Example why travel insurance is a good idea

[MalteseMama2]

DH & I always get travel insurance. As we left Oasis Dec. 9 we knew flying home to Roanoke, VA was going to be challenging due to the huge snowstorm that was across the area. At the airport we watched flight after flight be canceled. We thought we would probably make it to Atlanta but then be stuck there overnight. We changed our flights to the following day (no charge because of the extreme delays) and booked ourselves in to the Hyatt at the airport. Our insurance is covering everything we spent, including dinner, because it was a weather related incident. As our home airport was closed that afternoon, we know we made a good choice to stay in Orlando. And because we had the travel insurance we didn’t have to worry about the extra cost. 

[Biker19]

^ that might not be the best example why one should get insurance - your insurance might have cost about the same as that extra night.

Edited December 16, 2018 by Biker19

[HillBilly Bob]

Never been concerned about getting "travel" insurance.   I always get MEDICAL insurance.   When you get a certain age, i.e. over 65, lack of medical insurance could be devastating.   

[puppycanducruise]

Good advice.

[MalteseMama2]

Actually the travel insurance cost just over $200. The night in the hotel plus meal cost $450.  Even if it hadn’t worked out that way our attitude was at least we knew we weren’t going to be spending any more than we already had. 

[Ourusualbeach]

39 minutes ago, HillBilly Bob said:

Never been concerned about getting "travel" insurance.   I always get MEDICAL insurance.   When you get a certain age, i.e. over 65, lack of medical insurance could be devastating.   

 

A lack of medical insurance could be devasting at any age.

Edited December 16, 2018 by Ourusualbeach

[Wine-O]

If you just get medical and emergency evacuation insurance, and not cost of the trip, it's pretty reasonable.

[ranchette]

I'm looking for cancellation insurance for any reason. What company offers this?

[Ourusualbeach]

2 minutes ago, ranchette said:

I'm looking for cancellation insurance for any reason. What company offers this?

Have you already booked your trip?  Most cancel for any reason policies require purchase within 72 hours of booking your trip.

 

 

https://www.insuremytrip.com/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIo4Couruk3wIVCzxpCh0p7gOPEAAYASAAEgKrivD_BwE

Edited December 16, 2018 by Ourusualbeach

[SRF]

My travel insurance company will write insurance with $0 trip cost.

 

This covers everything EXCEPT the cruise/flights.   It covers trip interruption, lost luggage, medical, medical evac, non-medical evac, etc.

 

Since the cruise is paid for and was budgeted, I am not worried about that.

 

A 3 week trip costs me a whole $32

 

 

[bobmacliberty]

It's like any other insurance...you probably (hopefully) will never need it and it's a waste of money (other than peace of mind).  When you DO need it, it was worth it.  Insurance companies make money because they understand (in detail) the probabilities of a payout vs. the amount they charge for a premium.  On average, that is always in their favor.  Insurance is a personal decision based on many factors and there is no right or wrong answer.  Easy to point at a situation after the fact and say that someone should have made a different choice.  Personally, we take insurance on about 1/3 of our trips...only when the cost is significant or there is something else happening in our lives that would increase the risk of needing it.  Otherwise, we roll the dice and accept that we could have some out of pocket costs.

[payitforward]

46 minutes ago, bobmacliberty said:

It's like any other insurance...you probably (hopefully) will never need it and it's a waste of money (other than peace of mind).  When you DO need it, it was worth it.  Insurance companies make money because they understand (in detail) the probabilities of a payout vs. the amount they charge for a premium.  On average, that is always in their favor.  Insurance is a personal decision based on many factors and there is no right or wrong answer.  Easy to point at a situation after the fact and say that someone should have made a Tdifferent choice.  Personally, we take insurance on about 1/3 of our trips...only when the cost is significant or there is something else happening in our lives that would increase the risk of needing it.  Otherwise, we roll the dice and accept that we could have some out of pocket costs.

As they say "never gamble with more than you can afford to lose." If I don't use my travel insurance, I have no problem losing my premium of $120, or whatever I paid. I consider it the cost of peace of mind. However, if I need travel insurance and don't have it, the cost of a ship evacuation, hospitalization in a foreign country or any one of a million other possibilities could literally wipe me out. It's not a tough choice here. If I could afford to lose millions, I wouldn't need insurance.

 

[DfDinLA]

There are thousands and thousands and thousands of people who purchased travel insurance but did not file a claim.  Those people do not post to this thread.

 

Purchasing any type of insurance is a personal decision based numerous person-specific risk factors.  I'm not going to advise someone I don't know about their need for insurance, just like I would not give them medical or legal advise.  In these decisions, the personal details matter.  I would never seek advise on any of these issues on Cruise Critic.

 

Just for the record: I self-insure in all situations except where I am legally required to carry some level of insurance.

[SRF]

On 12/16/2018 at 11:17 AM, payitforward said:

As they say "never gamble with more than you can afford to lose." If I don't use my travel insurance, I have no problem losing my premium of $120, or whatever I paid. I consider it the cost of peace of mind. However, if I need travel insurance and don't have it, the cost of a ship evacuation, hospitalization in a foreign country or any one of a million other possibilities could literally wipe me out. It's not a tough choice here. If I could afford to lose millions, I wouldn't need insurance.

 

 

VERY important point.

 

This is why I insure for $0 trip costs.  I can afford to lose the cruise and/or air fare.  Heck, I paid for that months ago.

 

I CANNOT afford the hit of a medical issue.

[SakeDad]

I had a yearly travel insurance policy and we actually got a free cruise from our local casino (yay!) so that wasn't an issue. But I ended up falling on the ship and breaking my wrist quite badly (very healthy otherwise and one of those "I don't need insurance" types but we were doing a LOT of international travel at the time). After surgery in the ship's hospital etc we were billed $4000.00 on our folio before disembarking. I submitted the bill to my travel insurance and it was 100% covered, no questions asked. So "things" do happen when least expected. A couple hundred dollars insurance is good to have if it does.

[brad_p]

I work in the claims department of a travel insurance company (albein in New Zealand) so I see on a daily basis the many good reasons to take out travel insurance 🙂

[Wine-O]

4 hours ago, SRF said:

 

VERY important point.

 

This is why I insure for $0 trip costs.  I can afford to lose the cruise and/or air fare.  Heck, I paid for that months ago.

 

I CANNOT afford the hit of a medical issue.

One trip to the ship's Dr. will more than pay for $0 trip cost travel insurance.

[SRF]

14 hours ago, Wine-O said:

One trip to the ship's Dr. will more than pay for $0 trip cost travel insurance.

 

One trip to the ship's Dr will pay for a LOT of cruises covered with $0 trip cost insurance.

 

The example above, of $4000 bill, would pay for 125 cruises covered for me. 😄