Travel Insurance

[DebJ14]

Here is an article that is illustrative of why you need travel insurance.  What 30 year old thinks they will die of a heart attack in a foreign country?  Even if health insurance covers you out of the country, they usually do not cover repatriation of remains.  This poor girl's family is on the hook for 30,000 pounds, which is over $39,000 US Dollars!  

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6354095/British-nurse-dies-girls-holiday-Dubai-falling-ill-plane.html

[coevan]

We never leave home without it. We were refunded $8,000 on a 2 week Panama Canal cruise because of a death of close family, cost $400. 

[sparks1093]

There are good reasons to have travel insurance but if someone chooses to forego it (especially for a 7 day or less cruise) then the odds are usually in their favor and if they made the wrong choice it only impacts them.

[beerman2]

Read the topic/thread here "Lesson learned I hope".

 

Says it all.

[Joebucks]

Very sad story. TI is definitely something to consider, especially for longer and more exotic stops. Just make sure to really understand what you're buying, what it covers, and what it doesn't. People often believe insurance = covers everything.

 

For me, I swear by having a good travel credit card that has coverages that meet my needs, on top of other travel perks. Otherwise, I would have spent about $500 this year alone on similar coverage. That money certainly adds up.

[summersigh]

We're retired and DH has heart and thus mobility issues.  We have a BCBS supplement but we're also aware that Medicare does not cover out of the US.

We always buy Carnival's travel insurance for Caribbean cruises.  If we're going farther afield like Europe or even on the Alaska land/sea cruise we purchase an independent policy with higher coverage.  Like Joebucks above we also have a credit card with a very high limit.

We book Early Saver.  Twice DH had health issues in the week before our cruise.  Both times the insurance paid back every penny except the cost of the insurance (a bit less that 10% of the cruise cost) so we spent about $200 in insurance to get $2000 back in a timely fashion.