Insurance, yes or no?

[MikeNBec]

Okay, I've asked a few friends who have cruised before, and only one couple we know has bought cruise insurance for their cruise. What do you think?

[cmason]

Yes, absolutely. It is cheap compared to the pain you will suffer if you don't have it.

 

If you have traveled, you know flights get delayed, equipement fails, flights are rebooked, bad weather, etc. If these happen and you miss the ship, you watch your vacation sail away, or pay your own way to the next port. With insurance, insurance will pay to get you to the next port, including any hotels, etc along the way; or refund your vacation.

 

What if you get sick and can't go? Insurance will refund your vacation cost so you can rebook.

 

What if you get sick while on the ship, and have to be airlifted off to a hospital? How much will an air rescue and foreign hospital stay cost you? Travel insurance pays, where most medical insurance does not.

 

Insurance costs $50-100 per person, which is cheap in my mind. I always get insurance, and I never worry about what could go wrong on vacation, because I know it will be resolved, and more importantly, it won't cost me more than I budgetted.

 

Chip

[mr green]

:mad: I hate spending money that so far has never given me anything back, however, without cruise insurance I doubt that I could sleep much at night. Sooner or later I know that I will have the misfortune to use it. You all carry fire insurance, don't you? At 70 years plus, I rest my case.:) john taylor

[StephenJohnson]

Well, you should buy insurance for losses you can't afford to sustain or if the probablility of loss is greater than the fractional cost (i.e. if there is one chance in 10 of you missing the cruise, and the cost of insurance is less than 1/10 of covered costs)

 

Since neither of those apply for us, we don't, and in our 20-odd cruises have not yet had cause to regret that decision.

 

Without knowing your specific circumstances, MikeNBec, it's hard to advise. Cheers!

[Correia_Cruiser]

We're taking our first cruise in May, and decided to get insurance. I checked the boards a ton before making the decision. Finally I decided that even though we're young (28), we DO have 3 small children, and who knows what could happen? Probably nothing since we got the insurance, but something MAJOR probably, if we didn't get it!:eek: I don't like spending $$ on something I might not use either, but I love having the peace of mind that we're covered in case we have an accident or emergency, or need to reschedule the cruise.

 

I did purchase it through another website (not Carnival's insurance), and the price was 3X less than Carnival offered! So I satisfy my frugal tendancies by saying at least I got it cheaper than I would have with the cruise line...:o

Laura C.

[Jim and Robin Lincoln]

Well, only on our second cruise this next year, but events that happened right before our first last year proved to me that insurance is not onyl a good thing, it's a must.

 

 

Morning of our cruise, everything is packed and ready, we're up getting ready for the drive, and I decided that stepping in the shower is not the simple process that I've used for the last few years.

 

Laying on the floor in pain trying to figure out if all your parts are still where they are supposed to be is not the time to be thinking about cruise insurance, but once I realized that everything was still attached and would move, and got myself up off the floor, my wife reminded me that we had insurance and if I felt I needed to go to the hospital it would be taken care of.

 

I guess it almost wasn't an option, since I missed the counter by only a few inches, and seriously considered it for a bit, since the part that hit first was my tailbone. Since it's a step in shower not a tub, there wasn't a lot farther to got after that hit, but breaking one's tailbone the day you're leaving on cruise isn't a lot of fun.

 

We wound up going on the cruise, and other than slowing me down a bit (which was probably good for us anyway) it really only hurt when sat in certain chairs, so I just made sure to avoid them.

 

Insurance? Absolutely. There's just too many things that can go wrong.

[bUU]

Anyone who spends more than a few months here on Cruise Critic learns that the question is not "Insurance, yes or no?" but rather, "Insurance, one or two?" By that I mean that insurance is a given, but the question should be whether you need one insurance policy or two. If you buy your airfare through the cruise line, you may be able to get away with one, and if you are sure you're not going to have to cancel for some personal reason then one insurance policy should be okay as well. However, if you cannot see with perfect clarity what will befall you, and you make your own airline reservations, then you need two insurance policies, one for the cruise and one for the air.

[dkjretired]

Bicker is absolutely correct, it is not whether you should get it but who you should get it from.

 

Don

[Margie1983us]

OK!!! Now I have searched these boards over for the right insurance to buy, and I did but insurance. But now I see someone says we need cruise insurance and flight insurance. Why? Please let me know if I have done the wrong thing. I thought one policy would cover it all. :confused:

Thanks

[CaptData]

margie: It depends on where you got your insurance (if from cruiseline it may not cover your own air arrangement) if private insurance make sure it covers everything ie hotel, air and cruise as well as medical evac and baggage. Also if purchasesed soon enough pre-existing conditions such as diabetics.

[Benita]

Margie, You do not need separate policies, just purchase enough coverage to cover both the cruise and airfare costs. Unless you are quite elderly, it is usually quite a bit cheaper to purchase insurance from a private insurer and not the cruiseline. Also, if you purchase it quickly enough, the private insurance will cover bankrupcy of the cruiseline, where the insurance purchased from the cruiseline will not. There is a good website http://www.InsureMyTrip.com that allows you to compare different insurance policies. Generally, if you purchase the insurance within 10 to 14 days (depending on the policy), it will cover you for preexisting conditions, as well as bankrupcy of the airlines and cruiselines.

P.S. I fell putting up hurricane shutters two days before a scheduled trip to Italy and fractured my ankle. I would have been out eight thousand dollars if I did not have cancellation insurance - got the check just last week.

[lougee1043]

i once bought travel insurance to cover some airline tix for a land vacation to mexico and sure enough there was a hurricane there and my vacation was cancelled and i collected the cost of the tix so i could rebook again down the line

[bUU]

AFAIK, no private travel insurance will provide RCI's 75% refund guarantee, and RCI won't provide insurance on air arrangements not made as cruise-air. So in that case you will definitely need two separate policies. Private travel insurance should always offer to cover both the cruise and the air.

[TWA4Ever]

I thought one policy would cover it all.Thanks

 

Any time you purchase a travel policy, you can read complete details prior to purchasing (on insuremytrip.com, they offer plans-in-a-nutshell, but for the complete policy, just go to the company's website).

 

What did your policy say when you read it prior to purchase?

[Bequia]

What is the cost for an visit to the ships sick bay? Curious if its comparable to landside hospitals. Ditto on medicine costs onboard. Anyone?

[TWA4Ever]

What is the cost for an visit to the ships sick bay? Curious if its comparable to landside hospitals. Ditto on medicine costs onboard. Anyone?

 

Had to go to sick bay on our first cruise (Patriot). Charge for 5 minutes with the Dr. was $113 (fortunately, I was reimbursed for it by my medical).

[lindie11]

this is something i've always been taught and i think it applies here-

 

better be safe than sorry.

[maryevelyn]

:eek: Take a look at the post on the Princess board headed "I need a hug".This should convince most people that insurance is a good bet.

Mary

[tinkerme1]

IMHO, I belive that cruise insurance should be considered a part of your cruise expense....no exceptions.

 

We just got off the Monarch OTS on a short 3-night cruise and my daughter (who does not have any medical insurance since she is a student) became very ill and needed a doctor in the middle of the wee hours of the morning. It cost us over $150.00 to have her treated. The medical staff is wonderful, and I'm glad they were available, but they are NOT cheap. If you need something major, I wouldn't even begin to fathom what the bill would be at that point.

 

Give yourselves peace of mind while traveling and buy the insurance. Worth every penny!

[ladycaveat]

I've always bought cruise insurance through the cruise line. Thank Heaven I've never needed it's benefit but it is reassuring to know I have it. I'll be taking my first Carnival cruise in April . . . does anyone know anything about Carnival's policy? Even though I'm an attorney, all that small print looks the same to me (I'm a criminal attorney not a contract attorney). <G>

[cruzincurt]

Check out which policies are secondary and which is primary. For the past few cruises I've picked Travelex since it is primary coverage; it pays first and doesn't wait to pick up the balance that your other insurance doesn't cover.

 

Almost had to use it last year when my mother-in-law died the week before the cruise after a long illness. But it was helpful to not be worried about losing our cruise investment when more important things were happening.

[Margie1983us]

Thanks for all the info. I did check my policy and everything is included. I did purchase from insuremytrip.com Hope I don't need it, but I do feel relaxed knowing that I have it. Thanks again to everyone :) :)

[Krazy Kruizers]

Yes - with 50+ cruises under our belts, we have had to use the insurance only once - when DH's mother died 10 days before we were to sail. If we hadn't had insurance, we would have lost big bucks!

[jagmanss1]

cruzincurt, Which Travelex policy do you purchase? there are 2 different ones......

[Sea_Weed]

We sometimes buy insurance --- usually based on connection times we have to work with and if we are flying in the day before the cruise or not. Headed to Cancun over Christmas, but for that trip since USAir is not covered by insurance because of their financial status, the insurance option is less attractive.:cool: