Jump to content

Insurance


iceleven
 Share

Recommended Posts

Not new to cruising, only new to Carnival. I'm in the process of booking a September cruise and not sure if I should go with the Carnival insurance or another one. Any suggestions and please let me know why you chose it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Carnival insurance has 1 price for all people no matter the age group. It includes Cancel For Any Reason. Does not cover pre-existing conditions. Has low medical coverage. $10K, I believe.

www.tripinsurancestore.com

www.insurmytrip.com

allows you to compare 3rd party policies. Price is usually better with much higher limits of coverage. The are priced on age. For additional money you can opt in for Cancel For Any Reason, Pre-Existing conditions coverage, etc

 

All really depends on what kind of coverage meets YOUR needs.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

In regards to "cancel for any reason," just keep in mind that cancelling for reasons not covered by Carnival's insurance means you get 75% back as a future cruise credit. So factor that in if "cancel for any reason" is important to you. For some third-party plans, you have to add "cancel for any reason" within a certain amount of time after purchasing the insurance plan itself. It does cost more to add it with third-party policies, but I've still found some that are cheaper than Carnival's.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The 2 things we never travel without, insurance and a passport. We always use insuremytrip and the last 2 policies were with Nationwide Cruise. January of 2017 we got back all $8,000 because a death of immediate family. It was a 2 week transcanal on the Miracle, with airfare.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We always take the Carnival insurance, although we are looking into possibly purchasing a more comprehensive policy going forward.  Our reason, well a few little health issues have cropped up, and we would hope we would never have to be airlifted or something from a cruise ship, as it can be rather expensive if you are outside of the U.S.

 

Anyway, our Carnival plan came in handy in 2017 when we had to cancel due to a health issue. At that time we were reimbursed immediately for some charges, and within 2-3 weeks after submitting the required forms to the insurance company, we were refunded all monies, except of course, the cost of the insurance. Everything worked out fine.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We booked our last cruise with the Carnival Barclay card, which included trip cancellation insurance. Unfortunately, my husband broke his big toe a couple of days before we were scheduled to drive to Miami, and the DR said he absolutely could not go on the cruise. But fortunately, we had insurance and got all our money back!  You never know what may happen....we always get insurance....

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Review your current health insurance. It may very well cover international. If it does, just get a super cheap evac insurance.  If it doesn't, get a cheap medical/evac insurance. 

 

Trip cancelation and crazy expensive cruise line insurance is just flat out dumb. 

 

As for the people talking about recovering their cruise costs... Just remember that insurance companies make money. They pay out less than the take in.  These stories are no different than someone saying their husband won a slot machine, so you should consider slot machines in your retirement planning. You obviously know that is stupid... Use the same judgment. 

Edited by BNBR
Link to comment
Share on other sites

We always use www.insuremytrip.com to find a policy since we can find a policy for less with more robust coverage. My medical insurance does offer coverage overseas, but with the stipulation that I need to use an in-network provider. I don't want to have to worry about finding an in-network provider in a foreign country. Our policy for our just completed trip cost $100 and since we purchased it within 14 days of booking our trip it included a pre-existing condition waiver. I don't care how much money insurance companies make, I buy the insurance to protect myself against a loss. I am glad that they do make money though because it keeps rates affordable.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

12 hours ago, BNBR said:

Review your current health insurance. It may very well cover international. If it does, just get a super cheap evac insurance.  If it doesn't, get a cheap medical/evac insurance. 

 

Trip cancelation and crazy expensive cruise line insurance is just flat out dumb. 

 

As for the people talking about recovering their cruise costs... Just remember that insurance companies make money. They pay out less than the take in.  These stories are no different than someone saying their husband won a slot machine, so you should consider slot machines in your retirement planning. You obviously know that is stupid... Use the same judgment. 

You may be correct, but your presentation leaves something to be desired.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

I’ve used Squaremouth most recently and it was an excellent policy for a reasonable rate. We are from the south and Hurricane Irma left us in Seattle with no ability to get home! I was finally able to get into a different airport and then got home after it was safe. My friend wasn’t so lucky. She lives on a small island in GA which had been evacuated. She had to stay in Atlanta until it was safe to go home. The insurance policy paid her hotel, rental car, additional parking fees at the airport and everything involved with the situation! They paid it quickly and with no hassles.

i highly recommend them!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 4/18/2019 at 10:42 PM, BNBR said:

Review your current health insurance. It may very well cover international. If it does, just get a super cheap evac insurance.  If it doesn't, get a cheap medical/evac insurance. 

 

Trip cancelation and crazy expensive cruise line insurance is just flat out dumb. 

 

As for the people talking about recovering their cruise costs... Just remember that insurance companies make money. They pay out less than the take in.  These stories are no different than someone saying their husband won a slot machine, so you should consider slot machines in your retirement planning. You obviously know that is stupid... Use the same judgment. 

 

"...just flat out dumb"?

Speak for yourself!

 

This is NOT at all like "slot machines", where everyone has the same (relatively low) probability of "winning".

 

If everyone had the exact same probability of "needing to cancel", then yes, ON AVERAGE, getting coverage for trip expenses isn't a long-term winning proposition, in good part due to the costs of the insurance company.

 

However, we do NOT "all have the same likelihood of needing to cancel", to put it mildly.

 

Keep in mind that travel insurance does NOT have graded coverage depending upon health background of travelers (one can make sure one does have coverage for pre-existing conditions), or for ages and health status of family members not traveling. (And a few policies don't grade for age at all, even for travelers.)

 

One can have a variety of pre-existing conditions and yet be "fit to travel" most of the time - meaning, especially when one starts the insurance coverage.  And if one starts that coverage within a certain window after making the *first* payment/deposit (typically within 10-21 days, depending upon policy and state of residence - and this is for USA based coverage only, by the way), AND one is "fit to travel" that day, one is covered including for pre-existing conditions.

 

So for those who are young and healthy and can absorb the loss (and don't mind "paying again" to take that same trip later, if cancelled), then sure... consider not getting coverage for travel costs.

 

But we are among those who (both of us) DO have some pre-existing medical conditions.  Additionally, we have a very elderly relative (approaching 100).

We've expected for several years now that some untoward medical event with that relative would require that we cancel a trip or return home early.  But not so... until now, ALL of our claims have been for our own medical issues.  And because we had coverage for pre-existing conditions, we didn't need to deal with having the insurer scroll through old medical records (or wait the time while they did so, before paying).

 

We finally had to fully cancel a cruise and land vacation, due to that relative's medical emergency.  (She now seems okay, but tests are still pending, and we remain worried, no surprise.)  But if we had had to guess, we would have expected this quite some time earlier, given her very advanced age.

 

Point is, we are among those who are "ahead" in terms of travel insurance premiums paid in total, and the total of the claims paid to us.  We wish this were NOT the case, of course.  But it was predictable that "our probabilities" of making a claim were much higher than "average".  We would definitely prefer if in the future, we continue to take out insurance and NOT have any more claims!

 

ETA:  By the way, we use TripInsuranceStore.com and we've had several claims paid *promptly* and without any nonsense by Travel Insured. We strongly recommend both of those vendors.

 

GC

 

 

 

Edited by GeezerCouple
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
 Share

  • Forum Jump
    • Categories
      • Welcome to Cruise Critic
      • New Cruisers
      • Cruise Lines “A – O”
      • Cruise Lines “P – Z”
      • River Cruising
      • ROLL CALLS
      • Digital Photography & Cruise Technology
      • Special Interest Cruising
      • Cruise Discussion Topics
      • UK Cruising
      • Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
      • Canadian Cruisers
      • North American Homeports
      • Ports of Call
      • Cruise Conversations
×
×
  • Create New...