Do you purchase the trip insurance? why/why not?

[caracap]

I am on hold now to possibly cancel it?????

 

[3goofyboys]

I did purchase trip insurance. I figure I'm spending multiple thousands of dollars on this trip, the $130 it's adding to the total really isn't that big of a difference and it could end up saving my sanity in an emergency. I'm traveling during hurricane season so that's an added concern for me, but really life in general is so unpredictable that it never hurts to cover yourself. Just MHO.

 

[stitchlovestink]

for a trip to WDW, nope I don't waste the $$ on trip ins. Too many loop holes in the policy, esp for pre-existing conditions which is most likely why I would need to cancel. Besides, the most I would be out is either the cost of 1 hotel night (sometimes I do a room only ressie for which the deposit is the cost of one night, the balance payable upon check-in) or the $200 deposit (if I booked a pkg, but unless there's a really good special like FD, I've found it's just as cheap or cheaper to buy the components seperately). I know too many people (personally- 5 friends and Dsis has moved 2 trips last minute) that have had to move their trips last minute, and WDW is excellent about this and about applying your $$ to the future trip. Now the cruise is a different story.
Good luck w/ whatever you decide.
BTW (unless they've recently changed it) WDW's policy was if there was a hurricane warning in FL or the STATE you reside in during your trip, they were giving full refunds or transferring the entire payment to a new ressie. Now that doesn't mean that if you booked a special like free dining in Sept and you have to rebook for Jan that they are going to give you the free dining special in Jan. You would have to pay the new cost, just they would apply all of your $$ to the new ressie (using the new rates). By the same token, if you were going in July and paying big $$ and need to move it to Jan (which in general would be a lower cost), you would get the better Jan rates. Did that make sense?

 

[squirrel]

They added it to my bounceback for free dining. I will have to call and have it removed as I found out that it can only be purchased for US residents.

 

[alexy]

Nope.

We "self insure." Every time we are approached to buy insurance for electronics, travel, etc. we take the money we would have spent and put it in a separate savings account. Our experience is that the risk is very, very low that we'll ever get a benefit from one of these plans, so why not get the financial gain.

Over the years we've maybe had to have 2 items fixed, but we are ahead by thousands of dollars.

I'm sure there's plenty of anecdotal examples of times when the benefits have far outweighed the money spent, but overall these types of plans are known to be highly profitable for those selling them. Heck, once someone at Best Buy tried very diligently to get me to buy a 2 year warranty on a new monitor that was already covered by it's own 3 year manufacture’s warranty. What a potential waste of my money!

I will admit though that I'm very conservative when it comes to "add on" costs. My first reaction is always "no". I just want to pay for what I planned to buy. All those extras add up quickly.

 

[pediatric-rnp]

We go thru the tripinsurancestoredotcom for our policy whenever we go on vacation. I first heard about them on cruisecriticdotcom, where they are highly recommended by frequent travelers/cruisers, and they are so easy to deal with. They work with you to find the best policy for your needs. You can go online for the policy, but I always call. We always have to get a policy which includes pre-existing condition; it isn't that expensive. It's peace of mind, considering the $$ invested in the trip. ( FWIW, a TA friend of ours had advised us to always get the policy independent from the cruiseline we were traveling on, or from WDW, as it has been her experience that it is often less hassle if you have to file a claim.)

We have several elderly family members who are not in the best health, and have recently experienced unexpected deaths of family members twice in as many years, so you just never know when you may have to cancel or cut short a vacation.

 

[Aliceacc]

YES!

Last year I got it because of my father-in-law's general poor health. (He passed away a month, to the day, after our return.)

But it really came in handy when TS Faye descended on Orlando on the last day of our vacation. Faye didn't get a mention when we left NY the week before. But it became apparent during our stay that she could impact our flight home, possibly more. At that point, I faxed our AAA agent and asked him about the particulars of our insurance. He got back to me the next morning with a voice mail, explaining exactly how the policy worked. (Basically, I was to do nothing unless and until our flight was cancelled. At that point, we were covered.) So I didn't spend 2 days worrying (that's my nature; I would have worried!)

As it turns out, Faye gave us a crowd-free day in the MK and our flight got off without a hitch. But that trip insurance kept me from stopping at every opportunity to get the forecast. The knowledge that we were covered, in itself, made my vacation much better!

 

[ancestry]

We do. While you can ususallt get a refund from Disney with no penalty up to 45 days out and only a $100 penalty up to 6 days out and a $200 penalty after that -- those refunds from Disney DON'T include the money you would lose on airfare. The airfare for all of us cost in excess of $1000 and was non-refundable. Plus we were worried that DH would lose his job and the insurance does cover job loss if you were with your employeer for a minimum of five years AND we have an elderly family member that we were worried about passing.

 

[RMulieri]

I always always get trip insurance. Disney does have a great cancellation policy.But it doesn't cover your airfare, nor does it cover if you get down to Disney and have to leave due to an emergency. Family deaths and emergencies are an unpredicatable part of life.With 2 sets of aging ailing parents and a grandma in her 90's, it is a no brainer for us.

 

[Manda]

I don't for Disney trips. If I was booking an air-inclusive package overseas with unfriendly cancellation policies, I probably would. It would cost me $100 - $300 to buy travel insurance for one of our Disney trips and Disney's package cancellation - at most - will cost me $200. I have good health insurance that covers me anywhere and a good credit card that gives me airline baggage loss coverage and rental car coverages. I always fly Southwest, so flight cancellations aren't an issue. Especially when traveling in your own country, I think many people probably already have most of the benefits available from travel insurance through other cards, policies, etc.

 

[WAHMto5]

You do need to read and look into ALL the loop holes! I purchased it one time and the only time that we ended up having to cancel (go figure) and it was not covered (we were moving out of State). I was pretty angry You just have to look into it and soo if you works for your family.

 

[PollyannaMom]

We do get it. If something so awful happened that we had to cancel our trip, I wouldn't want to have to worry about money at the same time I was dealing with that.

 

[WDWAtLast]

I purchased insurance through TravelGuard. It was only $110 (kids are free under the police I chose) We are going in August - hurricane season here (Houston) and Florida. Plus, my dh's company could go out on strike right before our trip. The policy I chose also allowed for cancelation due to job factors. And would reimburse a portion of our trip if we had to cut it short do to hurricaines. It was worth it for me for the peace of mind!!

 

[WantToGoNow]

We don't get the insurance. I figure I can get everything back except the $200 deposit even if we have to cancel at the last minute. I don't want to have in the back of my mind that we can cancel - anything short of a death we will try to go on - I just hope if anyone HAS to get sick or hurt it happens a day or two before we go although I did break my toe one trip the morning we were leaving - luckily it stayed numb the entire trip (probably because of the walking) and didn't hurt me at all - my entire foot was black though.

 

[letsgoagainsoon]

We always get it. I feel it's better to pay the 120.00 bucks than loose over 2k. Wego during hurricane season usually, but I would get it anyway. We have actually had to use it before, so glad we had it!!

 

[mom2faith]

Like others we opted out of the Disney Insurance, but purchased our own.

You will also want to check to see if you have insurance if the purchase was on Visa (or other CC) as many of them do have travel insurance.

And, check your health coverage through work - I have insurance that way, but it only covers me and not DH or DD.

I agree with the loopholes though, do your research and you will find an affordable and reasonable option.

Amy

 

[caracap]

Thanks for the reply's. I ended up canceling after beig on hold for 15 minutes! It was my 14th day, so I had to make my decision!

 

[a1tinkfans]

Thanks for the reply's. I ended up canceling after beig on hold for 15 minutes! It was my 14th day, so I had to make my decision!

we buy each year online, you can take out the insurance which also WAIVES the pre existant injuries, Up to 24 hours AFTER your final payment, 2 adults one teen and it was $151.
The amount is nominal on a trip that costs thousands.
We have had to use insurance and if we did not have it we would have been out over 5K one year, so, it is worth every penny and the peace of mind having it!
I use insuremytrip.com and they are great with very competitive rates!