Travel Insurance success story

[leisuretraveler223]

36 minutes ago, tutzig said:

obviously plenty that have gotten it, and never used it. No one has ever complained that they got the insurance and didn't need it.

And THAT is why insurance companies make money!

[DfDinLA]

The OP states, "We had ordered travel insurance through (name of company) with a pre-existing condition clause since both of us have uncertain health issues."

 

Given the severity of that statement it seems to me that not purchasing travel / health insurance would be down right irresponsible, from a financial standpoint.

 

And I am just wondering if the next time this person attempts to purchase travel / health insurance will the cost of the policy and payment benefit be the same?

[Jingerwoppy]

My inlaws had to leave the ship in Cozumel because one of them had pneumonia. MIL ended up having to be knocked out and intubated. Hospital did not know what to do so we arranged emergency medical evacuation out of Florida. If it weren't for the insurance company helping arrange the evacuation, she probably would not be with us any longer. The inlaws are both in their late 80s and didn't have anyone else with them. My wife had to assist from here in Texas and then meet them in Florida once they were flown to Florida.

[gsb]

Many credit cards include insurance for trip cancellation. check yours out.

Our friends had a last minute gall bladder situation. Credit card paid in full.

[tutzig]

And THAT is why insurance companies make money!

Yes, businesses are in business to make money.

I have auto insurance and hope I do not need it, but it comes in handy when needed.


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[leisuretraveler223]

1 minute ago, tutzig said:

Yes, businesses are in business to make money.

I have auto insurance and hope I do not need it, but it comes in handy when needed.


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Yes, but it depends on what auto insurance you are talking about.  Also, there are laws requiring auto insurance. Not true for travel insurance.  I carry liability, because that is what can really hurt me.  On my newer vehicles that still have significant value, I carry some collision and comprehensive, but keep the deductibles as high as possible.

Insuring to cover burdensome financial consequences makes sense.  That is different than insuring for a loss that has already been realized.

[NRichard10]

How long do you have to insure a cruise once you have placed a deposit? We are doing a family cruise with 10 people total so I think we should probably invest in insurance for everyone. I have never purchased it before so not sure of the timeframes for purchasing.

Heard good things about insuremytrip.com. Is there a place for me to read reviews and compare companies?

 

Thank you,

Nancy

[Clarea]

11 minutes ago, NRichard10 said:

How long do you have to insure a cruise once you have placed a deposit? We are doing a family cruise with 10 people total so I think we should probably invest in insurance for everyone. I have never purchased it before so not sure of the timeframes for purchasing.

Heard good things about insuremytrip.com. Is there a place for me to read reviews and compare companies?

 

Thank you,

Nancy

 

Depends on if you want coverage for pre-existing conditions.  Some policies require the purchase of insurance within some number of days (I've seen 15 and 30) from when the first trip booking was made.

 

If you don't care about pre-existing condition coverage, I believe you can buy insurance right before the trip. 

[barbeyg]

12 minutes ago, NRichard10 said:

How long do you have to insure a cruise once you have placed a deposit? We are doing a family cruise with 10 people total so I think we should probably invest in insurance for everyone. I have never purchased it before so not sure of the timeframes for purchasing.

Heard good things about insuremytrip.com. Is there a place for me to read reviews and compare companies?

 

Thank you,

Nancy

 

Nancy, you have to get it by the time the final payment is due. Keep in mind that by waiting, if you want to cover pre-existing conditions, you will need to read those clauses closely to make sure pre-existing is covered. 

 

We usually buy before final payment, since we don’t know for sure that we are going to travel. We get minimal basic coverage with decent medivac coverage. 

[NRichard10]

Thank you very much for your help.

 

Nancy

[NRichard10]

27 minutes ago, Host Clarea said:

 

Depends on if you want coverage for pre-existing conditions.  Some policies require the purchase of insurance within some number of days (I've seen 15 and 30) from when the first trip booking was made.

 

If you don't care about pre-existing condition coverage, I believe you can buy insurance right before the trip. 

Thank you Clarea. You are always so much help to me. I was so happy when you decided to become a host.

[SG65CB]

BobRN, what about your flights? Were you reimbursed for your flight costs? The insurance reimburses "nonrefundable costs" but this seems like a gray area since you can use the cost of your ticket towards a new flight within a certain period of time, although you usually have to pay a change fee. 

 

Did they reimburse your flights? Do you have to wait until the airline credit expires to get reimbursed? 

 

[josumello]

6 hours ago, gsb said:

Many credit cards include insurance for trip cancellation. check yours out.

Our friends had a last minute gall bladder situation. Credit card paid in full.

We just had the same experience. DH had life threatening illness 3 weeks before cruise. Citi AA master card reimbursed all costs. We never buy insurance but knew we were covered by the credit card up to $5000. However we do have medical insurance that covers us worldwide and we buy medevav insurance yearly thru DH retired military. It is only $125 per year. So there are many different scenarios that work!! Happy and healthy cruising 

[Reijo]

Glad you had a good experience but hate you had to use your insurance.  My husband and I had a 10 day Southern Caribbean cruise planned two yrs. ago.  My mother-in-law died the day before we were leaving to drive to Ft. Lauderdale.  Insure-My-Trip refunded everything.  We use them all the time now, it’s worth every penny.

[SRF]

On 2/8/2019 at 9:05 AM, MalteseMama2 said:

We don’t see getting insurance as an investment, but as part of what makes our cruise enjoyable. It’s budgeted into our vacation costs. We’ve used it twice. Once when the airline didn’t get our luggage to Vancouver in time to make the ship- long story. It covered the clothes we purchased. 

Last Dec we were still on our cruise as we watched a major snow storm develop that would likely affect our flights home. We simply changed flights, stayed in Orlando an extra night and were reimbursed for everything- including dinner in Orlando. 

 

Do you know the airline was actually on the hook for this?

 

And if it was an international flight, they are on the hook for a good bid of money.

[SRF]

On 2/10/2019 at 11:12 AM, leisuretraveler223 said:

Purchasing cancellation/ reimbursement insurance IS in fact an investment in the strictest sense.

 

**DISCLAIMER: I am only talking about cancellation/reimbursement insurance, NOT health or medical transport coverage**

 

Hear me out: If you pay for a cruise, and suddenly don't go on the cruise, you are no poorer.  You just lost out on a vacation.  And while that definitely sucks, it is no more of a financial hardship than you wold incur from taking the trip.  Probably less of one, as you won't spend the additional money you likely would while cruising.

 

People can say they don't "see" cancellation coverage as an investment.  But this is EXACTLY what it is.  You are making an investment that might pay off the cost of a cruise.  From that standpoint, it is considered a poor investment vehicle.  Buy an insurance policy to cover the cost of the cruise, and there are two possibilities:  either you need it and it pays off handsomely (often 10-20 times the cost of the purchase), or you don't need it at all, it doesn't pay off, and you LOSE the entire cost of the coverage.

 

So reimbursement or cancellation insurance is an investment opportunity that most likely will be a complete loss, but has a small possibility of paying out handsomely.  There is no in-between.  Most investments have a more modest but stable return.

 

If you like the coverage for "peace of mind", so be it.  But if you really crunch the numbers, chances are very high, you will come out way better in the long run if you don't buy the cancellation insurance and invest that money in a more stable and reliable mechanism.  At the end of the day, there is still only one ledger of gains and losses per se.  So, you might get a $2,500 payoff on a $200 investment, but you probably won't.  If you instead put that $200 into something else, the ledger will ultimately almost always look better.

 

This is my thoughts exactly.   

 

I just ran my next cruise, and insuring the cruise cost would have been $500 more than just insuring the other things (medical, med evac, non-med evac, and incidental coverages).

 

Based on my cruise cost, 14 cruises is the break even.  If I book and sale 13 cruises, and miss the 14th, I am even.  If I make more than 13 cruises, I am ahead by $500 per cruise.

 

Or, if I put that $500 into some investment each time I cruise, after 12 - 13 cruises, I get a free cruise. 😄

 

[leisuretraveler223]

3 hours ago, SRF said:

 

This is my thoughts exactly.   

 

I just ran my next cruise, and insuring the cruise cost would have been $500 more than just insuring the other things (medical, med evac, non-med evac, and incidental coverages).

 

Based on my cruise cost, 14 cruises is the break even.  If I book and sale 13 cruises, and miss the 14th, I am even.  If I make more than 13 cruises, I am ahead by $500 per cruise.

 

Or, if I put that $500 into some investment each time I cruise, after 12 - 13 cruises, I get a free cruise. 😄

 

 

EXACTLY!!!! The key distinction is that you're not insuring a potential catastrophic loss (that's what health and medical evacuation coverage do).  If someone booked a cruise, they have already demonstrated they can afford the cost.  Insuring it is of questionable utility.

[MalteseMama2]

17 hours ago, SRF said:

 

Do you know the airline was actually on the hook for this?

 

And if it was an international flight, they are on the hook for a good bid of money.

We didn’t pursue it, but later wished we had. We flew in the day before the cruise and the next morning Someone at the airport told me our luggage had arrived and was being transported to the port for us.  In reality our luggage was still in California. I’ve learned to always get a name whenever I talk to any rep about anything. 

 

[S.A.M.J.R.]

On 2/10/2019 at 11:12 AM, leisuretraveler223 said:

Purchasing cancellation/ reimbursement insurance IS in fact an investment in the strictest sense.

 

**DISCLAIMER: I am only talking about cancellation/reimbursement insurance, NOT health or medical transport coverage**

 

Hear me out: If you pay for a cruise, and suddenly don't go on the cruise, you are no poorer.  You just lost out on a vacation.  And while that definitely sucks, it is no more of a financial hardship than you wold incur from taking the trip.  Probably less of one, as you won't spend the additional money you likely would while cruising.

 

People can say they don't "see" cancellation coverage as an investment.  But this is EXACTLY what it is.  You are making an investment that might pay off the cost of a cruise.  From that standpoint, it is considered a poor investment vehicle.  Buy an insurance policy to cover the cost of the cruise, and there are two possibilities:  either you need it and it pays off handsomely (often 10-20 times the cost of the purchase), or you don't need it at all, it doesn't pay off, and you LOSE the entire cost of the coverage.

 

So reimbursement or cancellation insurance is an investment opportunity that most likely will be a complete loss, but has a small possibility of paying out handsomely.  There is no in-between.  Most investments have a more modest but stable return.

 

If you like the coverage for "peace of mind", so be it.  But if you really crunch the numbers, chances are very high, you will come out way better in the long run if you don't buy the cancellation insurance and invest that money in a more stable and reliable mechanism.  At the end of the day, there is still only one ledger of gains and losses per se.  So, you might get a $2,500 payoff on a $200 investment, but you probably won't.  If you instead put that $200 into something else, the ledger will ultimately almost always look better.

People can say they see the insurance as an investment, but that doesn't mean it's true.  We haven't been on a lot of cruises, but I looked the ones we took our family on.  Family of 5, insurance cost us $200.  A couple years later, we went with our family and DD's friend.  Insurance cost us $360 (for 6 of us).  That covered various cancellations issues AS WELL AS HEALTH/MEDICAL coverage (which you seem to be ok with).  These were both week long cruises.

 

If I'm going to make an "investment", I'm going to WANT it to pay off.  I DON'T want to need the insurance.   Now, you're right... if you book a cruise for $x, that money is gone (without insurance) whether you go on the cruise or not.  But If you don't go on the cruise, and you have insurance, you can spend that money on other things.  Personally, I'd rather throw away $50-60pp than $700-800pp. 

 

 

[wayne_trisha]

On 2/6/2019 at 10:28 PM, leisuretraveler223 said:

Glad it worked out. But there is an old axiom: the plural of "anecdote" is not "evidence".  Insuring the cost of a trip is universally considered an inefficient investment tool. There are much better ways to invest.

Until you slip on a wet deck or fall down the stairs and need a medivac. $25K to get you off the ship and you have no say in the matter. We always buy insurance just for these reasons.

 

Glad the insurance helped, prayers for a speedy recovery.

[Ourusualbeach]

25 minutes ago, wayne_trisha said:

Until you slip on a wet deck or fall down the stairs and need a medivac. $25K to get you off the ship and you have no say in the matter. We always buy insurance just for these reasons.

 

Glad the insurance helped, prayers for a speedy recovery.

You missed the first part of their post where they stated this,

 

“**DISCLAIMER: I am only talking about cancellation/reimbursement insurance, NOT health or medical transport coverage**”

[SRF]

3 hours ago, MalteseMama2 said:

We didn’t pursue it, but later wished we had. We flew in the day before the cruise and the next morning Someone at the airport told me our luggage had arrived and was being transported to the port for us.  In reality our luggage was still in California. I’ve learned to always get a name whenever I talk to any rep about anything. 

 

 If you luggage is not there when you arrive, start talking THEN about reimbursement for delayed luggage.

 

If an international flight, covered under the Montreal Convention, you will be reimbursed for any purchases required to have what you need to have until you luggage actually shows up.  The limit is 1131 Special Drawing Units, which today is about $1570 per person.  You will have to make the purchases, then do to the airline with receipts for reimbursement.

 

It requires airlines to fully compensate travelers the cost of replacement items purchased until the baggage is delivered, to a maximum of 1,131 SDR. At 21 days any delayed baggage is considered lost, until the airline finds and delivers it.

 

This means, if you need a suit for a meeting, even though they know where your bag is, and it will be there tomorrow, if you need a suit today, you buy one, and the have to cover the cost.  

 

Not just for "lost" luggage.

[SRF]

On 2/10/2019 at 7:51 PM, Reijo said:

Glad you had a good experience but hate you had to use your insurance.  My husband and I had a 10 day Southern Caribbean cruise planned two yrs. ago.  My mother-in-law died the day before we were leaving to drive to Ft. Lauderdale.  Insure-My-Trip refunded everything.  We use them all the time now, it’s worth every penny.

 

And what is the cost benefit ratio?

 

What does the insurance cost per trip?  How many trips have you taken?  How many times have you cancelled?

 

 

[MalteseMama2]

2 minutes ago, SRF said:

 If you luggage is not there when you arrive, start talking THEN about reimbursement for delayed luggage.

 

If an international flight, covered under the Montreal Convention, you will be reimbursed for any purchases required to have what you need to have until you luggage actually shows up.  The limit is 1131 Special Drawing Units, which today is about $1570 per person.  You will have to make the purchases, then do to the airline with receipts for reimbursement.

 

This is excellent information! I wish we had known that when it happened. 

 

 

 

This means, if you need a suit for a meeting, even though they know where your bag is, and it will be there tomorrow, if you need a suit today, you buy one, and the have to cover the cost.  

 

Not just for "lost" luggage.

Thanks for this info! 

[wayne_trisha]

8 minutes ago, Ourusualbeach said:

You missed the first part of their post where they stated this,

 

“**DISCLAIMER: I am only talking about cancellation/reimbursement insurance, NOT health or medical transport coverage**”

 

My point was insurance is much more need for the medivac portion. I miss my cruise, I'm out my sunk costs without insurance but anyone can slip/fall on the ship and now you are taking a $25K helicopter ride if you want to or not.