Should I buy travel insurance?

[tlmlb]

So, tlmlb, if you had had to save for 18 months to put $10,000 together for a trip, would you be prepared to risk losing all of that money simply because an insurance premium represented poor gambling odds?

 

I suspect that you are just a person who can afford to lose $10,000 if something bad happens. Good for you. But have a thought for us ordinary people who cannot.

 

I don't think its extraordinary to understand what you are paying for and your expected return. I travel quite often and my expected results regarding cancellation penalties will come closer to the mean than someone who doesn't travel that often. I have had my share of calamities but still have come out ahead on my travel insurance choices of being self-insured. I have been playing with the "house's money" for quite a while.

[Irishjayne]

If you can afford to loose money in the Casino you can afford travel insurance. Don't be penny wise and pound foolish.For those who say they have traveled a lot and not paid for travel insurance, I hope they are saving that hundred dollars everytime so when you may have to use it, it may pay 1/10th of the cost.

[Globaliser]

I don't think its extraordinary to understand what you are paying for and your expected return. I travel quite often and my expected results regarding cancellation penalties will come closer to the mean than someone who doesn't travel that often. I have had my share of calamities but still have come out ahead on my travel insurance choices of being self-insured. I have been playing with the "house's money" for quite a while.

Are you deliberately avoiding the question?

 

Never mind the abstract concepts: Would you be content to lose $10,000 saved over 18 months, just because that's the way the cookie crumbled on that occasion? Can you afford to do that?

[atlcple2]

We have never taking the insurance either on previous cruises however I am seriously considering taking it this trip (9/3 on the CP). Being that it is hurricane season and anything can happen, I think it is worth the extra $80something per person for the basic insurance Princess offers. I probably won't take the gold package ($130/person) as the difference is 15% in what the policy will pay. Do be aware that if you make your own flights, the insurance does not cover that portion of your trip if it is cancelled. It only covers it if you book it through Princess (which was twice as much when I priced it for our 9/3 trip). Also, there is a "pre-existing" condition clause in the insurance stating that if you have health problems or are taking medication and you have an incident related to those items on the trip, you have to have been stable on the medications for 30 days prior I believe (I read it in detail yesterday when trying to make my decision on this issue). Just wanted to throw that out there. I have a friend wo got caught in the Western Caribbean during Francis last year and it wasn't pretty. We spent a lot of $$ for our cruise this year getting a balcony room (well worth the extra $$) and just don't want to take any chances this time.

[S.S.Oceanlover]

We have never taking the insurance either on previous cruises however I am seriously considering taking it this trip (9/3 on the CP). Being that it is hurricane season and anything can happen, I think it is worth the extra $80something per person for the basic insurance Princess offers. I probably won't take the gold package ($130/person) as the difference is 15% in what the policy will pay. Do be aware that if you make your own flights, the insurance does not cover that portion of your trip if it is cancelled. It only covers it if you book it through Princess (which was twice as much when I priced it for our 9/3 trip). Also, there is a "pre-existing" condition clause in the insurance stating that if you have health problems or are taking medication and you have an incident related to those items on the trip, you have to have been stable on the medications for 30 days prior I believe (I read it in detail yesterday when trying to make my decision on this issue). Just wanted to throw that out there. I have a friend wo got caught in the Western Caribbean during Francis last year and it wasn't pretty. We spent a lot of $$ for our cruise this year getting a balcony room (well worth the extra $$) and just don't want to take any chances this time.

 

 

I usually buy Travelex Lite. It covers the cruise, flights,and any pre or post stays, and is primary coverage not secondary .It also covers kids 16 and under free. For a trip totally $4000 it cost me about $172 total.

 

Bill

[atlcple2]

Wow. That is a great price. I just got off the phone with Princess and spent $178 for the 2 of us and our trip was just over $2,000.00. Maybe I should check into the insurance you mentioned and cancel the one with Princess?

[S.S.Oceanlover]

go to http://www.insuremytrip.com and input your figures. It will list different insurance companies, what each covers and for how much.

 

Bill

[atlcple2]

SS Oceanlover - Thanks so much for the advice on Travelex and Travel lite!!! I just went online and priced it out for my husband and I and it was 1/2 the price of the insurance Princess offers and does have some limited coverage for flight delays, etc. I cancelled the insurance with Princess and purchased the Travel Lite through Travelex. For those of you who are interested, the link is: http://www.travelex-insurance.com

Click on "browse plans" and you can purchase from there. As recommended to me, I purchased the Travel Lite insurance.

[S.S.Oceanlover]

SS Oceanlover - Thanks so much for the advice on Travelex and Travel lite!!! I just went online and priced it out for my husband and I and it was 1/2 the price of the insurance Princess offers and does have some limited coverage for flight delays, etc. I cancelled the insurance with Princess and purchased the Travel Lite through Travelex. For those of you who are interested, the link is: http://www.travelex-insurance.com

Click on "browse plans" and you can purchase from there. As recommended to me, I purchased the Travel Lite insurance.

 

You are welcome. Always nice to save a few bucks. The medical evacuation and the fact that I have elderly mother and grandmother weighs heavily in my decision to buy travel insurance. I am not willing to roll the dice.

Here's hoping nobody ever needs the insurance. :)

 

Bill

[tlmlb]

Are you deliberately avoiding the question?

 

Never mind the abstract concepts: Would you be content to lose $10,000 saved over 18 months, just because that's the way the cookie crumbled on that occasion? Can you afford to do that?

 

The concepts are not abstract but very real....and whether I can "afford" it is none of your business.

 

Not avoiding the question but I know you will paint my obvious response as being elitist and wealthy, but here goes.....

 

I still am a working stiff and am self employed, but willing to take the odds (which are way in my favor) and risk the cancellation cost of any trip. Now "content" is an imprecise emotional term, I would accept personal responsibility of my choice, just like as I do for any purchase, investment or wager.

 

We are blessed to be successful but we have worked hard for anything we have gained. In business, other than a true passion to serve our customers and associates, we try to take emotion out most business decisions when making the best choices we can. Then we accept the results, don't play what if's (except to learn) and move on. "Kicking one's self" for a bad result is simply self-destructive if you have made the intelligent choice based upon the information available at the time.

[tlmlb]

If you can afford to loose money in the Casino you can afford travel insurance. Don't be penny wise and pound foolish.For those who say they have traveled a lot and not paid for travel insurance, I hope they are saving that hundred dollars everytime so when you may have to use it, it may pay 1/10th of the cost.

 

But when I choose to go to a casino, I make the best wagers possible. Would you play blackjack with only two aces in the deck?? That's what travel insurance is like.

[LARGIN]

tlmlb.. Lets see here.. 9/04 book 4/19/05 Hawaii cruise, dad 89 and health failing.. Trip $5000, Insurance $340.. hmm what should I do.. Yep buy insurance. 4/13 dad goes into hospital, 4/15 cancel cruise, 4/17 dad passes away, 4/25 call insurance company, 5/25 Check for 100% of all costs including insurance received. That savings can get me insurance for 15 more $5000 cruises.. Anyone with elderly parents or a history of illness that does not buy insurance is a fool..

[Cruise Junky]

Would you play blackjack with only two aces in the deck?? That's what travel insurance is like.

 

I respect the fact that you feel you don't need to buy insurance, but I think advising others that it's a waste of money is irresponsible.

 

And what's with the Blackjack analogy? If there's only two aces in the deck, then isn't the dealer playing under the same circumstances that I am? It makes absolutely no sense. Gambling with that kind of cash for the sake of $200 or $300 is nuts. We're not just talking about cancellation insurance, but medical. Read the reviews, it's happening on ships all the time.

[tlmlb]

I respect the fact that you feel you don't need to buy insurance, but I think advising others that it's a waste of money is irresponsible.

 

And what's with the Blackjack analogy? If there's only two aces in the deck, then isn't the dealer playing under the same circumstances that I am? It makes absolutely no sense. Gambling with that kind of cash for the sake of $200 or $300 is nuts. We're not just talking about cancellation insurance, but medical. Read the reviews, it's happening on ships all the time.

 

So, I have an "irresponsible" opinion. If you are an average person with below to average risks, it is a bad deal. The numbers do not favor you collecting more than you will pay in premiums. Even with larger risks I doubt, in the long run, one would come out ahead. You have to be way out on the bell curve to have an expected return.

 

btw, its obvious you know nothing about blackjack. The player never plays under the same conditions as the dealer. Blackjack pays 1.5 times; therefore the more aces the better the odds for the player.

 

As far as read the reviews, those are skewed towards bad things that happen. not many folks write in saying "I wasted the money" I paid for insurance.

[Globaliser]

The concepts are not abstract but very real....and whether I can "afford" it is none of your business.

 

Not avoiding the question but I know you will paint my obvious response as being elitist and wealthy, but here goes.....

 

I still am a working stiff and am self employed, but willing to take the odds (which are way in my favor) and risk the cancellation cost of any trip.

Actually, you're still avoiding the question. Because you put your own views out here in relation to a sum of that size which has been specifically mentioned as an example, it is very much the business of everyone who reads this thread. We are all entitled to make up our minds whether your advice is sound or not, or indeed whether you would yourself actually follow the advice you purport to give.

 

The question does not ask for any personal details or anything which is confidential. It simply asks this: Seeing as you advise someone who has $10,000 at risk that they're wasting their money buying travel insurance, could you yourself afford to lose that $10,000 if it was your money at risk?

 

It seems to me that the potential answers are simple and straightforward:-

1. Yes, I could afford to lose the $10,000 and would prefer to do that rather than pay a poor value travel insurance premium.

2. No, if it was actually as much money as that, I would buy the travel insurance too.

 

The size of the sum at stake is an important factor in everyone's travel insurance decision. If you'd only paid $150 for an air ticket for a weekend trip, you might decide that the premium is poor value and you'd risk the price of a handful of good dinners. If you'd paid $10,000 for the holiday of a lifetime and had to save hard over a long period for it, the same poor value travel insurance might be a reasonable purchase to make because it's better to pay the premium than to have any risk of losing such a large sum of money.

 

But if you choose not to answer the question, and if you want to hide behind abstract concepts rather than hard numbers, that's your prerogative - and we will all take away the corresponding impression about your views.

[Globaliser]

So, I have an "irresponsible" opinion. If you are an average person with below to average risks, it is a bad deal. The numbers do not favor you collecting more than you will pay in premiums. Even with larger risks I doubt, in the long run, one would come out ahead. You have to be way out on the bell curve to have an expected return.

You just don't get it, do you?

 

Saying that in the long run, your numbers usually come out ahead is no comfort whatsoever to someone who managed to save $10,000 for a holiday but cannot afford to lose the money and might end up in serious financial difficulty as a result.

 

I hadn't hitherto thought it myself, but maybe the others are right: You're not so much irresponsible, as totally out of touch with real people, their real lives and their real life problems.

[tlmlb]

You just don't get it, do you?

 

Saying that in the long run, your numbers usually come out ahead is no comfort whatsoever to someone who managed to save $10,000 for a holiday but cannot afford to lose the money and might end up in serious financial difficulty as a result.

 

I hadn't hitherto thought it myself, but maybe the others are right: You're not so much irresponsible, as totally out of touch with real people, their real lives and their real life problems.

 

Not out of touch at all. But go ahead and paint an elitist label on me, I like tatoos.

 

Lets see, allocate and save 10k for the trip. Have to cancel and lose the 10k that I had allocated for the trip. How does that put me in serious financial difficulty? I was going to spend the money on the trip right?

 

I still am a working stiff and am self employed, but willing to take the odds (which are way in my favor) and risk the cancellation cost of any trip.

 

How does this not answer the question whether I would risk the 10k?

 

btw, not here to comfort anyone, just to expose that people usually buy insurance based upon fearful emotion rather than statistical facts.

[Tomm]

Wrong.A guy I know booked a cruise for his whole family and 2 days before departure he got in a car accident and couldn't go and of course he lost his money. You just never know what might come up like a death in the family, etc.etc.

[tlmlb]

Wrong.A guy I know booked a cruise for his whole family and 2 days before departure he got in a car accident and couldn't go and of course he lost his money. You just never know what might come up like a death in the family, etc.etc.

 

only anecdotal evidence, in fact the odds for an incident like this are statistically astronomical.....

[kevinsac]

Well, the only resolve that we'd entered a mighty pi$$ing match with no winners.....only differing opinions.

 

Travel Insurance? Some do, some don't, I always will for any major trip. No right, no wrong, we all just do what's best for us.

 

Now....can we drop the accusations and only offer constructive advice?:(

[Cruise Junky]

btw, not here to comfort anyone, just to expose that people usually buy insurance based upon fearful emotion rather than statistical facts.

 

Just curious, do you have house insurance? I've never been in a fire, I've never been broken into, wouldn't buying house insurance fit under the same statistics?

[kevinsac]

CruiseJunky....as I stated in a previous post:

 

"I am now in my mid-40s. I have owned a car since I was 16 and my first home at 23. I have been paying lots of money towards car insurance and home insurance premiums. I have never had a claim against either. Nevertheless, I always have car insurance and home insurance."

 

Granted, the potential loss via fire at the house or the costs of injury via a car accident are greater than what I pay for my trips, those premiums are significantly more than travel insurance. But it provides me with ease of mind. Others are willing to take the risk....and that's their choice. Not right, and not wrong. Just a choice.

[tlmlb]

Just curious, do you have house insurance? I've never been in a fire, I've never been broken into, wouldn't buying house insurance fit under the same statistics?

 

Of course, I have house insurance. btw, its generally required if you have a mortgage. Stats of course are different, as is the relationship between premium and expected return. I do self insure to a point where a larger deductible makes sense vs. the premium paid.

 

The reason travel insurance is a bad deal is that premium is so costly relative to the expected return.

[Cruise Junky]

Of course, I have house insurance. btw, its generally required if you have a mortgage. Stats of course are different, as is the relationship between premium and expected return. I do self insure to a point where a larger deductible makes sense vs. the premium paid.

 

The reason travel insurance is a bad deal is that premium is so costly relative to the expected return.

 

I really want to understand where you are coming from with this. Insurance covers more than just cancelling your cruise. What if you had to be Airlifted back to the US? If someone in your party had an accident $50,000 would be cheap.

[Globaliser]

Lets see, allocate and save 10k for the trip. Have to cancel and lose the 10k that I had allocated for the trip. How does that put me in serious financial difficulty? I was going to spend the money on the trip right?

That's not what people do. People do not just "allocate money" like a large business might do. They pay their earned money in exchange for other things.

 

If you save and spend $10,000 on a trip, you expect to get a trip out of it.

 

If you save and spend $10,000 on a trip, have to cancel and have no insurance, you've just thrown $10,000 down the drain for nothing in return. That's not just a matter of "asset allocation". How are you going to replace the holiday with another one? Probably not without financial embarrassment.

Now....can we drop the accusations and only offer constructive advice?:(

OK, the advice that I have to offer is to ignore that offered by tlmlb, which approaches life as nothing more than an arithmetical game, without any heed for the effects on people of "asset allocation" and "risk/reward ratio" decisions.