Trip Insurance

[LaPaloma]

I'm wondering how many CC people buy the Travel Insurance for there trips? We have taken about 20 cruises on the Old Sea Goddess and Seabourn, and have never bought the insurance--so we are well ahead of the game. We do have--full time--the Travel Medical Protection offered by AMX--that covers medical costs and Medical evac if needed. Thats not expensive, and I think is important. For those who do buy the Insurance--do you buy the Seabourn package, or other insurance?--and has anybody had to use it?

[TLCOhio]

I'm wondering how many CC people buy the Travel Insurance for there trips? We have taken about 20 cruises on the Old Sea Goddess and Seabourn, and have never bought the insurance--so we are well ahead of the game. We do have--full time--the Travel Medical Protection offered by AMX--that covers medical costs and Medical evac if needed. Thats not expensive, and I think is important. For those who do buy the Insurance--do you buy the Seabourn package, or other insurance?--and has anybody had to use it?

 

We bought other insurance because the Seabourn plan would only cover the time on their ship and what you bought through them. We had time, stops and costs before and after the cruise and wanted to be covered by that. Can do Internet searches to find the right policy that fits your needs. Lots of options and choices. Fortunately everything went fine on our June 17-24 Athens-Istanbul cruise, plus the three days prior in Athens, two days after in Istanbul, plus five days in London. Great weather, no problems.

 

TLC in Ohio

[PeaSea8ch]

I have always purchased travel insurance for my vacations and agree with TLCOhio that it is best to shop around and find the best policy for your needs. I highly recommend purchasing travel insurance because, as others have posted here, you just "never know" ...

[kerryblue]

We bought insurance from Travelguard for our last trip. As it turned out, my mother died after a long illness and we had to cancel. We had included in our insurance the costs of nonrefundable hotels that we had booked through luxury link. We were worried because you can use the hotels for several months but we were not going to Europe again during that period. Travelguard was great...we got our entire refund within 3 weeks and just had to promise not to use the hotel packages! Incredibly professional service!

[blackbird71]

Maybe this post will be deleted I do not know if I am breaking a rule but here is one site http://www.insuremytrip.com/

 

Also I do not have AX Plat but at one time the Plat card had some great medical insurance that if you traveled overseas a lot made up for the Plat cost.

[Iamboatman]

There are many different philosophies on insurance. While some of the better credit cards (and health insurance plans) do provide insurance for many items covered by travel insurance, and most airline tickets can be reissued for nominal fee, trip cancellation and/or visits to the ship's hospital are the two biggest items people tend to be concerned with.

 

While I personally believe it is a good value (if you get the right policy without all the unnecessary concierge services and insuring things which are already insured) many clients don't take it out. I tend to find that those that travel most often tend not to take it, I guess believing either there is nothing that is doing to stop them or if they miss one cruise the premiums saved on all the others more than make up the difference.

 

Interestingly, of those that take out the insurance I do find that those clients that cruise on the luxury lines tend more often to take the cruise line's insurance while those on the mass market lines tend to take the third party insurance.

[SantaAna,CA]

I'm afraid I've had a bad experience with this company, which is probably my fault. I am notorious for changing my mind (woman's perogative, but still...). I booked a December, 2007 cruise with Seabourn, with travel insurance, and then changed my itinerary and I'm booking the Feb. 27, 2008 - March 16, 2008 Caribbean sailing. TravelGuard would not transfer the insurance. So I was out about $400. Ouch.

 

Beware!

 

Jane :(

[Winner]

We never bought Seabourn's (or any other cruise line/tour operator) insurance. If we bought insurance it was usually through TravelGuard or AccessAmerica. Last year we thought it would be prudent to insure our October 2005 Spirit cruise Alexandria-Mombasa (the famous/infamous pirate cruise). I had to cancel within three weeks of sailing (my husband died suddenly) and AccessAmerica reimbursed for everything except the cost of insurance.

 

I will probably not buy insurance on most cruises but will on those involving complicated air travel and/or destinations I consider "iffy". Personally, I would always use a third-party insurer.

 

Winnie

[Keith1010]

We used to purchase travel insurance through the cruise lines but we learned over time that we could find policies that were equal or in most cases better for less the money.

 

The biggest concern we have is the medical cost associated with a major illness where you have to be evacuated off the ship. Those costs can add up quickly.

 

What we are starting to do now is not to insure the entire trip because in either case you get the medical costs. For example, whether you insure the cruise for $5K, $10K or $15K in most cases the medical benefits will be the same. So, our philosophy of late has been to insure the cost of the trip for the amount that we think makes sense for us (maybe 50% of the trip or maybe slightly more or slightly less). It's no different than ones home where you can insure the home for the full amount at one premium, or insure the home with a 1% deductable for a lower premium, or say with a 2% premium for an even lower premium. It's evaluating the cost vs the risk and benefit of insurance.

 

We also now look at each cruise on a case by case basis thinking through the overall cost, etc. If the overall cost is low, we will insure very little of the travel cost itself, just a little bit to pick up the other benefits (medical evacuation, etc.). If the cost of the trip is very high then we'll do x percentage. Most of the insurers have web sites where you can find out the premium based on inputting various data such as trip cost. So, you can adjust the trip cost amounts to see what the premiums would be based on various levels.

 

But, in our case, we do want to have coverage that provide medical evacuation and other related medical benefits as that can be important. We also of late have found policies where the travel insurer is the primary health provider for the trip meaning that rather than having to first submit medical bills to your own health insurance provider and for those that they don't pay then submitting it to the travel insurance provider you can just submit the claim to the travel insurance provider from the get go.

 

And of course there are other options ranging from getting the insurance from your credit card company, to buying just medical evacuation insurance. In the end, figure out what components that you want insurance for and then look at the policy that covers those.

 

Keith

[Iamboatman]

I'm afraid I've had a bad experience with this company, which is probably my fault. I am notorious for changing my mind (woman's perogative, but still...). I booked a December, 2007 cruise with Seabourn, with travel insurance, and then changed my itinerary and I'm booking the Feb. 27, 2008 - March 16, 2008 Caribbean sailing. TravelGuard would not transfer the insurance. So I was out about $400. Ouch.

 

Beware!

 

Jane :(

 

You need to be be sure you purchase the type of policy that works for you. TravelGuard has policies which are "bargain basement" with limited benefits for those that want them. They also have policies which are fully transferrable if you cancel outside of the penalty period of the cruiseline. You need to advise them in advance of the first cruise's sailing and simply provide them with the new sailing. Most of the time this can be done online on its website.

 

You do bring up a reason that some travelers use the cruiseline's insurance: If you cancel or change your booking, the insurance usually is not paid for provided it is before the final payment.

[dd@sea]

We have historically used Access America with the exception on one time using a cruise insurance, which we will never do again. In the latter case, we had booked a cruise over a year out (which is not uncommon) and at the beginning of that booking my husband fell and suffered a massive tear of the rotator cuff. After surgery and six months of therapy we felt secure with the upcoming trip. Just prior to ninety days out and time for payment, including insurance, my husband was told he may have to have a repeat surgery. The decision was to be made in one month. With that in mind, our TA called the cruise company (not Seabourn) and asked refund capabilities if he were to have repeat surgery. They said when we paid the final and if he were to have surgery after that time there would be no reimbursement as his condition would be considered pre existing and we would loose over $12,000 dollars. Needless to say with uncertainity of further surgery we cancelled.

 

Now, we book only third party, Access America or CSA which provide for pre existing situations. In the future we are booked on cruises to some areas where medical facilities may not be at the optimum. With this in mind we are also taking a Med Jet insurance which is good for a year and the cost is not that high. It does allow for medical evacuation to where you choose rather than what some other companies stipulate.

[LaPaloma]

Lots of good info--thanks, Don