RCCL Travel Insurance

[TennisCruiser62]

Is it worth buying RCCL’s travel insurance for Odyssey of the Seas, setting sale in October 2021, and I am fully vaccinated? 

[bajathree]

17 minutes ago, TennisCruiser62 said:

Is it worth buying RCCL’s travel insurance for Odyssey of the Seas, setting sale in October 2021, and I am fully vaccinated? 

You should always have travel insurance whether through the cruise line or independent. 

[klfrodo]

I agree. You should always buy travel insurance when traveling.

But, if you don't know what travel insurance is? what travel insurance covers, or, more importantly, what travel insurance doesn't cover, then there is some research and education to get caught up on.

 

Here are a couple of resources

Cruise Critics own site that is dedicated to travel insurance

Cruise/Travel Insurance - Cruise Critic Community

 

And a link to a well known broker and sells from 9 different companies and is often on Cruise Critic to answer questions. Has a great FAQ section to help educate His website is

Want to Understand How Trip Cancellation Insurance Works? 888-407-3854 Get the Best Trip Insurance Details, Advice (tripinsurancestore.com)

 

 

To answer your first question though, NO in my opinion RCCL's insurance is woefully insufficient when it comes to medical coverage.

Edited September 27, 2021 by klfrodo

[BND]

We've bought it for every single cruise (28 so far) and have used it once for a b2b.  I dislocated my kneecap and dislocated my ankle and fractured my fibula.  I required surgery.  It was 2 months before our b2b cruise and WDW trip.  My orthopedic surgeon said no to that trip and he was right. We were able to get 100% refund for the trip (only lost WDW tickets as they were special military ones) thanks to the insurance.  You can't just base it on Covid.  Anything could come up, injury, illness, family death, etc.  We will never cruise without the insurance.

[billslowsky]

1 hour ago, klfrodo said:

To answer your first question though, NO in my opinion RCCL's insurance is woefully insufficient when it comes to medical coverage.

What brings you to that conclusion?  Almost all travel insurance is secondary to what a person holds.  How is a $25,000 secondary medical benefit "woefully" insufficient?

[klfrodo]

5 minutes ago, billslowsky said:

What brings you to that conclusion?  Almost all travel insurance is secondary to what a person holds.  How is a $25,000 secondary medical benefit "woefully" insufficient?

Most (not all) 3rd party policies are Primary and begin at $100K with evac at $250K and you can select higher coverages.

 

However you are correct in that the cruiselines have uped their game to $25K. In the past it was only $10K. However, it's still secondary and inadequate in my opinion.

 

Myself? I self insure all the bells and whistles of cancellation, lost baggage, and trip delay. Those potential losses will not be financially devastating. Uncomfortable? Yes. Causing a bankruptcy? No.

Medical loss though can be crushing. $25K doesn't begin to help in recovering that financial and personal loss.

[jerseygirl3]

17 minutes ago, billslowsky said:

What brings you to that conclusion?  Almost all travel insurance is secondary to what a person holds.  How is a $25,000 secondary medical benefit "woefully" insufficient?

When it says “secondary” it means you need to submit to your private health insurance first. Most health  insurance does not cover you outside of the States, so you’re limited to what your travel insurance covers. $25K can rack up pretty quickly. 

[BND]

Oh and we buy through the cruise line and RCI insurance is the one that refunded every penny.  Above I mentioned our WDW portion, but that was all refundable (cancellation policies) except for our military tickets.

 

[billslowsky]

1 hour ago, klfrodo said:

Most (not all) 3rd party policies are Primary and begin at $100K with evac at $250K and you can select higher coverages.

 

Many have coordination provisions which reduce what they pay by whatever other coverage pays.  A person should know what their primary coverage is and buy a plan that coordinates with it.  Buying so-called primary coverage is often redundant and not a good value.

 

 

[billslowsky]

1 hour ago, jerseygirl3 said:

When it says “secondary” it means you need to submit to your private health insurance first. Most health  insurance does not cover you outside of the States, so you’re limited to what your travel insurance covers. $25K can rack up pretty quickly. 

Seeing howsome Blue Cross plans provide coverage via GeoBlue, and Medigap provides coverage out side of the US for travel situations, your statement isn't valid.

 

People should first identify their primary coverage, and then evaluate what travel insurance they should add to it.  Otherwise they will pay for redundant coverage that won't pay.  Overinsuring may give you "peace of mind" but it's also a waste of money.

[jerseygirl3]

14 minutes ago, billslowsky said:

Seeing howsome Blue Cross plans provide coverage via GeoBlue, and Medigap provides coverage out side of the US for travel situations, your statement isn't valid.

 

People should first identify their primary coverage, and then evaluate what travel insurance they should add to it.  Otherwise they will pay for redundant coverage that won't pay.  Overinsuring may give you "peace of mind" but it's also a waste of money.

To say my statement isn't valid is misleading.  Many private insurance companies do NOT pay for medical expenses outside of the country, especially medical evacuation.  You are assuming everybody is on Medicare.  Not everybody who travels is old enough to be on Medicare.  And I stand by my statement that coverage of 25K may not be nearly enough in the event of a catastrophic illness or injury that can happen to anyone.  I had a friend who, in her 50's and seemingly completely healthy, has a stroke on a transatlantic on the way to Spain.  Fortunately she was stable enough until they arrived in Spain, but she was hospitalized there for 3 weeks and required a private medjet accompanied by a nurse to return her to the States.  Fortunately, they had a Nationwide policy that covered up to $1 million.  

[Jenna]

Isn't RCCL requiring everyone sailing this year to have travel insurance? Or did that change?

[billslowsky]

28 minutes ago, jerseygirl3 said:

To say my statement isn't valid is misleading.  Many private insurance companies do NOT pay for medical expenses outside of the country, especially medical evacuation.  You are assuming everybody is on Medicare.  Not everybody who travels is old enough to be on Medicare.  And I stand by my statement that coverage of 25K may not be nearly enough in the event of a catastrophic illness or injury that can happen to anyone.  I had a friend who, in her 50's and seemingly completely healthy, has a stroke on a transatlantic on the way to Spain.  Fortunately she was stable enough until they arrived in Spain, but she was hospitalized there for 3 weeks and required a private medjet accompanied by a nurse to return her to the States.  Fortunately, they had a Nationwide policy that covered up to $1 million.  

You said most, not many.

 

Medical evacuation isn't medical insurance.

 

No one said everyone is on Medicare.

 

With no details on the anecdotal incident, you really haven't shown that the $25,000 for medical expenses is not enough.  Or how much her primary insurance covered.  If that were a common situation for a medical incident, there would be plenty of stories on this site about it.  How much was medical and how much was evacuation?  They are separate coverages. 

 

I can tell of an incident where a family member got the bends while scuba diving on a stop in Belize.  Our regular insurance paid most of the bills, the trip insurance covered the rest, including the helicopter back to the mainland, the travel disruption cost, hotels, and more.  But the medical was mostly paid by our work-related insurance.

 

[Ashland]

I have always bought 3rd party travel insurance per trip.

Starting next year I'm considering buying an annual policy. The prices per policy are getting a bit expensive for the coverage at our age we now need for the many trips we have planned for 2022.

[shippmates]

1 hour ago, Ashland said:

I have always bought 3rd party travel insurance per trip.

Starting next year I'm considering buying an annual policy. The prices per policy are getting a bit expensive for the coverage at our age we now need for the many trips we have planned for 2022.

The annual policy do cover many trips but make sure you look at the per trip coverage and the max they will pay per person per year.

[not-enough-cruising]

4 hours ago, Ashland said:

I have always bought 3rd party travel insurance per trip.

Starting next year I'm considering buying an annual policy. The prices per policy are getting a bit expensive for the coverage at our age we now need for the many trips we have planned for 2022.

An annual policy is an excellent idea. I have had an annual policy for several years now, economically it’s a good option, but it’s a great option for to the fact I don’t have to think about it; the policy is active ANYTIME I am 150 miles or more from home. 
Also the COVID coverage on the annual policies, in my experience, is much more comprehensive.  

[TennisCruiser62]

11 hours ago, Jenna said:

Isn't RCCL requiring everyone sailing this year to have travel insurance? Or did that change?

 

6 hours ago, not-enough-cruising said:

An annual policy is an excellent idea. I have had an annual policy for several years now, economically it’s a good option, but it’s a great option for to the fact I don’t have to think about it; the policy is active ANYTIME I am 150 miles or more from home. 
Also the COVID coverage on the annual policies, in my experience, is much more comprehensive.  

 

[TennisCruiser62]

Only unvaccinated passengers are required to have insurance right now.

 

[TennisCruiser62]

Thanks everyone for your input. Much appreciated!

[SRF]

One area where the RCCI insurance is great is the premiums for older people.  They do not underwrite for age.  We cruised with my parents.  They were 87 at the time.  3rd party insurance was going to run several thousand dollars. RCCI was several hundred.

 

On that cruise, my mother needed the insurance, and it covered everything, including the med evac home.

 

The insurance company even negotiated the rate with the medevac operator to get it within the coverage limit.

 

One other thing, if you are not worried about covering the cruise cost, you can get insurance at $0 trip cost for almost nothing.  But get good medical and medevac coverage.  I have found the break point to be $500 trip cost.  Above that, the insurance prices goes up quickly

 

Edited September 28, 2021 by SRF

[luckyinpa]

how much is the royal pricing for insurance. i never priced it. thru tripinsurance store, without the CFAR, i got 320 for 2 people on a 7K insured amount. i forget the details but more than enough coverage for a copter ride from another country and medical. (500K or 1 mil  i think) id also rather buy and never need it. thats my master plan.

 

also from what i read. primary or secondary is meaningless. since most people USA plan doesnt cover a cruise, you just get a denial letter and then your secondary cruise insurance kicks in. so why pay more for it to be primary? also i know of NO plan that pays for your care up front. every plan i know you pay first and they pay you back. if someone knows of a plan that will pay WHILE you are in the hospital etc, id love to buy that one. 

[TennisCruiser62]

3 hours ago, Heymarco said:

Does that include children?

Not sure about children. Sorry

[Itchy&Scratchy]

On 9/28/2021 at 12:46 PM, luckyinpa said:

how much is the royal pricing for insurance.

I booked a 2022 cruise for 3 of us, and RCI insurance was $147 for all three of us.

We also have a cruise in Nov 2021 (which was a L&S from 2020), and for the three of us it's still $147 ($59, $59, $29) and for my parents it's $59 pp.

The cruises are 7 and 8 nighters.

[Steve&Teri]

We never purchased travel insurance until about 8 years ago on our 5th cruise we saw someone medivacated on a cruise and working in healthcare my mind went to damn that is going to cost a fortune.   After that we have always bought it worth the piece of mind.  We have used it once we were planning Alaska cruise for my father in laws 90 th birthday was his dream trip unfortunately we lost him 30 days before the cruise we just bring ourselves to go without him we got 100% of our money back for everything for us it's well worth it.

 

[billslowsky]

On 9/27/2021 at 12:38 PM, klfrodo said:

I agree. You should always buy travel insurance when traveling.

But, if you don't know what travel insurance is? what travel insurance covers, or, more importantly, what travel insurance doesn't cover, then there is some research and education to get caught up on.

 

Here are a couple of resources

Cruise Critics own site that is dedicated to travel insurance

Cruise/Travel Insurance - Cruise Critic Community

 

And a link to a well known broker and sells from 9 different companies and is often on Cruise Critic to answer questions. Has a great FAQ section to help educate His website is

Want to Understand How Trip Cancellation Insurance Works? 888-407-3854 Get the Best Trip Insurance Details, Advice (tripinsurancestore.com)

 

 

To answer your first question though, NO in my opinion RCCL's insurance is woefully insufficient when it comes to medical coverage.

On the website you link to, he strongly encourages people to contact their primary health insurer in advance and find out the extent of coverage they will already have.  Almost all of his main page is talking about insurance other than medical - evacuation, interruption, trip cancellation.

 

Typical insurance isn't going to cover you if you choose to schedule a hip replacement or cancer treatment in a sunny foreign land, for example, but if you were to take an unexpected spill or fall ill unexpectedly and require similar care, many plans will cover as out of network.

 

As someone mentioned, you will have to put up money almost 100% of the time, and a good credit card with a decent limit is a must.