Jump to content
Cruise Critic Community

Travel Insurance or Not and What Kind?

Dannzzigg

By Dannzzigg,
in Carnival Cruise Lines

Recommended Posts

Dannzzigg

Dannzzigg

Posted
Posted

I've been on three cruises without any sort of insurance, but the more I read and the older I get, the more and more I question the decision to do so again.

 

We live in Florida and drive to the port. We stay at a hotel at the port the night before our emarkation. A family member will be looking in at the house and the cats. Our dogs will be kenneled. So... there shouldn't be any travel related reason (that I can think of) that might make insurance a necessity.

 

We will be cruising during hurricane season.

 

What other sorts of eventualities do different types of travel insurance protect you from?

 

Should we consider insurance?

 

How much different or better is the insurance offered through Carnival than from private vendors?

 

There are a lot of questions that I probably don't even know to ask...

Link to comment
Share on other sites
cruisedawgg

cruisedawgg

Posted
Posted

all of your comments were regarding pre cruise events. Think about what could happen after you've boarded.

 

Imagine having to disembark the ship for whatever reason and you have to cut your trip short, medevac your way back home on your own dime from a foreign country, etc.

 

Chances are you won't need that insurance, but what if you did? It would be good to know you spend a c-note or two just for the piece of mind, rather than potentially thousands of dollars because you didn't.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Dannzzigg

Dannzzigg

Posted
  • Author
Posted
all of your comments were regarding pre cruise events. Think about what could happen after you've boarded.

 

Imagine having to disembark the ship for whatever reason and you have to cut your trip short, medevac your way back home on your own dime from a foreign country, etc.

 

Chances are you won't need that insurance, but what if you did? It would be good to know you spend a c-note or two just for the piece of mind, rather than potentially thousands of dollars because you didn't.

 

File that under things that I didn't even think about. Good point.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
megmno

megmno

Posted
Posted

I buy it mainly because of the medical and med evac coverage. I'm willing to eat the cost of a vacation if I have to, but I can't afford tens of thousands of dollars for medical evacuation in the admittedly unlikely event that we needed one.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
billsrobb

billsrobb

Posted
Posted

I always buy travel insurance and on my last cruise (Sept 26th) I developed irregular heart beat and had to be taken to the imfirmary for 2 days and then to a hospital in Galveston. Infirmary bill was $2,200 and the hospital bill was over $16,000. Private insurance will pay that bill but not the deductible. My travel Insurance will pay that which probably will total $4,000 that I would of had to pay out of my pocket. Good thing I got the extra insurance.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
CruisefromNY

CruisefromNY

Posted
Posted
I've been on three cruises without any sort of insurance, but the more I read and the older I get, the more and more I question the decision to do so again.

 

We live in Florida and drive to the port. We stay at a hotel at the port the night before our emarkation. A family member will be looking in at the house and the cats. Our dogs will be kenneled. So... there shouldn't be any travel related reason (that I can think of) that might make insurance a necessity.

 

We will be cruising during hurricane season.

 

What other sorts of eventualities do different types of travel insurance protect you from?

 

Should we consider insurance?

 

How much different or better is the insurance offered through Carnival than from private vendors?

 

There are a lot of questions that I probably don't even know to ask...

I will give you the best reason.....

We were scheduled to leave for a 16 day TransAtlantic cruise on Sunday 10/17. My brother passed away suddenly on Wednesday 10/13. We are getting everything back except the cost of the insurance, $308.........best money I have ever spent.

We never travel without insurance after our 2nd cruise where I saw a

(in no particular order and all on the same cruise)young disabled woman hit by a taxi, a older man fall up the steps of the cruise terminal and split his forehead and broke his nose and eyeglasses, a woman fall in the Lido restaurant and badly cut her arm, and someone fall by the pool and injured a leg.

I could not wait to get home from that cruise. :eek:

Link to comment
Share on other sites
vacruizer

vacruizer

Posted
Posted

I am a big believer in travel insurance but since you are close to port, you might want to ask yourself a few questions and see where you think you stand.

 

If you were to become ill and not be able to travel, are you ok losing the price of the cruise and hotel? Also, does your current insurance cover you outside the country? For older cruisers (I have no idea what your age is) Medicare will not cover you out of the country. Or if you you had to cancel due to a non-traveling family member becoming ill or passing away?

 

Can you afford medivac which can be 10s of thousands of dollars if your insurance doesn't cover it?

 

Would you be able to afford to cover flights home mid cruise if you were to need to get home for some reason - heaven forbid - an illness or death in the family?

 

Just my thoughts on it - some cruisers may be ok with the expenses and have their medical covered with existing insurance.

 

We've only filed a claim once and it was small - we missed our pre-cruise hotel when flights were delayed and we couldn't fly out until the next morning. At one point all the flights were booked and we thought we would miss the ship and have to fly to the first port so I was very glad we had the insurance.

 

We were also caught in Hawaii in the tsunami evacuations last February and got separated from my parents on opposite sides of the island. I don't normally buy insurance for domestic trips, but had for this one. Was very glad the tsunami only ended up being 3 feet, but if it had devastated the island it would have been nice to know we could get meds replaced, cover additional hotels, flight changes, replacement of clothing, etc. until we were able to fly home (the airport was closed at that point and they were expecting it to possibly flood if the wave was large.)

 

It's well worth the peace of mind to me.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Go to topic listing
  • Forum Jump
    • Categories
      • Welcome to Cruise Critic
      • Hurricane Zone 2024
      • Cruise Insurance Q&A w/ Steve Dasseos of Tripinsurancestore.com June 2024
      • New Cruisers
      • Cruise Lines “A – O”
      • Cruise Lines “P – Z”
      • River Cruising
      • ROLL CALLS
      • Cruise Critic News & Features
      • Digital Photography & Cruise Technology
      • Special Interest Cruising
      • Cruise Discussion Topics
      • UK Cruising
      • Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
      • Canadian Cruisers
      • North American Homeports
      • Ports of Call
      • Cruise Conversations
×
×
  • Create New...