Should I buy travel insurance?

[stephenandrew]

YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!We've used it 5 out of 8 times for various reasons. Insurance cost is minimal, there's nothing to think about.

 

You file a claim more than half of the time you purchase travel insurance? Please forgive me, but I find that to be astonishing. I am surprised that anyone would underwirte you with a claims history like that.

[bplazo]

We have filed a claim 2 out of 3 but not for large amounts. First was a visit to the dr. because the friend of my daughter was alergic to lobster (200.00) the second time we traveled and was delayed because of a hurricane came to about $800.00 for extra expenses.

 

 

Granted, not large amounts but I was glad I had insurance.

[Reneek]

Stepenandrew - your were so very lucky to be in a country where you actually understood the language that was spoken and you could communicate your daughters needs. The service was also free! Thankfully you were not in Germany, Mexico, Portugal, etc and no one cared whether you had an interpretor to communicate your needs. The only words they spoke were "you pay XXXX american dollars - we fix. You not pay - you go."

True event that happened to my friend. How many others... My friend (an RN) happened to have a friend in Germany that spoke the language, called her who in turn called an American doctor with connections and received medical care for a "blood clot" in the leg. She KNEW what was wrong, they kept miming that she should walk (not done until you have blood thiners). Friend found out they thought she just had leg cramps after her flight. This lady paid the $300.00 cash she had on hand, tried to use a credit card which they held while asking for a bank transfer of money, then made her sign an international document of some kind for remainder of monies owed when she said "I don't have the money". Total cost $8000+ for 3 days care.

Went back and reviewed my Travel Guard Insurance for 4 people as follows:

Total Premium: $186.00

 

 

Coverages:

ACCIDENT / MEDICAL EXPENSE $25000.00 Per Insured

BAG TRACK -- Per Insured

BAGGAGE & TRAVEL DOCUMENTS $3000.00 Per Insured

BAGGAGE DELAY $500.00 Per Insured

EMERGENCY MEDICAL TRANSPORTATION $100000.00 Per Insured

LIVETRAVEL SERVICES -- Per Insured

MISSED CONNECTIONS Trip Cost Per Insured

ROADSIDE ASSISTANCE -- Per Insured

SICKNESS / MEDICAL EXPENSE $25000.00 Per Insured

TRAVEL DELAY $600.00 Per Insured

TRAVEL GUARD ASSISTANCE -- Per Insured

TRIP CANCELLATION Trip Cost Per Insured

TRIP INTERRUPTION Trip Cost Per Insured

 

15 DAY BENEFITS

PRE-EXISTING EXCLUSION COVERAGE Trip Cost Per Insured

TOUR OPERATOR/AIRLINE DEFAULT Trip Cost Per Insured

 

$18.60 per day for 4 - that's less than a rental car insurance and pays a lot more in the event of an "accident".

[stephenandrew]

Stepenandrew - your were so very lucky to be in a country where you actually understood the language that was spoken and you could communicate your daughters needs. The service was also free! Thankfully you were not in Germany, Mexico, Portugal, etc and no one cared whether you had an interpretor to communicate your needs. The only words they spoke were "you pay XXXX american dollars - we fix. You not pay - you go."

True event that happened to my friend. How many others... My friend (an RN) happened to have a friend in Germany that spoke the language, called her who in turn called an American doctor with connections and received medical care for a "blood clot" in the leg. She KNEW what was wrong, they kept miming that she should walk (not done until you have blood thiners). Friend found out they thought she just had leg cramps after her flight. This lady paid the $300.00 cash she had on hand, tried to use a credit card which they held while asking for a bank transfer of money, then made her sign an international document of some kind for remainder of monies owed when she said "I don't have the money". Total cost $8000+ for 3 days care.

Went back and reviewed my Travel Guard Insurance for 4 people as follows:

Total Premium: $186.00

 

 

Coverages:

ACCIDENT / MEDICAL EXPENSE $25000.00 Per Insured

BAG TRACK -- Per Insured

BAGGAGE & TRAVEL DOCUMENTS $3000.00 Per Insured

BAGGAGE DELAY $500.00 Per Insured

EMERGENCY MEDICAL TRANSPORTATION $100000.00 Per Insured

LIVETRAVEL SERVICES -- Per Insured

MISSED CONNECTIONS Trip Cost Per Insured

ROADSIDE ASSISTANCE -- Per Insured

SICKNESS / MEDICAL EXPENSE $25000.00 Per Insured

TRAVEL DELAY $600.00 Per Insured

TRAVEL GUARD ASSISTANCE -- Per Insured

TRIP CANCELLATION Trip Cost Per Insured

TRIP INTERRUPTION Trip Cost Per Insured

 

15 DAY BENEFITS

PRE-EXISTING EXCLUSION COVERAGE Trip Cost Per Insured

TOUR OPERATOR/AIRLINE DEFAULT Trip Cost Per Insured

 

$18.60 per day for 4 - that's less than a rental car insurance and pays a lot more in the event of an "accident".

 

 

First, sorry to hear about your friend. I can't and won't argue that she recevied poor medical treatment. I would note, however, that can happen in the US just as it can abroad. Second, I am a bit confused about the language issue you raised -- but I do find it near impossible to believe that your friend could not find a physician there (or other medical professionals) who spoke English. I lived in Germany for a year in highschool and my guess is that most German physicians speak English as a second or third language. Second, thake your daily rate of $18.40 and mulitply that by 365 to get a yearly rate: $6,716. Compare that cost to other insurance that you buy, e.g. homeowners, auto, life. I don't know about you, but I think the total annual premiums for my homeowners, auto, and life is only about $3,500. This is why I think that Travel Insurance is expensive. I am not saying it is worthless, nor am I saying that it would not be nice to have if one did incur a large uncovered medical expense. For me, it is just too expensive--I would rather self insure. And, I woud also note that the price you paid is significantly less than what I have been quoted--so I am obviously not getting the best deal. Anyway--what's nice is that people have a choice--if you want the coverage you can get it, and you can obviously pass on it if you don't need or want it. And if I ever miss the ship, get sick, etc. while on vacation and lose a bundel of money--I promise not to vent my frustration here

[nsimeri]

I was dumb enough to think I could drive my summer sports car with no insurance. ( Actually I had insurance, but wnen I stored it last winter I took off the full coverage and had it under my home owners in case of a fire or other such disaster.) Guess what? A frickin Mexican with no DL & no insurance turned right in front of me causing $5,000 worth of damage. Luckily for me my Ins. agent back billed me to when I pulled my car out of storage and my full coverage covered my repairs.

 

On a vacation to Cancun a couple years ago my wife had a bad asthma attack the day before the trip and was unable to go. Thanks to insurance her next vacation was paid for. GET INSURANCE!!!

[Reneek]

I can't remember where she was in Germany. I work in a hospital here in the U.S. and treat a number of patients who don't speak English. We have maybe ten physicians out of the 150 or so on board who are not American born. We rely on other family members to translate, hand signals, miming, or hire a translator, etc to communicate. Do we still misunderstand at times - you betcha. However, when the issue is serious, the absolute need for you to understand the patient or provide critical information to the patient, we rely on a trained professional translator or "the language line". This is a service that provides translators 24/7 and includes over 200 languages/dialects - conversations are conducted using a 3-way telephone connection. Even if I were fluent in college French, that doesn't mean I could speak/understand the language when in France.

Yeh, the insurance is high in relation to what we pay normally. However, I have trouble getting my insurance to pay up for services received in the U.S. - I can only imagine what they would do with foreign country charges.

If I could afford to cruise 365 days of the year, your probably right - I would probably be very wealthy and have no need to pay $6700.00 for insurance.

:) Sailing in 2 days!

[stephenandrew]

I can't remember where she was in Germany. I work in a hospital here in the U.S. and treat a number of patients who don't speak English. We have maybe ten physicians out of the 150 or so on board who are not American born. We rely on other family members to translate, hand signals, miming, or hire a translator, etc to communicate. Do we still misunderstand at times - you betcha. However, when the issue is serious, the absolute need for you to understand the patient or provide critical information to the patient, we rely on a trained professional translator or "the language line". This is a service that provides translators 24/7 and includes over 200 languages/dialects - conversations are conducted using a 3-way telephone connection. Even if I were fluent in college French, that doesn't mean I could speak/understand the language when in France.

Yeh, the insurance is high in relation to what we pay normally. However, I have trouble getting my insurance to pay up for services received in the U.S. - I can only imagine what they would do with foreign country charges.

If I could afford to cruise 365 days of the year, your probably right - I would probably be very wealthy and have no need to pay $6700.00 for insurance.

:) Sailing in 2 days!

 

 

 

Have a great time, and here's hoping you don't need your Travel Insurance---make sure you post and let us know how your cruise was!!

[Grego]

Yes - next question please!

 

I can't believe anyone would not take out insurance.

[stephenandrew]

Yes - next question please!

 

I can't believe anyone would not take out insurance.

 

Believe it!

[ijkh]

I am hoping that the travelex policy we all bought will cover us for visits should there be anything from sea sickness to ...G-d forbid.

 

We also think that when traveling overseas and spending a good chunk of cash in one fell swoop such as a cruise travel insurance is a good buy. When we go on the cheap staying with friends etc. then not so important.

 

I think my normal HMO covers the health part pretty good but if something happens to my health like sea sickness I think they would not pay.

[hadleys9538]

Yes - next question please!

 

I can't believe anyone would not take out insurance.

 

Believe it times two!!!:D

[tispwisp]

Always Alway Always buy trip insurance. On our last cruise, we had a gentlemen airlifted off the ship and taken to a hospital in Turks & Caicos. On the same cruise, another couple had to stay behind in Martinique because the lady had to have an emergency appendectomy. I hope they had trip insurance. I know the airlifts can cost $25,000+ and without trip insurance, you have to pay that on your own. To me trip insurance is peace of mind and won't travel without it because you just never know...

[twocats]

I posted another thread regarding purchasing ins within 15 days after booking a cruise with an undeterminded destination. On that post I received opposite opinions so I did a search and have read all I can. Stilll not sure whether I need to purchase after making the "initial deposit" or after I actually book with a date and destination. I am leaning towards waiting until I book since the ins. seems to be based on the value of the trip and if booking a "ghost" trip while crusing I don't even know if it will be a 4, 7, 15 or whatever. One thing I did decided was definitely buy some ins. I will check the link mentioned to insuremycruise.com So much to learn!!

[CRUISEinTIME]

Unless you are in a financial position that the potential loss is not an issue, I suggest you buy insurance.

 

Tom

[cruiseco]

I posted another thread regarding purchasing ins within 15 days after booking a cruise with an undeterminded destination. On that post I received opposite opinions so I did a search and have read all I can. Stilll not sure whether I need to purchase after making the "initial deposit" or after I actually book with a date and destination. I am leaning towards waiting until I book since the ins. seems to be based on the value of the trip and if booking a "ghost" trip while crusing I don't even know if it will be a 4, 7, 15 or whatever. One thing I did decided was definitely buy some ins. I will check the link mentioned to insuremycruise.com So much to learn!!

 

If there is any doubt as to whether or not you bought the policy in the time frame necessary to get the pre-existing condition waiver the insurer will ask for proof of payment -- either copies of cancelled checks or credit card statements. It's the dates on these that will determine if you qualify or not. The clock starts running when that first payment is made. The policy can be modified at a later date when all of the specifics are in place.

[iancal]

We have been travelling for 30 years and have never purchased travel insurance. We are about to go on a 2/27 sail. We do have health ins when we travel but nothing else. I think that perhaps we should go with the odds and look at buying next time. My parents have an excellent TA. They purchase (direct) extended Blue Cross. travel ins. THey pay less for a one year policy than for a one month policy throught their TA. The TA put them on to this...she did not want to sell them her insurance offering(not sure what it was) because she knew it was too expensive and had too many 'outs' -notwithstanding the LARGE commission that it would yield her (she said as large as the trip commissions). I looked at the price of the Princess insurance-both offerings. This MUST be, along with air/hotel, a huge cash generation machine for them.

[TERRY223]

,,Peace of Mind ??

[Judy12]

A friend of mine was airlifted home a few months ago after being hospitalized during a cruise to Alaska. He had Princess Gold travel insurance and reported that Princess handled everything very carefully and sensitively. An RN accompanied him all the way from Canada to his front door. Needless to say, I've purchased the insurance for our March cruise. The price is so reasonable for my peace of mind. But I agree--everybody has to make the choice based on their own circumstances.Does this sound like a commercial? No affiliation with any cruise line--just a second-time cruiser.

[Giorgi-one]

I think anyone would be foolish not to have some sort of insurance which would cover medical expenses and evacutaion.

 

Also, I saw some discussion of being covered for preexisting conditions. Remember, if you don't know you have a preexisting condition, then odds are you don't have one. It has to be something that has been diagnosed before you booked the cruise.

[Giorgi-one]

I think anyone would be foolish not to have some sort of insurance which would cover medical expenses and evacutaion.

 

Also, I saw some discussion of being covered for preexisting conditions. Remember, if you don't know you have a preexisting condition, then odds are you don't have one. It has to be something that has been diagnosed before you booked the cruise.

 

One correction, it has to be existing before you bought the insurance!

[stephenandrew]

I think anyone would be foolish not to have some sort of insurance which would cover medical expenses and evacutaion.

 

Also, I saw some discussion of being covered for preexisting conditions. Remember, if you don't know you have a preexisting condition, then odds are you don't have one. It has to be something that has been diagnosed before you booked the cruise.

 

 

Please don't call me and others who do not purchase travel insurance "foolish". Its not nice. I have tried to ennumerate and characterize a number of reasons why I think cruise insurance is too expensive, but I don't recall making generalizations such as yours that are frankly insulting to those who do purchase it.

[Globaliser]

Please don't call me and others who do not purchase travel insurance "foolish". Its not nice. I have tried to ennumerate and characterize a number of reasons why I think cruise insurance is too expensive, but I don't recall making generalizations such as yours that are frankly insulting to those who do purchase it.

Actually, Giorgi-one referred to "some sort of insurance which would cover medical expenses and evacutaion". I believe, from reading your previous posts, that you don't buy travel insurance because you believe that your existing medical insurance would take care of such expenses, and that you're prepared to self-insure the $5000 or so of cruise fare etc. So the comment isn't aimed at you.

 

For myself, I would also take the view that anyone who travelled and had no insurance whatsoever to cover the potential costs involved in a major medical emergency - which could easily be five figure sums, if not six or more - is indeed "extraordinarily unwise".

[ilycam]

Why would anyone listen to Suze Orman about Traveling??? She says don't buy travel insurance unless you expect to have health issues. So does that mean we shouldn't but car insurance unless we expect to have an accident?? Or homeowner's insurance unless we expect our house to burn down?? How about life insurance...Don't buy it unless you expect to die!!

[hadleys9538]

Why would anyone listen to Suze Orman about Traveling??? She says don't buy travel insurance unless you expect to have health issues. So does that mean we shouldn't but car insurance unless we expect to have an accident?? Or homeowner's insurance unless we expect our house to burn down?? How about life insurance...Don't buy it unless you expect to die!!

Actually, it's not just Suze Orman who doesn't recommend travel insurance - Consumer Reports does not recommend it either. People are not as well covered as they think you are -- i.e., the insurance industry makes sure there are LOTS of loopholes so they can find a way out of paying. That has been my family's personal experience on two separate occasions. The insurance industry is in this to make money, and people falsely believe (as I once did) that they are covered for every little thing.

 

Also, losing the cost of a cruise is not quite like losing a $300,000 home or a $30,000 car. If I couldn't afford to lose the cost of the trip, I probably have no business going on it (and like I've said before, the incidences I would need coverage for won't be covered anyway).

 

Flame away! -- I have to say I'm getting bored not only with this subject, but with the people who can't stand it when others don't share their opinion.

[Globaliser]

Also, losing the cost of a cruise is not quite like losing a $300,000 home or a $30,000 car. If I couldn't afford to lose the cost of the trip, I probably have no business going on it (and like I've said before, the incidences I would need coverage for won't be covered anyway).

That (at least IMHO) is a perfectly acceptable view, if you know what you're doing and what self-insuring means.

 

Special ire is reserved, really, for people who decide to self-insure, but then expect the cruise line to insure them retrospectively when the crunch comes (whether by refunding their money or by changing the date of their cruise) - and then complain when the cruise line understandably says no.

 

But worst of all are the people who think that they can go on a cruise and happily take on the risk of $30,000 or more - a single medical emergency can easily swallow up that sort of money.

 

If you're not running risks of that size, and you know what you're doing in respect of the smaller sums, then I don't think anyone would be criticising you.

I have to say I'm getting bored not only with this subject, but with the people who can't stand it when others don't share their opinion.

Isn't that what lively debate is all about? Rule #1 of Internet bulletin boards: Don't participate in the expectation that you will change anyone's mind.

 

And ultimately, none of us have to participate in any discussion here, or to continue to do so once we've started.