It's not just medical concerns that justify buying Vacation Protection Insurance

[AZ Ocean Lover]

Long time cruisers probably already know this but thought I would pass along a recent situation that happened to us. I hope it can help others.

 

We always purchase the Vacation Protection but have never needed to use it until recently. We were on the Star for a short getaway (3 day) between LA and Vancouver. The Star was heading in for dry dock in December. As you can imagine the weather was not exactly ideal and the seas were rough. So rough that the captain felt that he needed to slow down and our 7 a.m. arrival into Vancouver was now projected to be 3 p.m. and they suggested if you have a flight out of Vancouver before 7 p.m. to make other plans.

 

We were able to change our flight to the next day, book a room at the Pan Pacific and we spent a very nice afternoon and evening in Vancouver. We filed a claim and everything spent was covered and reimbursed to us, even down the the one extra day of parking at the airport..

 

The ironic thing is that as soon as we made all of our alternate arrangements the weather improved and we got into Vancouver around 11. We probably could have made our flight but all the arrangements had already been made. It certainly would have been more stressful.

 

The moral of the story is that Vacation Protection Insurance doesn't just cover you for trip cancellations due to medical issues for you or your family. You never know when you will need it.

[Pam in CA]

Thanks for the insight. It comes under “trip interruption.”

[Cruise Raider]

I've purchased travel insurance for the past 20+ years. Some on these boards have better ways of purchasing it and I might try that out one day. Regardless of the type of insurance one buys, I am always pretty amazed that some people just don't bother to do so. Some of these are seasoned cruisers and some are not all that young.

I have only had the unfortunate opportunity to have to use mine once ... for cancellation a couple of days prior to my trip. I was so glad I had it, although I would have only been out a couple thousand dollars if I hadn't. But, I wonder how much I would have been out if I ended up with a ruptured appendix while out at sea instead of two days beforehand. I understand that medical evacuation can be very costly ... much more than just losing out on two grand.

Glad to hear all worked out well with your trip. And, I love staying at the Pan Pacific. You certainly made lemonade out of lemons.

[Keith1010]

Thank you for taking the time to share this with everyone.

 

Keith

[Thrak]

While many here on CC are aware of this type of protection provided by the insurance there will be a (quite) large number of folks who had no idea this was part of what is available with the coverage. Thanks for telling your tale and letting those folks know about another way in which the insurance is useful and important.

[Liz54]

Once again, its important to compare apples to apples. We have excellent health insurance including supplemental coverage, so we are covered anywhere including the nightmare scenarios of medi vac and air ambulance. Because the prospect of these is remote it is difficult and expensive to get stand alone coverage for trip delay, interruption cancellation etc. So we self insure for that portion. Have so far spent $20,000 on cruises, so if something happens that we cannot cruise next month, we will just eat the cost.

[Mary loves to travel]

Yes, insurance is interesting. Our medical coverage is good worldwide; we also have a plan through AAA that includes $25K in evacuation, as well as a good amount for baggage loss and trip interruption/delay. The only thing not covered is "cancel for any reason" or even "cancel for covered medical reasons". Similar to Liz54, we're ahead self-insuring (eating the cost ourselves) if we ever need to cancel. Now, a very expensive trip, beyond 7-10 days might be a different story. We'll research those prices and decide when we get there :-)

[vacation fool]

Just wondering who you two have health insurance thru that you have worldwide coverage? Not Medicare and not Aetna. I dont know of many. Please do share. :cool:

[neverbeenhere]

I would encourage everyone to spend a few hours evaluating the coverage you have prior to buying trip insurance. People throughout the world have a variety of coverage that may or may not cover them for the various types of financial losses possible on a cruise vacation. 65+ USA seniors need to understand the limits of their Medicare and Medicare supplement coverages. Also, one needs to check credit cards and other forms of insurance for potential coverages. Yes, you can take the "easy way out" and buy insurance, but many cruisers are worried about saving money of water. alcohol and soda on a cruise, but don't bother to understand their insurance coverages or needs. See a professional if necessary.

 

We cruise and travel a high percentage of our free time, so for the record... We purchase an annual "evacuation policy."

[neverbeenhere]

and for those who prefer bad comedy... Have a nice trip see you next fall.;p

[cruzsnooze]

Long time cruisers probably already know this but thought I would pass along a recent situation that happened to us. I hope it can help others.

 

We always purchase the Vacation Protection but have never needed to use it until recently. We were on the Star for a short getaway (3 day) between LA and Vancouver. The Star was heading in for dry dock in December. As you can imagine the weather was not exactly ideal and the seas were rough. So rough that the captain felt that he needed to slow down and our 7 a.m. arrival into Vancouver was now projected to be 3 p.m. and they suggested if you have a flight out of Vancouver before 7 p.m. to make other plans.

 

We were able to change our flight to the next day, book a room at the Pan Pacific and we spent a very nice afternoon and evening in Vancouver. We filed a claim and everything spent was covered and reimbursed to us, even down the the one extra day of parking at the airport..

 

The ironic thing is that as soon as we made all of our alternate arrangements the weather improved and we got into Vancouver around 11. We probably could have made our flight but all the arrangements had already been made. It certainly would have been more stressful.

 

The moral of the story is that Vacation Protection Insurance doesn't just cover you for trip cancellations due to medical issues for you or your family. You never know when you will need it.

The cost of insurance would balance out the hotel and airfare change for many. If you cruise / travel several times a year you would come out ahead NOT taking insurance and paying for a hotel. Why do people feel the need to preach about Insurance all the time. If you want it take it but why try to push it? Must be some work in the insurance industry?

[cruzsnooze]

Just wondering who you two have health insurance thru that you have worldwide coverage? Not Medicare and not Aetna. I dont know of many. Please do share. :cool:

Kaiser Permenante which is in many states but not yours. Also medivac insurance is cheap and sells as an annual policy so you're covered for all your trips.

[ams cruiser]

This subject has been weighing on my mind the past week as I have been debating whether or not to stick with a Travelsafe insurance plan I purchased the day I booked a Canadian/East Coast 2019 cruise. (I have 14 days to cancel the policy.) I'm a great believer in trip insurance, and we almost always buy our insurance through tripinsurancestore.com. Steve and his crew are fantastic and will always have our business, since the one time we did make a claim and had trouble collecting, Steve cut through all of the red tape. (It was an unusual situation in that my husband booked a Kyoto Garden trip/tour through a small travel company in the UK and had to cancel the day before departure due to a medical emergency. We knew we weren't entitled to any kind of refund, but just needed documentation from the travel company that they had kept our money. Unfortunately, the company stopped answering our emails when we asked for further documentation of their cancellation policy and the money we had paid them. Understandably, the insurance company wanted more documentation, which we were unable to provide, other than our email exchanges booking the trip, cancelled checks, website information, and their written promises that they would send needed documentation "soon".) After weeks of daily calls (after long holds) to the insurance company and not getting anywhere, I remembered we had purchased the insurance through a broker. One call to Steve and problem solved. He contacted the company on our behalf, and we had our payment.

 

The reason I have been wavering on buying an extra policy on our Canada/East Coast cruise, is that I finally did a detailed research on the insurance we have through our Chase Sapphire Card. There is a lot of fine print to read, but after doing so and multiple phone calls to their very helpful insurance agents, I did a side-by-side comparison with the TravelSafe policy and discovered that everything was comparable (both policies cover cancellations for medical reasons for travelers as well as immediate family at home) except Chase Sapphire insurance does not cover: 1) pre-existing conditions and 2) medical expenses or evacuation

 

So I spent a lot more time poring through the "Evidence of Coverage" and making multiple phone calls to our health insurance company, and learned that they will cover all medical bills without a deductible on our particular plan (possibly a $15 co-pay for an office visit) and any emergency evacuation by land, sea, or air. For the record, we have Anthem Blue Cross Select HMO.

 

With that information I have decided to cancel the TravelSafe and go with our existing coverage. I reasoned that 1) We do not have any pre-existing conditions (Chase has a look back period of 60 days from date of first deposit) and 2) We're not doing a trans-Atlantic cruise or going anywhere remote.

 

The one thing that is not covered would be any kind of transportation back home from a hospital stay, but we can always purchase a Med-jet policy just for the 2 week period, or purchase an annual policy for the two of us through tripinsurancestore.com and AARP for less than the cost of the Travelsafe policy for two weeks.

 

I would never travel without insurance, but, for me anyway, it was worthwhile looking at the coverage I already have.

 

That being said, I always err on the side of caution. For my husband's upcoming Japan trip (with a different travel company), although it was probably unnecessary (and before I did all of my credit card research), we bought the extra insurance for peace of mind.

 

Sorry for the long-winded response!

Edited January 12, 2018 by ams cruiser

[ams cruiser]

The cost of insurance would balance out the hotel and airfare change for many. If you cruise / travel several times a year you would come out ahead NOT taking insurance and paying for a hotel. Why do people feel the need to preach about Insurance all the time. If you want it take it but why try to push it? Must be some work in the insurance industry?

 

I actually appreciate hearing about the experiences of others, because it helps me make my own, informed decisions. :)

Edited January 12, 2018 by ams cruiser

[ams cruiser]

Once again, its important to compare apples to apples. We have excellent health insurance including supplemental coverage, so we are covered anywhere including the nightmare scenarios of medi vac and air ambulance. Because the prospect of these is remote it is difficult and expensive to get stand alone coverage for trip delay, interruption cancellation etc. So we self insure for that portion. Have so far spent $20,000 on cruises, so if something happens that we cannot cruise next month, we will just eat the cost.

 

I posted about this above, but our Chase Sapphire card covers trip delay, cancellation (for medical reasons without pre-existing conditions), interruption, etc. There is as $95/year service charge, but a pretty generous point award system, especially when you purchase travel through them. ( And no, I don't work for Chase!)

[ams cruiser]

Long time cruisers probably already know this but thought I would pass along a recent situation that happened to us. I hope it can help others.

 

We always purchase the Vacation Protection but have never needed to use it until recently. We were on the Star for a short getaway (3 day) between LA and Vancouver. The Star was heading in for dry dock in December. As you can imagine the weather was not exactly ideal and the seas were rough. So rough that the captain felt that he needed to slow down and our 7 a.m. arrival into Vancouver was now projected to be 3 p.m. and they suggested if you have a flight out of Vancouver before 7 p.m. to make other plans.

 

We were able to change our flight to the next day, book a room at the Pan Pacific and we spent a very nice afternoon and evening in Vancouver. We filed a claim and everything spent was covered and reimbursed to us, even down the the one extra day of parking at the airport..

 

The ironic thing is that as soon as we made all of our alternate arrangements the weather improved and we got into Vancouver around 11. We probably could have made our flight but all the arrangements had already been made. It certainly would have been more stressful.

 

The moral of the story is that Vacation Protection Insurance doesn't just cover you for trip cancellations due to medical issues for you or your family. You never know when you will need it.

 

Thank you for sharing your experience. It helps me to understand what trip interruption is. (And thanks to Pam for clarifying this!)

[frugaltravel]

I see both sides.

 

Chase Sapphire Reserve actually includes med evac as well as trip delay/trip interruption over 6 hours. So for those things I don't need insurance.

 

Those who travel a lot like the person above can self insure for the smaller expenses. Even a last minute cancellation can be self insured.

 

Others who travel a lot are best off with an annual policy vs an insurance policy for each trip.

[Mary loves to travel]

Just wondering who you two have health insurance thru that you have worldwide coverage? Not Medicare and not Aetna. I dont know of many. Please do share. :cool:

 

My health insurance is through Cigna. My husband has a policy he added on to the basic medicare policy. (I don't know what it's called). NOTE that neither cover us if we were to move somewhere internationally, but they do cover us if there is a medical emergency while traveling outside the US.

So, when I said we are covered "worldwide" I needed to clarify - only for emergencies. Which is all we needed.

[Mary loves to travel]

As far as "self-insuring" for a very last minute cancellation: Let's say we spend an average of $2000 for a cruise. and comprehensive trip insurance for us both is about $250 per cruise. You can see that we have to cancel and collect about once very 8 or 9 times to break even. If we canceled less often, we'd be spending more.