Is everyone getting trip insurance for your upcoming cruises?

[DCGuy64]

It's worth noting that insurance companies are deluged with cancellations right now. It took 2 months for us to be notified that our claim was approved and payment disbursed (we've yet to receive the money, so I don't even know if we're getting the full amount or not). Using the website mentioned earlier (Steve is the guy), it seems 2 months is on the fast side. Some people have been waiting for 6 months!

 

 

[mtrancher]

On 3/8/2021 at 6:49 AM, Diver2014 said:

If you can afford to lose all the money you've paid towards your cruise and pay for medical care and evacuation, then you can skip the insurance.

Trip insurance, as with all insurance, is to transfer the risk in entirety or partially IN THE EVENT a covered event occurs. Thousands if not millions of people have successfully completed cruises and other vacations without trip insurance or making a claim on trip insurance. 

The decision to purchase trip insurance should factor in are you willing and able to accept and absorb the risk and costs if a covered event occurs. Another factor to consider is does the purchase of insurance provide you an additional and important piece of mind knowing the risks are transferred to the insurance company IN THE EVENT a covered risk occurs.

 Insurance spreads your specific risk amongst a pool of travelers based on the simple principle that the insurance company can predict with a high degree of accuracy how many claims there will be out of a large pool of insured, they and "us" just can't predict who will be the actual people who will have claims.

[CaptainHazelwood]

On 3/7/2021 at 12:43 PM, MoCruiseFan said:

NO, not EVERYONE is getting insurance.

Same here.  I self insure.

[MoCruiseFan]

HUMOROUS THREAD!

Edited March 26, 2021 by MoCruiseFan

[MoCruiseFan]

On 3/8/2021 at 8:49 AM, Diver2014 said:

If you can afford to lose all the money you've paid towards your cruise and pay for medical care and evacuation, then you can skip the insurance.

Or if you consider the risk of any of that happening, the cost of the insurance, and the actual details of the coverage then deiced that the price is not worth the service provided.  In the long run, insurance is a losing game fiscally.  If it were not, insurance companies would not be in business.  Basically when you buy insurance you are betting that something bad WILL happen and his insurance company is bett8ng that it WILL NOT happen.

 

[dumbth]

Insurance is an inherent racket to be avoided for non-essentials. There is a self-selection bias where by joining you become grouped with a statistically higher risk subgroup than the self insured and thus charged accordingly. You will also be subsidizing any fraud by customers. Insurers no longer can make much by investing your payments in bonds. Build, don't squander, wealth by self insuring whenever practical.

[KateQ22003]

On 3/6/2021 at 7:55 AM, SouthLyonCruiser said:

We always get travel insurance and never through the cruise lines. The cruise line insurance is 'secondary insurance' and requires that the policy owners first make claims with their credit card company, home owners insurance and health insurance companies before they will consider a claim.

We had insurance on our 2020 Alaska cruise that was cancelled and our travel insurance company allowed us the transfer that policy to the rebooked Alaska cruise, even though they didn't have to.

This is not true. I have had to make cruise claims three times in my cruising history; I always went to the insurance company and got my claim paid 100%. No credit card company, no homeowner's insurance, no health insurance.

[KateQ22003]

On 3/8/2021 at 8:42 AM, pe4all said:

We always get travel insurance.  Have never gotten it through cruise line as they do not cover pre-existing medical conditions, which my family has.  Have had to use it 2x - once on a cruise (off-loaded in Belize for 3 days when dd got ill on ship) and once to cancel a cruise the day before. (noro-virus). Got every penny back except $5.  We always use Travelguard , and they have pretty reasonable prices.

They do cover pre-existing, but you have to purchase the insurance policy at the time of booking. That's how it has worked for me.

[pe4all]

We have "transferred" our trip insurance policy 7x since the pandemic began - 3x for cancelled cruises, and 4x for Disney trip.  Very easy - just clicked "modify policy" with Travelguard, and within 10 days - sometimes within 3 - we received confirmation of trip date changes.  Don't know if they are still allowing modifications, though, as pandemic has eased a bit.   For us - with underlying medical conditions - travel insurance is a necessity, and we look at it as part of our vacation cost.  For the 2 claims we have made it has more than paid for itself over the 30+ years we have been purchasing it.  We never had a problem with our claim, and it was considered primary each time we used it.  Only time we had to go through BCBS was when dd was hospitalized in Belize for 3 days, and we quickly got back every penny except $5.  You never know you need it - until you do.

[pe4all]

5 minutes ago, KateQ22003 said:

They do cover pre-existing, but you have to purchase the insurance policy at the time of booking. That's how it has worked for me.

Glad to hear NCL does - never knew that.  CCL doesn't, as far as I know.   After we book, the next phone call I make is to Travelguard.  Always purchase insurance the same day we put down our deposit.

[CherWolf]

I travel frequently and always purchase trip insurance.  I've had to use it twice.  One time was when a cruise to Cuba was cut short because of a major hurricane.  Flights were cancelled all over the US.  It paid for the hotel, rental car, gas and meals.  Very glad I had it.  Also used it once when luggage was misplaced by the airline in Africa for a few days.  It was nice to not have to worry about the extra expense of buying clothing.  You don't miss is until you need it.  The peace of mind is priceless.

[billslowsky]

We heard a claim on our trip insurance once.  We had an evacuation from a diving trip due to the bends (outside of the US).  Helicopter evacuation to the mainland and then a few days of hyperbaric chamber treatment.

 

We had actually had three coverages which paid in the following order:

Personal health insurance (employer group health insurance)

Travel policy purchased for the trip (became primary for the evacuation)

Travel insurance through DAN (diving association)

 

It took about a month to get through the red tape, but the insurance paid in the order listed.  The travel policies weren't going to pay until the personal health insurance had processed the claim.  The travel policies also covered my travel partner's unexpected hotels and meals on the mainland, and the extra airfare resulting from changing the return flights for both of us.

[peteukmcr]

I presume that most of the respondents on here are from the USA, so in light of the current pandemic, and the resumption of cruises departing from the U.K. this year, I thought I’d provide an update from here. Currently all cruise lines sailing from the U.K. are insisting that every passenger has travel insurance. Now this maybe as a consequence of the conditions implemented by the U.K. Government in allowing cruise lines to operate from English ports this year. 

[KeithJenner]

On 3/26/2021 at 7:23 AM, MoCruiseFan said:

Or if you consider the risk of any of that happening, the cost of the insurance, and the actual details of the coverage then deiced that the price is not worth the service provided.  In the long run, insurance is a losing game fiscally.  If it were not, insurance companies would not be in business.  Basically when you buy insurance you are betting that something bad WILL happen and his insurance company is bett8ng that it WILL NOT happen.

 

 

On 3/26/2021 at 9:41 AM, dumbth said:

Insurance is an inherent racket to be avoided for non-essentials. There is a self-selection bias where by joining you become grouped with a statistically higher risk subgroup than the self insured and thus charged accordingly. You will also be subsidizing any fraud by customers. Insurers no longer can make much by investing your payments in bonds. Build, don't squander, wealth by self insuring whenever practical.

There is lots to agree with here, but there are other things to consider.

 

I totally agree regarding trying to self insure if possible, but this is only where you can handle the potential cost. For that reason, for example, I never take out extended cover on appliances or gadget insurance etc. Unless you are really careless you will end up paying more on the insurance than you would by just replacing items. For many people, much more.

 

On the other hand, we don’t just insure our cars because it is a legal requirement. The possibility of a injury claim means that most people would be risking far too much by not insuring anyway.

 

Travel insurance sits somewhere in the middle. I can understand why people choose to risk the few thousand pounds/dollars that a cruise costs if they had to cancel, especially if there is little other cost involved (flights etc). However, if you leave your own country then medical bills could be a major cost, and the losses could be large on a longer trip.

 

I have had two times when I used, or considered using, travel insurance. Once was when my father had a heart attack whilst in New Zealand and his insurance flew me out there and back, paid all my expenses/accommodation and helped with all the arrangements and costs. The other was when we nearly had to cancel a month long trip to Hawaii as we thought our son had broken his arm badly. Luckily he hadn’t, so we could go, but the claim for that would have been more than I am likely to pay for my annual travel insurance for the whole of my life. The New Zealand claim was significantly higher.

 

Travelling multiple times a year, I certainly wouldn’t want to bet that something else won’t happen at some point in the future that will result in a claim.

 

I certainly agree that self insuring is a great option in some cases, but I don’t consider multiple international trips to be one of those cases.

[prov2727]

I get the travel insurance. I've taken 4 out of the country trips. Used the insurance twice.

 

2014- Israel, no claims

2019- cruise, got stuck in Ft. Lauderdale due to weather at final destination. Insurance paid for the taxi to/from hotel, hotel, and food.

2020-cruise, got stuck in Dallas for 2 days, almost 3. Rain delayed my flight into Dallas, which made me miss my flight home which was the last one until 3 days later due to the rain being snow at home. Flew into another airport and the insurance company paid for my hotel and food in Dallas and the shuttle to get back to my original airport from the one I flew back into.

2021-cruise,  no claims. The cruise was cancelled but they let me transfer the insurance to anther trip. No weather issues this time. I did purchase the more expensive  "trip cancelled for any reason" and have done again for my booked 2022 cruise.

[mtrancher]

1 hour ago, prov2727 said:

I get the travel insurance. I've taken 4 out of the country trips. Used the insurance twice.

 

2014- Israel, no claims

2019- cruise, got stuck in Ft. Lauderdale due to weather at final destination. Insurance paid for the taxi to/from hotel, hotel, and food.

2020-cruise, got stuck in Dallas for 2 days, almost 3. Rain delayed my flight into Dallas, which made me miss my flight home which was the last one until 3 days later due to the rain being snow at home. Flew into another airport and the insurance company paid for my hotel and food in Dallas and the shuttle to get back to my original airport from the one I flew back into.

2021-cruise,  no claims. The cruise was cancelled but they let me transfer the insurance to anther trip. No weather issues this time. I did purchase the more expensive  "trip cancelled for any reason" and have done again for my booked 2022 cruise.

Great example of when insurance comes in handy.

Reading your description of using it 2 out of four times, what would you say your net cost has been; insurance premiums of all trips versus expenses paid by the insurance?

[luckyinpa]

maybe too good to be true but celebrity is including insurance that covers all covid things...test..quarantine after you leave the ship.. flights back home etc. if its all encompassing like the ad says, its a good deal for sure. full refund too

[rhapsodybluezz]

We are retired and travel a lot so I purchase an annual policy to cover our travel.  It costs less than 400 annually for the two of us and provides me with peace of mind, especially in case of the need for medical evacuation . We've never had to use the policy.  I only request coverage of 4000 for trip cancellation which keeps the cost of the policy down.

[prov2727]

21 hours ago, mtrancher said:

Great example of when insurance comes in handy.

Reading your description of using it 2 out of four times, what would you say your net cost has been; insurance premiums of all trips versus expenses paid by the insurance?

2004 paid @ $300 (paid for cancel for any reason which is extra)

2019 paid $108

2020 paid $78

2021 paid $150 (paid for cancel for any reason)

Total $636

 

Payouts of $233.50 and $405.45

Total $638.95

 

Pretty close to even!

[CaptainHazelwood]

4 minutes ago, prov2727 said:

2004 paid @ $300 (paid for cancel for any reason which is extra)

2019 paid $108

2020 paid $78

2021 paid $150 (paid for cancel for any reason)

Total $636

 

Payouts of $233.50 and $405.45

Total $638.95

 

Pretty close to even!

That's interesting.  Thanks for sharing that.

[mtrancher]

3 hours ago, prov2727 said:

2004 paid @ $300 (paid for cancel for any reason which is extra)

2019 paid $108

2020 paid $78

2021 paid $150 (paid for cancel for any reason)

Total $636

 

Payouts of $233.50 and $405.45

Total $638.95

 

Pretty close to even!

Thanks for taking the time to post this info! You got some really low premiums compared to the ones I've seen. At those prices it seems like a simple choice to add the piece of mind to your travels.

[Silent Penguin]

 In the past, I always bought the bare-bones trip insurance  policy when we cruised. Typically, our cruises have been 7-day Caribbean itineraries that included a balcony stateroom for dh and me  and an interior stateroom for the 3 growing kids, an excursion at ports of call,  2 nights in a hotel, and sometimes air fare from BWI to Florida; usually we drive.  For these trips I've purchased policies based on a total trip cost of around $7000.00. The most I paid for a policy was $201.00.  

 

All three kids are independent adults now, and even though we've cruised several times with one or two of them,  we haven't  cruised as a complete family since 2013.  Cruising as a complete family is finally supposed to happen next year when we celebrate my youngest daughter's several times delayed  college graduation cruise.  The only reason I was able to include her oldest brother in the booking was by adding the "Cancel for Any Reason" additional coverage to our travel insurance.  He badly wanted to go, but given  his lifestyle, he was afraid of how much money I would lose if he had to bail out.  When I told him I could add "Cancel for Any Reason" insurance that will cover all of us for  $159.00, he was so happy that he offered to pay for it.  

 

 

[Nola26]

Sailing with Mom in Europe, yup we are buying through NCL.

 

Sailing solo in the Caribbean, I haven't always bought insurance. My credit card offers some protections.

[vwlmember]

Nope. Never again.  Both of my trips were cancelled by COVID last spring and I was able to recover all of the money from every carrier without the assistance of insurance.  The only money I could not recover was for the insurance that denied every claim attempt saying COVID was not a covered issue.  The insurance was through Berkshire-Hathaway so it was not some fly-by-night company.

[rodndonna]

1 hour ago, vwlmember said:

Nope. Never again.  Both of my trips were cancelled by COVID last spring and I was able to recover all of the money from every carrier without the assistance of insurance.  The only money I could not recover was for the insurance that denied every claim attempt saying COVID was not a covered issue.  The insurance was through Berkshire-Hathaway so it was not some fly-by-night company.

 

Like you ,in our experience over 30 years of trips, the rare cancellations, delays or interruptions were generally covered by the carriers. If not, it is a risk we can take. That money is money spent either way so can afford to lose it, not much different than taking the risk of spending money on a holiday and having a miserable time.

 

We would never travel without medical insurance coverage though, as the potential expenses can be life altering.