How Much Travel Insurance to Purchase

[walnut99]

If the primary reason for purchasing travel insurance is medical coverage and evacuation, is it correct that one needs to purchase enough travel insurance to pay those costs that you have already incurred or are committed to incur.  

 

You should purchase sufficient coverage to cover:

a.  The cost of the cruise, and

b.  The cost of the airplane flight to and from the cruise. 

 

Other expenses that can be canceled without penalty need not be insured:

a.  Hotel stays before or after the cruise, and

b.  Private tours. 

 

Thank you all, in for your feedback.

 

 

 

[Tom O.]

The biggest risk is medical, especially medical evacuation. I get a $1 million dollar medical evacuation policy.

If you lost all of the cost of the cruise, flights, hotels, etc., you would be sad, but not broke. After all, you were going to spend that money anyway.

But the plan, I get includes all that cancellation protections as well, but I consider this of secondary importance.

If you have expenses that can be cancelled at the last minute without penalty, there is no need to insure them.

[Midwest Sunseeker]

What type of insurance do you recommend  a cruise traveler make sure is part of their policy to cover potential future side effects of this new virus? 

[Disneydudette1]

Medical coverage for trip is the most important. Many with Medicare do not realize they have no coverage outside the United States. I covered myself with medical as I don’t worry about missing part of the trip. I am concerned about ending up in a foreign hospital with them holding me until full payment secured. 

[Tom O.]

I have the Allianz Worldwide Travel Protection Plan, that I purchased from my TA, but you can also purchase it directly from Allianz online.

It more than covers any medical situation. There is no specific mention of any particular disease, so the new virus would not be handled any different.

If a cruise is canceled because of a pandemic, then any losses you would suffer would also be covered.

How much it costs depends on your age, the length of your vacation, the total cost of your trip, and (I think) where you are going.

There are other insurance companies out there that are probably cheaper, but Allianz has been around a long time and is the largest insurance company in the world.

[oakridger]

Lots of info on this link here on Cruise Critic!

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/499-cruisetravel-insurance/

 

There are several good online insurance sites that offer comparisons of available companies/policies/coverage options.

Google "Travel Insurance Comparison" and many sites are available.  These are two I have used:

 

https://www.insuremytrip.com/

https://www.squaremouth.com/

 

Happy cruising,

~Nancy

 

 

 

[RocketMan275]

Get a quote from geoblue.  Operated by Blue Cross/Blue Shield.  No cancellation insurance.  Medical and evacuation only.  We're in our seventies and a policy covering multiple cruises for one year was $235.  

[debshomespun]

57 minutes ago, Tom O. said:

I have the Allianz Worldwide Travel Protection Plan, that I purchased from my TA, but you can also purchase it directly from Allianz online.

It more than covers any medical situation. There is no specific mention of any particular disease, so the new virus would not be handled any different.

If a cruise is canceled because of a pandemic, then any losses you would suffer would also be covered.

How much it costs depends on your age, the length of your vacation, the total cost of your trip, and (I think) where you are going.

There are other insurance companies out there that are probably cheaper, but Allianz has been around a long time and is the largest insurance company in the world.

This is NOT TRUE.   If there is a pandemic, such as the Coronavirus, and you do not want to go on your cruise, you are NOT covered with Allianz Worldwide Travel Protection Plan.  If you have Cancel for Any Reason, from what I am understanding from others that have been posting on these boards, again, it is not covered.

 

HOWEVER, if you do go on your cruise, and you get the Coronavirus, your medical care would be covered.   I am booked on the NCL Jade 2/27/20 sailing out of Singapore, and I have been following all this talk about the Coronavirus, along with what cruisers are saying about their Travel Insurance Coverages.

 

Pandemics are not a covered item, along with Terrorism.   Best to call each Insurance directly and ask just what is and isn't covered, especially with the new Coronavirus going around. 

[Tom O.]

13 minutes ago, debshomespun said:

This is NOT TRUE.   If there is a pandemic, such as the Coronavirus, and you do not want to go on your cruise, you are NOT covered with Allianz Worldwide Travel Protection Plan.  If you have Cancel for Any Reason, from what I am understanding from others that have been posting on these boards, again, it is not covered.

I didn't mean to say it would be covered if I chose to cancel a cruise. If the cruise line cancels the cruise you would be covered.

[Tom O.]

40 minutes ago, debshomespun said:

Pandemics are not a covered item, along with Terrorism.   Best to call each Insurance directly and ask just what is and isn't covered, especially with the new Coronavirus going around. 

 

Also, Terrorism is covered on my policy. Allianz has different levels of insurance, and maybe some don't cover terrorism. Here is what I copied off my policy on covered reasons for canceling:

16. A terrorist event happens within 100 miles of any U.S. or foreign city you are traveling to during your trip, as
indicated on your original itinerary.
The following condition applies:
a. A terrorist event must not have occurred within 25 miles of that city any time in the 30 days prior to your
policy’s Coverage Effective Date

(The effective date is the date I purchased the policy)

[kazu]

1 hour ago, Tom O. said:

I didn't mean to say it would be covered if I chose to cancel a cruise. If the cruise line cancels the cruise you would be covered.

 

If the cruise line cancels the cruise, they refund you themselves.  Not how this is a benefit other than for airfare or hotels if you prepaid??

[nickel-and-dime-me]

For us, it's nothing.  We get decent medical coverage with our saphire reserve, including the evac reimbursement.  So, we haven't felt the need to buy additional insurance on top of that.

[Tom O.]

1 hour ago, kazu said:

 

If the cruise line cancels the cruise, they refund you themselves.  Not how this is a benefit other than for airfare or hotels if you prepaid??

 

This is my original statement from post #5: "If a cruise is canceled because of a pandemic, then any losses you would suffer would also be covered." Those losses would be hotels, flights, etc. Then debshomespun interpreted that to mean, that I was saying if I chose to cancel, then I would be covered, which I never said.

The part you quoted was simply me trying to make it clearer for debhomespun.

So you are correct, this coverage would just cover expenses other than the cruise itself.

 

[bobjoek]

We also have the Chase Sapphire Reserve card, which covers trip interruption up to $10,000 per person and medical expense and emergency evacuation up to $100,000.  We feel this is not enough and purchase $500,000 medical and $1,000,000 emergency evacuation insurance for $125.

 Bob