Do I really need travel insurance?

[minnieluvzmickey]

and why?

 

[Favorite Auntie]

I have never purchased travel insurance, but there are some cases where I might. If I were older - the possibility of becoming ill during or before the cruise might be greater. If there was a question that where I live - a snowstorm could keep me from flying into Florida, and therefore missing the boat... things like that.

 

[joanb]

there is an old thread about this...I had never purchased travel insurance until our lastsailing-July 2003. Read what other had to say. We were doing some "major" excursions and if some one got hurt I wanted to get them back to a US hospital....
find the other thread it had lots of pro and cons.

Joan

 

[Lloyd Dobler]

You really have to decide what you want insured, how likely you're going to need it, and what current coverage you have. Many US insurance companies do not insure you when you leave the country, which would include a cruise ship of foreign registry. If you get sick or injured while on board or on shore, you would not be covered. Check your policy or speak to your agent, you may be covered for this. If not, the big question here is how likely are you to get sick or injured? You probably know how often you get sick, and how active you are going to be, so you may be able to make a good guess at this.

The other part of travel insurance generally covers lost lugage, trip delay or cancellation. Again, how likely is this to happen? If you have to cancel because of a family emergency, this will keep you from having to eat the cancellation penalty. If your family is in generally good health, you may decide that it's unlikely you'll need this. If you're delayed and miss the ship, you'd be covered, but if you're flying in the day before, this is pretty unlikely. Lost bags happen, but again, not very often, in my experience.

In the end, you have to judge how much the peace of mind of not having to worry about any of this is worth to you and do what you feel most comfortable with. The cost is usually around 3% of the cost of the trip. You can get coverage for less than the blanket $99/pp DCL charges.

My take is that I'd rather have it and not need it than the other way around. I once saw somene slip on the deck of a catamaran during an excursion at Key West and split their head open pretty good. I don't know if she missed the rest of the cruise (this was on the first full day) or if she had insurance, but I would suspect that she never figured that this might happen to her.

 

[webray]

I have never purchased it for land trips...this time I did, just because we will be in different countries...never know what is going to happen medical/weather wise.

 

[ReadyForDisney2003]

I JUST bought mine directly through Access America. It was only $123 for my family of 4 for a full week cruise. I saved $193 over buying from DCL.

You will lose a bit (not very much) coverage by buying it yourself, but I thought the tradeoff was worth it.

For the $6,000 trip the insurance was only $123 directly -- go for it and forget about it.

 

[Buckaroo's Dad]

Do I really need travel insurance?

Yes.

and why?

Because the unexpected only happens to everyone else - and you are not an "everyone else" to everyone else.

Because, like Favorite Auntie said, only older people get sick - and you are young.

Because the cruise is relatively inexpensive - and if it were "lost" to a personal catastrophe you'd have no problem replacing it dollar for dollar.

Because accidents only happen to idiots - and you are a Rhodes Scholar.

OR

Because accidents only happen to Rhodes Scholars - and you are an idiot.

I think you get picture and only hope those people who fail to purchase travel insurance never wish they had. I myself don't believe the risk is worth the money saved...

 

[ThreeCircles]

I think this is really a personal decision on your comfort level. In my three cruises with DCL I have always opted out of the optional travel insurance, saving roughly $100 per person. I have never felt the need to purchase the insurance because 1) I don't think anything short of a major illness would keep me from sailing and 2) the insurance is very limited in its coverage (for instance, if you get sick AFTER you board the ship, the insurance won't cover a total reimbursement of the cost of your vacation) and is mainly meant to protect you from a loss of the cost of your vacation if you could not go due to medical reasons. (Many people assume that it is mainly for medical services, when, in fact, your regular insurance should cover those costs as mentioned above.)

Also, keep in mind that *most* traditional health insurance providers have built-in travel insurance clauses. If you have questions about this, I would call your primary health insurance (if you have coverage) and ask about travel coverage.

 

[Grumbo]

This question made me smile as I just got home from the airport having taken two good friends to the airport this afternoon after having spent 2 1/2 weeks with our family.
Our friends, who are from Germany were only scheduled to be here 2 weeks. With three days left in their Canadian Holiday the husband became ill and we took him to a walk in clinic who immediately sent him to the hospital. 4 days later ($1500 per day and thats before any of the doctor's bills) he was sent home with us but was NOT able to fly. We had to rebook and he flew out today.
I usually get the health insurance but don't bother with flight insurance. (That was until this occurred.)
I WILL from now on.
My two cents worth is YES get it.
Cheers,
Grumbo

 

[ashking]

I know of a group of hair dressers who took a NCL cruise and they rented jeeps. One jeep drove off the road into an embankment. 3 people had insurance and 1 didn't. They were all hurt pretty bad. They all had to be airlifted to the US and that bill was over$10,000 each. The 3 with insurance flew out ASAP. The one without had to pay his bill before he could leave. I think a small investment is better than losing your life savings over an accident that can happen. Also, I was going to go on a ship that left from my home port of Norfolk. I didn't book it because I knew I was doing Disney again. I was glad that I didn't book because the day before it left, my son had a 104 temp. If I had booked that cruise, there would have been no way I was going to take a sick kid on board(luckily for all the other passengers I might add). You never know . I buy insurance because I don't want to worry the whole time that an accident could wipe out my family's savings.

 

[Stewblue]

On our June 28th cruise, we learned just how valuable travel insurance can be. My sister, flying in from Philadelphia the day before landed in Orlando only to discover that her luggage along with 5,000 other pieces of luggage were still in Philly. Seems the conveyor belt at the airport had broken down and the luggage was not being delivered to the airplane. Of course passengers weren't told this when they handed over their luggage to be checked in.

We sailed on Saturday and the luggage was still in Philly. The airline's response was don't worry - Disney will take care of it. However this wasn't Disneys' problem though CM were very helpful. With travel insurance and the baggage delay provision, each member of my sister's family had 500.00 to spend on clothes and essentials. The luggage was delivered in St Marten but that meant 3 days on the ship before they had their belongings. Without travel insurance, I had visions of my sister making clothing out of bedspreads and sheets. Guest services was very helpful and even arranged for a call from the ship to the insurance company to verify coverage.

 

[poopie]

for my trip to Africa, but it's good tp know I have it now for other trips.

If I get sick I want to get home and to the hospital I work in, not stuck who knows where.

 

[Rock'n Robin]

We didn't get it for our 4 day cruise because I forgot and forgot and finally missed the 60 day mark...boy I was praying everything went well! Luckily it did. My dad bought everyone the DCL insurance for our trip next year since he has what I think are preexisting conditions (bad back, mom has high blood pressure) and since they will be 72 and 74, he didn't want to chance it.
I have a good friend who had grandparents who traveled all over the world. They never bought insurance. Then for their trip to Ireland, they did. Her grandpa had a major stroke 3 weeks before the trip and spent the rest of his life (3 years) in a nursing home. How fortunate that her grandmother didn't have to eat the cost of that trip in addition to everything else!
Robin M.

 

[ducklite]

It depends on your financial situation. If you are in the enviable position to easily pay for an offshore medical emergency, medical evacuation, repatriation, or replacing lost luggage, not to mention a variety of other things, then don't bother. Keep in mind that most offshore hospitals and doctors will not take your health insurance, they want payment rendered at the time of service. Some health insurers will not pay for any treatment outside of the US, and very few will pay for a medical evacuation/repatriation.

Anne

 

[Favorite Auntie]

I did not say "only old people get sick" I said "If I were older - the possibility of becoming ill during or before the cruise might be greater." I am young and of good health. I have never purchased travel ins and I have never needed it. People kow how often they get sick and they also understand that accidents happen. I hope my post was not taken the wrong way.

 

[Buckaroo's Dad]

I did not say "only old people get sick" I said "If I were older - the possibility of becoming ill during or before the cruise might be greater."

Favorite Auntie - I know what you meant. Merely exaggerated it to make the point that unexpected illness is not age-specific. Didn't mean to insult you.

I carry an umbrella when leaving the house if it looks like rain. Just in case. I keep a usable spare tire in the car trunk. Just in case. And I take out travel insurance when I go on vacation. Just in case...

 

[Favorite Auntie]

I wasn't insulted, just didn't want people to think I am an idiot! I am actually accident prone, I have just been lucky so far and I have not bought the insurance.

 

[ThreeCircles]

Originally posted by ducklite
Some health insurers will not pay for any treatment outside of the US, and very few will pay for a medical evacuation/repatriation.
Anne

It's always good to call and check with your insurance provider to make sure this is indeed the case. Many providers *do* indeed cover these services, it's just that many people don't realize it.

Even the "not-so-great" medical insurance that I receive from my university (student insurance, not employee insurance) covers medical evacuation and repatriation.

But, as Ducklite states, there are other considerations as well.

 

[ashking]

Also something to consider is if someone in your family gets sick or ,worse, dies. It doesn't matter how healty you are, if someone dies you obviously won't go on the cruise but you would still lose your money. Just something else to consider.

 

[MrsPete]

We decided not to buy the insurance for several reasons:

We're young and healthy -- I know this is no guarantee, but chances of us becoming deathly ill during our four-night cruise are pretty slim.
We're not doing any sports-type excursions, and we're not really likely to be injured while sitting on the beach.
We have excellent health insurance that does pay out of the country and does pay medical evac, etc.
We're close enough to drive, so losing luggage or missing flights isn't an issue.
If something awful should happen at home, we can afford to lose the price of this cruise (it was pretty low).

If our circumstances were different or if we were going on a longer cruise in a more expensive cabin, we might have made a different choice about travel insurance.