Need help - family of 4 insurance

[carlissaandisaacsmommy]

Booked our first "family" cruise about 10 days ago. It's a Carnival 7 day. 2 adults, 6 year old and 18 month old. I need to get travel insurance and compared plans on insuremytrip, but now I'm more confused. Our cruise total is $1769 and flight total is $589. Do I insure the total amount? Reasons we would cancel trip...something "tragic" happened at home (fire, grandparents died, something horrible like that). Don't have to worry about job issues - we're all covered okay there. What coverage would you get??? I don't want to spend a small fortune on insurance, though!

As a side note (let the flaming begin), we're contemplating whether or not to get passports for the 4 of us. It will cost us almost $500. If anything other than a medical emergency were to occur, we would just wait it out on the ship for the rest of the week - instead of flying home. And if it were a true medical emergency, surely to goodness, there would be a way to get us out of the country. I'm sure there have been people who have been "stuck" before. Yes, I know I am going to get yelled and screamed at for this!! But I thought I'd throw it out there anyway.

[Scrapnana]

I would get the insurance and cover your entire vacation (unless your flights are fully refundable).

 

You already know the argument for passports so I won't repeat it!

 

Hope you have a great cruise!

[carlissaandisaacsmommy]

Do you have recommendations on what insurance company and what coverage to get? There is no question whether or not to get insurance - we will DEFINITELY get it!! Just didn't know what company to use. Insuremytrip just confuses me more!!

[Scrapnana]

When I was choosing my travel insurance for my next cruise, I took my top three contenders from insuremytrip.com and called the companies. I had certain areas (like medical/dental care and getting me back to the US) that were the most important to me. We discussed what they could do to make my insurance what I wanted. Based on cost, what they would cover and the customer service that I received when I called, I ended up getting Travel Guard.

[Happy2cruise]

Do you have recommendations on what insurance company and what coverage to get? There is no question whether or not to get insurance - we will DEFINITELY get it!! Just didn't know what company to use. Insuremytrip just confuses me more!!

I would suggest Tripinsurancestore.com. You can call them directly and one of the very knowledgeable reps will work with you to get the right coverage you need for your situation. They do not try to oversell either. We always use them and they are always there to help with coverage and and answer any questions we may have. Good luck!

[PennyAgain]

Don't neglect the fact that you may have other insurance coverage for some parts of your trip. When I book air tickets with a credit card with an airline logo, I have $1500 trip interruption coverage for those tickets.

 

I refuse to get into the passport issue.

 

On a recent trip a piece of checked baggage was badly damaged. The airline offered a replacement with a similar new bag. Simiar but not the same quality. My travel insurance paid to replace the bag at full value.

 

Before buying any insurance for travel, figure out how much money you are willing to loose. Seriously. I tend to over insure my travel but I travel a great deal and thus have more chances for risk.

 

Make sure that the medical insurance you have at home covers medical expenses on the ship and in ports along the way. My basic medical insurance (Medicare traditional) does not.

[klfrodo]

Since you seem to be new to the travel insurance game, here's a couple of things to remember.

Travel insurance is a REIMBURSEMENT game. You file a claim to get your money back after the event is over.

Need medical care? you pay up front, then file for reimbursement.

Need new flights? you pay, then file for reimbursement.

There are some exceptions so read your policy carefully to understand what is and is not expected of you.

[Algebralovr]

I recommend you contact a few of the insurance companies and ask the questions you have of them. They are the only ones who can really answer. Also, once you make your purchase, you'll receive your policy via email.

 

READ IT!!!!! Make sure you understand all that it says!!!!

 

If something happens on your trip, can you afford to just let the cruise and air fares go? Or do you need to be made whole? If you can afford to lose the cruise and air fares, then all you need is emergency medical to cover you out of the country.

 

There are some insurance companies that will charge for you and your DH, but not for your children since they are young. That may be less expensive.

 

Make sure you ask about deductibles and whether they are primary or secondary coverage. Primary means that once you get home, you send all the documents and they send you a check. Secondary means you have to submit to your regular health insurance first, then after you are denied you submit with proof of denial to the travel insurance co. I've purchased it both ways. It all depends on where I'm going.

[carlissaandisaacsmommy]

Great. Thanks for the info. I think I will start with calling TravelGuard - that seems to be the most popular.

[hockeyguy2]

Just wondering if anyone might know - we're looking at travel insurance, but we are using frequent flyer miles for our flight out and back (100K total miles used). It would cost $600 if we cancelled our flights AND got our miles credited back into our account.

 

Do you think travel insurance would cover this $600 as the "cost" of our flights?

[klfrodo]

Just wondering if anyone might know - we're looking at travel insurance, but we are using frequent flyer miles for our flight out and back (100K total miles used). It would cost $600 if we cancelled our flights AND got our miles credited back into our account.

 

Do you think travel insurance would cover this $600 as the "cost" of our flights?

 

For insurance purposes and for FF purposes,, these miles are considered non revenue and therefore have zero cash value. Therefore, your flight cost is zero dollars.

However, some insurance policies will cover whatever it costs to rebank your miles if cancelled for a covered reason up to the limit.