To insure or not to insure... that is the question? (merged)

[RetireeWannabee]

We've never bought it so far and have never needed it.

 

Took Mom to Alaska last year and she bought insurance for herself (age 72 with Lupus and other conditions). did not need it.

[negc]

Everyone has their own level of risk that they are comfortable with. If you opt not to purchase insurance that is your right but you do so at some degree of risk. Insurance is one of those things we buy that we hope we will never have to use, but the fact that we haven't yet needed to use it has never been, to us at least, a reason not to buy it in the future. On our most recent ta, a couple on our cruise had to depart the cruise when it reached Newfoundland because of a death in their family back home. The airfare back to the States was quite expensive but, because they had insurance they were reimbursed for the cost. Another passenger had to be med-evaced while we were at sea. I don't know whether or not he had insurance but I certainly hope he was covered for what had to be a very expensive, though necessary, procedure. Taking life insurance is sort of like carrying an umbrella. You hope it won't rain and you won't need it, but it is reassuring to know that it is available in the event you do.:)

[tinkerme1]

But you wouldn't be covered for a pre-existing condition.

 

Actually, that statement is not true. There are some insurance policies that you can purchase before final payment that covers "some" pre-existing situations. I would call and check into it! Some CSA policies cover it!

[nrdsb4]

I often see people state that they don't see the benefit of buying insurance because they have "no health issues."

 

We are all healthy until we're not. None of us is immune from bad luck:

 

Getting rear-ended while minding our own business at a stoplight the day before the cruise.

Accident/injury while jogging/riding the bicycle/changing a light bulb on a ladder, etc., etc., etc.

Mother/grandmother/older relative dies unexpectedly.

Acute appendicitis - healthy one day, in the hospital the next.

Heart attack from that undiagnosed condition that did not show up on the annual physical (even young healthy athletes have dropped from a heart attack).

Taxi accident while on excursion at port.

Norovirus caught on the ship.:eek:

Fall down the stairs during rough seas resulting in care flight from the ship (cost $20,000 or more).

 

And on and on.

 

The only way I'd go without some kind of travel insurance is if 1)I had health insurance which covers me out of the country and 2)I didn't mind losing my money on a cruise I never got to take because I had to cancel last minute. There are people who can take the financial hit and would prefer to roll the dice and forego the insurance. I could afford to lose it, but I would be too irritated to pay that much money for something and not get to enjoy it.

[shorbr]

That is what I was thinking when I scheduled a cruise in December 2004. My girlfriends and I were going to cruise on RCC. I like you and your wife was 50 at the time and decided there was no need for insurance because I am relatively a healthy woman. I was so excited...then was diagnosed with breast cancer. I am fine now, but needless to say, I was devastated. But the wonderful thing that I can say for RCC is that they refunded every bit of my money with no questions asked. I think that says a lot about them!

[petesweet]

I still have about 2 weeks to decide. My 6 2 dad is down to 137 lbs now, from 182 lbs when this all started. My mom had to sign a waiver for them to give him real liquids to drink, liquids are going into his lungs not his stomach and he cant make himself eat. We have discussed a feeding tube if things dont improve. Im the only one driving and so I might cancel rather than go and worry if if a miracle happens, but each time he improves a little he then takes a worse step down. Never been thru this before, so I dont know how long he will live or not, but Im getting very worried. Hes 89, so things just seem to be piling up wrong, not one thing that by itself couldnt be cured, but together they impinge on each other.

 

I really hate to cancel, my cruise price has jumped so much, I love a bargain, but I know I need to and be here for my family. I admit Im waiting until the last minute and hoping for a miracle.

 

My opinion? If I were you, I would cancel the cruise and go another time. Even if your father gets a little better before you sail, you will not enjoy the cruise because you will be worrying about him. Wait until your life settles down a bit. Book sometime a year ahead and you'll get another bargain.

 

I hope you do get your miracle, but a cruise isn't worth stressing yourself out over.

[lumpyatst]

Most of us are who have employers that provide health insurance are asked to assume a larger portion of risk on our health care every year and having trip insurance will help you to recoop costs that you would most likely have to pay a good share of if you were taken ill or had an accident away from home on foreign soil. I think my policy only covers 80% away from home. I for one don't go on that many cruises so I look at it as a way of protecting my investment in this vacation that I've put a lot of resources in.

[Sue L]

One our friends refused to buy the insurance for previous cruises. I was putting together a group and I just included it in the price for everyone and no one said a word.

 

Well in the middle of the cruise the guy who never bought insurance suffered a heart attack ( fine now) and had to be medivaced off the ship. The bill was $20,000 (yes that's thousand) for the medivac alone. The insurance paid for his wife to stay in a hotel nearby the hospital for the 5 days they were there, plus his hospital bills, everything. I think the only thing they didn't cover were all her meals, but there was a per diem meal coverage she just spent more. And they covered the cruise for the 3 days they lost at the end. It was well worth the 48$ per person cost that I added in.

[cruiseco]

Actually, that statement is not true. There are some insurance policies that you can purchase before final payment that covers "some" pre-existing situations. I would call and check into it! Some CSA policies cover it!

 

Actually, taken together with the post that this was in response to it was probably true.

 

Original post: "I bough insurance after final payment with no problem"

 

Responding post: "But you wouldn't be covered for a pre-existing condition."

 

Unless the original poster bought a CSA or HTH policy within 24 hours of making that final payment no coverage for pre-existing medical conditions would be available.

[Bobblsc]

Firefly: You may wish to contact CSA insurance BEFORE final payment. They may insure you even at this time!

 

Insurance isn't just about how old you are, but rather if something should happen, you'd be covered.

 

Others here have referred to CSA, and cruiseco also refers to HTH, so read what they have to say again.

 

If you go to www.insuremytrip.com you will find several insurance companies and policies. Like CSA, HTH insures with pre-existing conditions covered if the policy is purchased within 24 hours of final payment. Actually I believe the two companies are of the same holding company. The rate structures are a bit different for the two companies. I have found HTH to be better for us, and have used them for our last three cruises. We have not had a claim, but I have read others' comments on Cruise Critic who say that claims are handled well.

 

Premiums for CSA and HTH may be a bit higher than some, but the advantage is that one avoids buying till final payment, thus not losing premium money if the cruise is canceled prior to final payment. Another advantage is that insurance does not have to be purchased for the total trip cost in order for pre-existing conditions to be covered. I have thoroughly checked this, but you will want to check it for yourself.

 

Bob :)

[Irishwhiskey]

We never bought insurance for the first couple of cruises that we took some years ago.When we started to take our parents with us thats when we started to buy it.We are in our early 50s as well and in good health but we have to start thinking about our folks at home when we are away.Their health is not as good so we tend purchase insurance as a result.

[lddam]

We've been on 14 cruises and have always purchased insurance. Our attitude toward insurance is "It's better to have it and not need it, than to need it and not have it." Needed it twice...glad we had it.

 

Dave of...

[kathyanddick]

I have a friend who's flights were delayed enough to make them miss their cruise. They had the insurance and called them right away. The insurance covered a night in Ft Lauderdale, a flight to the next port in St. Thomas, 2 nights in St Thomas to wait for the ship, and all of their meals before they could join up with the ship.

If you are flying a day before the sailing, then you should not have the air delay to worry about. But, weather can delay you more than a day.

We have bought the insurance for our last 7 or 8 cruises. We did not used to, but can not afford to lose that kind of money should something happen.

Buy it!!! Travel Guard is good and so are a couple of others. Check with your travel agent. They can show you different options with different premium rates.

kathyanddick

[kathyanddick]

That is what I was thinking when I scheduled a cruise in December 2004. My girlfriends and I were going to cruise on RCC. I like you and your wife was 50 at the time and decided there was no need for insurance because I am relatively a healthy woman. I was so excited...then was diagnosed with breast cancer. I am fine now, but needless to say, I was devastated. But the wonderful thing that I can say for RCC is that they refunded every bit of my money with no questions asked. I think that says a lot about them!

 

Glad you are fine now. I too was diagnosed last year. All good now!!!

About RCC refunding your money. Had you paid your final payment? Did you have insurance? I know someone who was killed in an accident one week before his cruise. He did not have insurance and the cruise line would not budge on refunding the money to his wife. Fortunately it was just a 3-day and not tons of money was lost. But..........insurance would have helped.

[critterchick]

Does anybody posting here know of a reputable company that lets you opt out of medical coverage? I assume that's the largest part of the policy, and since I don't need it because I have coverage for international travel (and I am willing to take the risk of my deductibles), I don't see that its' worth the premium to insure other possibilities. But I might consider a policy that allows me to cancel for any reason and only covers the cost of the cruise and other transportation, not the medical expenses portion...

[tinkerme1]

Hi Jean! I think that most Company policies for travel insurance are designed around medical loss. If you really feel that you have enough medical coverage, then I would call the companies, like CSA (located in San Diego BTW) and ask them if they offer anything like what you are proposing. If I had to guess, I would say that medical is the reason most insurance policies exist in the first place for travel. I think calling will give you a good answer though.

 

Do be aware that what they charge you on the ship is not often covered in FULL by your insurance provider. Remember that clause, "reasonable and customary charges"? LOL! My regular med insurance only paid for a portion of my claim. The travel policy picked up the rest.

[BethCarp]

OP, are you flying? You also may want insurance in case your flight doesn't make it. DH and I are taking a 3 night cruise in January. We insured the cruise and the flight for about $50 total. That's worth it to me knowing that we could very well be snowed in in St. Louis in January. Our cruise and flight total $1000. I'd hate to throw that money away when $50 would reimburse me.

[Merion_Mom]

In deciding whether or not to buy insurance, you should not consider just your age and health, but the same for your parents or even grandparents. Most people we know with elderly parents take insurance, even though they themselves are healthy. And as someone has already stated, you should be aware of whether or not your own insurance will cover you out of the country - Medicare does not pay for illness treatment or hospitalization outside of the US and its territories such as Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands.:)

 

I'm not even going to go into my past history of boy-am-I-glad-that-I-had-travel-insurance. It's water over the dam.

 

But it's not just elderly parents, and as many have pointed out, it's not just "health".

 

This past June, I was in Nashville for a professional conference, and my cell phone rang. I usually turn it off; I had simply forgotten. I saw that it was my daughter's British cell phone - she was abroad for a semester.

 

I excused myself and went into the hall to call her back.

 

This is the part of the story that some of you already know as Moped Leg Girl. :rolleyes:

 

Yes, it was my 21 year old healthy-as-a-horse daughter, calling from SICILY. Against my frequently repeated advice, and against her own better judgment, she and a friend, while touring Italy, had rented mopeds. She lost control of hers and crashed.

 

She was calling me from Sicily, in pain, SOBBING. I didn't know if I would have to jump on a plane and fly to SICILY.

 

It turned out that her friend took care of her, got her back to England, where she received excellent care.

 

But you never know WHEN or WHERE or HOW an emergency will arise.

 

My father passed away this July. We were scheduled to sail on the Explorer on August 3rd, out of Bayonne, an easy drive from our house. It was a close call, but we were able to go. If we hadn't, I would have had to "eat" the cruise fare, because I hadn't bought insurance this time.

 

Why not? You know, I'm not sure. I guess that I was thinking "easy drive, no problems, what the heck, I'll take the gamble."

 

Enough rambling.

 

I buy travel insurance. :)

[Merion_Mom]

Does anybody posting here know of a reputable company that lets you opt out of medical coverage? I assume that's the largest part of the policy, and since I don't need it because I have coverage for international travel (and I am willing to take the risk of my deductibles), I don't see that its' worth the premium to insure other possibilities. But I might consider a policy that allows me to cancel for any reason and only covers the cost of the cruise and other transportation, not the medical expenses portion...

 

Jean, I am not an insurance agent (nor do I play one on TV), but I believe that "automatic" insurance on a card like American Express is purely "travel insurance" without medical coverage.

 

Or I could be wrong. :)

[Sue L]

I

 

This is the part of the story that some of you already know as Moped Leg Girl. :rolleyes:

 

Yes, it was my 21 year old healthy-as-a-horse daughter, calling from SICILY. Against my frequently repeated advice, and against her own better judgment, she and a friend, while touring Italy, had rented mopeds. She lost control of hers and crashed.

 

She was calling me from Sicily, in pain, SOBBING. I didn't know if I would have to jump on a plane and fly to SICILY.

 

It turned out that her friend took care of her, got her back to England, where she received excellent care.

 

But you never know WHEN or WHERE or HOW an emergency will arise.

 

My father passed away this July. We were scheduled to sail on the Explorer on August 3rd, out of Bayonne, an easy drive from our house. It was a close call, but we were able to go. If we hadn't, I would have had to "eat" the cruise fare, because I hadn't bought insurance this time.

 

Why not? You know, I'm not sure. I guess that I was thinking "easy drive, no problems, what the heck, I'll take the gamble."

 

Enough rambling.

 

I buy travel insurance. :)

 

 

Hey Carol,

 

I remember you posting pictures of her beautiful leg as you were on or nearly on the Explorer. Is she better now? Everything heal ok?

[Merion_Mom]

Hey Carol,

 

I remember you posting pictures of her beautiful leg as you were on or nearly on the Explorer. Is she better now? Everything heal ok?

 

Believe it or not, she is still not TOTALLY healed, although she is much better.

 

There will always be scars, but "real" healing of the deepest cut was still going on three months after the accident.

[Sue L]

Believe it or not, she is still not TOTALLY healed, although she is much better.

 

There will always be scars, but "real" healing of the deepest cut was still going on three months after the accident.

 

Wow, sorry to hear that, but hopefully she will be fully recovered soon!

[cruiseco]

Does anybody posting here know of a reputable company that lets you opt out of medical coverage? I assume that's the largest part of the policy.

 

Actually, it;s just the opposite. For example, with Travelex, for a 65 year old cruiser insuring a $2000 trip the premium would be $129. This includes coverages for:

 

trip cancellation

trip interruption

trip delay

medical

emergency evac

baggage loss damage

baggage delay

24-hour assistance

 

If you exclude the cancellation and interruption coverages but keep everything else the premium drops to $36.

 

So yes, when buying a full comprehensive policy you may be getting some duplication of other coverages but it won't be a huge portion of the total premium. Cancellation/interruption coverages are the expensive components.

[dino76]

WOW... I never imagined there would be so much conversation on this topic... this is great! Being the originator of this thread, in some ways I am more confused and don't know what to do. As far as the $2,000.00 for the trip, if something happened and I couldn't go... it wouldn't hurt me financially. To me, that's part of life and you can't insure everything (actually, I guess you can), but there is a cost! But I am definitely checking on our health insurance and what it covers on the cruise/out of the country. But then again, my parents and wife's mother are older and you never know if something might happen to one of them while we are gone and have to rush/fly home.

 

If you do buy insurance, why don't you buy from RCCL??????

[shelbylook]

I'm way too anal to travel w/o insurance. Just bought it today for my December Enchantment cruise (and flight to/from MI). Travel Guard. $50.

 

I can afford $50 a lot more than unreimbursable expenses that could incur w/o insurance!! We even had insurance for a big trip to FL in 2000. It covered our flights, Disney tickets and our Daytona 500 tickets (4 days worth)! Thankfully have never needed it but I convinced my DB and SIL to get it before our Mariner cruise. Less than 10 days before our cruise my DB slipped on ice at work and busted his ankle in 3 places which required extensive surgery. Needless to say, the cruise was out for them but they were reimbursed for all their prepaid costs (cruise and airfare).

 

Call me a better safe than sorry kind of girl.

 

Cathy