Insurance question for those who have multiple cruises booked at a time

[petesweet]

While I usually have one or more cruises booked in the future, I am am now booked on more cruises than usual (ain't life hard!!?:D) and am wondering about the best way to purchase insurance.

 

First of all, I do not have to worry about preexisting conditions. Second, my main concern is evacuation in case of an emergency.

 

So my question is this: Is there a good way to insure several cruises at a time? or shall I continue to insure them one at a time?

 

Many thanks.

 

Kathy

[Ken076]

Kathy - I don't have experience with such policies, but I believe you can purchase "Annual" Trip Insurance Policies - you can probably Google search same on contact InsureMyTrip, SquareMouth, etc., for advice.

 

As san example, checkout these Travelgard offerings: http://www.travelguard.com/travelinsurance/annual.asp

 

ken

Edited June 12, 2014 by Ken076

[krev]

Why not call your insurance company?

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

[Sumisid]

As I'm not living in the United States, I'm not sure my answer helps, but I try anyway :).

 

In Europe, we can buy travel insurance including emergency-evacuation, hospital, surgery, transportation back home AND even a next vacation paid by the insurance in case you have to go home early. And for that insurance you pay once a year and it's good for all your travels within 12 months. We've been doing that since 20 years as we are travelling a lot and we save a lot of money if we do not buy insurance for every single trip. This is a couple-insurance, means it's good for DH and me and costs us about US$ 250.- per year (total for both).

 

Maybe something similar exists in the US?

[megr1125]

Look for an annual policy, might be more cost effective...

 

Call a few of the companies like insuremytrip, etc and see what the price would be...probably less money in total......

[njmomof2]

I know that several people have posted about having a yearly med evac plan in place. One that I think they use is MedJet Assist (I think that's the name). You can purchase a yearly medical evac plan if that's what is most important to you.

[jelayne]

If your main concern is evacuation coverage look into Medjet Assist. You can purchase it for a year & it provides excellent coverage. Main differences between this and what is included in most trip policies- evacuation to place of your choosing, your doctor is involved in the decision on where & when to evacuate. If you are AARP member you get a small discount.

It isn't strictly for cruise travel. It covers if you are 150 miles from home.

 

We have had this for a few years. We then buy trip insurance for each cruise based on cancellation coverage & medical coverage.

[lakelorain]

We have an annual plan with Allianz. No pre-existing condition clause and $100,000 medical evacuation plus more.

Policies vary from state to state so you need to check to see what is available in your state.

[AmberCascades]

We are in Canada but I imagine American insurers would offer similar things. We just got an annual multi-trip policy for around $300 CAD which covers both of us for as much as we want to travel (although I think there is a limit to how long each trip can be). It covers trip interruption, trip cancellation, flight delays, lost baggage, funds to replace lost ID documents, as well as medical stuff.

 

We didn't worry about getting insurance when we only had a couple of trips in our future and they were less than 10 days each. But now we have 3 future trips planned and they are for over 14 days each and we have aging parents, etc. I feel relieved now that we have this in place. It doesn't just cover cruises either. We are covered if we want to drive to Buffalo or Montreal or whatever, as well.

[CVU]

We use CAA or your AAA--- for our yearly medical travel and travel insurance. We got the pre existing as well but you don't have to.

 

There are 30 & 60 day coverages. Or pay a daily cost-- for over that amount. That covers us leaving Canada for that length of time and having coverage. You can come back into the country and leave again.

 

We are then covered for our travel expenses and those things that are booked and paid for, as well as medical and that includes all kinds of emergencies, even death.

We just renew it every year before it expires and it covers what we have paid for already. Cruises, air or hotels etc.

Edited June 12, 2014 by CVU

[Trekker954]

We've gotten annual medical insurance to include evacuation. I didn't know they have regular annual travel insurance (for cancel for whatever reason type). Interesting to know what type of price that would be for multiple travels.

[woldig120]

We live in England. We have an annual travel policy for world wide travel. This covers us for the cruise we had in May 2014, the one booked for September, both to the Med, two booked in November to the Caribbean, and two booked in February 2015 again to the Caribbean.

It also covers the deposit we have made for one in June and one in September 2015.

We will have to renew it in March 2015 to cover the final cost and other costs such as medical treatment.

Our cover seems to be much better and cheaper than the US.

[petesweet]

Why not call your insurance company?

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

 

I won't have an insurance company until I decide how to handle this. In the past, we have used many different kinds.

 

Kathy

[petesweet]

Some good information here. Thanks!

 

Kathy

[FLACRUISER99]

I have separate annual evacuation insurance from Medjet assist.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[phoenix1181]

Skymed has annual plans.

[Grannycb]

Question for those who know: We tend to think of the term preexisting for only the people traveling. Do we need to worry about preexisting for family members not traveling? An example would be if a family member taking blood pressure medication has a heart attack while you are traveling and you need to return home. Would the insurance company count that as preexisting and not pay?

[Trekker954]

I just got off the phone with a travel insurance company (not sure I can name it here). The have a travel rite annual plan but it is only for those residing in FL, KS, MO AND RI. I really took the time to read both their regular travel plan and the annual. The regular plan seems to cover more when it comes to trip cancelation and such who will cover the entire trip cost. the annual one just has cancellation of $1500 and that will diminish per paid claim. I have far more expensive cruises that than.

 

I can tell you this, I was definitely overpaying in previous trips for additional med evac and cancel for any reason. Both have good coverage in the gold plans and I also spoke with my blue cross about coverage while traveling, and overseas and on a cruise ship. Sounds like I'm pretty well covered with them.

 

I typically only get cruise insurance when I have to travel overseas for a cruise.

[Ken076]

Question for those who know: We tend to think of the term preexisting for only the people traveling. Do we need to worry about preexisting for family members not traveling? An example would be if a family member taking blood pressure medication has a heart attack while you are traveling and you need to return home. Would the insurance company count that as preexisting and not pay?

 

You need to carefully read each Policy for the wording wrt definition of "pre-existing" and non-traveling family members. Most of the policies I've read only define "pre-existing" for Insured, Travel companion (and sometimes for traveling relatives). This is the case for CSA and TravelGard GOLD.

 

Also be aware that you do not have a pre-existing condition if you have a condition that is under control, no new RX and no Hospitalization during the Policy's xx day lookback window. So if, duering your Policy's xx day (usually 60 to 180 days) lookback window, you had high blood pressure that was being treated with no change in no medication and was totally under control with no change in tretment, this would NOT be a pre-existing condition and the Policy should cover it.

 

ken

Edited June 13, 2014 by Ken076

[constantcruiser]

In my previous job, I traveled internationally about 60% of the time. The company provided annual travel insurance for its employees, which covered us whether we were traveling on business or vacation.

 

I once had to return home suddenly due to the death of a family member who had been ill for years, and insurance covered the full cost of my last-minute return trip. There was no exception due to the family member's pre-existing medical condition.

[leisuretraveler223]

my main concern is evacuation in case of an emergency.

 

That was my only issue as well. I have MedJetAssist and it's basically a "set it and forget it" type of thing. I travel regularly and don't want to think about it episodically. I have three years of coverage, no matter how much I travel, or where I go.

 

For me, this was the only insurance I found worthwhile. While cancellation coverage may be appealing to others, I personally found other more appealing investments. The risk and return on cancellation insurance investments just didn't add up for me.

 

But medical evacuation was very appealing, and this program works well for my needs.