Trip Insurance ~ Do I Have To?

[godeano1]

Sailing on August 11th on the Inspiration and getting a little concerned about storms. Just wondering what happens if your cruise is cancelled, or delayed in any way, and you don't have trip insurance. Does Carnival refund for cancellations/delays?

[serene56]

if the cruiselines cancel a cruise you will get your money back for the cruise--not airfare- (insurance will pay that - according to a policy) but cruise lines very rarely cancel. If bad weather you may be stuck an extra day waiting to board. insurance should cover the need for the hotel room. (if a policy states that.

You will need trip interruption.

Suppose if a storm hits and you are stuck to sea an extra day.. airfare is now lost. insurance will cover the new flight

 

suppose you are flying in--and the airport is now closed because of bad weather-- you missed your cruise. insurance could cover your flight to catch the ship in the next port.

[jleq]

The answer is: maybe. If it's something that's within their control [such as mechanical] you'll probably be compensated. Something beyond their control [such as weather]...probably not.

[Cruising89143]

I think that it is a case by case basis. Last year I was scheduled to go on the Fantasy for a three night cruise over Labor Day weekend. Of course Francis was poking around out in the Atlantic.

 

My PVP called me the day prior to the cruise and gave me three options.

 

1. Cancel and get a full refund.

2. Cancel and rebook for a future date.

3. Go on the cruise which was changed to be a three night cruise to nowhere and receive a $100.00 per person on board credit and a 50% off certificate for a future 3,4 or 5 night cruise.

 

Needless to say since we were already in Orlando when the call came, we went on the cruise and it turned into a five night cruise to nowhere.

 

It still does not hurt to have insurance due to the fact that the cruise line has no obligation to do what they did above. They could have told us either go or lose your money.

[hstrybuf]

Travel insurance: Don't leave home without it! ;)

[STiVo]

Honestly, buying insurance is never a bad idea, but I wanted to at least give some perspective as to why one might not want trip insurance. Please dont flame me:rolleyes:, but these are a few reasons why I personally don't plan on buying it on my next cruise:

 

1. Cruises rarely cancel. If they do, you get your money back for the cruise. I guess they COULD go bankrupt, but I'm willing to bet they won't before I travel.

 

2. I'm driving to port myself. Even if we return to port a day late I don't have airfare issues to worry about. This will also eliminate lost luggage issues.

 

3. I am healthy and don't do anything very risky that would likely jeopordize my ability to make it to my cruise. (It should probably be noted that you should always check with your health insurance provider to see if they will cover you out-of-country for medical emergencies.)

 

4. I'm not renting a car in port.

[Sablerose]

2. I'm driving to port myself. Even if we return to port a day late I don't have airfare issues to worry about. This will also eliminate lost luggage issues.

 

Right. But what if heaven forbid, something happens and you and your car never make it to the port? Car accident? Mechanical breakdown? That would interrupt your trip.

 

And as far as eliminating luggage issues, I *have* heard horror stories of people losing their luggage between the pier and their room. That alone could be classified as "luggage delay," assuming you do get it back unharmed. If it falls in the bay between the porter taking it from you and the gangway for the ship, well, then you're kinda screwed.

 

3. I am healthy and don't do anything very risky that would likely jeopordize my ability to make it to my cruise. (It should probably be noted that you should always check with your health insurance provider to see if they will cover you out-of-country for medical emergencies.)

 

What if you get food poisoning? Or you get stung by a jellyfish in a quiet lagoon, or someone who's much more risky than you plows into you with an ATV or even a taxi crossing the street in a port? I mean, these are all possibilities. What if (again, heaven forbid) a close relative becomes ill or something out-of-your control happens, sudden illness or death making it impossible for you to go on your cruise?

 

We're driving from OKC to Galveston for our cruise, we're staying with family in San Antonio on our way. But we're going to take out cruise insurance because:

 

1) We're both at the age where any of our parents could have unexpected health issues.

 

2) We're cruising technically during hurricane season.

 

3) My husband is in the military which makes it a gazillion different reasons why we might not be able to "make" our cruise date.

 

I'm a control freak. I guess the cost of cruise insurance (we just recently made the decision to purchase it) is enough for me to figure that it's one less thing for me to worry about, then, and that makes it worth the $75 we'd pay (total, for both of us) to have it.

 

I'm certainly not trying to flame, just explaining the thought process behind why we decided to get insurance. Good luck!

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

We have sailed on well over a dozen cruises, and never bought insurance. Thankfully, we have never needed it - KNOCK ON WOOD...

 

So... that is between 2 to 4 people times 15 cruises times cost of insurance...

 

So far, this "bet" has paid off...

 

Ours is a better bet though because, as has been previously mentioned, we DRIVE and do not FLY to the port, thus many of the potential complications ($) are non-issues for us.

 

Also, I am in the National Guard - and Carnival's general policy (not sure if this is actually written tough) is: If you have to cancel a cruise past the FINAL PAYMENT date (with ORDERS to prove cause), they will refund the fare or (more often) allow the fare already paid to apply towards a future cruise.

 

Tom

[jerseygirl3]

Tom and Cheryl, my husband (age 45 and seemingly in perfect health) had a stroke this past February. No warning whatsoever. We cruise very frequently. The stroke occurred 3 weeks before we were due to cruise. We've had to cancel two cruises because of his illness. We would have been out about $6,000. That has more than paid for all the insurance we've paid for our past cruises. At $95 total for the two of us, I would not cruise without that peace of mind. If insurance averages $100/couple per cruise, you're talking you would have paid out approx. $1,500 in premiums. Luckily you've never had to use it, and I hope your good luck continues. But as I said, we received back all our monies from the cancelled cruies, and that more than made up for what we've paid out over the years for insurance. We originally always took the insurance out worrying that if one of our kids became sick and we had to cancel, we didn't want to lose our money. Never thought it would be my husband...point is, you just never know.

[hdawson]

No you don't have to buy travel insurance. And if you don't smell smoke you could cancel your homeowners coverage as well.

 

Remember, most travel insurance protects your need to rush home (or cancel) because of family members being seriously ill. Those last minute airfares can add up.

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

All valid points - I am sure that is does buy you a certain peace of mind...

 

From what I have read, most people DO NOT get their insurance directly from Carnival, and if so what are the advantages of going elsewhere?

 

Tom

[PhoenixCruiser]

Tom and Cheryl, my husband (age 45 and seemingly in perfect health) had a stroke this past February.

 

Jerseygirl, I'm so very sorry to hear about your husband! I'm almost afraid to ask, however I hope he is doing good!

 

To the OP, she is correct, so many things can happen, we won't vacation without insurance.

 

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[wrp96]

 

3. I am healthy and don't do anything very risky that would likely jeopordize my ability to make it to my cruise. (It should probably be noted that you should always check with your health insurance provider to see if they will cover you out-of-country for medical emergencies.)

 

 

This is the biggest reason I've heard for people to not get trip insurance, and everybody does have to weigh this risk for themselves.

 

However, no matter how healthy you are, remember accidents do happen. Travel insurance isn't just for problems getting to the cruise, but for problems that happen on the cruise. On my last cruise, a child from our cruise was hit by a car crossing the street in front of the pier at one of our ports of call. The only thing "risky" that they did was leave the ship. Somebody else got hurt in the hot tub because somebody had broken a glass in it.

 

I too weighed the risk in the past and didn't get travel insurance for my 1st and 2nd cruise. On my 2nd cruise, I got hurt and had to visit the infirmary. The visit cost $175. Travel insurance would've only cost maximum of $100 dollars but I didn't have it and my health insurance wouldn't cover it.

[jleq]

From what I have read, most people DO NOT get their insurance directly from Carnival, and if so what are the advantages of going elsewhere?

 

In most cases, a cruise line sells one brand of insurance.. A sort of "one size fits all" sort of thing. But one size does not fit all. There are about 30 different policies listed at http://insuremytrip.com. The site has descriptions of the individual policies. You can choose the policy that "fits" your coming cruise.

 

On my forthcoming cruise, I knew "medical evacuation" from Europe would be costly. As such, I chose a policy with a hefty amount they'd pay for that.

[KruznKel]

It seems travel insurance is alot cheaper in the States then up there in Canada.. I have insurance as does the SO with work..but we have purchased other travel insurance just to be safe.. and for the 2 of us it is costing $300.. I see many US people quoting prices of anywhere from $85-$100 and I am saying why even question getting insurance????

[jerseygirl3]

Phoenix, my husband is making a remarkable recovery...thanks for asking. It has been a harrowing few months. This was totally unexpected as my husband has been the proverbial picture of health. No risk factors whatsoever. It came on suddenly with no warning whatsoever. Thankfully, the only deficit he has been left with is double vision; pretty much a miracle since the stroke occurred in the brainstem.

 

The lesson learned here is that you can drift along merrily through life and suddenly things can take a drastic turn. We are so fortunate my husband is on the mend. The really weird thing is that we were originally booked on the QM2 for this past February. But right after booking, I got a strange feeling that I couldn't put my finger on. Every time I thought about the cruise, instead of getting excited, I had this feeling of dread. Finally, my husband told me if I felt that way, to just cancel. I did and booked a different cruise...a 10 day southern Caribbean sailing on Celebrity Summit for March. One day during my husband's hosptalization, it occurred to me that we would have been on the QM2 when my husband had the stroke. I shudder to think what the outcome could have been.

[rkmom]

After what happened with us on the Miracle last week, I definitely recommend it. We did not need it, because we drove, so could just get into our car and go, but it would have covered expenses if we had needed it.

 

I know I was hoping for other people's sakes that they had insurance. All those people who were supposed to debark around 9 am Sunday morning and not able to until 1:30 am that night (Mon morning), who missed flights and had to reschedule, and had to get a hotel room for an extra night. Plus all the people waiting to get on the ship who had to get a room Sun. night. then they skipped Grand Cayman--insurance would have covered if they had prepaid for any outside excursions there. And no, Carnival did not offer any help, especially financial, for those people trying to get home.

 

Plus, there are just so many things that could have happened at any point, like others have said--accidents on the way there, or in port, or on ship. And our kids were at home with grandparents--we wanted to be able to fly home if needed, without having to worry about extra expense or losing the money we had invested in the trip.

 

I would definitely not get it through the ship--go to insuremytrip.com and compare different policies to see which seems to fit your needs best. It is cheaper and more comprehensive.

 

Just my thoughts--I know it is differnt for everyone.

 

K

[burnsie]

Five cruises and we have never bought insurance. But, we are going in Oct and mylittle voice is nagging at me. Probably because last year had a dear friend who was on the Mariner and her husband had a heart attack and died while scuba diving. She and her husband had insurance so it covered her staying in the hotel the two days until they would release his body and the flight home. Her grown children and grandchild who had no insurance had to stay on ship because the 2000 to fly home at the last minute was more than the three of them could swing. Needless to say it was a miserable three days for them. So I'm torn it almost like playing russian roulette.

 

I hope your all safe and enjoy your cruise.

Burnsie

[STiVo]

However, no matter how healthy you are, remember accidents do happen. Travel insurance isn't just for problems getting to the cruise, but for problems that happen on the cruise. On my last cruise, a child from our cruise was hit by a car crossing the street in front of the pier at one of our ports of call. The only thing "risky" that they did was leave the ship. Somebody else got hurt in the hot tub because somebody had broken a glass in it.

 

I too weighed the risk in the past and didn't get travel insurance for my 1st and 2nd cruise. On my 2nd cruise, I got hurt and had to visit the infirmary. The visit cost $175. Travel insurance would've only cost maximum of $100 dollars but I didn't have it and my health insurance wouldn't cover it.

 

Believe me, wrp96. I know accidents can happen. I just prefer to self insure the mishaps that happen--in your case an infirmary visit that cost $175. I am betting (and understand the risk) that in the long run, you would save money. The $ you spent so far self insuring yourself is not far from what you would have paid for you and a companion in insurance anyway.

 

I also keep a very high deductable on my car insurance for the same reason. In the event that I am in an accident, I have beforehand put $1000 in my savings account to cover myself. Any higher and I need my insurance company to help out. The money I save on my premium is worth self-insuring. Can you do a deductable on travel insurance?

[Bunkie103]

Years ago I took care of a woman who had a moped accident in Nassau. It cost something like $5,000 to fly her back to Philadelphia so she could have a rod put in her leg. The hospital in the islands didn't have the surgical instruments they needed to perform such surgery. That story convinced me to purchase insurance that has a decent payout for medical evacuation. Luckily we haven't had to use it yet and hopefully never will! Small investment for peace of mind!

[PhoenixCruiser]

Phoenix, my husband is making a remarkable recovery...thanks for asking. It has been a harrowing few months. This was totally unexpected as my husband has been the proverbial picture of health. No risk factors whatsoever. It came on suddenly with no warning whatsoever. Thankfully, the only deficit he has been left with is double vision; pretty much a miracle since the stroke occurred in the brainstem.

 

 

That is wonderful news Jerseygirl!! Thank goodness you cancelled that cruise, very scary indeed. We must always follow our "woman's intuition". :D

 

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