Make sure you have travel insurance

[edgee]

1 hour ago, ngrund said:

we just cannot purchase the cruise line policy offered at time of booking  (which in my opinion does not offer enough coverage for medical/evac anyway); we can buy policies from insurance carriers.

 

I get mine from Allianz. It is not cancel for any reason coverage, but I am more concerned with being covered in the event of medical issue or accident.

My complaint was that we cannot purchase the big box store coverage which is much lower priced than any other.

[edgee]

5 minutes ago, ngrund said:

we can buy CFAR insurance, it just has to be purchased from a carrier directly and has to be offered separate from the medical coverage. However, when I obtained a quote recently it was way more than I felt was appropriate. I can "self insure" the cost of my trip.

IME experience you can only buy CFAR from the cruise line directly, not from any insurance carrier. NYS insurance department claims reason it is not a risk based product, which is what insurance carriers are licensed to sell.

[ngrund]

5 minutes ago, edgee said:

My complaint was that we cannot purchase the big box store coverage which is much lower priced than any other.

it is lower priced for a reason

[carolina_yankee]

8 minutes ago, edgee said:

IME experience you can only buy CFAR from the cruise line directly, not from any insurance carrier. NYS insurance department claims reason it is not a risk based product, which is what insurance carriers are licensed to sell.

Is that just for New York residents? My go-to offers it for a premium add-on as long as I purchase it within 15 or 30 days (can’t remember). It’s through USAA so the policies are crafted with the needs of military personnel in mind, but the anyone can be a policy from the actually insurer, Traveler’s Insured. 

[edgee]

Just now, carolina_yankee said:

Is that just for New York residents? My go-to offers it for a premium add-on as long as I purchase it within 15 or 30 days (can’t remember). It’s through USAA so the policies are crafted with the needs of military personnel in mind, but the anyone can be a policy from the actually insurer, Traveler’s Insured. 

Just applies to NY residents.

[the penguins]

23 minutes ago, Oceans 818 said:

If that is premiums for 17yrs.; it's terrific. If it's $5,284 per year...ouch! 

I only have 15 days with my credit card and I'm unhappy that they want $30 to top for the 2 extra days of travel for both of us. Although I don't pay premiums on the 15 days as my CC fee is covered by our banking plan.

Yes premiums for 17 years.

[ngrund]

2 minutes ago, edgee said:

IME experience you can only buy CFAR from the cruise line directly, not from any insurance carrier. NYS insurance department claims reason it is not a risk based product, which is what insurance carriers are licensed to sell.

For RCL and Celebrity, we just need to call AON directly:

 

https://www.celebritycruises.com/cruise-insurance

 

The price was way more than it should be, so I opted to get my usual coverage from Allianz that will reimburse for covered reasons.

 

However, with NCL we are able to purchase their insurance (Underwritten by Nationwide). I did buy that recently, but those cruises were to Bermuda and next month to Canada/New England and I was satisfied with their medical/transportation coverage amounts.

 

Going to Caribbean, I want more coverage

 

 

 

[DennysDad]

1 hour ago, NMTraveller said:

For those that use the BigBox insurance,  how have they been on payouts?  Will they pay the hospital so that you can leave when you are overseas without charging up your credit cards?

I have to reread this thread. I thought someone said Allianz and GeoBlue paid directly to hospitals quickly? Anyone say that?

[NMTraveller]

4 minutes ago, DennysDad said:

I have to reread this thread. I thought someone said Allianz and GeoBlue paid directly to hospitals quickly? Anyone say that?

I think that they did.  I was curious if the BigBox insurance did the same?

[NMTraveller]

22 minutes ago, edgee said:

Just applies to NY residents.

What about Californians 🤣?

[canderson]

7 minutes ago, DennysDad said:

I have to reread this thread. I thought someone said Allianz and GeoBlue paid directly to hospitals quickly? Anyone say that?

Yes to the former.  See post #19.

 

https://www.allianztravelinsurance.com/travel/medical/emergency-medical-insurance.htm

[catspaw1]

1 hour ago, edgee said:

Of course NY residents have other alternatives they can purchase from insurance companies (except for "cancel for any reason coverage"). However a travel insurance premium as low as 1.5% of the cost of the trip which big box store offers is incredibly low. Least expensive coverage I have ever found from an insurance company exceeds 6%. 

I'm sorry I wrote it wrong. The policy costs 5% of elected trip costs if you book any part of the trip with the big box company.  If you didn't book any part of the trip though them, it would cost 6.5% of trip costs. Since we are redeeming frequent flyer miles,  I don't insure the airfare. All the hotels have a 48 hour cancel policy so I don't insure that either. I only insure the actual cruise costs. If I add on an upgrade to the premium package I don't insure that as we can cancel that if we cancel the cruise way ahead of time. Sorry if I was unclear in my post. No we haven't had to do a claim. We have a Chase Sapphire reserve card also with a huge credit limit & they also have travel benefits so can afford to charge a big hospital bill if we absolutely have too. Hope this clarifies it 

[DennysDad]

I just have to say again 

 

First Thank you to everyone for information on this subject. It's been super helpful for those of us who thought travel insurance was good enough.

 

Second It's great to have such a helpful productive conversation about something that could be a problem for any of us, down the road. Much better use of time than an endless debate about what time of day to have shorts on. I have truly learned some important things from this conversation. Thanks all!

[ngrund]

3 minutes ago, DennysDad said:

I just have to say again 

 

First Thank you to everyone for information on this subject. It's been super helpful for those of us who thought travel insurance was good enough.

 

Second It's great to have such a helpful productive conversation about something that could be a problem for any of us, down the road. Much better use of time than an endless debate about what time of day to have shorts on. I have truly learned some important things from this conversation. Thanks all!

Make sure you look into the insurance details for your particular state (or country if not in US). The main thing that has bee discussed elsewhere on CC is that the insurance offered by cruise lines and credit cards have low limits when it comes to medical/evac.

 

[catspaw1]

47 minutes ago, ngrund said:

it is lower priced for a reason

Nope you are wrong about the big box store insurance - the underwriter is Zurich so a well known co. Plus if you have problems with them, you have the big box store to help you out. I've had to go back through them before when contractors they used didn't perform & big box store intervened. 

[ngrund]

Just now, catspaw1 said:

Nope you are wrong about the big box store insurance - the underwriter is Zurich so a well known co. Plus if you have problems with them, you have the big box store to help you out. I've had to go back through them before when contractors they used didn't perform & big box store intervened. 

 

not an issue with the underwriter, its the limits of coverage (medical/evac)

[catspaw1]

3 minutes ago, ngrund said:

 

not an issue with the underwriter, its the limits of coverage (medical/evac)

Sorry if I misunderstood you. The limits on all of their coverages was higher than anything else I could find. That's why we went with them. Even though I have retiree emergency medical benefits overseas, I still want good medical coverage. An emergency Evac can cost thousands of dollars. 

[ngrund]

3 minutes ago, ngrund said:

 

not an issue with the underwriter, its the limits of coverage (medical/evac)

I was thinking of the limits when purchased through the cruise line, I just took a glance at Zurich's info and they do have adequate limits, but as I'm in NY I can't buy it.

 

What is weird is that if you add CFAR it would only be 50% and has to be within 3 days of cruise start

[Pushka]

For something major and unexpected like this, then our travel Insurers would liaise with the hospital and pay the account upfront. The issue will lie if there is some doubt as to whether the insurance company is actually liable - eg pre existing condition that had not been declared etc. 

 

Our current policy is through our own health insurance company, for an annual premium of $1500 AUD and which includes all my pre existing issues, and will cover us for three overseas trips in the next year. Unlimited medical etc. 

Edited September 8 by Pushka

[phoenix_dream]

9 hours ago, MikeMary4449 said:

FYI:  For people who travel frequently, you might want to check out GeoBlue's annual policy.

Mike and Mary

We cruise a lot (6-9 per year these days) so that is exactly what we use.  We also have a certain amount of insurance through our Medicare Advantage policy, as well as some non-health trip cancellation insurance through our credit card.

[bandp407]

1 hour ago, catspaw1 said:

Sorry if I misunderstood you. The limits on all of their coverages was higher than anything else I could find. That's why we went with them. Even though I have retiree emergency medical benefits overseas, I still want good medical coverage. An emergency Evac can cost thousands of dollars. 

I use it too and agree. It’s an excellent policy with high medical, med evac, and pre existing waiver. Also given our “young” ages, it also much more affordable. 

[canderson]

2 minutes ago, bandp407 said:

Also given our “young” ages, it also much more affordable. 

Definitely a factor when buying trip insurance.  As the birthdays roll on, the actuarial tables really don't work in our favor!  Besides inflation inflation, we've got to deal with the age inflation part of the equation as well, and it's really starting to show up in premiums for these policies as we get older.

[phoenix_dream]

4 minutes ago, canderson said:

Definitely a factor when buying trip insurance.  As the birthdays roll on, the actuarial tables really don't work in our favor!  Besides inflation inflation, we've got to deal with the age inflation part of the equation as well, and it's really starting to show up in premiums for these policies as we get older.

In coverage as well.  For GeoBlue, my husband (a few years younger than me) has I think it was $1,000,000 of a certain type of coverage - mine the most is $100,000.  I may be off on the numbers a bit as I don't recall them exactly, but the difference in coverage is huge.  I understand why, but still....

[bjahil47]

My husband also had a health issue on Beyond concerning his eye.  They took good care of him in medical.  They made an appointment at a retina specialist for the next day in Cartagena, had a car ready for him and provided a translator.  He did need a laser procedure and luckily he was given a letter that he was fit to sail.  If he had needed surgery for a detached retina we would have flown home.  Luckily we have medical evacuation insurance that would get us home for free.  It’s piece of mind.  

[catspaw1]

Bajahil, medical Evac is exactly why I get trip insurance when outside the US. We never get it within the US as Medicare & our secondary health coverage will pay.