Please Read if you are considering not buying insurance

[bUU]

Nationwide has some (to me) gimmicks, like paying for itinerary changes.

I don't see it as a gimmick as much as a benefit that only makes sense to offer in the context of a cruise-only policy. That carries with it certain circumstantial advantages for either insurer or insured, as compared to more generalized trip insurance. I would refer to paying for itinerary changes as "coverage sugar" (in the spirit of the technical term "syntactic sugar"). Since it is limited to changes made before embarkation, it is not likely to be applicable. However, as someone with an itinerary that includes cruising through Glacier Bay, I have to say I'm glad to see that provision of my chosen insurance policy.

[GTO-Girl]

Never used it on 8 cruises, and many land vacations. But we are young, and healthy. I totally understand getting it when you're older, or out of shape and unhealthy.

 

I would encourage you to rethink this. Trip insurance is not for old people who might get sick.

 

Young people can also get sick....or hurt....or injured. But sadly it will take one of these moments, when you are in a foreign country, to make you realize what a gamble you are taking.

[Jdfireman]

I see the term she will get kicked out of the hospital when insurance runs out. Not seeing this to be to true. Do you think the Hospital would take that liability kicking her out and than if she passes on ?

I hope she needs Less that 55k cause go fund me will be taking 4345.00 or 7.9% commission.

If you travel a lot look at your credit card benefits a lot offer travel insurance . Yearly polices are the way to go for the person who takes a lot of trips

[8esther8]

They have almost reached their Go Fund Me goal-- it's at $52,585; they are asking for $55,000.

[debster11]

What a sad story. I will always buy trip insurance for this reason. I hope she makes it home.

[evandbob]

It was way easier and way less expensive for me to get a yearly travel policy instead of individual ones for each trip we take.

 

For anyone going to Australia and New Zealand though, research prior, as medical accidents can be covered for tourists. A Canadian traveler on one of our excursions broke an ankle in NZ, and all his expenses were paid through their national health care system.

[poz222]

Never used it on 8 cruises, and many land vacations. But we are young, and healthy. I totally understand getting it when you're older, or out of shape and unhealthy.

My niece thought the same thing... 25 years old and an athlete... was on a catamaran excursion when she slipped on the snorkeling ladder in waves she hit shoulder hard and sliced a gash into her arm. Had to go to hospital in Jamaica... had to get x-rays and stitches etc... missed the ship and had to fly to next port (Cozumel) to catch ship again... thinking she would never need insurance cause that was for old and sick people, between hospital, hotel, taxis, airfare etc... she ended up with over $7000 bill ... that would have paid for insurance for the next 50 cruises!

[debster11]

They made it. She is at $56,490.00.

[JanineM]

Glad to see that kind folks were able to help them meet her goal!

 

And another reminder of how trip insurance can help, even for the young ... my 3 nieces (all grown women with young children) were to fly together for a trip to visit me the first weekend of February. The week before they were to travel their father was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Because they had insurance they were able to cancel their plane tickets. Would a few hundred dollars have made a big difference in their life? Probably not - but during a stressful time it was one less weight on their minds.

[Organized Chaos]

Almost there. They've raised $58,045 so far, but according to a post above, Go.Fund.Me takes a 7.9% cut. That still puts her a little over $1,500 shy of their goal, but maybe they can manage now if it stalls out. Get home safe, Nancy!

[wannafish]

Thank the Lord! They raised $58k in 24 hours!! I hope she gets home. Also, we went ahead and purchased our travel insurance today!

[Sheal]

Never used it on 8 cruises, and many land vacations. But we are young, and healthy. I totally understand getting it when you're older, or out of shape and unhealthy.

 

We always thought the same thing. The first time we purchased it was due to a prior instance whereas my mother, the night before her cruise, became ill and did not sail. Not wanting to take the chance of that happening on our family cruise, we purchased the insurance for the first time. No illness, but we ended up getting stuck in San Juan for 2 days due to a freak blizzard. The insurance paid the $800 within weeks of us returning. We heard of people paying upwards of $700 a night due to the number of cruisers stuck on the island because so many flights were cancelled up the east coast. It is good for more than just illness or accidents.

[April42749]

My husband is 82 and has no pre-existing conditions. I'm 68 and have breast cancer. I always get insurance (I live walking distance to the port) for medical/evacuation purposes only. The cost for both of us is under $100.

 

If the cost of insurance is too much, then can you really afford to cruise?

[CLTflyer1977]

They just updated the story where they raised the money to fly her home. Tragic she didn't have insurance, at least she made it out alive. It sounded like time was ticking for her.

 

https://cruiseradio.net/update-stranded-cruiser-heading-home/

[April42749]

They just updated the story where they raised the money to fly her home. Tragic she didn't have insurance, at least she made it out alive. It sounded like time was ticking for her.

 

https://cruiseradio.net/update-stranded-cruiser-heading-home/

 

I don't see this as tragic. I see it as stupid....when you look at the ages and medical condition.

 

Their family couldn't pool their assets to fly her home?

[pe4all]

Never used it on 8 cruises, and many land vacations. But we are young, and healthy. I totally understand getting it when you're older, or out of shape and unhealthy.

I have to throw my .2 in here. On one of our cruises (Carnival Dream) my extremely healthy, never been sick (then) 18 year old daughter started having severe abdominal pain on her right side, fever, and a high white blood count. Brought her to the infirmary onboard, and they suspected appendicitis. She and I were off-loaded in Belize, where we stayed in the hospital for 3 days. It turned out to be some kind of infection which settled in her abdominal wall. IV antibiotics for 3 days, and a hospital bill of thousands upon thousands. Plus a flight back to U.S., a hotel stay overnight waiting for a flight back to NY the next day, food - everything was re-imbursed by my travel insurance, except I think $5. Whenever we book a trip, the next call I make is to purchase trip insurance.

[aenglish1609]

To all the people posting their horror stories trying to convince me, stop using the rare exceptions. The fact is, the VAST majority of people who purchase travel insurance never use it. Combine that with being young, healthy, and never having any kind of sickness, we find it's not worth it for us.

[LMaxwell]

 

Their family couldn't pool their assets to fly her home?

 

I am sure they could have, but that is no longer the way. Sad situation all around, good lesson to heed for anyone about the costs of unforeseen circumstances and making sure you take steps to properly protect yourself and family.

[meatloafsfan]

To all the people posting their horror stories trying to convince me, stop using the rare exceptions. The fact is, the VAST majority of people who purchase travel insurance never use it. Combine that with being young, healthy, and never having any kind of sickness, we find it's not worth it for us.

 

As long as you've done your risk analysis and are accepting of the consequences should something happen, I see no reason for you to change your stance.

 

We have medical insurance that covers us when we travel but after our first few cruises, I stopped buying general travel insurance unless it's a particularly expensive or disjointed trip adventure (i.e. where it means that many things have to go right for everything to work out for us and only 1 wrong thing for us to be left at the pier). We used it once (Carnival Dream cruise after Sandy - ship had to stay out an extra night so we were on the hook for a hotel and food). We ended up staying on Disney property and eating at their (very expensive) restaurants. I submitted our bills and most of the cost was refunded. However, afterwards I thought about the actual costs and between what I had paid for the trip insurance, the deductible and the refund for the 1 night of the cruise we missed, I still would have broken even NOT getting the travel insurance.

 

If you have a "worst case scenario" (say you fall and break your leg) and could cover your hospital bill, doctor's fees, hotel and flight home, then it's up to you to determine if you're going to get travel insurance.

 

But I wouldn't expect to see you start a "go fund me" page for yourself (or have someone else do it) in that scenario.

 

Your risk (big medical bill) and your reward (saving the money on insurance).

[spleenstomper]

To all the people posting their horror stories trying to convince me, stop using the rare exceptions. The fact is, the VAST majority of people who purchase travel insurance never use it. Combine that with being young, healthy, and never having any kind of sickness, we find it's not worth it for us.

 

We stopped thinking this way when my DH was diagnosed with a fairly rare cancer at age 28. He had been perfectly healthy until he wasn't.

 

Accidents are unexpected. Trip insurance is cheap. If you don't want it, fine. I won't donate to your crowd funding when you need help.

 

I have used my trip insurance twice under the trip interruption clause. I have received more money back from trip insurance than I have paid into it.

[redhot77]

No bashing, please. Help your fellow Carnival cruiser if you can.

https://www.adn.com/alaska-news/2017/07/23/she-came-to-alaska-on-the-cruise-of-a-lifetime-now-shes-terminally-ill-and-stuck-in-anchorage/.

 

For those who have group coverage through their employer or an exchange, medical evacuation is normally covered. However, medical repatriation to get you home is not normally covered. This is especially true if your insurance has in out of network benefits. Normally excluded for out of network providers, which most likely will be the case.

 

 

That is so sad. She must have medicare only. That really stinks for her and her family. I hope she gets home soon. I will look for her go fund me and give a bit to help out.

 

 

I always buy insurance, you just never know.

[FlaMommy75]

Thanks so much for posting this story and thanks everyone for the updates.:)

I will admit I am one who often does not buy insurance. I have bought it for maybe half my cruises, but then don't bother for some of the last minute ones. I figure my husband, kids, and I are healthy and have never even been hospitalized (other than labor). HOWEVER, after reading through this thread I just went online and purchased insurance for both our upcoming cruises. I hope we never ever need it, but I feel better now knowing I did it.

[Organized Chaos]

If the cost of insurance is too much, then can you really afford to cruise?

That argument is used often on here. "If you can afford to cruise, you can afford to buy such & such." That's really an unfair assessment of the average vacationer and it's not up to others to determine how people choose to handle their own vacations. With trip insurance, it could be that someone simply isn't aware of it or, like someone in this thread is adamant about, flat out don't think it's necessary. Many times it has nothing to do with affordability. This woman's husband told reporters that he regrets not buying trip insurance, but we have no idea why they chose not to. All of her doctors cleared her medically for the trip and encouraged her to go.

 

I don't see this as tragic. I see it as stupid....when you look at the ages and medical condition.

 

Their family couldn't pool their assets to fly her home?

A retired school teacher and a retired print shop operator. These aren't wealthy people. The air ambulance is costing them at least $50,000. Maybe it's easy for you and your family to come up with that kind of cash, but for many, it's not. Thankfully, there are a lot of people with empathy and generosity who have helped this poor lady get back home.

[bajae]

To all the people posting their horror stories trying to convince me, stop using the rare exceptions. The fact is, the VAST majority of people who purchase travel insurance never use it. Combine that with being young, healthy, and never having any kind of sickness, we find it's not worth it for us.

 

 

 

It is true for all types of insurance that only a small pool people of actually benefit from having it. Some kinds you have to have because it is required but with other types of insurance you have to weigh the benefit/risk.

 

When I booked our cruise I declined travel insurance. My thought was that I really couldn't foresee any of us not being able to make the cruise and if one couldn't, oh well, I'm out a few hundred since the rest should still be able to go. (Three adult kids and I on the cruise but hubby is staying home, so no need for any of the others to not go if one can't.)

 

I was thinking travel insurance only as something to cover you in case you can't travel. It was my brother who pointed out to me the benefit for medical evacuation. I have three heathy active kids. One is out of the Marines, another is in the Army National Guard, so they are in shape. They plan on taking active excursions when we are in ports. Of course they will probably be fine and nothing will happen. But accidents happen everyday. None of my kids nor myself have the monetary resources to pay thousands if something does happen. So for my peace of mind, I did buy the insurance. So now this cruise has cost me another $160 or so. And quite honestly I hope I can say after the cruise, well that was a waste of money, but I do not regret getting it and I plan on getting it in the future as well.

 

What I would suggest is that you think about what would happen if you did experience an accident in a foreign port. Do you have the resources needed to pay for your care? If you do and are willing to take the risk, go for it. But if you don't, you should really think hard about getting some insurance. There are lots of plans out there so you can customize what you think you need and not pay for things you don't need.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[Drazil65]

people who purchase travel insurance never use it. Combine that with being young, healthy, and never having any kind of sickness, we find it's not worth it for us.

No one is telling you to buy it, its like car insurance and home owners (or renters) insurance, you hope not to use it but will be thankful if you end up needing it. People are just passing on some wisdom from people who have been there, yes we were all young once too and very healthy as well, still are thank goodness. This really has NOTHING to do with being young or healthy, it has to do with life, ship happens, all the time.

 

 

There are things that will destroy your life as you know it or bankrupt you faster than you know. It is just a passing tip or information that it can happen to anyone, accidents happen all the time. Take it or leave it, it is your choice, great to live in a country where we have a choice. It's all good....