pregnant cruiser & trip insurance

[live4vacation]

We will be taking a cruise in November and I was wondering if anyone has any experience buying trip insurance while pregnant. We have been on many cruises and never purchased insurance so I don't know how much coverage I should get or the best company to purchase it from. I am not pregnant yet but plan to be by the time we go on the cruise. Any advice would be appreciated. :)

[rebeccalouise]

Boy- you must be a type A personality! Good look with your plans. I wouldn't really choose to be pregnant for a cruise but since you asked...

 

I bought insurance in 1999 when I was seven months pregnant. Norwegian required it. It cost about $ 250 to cover being airlifted off the ship in case of an emergency. Don't know what else it covered. In my case, I was fine. No problems whatsoever. NCL does not usually allow 7 month pregnant women to travel but made an exception since I wasn't aware of the restriction until a week before the cruise.

 

A woman was airlifted off the ship. She was in her first trimester and miscarried. He husband was not allowed to be airlifted with her and she was sent to a Vancouver hospital alone. The rest of her family stayed on board until they could make arrangements- they were not covered by the insurance.

 

Read all the details. Find out if it is medical emergency insurance or trip cancellation insurance or both.

[Nliedel]

At this point, if you were pregnant, it would be considered a pre-existing condition. Some insurance will cover it, but it will be pricey.

 

Book your cruise now. At least make the deposit and buy the insurance now. Make sure the plan covers emergancy evacuation and complications of pregnancy. If you're not yet pregnant, you should be covered.

[CruiseQueen13]

It's covered once you put a deposit - you have 10-21 days to purchase w/ no look back. Depends on insurance company you choose. No more expensive cuz you're preg. I use tripinsurancestore.com - love them@

[Karysa]

We purchase yearly travel insurance for our whole family. One of our daugters broke her arm very badly last September and was under a doctors care until December 21st so she was not covered for "her arm" when we went away on vacation March 3-17 because the clause was...if you are under medical care for three months prior to travel you will not be covered for that illness or condition. It is good to be very careful when you are dealing with insurance.

[ElsieToo]

I was 24 weeks pregnant last year when we cruised to Alaska - it was WONDERFUL. We did get trip insurance, but I honestly don't remember doing anything special due to the pregnancy. In retrospect I realize I should have probably searched the policy more to see what was and was not included in the policy. But we never needed it, so all I have is hindsight. I would make two gentle suggestions, though.

 

First, you may wish to ensure that your cruise is refundable, or at least transferable. As I said above, I had a perfectly wonderful time on the cruise (7 nt, r/t from Seattle + 3 pre-cruise days in Seattle). However, I was nicely in my 2nd trimester when we sailed. I was tired, nauseus, and worried (I had some spotting in the beginning) in the first trimester so I don't think I would have enjoyed it very much. And since you're not pregnant yet you may find - as I did - that it took longer to get pregnant than you think it will, so it would be good to have the option of postponing the trip if needed.

 

Second, you might want to avoid destinations with warm temperatures. I'd always heard that pregnant women get feel hotter, but it was UNREAL how hot I became once I hit around 10 weeks. I would have been positively swealtering and miserable in the caribbean, for example.

 

Hope that helped, and happy sailing!

[As You Wish]

I don't know if you booked your cruise yet or not, but a number of the travel insurance companies will waive the pre-existing condition clause if you purchase the insurance within 14 days after you book the cruise. You might want to check out http://www.insuremytrip.com/. They allow you to compare a number of different policies and have an 800 number to answer any questions. I found them to be helpful when I purchased my insurance.

[tchix]

You should also look to see what their definition of a "condition" is- folks are right that if you have a medical condition that exists prior to travel, you need to be careful to make sure they waive the preexisting condition exclusion. It makes sense, right? The insurance companies dont want people who already are being treated for X problem to then cancel for X problem and expect a refund, otherwise, people could wait until the last minute when they know they can't go, then buy the insurance, and then cancel get reimbursed.

 

But, with some insurances, regular pregnancy isn't something you can cancel for anyway, and thus cant be a preexisting condition. I know with the insurance I just bought, regular normal pregnancy was actually excluded from being a "condition." That means I cant cancel just because I get pregnant or am pregnant (and because I feel miserable, dont want to go when I'm pregnant, etc), but at the same time it can't be a "preexisting" condition. I clarified this w the insurance company, just to make sure, and they said that was correct. I couldnt cancel for a normal pregnancy, but even if i was pregnant when I bought the insurance, if I had a complication or my doctor decided AFTER I purchased the insurance that I couldn't go for whatever reason, that would be covered.

 

So check with them, but in many cases even if you are pregnant when you buy the insurance, if you develop some complications, etc, then you will be covered.

 

 

Worse case scenario you can get a "cancel for any reason" policy which will reimburse you up to 75 or 90 % of the cost of the trip if you cancel (even if it's just on a whim), depending on which policy you pick. It is much much more expensive than "regular" insurance (i think only 2 companies offer it right now), but it may give you peace of mind if you are going on a particularly expensive cruise. (i wouldnt shell out the money for a short caribbean cruise, for example, unless staying in a suite or paying alot for airline tix)