Why do you buy travel insurance?

[Sky Sweet]

Why do you buy travel insurance when you book a cruise? Check all that apply.

[MBZ Girl]

I never buy it! Bought it once then had to cancel the cruise & we lost the entire premium because we couldn't book something else within the alotted time!!! I'll take my chances!!! Knock on wood----have never had an issue!!:D

[keela1eva2]

I can't for the life of me understand your logic in not buying travel insurance. It is absolutely CRAZY!

This week I read and saw on the news of a woman who was on holiday in Majorca she collapsed on the aircraft which diverted to Barcelona. The woman died and without insurance her hysband had to find the funding to

bring her body home. Just think about it. A man on Millennium recently had to be taken off a cruise for the T/A. He had to be airlifted to Miami I think. He had a heart attack required surgery and then was flown back to the UK with a Dr. and his wife. Just think of the cost of the medical cover costs involved. People have ended up losing their life as my Son told me the other day. A man from the UK became ill in the US. The Medical staff at the US hospital refused to treat him because his insurance said they would not pay out as he had failed to disclose some relevant medical condition. The man died as a result.

Every day of the week all over the world people have accidents or become ill. I have insurance and hope not to need it but there is no way I would ever not have it. Cancellation is the least of your worries. Theft loss of your belongings etc etc.

 

Sue

[lucky white heather]

I can't for the life of me understand your logic in not buying travel insurance. It is absolutely CRAZY!

This week I read and saw on the news of a woman who was on holiday in Majorca she collapsed on the aircraft which diverted to Barcelona. The woman died and without insurance her hysband had to find the funding to

bring her body home. Just think about it. A man on Millennium recently had to be taken off a cruise for the T/A. He had to be airlifted to Miami I think. He had a heart attack required surgery and then was flown back to the UK with a Dr. and his wife. Just think of the cost of the medical cover costs involved. People have ended up losing their life as my Son told me the other day. A man from the UK became ill in the US. The Medical staff at the US hospital refused to treat him because his insurance said they would not pay out as he had failed to disclose some relevant medical condition. The man died as a result.

Every day of the week all over the world people have accidents or become ill. I have insurance and hope not to need it but there is no way I would ever not have it. Cancellation is the least of your worries. Theft loss of your belongings etc etc.

 

Sue

Obviously I support everyhting that Sue(keela1eva2) says and of course we are also Brits.. I could be entirely wrong but here in the UK we are asked which insurer you are with when you book .

If you do not have your own insurance (you have to provide policy no. and relevant details) they will insist you take the TA's insurance as a precaution even if it is single trip.... we have annual. Again, if you are over 60/ 65/ 70 etc you will have to pay whopping big premiums ..which may or may / may not solve your expenses problem if you do take ill depending on which worldwide area you are in at the time...we would NEVER go without any Insurance cover.... it may be different in other countries but we like to sleep at night prior to going on the trip...wouldn't be able to do it without knowing we have some insurance and even that might not be sufficient in the USA for example if we happen to fall ill!

[dforeigner]

The cost of a MEDEVAC Service alone is worth the price of the insurance. My insurance covers me outside the US for medical expenses but not for the cost of the cruise or the cost to replace luggage, damaged clothing, etc.

[cruiseacecat]

I must agree with Keela1eva2. Have seen far too many medivacs on my cruises to EVER risk not having at lease med evac insurance. Do not want to spend the rest of my life paying for something that could have been covered had I bought insurance. It's worth a few hundred dollars to me for my peace of mind.

 

I hope the man who was evacuated from Century by the USS Wasp last year had insurance. I cannot imagine what something of that magnitude must have cost.

[leoandhugh]

Having once been evacuated by Medvac plane from St Petersburg to Helsinki with a subsequent 3week hospitalization, of which all costs were covered by my trip insurance(including hotel and meals for my accompaning partner) I would NEVER book a cruise without taking a full insurance policy. Even though my experience was almost 20 years ago, the overall costs then were close to $200K and without insurance I am sure I would still be trying to crawl out from under. No way,Jose.:)

[warmwinds]

We always take the insurance. You just never know. We had to use it once for one of the "unapproved" reasons and they still gave us 75% of our money towards a new cruise (and I didn't have any problem finding another cruise within the allotted time) - we would have lost everything. It's a few hundred dollars, sure, but we just don't even think about it - we just think of it as part of the cost of the cruise.

[tcocktail]

I will never travel again without insurance. I am 40, and my colon ruptured. I was in excellent health prior. No apparent reason. Thank god I was not traveling. I did though have reservations for a Med cruise and Celebrity was great with me and so was American airlines. I was very lucky. But not sure if that luck would happen again. You just NEVER know what will happen to you, especially being in a foreign country.

 

Prior I would not have ever purchased insurance. To be for warned is being for armed.

[Glenndale]

We buy it for peace of mind:)

We must have witnessed at least 7 or 8 medical evacuations from cruises in our time and dread to think what that would cost.

Just because you are healthy it doesn't mean that you can't have an accident.

It isn't just medical insurance but covers other aspects of travel, missing flights, lost luggage, having to return home in an emergency, robbery etc.

I hope we never have to claim on ours but should the worst happen at least we are covered.;)

[mocro]

Well, this sounds like a silly question. We booked an August Alaska cruise directly through Celebrity and the subject of insurance never came up. But now that I'm reading this very helpful thread, I looked at the invoice and see that we were charged $139pp for my husband and I and $59 for our 15-year old for something called "CRCR Vacation Protection Plan." Does anyone know what this is? I assume it's some sort of trip cancellation coverage and not health insurance. Do I need trip protection if I'm pretty sure we won't cancel? I've made my family promise not to get sick! LOL

 

I hadn't gotten around to making an insurance decision as I was convinced I'd get solicited for that. Do you have to ask or will they offer? I had thought we might not have such a need as we're healthy plus we'll be going to Alaska so still in the U.S. I can see from the posts above I need to research this thoroughly.

[cusyl]

We always purchase travel insurance. I just had to cancel my July 15th cruise a couple weeks ago because my DH was diagnosed with a terminal illness and must take treatments to prolong his life. We never expected that to fall on us.

[hcat]

We were booked on the December 4, 2006 sailing of Enchantment of the Seas. 3 days before we were to fly to FLL for the cruise my wife had a severe gall bladder attack. On the day we were scheduled to be boarding the ship she was being wheeled into to operating room to have her gall bladder removed. (no exageration) For some strange reason, my wife didn't want to risk needing to have ther gall bladder removed while in Beleize or Cozumel or while onbaord the ship. Although I can't imagine why ... I'm sure their health facilities are up to U.S. standards ....

 

The insurance reimbursed us for everything, including the airfare, minus the cost of the insurance. All that was required was a note from the Dr who did the surgery stating that it was nescessary. We were reimbursed in time to book a late January sailing on Brilliamce.

 

If we didn't have the insurance, we would have been out the price of the cruise, plus the airfare, plus the excursions we had already booked. It was well worth the $80.00 we paid for the insurance.

[patchit]

We always purchase travel insurance, and have actually had to use it. The Noro-Virus struck my husband once and we faced being quarantened or leaving the ship at the next port. We recovered 100% of our money for the days missed and also received future cruise coupons from Celebrity.

 

Travel insurance provides peace of mind. I would never plan a trip without it.

 

Patsy

[Karynanne]

23 yrs. ago, my parents were in Hong Kong (not a cruise), and my Dad had a heart attack, and after a week in the hospital, died. It was a terrible experience for my Mom, and after another week (red tape with the Hong Kong government), she brought my Dad's body back to the U.S.

 

If they had not had Travel Ins., it would have been an extremely costly ordeal.

 

We always get the Ins. when we're cruising. All it takes is one incident in a foreign port, to incur huge expenses. Peace of mind is by far more important, than the expense for the insurance.

 

Karyn

[TravelerThom]

Why do you buy travel insurance when you book a cruise?

Having read the responses, and seeing that most are pro insurance, I have to wonder if this is an Insurance Company blog. Sure there is the possibility that I might sometime need air-evacuation from Namibia, but I'm about 60, travel for pleasure at least five times a year, have never [knock on wood] needed insurance for any reason, and they want 10%+ for EACH trip? That means in two years I have FLUSHed a trip down the toilet. Not saying that insurance does make sense for some, but getting it "for peace of mind" [which I can read as DONATING your money to an Insurance Company] doesn't make sense either.

 

Part of the reason that this insurance is so expensive is spelled out clearly by a post on this thread:

"For some strange reason, my wife didn't want to risk needing to have ther[sic] gall bladder removed while in Beleize or Cozumel or while onbaord[sic] the ship. Although I can't imagine why ... I'm sure their health facilities are up to U.S. standards .... The insurance reimbursed us for everything..."

 

I'll be blunt and say that shipping of my body after I'm dead is not high on MY list of concerns.

 

Flame Guards UP

[cusyl]

 

I'll be blunt and say that shipping of my body after I'm dead is not high on MY list of concerns.

 

Flame Guards UP

Not flaming, but are you single? I see you are well traveled and probably wealthy enough for your heirs to see that your body is returned for burial.

If you are married, your DW probably has already thought about being left with that problem.

 

May you continue to enjoy good health and travels. :D

[Glenndale]

10%+ for EACH trip?

This isn't a flame, each to their own, personally I have no interest in your decision per se, but your 10%+ is way off the mark!:confused:

We pay approx $160 US for worldwide, annual, multi-trip cover as a couple. This includes a premium for cruising and is with a reputable UK company.

Either your trips are extremely cheap or you haven't done your research.

[SheilaNC]

We buy trip insurance for the same reason that we insure other aspects of our life. Life is a gamble...just because something hasn't happened before is no guarantee that it won't happen in the future. As we get older, we find that we venture further and further from home - just the med-evac portion of the coverage is worth the purchase price. We, too, have witnessed a helicoptor evacuation on many of our cruises - one in a remote areas of Alaska.

 

I'm moved by the real life stories shared on this thread and know that those with coverage had a catastrophic experience made a bit easier. We budget the cost of the insurance as part of our expenses - if we can't afford it, then we don't travel.

[Sky Sweet]

To answer your question, this is not an insurance company blog. In fact, if it was up to my husband we would never puchase travel insurance because he feels that our personal health insurance covers us for medical emergencies in any part of the world.

 

As far as the cost of the cruise itself, we both agree that insurance is to protect us from catastrophic unpredictable financial costs and not every dollar we have ever spent.

 

Even so, I always wind up buying travel insurance when we take a cruise for a completely different reason. On more than one occassion our health insurance provider initially denied a claim, and when I challenged it, they would tell me that the doctor's office miscoded an item and should resubmit it. It is frustrating enough to deal with that type of nonsense when it is a matter of making a few calls to a local doctor, but I wouldn't want to be in that situation if the doctor was in another part of the world and there was a language barrier.

[SandyR5]

Hi - Been reading this thread. We also always take the insurance...not because we're not well, but because sh__ happens and we want to be prepared. I am now curious as to which insurance many of you take. Do you take the cruiseline insurance or do you work with companies you have gotten on sites such as insuremytrip.com. Honestly, we have been taking it through the cruise companies, but would love to hear from others who use other insurers. I would also love to know if there's a company that would insure you for a year for however many trips you take. LadyWhiteHeather, who I had the pleasure of meeting on our November '06 Med cruise, (Hi) mentioned yearly insurance in Great Britain. Do we have that here? Thanks.

[MBZ Girl]

WOW, sorry I said anything! :(

My health insurance DOES cover us and we are fortunate enough to never have had, or seen for that matter, any of these life threatening scenarios y'all mentioned. Maybe as we get older and less healthy we should re-think buying trip insurance. I really just never thought about it that much!!!

And to the poster who said they could have found another cruise in the alloted time--maybe your husband's company didn't just announce shutting down!!!! NOT a good time to pick another cruise!:D

[Lois R]

Hi,:) when I started cruising (4 years ago) I didn't take insurance

but as the time went by I talked to a few different people, and

decided it would be in my best interest to buy it.

I am single and in pretty good health but you never know.

(Especially from reading some of these posts).

Also, my Dad is 85 and, knock wood, he is in pretty good health

as well:D

But you really never know......and should something happen

while I am in transit or should something happen prior to sailing

but after the final payment is made, well, I just feel like it

is good for me to have the insurance.

It doesn't cost me all that much for the amount I need so

I just do it now. Sort of like filling out those cruise documents

on line;), it is just part of the routine.

[SandyR5]

Hey MBZ girl, don't be sorry for starting this. It's a great thread. I just want to add, while you're rethinking it, we ziplined in Costa Rica a few years ago and our private guide told us about someone who hurt themselves badly. They had insurance and the ship's doctor's bills were all covered. We also cruised with someone who came down with streph and again, all doctor's bills on the ship covered. Finally, someone we met fell getting down the step out of the bathroom and had to leave the trip early. Again, insurance covered it.

[MBZ Girl]

Hey MBZ girl, don't be sorry for starting this. It's a great thread. I just want to add, while you're rethinking it, we ziplined in Costa Rica a few years ago and our private guide told us about someone who hurt themselves badly. They had insurance and the ship's doctor's bills were all covered. We also cruised with someone who came down with streph and again, all doctor's bills on the ship covered. Finally, someone we met fell getting down the step out of the bathroom and had to leave the trip early. Again, insurance covered it.

 

Hey Sandy!

I didn't START it, I just posted first.:p

That is amazing, in the 10+ cruises we have taken, we have never experienced ANY of that, nor have we seen it!!!! Cruising is not our first vacation choice, we travel a LOT on land, doing many resort/beach/golf vacations. Still, never seen or experienced any of this, thus my comments about not needing insurance. Maybe in the future I will see the need.:D