Insurance? Worth it or not?

[fletchers]

We will be on the 3 day cruise on Sept 8th. I didn't get the insurance..Should I?

We will be arriving DW on Sept 3rd. I booked the resort separately. Didn't get the insurance for the resort stay either. I just don't know if it's gonna be a waste of money to pay the insurance.

Any advice would be appreciated...

 

[CM_Mom]

I was definitely worth the money for the folks last year who had their cruise interrupted, lengthened, shortened, etc by the hurricanes. It also covers you if you have a medical evacuation or medical emergency.

 

[tecdavidt]

It is worth every penny. You never know if your flight will be delayed because of a bad electric storm in the summer to a blizzard in the winter. My husband learned the hard way our first cruise. We missed the ship because of a blizzard in the town of our connecting flights. Every since then it has been fly in one day early and buy travel insurance. Kathy

 

[scrapperjill]

Is it worth it?? Well I guess that depends....if you don't mind your trip being cancled and not getting any money back...or if something like a hurricane comes through and delays your travel and you miss the ship...if you don't mind forking over the money to catch back up with the boat I guess maybe it wouldn't be worth it. But for us...just knowing if ANYTHING (well just about anything) should happen, before or durring our trip that causes us to cancel, become delayed, or injured we will be covered and in alot of cases get all (less the insurance cost) back in our pockets...it is worth it.

We cruised last Sept...(Sept 11th) and although our cruise was not delayed or cancled...our land portion was....Due to Hurricane Frances messing up Flordia...While we were cruising...Hurricane Ivan was in the western caribbean and Hurrican Jeanne was on her way up as we were going back to port.

If you do some research you can find some great coverage for a good price. I havent' used the Disney insurance...but did find a company that covered more...for less. This trip I checked out Insuremytrip.com and found quite a few good quotes....for as little as $103 our family vacation (2adults, 2kids) of a 7night cruise, airfare, 3 nights at a WDW resort, our tickets to the park and MNSSHP along with our transfers and a few other odds and in will be covered. ...So IMO an extra $103 to know everything from our bags to medical is taken care of if needed...it's worth it...but then again thats JMO

 

[videogal1]

We will be on the 3 day cruise on Sept 8th. I didn't get the insurance..Should I?

We will be arriving DW on Sept 3rd. I booked the resort separately. Didn't get the insurance for the resort stay either. I just don't know if it's gonna be a waste of money to pay the insurance.

Any advice would be appreciated...

December 2004...slipped on metal plate located between bathroom and bedroom portions of stateroom...Charged $100 for on board medical treatment of ankle injury.....paid $98 for insurance, recovered $100.00 after claim filed.

May 2005....suffered chest pains while waiting in line aboard Magic (no, not pin line).... Charged $280 for emergency services... paid $100 for insurance, recovered $280 after claim filed....

Well, I think it's worth it, as do many of the passengers who had to be treated for things from horseback falls to jellyfish stings. Nobody expects problems but as a vacation usually takes you out of your normal world it's only reasonable that you would be less able to forsee problems that could arise....and it could get expensive!

 

[mickeyboat]

Almost missed the ship for our cruise when flights were delayed due to fog. Travel insurance would have paid for us to meet up with the ship in St. Maarten and put us up until then.

We did make a claim for the items we had to purchase while we waited for our luggage to arrive. We spent $200 total on the insurance and made a claim for over that. Between that and the $ we got from the airlines, we got all of our souveniers for free.

I would highly recommend the insurance, especially since you are traveling during hurricane season.

 

[Jillpie]

oops, wrong post

 

[castlegazer]

The ship and your money won't wait for you if you get delayed or soemthing happens. I am young, healthy, physically fit, and I used the ship's medical facility last cruise.

I feel its a necessity when cruising. Its also very cheap to get (always look outside the cruise line to get it)

 

[mmouse37]

Well, we had travel insurance for our 7 day Magic cruise last September (the one that got shortened compliments of hurricane Jeanne hitting Port Canaveral). We were due to leave on a Sat and Thursday found out that the cruise would not leave until Monday, and that it would leave from Ft. Lauderdale instead. We were already in Florida so we drove to WDW and hunkered down at the Polynesian for 2 nights to ride out the hurricane....we saved all our receipts for hotel, rental car, meals and submitted to the insurance company under the trip delay clause and were reimbursed all but $20.00. Had we not had insurance we would have been out over $700.00.

And, more recently, my 16 year old nephew was seriously injured in a soccer accident where he broke his leg and the bone severed the artery in his leg...he was intensive care for weeks and almost lost his leg. Our whole extended family is cruising at the end of the month on another line and everyone else took out travel insurance except them....the doctor said absolutely no travel for months so, they had to cancel but lost their entire deposit of $1,800.00. So if they had just spent about $250 for their family for insurance they would have had that deposit reimbursed. I think an expensive lesson learned. Of course no one expects something like this to happen and who would have thought something as simple as a soccer game would be cause to cancel but that is the point of insurance...it is there to help with the unexpected things that pop up. They are very upset about losing that money and more upset that they can’t join the rest of the family for the reunion on the cruise.

 

[goofymama]

We will be on the 3 day cruise on Sept 8th. I didn't get the insurance..Should I?

We will be arriving DW on Sept 3rd. I booked the resort separately. Didn't get the insurance for the resort stay either. I just don't know if it's gonna be a waste of money to pay the insurance.

Any advice would be appreciated...

I have to admit that I never buy insurance. I think it is very much a personal decision. My DS got a double ear infection on our last cruise and our regular medical insurance reimbursed us for most of the cost of visiting the cruise doctor (but not all medical policies would cover this). Personally, I can afford to lose the cruise money if it came down to it - wouldn't be happy about it though! But having said all of that, if I booked a cruise during the height of hurricane season, I probably would buy insurance that covered the cost of the cruise if we weren't able to go. Other times of the year, I'll take my chances.

good luck with your decision.

 

[Tay N Evie's Mom]

Also, you never know what's going to happen to your family. I booked the 2004 Xmas cruise, only to cancel it (well before the 60 day rule) because DH decided he didn't want to be gone for Christmas. Good thing we did. We would have flown out Friday for the Sat cruise. Well, DD came home from school that Friday and complained that she felt "all itchy". She had the chicken pox! There would have been no way that we could have gotten on the ship and would have had to use the insurance. We also had a cruise booked for Aug 2004, but cancelled it also because we bought a new house last year. That cruise sailed when the 1st hurricane hit Florida and we would have never made our flight since they were all cancelled. Once again, I would have had the insurance and would have had to use it. We're booked on Nov 5, 2005 and have the insurance, but hoping I don't have to use it. Also, I booked my insurance through my TA agency and she informed me that their insurance covers me for a week before and a week after the cruise as well as our flights. So, I didn't have to take the WDW insurance for our 3 nights at the POFQ that we added on to our 7 night cruise.

 

[kcashner]

There are several things to consider. First, does your health insurance cover an air evacuation if needed? Is there a limit on the cost? A helicopter evacuation from the ship can cost up to $25K, and some health insurances specifically exclude air transport.

OK, I've cruised 12 times on the Magic, and think I had insurance twice. We always arrive at least the night before the cruise, and have health insurance. Thus, the worst thing that could happen (I thought) was that I'd be out the cost of the cruise.

We were on the cruise that got changed from a 7 day to a 4 day due to hurrican Jeane last fall. DCL did give us a 40% refund on our cruise fare. As I explained to DD, it cost me every bit of that and more to spend the extra nights locked in our room at WDW while the hurricane went thru. Yes, I could afford it, but insurance would have covered the expenses I incurred.

We're booked in August and have insurance. Worst case, I wasted my money on the insurance. Of course, not needing it is also the best case......

 

[mmouse37]

Personally, I can afford to lose the cruise money if it came down to it - wouldn't be happy about it though! But having said all of that, if I booked a cruise during the height of hurricane season, I probably would buy insurance that covered the cost of the cruise if we weren't able to go. Other times of the year, I'll take my chances.

good luck with your decision.

But that statement is what I don't understand....you can afford to lose the cruise money but would not want to spend a little money to protect yourself and get reimbursed? That just does not make sense to me. I know it is a very personal decision but if you can afford to lose the entire cost of the cruise, you certainly can afford the insurance. I'd rather be out $250 or so than the entire cost of a cruise should something happen....I am not judging just trying to understand!

 

[scrapperjill]

But that statement is what I don't understand....you can afford to lose the cruise money but would not want to spend a little money to protect yourself and get reimbursed? That just does not make sense to me. I know it is a very personal decision but if you can afford to lose the entire cost of the cruise, you certainly can afford the insurance. I'd rather be out $250 or so than the entire cost of a cruise should something happen....I am not judging just trying to understand!

I too was/am having a hard time understanding that statement...to me it just didn't make any sence what so ever. I just can't figure out even if you "can afford to lose the cruise money" why you would take the risk. When you can actually get coverage for little to nothing...I think the lowest we were quoted for our trip this year was $103...for 4 people to cover over $6000...IMO spending $103 is nothing compaired to risk loosing $6000. I guess I just don't get it.

 

[bicker]

Personally, I can afford to lose the cruise money if it came down to it - wouldn't be happy about it though!

But that statement is what I don't understand....you can afford to lose the cruise money but would not want to spend a little money to protect yourself and get reimbursed?

No, it makes perfect sense to me. The reality is that if you're buying travel insurance for just to cover the $3000 price of the trip itself, you're probably not getting a good financial return on your investment in insurance. Insurance -- any type of inusrance -- is a money-making enterprise, of course, so you can rest assured that you're paying more in premiums than you are getting in disbursements, on the average. Therefore, for any unfortunate event that you could cover with your own savings, you're always financially better-off "self-insuring" -- i.e., not buying insurance, but paying for what the insurance coverage would pay for from your own pocket.

There are two aspects that make travel insurance essential:

1) Many many people cannot stomach the idea of paying $300 (or whatever) for some small treatment from the ship infirmary. That's not a decision that protects your finances, but rather one that protects your sanity. People who can gladly -- gladly -- pay $300 for some small treatment from the infirmary without it disturbing the pleasant enjoyment of their trip (because they know that odds are that most people never need to do so aboard ship, so they simply got unluckly this time -- oh well -- "no big deal") probably don't need travel insurance based on this aspect.

2) Many many people cannot afford to pay the costs associated with catastrophes, i.e., the aforementioned medical air evacuation, out of their savings. It is unlikely to happen, if it does happen, you need to be protected.

 

[Melrosgirl]

Worth it only if you use it, but I wouldn't take a chance. get it

 

[jillane88]

We bought trip insurance for the first time for our May 6, 2006 Western Magic Cruise. It was $171.00 to cover our whole family of 5 - did not buy through DCL. To me it is so worth it. We are not going during hurricane season, and we are flying in a day before, however - one of our children has some health issues and I need the flexibility in case I need to cancel at the last minute or in case she gets ill while onboard. Of course I hope neither of those happen, but at least I have peace of mind just in case.

Heather

 

[scrapperjill]

No, it makes perfect sense to me. The reality is that if you're buying travel insurance for just to cover the $3000 price of the trip itself, you're probably not getting a good financial return on your investment in insurance. Insurance -- any type of inusrance -- is a money-making enterprise, of course, so you can rest assured that you're paying more in premiums than you are getting in disbursements, on the average. Therefore, for any unfortunate event that you could cover with your own savings, you're always financially better-off "self-insuring" -- i.e., not buying insurance, but paying for what the insurance coverage would pay for from your own pocket.

There are two aspects that make travel insurance essential:

1) Many many people cannot stomach the idea of paying $300 (or whatever) for some small treatment from the ship infirmary. That's not a decision that protects your finances, but rather one that protects your sanity. People who can gladly -- gladly -- pay $300 for some small treatment from the infirmary without it disturbing the pleasant enjoyment of their trip (because they know that odds are that most people never need to do so aboard ship, so they simply got unluckly this time -- oh well -- "no big deal") probably don't need travel insurance based on this aspect.

2) Many many people cannot afford to pay the costs associated with catastrophes, i.e., the aforementioned medical air evacuation, out of their savings. It is unlikely to happen, if it does happen, you need to be protected.

How can you say..."you can rest assured that you're paying more in premiums than you are getting in disbursements"...When you pay a one-time premium anywhere from under a $100 to a couple hundred dollars....Sure you may not need the insurance at all (and that would be a good thing)...but then again what if your bag is the ONE bag on the plane that's misplaced and becomes lost....your stuck at the airport searching for your bag miss your ride...end up grabbing another ride..get stuck in traffic due to an acident, miss the boat..have to arrange to meet it at the next port....slip as your getting on the ship...twist your ankle need to see the ship doctor.....I know it's a far fetched thought...but ANYTHING can happen...and trip insurance will and can cover you for those unexpected things.

We are not getting it mainly for the little things it will/could cover but for larger things like trip cancelation or delays (like others have talked about..being stuck in Orlando riding out a storm). To each their own....If you don't think it's a wise investment then don't do it. You know if it wasn't for having two little girls...we may not opt to get it either...but soon we will be at the 60 day mark....and just don't want to risk not having a cushion to fall back on. After all spending $100 to cover a $6000 trip...is IMO worth it.

 

[bicker]

How can you say..."you can rest assured that you're paying more in premiums than you are getting in disbursements"...

I didn't. What I said was, "you can rest assured that you're paying more in premiums than you are getting in disbursements, on the average." How do I know that? I know because I've invested in several insurance companies and I'm getting dividend checks.

I know it's a far fetched thought...but ANYTHING can happen...and trip insurance will and can cover you for those unexpected things.

Of course, but you're financially better off, on the average, covering those losses from your own savings when the occur, rather than relying on insurance to cover losses which you can afford to pay out-of-pocket on an occasional basis.

We are not getting it mainly for the little things it will/could cover but for larger things like trip cancelation or delays

Each person has their own threshold for risk tolerance, and each person has their own savings balance. Personally, I keep enough cash around that I can afford to put myself up for a few days due to a delay in the start of a cruise. Trip cancellation doesn't cost me anything, out-of-pocket, at the moment, so given that it occurs so infrequently, it's always a better financial move to just eat that loss when it occurs. However, I still like having that covered, even though such insurance isn't a good financial value. Rather, it's just a matter of peace-of-mind, not peace-of-wallet. The main focus for me, with regard to travel insurance, is coverage of catastrophic events, like medical air evac.

To each their own....If you don't think it's a wise investment then don't do it.

Of course, but let's keep it real: It isn't a wise financial investment, for anyone. It can't be, by definition. The value of peace-of-mind is where travel insurance pays off.

 

[CAD3655]

The isurance was definitely worth it for us. I ended up getting Norwalk virus on the ship during our honeymoon. Got most of the money back on the cruise. They do deduct any days you were on the ship from the total amount refunded....but I we were able to rebook the next year for a full week instead of 4 nights and and had a great time.