Travel Insurance

[NJCRUISER99]

We are not sure if it is necessary to have travel insurance for our cruise. We are in good health but we are also taking our elderly parents with us. How does the trip cancellation work? If all four of us have the travel insurance and one of us is not well enough to go on the trip, does it cover the whole party? If you don't have any travel insurance and it just happen if you have flu like symptom or viral infection and you decided not to go on the cruise for the safety of spreading the germs to other passengers. Will the cruise line give you credit or refund?

[eandj]

You will find TONS of info re insurance on this site. Just search the threads for "insurance".

 

The coverage from cruise policies include more than cancellation or interuption of the trip. If your parents have any pre exisiting conditions that might cause them problems pre or during the cruise you would want to buy the policy within 14-21 days of your first payment. After that, most companies won't cover those conditions.

 

Really..you need to do some serious studying on the cc threads. Also go to insuremytrip.com or another good one is tripinsurancestore.com. Those sites will compare different companies and what is covered by each, with costs. Price will depend on ages and cost of trip.

 

Remember too, if your parents only have medicare coverage for health benefits that they are NOT covered out of the country. A lot of senior people don't know that.

[blindrid]

My wife and I are both healthy but I am of the opinion one should buy it. Not only for cancellation purposes but knowing my luck I'll crash and burn down the stairs and need to get flown for medical treatment. It's not that expensive and as you probably know some general medical insurances don't cover out of country. I believe there is value in the purchase.

[kitty9]

There are some things you're not thinking about. Yes, you might be in good health, but what happens if you fall and break something on the ship? What happens if on the way to the ship, you're in an accident and cannot go? If all four of you get the insurance, and one needs to cancel, you will all get a complete refund. Also, you say your parents are elderly. Do they have any pre-existing health issues? If so, you need to purchase the insurance for them, and you, 10 to 14 days of booking the cruise. If you wait until later, most won't cover pre-existing, and those that do are much more expensive than if you had purchased it in the beginning.

 

Here's my recent experience: my mom fell on Celebrity this past January. She had to be medically evacuated off the ship in Nassau, a flight of 30 minutes, at a cost of $9000. Her hip replacement surgery and subsequent in-patient rehab is upwards of $97,000. It's not cheap if you get injured on a cruise ship or if you're off on one of the islands.

 

Most cruise lines do not give you a refund for cancelling less than 2 weeks before your cruise. And you don't get any money back if you have to leave a ship early for illness or injury, unless you have insurance.

[Benita]

My husband and I took his parents on a Princess cruise in November. My father-in-law suffered a massive GI bleed the first night out and had to be evacuated to a hospital in Jamaica. Of course, we went with him. We all had cancellation insurance, albeit from different companies. His insurance paid for his medical care and ambulance, as well as his wife's hotel room and their airfare home. Ours paid for our hotel, meals, and airline tickets home. His insurance would not have paid for my husband's and my expenses, just his and his wife's.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Always get insurance. A few years ago DH's mother died just 6 days before we were to cruise.

[candydane]

Here are links to 2 articles (from CC "Planning") about buying insurance:

• Tips
  
• Pros & Cons
  

I've had to use the insurance a couple times in the past and wouldn't even consider booking a cruise without it!

[kaykelrosa]

My family is healthy, but we never travel without it, you just never know.

Accidents do happen and it's good having the peace of mind that you will have something to fall back on in case of an emergency.