Cruise Insurance-What has it actually paid for?

[JackWP]

We had to use the medical assistance portion of the cruise insurance to arrange a med-vac from the islands. They sent an airplane to pick us up and returned us to our local hospital for a hip replacement. We believe this assistance is the most important part of the travel insurance. Note that the med-vac for trips to Europe or Asia is very expensive and the cruise line insurance limits are to low for this type of trip.

[CMM]

Wow thanks everyone for sharing. Very interesting, I never thought it would cover many of the things posted.

[Ephraim]

I'm Canadian, so our insurance is a bit different.

 

I always buy travel health insurance. Generally I purchase an annual travel insurance policy through Kanetix. Often Canadian travel health insurance's interest is to get you stabilized quickly and medevac you to Canada whereupon our national health takes over. I've never had to use it, ever.

 

I use my American Express card to pay for my airfare. I have used their trip interruption insurance once. We were flying from Las Vegas to Burlington, VT via Chicago and got snowed in. American Express paid us back all our expenses except for a newspaper and a piece of pizza, since we didn't take receipts for either.

[LindaandJeff]

When Regent canceled our cruise in December because of a pod problem a couple of days before our departure, we rebooked on Carnival (about 3:00 PM) and we updated our insurance policy. Two hours later, I received a call that my dad had a stroke. We used our airfare to fly to Fort Lauderdale to be with my dad and drove the couple hours to where he lived in Florida instead of driving to the port. He had to have surgery so we had to cancel our cruise. We received a check from the insurance company within a couple of weeks for the entire cost of the cruise, excursions and champagne and strawberries that were supposed to be delivered to the room. I would never travel without insurance because that time was stressful enough without worrying about losing all of that money. I was able to concentrate on making decisions about my dad rather than about the cruise.

[mauiedin87]

We had TravelGuard insurance last year. When docking the first morning in San Diego, after leaving L.A. day before I was sent off to the hospital by ambulance for the next 4 days. It took 9 months to get anything back from TravelGuard, medical bills had to go through Medicare and Blue Cross first. We paid a lot out of pocket, including the 4 days my husband stayed in a hotel near the hospital. Read every word of fine print your insurance policy!!!!

[CMM]

We had TravelGuard insurance last year. When docking the first morning in San Diego, after leaving L.A. day before I was sent off to the hospital by ambulance for the next 4 days. It took 9 months to get anything back from TravelGuard, medical bills had to go through Medicare and Blue Cross first. We paid a lot out of pocket, including the 4 days my husband stayed in a hotel near the hospital. Read every word of fine print your insurance policy!!!!

 

Utimately did they end up covering your out of pocket expenses like the hotel stay etc???

[cdnpartsgirl]

We went back and forth with the idea, since we are relatively young:) . Ultimately decided to get the insurance, after speaking to our TA.

Well we are set to leave March 10/07 and on Feb 23/07 My hubby fell off the truck and broke his ankle. We almost had to cancel our cruise. If we would have had to cancel, our Travel Insurance would have covered everything! While waiting on the OK from the DR., I did not have to worry about losing all our money. Yes I would have been sad about not going, but happy that I bought INSURANCE.

[luvspa]

All of the travel insurance (from different companys) that we have purchased in the past, you make initial payment for services when rendered. When you arrive home, you fill out the forms to the travel insurance carrier with receipts. Also, most are secondary in payment. In other words, IF your personal insurance will pay, the travel insurance pays second.

Our BC/BS does not cover us if we are traveling out of the U.S.A.

 

 

Do you have to pay for all your own medical expenses and then be reimbursed . What if you needed air lifted out .That's got to be expensive.:eek: No way I could pay all that up front

[Gallivanting Souls]

When our cruise got cancled due to Hurrican Katrina :( , CCL refunded our money back and Frontier refunded our air tickets. Insurance didn't pay anything, because the cruiseline and airline paid for it. I guess I could have submitted out receipt for lunch (the gormet meal) at McDonalds and one day of parking at the airport.

 

Cruising durring hurrican season I would still definatley purchase the insurance. IMHO, Although, if there is a delay and you are stuck over night or a couple of days, I believe that you have to pay up front for things like the hotels and meals and submit receipts later for reimbursement. This could make things rather tight for an already tight budget!

[Doug R.]

In April 2001 we had to cancel our honeymoon cruise becuase my wife's daughter was diagnosed with Lymphoma. Since we did not purchase the insurance within the 14 day pre-existing condition window we had to submit extensive documentation to Travel Guard. Once we got the documentation together Travel Guard paid off within days. As a consequence we never ever cruise without insurance.

[luvspa]

I have never done any type of research on insurance. We have always just selected the cruise line insurance . Is it OK

[Globaliser]

I have a pair of Bose noise-reducing headphones. Bought in the UK, they're the equivalent of about $450.

 

Between us, my partner and I managed to leave them in the hotel at the end of our pre-cruise stay - each of us thought the other had them. I discovered this half way through the cruise. Inside the headphones' case was a also Discman and a CD.

 

When we returned to Miami, the hotel had no record of them being handed in - although it was optimistic even to hope for it. But I started the claim process by phone that afternoon, and within two weeks had bought a replacement pair of headphones, a replacement Discman and a replacement for the CD, and received a cheque from the insurance company for the whole lot - probably the equivalent of about $700 in all, no quibbles.

 

Quite a few years' premiums repaid in a flash.

[8mpg]

I have a pair of Bose noise-reducing headphones. Bought in the UK, they're the equivalent of about $450.

 

Between us, my partner and I managed to leave them in the hotel at the end of our pre-cruise stay - each of us thought the other had them. I discovered this half way through the cruise. Inside the headphones' case was a also Discman and a CD.

 

When we returned to Miami, the hotel had no record of them being handed in - although it was optimistic even to hope for it. But I started the claim process by phone that afternoon, and within two weeks had bought a replacement pair of headphones, a replacement Discman and a replacement for the CD, and received a cheque from the insurance company for the whole lot - probably the equivalent of about $700 in all, no quibbles.

 

Quite a few years' premiums repaid in a flash.

 

my question would be...what about fraud claims? Seems pretty easy for someone to claim that their camera or something was stolen or lost on board. Im surprised to see insurance covering theft/lost items.

[geoherb]

Fortunately, we have never needed to file a claim on our travel insurance. My mother and stepfather used their insurance when my stepfather had a heart attack before their Alaskan cruise. They ended up going the following year.

 

My mother-in-law had to use her insurance for a medical emergency on a Mediterranean cruise. She was hospitalized for three nights in Rhodes. The insurance covered her stay, my father-in-law's hotel, the changes in the flights, and included a student nurse who accompanied them on their flights back to the U.S. They also got a prerated refund for the cruise days they missed.

[Globaliser]

my question would be...what about fraud claims? Seems pretty easy for someone to claim that their camera or something was stolen or lost on board. Im surprised to see insurance covering theft/lost items.

You usually need to have made a contemporaneous loss report to the police or equivalent (my insurer accepted a loss report made to the purser's desk on board the ship). This acts as a significant deterrent as it's the indisputable start of a chain of events if it is a fraudulent claim. If you don't make the report immediately, the insurer may refuse to pay.

 

Inevitably, they do lose something to fraud, but then every insurer does on every type of policy.