Travel insurance yes or no

[alow]

I'd get it if I had extenuating circumstances ie KansasK but regularly I do not get it. I may certainly consider it as I get older or as we travel with my folks who are getting up there.

 

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[Weeizer]

I never travel without it.

 

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[eel]

Since we travel a lot we get an annual policy through GeoBlue that covers medical and evacuation. We rely on our credit card (Costco Visa) for trip interruption and cancellation. It usually does not cover 100% of what we paid for the trip but it is sufficient to take the sting out if we had to use it.

 

This spring we were away from home for 73 days and found out that GeoBlue only covers you for up to 70 days maximum. I called GeoBlue before we left and found out it was a simple matter to buy a second policy for the extra days. I thought about skipping it but it was better safe than sorry!

[Snow Lotus]

YES!

 

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[CRUISEFAN0001]

In your opinion ;)

Based on a multitude of cruiser posts and experience...an abundance of people's "opinion".

 

Penny foolish, dollar wise really applies.

[goodoldan]

Great advice.

Ditto the recommendation for the Trip Insurance Store! I have a "pre-existing medical condition", and careful selection of trip insurance with their help makes all the difference and saves me money as well (as compared to the overpriced, inferior plans sold by the cruise lines). For me, foreign medical care and perhaps more importantly medical evacuation coverage could be critical, as could "cancellation for any reason" (CFAR) coverage features. Besides "trip insurance" for individual trips, I also maintain an annual international medical/evacuation policy that the Trip Insurance Store recommended (GeoBlue Trekker) that covers all international travel for an unlimited number of trips (up to 70 days each). These guys know their stuff, and besides being easily accessible on the phone their web site makes it easy to compare, select and purchase trip Insurance online, too.

[dalords1]

Nationwide is good to me.

 

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[jimbri]

Look at these sites:

 

 

www.insuremytrip.com

 

www.squaremouth.com

 

www.quotewright.com

 

www.tripinsurancestore.com

 

Thank you for this information. I bookmarked all four sites. I took out travel insurance with Carnival the last time we cruised. Two months prior to our cruise one person got severe colitis and was hospitalized for 5 days. It came on suddenly and he had no history of it and hasn't gotten it again. Made me realize how important insurance is. Next cruise I will check out sites you shared. Thanks again.

[SRF]

and saves me money as well (as compared to the overpriced, inferior plans sold by the cruise lines).

 

Do NOT assume that the 3rd party insurance is cheaper that the cruise line. It can be MUCH more expensive. Especially as one gets older.

 

SHOP ALL VENUES.

[goodoldan]

Do NOT assume that the 3rd party insurance is cheaper that the cruise line. It can be MUCH more expensive. Especially as one gets older.

 

SHOP ALL VENUES.

Of course it's always a good idea to shop around... but at age 65 I've found (in my experience) that the cruise line plans and their comparative features come up lacking relative to to price/value proposition of others... YMMV.

[Reader0108598]

My wifes cousin,55 years old and first ever cruise, became ill in May on NCL cruise out of Miami. He went down to medical to see the doctor. $1400.00 later he was quarantined to his room for 1 day and night. He was in sticker shock when he received the bill for services. No insurance.

 

 

My health insurance covered a 700.00 bill. I did have travel insurance also!

[John&LaLa]

Based on a multitude of cruiser posts and experience...an abundance of people's "opinion".

 

Penny foolish, dollar wise really applies.

Well, if it wasn't a profit center for the cruise line, do you think they would offer it?

 

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[papaflamingo]

Do NOT assume that the 3rd party insurance is cheaper that the cruise line. It can be MUCH more expensive. Especially as one gets older.

 

SHOP ALL VENUES.

Correct, but depends on the cruise, cost, and what you really need covered. We did back to back on 2 different cruise lines last year (HAL and RCCL) out of Amsterdam. It was much cheaper to get a third party policy for a set amount of the cost of both cruises plus airfare and hotels, etc. than to do HAL's than RCCL's policies, plus it covered non refundable third party shore excursions, hotels, and airfare not made through the cruise line. But I agree, you really need to shop around for the best policy vs. price. I tend to go with RCCL on many cruises because there's no cost until final payment, and it has a 75% cancel for any reason clause. But for someone with a pre-existing condition, or special circumstances (i.e. a military member who's leave could get cancelled) often a third party has better specific coverage for not much more.

[CRUISEFAN0001]

Well, if it wasn't a profit center for the cruise line, do you think they would offer it?

 

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You're assuming (and we know what that word is broken into parts)...that the cruise line insurance is the only option.

 

Fact is 3rd party travel insurance is often cheaper, contains better coverage, and includes coverage not found in policies offered by cruise lines. We've found such policies for years. Bob's list in a previous post points folks in the right direction for information.

 

Some folks simply have to learn things the hard way about travel insurance (it only takes one negative incident to gain an education), while others take a more practical, prudent, and proactive approach.

 

Life's about choices - and plenty of folks make bad ones (unfortunately). Luckily others make informed choices that benefit them.

[John&LaLa]

3rd party insurance makes money also [emoji6]

 

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[Tillie43]

Only purchased trip insurance a few times. We sail next Sunday from Boston and there is a possibility of an Atlantic hurricane hitting the east coast and two more behind it. Still early so no panic yet. But I rolled the dice and did NOT get trip insurance for this cruise. Hopefully things work out. Could be an expensive lesson, much more costly than the insurance.

[John&LaLa]

Only purchased trip insurance a few times. We sail next Sunday from Boston and there is a possibility of an Atlantic hurricane hitting the east coast and two more behind it. Still early so no panic yet. But I rolled the dice and did NOT get trip insurance for this cruise. Hopefully things work out. Could be an expensive lesson, much more costly than the insurance.

I got insurance for our Mariner repo.

In that case, risk outweighed reward

 

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[shorti503]

So after reading the many pages of "Do I need travel insurance" I started thinking. We always travel with travel insurance and thankfully have never needed to use it. For those that have, how does that work? I was seeing people say that a Medical Evacuation could cost 36,000. Do you have to pay that out of pocket and then your travel insurance reimburses you? Or do they just bill your travel insurance? I for one do not have 36,000 sitting in a bank account or even credit cards that could get me any where close to that. So then what happens? Just curious how it all works if one were to have to actually use their insurance.

 

**I was going to ask this question on that post but thought the answer may be helpful to others that may not scroll through so many pages to find it.

[M_BA]

I use https://medjetassist.com/ for worldwide evacuation (I ride motorcycles worldwide). I don't currently use secondary insurance outside the US, though I should as I approach 50.

 

I've used the on-board ship Dr once. I had an ingrown toenail causing me immense pain. the bill was $600 in 2001 for a 10 minute procedure. However, the relief was almost instant!

[path16518]

Last year was the first time we had to use the travel insurance. My husband was taken by ambulance to a hospital in Vietnam. They were many different charges including cash to extend our visas. We had to pay everything up front and then turn it into the insurance. There were motel charges and then the flights, motel and transfers to the next port to catch up with the ship. We were lucky we didn't have to be medevac to the US. Can't imagine that cost. We were able to return to the ship. Our total charges were approx. $6,000.00. The insurance we had with Alliance covered everything. I kept all receipts made copies and sent them. In the end everything was covered without a fight or argument. I will tell you that was in November and we didn't get the payment back till Feb. They had to verify everything and was told the foreign countries take much longer to reply. Was glad we had the insurance and will never travel without it.

[shorti503]

I use https://medjetassist.com/ for worldwide evacuation (I ride motorcycles worldwide). I don't currently use secondary insurance outside the US, though I should as I approach 50.

 

I've used the on-board ship Dr once. I had an ingrown toenail causing me immense pain. the bill was $600 in 2001 for a 10 minute procedure. However, the relief was almost instant!

 

 

Thank you for your reply, however we already have travel insurance. I'm just curious how it all works. If you ended up have a medical emergency including, med. evac., a hospital stay, and possibly surgery the bill could be in the 100's of thousands. Do you really have to cover all that out of pocket and then wait to just get reimbursed? That is what I am confused with.

[shorti503]

Last year was the first time we had to use the travel insurance. My husband was taken by ambulance to a hospital in Vietnam. They were many different charges including cash to extend our visas. We had to pay everything up front and then turn it into the insurance. There were motel charges and then the flights, motel and transfers to the next port to catch up with the ship. We were lucky we didn't have to be medevac to the US. Can't imagine that cost. We were able to return to the ship. Our total charges were approx. $6,000.00. The insurance we had with Alliance covered everything. I kept all receipts made copies and sent them. In the end everything was covered without a fight or argument. I will tell you that was in November and we didn't get the payment back till Feb. They had to verify everything and was told the foreign countries take much longer to reply. Was glad we had the insurance and will never travel without it.

 

 

So you did have to pay for everything out of pocket. What happens when it is a major medical emergency and your bill ends up being $150,000 and you don't have that in your bank account to pay them? Just curious if you know

[M_BA]

It's all in the details of your travel insurance policy. The procedures vary greatly from one company to another. Most require out of pocket payment locally, with reimbursement later.

[luvscruising2007]

Yes, I am curious as well. I hope someone can report back on this experience.

[MacMarauder]

I'm not the type to ever buy additional insurance, extended warranties etc. My first two cruises, we didn't bother and all was fine. However after having kids and going through a close call with a child's medical issue (my son's daycare had an outbreak of hand/foot/mouth in the month before we went on Allure in '16) we buy the trip insurance. With kids you never know and cruising with the whole family is significantly more expense so it's a greater investment.