Poll: Take the Cruise Insurance or not...

[ChitownGus]

Do you take it? Do you use RCCL insurance or a 3rd party? or do you not buy insurance? and would your answer differ if you were driving vs. flying?

[Scotty G]

Do you take it? Do you use RCCL insurance or a 3rd party? or do you not buy insurance? and would your answer differ if you were driving vs. flying?

 

So where's the poll???

[DarthGrady]

So where's the poll???

 

My thought as well. :D;)

 

To answer the question, we usually buy it for longer (7+ day) cruises. The shorter/cheaper ones we don't usually bother.

 

We buy through the insurance company, not through the cruise line.

 

I would be more apt to buy it more often if I had to rely on airlines to get me to my cruises.

[Finbar127]

Do you take it? Do you use RCCL insurance or a 3rd party? or do you not buy insurance? and would your answer differ if you were driving vs. flying?

 

Yes.

Third party - usually Travelex.

Would buy it regardless of how we traveled to the departure port.

[Arizona Cruz Chic]

We never leave home without it!

 

***

[Critic276]

First cruise we booked we had to use the insurance. We flew to Florida for a conference 4 days before the cruise was to sale. My husband worked the first day and that night had a heart attack. He spent 4 days in the hospital and then we had to stay in Florida for another 3 days before we could fly home. The insurance was well worth what we paid and we were totally reimbursed for our missed cruise.

 

Now that said we don't buy insurance on our less expensive cruises. We decide if loosing the cruise fare would upset us or not. Generally if its $1500 or less we don't buy the insurance. It has nothing to do with how we are getting to the port or the length of the cruise. Simply dollars and what makes sense for us at the time.

 

We too use 3rd party insurance.

[Chitoryubt]

We use a 3rd party. We NEVER cruise without it, almost entirely because of the medical insurance and medical transportation. Being life-flighted back to the states from ANYWHERE outside CONUS can be $25,000, $100,00, and worse.:eek:

[megr1125]

We never leave home without it!

 

***

 

+1

 

90% of the time i use insurance that is NOT from the cruise line...and i use a few different ones....sometimes though i do use cruisecare...and i have had to file several claims with various ones.....they've all paid once provided with the proper info...

[CulinaryEscape]

We always buy travel insurance through the cruise line. Long time ago when TWA was still around, we missed our family Christmas cruise (16 people) since our flight was cancelled due to worker strike. The airline kept saying the flight was delay due to weather and we would still make the cruise, by Noon that day they finally admitted that it was due to worker strike and by that time it was too late. My aunt who was nice enough to pay for everyone only got her money back from the airline since she didn't purchase travel insurance for the cruise. Another reason why I try to fly in the day before embarkment.

[RoyalDiamond]

We have never purchased the insurance from anyone. Are we taking a chance? Maybe. But, we cruise a LOT. We've saved thousands of dollars by not taking insurance. So, if there ever is a time that we miss a cruise, I figure that we've saved more than we'll lose. Does that make sense? LOL. Lose 1 cruise, or pay insurance on over 30 cruises.....If we only cruised occasionally, I might consider it. But, it's kind of like car insurance....great if you cash in, a waste of money if you don't. I've paid car insurance for almost 30 years, and have never filed a claim. Imagine if I had all of that wasted insurance money back.....I could go on more cruises! LOL.

[DrD]

I have some understanding of finance so I don't. why?

 

Insurance is always a sucker's bet, because insurance companies come out ahead overall. So you are (far) more likely to lose money than make money. HOWEVER, there are times when you MUST have insurance, namely if the thing you are insuring is something you can't live without, and that would be prohibitively expensive to replace, i.e. car, house. A cruise is not such an item. I've been on enough cruises without insurance that at this point even if I lose all the money on my next cruise I'm still far ahead.

 

There are to my mind there are 2 exceptions:

 

1. when the insurance is bought for coverage in the event of medical evacuation, as this certainly meets my criteria above (I have this through my health insurance and cc.)

2. if your chances of missing the cruise are much higher than average, such as a chronic health condition.

[mlmbar]

Lesson learned - did not get insurance and had an accident in Cabo which would have been paid for if I had insurance. Since then, I have had insurance. Used Travelex and this time I have gone with RCI insurance especially since we are flying to FLL

[Granny DI]

I NEVER travel without insurance. I've submitted two large claims. The first was the result of my Mom's death. We were sailing on the Irish Sea when we received word she'd had a heart attack. The second was when our daughter became critically ill days before a scheduled cruise. I've also witnessed many ship board medical evacuations. I consider insurance as part of the cost of cruising.

[Shake]

Unless you like giving your money away Do Not Buy travel insurance. :cool:

[Kellie Poodle]

Do you take it? Do you use RCCL insurance or a 3rd party? or do you not buy insurance? and would your answer differ if you were driving vs. flying?

 

 

Third party. Travelex is whom we deal with after getting burned by two other companies.

 

I assume you mean driving or flying to the port.

 

I would still purchase insurance either way as it covers you on the ship if you should become ill or even if your luggage doesn't make it from the porter to your cabin.

[Kellie Poodle]

Unless you like giving your money away Do Not Buy travel insurance. :cool:

 

I'd rather pay for insurance than have to deal with a bill for an illness on a ship or foreign port. Your personal health insurance may reimburse you for the ship's physician and facilities, but anything serious, they put you in the hospital at the nearest port or med-evac you there. One significant episode and there goes the budget for your next three cruises.

 

Not everyone who cruises is 30 years old and in perfect health. Some of us are, dare I say, a bit travel worn, and insurance is a must for us.

[Shake]

I'd rather pay for insurance than have to deal with a bill for an illness on a ship or foreign port. Your personal health insurance may reimburse you for the ship's physician and facilities, but anything serious, they put you in the hospital at the nearest port or med-evac you there. One significant episode and there goes the budget for your next three cruises.

 

Not everyone who cruises is 30 years old and in perfect health. Some of us are, dare I say, a bit travel worn, and insurance is a must for us.

 

 

Do Not Buy Travel Insurance.

 

Cruise insurance for travel agents and cruise lines is a huge profit center built on individual paranoia and fear. It is pure sheltered income.

[critterchick]

We seldom buy insurance. We have coverage worldwide for medical and will at least get flown back to the U.S. in the event of catastrophe. But my MIL is 96, my DF is 91 and my dog is 15 and ailing, so on expensive cruises far from home, we purchase insurance, usually through the cruiseline for the "cancel for any reason" coverage. At our ages, the independent policies are usually more expensive for that coverage.

[dmwnc1959]

I never bought insurance until I leaned a hard lesson. We were booked in a balcony on a 4-nt Nordic Empress cruise out of San Juan when my mom (who was traveling with us) became very, very ill. We of course had to cancel the cruise, pre-paid hotel, and non-refundable air from CLT. My mom's health continued to deteriorate and she died a couple of weeks later. The financial loss of cancelling our holiday was of course the last things on our minds leading up to my mothers death. Having travel insurance isn't just for those traveling. Had my mother not been a part of the traveling group we still would have cancelled and incurred the loss, but having insurance would have helped. Now I buy travel insurance every time I cruise or leave the country on a trip.

[Katana_Geldar]

Unless you like giving your money away Do Not Buy travel insurance. :cool:

 

Please don't take this bad advice. If you can't afford travel insurance, you can't afford to travel. You never know what just might happen.

[paul.ed]

Travel insurance covered by my bank account..........But, would buy travel insurance if not.

[dirtgirl]

We have never purchased the insurance from anyone. Are we taking a chance? Maybe. But, we cruise a LOT. We've saved thousands of dollars by not taking insurance. So, if there ever is a time that we miss a cruise, I figure that we've saved more than we'll lose. Does that make sense? LOL. Lose 1 cruise, or pay insurance on over 30 cruises.....If we only cruised occasionally, I might consider it. But, it's kind of like car insurance....great if you cash in, a waste of money if you don't. I've paid car insurance for almost 30 years, and have never filed a claim. Imagine if I had all of that wasted insurance money back.....I could go on more cruises! LOL.

 

I am a fitness freak and healthy. Crap happens to everyone, and it happened to me. I would have been out thousands if not for insurance. I was injured, and stranded in a foreign country without my luggage for 8 days. I had to file four claims. I will never leave home without it, and I make sure my whole family is covered, too.

 

Unless you like giving your money away Do Not Buy travel insurance. :cool:

 

Very bad advice. Just wait until it happens to you.

 

I'd rather pay for insurance than have to deal with a bill for an illness on a ship or foreign port. Your personal health insurance may reimburse you for the ship's physician and facilities, but anything serious, they put you in the hospital at the nearest port or med-evac you there. One significant episode and there goes the budget for your next three cruises.

 

Not everyone who cruises is 30 years old and in perfect health. Some of us are, dare I say, a bit travel worn, and insurance is a must for us.

 

Well put. And even 30 year olds can get in a car accident, fall ill, have a parent die, have a child with an ear infection that can't fly - you name it. Out of country medical and emergency medical transportation is the most important to have. But still, I would have been out thousands without cancellation/interruption/baggage. ;)

[Lazirus65]

I have very good annual travel insurance with my bank, I would never travel without one. I hope that those who choose to travel without insurance never end up regretting it.

[paul.ed]

Don't understand really.........You spend thousands on a cruise/holiday. And then decide to save a few pounds/dollars on travel insurance. Don't know how much travel insurance is in the States, but not that much really in the UK. Not worth the gamble IMO.

[BND]

We usually buy through RCI. We have bought 3rd party in the past, but we just add RCI's now. When we have lots of other expenses (train tickets, hotels, show tickets, etc) we buy 3rd party. This upcoming trip we bought RCI although we are spending 3 additional days in NYC, but the hotel is free, train was free (both with points) and the only thing we've paid for out of pocket besides the cruise is tickets to Radio City Music Hall, which are a minor expense. I don't understand the mentality of not buying ANY insurace if you have nothing else covering you. Over the 11 cruises, we've been on, the total cost of insurance has been less than we spend on one cruise for us.