How many people get trip insurance?

[NurseDave]

I never get extended warranties or rental car insurance, wondering if trip insurance is along the same lines or more people end up getting it.

 

[bitlerzx4]

we normally do get sucked into anything like that either but I do get the vacation insurance.

 

[ksucats]

I never buy extended warranties either, but always buy Disneys cruise insurance. We have too much money invested and there are too many days after the PIF date where something could come up. I pay the little bit extra for Disney insurance, because you can retain the value of our cruise for any reason.

 

[Sparrow78]

I always get trip insurance and in the past couple years we've needed it. We had a trip planned from Canada to Kansas one Feb and it was on points so I was NOT going to lose points I worked hard for. Since it was Feb we can have nasty weather. Go figure, our flight was cancelled due to snow in Dallas!
Last year we were supposed to go on the cruise and I ended up in the hospital had surgery 3 days before the cruise so needless to say we had to cancel.

I ave excellent benefits at work for travel medical insurance but I work hard all year to pay for these vacations, I will at the extra $500 or so to make sure if something happens I get my money back. I would rather pay exta then loss $3-4k!

 

[kcashner]

It depends on your situation.

No, I don't buy rental car insurance--I'm already covered on my car insurance policy.

On vacations....if I'm leaving the US, especially for any significant amount of time, I buy it BECAUSE my medical insurance will not cover me outside the US. When we went to Alaska, I didn't get it--only one port was outside of the US, and the sea time probably would have been handled by a USCG evacuation if needed.

Perspective--one visit to the ship's medical center cost twice the expense of the premium for the whole family and was reimbursed by the travel insurance. This was for a minor sinusitis visit with antibiotics. Premium for family--$98. Cost of visit-$191.

Many private companies do a free kid policy with each adult policy and base cost on guest age, making the coverage quite reasonable. Correct that in the long run, the numbers add up to a profit for the insurance company. But in our case, the medical coverage makes sense. I could afford to lose the cost of my cruise (wouldn't be happy about it, but....) but I wouldn't want to see the out of pocket costs for a serious medical situation. Yes, I've seen kids disembarked at the next port for a compound fracture after a fall on board, etc. It can happen to anyone at any age.

 

[Tara619]

We got $7500 worth of coverage for the 3 of us for $141. DS's coverage was free. Its worth the peace of mind if something happens. We used www.tripinsurancestore.com.

 

[karl_nj]

I never get extended warranties or rental car insurance, wondering if trip insurance is along the same lines or more people end up getting it.

I always skip extended warranties and rental car insurance, but I do usually get trip insurance. But I always buy from a separate vendor, I never buy it from the cruise line.

 

[texasgirl73]

I generally don't get trip insurance for most travel but I do for cruises because we are leaving the country and cruises are non-refundable. For my family of 6 the cruise insurance on a 7 night cruise is usually around $200-$250. I go with Travelguard because kids are free (Disney charges per person, many others travel per adult.) I compared on Insuremytrip but I have ended up using Travelguard for 3 cruise vacations now.

 

[xipotec]

For us its all about risk vs loss. For a 1000 loss maybe not. But last trip was over 5k so we did.

 

[NurseDave]

Sounds like I'll look into it.

 

[lilpooh108]

We always end up going to the Medical office for 1 tiny thing or another (have kids). I bought it for out Alaska 2012 trip and I got pink eye, forgot my antibiotic drops, so took a trip to the Med office. The price of the visit was reimbursed in full and it canceled out the price of the trip insurance. Nice to know that if I gave it to my kids that week, it would have been "free" to go visit the doctor.

I just bought it for our Med cruise (knock on wood).

 

[neg58]

I don't know why, but the first cruise I booked the insurance quote from Disney was really really high, like $400 for a cruise that only cost $800. I think there must have been a mistake. Anyway, I didn't get it and didn't even ask for a quote for the second cruise. About a week before the second cruise I didn't feel well at all and was kicking myself (I recovered and was fine).

I'm booking for the Panama Canal and there is no way I wasn't getting the insurance. It is only $80/each! I couldn't believe it. We're definitely getting it and I hope we don't have to use it, but I'm taking my 77 year old mother and my middle aged self and it's worth it!

Nancy

 

[caribear]

I buy cruise insurance when we cruise as a family with the kids. Just peace of mind in case the kids get sick and need to be evacuated from the ship. I do not buy through the cruiseline as their pricing is usually too high. I have used insuremytrip.com for cruises....and my sister has used it for a trip to Grand Caymen with her kids. That sight will give you quotes from multiple agencies...a great resource!

As a reference....I paid $110 for 2 adults/2 children for a $4000, 7 night cruise.

 

[tvguy]

10 cruises, only bought travel insurance for 1, and that was the only Disney cruise we have been on.

What was different the one time I bought travel insurance?

1) We were traveling during winter, December 26 through January 3.
2) We were traveling during a holiday period.
3) Our Disney cruise was twice as expensive as any other cruise we have taken.

Statistically, Travel Insurnace is one of the most profitable kinds of coverage because claims are rare. In my opinion, the biggest thing I got when I did buy the insurance was comfort that I wasn't going to lose money if something happened.
Now, everyone should review their existing insurance policies to look for holes in coverage. I have never had group medical insurance that didn't cover me anywhere in the world I was going. So medical has never been an issue for me. (my neighor is in insurance, and says that since the U.S. has the highest medical costs in the world, in most cases it actually SAVES them money if you require treatment outside the U.S.) My cruises have always been within reach of the U.S. Coast Guard, who would provide medical evacaution if I needed it for free, so that isn't an issue.
And to be honest, I have been influenced by my mom who cruised frequently.........her mind set has always been "I don't care what happens while I am on the cruise, don't spoil my trip, I'll deal with whatever happens, whoever in the family died when I get back". Oh, and my favorite "if I die on the cruise, leave me on the ship, I paid to be on that ship for XX number of days, I am doing to stay on the ship". That comment came after my mom....the retired RN........took a tour of a ships medical facility and discovered they are all required to have a morque, and that there is no legal reason for a passenger who dies during a cruise to be removed before the end of the cruise.

 

[drag n' fly]

We have an annual medical policy that allows us to take as many 15 day trips out of the country in one year that we want. We can top up any additional days we want. We are also covered completely across Canada. We have 5 million coverage and it also covers ground and air ambulance. We also have rental car coverage through our home policy. As for cancellation it depends on the costs and what form of payment etc (points, miles etc).

 

[dennes]

We live in New Zealand so travel insurance is a necessity for us

 

[DahliaRW]

We don't for most trips. The only time we did was our trip this Japan. Too much money invested to not. We will for the cruise too!

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Except for our first cruise (when we didn't know any better) we've always gotten travel insurance.

 

[MillauFr]

The only insurance I think is worth buying is the medi-vac coverage. The rest is a waste of money as my health insurance covers our family outside of the US. I just wouldn't want to be admited to a hospital in a 3rd world country.

 

[ilovetexas]

I wouldn't cruise without it. I can absorb the cost of the cruise, if necessary, but the cost of any medical evacuation would bankrupt me. If I, or one of my family members, gets seriously hurt onshore, I want to be able to be evacuated to a US hospital to get treatment. Those evacuations are EXPENSIVE!

http://blogs.squaremouth.com/press-room/how-much-medical-evacuation-is-enough-asks-squaremouth/