HOLLAND AMERICA'S PLATNUM INSURANCE PLAN...............................

[Chuck]

THANK YOU TO ALL WHO HELPED ME OUT HERE.  After comparing 4 or 5 policies I have purchased a policy thru my TA.  We went with Travelex.   It seems to do all that we need it to do.  THANK YOU AGAIN TO EVERYONE FOR YOUR KIND HELP.

[pnkandpurple]

When you buy HAL insurance as a couple it all works. If you travel with a cabin mate without or outside insurance only person with the HAL insurance gets a refund when cancelling and cabin mate has to cover the fare of person cancelling or give up the cruise already paid for. When travelling with others in the same cabin make sure none have HAL insurance as HAL makes remaining people in the cabin pay the fare of cruiser that cancelled.

[janmcn]

We always buy the Platinum as a way of protection in case of needing to cancel for ANY reason. NOT for any medical evacuation or medical costs. For those we obtain(on an annual basis) medical coverage with higher limits ( not expensive ) and MedJet (discounts with AARP). We’ve used the Platinum twice when we felt antsy leaving our elderly parents at times they were having health issues. Any other insurance plan would not have paid off

(and they were long cruises).  Platinum paid up within a week.

[Hlitner]

I am going to be a contrarian and trash HAL's Platinum Plan (as well as similar plans from most cruise lines).  Why?  For those that are going to be completely dependent on this plan for their Medical and Trip Evacuation coverage...the limits are wholly INADEQUATE!.   $10,000 of Medical coverage is laughable.  Sure, the policy is fine for relatively small issues, but if you have a major medical problem you can burn through $10,000 in less than a single day of hospitalization.  Most folks knowledgeable about medical insurance (I spent over 30 years working in government health insurance) would suggest that $100,000 of Medical coverage is a bare minimum.    If you have other medical and evacuation insurance and are simply looking for cancellation coverage then the cruise line policies might be a reasonable fit.  

 

Personally I would also not want a policy with only $50,000 of evacuation insurance.  That limit does work if you can be evacuated on a commercial aircraft, but is not going to come close to covering private air ambulance evacuation if that becomes necessary.   In April of 2018 I had to medically evacuate DW from Japan to the USA.  We were lucky to have been able to use commercial Business Class (which still cost $10,000 per ticket).  If Delta Airlines had refused to take DW (this is a decision that can be made by the pilot) the evacuation would have easily cost in excess of $75,000 and perhaps a lot more depending on the actual availability of an air ambulance.   Our insurer was very nervous about Delta rejecting the transfer (pilots do not like to gamble on having to make an emergency landing on an 11 hour non-stop flight) but all turned out fine.

 

Hank

[iancal]

+1.  Absolutely agree.   The medical component of this insurance is anything but 'platinum'.  More like tin.

 

 

Edited May 10, 2019 by iancal

[TiogaCruiser]

No need to trash any plan.

Everyone has different needs and willingness to accept risks.

 

For many, their biggest exposure is medical in a foreign country (because their insurance does not cover out of the country). Those of us who have insurance that does cover travel would be spending resources buying coverage that duplicates ( and may complicate) what we already have.

[iancal]

I simply think that the name of the plan, Platinum, is somewhat misleading.   The CSR initially told me that it covered out of country medical but did not say what the coverage was.  Why not call it for what it really is.....cancellation insurance?  To my way of thinking the word platinum implies that it is top drawer umbrella insurance coverage for all perils.   Won't be very good if it happens to rain on some unsuspecting cruiser who may be stuck to no umbrella and a high medical or evac bill.

 

I had to ask.  Then I understood why she did not initially tell me what the  coverage was.  I would hope that most people would go a little deeper without assuming that the out of country medical/evac is comprehensive.   It is anything but comprehensive.  

Edited May 10, 2019 by iancal

[sammiedawg]

Don’t overlook travel insurance built into credit cards, especially high end ones.  There may be no need to duplicate that coverage with additional expensive policies.  Every CC  is different but we always carry one with extensive travel benefits. 

I would never buy insurance from a cruise line, nor would I book hotel rooms through them.  

 

If you try to insure for for every conceivable loss in life you will be insurance poor.  

 

[iancal]

Last year was the first time that we have ever had to use trip cancellation insurance.  It was for an escorted land trip to China. It is a travel specific credit card.  Cancellation insurance is one of the attributes along with the usual rental car insurance and some short term out of country medical.

 

Our credit card provided cancellation insurance.  We got back every dime within two business weeks of submitting our claim.

 

Agree, we would never book hotels through a cruise line.  Every time we check, the cruise line price, regardless of cruise line, is a double or more what we would pay for same or similar accommodation.  Plus, you really need to understand the location of the cruise ship hotels.  They are not always where you would prefer.

Edited May 10, 2019 by iancal

[pnkandpurple]

Was just making people aware that if you go with 2,3 or 4 in a cabin and each book your own cruise. If one or two have bought the HAL insurance and cancel, the others will have to cover the fare to keep the cabin and go on the cruise.

My medical covers me out of the US and I keep annual medical evacuation coverage and didn't buy HAL insurance. My cabin mate bought HAL insurance and had to cancel the cruise less then a week before departure. HAL informed me I had to pay her cruise fare if I still wanted to go. Or I could not go and of course loose cruise and airfare.

Cabin mate was happy she got cruise and airfare reimbursed.

[TomTN]

On 10/25/2018 at 2:45 PM, Overhead Fred said:

There are some Medicare supplemental plans that cover foreign travel. If your plan does not, there are numerous agencies that would be happy to sell you a plan. I have not ever purchased one. But from my research, plans to cover a week or two trip into Canada can be pretty reasonable. Try searching on "health insurance while traveling in Canada" or something similar. Also search squaremouth. 

 

Maximum Medicare supplement coverage out of the US is $50,000 lifetime.

OP might want to read the recent Forbes article "Best and worst travel insurance".

 

[RMLincoln]

Most travel medical evacuation insurance can be invoked only if there is no closer appropriate facility.  

I can tell you that as an EMT with a fire department in a rural area 90 minutes drive from the NM main trauma center hospital, we evacuate patients by helicopter 6-12 times a year and their bill is about $30,000 each.   

My husband and I purchase medivac insurance for travel on an annual basis from a company that covers worldwide, it's low cost and covers up to $250,000.  It include some other types of attributes too but we buy it for the evacuation coverage. 

We use a Costco credit card from Citi Bank which has trip cancellation coverage.  Our normal medical insurance, a Medicare Advantage Plan for retirees from our previous employer, covers international medical costs as out of network, so at 80%. 

None of these approaches are foolproof but the rest we self insure.  

Each person must look at their own options and needs, but insurance is always complex and very personal, and worth being aware of!  m--

[oceanmom]

1 hour ago, TiogaCruiser said:

No need to trash any plan.

Everyone has different needs and willingness to accept risks.

 

 

 

1 minute ago, RMLincoln said:

Each person must look at their own options and needs, but insurance is always complex and very personal, and worth being aware of! 

Repeating: NO NEED TO TRASH ANY PLAN.

 

Just because one doesn't work for you, doesn't mean it won't be perfect for someone else with different needs. Read the terms of each one you are considering carefully. Just because HAL platinum works best for me depending on how much we are paying for the cruise or who is going on the cruise with us, doesn't mean it will be best for you at this particular time. AND just because one insurance plan wasn't the best at one time, doesn't mean it might not be the best for this one particular cruise.

[iancal]

We travel frequently, sometimes for longer periods.   Insurance is important to us, even more so as we age.  Cancellation is not such a big deal to us. We have credit card insurance.  Plus the risk for self insuring is not high for us.   

 

Medical/evac insurance is quite another issue.  We take the time to understand, to shop, to speak with those we consider industry knowledgeable.

 

Our observation is that the easier it is to purchase, from a cruise line, a TA, a bank, the more expensive it is and the less comprehensive it is.  You really need to dig into it.   It also became obvious to us that most cruise line or travel agent reps seem to be selling off a 'drawer statement' with listed benefits without any real knowledge of the policy.  It is never good to buy something from someone who really does not know what they are selling. 

 

It does take some work and effort to really suss out what insurance you need and what the various offerings actually encompass.  The expectation gap between policy purchase and insurance medical/evac claim could in fact be  one of the greatest financial risks in our lives so we pay attention to it.

Edited May 10, 2019 by iancal

[SempreMare]

On 5/9/2019 at 2:18 PM, janmcn said:

We always buy the Platinum as a way of protection in case of needing to cancel for ANY reason. NOT for any medical evacuation or medical costs. For those we obtain(on an annual basis) medical coverage with higher limits ( not expensive ) and MedJet (discounts with AARP).

 

Hi janmcn, do you know if there is a plan that combines both medical with higher limits with MedJet? 

 

[janmcn]

Sorry, but MedJet is separate from just a medical cost insurance which we get for just a couple of hundred dollars a year which cover us for all travel in a year.  People need to check fine print on evacuation insurance...some only transport you to the nearest “hospital “ that can treat you. MedJet is different (check their website to understand difference.) We travel with peace of mind adding these costs to our travel budget.

[Cruzin Terri]

In 2014 we had HAL’s Platinum Insurance for a cruise beginning and ending in Rome.  We had to cancel prior to boarding as my DH became ill in Rome and required surgery.

HAL’s insurance returned 90% of the cruise fare.  That was it.  

If we had taken out better insurance we would have been covered for the expenses prior to the trip as well as the time we had to spend in Rome after his hospitalization while he recovered.

Fortunately for us health care in Italy was free so we incurred no expenses there and we both had health insurance that covered us outside of the US.  

HOWEVER, we had to remain in Rome for an extra 5 or 6 days (I don’t remember exactly) and that was not covered.  Had we taken out a different policy that covered us from the time we left home until we returned, our extra hotel expenses would have been covered as well as anything else we needed during our extended stay.  We also would have gotten 100% of our cruise fare back.

 

You live and learn. 

We used frequent flier miles and AA was very good about changing our flights without charging a penalty once the phone rep heard our story, so we did not incur a cost there.

 

In the future, we do not pick up HAL’s insurance. We now take insurance that covers us from the time we leave home until we return.

 

Just another person’s experience.

Terri

Edited May 11, 2019 by Cruzin Terri

[Riversedge]

Since we travel several times a year an annual plan is the only thing that makes sense to us.  Insuring each of our trips separately would cost a lot more in the long run.  We have $50,000 medical and $250,000 evac. as well as the other usual inclusions.  A pre existing condition is waived as long as a doctor would say you were able to travel on the date the policy was purchased and the trip is 45 days or less in length.   It covers us any time we are more than 100 miles from home.  Includes a $50,000 death benefit as well. In talking to others when we travel we are always surprised at the number of people that don’t know this is available. 

[Hlitner]

1 hour ago, Riversedge said:

Since we travel several times a year an annual plan is the only thing that makes sense to us.  Insuring each of our trips separately would cost a lot more in the long run.  We have $50,000 medical and $250,000 evac. as well as the other usual inclusions.  A pre existing condition is waived as long as a doctor would say you were able to travel on the date the policy was purchased and the trip is 45 days or less in length.   It covers us any time we are more than 100 miles from home.  Includes a $50,000 death benefit as well. In talking to others when we travel we are always surprised at the number of people that don’t know this is available. 

We have talked about this on the Cruise Insurance blog.  Like you, we have an annual policy but ours includes $250,000 or Medical (drops to $100,000 at age 70) and $250,000 of evacuation.  It is issued by Geoblue but does not include any coverage in the USA (which we do not need).  We also take advantage of the Chase Sapphire cancellation/interruption benefit of $10,000 (in some cases you can double this to $20,000 if you have two cards).  Our annual policy covers the first 70 days of each and every trip we take throughout the year...so we normally keep our trips to that 70 day limit.  We spend a lot less for our annual insurance then most trip policies for a single trip!

 

From discussions with others it seems that many are more concerned about a cancel for any reason policy then medical coverage.  I like to point out that the most you can lose with any cancellation is the cost of the trip, but with inadequate medical coverage you can lose your home and just about everything else after you have filed bankruptcy.  

 

Hank

[Riversedge]

Very well said, Hank.   It’s inconceivable to me that people travel without insurance but many do. 

[sammiedawg]

Don’t forget to check with Airlines if you have a compelling reason to cancel.  Sometimes they have a heart and will refund your money or issue a no change fee voucher. 

We rarely cancel trips but recently canceled two.  For one of the trips we had purchased airline tickets for six family members.   I don’t have status with delta but fly them a fair amount. I called Delta to discuss our cancelation options. After explaining the situation I was offered a full cash refund.  Totally unexpected but greatly appreciated. 

Hail Delta Airlines.  

 

 

[suspaul]

4 hours ago, Riversedge said:

Since we travel several times a year an annual plan is the only thing that makes sense to us.  Insuring each of our trips separately would cost a lot more in the long run.  We have $50,000 medical and $250,000 evac. as well as the other usual inclusions.  A pre existing condition is waived as long as a doctor would say you were able to travel on the date the policy was purchased and the trip is 45 days or less in length.   It covers us any time we are more than 100 miles from home.  Includes a $50,000 death benefit as well. In talking to others when we travel we are always surprised at the number of people that don’t know this is available. 

We too travel frequently both independently and on cruises and have an annual medical policy - we’ve not had to make a claim against it but being on Medicare, it’s comforting to know we have this if needed.