Trip Insurance - Am I over-reacting?

[Eager2Travel]

Steve, Deanna and Kim are the best!!  Just helped us finally get payment on a large claim we started in March for a trip cancelled because of sudden hospitalization.  I would not get our trip insurance anywhere else but with them.

[wristband]

Big believer in Steve & his team at TIS.  Used them for years, never had to file a claim.  But their insight, expertise and advice - and responsiveness - is first rate

 

This boils down to your willingness to assume risk.  The big reason one buys insurance is to deal with an unforeseen catastrophic event.  Homeowner's coverage is in place for such situations.  Some feel comfortable bearing all the risk for an unanticipated injury/problem/cancellation.  Talk to those in Kentucky who opted not to buy flood insurance.

 

Insurance is a personal decision.  After many years of cruising without insurance, I am not comfortable bearing all the risk, esp with such uncertainty these days. 

 

I am happy to pay for reputable policies should an unforeseen situation occur...and for the stellar services provided by Steve & the TIS team.

[ChucktownSteve]

Insurance is only expensive when you don't need it.  At 10% or so premium to risk, I can cruise ten times and only need it once to recover all the premiums of my more expensive cruise bookings now.  Carnival or Royal Caribbean, I can self insure.

[PaulMCO]

On 8/1/2022 at 2:58 PM, ChucktownSteve said:

Insurance is only expensive when you don't need it.  At 10% or so premium to risk, I can cruise ten times and only need it once to recover all the premiums of my more expensive cruise bookings now.  Carnival or Royal Caribbean, I can self insure.

Exactly...  When a cruise line goes bankrupt -- like Crystal it pays.  Travelguard did pay.   Took a little push from our state insurance commissioner complaint office who gave them a push.

[ronrick1943]

We really don’t enjoy paying the price for insurance and once the cruise is over wonder why we spend the money.  Well 2 times we had to use the insurance- happy we had it.  We’ll never not purchase insurance. We always purchase it a the day after we book the cruise, the pre-existing part is important.

[Roz326]

On 7/30/2022 at 2:44 PM, Roz326 said:

Another update: Just spoke with Steve..he's on the case! Thanks to all who recommended calling him. 

8/11 Update:

Steve contacted Travel Guard and we got an immediqate phone call and email from a claims adjuster. Seems they have some of our stuff as they indicated as much,  but we're not sure where the other receipts went after submitting on their online form. So, once aqgain we've spent a few hours redoing our claim from May 2022. Just sincerely hope that we don't have any further issues and get payment before the end of the year! Even though they said they paid the luggage claim, we  have not received the check to date. So two claims...no money yet. *sigh*

[Roz326]

Final update: I finally received and email stating that my claim has been processed and a check is on the way! YAY! It was like pulling teeth to get it done. Lesson learned...the hard way!  On to my next travel...

[CJANDH]

Has anyone looked at insuring just for the really big cost risks like medical coverage and emergency evacuation and self insuring for the lower cost risks like trip cancellation, delays, lost luggage, etc? While the result of a major medical issue and evacuation could be devastatingly costly, the chance of it happening should make the insurance cheaper that the "full trip" insurance packages.

[cwn]

7 minutes ago, CJANDH said:

Has anyone looked at insuring just for the really big cost risks like medical coverage and emergency evacuation and self insuring for the lower cost risks like trip cancellation, delays, lost luggage, etc? While the result of a major medical issue and evacuation could be devastatingly costly, the chance of it happening should make the insurance cheaper that the "full trip" insurance packages.

We only buy medical evac insurance and have self insured the rest of our trips except a WC. Now, at our age, even that is so costly, even if we can get it. We are signed up the 24 WC. Not sure how we are going to handle that. All insurance has become breathtaking expensive in the last few years!

[forgap]

We have insurance through our chase credit card.  On booking, Steve at TIS suggested we buy the minimum amount (I think $1000 worth) to activate preexisting and also to activate evacuation, etc., if needed on the cruise.  At final payment, we decide whether to self insure for the remaining cost or add $$$ to the policy to include the overage chase won’t pay.  

[cwn]

Forgap, we have talked to Steve several times as others have mentioned doing this. But Every time I read the policy contract, I stumble over the fact the the policy requires coverage of the total cost of the trip or it would void the insurance.

Have you ever had to collect on the medical doing this?

[-Lew-]

59 minutes ago, cwn said:

Forgap, we have talked to Steve several times as others have mentioned doing this. But Every time I read the policy contract, I stumble over the fact the the policy requires coverage of the total cost of the trip or it would void the insurance.

Have you ever had to collect on the medical doing this?

 

We buy our travel insurance from Steve and we don't find that to be the case at all.  In fact he recommended I reduce the insured trip cost by the amount Chase Sapphire Reserve provides...$20,000.

[forgap]

1 hour ago, forgap said:

We have insurance through our chase credit card.  On booking, Steve at TIS suggested we buy the minimum amount (I think $1000 worth) to activate preexisting and also to activate evacuation, etc., if needed on the cruise.  At final payment, we decide whether to self insure for the remaining cost or add $$$ to the policy to include the overage chase won’t pay.  

We have not needed to collect but his is what his team has suggested over a number of cruises.

[-Lew-]

9 minutes ago, forgap said:

We have not needed to collect but his is what his team has suggested over a number of cruises.

 

We had to cancel a cruise booked for fall 2021 due to a health issue.  Both Chase and the travel insurance company paid their fair share.

[cwn]

31 minutes ago, -Lew- said:

 

We had to cancel a cruise booked for fall 2021 due to a health issue.  Both Chase and the travel insurance company paid their fair share.

But you are covering the full cost with a combo of Chase and Steve’s company, right. I can understand that. 

[-Lew-]

1 minute ago, cwn said:

But you are covering the full cost with a combo of Chase and Steve’s company, right. I can understand that. 

 

Right!  We insure everything that can't be canceled without penalty.

[iamtrustworthy]

4 hours ago, cwn said:

Forgap, we have talked to Steve several times as others have mentioned doing this. But Every time I read the policy contract, I stumble over the fact the the policy requires coverage of the total cost of the trip or it would void the insurance.

Have you ever had to collect on the medical doing this?

Hi cwn,

 

It's true that nearly all trip cancellation plans require you to insure your full per person prepaid non-refundable trip cost including airfare, if any in order to have the pre-existing medical conditions coverage, but there are a few, depending on what State you live in, that don't require you to insure your full trip costs. I have four of these plans.

 

Steve Dasseos