Trip Insurance

New to Princess! My parents have decided they don't want to add travel insurance to our cruise but I'm contemplating it.

What does the insurance on Princess cover??

Thank you!

We would recommend you buy insurance; it is kind of the reverse of wining the lottery - take your chances, without it.

Call or go to the web site insuremytrip. There are also a number of other similar sites. Decide what coverage you need: medical, evacuation, lost luggage, trip cancellation, etc. There are all types and coverages. Recommend 'primary' insurance coverage, which ever you purchase.

Suggest you search these boards for topics on 'travel insurance' or 'insurance' to learn more about the subject, risks, costs. etc.

Check it out HERE

Note: Link will open the Princess Vacation Protection .pdf file

We rarely travel without insurance. If anyone in your group has any kind of medical condition it can save you loads of money if the condition happens to flair up.

I know too many stories about people not taking travel insurance and being sorry later. There are many companies offering it so I always suggest a little research. Please urge your parents to reconsider.

I agree with one of the above posters who referred you to insuremytrip.com. Buying insurance through an independent source rather than directly from the cruise line usually offers more options.

Some people "self-insure." Basically they don't need to cover the smaller things and may only buy insurance to cover the major expenses like med evac or repatriation of remains.

Only you can decide what is best for you.

Do not know how old your parents are, or how healthy they are - both factors in deciding on insurance. We self insured for years, which means if something happened at the last minute we would have paid and lost money. Never happened. We did this for 25-30 years... finally we got to the age where even though we are healthy having some health insurance basically made since, i.e., after at 65 because medicare does not cover seniors when outside the usa.

When we got to this age, we decided to by an annual policy that gives us basic accident and emergency health coverage, emergency evacuation coverage and some minior travel insurance. We still self insurance our trip costs. We buy the annual coverage from Travel Guard, buy business travelers insurance ... one policy for $518 for a year for the two of us ... if covers up to limits anytime we are more than 100 miles away from home. My DH 85; I am 71 have never had to use it.

We feel Travel Guard is a good option for us, given our health and needs. .

Thank you for the help. Both parents are near 60 years old. My dad has various medical issues. My SIL is allergic to shellfish, all nuts, and green pepper. She and I also have asthma. I've decided I'll add it on for me and they can all decide what they want to do.

New to Princess! My parents have decided they don't want to add travel insurance to our cruise but I'm contemplating it.

 

 

 

What does the insurance on Princess cover??

 

 

 

Thank you!

My husband and I were also considering purchasing their trip insurance, but we discovered that the credit card that we paid the trip with covers more than the actual trip insurance does. So, if you are paying with credit card, it may be a good idea to check with them first.

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My husband and I were also considering purchasing their trip insurance, but we discovered that the credit card that we paid the trip with covers more than the actual trip insurance does. So, if you are paying with credit card, it may be a good idea to check with them first.

 

 

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Losing the cost of my cruise is the last reason why I buy insurance. I buy insurance in case, god forbid, I have to be airlifted off the ship in a foreign country due to some unforeseen medical emergency. Unfortunately I don’t have a spare $100,000 sitting in the bank for just such an emergency.

Please, please, always buy travel insurance even if you are healthy. Last time I checked no one plans on being involved in an accident and medical costs can be very high especially if you have to be medically transported back to the US.

A cruise involves SO much more than the amount paid to the cruise line for the fare.

I also recommend buying separate coverage, like mentioned above, that covers ANYTHING that might happen on the trip, door to door, from the day you depart until you arrive back home.

One of the major carriers offers specialized cruise insurance coverage, that can be bought as late as Final Payment Date.

Don't travel without the insurance. Of the 12 cruises with Princess, I have had to use the medical services on two different cruises. On one cruise, I ended up staying in their facility overnight so you can imagine the cost. Since I have Medicare as my primary insurance, all costs were reimbursed between my secondary insurance and my travel insurance.

I just started to use travel insurance

First buying it i had to use it to cancel a flight . Was so easy to submit too

Within 10 days i got a refund in full

Purchase it again for up coming cruise

We always bought the travel insurance offered by Princess. In 2016, day 2 of a 12 day cruise, I fell as I was riding my mobility scooter up the gang plank. I spent 27 in an Irish hospital before they decided they couldn’t do anything for me and I needed to be airlifted home. It cost us $62k for that flight. I don’t know what we would’ve done without the insurance. Get the insurance.

We just had to cancel our Panama Canal due to a foot injury. I have submitted a claim. We had the platinum policy. I am assuming we will be reimbursed for everything princess did not refund to us minus the insurance cost. I hope the process is quick and painless unlike my ankle!

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Losing the cost of my cruise is the last reason why I buy insurance. I buy insurance in case, god forbid, I have to be airlifted off the ship in a foreign country due to some unforeseen medical emergency. Unfortunately I don’t have a spare $100,000 sitting in the bank for just such an emergency.

 

Please, please, always buy travel insurance even if you are healthy. Last time I checked no one plans on being involved in an accident and medical costs can be very high especially if you have to be medically transported back to the US.

Amen!

I cannot imagine cruising without insurance. I always take the Princess insurance. I have had to use it for 2 relatively minor issues ..... once due to a fall, resulting in a "face plant", while on a non-ship excursion, and once for a respiratory infection that occurred midway thru a long cruise on which there were quite a few other passengers who also got it. In both instances 100% of the costs for visits to the ship's medical center were reimbursed to me. Both times the medical expenses were greater than what I paid for the insurance.

Never travel without it. Once our flight was canceled, insurance covered all of our added expenses. On another cruise, after driving from Ohio to Texas, my father passed away. I was able to fly home and get reimbursed for our cruise.

It's value is so much more than peace of mind for your own medical emergencies.

New to Princess! My parents have decided they don't want to add travel insurance to our cruise but I'm contemplating it.

 

What does the insurance on Princess cover??

 

Thank you!

As others have advised you take the insurance. If you take the Ultimate Ship Tour you'll visit the medical facility which includes the morgue. A few years ago a friend of ours passed away in her sleep in the last port prior to arrival in Miami.

Fortunately their travel insurance covered everything including getting the body to New York. You don't want to deal with a problem like that.

Just remember S#** Happens!

Howard

I agree with one of the above posters who referred you to insuremytrip.com. Buying insurance through an independent source rather than directly from the cruise line usually offers more options.

 

Some people "self-insure." Basically they don't need to cover the smaller things and may only buy insurance to cover the major expenses like med evac or repatriation of remains.

 

 

Only you can decide what is best for you.

This is certainly the best reply and I would echo it. Everyone's situation is different. Medical and Evac are certainly critical since these are the only potential events that could incur many tens or even hundreds of thousands of cost.

Even with this coverage it is important to note exclusions, ie. you may not be covered if driving a wave runner or parasailing.

In our case we are comfortable with evac, trip cancellation and delay through our credit card (Chase reserve).

Reserve and AMEX Platinum offer a 100k evac coverage and ample trip cancellation for most cruises.

Medical is through my company.

Based on our previous experience you should be able to buy basic med and evac insurance for a one week cruise (for 60 year olds) for a very nominal amount (60-70 dollars per week or less).

I would highly recommend this as a starting point for overage and urge you to make sure you have protection for evac and medical.

Trip cancellation is covered by many credit cards and if you used one to purchase the trip you may be fine.

To me a potential problem is that cruisers buy blanket cruise'insurance' from cruise lines or travel agents and think they are covered adequately when these policies may have very limited evac or medical.

You should be congratulated that you are asking questions about insurance. To me the purpose of any insurance is to

protect against an event that could be a financial life changer not to prevent any possible out of pocket expense. JMHO

Have your folks read these threads, as they may be unaware of the hidden costs of illness requiring treatment or evacuation, or even the possibility of short-notice cancellations caused by an unforeseen medical event. They can then make a better informed decision on handling their expenses.

We're both in our mid-60's and buy the Princess insurance. Cancelled our Caribbean cruise in November (2 days before sailing) due to my mother's unexpected illness. Two years ago we cancelled Alaska B2B 1 hour prior to the airport shuttle because of my own medical issue.

One thing not often discussed is the potential emotional hit of cancellations. It would have been worse if we'd cancelled without insurance. Not because of the money - though that would be an ouch - but because I would have felt responsible for the financial impact, regardless of what DH said to try to ease that burden. :eek: To my mind, that can have a longer-lasting impact that's harder to get past.

Good for you for protecting yourself - and have a lovely cruise with your family!

SVCALUM.....

If your parents are pretty set on forgoing the cost of insurand, you should check into what it would cost for you to insure your parents, along with yourself....

I have no idea how much more it would be than just buying a policy for yourself. But, you could easily get quotes online.

If you go to the web-site mentioned before, and then go the different carriers that you think you might choose... You just do this all thru the web-site. I do not believe anything has to be pre-signed by each party.

Timing matters with Travel insurance; if you're worried about pre-existing conditions some policies require purchase of the policy by a certain point to qualify for the pre-existing condition waiver (which simplifies coverage if you've got a chronic condition that you may seek coverage for). As was also mentioned, double check what you're covered for with credit cards too, most carry some level of insurance but whether it will do medical/medical evac or not is the biggest financial risk IMHO.

I wouldn't take a cruise without an insurance policy, but this is an individual decision. We're in our 30's and nearly cancelled a cruise last year because DW got a stomach bug/food poisoning 8 day before the cruise. Thankfully it resolved after a few days, but had it happened 2 days later or hung on another day or so we would not have passed the public health survey and probably would have been refused transit as her symptoms were basically Noro to a T. We've also had a death in the family and had to file as the funeral was during the cruise we'd planned. A couple forms and a few scanned documents and we were fully refunded other than the premium paid for travel insurance.

We did notice that cost to insure older travelers can be a little high, especially for single trip insurance. The cruise line policies aren't always strictly travel insurance per se, but they can be a cost effective way to minimize financial risk and imho is a viable option as you look at different plans and policies.

Thank you for the help. Both parents are near 60 years old. My dad has various medical issues. My SIL is allergic to shellfish, all nuts, and green pepper. She and I also have asthma. I've decided I'll add it on for me and they can all decide what they want to do.

One of the things it does for you is if you are considering visiting the Ship's Doctor, the exam fee is less of a deterrent. On our last cruise my wife had an ear infection, and between the exam fee ($95) and meds the total bill was $200. We've found that sometimes our primary insurance, Medicare Advantage, does not cover medicines prescribed out of country but Princess insurance does.

With Princess insurance, no problem, and every occasion we've had to use it we have been 100% reimbursed for the cost of the medical visits and medications onboard ship. (combined primary and secondary insurance). And cost is based on your cruise fare, not your age.

We always get the trip insurance through Princess (auto upgraded to Platinum due to our Captain's Circle loyalty level.

 

One of the things it does for you is if you are considering visiting the Ship's Doctor, the exam fee is less of a deterrent. On our last cruise my wife had an ear infection, and between the exam fee ($95) and meds the total bill was $200. We've found that sometimes our primary insurance, Medicare Advantage, does not cover medicines prescribed out of country but Princess insurance does.

 

With Princess insurance, no problem, and every occasion we've had to use it we have been 100% reimbursed for the cost of the medical visits and medications onboard ship. (combined primary and secondary insurance). And cost is based on your cruise fare, not your age.

We do have trip insurance through our credit card.

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