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Insurance....HELP


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Cruise line insurance not good, and is priced accordingly.:cool: Remember as in all things, you get what you pay for. ;) Please go to insuremytrip.com or squaremouth?? Some recommend that site. $10,000 in medical is NOTHING.;)

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and with the companies mentioned above - you get to choose which benefits you want and they are priced accordingly. We've learned the hard and very expensive way to have "WORK" related issues covered.

 

Comparision shop, especially on the internet, is a great way to save money.

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I dont understand why some people here says "cruise line insurance is not good"

 

Just what, exactly, isnt good about it? Everyone always makes the statement but never backs up the statement with any facts that will help those of us "not in the know".

 

I have a health insurance policy that covers me out of country. I always use CruiseCare because i like the "cancel for any other reason" policy they have and mainly only buy trip insurance for trip cancellation, baggage loss etc and I also like that its rolled into the price of my cruise. I have never heard even one negative thing about getting claims paid with CruiseCare either.

 

So with all that said, can someone please tell me what isnt good about CruiseCare?

 

TIA

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One reason it isn't

 

good to get ins. from the cruiseline you're sailing on is that many policies have a default of supplier coverage. Therefore, it wouldn't be good to have to use that part against

the line you're sailing on. I'm not saying RC is going bankrupt, so no flames, please. I am just trying to explain one reason not to buy from the company you're using.

 

Cruzin Lady

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One reason it isn't

 

good to get ins. from the cruiseline you're sailing on is that many policies have a default of supplier coverage. Therefore, it wouldn't be good to have to use that part against

the line you're sailing on. I'm not saying RC is going bankrupt, so no flames, please. I am just trying to explain one reason not to buy from the company you're using.

 

Cruzin Lady

 

But RCI uses Berkeley Care. Berkely Care is its own company that has nothing to do with Royal Caribbean as far ownership goes that I know of :confused:

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Going on Oasis in Nov, should I get insurance through RCCL or can someone suggest other companies. RCCL is $59pp, can I get better pricing with another company?

 

Purchasing insurance totally depends what your personal needs are as all plans are not equal and price is dependant on what you're ultimately wanting the plan to cover.

If you have any pre-existing medical condition you might what to consider purchasing independently of RCCL's plan. As RCCL's plan does not include a pre-existing medical wavier. In order to have pre-existing conditions waived you need to purchase the insurance pivately generally within 10-14 days of the initial booking date. Suggest you compare plans on the following websites

 

www.insuremytrip.com

 

www.squaremouth.com

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We always buy the cruiseline insurance. It took very good care of us when we needed it. Our daughter got very ill on one of our cruises and had to be taken off the ship in Mexico. I went with her. She was in ICU 24 hours then we were flown back to Houston where she was in ICU another 6 days. The insurance took care of everything till we got to Houston, where her regular insurance took over. :)

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I will tell you why cruise insurance regardless of what insurance company it is with, is because they will not cover pre-existing conditions. So if you have seen your doctor just before your cruise up to 6 months, for your allergies (example) and then you have a severe allergy attack that you need to see the ships doctos, you are out of luck, you foot the whole and God help you if you have to get air lifted off the ship.

 

I personally use Travel Guard or Access America. My mom went into heart failure on a cruise, we had to airlift her to Mexico to get her stable enough to get airlifted to Florida.

 

Ship hospital was 6876.00 for overnight stay, $3,000.00 for Mexico hospital, $8,000.00 for medivac. 2400.00 for me to get to Fl from Mexico, no room on medivac for me or luggage. If I had had ship insurance, i would still be paying for that trip, outside travel insuance paid everything. Moms heart condition was pre-existing. First thing they asked me at the ships hospital.

 

Thank God we had outside travel insurance. I would use nothing else.

 

Hope this answers your questions. You take a risk using the ships insurance unless you read the fine print. My TA is the one that suggested reading that and I am glad I did.

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and God help you if you have to get air lifted off the ship.

 

 

In most cases, doesnt the Coast Guard airlift people off the ship which is paid for by John Q Taxpayer (us)? :confused:

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In most cases, doesnt the Coast Guard airlift people off the ship which is paid for by John Q Taxpayer (us)? :confused:

 

Not if you are offshore of a foreign country...

 

I don't use the cruiseline insurance mainly because I do NOT have insurance that cover's me outside the country..so I look for a policy with larger coverage amts. than what the cruise line offers...for a short weekend trip to the bahama's it's fine...but anything more & I book elsewhere...

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Don't forget, cruise line insurance also doesn't cover you if you are on an excursion that is not sponsored by the cruiseline, and you get injured...

 

 

Sent from my iThing using Tapatalk HD

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I also wonder about which one to use. I bought it through RCCL for the first time last year, but fortunately RCCL was kind enough to allow us to rearrange our cruise and not have to use the insurance. This year I plan to purchase cruise insurance, not for health purposes, but if DH decides to take a new contract we might have to cancel.

 

If the RCCL policy will cover for job situations - then I have no problem with it.

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I will tell you why cruise insurance regardless of what insurance company it is with, is because they will not cover pre-existing conditions. So if you have seen your doctor just before your cruise up to 6 months, for your allergies (example) and then you have a severe allergy attack that you need to see the ships doctos, you are out of luck, you foot the whole and God help you if you have to get air lifted off the ship.

 

I personally use Travel Guard or Access America. My mom went into heart failure on a cruise, we had to airlift her to Mexico to get her stable enough to get airlifted to Florida.

 

Ship hospital was 6876.00 for overnight stay, $3,000.00 for Mexico hospital, $8,000.00 for medivac. 2400.00 for me to get to Fl from Mexico, no room on medivac for me or luggage. If I had had ship insurance, i would still be paying for that trip, outside travel insuance paid everything. Moms heart condition was pre-existing. First thing they asked me at the ships hospital.

 

Thank God we had outside travel insurance. I would use nothing else.

 

Hope this answers your questions. You take a risk using the ships insurance unless you read the fine print. My TA is the one that suggested reading that and I am glad I did.

 

 

Our situation was life-threatening also and was due to a pre-existing condition. My daughter is a kidney transplant patient and has insulin dependant Diabetes. She was suddenly taken very ill because of that. The Dr. told us it was our choice to stay or take her to a local hospital, but that IF we stayed on the ship, they couldn't guarantee her survival. In hindsight, we know we did the right thing. The insurance through the cruise line covered virtually EVERYTHING, including a lear jet that flew from Tampa Bay, Florida to Merida, Mexico to take us both back to Houston.

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I hadn't thought about being hurt on an independent excursion not being covered by cruise line insurance but it makes sense.

 

I always get third party insurance mainly to cover pre-existing and medi-vac. Pre-existing not only covers you but your immediate family if you would need to cancel or abort a cruise for an emergency involving them. While you may not have a heart condition or cancer, your brother might. Some policies cover work related cancellations, jury duty, etc.

 

If you have children, third party will often cover them free whereas cruise line has a "one price fits all" price and you pay the same for the child as you do for grampa.

 

Third party is door-to-door which is important if you plan any pre/post cruise activities or are flying in a day early which should always be done if possible. Cruise line starts when the cruise starts unless you have purchased air, pre/post cruise through them.

 

I had two friends who booked cruise line transportation from the ship to the airport who had cruise line insurance. Their luggage never made it. Cruise line insurance tried to wiggled out of paying by saying the transport company lost it and, anyway, prove we ever had it. They, also, tried to play the "independent contractor" card saying Transport company wiggled out by saying "prove it was given it to us." They never saw their bags again. One managed to get compensated under the policy only after a lawyer (her daughter so it was pro bono) sent letters. The other passed away and her estate did not want to take the time to chase it.

 

Our luggage went astray from outside our door the last night to the terminal on a trans-Atlantic in 2010. We had booked a tour for the day and had to leave before all the luggage had been claimed in the terminal or, maybe off loaded from the ship. We had been given a priority tag for it because we were leaving on the tour. They assured us that it would be forwarded to our hotel when they located it.

 

Basically, the claim form they give you is "worthless." All it says is that you allege you gave them some luggage and here is a description of the luggage.

 

The cruise line blew us off when we called from our hotel about its whereabouts after completing our tour. It was fortunate, we were spending the night at the port before returning home. We spent the afternoon chasing it down finally locating it in the general lost and found area of the port. We got lucky that the hotel went above and beyond in getting us phone numbers to call and a port employee took the time to go to the warehouse to look for it where it was located. Disembarking luggage tags were still on it in two places, ID tag attached to it, and a detailed itinerary was on top of the clothes in the unlocked suitcase with our hotel, etc. on it.

 

We self-disembark now no matter how large or how heavy the suitcase. This was not a one time experience--it happened to us twice before but we were able to find it before we had to leave to catch a flight.

 

Most of the time, third party insurance is not that much more expensive than cruise line insurance and the difference in price is well worth the more comprehensive coverage.

 

One time we collected because the ship blew up a few weeks prior to our cruise. NCL's Norway. While NCL refunded our money, we would have eaten our non-refundable air tickets since we bought them independently. Another time, my son's camera was lost (probably stolen). Another time the airlines trashed a suitcase and we had to buy one to get our things home. These are things you do not think about having to make a claim on. There is more to having insurance than just covering the cruise portion.

 

To me, cruise line insurance is the fox watching the chickens.

 

Tucker in Texas

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I've learned a lot from this thread, all of which seem to indicate 3rd party insurance, rather than cruiseline insurance is best.

 

The major thing to take to heart (hopefully not literally) is: PROTECT YOURSELF BY

PURCHASING INSURANCE, USUALLY WITHIN 14 DAYS AFTER PUTTING DOWN A DEPOSIT!

Otherwise, the insurance company will claim pre-existing condition and WILL NOT PAY.

 

It's far better to be safe than sorry :) I speak from experience, having been reimbursed

by insurance more than once!

 

Cruising Lady

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Just as an added bonus, a FEW credit cards DO add a bit of extra insurance if you purchase EVERYTHING with that credit card. For inexpensive trips in the US & Canada, we have used that. Check with the credit card company, as terms keep changing.

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We get our policy by the Year--- for medical and travel with CAA or your AAA.

 

It will cover pre-existing medical as well. We just renew it yearly and it covers anything we have booked and/or paid for.

DD lives in the US, so we can travel for 30 or for an extra amount $, for 60 days out of the Country, without worrying about insurance. We can add on a day++ if we need to, by calling them. Our friends used them and had a med. emergency and they had no problems getting their claims.

Works well for us so far......

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I can't speak for ourselves, but friends on a cruise recently encountered a medical emergency while on a Med Cruise, they always purchase insurance to cover for such an emergency. The ladies husband ended up in a hospital in Rome, & was in critical condition, and had to be transferred to a better facility. Their insurance covered their flight home under medical supervision, once he was stabilized. They took care of all the necessary arrangements. We will be flying to Australia in 2014 and plan on getting outside insurance in case we have a medical emergency. I am late 60's and DH is in his 70's. Without the insurance they would have had to pay for all the cost and may not have been able to get her husband home. He is at home and recovering now.

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We've always used TravelGuard. Thankfully we've never had to use them but feel good knowing that it's there. The older you get, the older your parents get, the more you think about it.

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