Seabourn Shield

[Croce]

After reading several reviews on CC and elsewhere, I just booked my first cruise with Seabourn on the Odyssey for Sept 26th - Athens to Venice. Thanks for all the information on this board that is very useful to a novice such as myself. I was wondering about the travel insurance. Do you recommend purchasing it through Seabourn or going through an independent company? I haven't called BerkleyCare (Seabourn's underwriter) yet as I wanted to get some opinions if possible. Thanks for your help.

 

Croce

[Constance331]

Personally, I never use a cruise line's coverage. I use insuremytrip dot com. It's an excellent site - let's you compare coverages from multiple insurance companies.

[SusanNJ]

The AAA has a good policy. Like insurance, I never book air with the cruiseline.

[Farscaper]

They have a site for Canadian travelers as well. Just go .ca instead.

Just don't go and buy something you may already have included with your extended health coverage plan.

[Keith1010]

I would read through the policy through Seabourn so that you know the coverage and the premium price. At the same time, I would recommend going to a web site such as insuremytrip.com which is an easy site to use (you don't have to purchase a policy through that site but it is a good resarch tool) to see many other pollicies that are available based on the information you provide. Then compare all of them to see which best meets your needs.

 

Many of us purchases insurance for different reaasons so see what is out there that best meets your needs. And what you'll learn from this is even the same carriers offer more than one policy since travelers have different needs.

 

Keith

[Croce]

Thanks for the suggestions. I just paid the deposit and have until June 28th to decide on the insurance. This will give me time to compare policies. However, I must admit that I was a bit overwhelmed when perusing insuremytrip.com with all the options available. Looks like finding a loophole to avoid paying a claim in some of those policies would be about as hard as finding a needle in a needle factory. Since the Seabourne policy gives you credit for a future cruise even if your claim is denied, I may go with them. Since I'm booking my own airfare, that's the not going to be covered. But I can take a chance on that. I appreciate the feedback this board provides and will probably be asking some first timer questions as time progresses if I can't find the answers already posted. Thanks again.

 

Croce

[SusanNJ]

Despite my husband's bravardo that insurance isn't necessary, I feel it is. I am not totally getting it to reimburse the cost of the trip, as I certainly have lost more elsewhere this year. My main concern is medical, as most policies do not cover you overseas. Should I need to be evacuated,I want the coverage. Accidents can happen even to the healthiest.

 

The many times I have purchased the insurance; I only used it once when a relative passed away. I was reimbursed the entire amount of a tour.

[LaPaloma]

Am Ex has a very inexpensive health insurance policy...it costs my husband and I $18 a month to be covered when we travel. We just carry it all the time so that if we have a trip...not necessary to do anything. It covers you all over the world. Lola

[Chairsin]

Lola,

Thanks for posting the info on the Amex medical coverage -- might be worth looking into. Does it include evacuation coverage?

[LaPaloma]

Hi..as I recall it does. I suppose as with all insurances there are where ifs..ands ..and buts. We have had it for some time, and I really cannot remember for certain, but am reasonably sure we would not have purchased it if it was not included. Keeping it at all times for travel relieves you of the hassle. A call to Am Ex asking about the med travel program should work, I believe they could get the info to you in short order. Let's face it..all companies want every dollar they can get at this point. Lola

[johnnycruise]

I must admit that I was a bit overwhelmed when perusing insuremytrip.com with all the options available. Looks like finding a loophole to avoid paying a claim in some of those policies would be about as hard as finding a needle in a needle factory. Since the Seabourne policy gives you credit for a future cruise even if your claim is denied, I may go with them. Since I'm booking my own airfare, that's the not going to be covered. But I can take a chance on that. I appreciate the feedback this board provides and will probably be asking some first timer questions as time progresses if I can't find the answers already posted. Thanks again.

 

Croce

 

Don't give up so easily - if your airfare is not covered, that's a major part of your vacation which will go uninsured. While the "insure my trip" site may be a bit overwhelming at first, you can usually look at the mid - high end prices and find coverage which fits your needs and saves considerably over the cruise line offered coverage. Remember - the "shield" coverage is endorsed by Seabourn and must add that associated endorsement cost (kick-back) into their coverage plan. If you have the time/patience, you will find a lower priced, and probably more comprehensive, policy on the comparison Web site.

 

Whichever policy you end up choosing, I hope you don't have to use it!

 

johnny

[wripro]

As I understand it Amex will even cover evacuation if you just pay for your trip with an Amex card.

[Chairsin]

We pay for all of our trips with AMEX -- must call and find out. Thanks Wripro and Lola. I must say, that I get an awful lot of useful info from this message board -- hope that every now and then what I write is of use to someone else.

[Keith1010]

On all of this the devil is in the details. So, the key is to make sure that you read through what is covered and what is not covered so there are no surprises.

 

For evacuation insurance, be sure that you know whether the coverage is to take you to the closest hospital no matter what country you are in or if it allows you to select where you will be taken. Each and every policy is different. For some trips this might not be a factor but for others it might be. Again, the devil is in the details.

 

Croce, I do realize that when you use insuremytrip.com that it first brings up serveral different policies. All I can say is that it first provides a brief summary and if you can narrow it down to say four or five policies then you can then click on another funtion that will provide a nice brief comparison.

 

The attribute that you mentioned about Seabourn is one that you would not find with any other policy. So, if that is most important to you, then stay with Seabourn.

 

Many other policies will provide more benefits than those offered by the cruise line at a lower price than what the cruise lines provide. But, not the one you mentioned.

 

Also, insurance policies work in different ways. We now select those who act as the primary carrier. So, for us when we get home and send in the bills we first don't have to waste time sending them to our own health provider. Instead we send them to the insurance company.

 

The other thing for us is that we view this insurance no different than we view the insurance for our home and even auto. In the end, insurance that one gets is all about risk and how much risk they want to take. For example on ones home you can lower the annual premium by raising the deductible. So, if you are willing to take some risk by havng a higher deductible you save on your premium and with that if you don't end up filing any small claims you can save a good deal of money.

 

So, for us I now take the same approach with our travel insurance. With the cruise lines you have to insure 100% of your cruise. With many of the other ones you don't have to. So, the last few years I decided to take some risk and I don't insure the entire price for our cruise. No matter if I insure the cruise for $1.00 or for $100,000 I get the same health coverage. And for us, that is what I am most concerned abuot. So, I might insure the cruise for half the amount or sometimes for 25%. Yes, there is risk. If we had to cancel the cruise due to a medical reason we would not get 100% back. But for us I am willing to take that risk because of the premium difference. Up until a few years ago, we used to insure 100% of the cruise and never canceled a cruise and had just a couple of thousand dollars in medical bills. If I added up all of those premiums it was a lot (and I mean a lot of money). When we had our first of a couple of World Cruises I realized that if I insured the cruise for 100% I was talking about a lot of money and I really mean a lot. So, that is the time that I started to adjust the coverage. I still get 100% medical and actually get a little more than they offer. But, I cover quite a bit less of the cruise in terms of the trip insurance.

 

So, in the end, my recommendation is two-fold. Read the fine print of these policies and know exactly how the policy works, what it covers and what it does not cover. And then pick the policy out that best meets your needs, including the amount of risk you are willing or not willing to take. And, there is not one right answer for you because each of us is willing to take different risks, is in a different situation from health to age to financial considerations and therefore has needs for different types of policies.

 

Keith

[wripro]

Excellent advice, Keith, as usual.

[Croce]

Keith, Thanks for a comprehensive reply. My primary concerns were twofold. One, that someone would become ill prior to the cruise and we would have to cancel - losing our money. The second being that someone would become ill on the cruise and have to be evacuated. We are all in pretty good health and the chances of this happening on a particular 7 days in September are admitedly miniscule. I can see how the premiums could quickly grow on multiple or lengthy cruises.

 

I've already purchased non-refundable airfare quite reasonably. So, like you in not insuring for 100 percent of costs - if that airfare purchase price were not refunded, I would be willing to take the risk. We've got pretty good world-wide health coverage, but I like the idea of evacuation coverage. I have been pricing some of the policies on insuremytrip.com and they do cover more than seabourn shield, but seem a little pricier - but as you reiterated do not provide the free cruise credit of the seabourne shield, should a claim be denied. Also, if one of us becomes so ill that we wouldn't be able to take another cruise in the future - a refund of the fare would be the least of our concerns. I still have time to call these companies and discuss my specific needs. Never having purchased a travel policy before, I just assumed they were fraught with loopholes and that the companies did everything possible to avoid paying claims. However, after reading some of the comments, I am revising my opinion. So thanks again one and all.

 

Croce

[fastlane]

With the cruise lines you have to insure 100% of your cruise. With many of the other ones you don't have to. So, the last few years I decided to take some risk and I don't insure the entire price for our cruise. Keith

 

 

If you have a "pre-existing condition" and need to get the pre-existing condition exclusion waived, the policies I've looked at require that you 1) get insurance coverage quickly (typically 10-14 days after the initial deposit is made) and 2) insure 100% of your total risk.

[Keith1010]

If you have a "pre-existing condition" and need to get the pre-existing condition exclusion waived, the policies I've looked at require that you 1) get insurance coverage quickly (typically 10-14 days after the initial deposit is made) and 2) insure 100% of your total risk.

 

You are correct that if you want coverage for a pre-existing condition the companies we have looked at would required that you purchase the insurance within the times you mentioned. Many of these same companies will also cover you in the event the cruise line goes bankrupt.

 

Again as I have mentioned the devil is in the details and one needs to purchase a policy that best meets their needs.

 

In our case, this has not been an issue in that we do not have a pre-exixting condition so we have been able to adjust the amount we want covered and we also have been able to purchase the insurance anytime we wanted prior to the start of the cruise.

 

Keith