lose $549 either way if I had to cancel. As it turned out, my husband had a stroke, so I did indeed have to cancel the cruise, losing that $549.

 

Now if I had $5000 invested, you can bet I would be getting insurance, as the insurance premium would not be that high and I don't feel I could lose that amount of money. Everyone has to decide what is best for them.

 

Hank's travel and insurance sure sounds affordable if you travel a lot. If you only travel once a year, maybe not so much. Each trip could be a different amount for insurance. I've sometimes only paid $79 pp for what I consider decent coverage. Another thing to take into consideration is the age of the passengers. I have found that my friend (who is now 85) insurance premium has gone up drastically, compared to mine at age 65.

 

If you book through a TA, they could recommend good travel insurance. If you book yourself, check out insuremytrip dot com as others have mentioned.

You have nothing to lose checking it out and may save a lot of money and worry.

[Hlitner]

Will GeoBlue sell you insurance to cover medical if you are taking a cruise over 70 days?

 

I totally agree with you on the cruise line policies which usually cover you much better for cancellation or interruption than for medical.

 

No! At least not with our particular policy. But they do also sell long term single trip policies that cover trips up to 180 days. These policies are pretty decent because they offer various options including medical coverage of up to $1 Million. So I just took a look at what a 6 month policy for $1 million would cost a 67 year old man and the online quote is just under $1300! For this you get 1 million of coverage with zero deductible. And this is their Cadillac type plan with no requirement of other primary insurance and a whole bunch of other coverage. There are less costly policies (with lesser coverage).

 

Hank

[BullDawg91]

No! At least not with our particular policy. But they do also sell long term single trip policies that cover trips up to 180 days. These policies are pretty decent because they offer various options including medical coverage of up to $1 Million. So I just took a look at what a 6 month policy for $1 million would cost a 67 year old man and the online quote is just under $1300! For this you get 1 million of coverage with zero deductible. And this is their Cadillac type plan with no requirement of other primary insurance and a whole bunch of other coverage. There are less costly policies (with lesser coverage).

 

 

 

Hank

 

 

I don't think $1300 sounds too bad if I can afford a trip that long! [emoji6]

[Scrapnana]

No! At least not with our particular policy. But they do also sell long term single trip policies that cover trips up to 180 days. These policies are pretty decent because they offer various options including medical coverage of up to $1 Million. So I just took a look at what a 6 month policy for $1 million would cost a 67 year old man and the online quote is just under $1300! For this you get 1 million of coverage with zero deductible. And this is their Cadillac type plan with no requirement of other primary insurance and a whole bunch of other coverage. There are less costly policies (with lesser coverage).

 

Hank

 

Thanks for the info. Since I am cruising more frequently now that I am retired, a yearly policy sounds like a good deal.