Travel Insurance?

[jules815]

We have always purchased travel insurance thru the cruise line whenever we travel. Our next cruise is in September, a B2B on Seascape. We'll fly into Miami 2 days prior to sailing, so there are flights and hotel. 

 

For some reason when I booked this cruise, travel insurance wasn't added. I know I can add it at a later date.  Meanwhile I went in Insure My Trip dot com and got quotes. Seemed high. Logged on to the Chase website and looked at the travel benefits associated with our Visa and they pretty much match most of the benefits found with travel insurance companies.

 

Have you ever risked not taking out travel insurance? 

 

[JT1962]

10 minutes ago, jules815 said:

We have always purchased travel insurance thru the cruise line whenever we travel. Our next cruise is in September, a B2B on Seascape. We'll fly into Miami 2 days prior to sailing, so there are flights and hotel. 

 

For some reason when I booked this cruise, travel insurance wasn't added. I know I can add it at a later date.  Meanwhile I went in Insure My Trip dot com and got quotes. Seemed high. Logged on to the Chase website and looked at the travel benefits associated with our Visa and they pretty much match most of the benefits found with travel insurance companies.

 

Have you ever risked not taking out travel insurance? 

 

I purchased an annual medical travel policy with GeoBlue this year. It covers up to $ 500,000 In medical / medical evacuation coverage while traveling. It was $ 151 for me for the year based on my age. My main concern is a medical event / accident, possibly requiring a medical evacuation, where the cost could be $ 100,000+. Losing a cruise or flights that cost a few thousand dollars isn’t fun, but a $ 150,000 uncovered medical expense could be life changing. 
 

Allianz also offers annual travel policies that cover flights, hotels, cruises, etc., but the medical coverages are not as high. An annual policy is usually cheaper if you are doing more than 2-3 trips a year.

[jame_g]

The only time I haven't done travel insurance on a cruise is those 1-2 night Cruise to No Where. Which they really don't offer anymore for a few years now. Any other cruise we will get insurance and make sure it has the coverages important to us. I think we bought cruise insurance once on one of our first cruises. After that we've always use a third party like insuremytrip or squaremouth. There are several others. They are generally cheaper than the cruise line and have better coverage.

 

The one thing I always recommend is buying travel insuracne soon after you book so that you get pre-existing condition coverage. If you wait until final payment, it's generally too late. Way too many situations qualify as pre-existing, so it's probably one of the most critical riders to have. You generally need to buy and pay for the insurance within 7-14 days after you book/make first payment for a policy to cover pre-existing conditions.

[jules815]

4 minutes ago, JT1962 said:

I purchased an annual medical travel policy with GeoBlue this year. It covers up to $ 500,000 In medical / medical evacuation coverage while traveling. It was $ 151 for me for the year based on my age. My main concern is a medical event / accident, possibly requiring a medical evacuation, where the cost could be $ 100,000+. Losing a cruise or flights that cost a few thousand dollars isn’t fun, but a $ 150,000 uncovered medical expense could be life changing. 
 

 

Interesting about the annual policy. And yes, the possibility of a medical evacuation is what worries me. 

 

 

[lovemycruisetoo]

We use Tripinsurancestore.com. Very helpful if you have questions, Steve is great in helping understand the policies. . 

[jules815]

37 minutes ago, lovemycruisetoo said:

We use Tripinsurancestore.com. Very helpful if you have questions, Steve is great in helping understand the policies. . 

I will definitely check this out. Going to do something by tomorrow. Meanwhile, went onto the USAA website (we have all of our insurance thru them) and was re-routed to a third party provider that has 3 plans available, one of them being a Travel Medical Protector, "A plan focused on medical protection outside of the U.S." Covers up to a million for medical and even non-medical emergency evacuations. Basically, everything I'm worried about. 

[REOVA]

56 minutes ago, lovemycruisetoo said:

We use Tripinsurancestore.com. Very helpful if you have questions, Steve is great in helping understand the policies. . 

There is a forum posting for Steve on CC and getting ready for another Q&A soon.