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Travel insurance recommendations


littysmom
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Check your credit cards. I have a Citibank card we never use and i found out it covers 3k per person and the qualifying events that are covered are pretty extensive.

 

Check VERY carefully about the coverage with a credit card.

 

Most of them do NOT cover anything related to pre-existing medical conditions.

Note that this doesn't just involve medical care.

It can include reasons to cancel the trip before you leave, or to interrupt the trip (returning home early, forfeiting remaining pre-paid costs or adding other costs not anticipated).

 

Just be aware what is or is not covered; that's what matters.

 

We have had several claims, including two large ones, and not a single one included significant medical costs, but they did include significant lost costs for 1) the entire cruise and business airfare, cancelled 2 weeks prior to planned departure; and 2) significant costs for lengthy extra hotel costs (luxury hotel in the "wrong town" where I got sick) and changes in transportation.

 

Both of these were due to medical problems. Both of them *might* have been considered related to pre-existing medical conditions. We don't know, and don't care, because there was no fuss. We always get travel insurance that includes any pre-existing medical condition anyway.

 

Only one minor claim was unrelated to illness; it was due to an airline that canceled a flight, and the replacement flight left the next day. One extra night at a hotel and a dinner and breakfast? We could easily cover that, but we did make a claim, as we paid for the insurance. But claims like this are not why we always want the security of travel insurance. It's for the 4- and 5-figure claims (or even higher in a really bad situation)!

 

GC

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Check VERY carefully about the coverage with a credit card.

 

Most of them do NOT cover anything related to pre-existing medical conditions.

Note that this doesn't just involve medical care.

It can include reasons to cancel the trip before you leave, or to interrupt the trip (returning home early, forfeiting remaining pre-paid costs or adding other costs not anticipated).

 

Just be aware what is or is not covered; that's what matters.

 

We have had several claims, including two large ones, and not a single one included significant medical costs, but they did include significant lost costs for 1) the entire cruise and business airfare, cancelled 2 weeks prior to planned departure; and 2) significant costs for lengthy extra hotel costs (luxury hotel in the "wrong town" where I got sick) and changes in transportation.

 

Both of these were due to medical problems. Both of them *might* have been considered related to pre-existing medical conditions. We don't know, and don't care, because there was no fuss. We always get travel insurance that includes any pre-existing medical condition anyway.

 

Only one minor claim was unrelated to illness; it was due to an airline that canceled a flight, and the replacement flight left the next day. One extra night at a hotel and a dinner and breakfast? We could easily cover that, but we did make a claim, as we paid for the insurance. But claims like this are not why we always want the security of travel insurance. It's for the 4- and 5-figure claims (or even higher in a really bad situation)!

 

GC

 

Thanks for the heads up! I’ll keep this in mind in the future. What insurance do you usually use? I read through it word for word and luckily neither of us have any medical conditions or anything pre-existing.

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Check your credit cards. I have a Citibank card we never use and i found out it covers 3k per person and the qualifying events that are covered are pretty extensive.

 

 

 

Also note that credit card insurance is generally only in effect if at least part of the trip was charged to that card and you mentioned you never use it.

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Thanks for the heads up! I’ll keep this in mind in the future. What insurance do you usually use? I read through it word for word and luckily neither of us have any medical conditions or anything pre-existing.

 

Sorry - I seem to have missed your posted question.

 

We found out about travel insurance here on CruiseCritic about 5 years ago. I guess we just never thought that much about it before *and* we were lucky, although we hadn't traveled out of the country all that much 'til then.

 

So we called

 

www.TripInsuranceStore.com

 

and started asking questions (what happens it x goes wrong; what about if y happens; what if z happens; etc.), and they were terrific.

They are an insurance broker, and they work with several insurers that they've vetted, and there are several policies from each, with different coverages, limits, etc.

 

For *our* purposes, we ended up using Travel Insured for all but one trip.

Important to us are a waiver of the frequent pre-existing condition exclusion (double negative, meaning that any pre-existing conditions are covered) as long as one purchases the insurance within about 20 days of *first* payment/deposit. Then we up the coverage when/as we make additional payments. (The one other company was when we missed that 20 day window because we didn't really think we were going to go, ahem.)

 

We also get Cancel For Any Reason (CFAR), which means what it says. No need for any illness/accident. No need for any State Department warnings. No need for any cancelled flights. "For any reason" actually means "no reason at all needed". :D

This pays 75% back in cash. Not a "credit for a future trip with a time limit". Just, "money back", to use for any other trip, whenever.

 

We've been getting this because of very elderly MIL. IF she got ill, and a physician said, "Um, this might be it...", we'd be covered by the regular policy. But MIL *never* complains. NEVER. (Well, she complains about lots of things :mad: but not about her health.)

So IF, as we were getting ready to depart, or while we were away, she said something like, 'I'm just not feeling right...", given she's approaching 100, we'd want to stay or return home. Of course, we had feared something like this quite some time ago...

Also... given the political messes around the globe, WE might decide that a particular area is too dicey, and not want to go... even if the State Department hasn't issued a warning (yet?).

 

There are other specifics, such as whether the medical coverage is primary or secondary, etc., and of course, the actual dollar limits of each part of the policy.

 

So CALL them at TIS, and they can explain.

Don't rely upon the online summaries, as the fine print can make ALL the difference.

But you might want to browse through that, as reading about it may help you think about questions to ask.

 

We also get an annual policy from MedJetAssist, given it would cover us for domestic business and family/friend trips, as long as we are at least 150 miles from home.

(We are currently evaluating a different but similar company.)

 

Good luck.

 

GC

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Also note that credit card insurance is generally only in effect if at least part of the trip was charged to that card and you mentioned you never use it.

 

Yes, I know you have to use the card and I did. I just don’t use it because I opened it to build credit at 18 but never realized the benefits since I don’t use it!

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I have used Travel Guard in the past, the price has really gone up since I last purchased from them.

 

Price jumps can be due to age. We noticed trip insurance premium jumps after turning 55 y/o, and then 60, etc.

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Sorry - I seem to have missed your posted question.

 

We found out about travel insurance here on CruiseCritic about 5 years ago. I guess we just never thought that much about it before *and* we were lucky, although we hadn't traveled out of the country all that much 'til then.

 

So we called

 

www.TripInsuranceStore.com

 

and started asking questions (what happens it x goes wrong; what about if y happens; what if z happens; etc.), and they were terrific.

They are an insurance broker, and they work with several insurers that they've vetted, and there are several policies from each, with different coverages, limits, etc.

 

For *our* purposes, we ended up using Travel Insured for all but one trip.

Important to us are a waiver of the frequent pre-existing condition exclusion (double negative, meaning that any pre-existing conditions are covered) as long as one purchases the insurance within about 20 days of *first* payment/deposit. Then we up the coverage when/as we make additional payments. (The one other company was when we missed that 20 day window because we didn't really think we were going to go, ahem.)

 

We also get Cancel For Any Reason (CFAR), which means what it says. No need for any illness/accident. No need for any State Department warnings. No need for any cancelled flights. "For any reason" actually means "no reason at all needed". :D

This pays 75% back in cash. Not a "credit for a future trip with a time limit". Just, "money back", to use for any other trip, whenever.

 

We've been getting this because of very elderly MIL. IF she got ill, and a physician said, "Um, this might be it...", we'd be covered by the regular policy. But MIL *never* complains. NEVER. (Well, she complains about lots of things :mad: but not about her health.)

So IF, as we were getting ready to depart, or while we were away, she said something like, 'I'm just not feeling right...", given she's approaching 100, we'd want to stay or return home. Of course, we had feared something like this quite some time ago...

Also... given the political messes around the globe, WE might decide that a particular area is too dicey, and not want to go... even if the State Department hasn't issued a warning (yet?).

 

There are other specifics, such as whether the medical coverage is primary or secondary, etc., and of course, the actual dollar limits of each part of the policy.

 

So CALL them at TIS, and they can explain.

Don't rely upon the online summaries, as the fine print can make ALL the difference.

But you might want to browse through that, as reading about it may help you think about questions to ask.

 

We also get an annual policy from MedJetAssist, given it would cover us for domestic business and family/friend trips, as long as we are at least 150 miles from home.

(We are currently evaluating a different but similar company.)

 

Good luck.

 

GC

Can I ask what other company you're considering and why you've decided to perhaps make a change?

 

I have always appreciated your input on these matters and am also a regular customer of Steve and his associates at TIS.

 

Thanks so much for all your advice and experience.

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How does TIS compare to ship based insurance?

Price and coverage ?

 

Trip Insurance Store is a *broker*. They handle (e.g., discuss and often sell) travel insurance from several vetted insurers, with several policies available from some of the insurers.

 

So there is no "TIS insurance" to compare with anything. The policies they work with can vary quite a bit.

 

Ship insurance often won't cover "door to door" (leaving home/returning home) for your trip, including any land trip that one arranges on one's own.

 

I'd suggest that you CALL TIS, and ask them about how some of the policies they sell might compare, but you should already have some idea of what kind of trip you are taking.

We found them *very* helpful when we were "newbies" to travel insurance.

 

They also sell MedJetAssist.

 

GC

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I have found TIS to usually be a little cheaper and have more medical and evacuation coverage. Have bought from TIS on many occassions but have never had to use it. Thank God. So really can't say anything except they are wonderful to work with when purchasing but have never used them for a claim and they seem very knowledgeable.

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Definitely recommend working with TIS.

 

But CALL them, and also discuss just what types of coverage you need, so they can help you find the best/most economical policy for your specific needs.

 

GC

 

I haven't purchased travel insurance before, So they will help me answer any questions i may have even if I go with the NCL trip insurance? Thanks for the help.

 

 

Nancy :)

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I haven't purchased travel insurance before, So they will help me answer any questions i may have even if I go with the NCL trip insurance? Thanks for the help.

 

 

Nancy :)

 

What they can probably do is help you by explaining what "third party insurance" offers that is not included in most "cruise line" coverage, and also what the differences are among the insurers and policies that they offer.

 

Your questions on the NCL sub-forum have already generated a great discussion of some of the choices to consider for travel insurance, although each person/group's needs are likely to be somewhat different from those of others.

So that should help you know what kinds of questions you still have, or what you're not sure of in terms of how third party coverage would add more.

 

We found them extremely helpful when we were considering our first travel insurance policy ever, and good thing... that happened to end up being a last minute cancellation due to a medical emergency less than 2 weeks before we were supposed to leave!

 

GC

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Also note that credit card insurance is generally only in effect if at least part of the trip was charged to that card and you mentioned you never use it.

I have been reading everyone's responses to the insurance questions and thank you everyone. We booked a Celebrity Cruise April 4, 2017 while on the ship and I now find that every one of the pre-existing condition requirements and the cancel for any reason clause does not apply due to the time periods of the 20 days even 180 on some of the policies. I have the Cruise Care through Celebrity but it really doesn't cover a lot due to our b2b to Australia and NZ coming up in Oct. Hard to decide, what coverage is needed. but I plan on next contacting insuremytrip and trip insurance store to see what they think. We also did the flights using ff for first class going and 1/2 trip back which complicates things. With cruises being offered on the ship, the lesson is take out insurance for cancel for any reason and pre-existing right after putting a deposit down for a cruise on the ship.

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I have been reading everyone's responses to the insurance questions and thank you everyone. We booked a Celebrity Cruise April 4, 2017 while on the ship and I now find that every one of the pre-existing condition requirements and the cancel for any reason clause does not apply due to the time periods of the 20 days even 180 on some of the policies. I have the Cruise Care through Celebrity but it really doesn't cover a lot due to our b2b to Australia and NZ coming up in Oct. Hard to decide, what coverage is needed. but I plan on next contacting insuremytrip and trip insurance store to see what they think. We also did the flights using ff for first class going and 1/2 trip back which complicates things. With cruises being offered on the ship, the lesson is take out insurance for cancel for any reason and pre-existing right after putting a deposit down for a cruise on the ship.

Yes...I make the call to the Trip Insurance Store right after booking any of our travel plans and also make sure that the policy we opt for is going to be the medical primary.

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Ginger Pop-

The advice to call TIS is excellent. We did our deposit in June 2017 for our October 2018 Celebrity cruise. I called TIS and we were able to get at least a policy that is primary. They are very helpful.

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Yes...I make the call to the Trip Insurance Store right after booking any of our travel plans and also make sure that the policy we opt for is going to be the medical primary.

 

Hi, I just made deposit last Friday for a 12 night European cruise in Sep 2019. For my other past cruise I always purchased insurance prior to final payment because was never sure if we planned on keeping cruise. This time we got a great deal and we are celebrating our 40th anniversary. So I call Trip Insurance Store couple of days ago. I'm 55 and hubby is 60 and we don't have any current health issues. But since I am confident we plan on taking this trip I think we should go ahead and buy insurance now so we do get the pre existing condition waiver.

 

We have medical insurance. Why do you opt for the policy to be your primary medical? Also, I'm trying to determine if it's worth 200 extra for CFAR add-in.

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.

 

We have medical insurance. Why do you opt for the policy to be your primary medical? Also, I'm trying to determine if it's worth 200 extra for CFAR add-in.

 

Do you have medical insurance that covers you outside the US?

I have coverage for outside the US, but only at "Out of Network" costs.

 

I look for "Primary", only as a means of convenience should I ever have to file a claim.

If your travel insurance is considered "Secondary", you MUST file with any other insurance you may have. Even if everybody and their brother knows that the claim will be denied,, you MUST get that denial letter.

Even if other insurance does pay some of the claim,,, then you have to start over and begin the process of filing again for the remainder with your "Secondary" travel insurance.

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