Travel Insurance with Celebrity

[verga]

We will be making final payment on our cruise early next week. We are wondering if it would be better to purchase the Celebrity CruiseCare Vacation Protection vs. purchasing travel insurance from other provider.

 

Since we have also arranged another trip (land tour) in early 2009, would purchasing an annual travel insurance be better?

 

I would appreciate your thoughts on this matter.

 

Here is Celebrity's link on cruiseCare Vacation Protection

 

http://www.celebritycruises.com/beforeyourcruise/heroSingleTxtSub.do;jsessionid=0000F-v5oRC5VHS3LCjEMDh_TiO:12hdebdrn?pagename=vacation_insurance

[crazybus]

We always shop around. You can get insurance for almost half what Celebrity charges. If you shop around though, make sure you read the fine print.

[halbfl2]

Check out the website, Insuremytrip. They have insurance from many companies, plus medical for out of the country and just medical evacuation insurance. It's easy to compare the features that each policy has.

[verga]

Thanks. I appreciate your input. I will definitely check out insuremytrip website.

[Verity]

It also makes a big difference whether or not you need the health insurance coverage. If you are on Medicare, you are not covered in International waters. If you are too young for Medicare, you need to call your insurance company and find out exactly what is your coverage overseas and whether or not they will pay to transport you back to the US. Ours does and we got it in writing so we only needed airline and delayed or cancelled trip coverage. It's the health insurance part that makes travel insurance so expensive. Make sure you get it in writing. Here is another site

 

http://www.insuremytrip.com/

 

We called USAA which is our auto and property insurance carrier and asked them who they would recommend for travel insurance. I can't remember who they steered us to but it might be worth a phone call to whoever is your insurance carrier. I can't stress enough to make sure you get everything in writing.

[verga]

My father has a pre-existing condition which happened after we paid our cruise deposits. We could not get a waiver on his pre-existing condition from insuremytrip.com. My father is not travelling with us. His doctor does not forsee anything untowards happening to him while we are on our cruise.

 

Are there any other insurer who could waive his pre-existing condition?

 

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

[Verity]

Verga,

Your situation is the exact reason it's a good idea to book travel insurance the minute you book your cruise. I doubt there will be any insurance company that will overlook a pre existing condition. Did you check out the AARP site? It might be worth a phone call to them since they help seniors all the time with insurance issues.

I also don't know if you can cancel travel insurance if you apply for it with the cruiseline. I guess a TA would know this. If you can, it would be easy enough to get it when you book your cruise and then cancel it if you find something cheaper.

[DaveFr]

My father has a pre-existing condition which happened after we paid our cruise deposits. We could not get a waiver on his pre-existing condition from insuremytrip.com. My father is not travelling with us. His doctor does not forsee anything untowards happening to him while we are on our cruise.

 

Are there any other insurer who could waive his pre-existing condition?

 

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

Verga,

Your situation is the exact reason it's a good idea to book travel insurance the minute you book your cruise. I doubt there will be any insurance company that will overlook a pre existing condition. Did you check out the AARP site? It might be worth a phone call to them since they help seniors all the time with insurance issues.

I also don't know if you can cancel travel insurance if you apply for it with the cruiseline. I guess a TA would know this. If you can, it would be easy enough to get it when you book your cruise and then cancel it if you find something cheaper.

Verga & Verity,

 

CSA has one policy and HTH has two policies that cover pre-existing conditions of family members if purchased within 24 hours of final payment. Did you check either of those two companies? Hope this helps.

 

Dave

[verga]

DaveFR

 

Thanks for your suggestions. Please provide CSA and HTH websites and I'll check them out.

[Baseball fan]

I've traveled on cruises and tours and I have purchased insurance from insuremytrip and others that TA's have recommended. When I did my research I looked at the things that were most important to me and purchased accordingly. A lot of the cruise line insurance has great refund coverage if you cancel for any reason but they don't have as good of medical coverage (or lost luggage, etc).

 

Enjoy your cruise....

[DaveFr]

DaveFR

 

Thanks for your suggestions. Please provide CSA and HTH websites and I'll check them out.

Verga,

 

CSA is at: http://www.csatravelprotection.com/. Actually they have two policies that waive pre-existing conditions if taken out at the time of final payment.

 

HTH is at:http://www.hthworldwide.com/.

 

Dave

[Verity]

Verga,

 

CSA is at: http://www.csatravelprotection.com/. Actually they have two policies that waive pre-existing conditions if taken out at the time of final payment.

 

HTH is at:http://www.hthworldwide.com/.

 

Dave

Dave, Thanks for the info. Buying insurance is always confusing. It usually isn't until you have to use it that you find out if you guessed right or not.

[Lsimon]

We used to buy our insurance through CSA or Travelguard. Insuremytrip is a good starting place for finding companies and information. Sometimes there is better info on the actual companies site.

 

Lately we've been buying the Celebrity coverage as we have a couple possibilities of interruptions that might not be covered. The Celebrity policy has an "any other reason" clause that provides a 75% credit towards a future cruise - although it does not provide a refund. If you have problems finding something economical that will take care of the pre-existing condition then this might be an option for you.

[internetwhiz]

We will be making final payment on our cruise early next week. We are wondering if it would be better to purchase the Celebrity CruiseCare Vacation Protection vs. purchasing travel insurance from other provider.

 

Since we have also arranged another trip (land tour) in early 2009, would purchasing an annual travel insurance be better?

 

I would appreciate your thoughts on this matter.

 

Here is Celebrity's link on cruiseCare Vacation Protection

 

 

We were to have gone on RC Freedom of the Seas last December (RC and Celebrity have the same insurer/same parent company). Our granddaughter was born in late September with congenital heart defects, and had a second massive open heart surgery in late November and we had to cancel the cruise. We had our money three weeks after we got the paperwork in. It was the best 59 bucks each I have spent.

 

I was glad to have it with the company that I booked my cruise with. It also covered independent air, so we turned in our Southwest air tickets, and we were reimbursed for them as well.

 

Hope that helps!

 

Karen

[pekachryn]

I can't over-emphasize the importance of reading the fine print on pre-existing conditions. And, get it in writing, not just someone telling you "it is okay". My TA recently offered me an ins. that was less expensive than the Princess one (I know I'm on the Celebrity board!), but when I read the policy, it did not cover pre-existing conditions. Princess does, with some exclusions like no flare-ups in the past 60 days after paid. I have had to be evacuated before and flown home, and the substantial cost was paid by Princess, including reimbursing us for days lost on the cruise. One never knows what might happen, so it pays to be careful.

[Giorgi-one]

Main problem with Celebrity insurance, IMHO, are the low limits on Medical and Emergency Evacuation, approximately $10,000. I usually buy policies at much lower cost with $100,000 coverage.

[NorthernLite]

Main problem with Celebrity insurance, IMHO, are the low limits on Medical and Emergency Evacuation, approximately $10,000. I usually buy policies at much lower cost with $100,000 coverage.

 

Exactly. CruiseCare is easy and ok for Alaska and Canada but medical air evacuation can run $70K from, say, Tel Aviv to NYC. I think CC just upped theirs to $25K but still.......I normally use Insuremytrip or Travelguard. I'll be calling USAA before I book another cruise though. We're members in several of their services. Can't think why I didn't think of this myself. Thanks!

[winediva]

Cant say enough great things about travel guard. My husband and I were on a 7 day cruise that was extended to 9 because of hurricanes in the FLL area. One quick phone call and we had new returning flights, a hotel res, and instructions on how to get reimbursed for all of our additional expenses. Check arrived in about 2 weeks after we returned.

 

If you purchase within 2 weeks of deposit, you get a free pre-existing condition waiver. The coverage is a bit more expensive, but well worth it if you have a serious medical condition. I think my hubby and I paid about $350 for a $5000 cruise and flight package.

[PurpleCow]

For us CSA, which covers pre-existing conditions if you purchase the policy within 24 hours of final payment, is the best bet. We have cruises booked over a year in the future and I don't want to tie up our funds with travel insurance which can't be cancelled, but only changed to a different trip.