Trip insurance?

[IUFAN]

I've always bought the insurance. Just curious to know if most people do the same? Can anybody share their experiences on trying to collect the insurance? I have in my mind that they would make it very difficult to collect.

[dlp252]

I never used to buy the insurance, but three years ago, decided I probably should since I had been having some health issues. It turns out that I had to cancel a trip to Australia because of a horrible sinus/ear/strep throat infection. I was able to get a full refund (minus the cost of the insurance) of my trip. Now, this wasn't a cruise, it was a land vacation, and the insurance was through the online travel agency we booked with, but I was able to get a refund.

 

I've purchased insurance for every large trip since then, but thankfully have not had to use it.

 

My friend, who I usually travel with, has never purchased the insurance until recently. She was scheduled for a cruise a few months ago (the one time I DIDN'T travel with her), but fell right before the trip and broke her ankle. She was able to get a full refund, and now always buys the insurance.

 

In the end, it's like any insurance. I kind of hate to pay and pay for it, but it sure comes in handy if you DO need it.

[cattolica]

We have been purchasing travel insurance since 1999. In 2007 while on a cruise there was a death in the family. Called the insurance company and everything kicked right in. Travel insurance covered the cost of changing our flights which was about $1200, we received a refund of the portion of the cruise we missed. Everything was paid within 2 weeks of the filing of the claim forms.

Earlier this year I got sick on the ship (not noro virus) and travel insurance covered everything that our insurance wouldn't cover. Our medical insurance only covered the meds, so travel insurance picked up the rest of the cost. Again fully paid very quickly.

[paul929207]

I have never used it, but my mother did.

 

She was on a cruise and the ship was hit by a bad wave after they left Barcelona. My mother fell, broke her leg, 5 ribs and her collarbone. She spent 5 weeks in a Rome hospital. The insurance covered everything plus -- the insurance company flew a nurse to Rome, put her my mother in first class for the trip to the US. The nurse then got a cab & took my mother to her local hospital. All covered by the trip insurance.

[Rob & Beckys mom]

Don't leave home without it...hokey..maybe...but true. Have heard too many stories about people losing a lot of money when the unexpected happens.

 

Jan

[grandmato4]

Didn't purchase insurance when we first started cruising years ago and fortunately never needed to use it but being a few years old with older parents now and the difficulties of flying now-a-days we consider it a good investment even if we don't use it.

 

Know of several people that have needed to file claims and all have had good experiences. None found the claim form process difficult and all received their money promptly.

 

I think the key to receiving your refund is knowing ahead of time what is actually covered and under what circumstances and what is not covered. Too many people purchase insurance assuming everything will be covered only to find out after the fact that their circumstances were't actually covered under their policy because they didn't read or understand their policy and got caught using that bad old word "assume".:( And of coarse there are always those few so called insurance companies that are just plain difficult to deal with!

[cruiserjanet]

We always purchase it. We were supposed to be on our 2007 Caribbean cruise with my BFF and her DH but he ended up in the hospital a week before we were to leave having unexpected surgery. As soon as they knew the cruise was to be cancelled, they contacted our TA who got the ball rolling. They filled out the paperwork the next day and were refunded their monies within 1-1/2 weeks of doing so. They were quite impressed with how fast they were reimbursed.

[Seven-out]

I would never, ever, ever, ever travel without insurance. 9/10 you will never need it.. but that 1 time you do, you'll be thankful.

[Packman1000]

For an opposing view, would you buy collision and comprehensive insurance on a car that was worth $2,000? Almost any financial planner/analyst would say no for 95% of the population. But we buy travel insurance for a $2,000 trip. Now I know some buy for the health insurance portion, which is fine, if you need it. But if you're buying mostly for the trip cancellation/interuption benefit - think about whether you really need it, as compared to the cost. Also, pay attention to the individual benefits of the policy you are buying. Just like any other insurance, don't pay for coverage you don't need.

[Doug R.]

My wife and I had to cancel our honeymoon cruise when her daughter was diagnosed with Lymphoma a month before our wedding. The insurance company paid off promptly after we submitted the required medical records and proved it was not a pre-existing condition (we had not purchased the insurance soon enough after booking to have pre-existing conditions waived.)

[City_Woman]

4 years ago I had to cancel a cruise just 3 days before we were set to leave because of medical reasons.

 

I had insurance and got my money back.

 

Yes, there was paperwork. But that goes with the territory.

 

We now buy Princess Travel Care, mostly because of the price relative to my husband's age and the "any reason" cancellation -- especially after final payment.

 

I look at travel insurance the same way I look at car or house insurance. You pay it in the hopes that you never have to make a claim. But, if you do have to make a claim, you are happy that it's there in the first place.

 

Judy

[Caribbean Sunsets]

I always purchase the trip insurance. Fortunately, I've not had to use it. IMO, the cost is absolutely worth it.

[imacruizer]

For an opposing view, would you buy collision and comprehensive insurance on a car that was worth $2,000? Almost any financial planner/analyst would say no for 95% of the population. But we buy travel insurance for a $2,000 trip. Now I know some buy for the health insurance portion, which is fine, if you need it. But if you're buying mostly for the trip cancellation/interuption benefit - think about whether you really need it, as compared to the cost. Also, pay attention to the individual benefits of the policy you are buying. Just like any other insurance, don't pay for coverage you don't need.

 

I am much more concerned about what might happen on the cruise than losing the cost of my cruise because of having to cancel. Last year, one of the women who ate at our table, had to be airlifted off the ship. I don't know the cost, but I'm sure it was at least $25,000. Then there were hospital costs and transportation home. I realize that is a rare event, but I would not cruise without insurance.

[Garn]

I agree- it's debatable whether the cost of the trip itself is worth the insurance, it's the medical coverage that makes me buy it without question. While you can easily figure out what's at risk for the cruise cost, the medical expenses are fairly open-ended. In the one case, you're paying for a trip that you would have liked to take, but in the other, you can find yourself with tens of thousands of dollars of debt (not to mention the expenses of getting the rest of the family home, etc). There are some great sites out there that compare the various trip insurance offerings, but I wouldn't consider cruising without it.

[mickeysgal]

Do you all generally go with the company that the cruise line offers?

[Caribbean Sunsets]

Do you all generally go with the company that the cruise line offers?

 

insuremytrip dot com is who I use. It will give you cost/plan comparisons from the many companies.

[nikita]

Can we get insurance after the final payment? We reserved our trip around one week ago and the cost of the cruise was due at that time because we sail in 7 weeks. For some reason I think I remember that after you pay the final payment you cannot get trip insurance. We did not go with the ships plan but instead like to get it on our own. Thanks for any information you can give me on this.

[Grego]

I always purchase the trip insurance. Fortunately, I've not had to use it. IMO, the cost is absolutely worth it.

 

We agree. We have always purchased it just for the peace of mind and consider it something we won't have to worry about if something does happen. All you have to do is read just a couple of threads on this site to know that when you think you aren't going to have a problem with something - you do. It's automatic - we book on Princess and we get Princess Gold.

[FritzG]

I feel that if you only need to use it once, it will probably more than pay for all of the times you had it and never made a claim.

 

Being seniors ourselves and being lucky enough to still even more senior parents I would never travel without it. We just consider it part of the necessary expenses. We're lucky to be Princess Platinum so we pay for the standard Princess insurance and get upgraded to the higher plan.

[dlp252]

Do you all generally go with the company that the cruise line offers?

 

I do

[unboringuy]

I never used to purchase insurance. After 30 cruises I finally had to cancel one for an uninsured reason (if I had purchased insurance, which I did not) so it was a total loss. If i had purchased "cancel for any reason" coverage, I would have gotten a credit. Since then I do purchase insurance that includes "cancel for any reason" coverage. I canceled twice with coverage. Both times it was the Princess coverage administered by Berkeley. Both claims were processed and paid promptly.

 

I understand, however, that the Princess coverage is changing later this year.

[xavier]

We were suppose to sail on the Emerald Nov. 30th 2008. Unfortunately we had to cancel as my husand had to have surgery. We purchased the Princess Travel Care. They were easy to deal with & had our full refund in the day after Christmas. Would not hesitate to reccommend them or using them for every Princess cruise that we take. As a side note my hubby is now all better!!

[rjack22]

In our case the cruise and air total over $6,000 dollars. That is a lot of money to lose if you have to cancel your cruise. We are not talking $2000 here like someone else said.

 

I haven't purchased the insurance yet as we are still over a year out, but I will before final payment.

[DesrtDrmr]

We always do, automatically. We include it in the price of the cruise, and I book insurance the same day I book the cruise.

We normally use the cruiseline insurance, but the last several cruises there has been the possibility that work would interfere. It did interfere for two cruises in a row..........we had Princess insurance and got a credit toward a future cruise to be taken within the year...........next time, we booked after comparing at InsureMyTrip.com for a "cancel for any reason" policy. Now that Princess has a "cancel for any reason" policy, I will check that out for our next cruise.

[Lynda90]

I also wouldn't leave home without it. In 05, my mom and I had a cruise planned to Hawaii. Two weeks before we were scheduled to depart, she was diagnosed with a serious medical issue and we had to cancel because she had to go into treatment immediately. After providing the documentation, Princess Travel Care refunded our entire cruise payment and did it promptly and without issue. That was the first time we had ever purchased the insurance and I'm so glad we did.