Cruise Line Insurance

[Pstcrik]

An interesting article for everyone who buys insurance direct from the Cruise Lines.

 

http://www.frommers.com/community/blogs/arthur-frommer-online/_nightmarish-incident-recent-cruise-may-cause-vacationers-rethink-buying-insurance-directly-cruise-line

[attilamom1217]

Thanks for this article. Another reason why we buy third party travel insurance (and read the coverage!!!!!!!!)

[CHEZMARYLOU]

We purchased insurance from Celebrity and the policy does provide for emergency evacuation expenses up to $25,000.

 

Mary Lou

[Knolmom]

So you did. But read the fine print. Is it primary or secondary. Do you have that type of credit line on your credit card to fork over to the company that provides the evacuation so that you can be reimbursed later, or will you have to call your parents, children, rich uncle or your boss. again, learn not only whether you have the coverage, but who pays initially.

[packedandready]

We usually just buy through the cruiseline but I've been looking at insure my trip. Some questions:

1. Which company do you recommend?

2. How do you tell if it's primary or secondary? Which do you recommend?

3. Can be purchased up to final payment date? (excluding prior conditions)

4. What do we need to look at?

[CHEZMARYLOU]

So you did. But read the fine print. Is it primary or secondary. Do you have that type of credit line on your credit card to fork over to the company that provides the evacuation so that you can be reimbursed later, or will you have to call your parents, children, rich uncle or your boss. again, learn not only whether you have the coverage, but who pays initially.

 

Hope I don't need to call my parents, they are deceased, never had children, no rich uncles, we're both retired so that won't help. Guess we'll have to depend on our credit cards and line of credit. :D.

 

Seriously we have used the insurance when my DH was admitted to the hospital 4 hours prior to boarding, but not for medical evacuation and hope to never have to use it for that reason.

 

Mary Lou

[ozark74]

We have been buying insurance from Celebrity and have had no problem. A few years ago in Bermuda I had an accident and went to the ships doctor. The insurance is secondary so between my insurance and Celebrity insurance I had no out of pocket expense. The claim was paid within 4 or 5 weeks.

[kitty9]

We purchased insurance from Celebrity and the policy does provide for emergency evacuation expenses up to $25,000.

 

Mary Lou

 

Mary Lou, believe it or not, $25K is a tiny drop in the bucket for emergency evacuation. You'll find that you could pay more than $75K if your flight back to the US is longer than 3 hours. Way back in 2007, my mom fell and broke her hip and had to be evacuated to Ft Lauderdale. The 1/2 hour flight was $9000. If you are helicoptered off the ship, and then flown back to the US, the cost is even worse.

[HeatherInFlorida]

For other cruise lines I generally use Squaremouth or Insuremytrip. I happen to like Squaremouth better, but many of the policies that come up are the same. I very often end up with one of the Travel Guard policies. But I've never had to use it (knock on wood) yet so have no way of knowing how good it is.

 

I do like Celebrity's insurance coverage and often buy it. I'm a reader and when you read the fine print on any of these policies you sometimes wonder why you even bother. But it's a necessary expense that I just add in my head to the cost of the cruise when I book. I do prefer when you can buy the insurance anytime up until final payment. Hate to put the money out upfront when I'm booking a year or two in advance.

[kitty9]

We usually just buy through the cruiseline but I've been looking at insure my trip. Some questions:

1. Which company do you recommend?

2. How do you tell if it's primary or secondary? Which do you recommend?

3. Can be purchased up to final payment date? (excluding prior conditions)

4. What do we need to look at?

 

 

1. The company you choose is the one that best covers your needs.

2. It's primary if your own personal insurance doesn't cover you outside the US, or if you're on Medicare, which doesn't pay a dime when you're outside the US.

3. You can purchase a week before your cruise. But, it becomes dicey if you purchase so late and you can't make your cruise due to weather. Insurance won't cover issues relating to weather if the weather issue is already known. For instance, if you know a hurricane is going to be in the area, and you purchase insurance once you know the hurricane will impact your trip, it won't cover your cancellation.

4. You need to look at medical evacuation, trip cancellation or interruption, medical coverage if your own insurance doesn't cover outside the US.