Cruise Insurance

[Chameleon]

We are going on the Disney Cruise in January of 2008. We are leaving from NJ and are concerned about getting snowed in. Has anyone purchased insurance for this? Any recommendations?
Thanks

 

[Selket]

If you read our cruise meet thread for the Oct 6-13th western (we're all home now of course!) you'll see that there were several medical emergencies - even two serious ones with Dis-board folks. One poor family had their 20 month old fall and sustain a serious break to the leg - such that the mom and child had to be airlifted back to the USA from Cozumel (to the tune of $30,000-50,000 I believe she said).

So....definitely get the insurance.

I like the trip insurance store at http://www.tripinsurancestore.com/ and I've seen others recommend insuremytrip.com. Weather related delays are funky but covered to some extent depending on this or that. Make sure whatever insurance you get covers your air travel and not just the cruise. I think the DCL insurance doesn't cover air travel unless you booked the air through DCL.

 

[Jeanne B]

We live in New England and our first cruise was in mid-January three years ago and thank goodness I purchased trip insurance because we used it...we had weather delays both down and back!! And weather delays in northern states can cause delays all over the country so I don't think just those who live in the cold-weather states need to be concerned when traveling during winter months.

I always use TravelGuard.

 

[lowery1226]

Yes, my toddler fractured his femur at the Dolphin Discovery while in Cozumel. We were flown out of Cozumel on an air ambulance the following day. We had travel insurnace (THANK GOD!) through insuremytrip.com, a Travelex policy, which paid for the specialized pediatric team to come and get us. I have heard that it would cost around $30,000 for the flight. That $92.00 policy sure paid for itself. TRUST ME GET THE TRAVEL INSURANCE! It should also pay us for trip interruption about $2500. Let me also add how WONDERFUL the Disney team was in caring for my family (who returned to the Magic) and myself in Cozumel.

 

[Got Quattro?]

Is this insurance different than what is offered when you book your cruise?

 

[yndygo]

Yes, my toddler fractured his femur at the Dolphin Discovery while in Cozumel. We were flown out of Cozumel on an air ambulance the following day. We had travel insurnace (THANK GOD!) through insuremytrip.com, a Travelex policy, which paid for the specialized pediatric team to come and get us. I have heard that it would cost around $30,000 for the flight. That $92.00 policy sure paid for itself. TRUST ME GET THE TRAVEL INSURANCE! It should also pay us for trip interruption about $2500. Let me also add how WONDERFUL the Disney team was in caring for my family (who returned to the Magic) and myself in Cozumel.

(((((((((((hug))))))))))))

Your poor son!! I hope he's starting to feel a little better already. What a terrifying thing to happen in a foreign country!
I was just arguing the merits of cruise insurance with a friend - and telling her 999 times out of 1,000 you don't need it... but that one time... you will kick yourself black and blue if you don't have it.


Glad you did!!!

 

[dreamcometrue]

lowery Hope your baby feels better!! How terrifying and scary that must have been. Glad to hear disney took care of you!

I read a while back on this board that there was a policy out there that covers children free. What was that? I can't seem to find it!

 

[jkinak]

We are sailing in a little over three weeks, is it too late to get trip insurance??

 

[Jeanne B]

We are sailing in a little over three weeks, is it too late to get trip insurance??

I don't know about other companies but with TravelGuard you can purchase insurance almost right up until your departure date (I forget the exact cutoff but it seems like it's less than a week prior). But if there's a named storm already, like during hurricane season, you have to have the insurance purchased prior to any storm being named in order to have any weather delays covered. Hurricane season doesn't end until 11/1 so if you're cruising in 3 weeks there's still the slight potential for a hurricane.

 

[HFC1969]

Get the insurance!!

My parents were on a cruise thru the canal when my father had to be put off in Cartagena Columbia for emergency hernia surgery. He spent 2 weeks recovering in a Hotel Caribe in Cartagena but is now home and fine.

They had to pay cash for everything up front but are now in the process of turning in claims to the travel insurance. The way it works on most insurance / medical injuries is: your medical carrier must deny the claim that is submitted. Then after all of your insurance providers deny the claim then you can submit the claim to travel insurance.

He could not be air lifted home without the surgery. So they performed surgery there.

Its a paper work claim nightmare but definatley still very much worth the $100


2 side notes...

My parents were asigned a porter (translater, personal assitant, go to person) that stayed with them basically every waking minute the second they stepped of the ship to the second they got on the plane to come home. Jose was a life saver to them!!

Jose, my fathers porter also told my folks that the world average is: Everytime a cruise ship stops at a port someone gets off because of illness. My folks had 3 other people in the same hotel that were recovering there while waiting to go home from different illnesses. Also over the 2 weeks they were in Cartegena there were 2 families that were put off of cruise ships because someone in their group died on the ship.

 

[frdeb1999]

I agree with getting the insurance. You are paying a lot for your trip and god forbid anything happens to stop it. But at least if it does it will be one less thing to stress you out. Deffinately worth the money IMO.

 

[lowery1226]

We only purchased the insurance policy from insuremytrip.com. It was cheaper and we were looking for hurricane coverage and did not even consider the medical benefit. What happened with us is we were assigned a Disney Rep here in the States (Emergency Medical Rep for DCL) who handeled filing the claim and then I spoke directly with the travel insurance rep, hourly! They arranged everything and then once we entered the Childrens Hospital here in ALabama my BCBS picked up. The BCBS case worker said that my medical insurance would not have covered anything there in Mexico! Side note...make sure your kids have a passport. We could not have flown back into the States on commercial airline because my 21 month old did not have a passport! We also had a port authority rep and a DCL rep with us throughout our stay to translate and expedite the customs process. I am well educated now on medical emergencies, unfortunately. I could not imagine having to have surgery though in Columbia....I would not even let the Mexican Doctors touch my sons leg!

 

[HFC1969]

I could not imagine having to have surgery though in Columbia....I would not even let the Mexican Doctors touch my sons leg!

Believe it or not my father loved his physician in Columbia. He really didn't have much of a choice.. The physician was educated premed and MD in the US .

Do to the fact that my folks had "money" the clinic where the surgery was performed was VERY nice... Keep in mind Columbia is a third world country and most places are goverment clinics. Jose their porter took them straight to the very best. The following day they were released to the hotel and the DR came by every night to the hotel for a follow up.


Needless to say my dad has been grounded from any out of the country trips by my mother for awhile. I think they are cruising the Missisippi River on the Delta queen next year...

 

[Selket]

Why I recommend the tripinsurancestore.com over insuremytrip.com (they sell basicially the same policies) is the level of customer service. My younger son had pre-existing medical conditions that would not have been covered with the DCL insurance and some others. If you have medical issues like that or questions about what is covered I think the tripinsurancestore is the way to go.

Just be careful if you are buying the travel insurance and have pre-existing conditions (even well controlled ones like diabetes/high blood pressure, etc). If you have a medical emergency (like a heart attack) that could relate to your pre-existing condition you want to make sure you are covered. Generally you need to buy the insurance within two weeks of booking the trip (not making the final payment on the trip). It is complicated! Apparently I'm the only one around here that stresses about pre-existing conditions but they really can trip you up when it comes to insurance!