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How many of you cruise without purchasing insurance?


ErickW
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No way I could do that. Basically dump everything on my sister. Funeral “where’s greg?” “He’s on vacation.” No way.

I definitely could. My mom (who cruises with me a lot) wants to be cremated and that can be handled just fine without me. We don't really believe in funerals. Personally I feel they are the biggest waste of money right up there with weddings. I think it's dumb to spend a bunch of money on either one. I will have no funeral. Stick my ashes next to my animals and call it a day. I have friends in the funeral business and that's one of the biggest rackets ever invented. If you can't come see me when I'm alive, please don't waste your time when I'm dead. Obviously I wasn't that important and I certainly don't need a bunch of people crying their eyes out at some weird, creepy place. Save the money and go on vacation and toast to my honor. Don't waste it on a funeral.

 

So that's the way I feel about it. Not everyone does and that's OK.

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For those who travel often, consider MedJet for evacuation insurance and Geo Blue for medical coverage - both extend world wide and have decent rates for year round coverage with 'family rates.'

 

Especially if you feel you do not need insurance for things like delays, lost or delayed luggage, cancellation, etc.

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2 main reasons to buy travel insurance. Whether you need depends on your family, work, and trip details (investment, how from departure, cruise cost, # passengers, etc).

1. Trip cancellation:

If your investment is low /wont cause hardship if you have to cancel, family/work has low risk of causing a cancellation, then consider going without it. Some credit cards cover trip cancellation if you bought on the card.

 

You are rather close to departure time and if you know your family is going without any risk of cancellation then reason 2 is your main need.

 

2. Medical & evacuation

. Never travel without it. You can be financially wiped out with 1 medical incident and worse stranded somewhere foreign. Buy closer to departure to get just medical & evac coverages as the price will be less close to departure. Particularly with kids, accidents happen.

 

We shop on the comparison sites mentioned but buy directly from the insurance provider, never the cruise line (too expensive, poor coverage, wont include air if booked by yourself, etc).

 

Generali Travel Insurance (used to be CSA) is our preferred bec the evac coverages are the highest in the marketplace and their pre existing conditions cover you until final deposit. Generali travel insurance website is excellent and has more plans than insuremytrip.com and Sqauremouth

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I definitely could. My mom (who cruises with me a lot) wants to be cremated and that can be handled just fine without me. We don't really believe in funerals. Personally I feel they are the biggest waste of money right up there with weddings. I think it's dumb to spend a bunch of money on either one. I will have no funeral. Stick my ashes next to my animals and call it a day. I have friends in the funeral business and that's one of the biggest rackets ever invented. If you can't come see me when I'm alive, please don't waste your time when I'm dead. Obviously I wasn't that important and I certainly don't need a bunch of people crying their eyes out at some weird, creepy place. Save the money and go on vacation and toast to my honor. Don't waste it on a funeral.

 

 

 

So that's the way I feel about it. Not everyone does and that's OK.

 

 

 

Well changing the statement from “they’ll still be dead when I get back” to “they wish to be cremated, not have a funeral, and they’ll still be dead when I get back” makes a difference.

 

 

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I’m a younger cruiser and used to not purchase travel insurance. After my first son and father in law passed away within a couple of years of each other I learned that you can’t predict what life will throw at you. Now I purchase travel insurance for all cruises.

 

 

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I’m a younger cruiser and used to not purchase travel insurance. After my first son and father in law passed away within a couple of years of each other I learned that you can’t predict what life will throw at you. Now I purchase travel insurance for all cruises.

 

 

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I’m very sorry for your losses. I’m lucky enough not to have kids so that is a non issue. I can’t imagine how losing a child would derail your life.

 

And you are 100% correct about how anything can happen. Which is actually why I worry less about insurance. I had a handful of trips that I wanted to take someday but were expensive so never put them in motion. Until a few years ago. In the span of 2 years a good friends husband went from perfectly healthy to dead of stage 4 skin cancer. Several other coworkers were diagnosed with late stage cancer and died. And another coworker who was perfectly healthy was killed at work. He did nothing wrong, was simply doing his job, and if I had been in his shoes I would be dead now too.

 

After all this I stopped thinking about the ‘someday’ and switched to thinking about ‘today’. I no longer assume that tomorrow is guaranteed to happen. Yes, still save for my retirement but my basic needs are met (have a house and car in good condition). I’ve always worked a lot of overtime but now my overtime goes towards experiences instead of ‘someday’. Since then I’ve planned two ‘trips of a lifetime’ with absolutely no regrets.

 

My takeaway from everyone I’ve seen die expectedly is that I have placed a value on the experiences I’m able to have while I’m still here above most other things. Every day people come on here with ‘I have to cancel because —————‘. And to me, I wouldn’t cancel over —————-.

 

Not to mention that my vacation time at work has to be picked in January for the year. So there’s no cancelling and going in a few months. If I cancel I’m not taking a vacation this year and it won’t happen till at least next year. And I have a soft commitment to go to Asia next year. So earliest we could really go is 2020. Knowing we would get a refund through insurance wouldn’t make cancelling the trip any easier.

 

 

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use a third party insurance company, they are cheaper then the cruise line.a good website to check insurance pricing is http://insuremytrip.com . I was able to purchase insurance from that site for about half the cost carnival wanted

Like any insurance company, the cost depends on your age, any pre-existing conditions etc. Can be VERY EXPENSIVE to insure yourself. For someone who is 60 and cost of trip is 1,300, INSURE MY TRIP will cost 212.00 ...ugh

Edited by abby1257
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Just as the title states. I'm contemplating not adding the insurance for our 5 day coming up in March. We went at the same time last year and although I did purchase it then, I'm just not sure I want to spend the extra couple hundred dollars on it. We are a family of five with kids ages 10,7, and 5. If that matters anyways. So please give me your input, and let me know what you have or haven't done in the past. Especially frequent cruisers.

 

Lots of seniors don't know their Medicare is not honored out of the country-best to have a back up plan as is could get very expensive. We usually deal with Travelguard. Have only had to file 2 claims in 30 cruises-good on our end. Very easy to work with and get the insurance on line.

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Like any insurance company, the cost depends on your age, any pre-existing conditions etc. Can be VERY EXPENSIVE to insure yourself. For someone who is 60 and cost of trip is 1,300, INSURE MY TRIP will cost 212.00 ...ugh

in my 30 cruises I have never paid that much-I can insure two of us alot less on TravelGuard-nothing about pre existing conditions, etc.

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Sebleo, you had coverage from your Standard insurance provider?

 

I misspoke...through USAA, which is my home and automobile insurance company. But, it is still a third party travel insurance they are partnered with.

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Well as you all were posting, I was on the phone with the wonderful people at insuremytrip.com. Needless to say I just forked over a whopping $66 for total coverage that fits my family needs for this upcoming trip. I feel a little dumb to say the least for not researching 3rd party options before starting this! I was blinded by the fact of what I thought was a somewhat expensive price on the carnival website! Thank you all so much for your input, it has helped tremendously!

 

Great price! Have fun!

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My husband and I were supposed to cruise Alaska 2 years ago. Needless to say, we never made it to the ship when on our first night in Seattle, my husband had a massive heart attack, landing him in emergency surgery and ICU for a week.

 

Having that insurance was a G-d send. Not only did they reimburse us for the flights and the cruise fare, it also paid for our medical bills. The insurance company’s medical team called me daily to get updates on my husband and coordinate care. They almost sent us home with a nurse and oxygen upon his discharge, but it was decided by both the medical teams and the hospital that it wasn’t necessary.

 

I will NEVER travel without travel insurance again. The money is so worth it and the peace of mind in knowing there is someone there in time of need.

 

 

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My husband and I were supposed to cruise Alaska 2 years ago. Needless to say, we never made it to the ship when on our first night in Seattle, my husband had a massive heart attack, landing him in emergency surgery and ICU for a week.

 

Having that insurance was a G-d send. Not only did they reimburse us for the flights and the cruise fare, it also paid for our medical bills. The insurance company’s medical team called me daily to get updates on my husband and coordinate care. They almost sent us home with a nurse and oxygen upon his discharge, but it was decided by both the medical teams and the hospital that it wasn’t necessary.

 

I will NEVER travel without travel insurance again. The money is so worth it and the peace of mind in knowing there is someone there in time of need.

 

 

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All it takes is one time. I bought my parents a cruise in January 2010 that I was sailing on as well, the day before we were supposed to leave we had an unexpected death. Got every penny back and we sailed later that year.

 

My rule of thumb is: short cruises (3 nights) I don't buy, but any embarkation port that I have to fly to or a sailing that is a week or longer, I buy insurance. Just gives me peace of mind.

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When we were (much) younger we usually did not buy travel insurance. Now we are of Medicare age and we make sure we are well covered for medical and evacuation. We may or may not buy cancellation insurance, depending on the cost of the trip. As others have said, if we can afford to take the trip we can afford to lose the money, although we would hate to lose it. I consider it self-insurance for shorter and less expensive trips. Credit card coverage might come into play as well.

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We started buying it about 5 years ago. My DH didn't want to but I insisted since we are not spring chickens and our parents are not. Well we had a death in the family last week and we had to cancel the cruise we were supposed to be on this week. It is so worth it!! Will never cruise without it

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We use a combination of insurance and self-insurance. Because we travel extensively thoughout the year (as much as 7 months out of the country) we purchase an Annual Travel Medical policy (GeoBlue) which costs us about $450 a year (total cost for two persons) and gives us $250,000 of medical (this drops to $100,000 at age 70) plus $500,000 of evacuation coverage. The Annual policy covers the first 70 days of each and every trip throughout an entire years.

 

We so not purchase trip cancellation or interruption insurance and prefer to self-insure these risks since our potential liability is very limited (to the cost of the trip). However, we recently obtained a Chase credit card that gives us up to $10,000 per trip (charged on the card) of Trip Cancellation/Interruption. That Chase card was free for the first year and only costs $95 a year (after year 1). The 50,000 bonus points I got with the new card was enough to get us about $750 in hotel rooms....so in a real sense the credit card was free for about 8 years :).

 

Regarding the Chase Sapphire cards (either preferred or reserve) it is possible to expand that trip cancellation coverage to $20,000 if you and your partner/spouse both get your own cards and have the trip cost split between the two cards. It is not a strategy we pursue....but we know others who follow this pattern.

 

Hank

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We have 100% trip cancellation from our capital one charge card. My Medicare supplemental insurance covers 80% on travel outside us, plus covers Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico (2 of our 4 ports). Think I’m ok without additional insurance?

 

 

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We have 100% trip cancellation from our capital one charge card. My Medicare supplemental insurance covers 80% on travel outside us, plus covers Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico (2 of our 4 ports). Think I’m ok without additional insurance?

 

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Does the charge card insurance cover cancellation that is due to any pre-existing conditions?

 

GC

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We have 100% trip cancellation from our capital one charge card. My Medicare supplemental insurance covers 80% on travel outside us, plus covers Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico (2 of our 4 ports). Think I’m ok without additional insurance?

 

 

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Does either cover return to the US if you are in need of medical transport? That's one of the major reason I buy the travel policies.

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And another thing to check: does your Medicare supplement have a maximum they will cover? My Plan F covers only up to $50,000 out of the country, and I believe that is a lifetime cap.

 

This is a reason to make sure that if you get travel insurance with medical, make sure that it is *primary*, so you won't be required to "use up" any "lifetime max" on other medical coverage before your travel insurance kicks in.

 

GC

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We have 100% trip cancellation from our capital one charge card. My Medicare supplemental insurance covers 80% on travel outside us, plus covers Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico (2 of our 4 ports). Think I’m ok without additional insurance?

 

 

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I would be comfortable without taking additional insurance in your shoes. But there will always be people on the insurance train that will tell you you need it.

 

 

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