should i buy trip insurance for the DCL?

[Disneyfun1]

I never buy trip ins for our vacations and have never needed it. When we go to WDW in sept,i am not buying it either. But i keep seeing all this info about ins for the cruise. Do you usually buy ins for the cruise?? Is there any major reason to get it, or should i save the $100 for other things??

 

[mickeyboat]

I wouldn't go without it.

What if you miss the ship (we almost did) and have to be flown to the first port of call?

What if a medical evacuation is required (try to search for the story of the snorkeler who almost drowned at CC)?

What if your luggage gets lost or delayed (our did)?

I think it is a small price to pay for the peace of mind.

Denae

 

[tvguy]

I had never purchased travel insurance before my Disney cruise, but I had never spent $9,000 on a vacation before either. Didn't buy it on my previous cruises, but I'm don't recall ever even hearing of travel insurance (other than the old life insurance vending machines they used to have at the airports in the 70's) in the 80's when we did most of our cruising.

I bought it because the fare is non-refundable. I would not buy it going to Disneyland since the most I would be out is on night's hotel bill.....everything else is fully refundable.

 

[jennat]

I have never bought insurance before, but after last September, I am certainally buying it now (in fact just did five minutes ago). Our traveling companions had it last year and came out ahead of us financially. We were in hurricane Jeanne (shortened cruise, rental car and hotel expense surprise). We are traveling again in Sept and def getting it. Check into insurance from an outside agency like Global alert www.globalalerttravel.info
for cheaper rates. Ours was $160. for four of us ($999.00 per person trip cost).

 

[two-foxes]

I will not travel without it, especially during hurricane season, when using a source of travel (a cruise ship) that can easily be affected by bad weather. Trip insurance truely was a huge financial lifesaver for us in September when we got stuck in Hurricane Jeanne, like the above cruiser. Trip insurance reimbursed us for the $900+ dollars we had to spend in additional hotel cost, rental car costs and food costs for the three nights we were in vacation limbo due to the delayed cruise. It is like any insurance, you hope you never have to use it, but you are pretty freakin' happy that it is there when you need it!

Check out some different sources for travel insurance...we used www.accessamerica.com for our last trip, and we will most likely use them again for our Sept cruise this year.

 

[getoutthere]

We have always got it but fortunately have never had to use it. Some friends of mine, on the other hand, had to once when their business burned down while they were on a cruise. Their ins. cover all of their expenses getting back home as well as the five days of the cruise they had to miss. I will always get it and hope I never have to use it.

 

[disneysooz]

I will not travel without it, especially during hurricane season, when using a source of travel (a cruise ship) that can easily be affected by bad weather. Trip insurance truely was a huge financial lifesaver for us in September when we got stuck in Hurricane Jeanne, like the above cruiser. Trip insurance reimbursed us for the $900+ dollars we had to spend in additional hotel cost, rental car costs and food costs for the three nights we were in vacation limbo due to the delayed cruise. It is like any insurance, you hope you never have to use it, but you are pretty freakin' happy that it is there when you need it!

Check out some different sources for travel insurance...we used www.accessamerica.com for our last trip, and we will most likely use them again for our Sept cruise this year.

We were also on this same hurricane cruise and used Access America. They reimbursed with absolutely no problem at all. The other thing to consider about cruise ships is if some medical emergency were to occur. I have heard that most medical insurance we carry here at home is no good on a cruise ship. And what if you have to be evacted off the ship? That is something that costs thousands. Not only do you have the medical expense, but you lose everything you paid for your vacation as well. We will never cruise without insurance.

 

[BowlingAriel]

Anyone know if yur ship is one that has that nasty NORWALK virus and you get sick, will the insurance reimburse you for the cost of your cruise that you are obviously missing?

 

[ivanova]

Anyone know if yur ship is one that has that nasty NORWALK virus and you get sick, will the insurance reimburse you for the cost of your cruise that you are obviously missing?

Some travel insurance will reimburse you for days you are quarantined in your cabin.....but you need to research the various insurances to verify they actually provide that coverage.

For normal vacations (aka two weeks to WDW or a national park, etc.) we don't get travel insurance because we haven't sunk a lot of money into it in advance (just the cost of airfare). If I had to cancel a vacation, I'd be out a couple hundred bucks per person.

But a cruise is paid for in advance, more than 60 days in advance (and a lot can happen in that 60 days). That's a lot of money to lose if you have to cancel at the last minute, or cut your vacation short to come home early.

I base it on how much $$ I'm going to lose if something goes wrong (is it hundreds or thousands of dollars out the window) and if that is a some of money I'd be able to live with flushing down the toilet.

 

[kar313]

We have never gotten trip ins before but we are thinking about a 4day Wonder cruise this Sept and after last year's hurricane season, we are def planning the insurance in our budget. Cruises are a lot of money up front.

 

[disney queen]

we got it for our upcoming october cruise. this is the first time ever for us to do so. the couple travelling w/us has an elderly parent and we all know what could happen there. plus, october, hurricane season.....

 

[cruisenewbie2004]

Buy the insurance.

Seriously.

If you can't spare the $100 to insure you for this $$$$ vacation, seriously rethink going.

 

[Tay N Evie's Mom]

If you have children, I would recommend buying it. I tried to talk DH into the Dec 2004 Xmas Cruise back in 2003 and even had put a deposit down on a cabin but DH decided that he would not like to be gone for the holiday. It turns out if we would have booked that cruise we wouldn't have been able to go anyway. The day before the cruise set sail our DD came home from school with the chicken pox. We would have been flying out that day and there is no way we would have been able to get on that cruise. If we would have booked the cruise and not had travel insurance we would have been out the whole thing. We also had a cruise booked and paid for Aug 14, 2004 but cancelled that one also because we bought a new house last year and had to put in a yard, so there went the cruise $$. Once again, the DCL faries must have been watching out for us. That was the cruise that set sail the day after the 1st hurricane hit Fl. I was bummed about not going on that cruise until I saw the news and I know there is no way we would have made it into FL before it hit. So, you never know what life can throw your way. I never buy insurance for regular trips because the most I would be out is the $$ for 1-2 nights at a hotel, but the cruise is so expensive and I would hate for all that money to be lost.

 

[missyoh8]

xxx

Never go on a cruise without it!!! Did I say NEVER!!!

xxx
Jill did you just say Freakin' on the Dis boards???????lol


missyoh8

 

[CM_Mom]

Trip insurance is not just for hurricane season. Remember the travel/luggage fiascos over Christmas? And last night hearing about the severe snowstorm in the northeast, I was wondering if anyone missed their sailing either Saturday or Sunday because the airport they were flying out of was closed. Just be sure to read the conditions/restrictions on the trip insurance you purchase.

 

[jdm]

I'll always remember another disser bring it down to basics. If you can afford to be out the average $3000 to $8000 for a cruise and not sweat it, then don't bother. If not, then better buy the insurance! I just bought it for our cruise.

Like the others, if it's a land vacation- I generally don't. Although, I took a weekend flight to Reno to celebrate a girlfriends birthday. The insurance would have cost $32 for the package. Well, strained my neck swinging my lugguage out of the bus on arrival (no, I was not struck in the side of the head trying to dodge a chippendale dancer's jock strap as DH accused ) Anyway, a trip to the emergency room, had to miss GF party. Had to add a day because I literally couldn't drive or turn my head - agony-. Had to change flights $$$, add another day to the hotel$$$ and our med insurance only covered 60%$$$ so my little 3 days in Reno ended up costing me $2000 and I had a rotten time (Honest DH, a ROTTEN time!!!) Oh, if only I'd sprung for the lousy $32 bucks of pakg. insurance..... but hey! What could happen on a little weekend trip with the girls

Jenn

 

[minkydog]

We had our cruise scheduled and baby-sitter lined up, when my DH got sick. Real sick. He became suddenly disabled, on oxygen, unable to drive or go to the store. Thank God we had trip insurance or we would have lost everything.

 

[two-foxes]

xxx

Never go on a cruise without it!!! Did I say NEVER!!!

xxx
Jill did you just say Freakin' on the Dis boards???????lol


missyoh8

Yeah, I thought it really "freakin" encapsulated my emotions, thoughts and feelings about my joyfulness of us having trip insurance to fall back on. Freakin fit perfectly!!!! (I am trying to improve my sailor mouth!)



As far as what trip insurance covers, you can download specifics of the access america plan on their website. It does cover a heck of a lot more than hurricanes.....

 

[llyolf]

ok... so I've perused the two websites mentioned.... what do you think this the best plan to go with? I plugged in my numbers (estimating cost of cruise since I used DVC points) and it's like $800 for the best.... they don't really have anything in between covering $1000 and $50,000 for cancellation.... the other one Global Alert is a little vague... you can get a premium quote... but it never really adds it all up.... in Oct it will be me, DW, DD(5) and DD(3) (who knows the ER Doc's by name at home)..

Cheers,
llyolf

 

[missyoh8]

O.k.

In all seriousness we got our insurance through AllSeasons where we booked our cruise last September. You can buy your insurance through them on the allseas.com site even if you did not book you cruise through them. Just click on the insurance icon.

We had over (freakin') $2600 in claims due to hurricane Jeanne and they paid everything except a 12 pack of Budweiser and a pack of Marlboro Lights! Seemed like our check took longer than our cruisemates to arrive......however our claim was a little larger as well.

Good luck,
Missyoh8