Trip Insurance

[Barcelona17]

Having a wonderful time on the Meraviglia. Everything has been almost perfect....except travel insurance purchased thru MSC. More on this and the cruise when return BUT don't by your travel insurance thru MSC !.

dcl

 

[JohnJayJotaJames]

9 hours ago, Barcelona17 said:

Having a wonderful time on the Meraviglia. Everything has been almost perfect....except travel insurance purchased thru MSC. More on this and the cruise when return BUT don't by your travel insurance thru MSC !.

dcl

 

Glad to hear that you're having a wonderful time on the Meraviglia.

We've already bought our MSC travel insurance for next 2 cruises! Will wait patiently for you to return from your fabulous cruise and give more info about insurance.

[jkgourmet]

Cruise line travel insurance is never a good deal.  Why?  Because the medical expense coverage is capped at $25,000.

 

The PRIMARY risk that you are insuring for is catastrophic medical expenses.   People forget that Medicare doesn't provide any coverage outside the USA.  Neither does the ACA (Obamacare)  or the vast majority of employer sponsored policies.

 

I can cover the risk of a lost bag or a trip delay.  I could absorb the loss of the cruise fare if I have to cancel.   A couple of hundred thousand dollars in medical expenses?  Not so much.  And it adds up QUICKLY, especially if you have to be evacuated. 

[ashank1m]

Check out some credit cards that have Trip interruption, Trip Cancellation, Travel insurance in the benefits, it will cover what Cruise line insurance covers and more.

[lovemycruisetoo]

I carry an annual travel policy that covers everyone in the home anywhere, everyday as long as we’re more than at 100 miles away. High medical evacuation included in addition to trip delay, etc. 

[Barcelona17]

So, about MSC provided travel insurance. Now that our cruise is over I can speak only to our experience. I purchased the insurance along with my two traveling companions. One of of whom fell in Mexico and needed 15+ stitches. She is home doing fine but I can't say it was a pleasant experience.

The insurance was very confusing and no-one on board knew anything. Bottom line: the insurance carrier MSC uses knew nothing of our purchase. When I finally made contact they explained my friend needs to submit claims after the fact with our cruise booking # and then they will contact MSC and confirm we bought the insurance. Little weird in itself but not the worst part . There was no true emergency so didn't need their emergency hotline, but did call it when I was frantically trying to get ahold of the insurance company to find out how to handle the medical costs etc. (since I had never been sent a policy number and MSC kept telling me not to worry my cruise booking number would suffice. Which in retrospect was correct.) When I called the emergency line. I was told by automated voice that my account had insufficient funds to accept call. Later found out one way they identify policy holders is by their phone number. Guess whose phone number they didn't have since they didn't even know about us.

As an aside.....had wonderful cruise otherwise. The concierge knew nothing about insurance (we were in Yacht Club and if you're planning on getting sick. The YC is the best place to do it). However he was most helpful connecting me with the Ins company. And our butler Wayan was fantastic. The medical situation is like most ships not customer friendly at all. Some excellent staff some poor staff and always inconvenient hours. And house calls unheard of except for emergencies.

However  my friend was in some pain after infirmary hours and really needed serious pain medicine. A different concierge said he could not get a doctor or nurse to answer phone after hours and calling the emergency number would be very expensive and not get results we wanted????. Well Wayan dropped by, saw the situation and immediately went to concierge and within 15 minutes a very nice nurse was at our suit re-bandaging and giving medication . Sorry for length more later....

dcl