Travel insurance

[Paqratkitty]

Is the travel insurance worth it? Sorry, tried searching but didnt find anything and wasn't sure where to post this.

 

[MillauFr]

It is a waste of money. Don't buy it.

 

[tvguy]

It is a waste of money. Don't buy it.

Usually. Not a 100%, but usually. Depends on your situation and your health insurance and where you are traveling.

 

[Shanti]

Is the travel insurance worth it? Sorry, tried searching but didnt find anything and wasn't sure where to post this.

Is it for a WDW trip or a cruise? For the former, I wouldn't spend the money. For the latter, I definitely would. A big part of the difference is that if you are cruising to a 3rd world location (this includes the Bahamas, Caribbean and Mexico), and you have an accident or become ill, it can cost in the tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars to be airlifted to a hospital in the U.S., and payment must be made up front. Travel insurance that includes medical evacuation (and this coverage is standard in travel insurance for cruises), will cover the expense for you if such an event occurs. The amount you pay for that insurance is miniscule in comparison to the protection it offers to your health and finances.

 

[tvguy]

Is it for a WDW trip or a cruise? For the former, I wouldn't spend the money. For the latter, I definitely would. A big part of the difference is that if you are cruising to a 3rd world location (this includes the Bahamas, Caribbean and Mexico), and you have an accident or become ill, it can cost in the tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars to be airlifted to a hospital in the U.S., and payment must be made up front. Travel insurance that includes medical evacuation (and this coverage is standard in travel insurance for cruises), will cover the expense for you if such an event occurs. The amount you pay for that insurance is miniscule in comparison to the protection it offers to your health and finances.

If you are a U.S. Citizen in the Bahamas, and Caribbean you most likely be airlifted out for free by the U.S. Coast Guard.
And even if you have travel insurance, you most likely will have to pay upfront, and file a claim later.
You should check your medical coverage. You may already be covered. Our "el cheapo" health plan covers out of the country care and airlifting. The insurance rep said those claims are rare, and most often, health care costs are much lower outside the U.S. so it actually saves them money over having someone getting treatment here.

 

[Paqratkitty]

Guess I should have been more clear. We are just going to Disney world. Thank you all! ~ 8:-

 

[MillauFr]

Guess I should have been more clear. We are just going to Disney world. Thank you all! ~ 8:-

Absolutely no reason to buy travel insurance if you are going to Disneyworld.

 

[HarperLeigh]

The only time we purchase trip insurance is when we cruise.

 

[Shanti]

If you are a U.S. Citizen in the Bahamas, and Caribbean you most likely be airlifted out for free by the U.S. Coast Guard.
And even if you have travel insurance, you most likely will have to pay upfront, and file a claim later.
You should check your medical coverage. You may already be covered. Our "el cheapo" health plan covers out of the country care and airlifting. The insurance rep said those claims are rare, and most often, health care costs are much lower outside the U.S. so it actually saves them money over having someone getting treatment here.

The Coast Guard does not guarantee U.S. citizens airlifts from foreign waters, and often does not provide that. Even when they will do so, they do not guarantee a lift to an American hospital, which most Americans would desire. The travel insurance we use pays for medical evacuation upfront. I've never heard of a cruise travel insurer that doesn't. Most people don't have the extra tens of thousands of dollars that a medical airlift would cost sitting in their checking account for immediate payout.

 

[tvguy]

The Coast Guard does not guarantee U.S. citizens airlifts from foreign waters, and often does not provide that. Even when they will do so, they do not guarantee a lift to an American hospital, which most Americans would desire. The travel insurance we use pays for medical evacuation upfront. I've never heard of an insurer that doesn't. Most people don't have the extra tens of thousands of dollars that would cost sitting their checking account for immediate payout.

No guarantee, correct. I don't know anyone who has had travel insurance pay for an airlift so I can't speak to that. I do know someone who had the Coast Guard airlift him off the the MS Amsterdam halfway between San Diego and Honolulu, at no charge.

 

[AquamarineSteph]

Well, it depends on the cost of your trip and how much you are willing to lose if something happens and you can't cancel/reschedule your trip within the covered parameters.

 

[cargo13]

THere are alot of benefits of travel insurance even for a domestic trip.
PRE TRIP: cancellation coverages if you book well in advance, have non refundable travel expenses, and have any risk of cancelling (like elderly parents, pre existing health conditions that could flair up, etc). Given Disney is so expensive, we always buy for trip cancellation. ,

IN TRIP: interruption coverages like hurricanes, baggage lost/delay, rental car insurance, missed connections.
[probably dont need the medical or emergency evacuation but my Father had a heart aneurysm while we were @ Disney. He had emergency open heart surgery in Orlando but travel insurance paid for his medivac home to a local hospital.

Look at GENERALI Travel Insurance ==coverages are the highest we have found and pricing is good.

 

[tvguy]

I have only purchased travel insurance once in my life (I'm 60).
Here is why I did for this one trip.
1) It was a Disney Cruise, and the most expensive cruise we have ever taken (3 times more expensive).
2) It was during a peak holiday travel season, traveling December 26 to January 3.
3) It was during a time when the weather can be awful.

It really is no different that deciding what other kind of insurance buy, or how high a deductible are you comfortable with. How big a risk are you willing to take? And, again CHECK your health coverage, because a lot of folks don't realize they may already have the air evacuation coverage with their normal health care coverage. No reason to pay for double coverage. And while Medicare will NOT pay for air evac, if you have a supplement, it MAY pay for it.

 

[pens4821]

I wouldn't for disney. Even with a package if you'd have to cancel within a few days you'd only be out $200, right (not sure if the rules actually)? The insurance cost would be more than that probably.

I don't know about other airlines, but you could rebook with southwest for use within a year of original booking. The airfare, to me, would be my biggest worry about losing money on. If we'd have to cancel most likely we wouldn't be able to travel with the time frame to rebook. I would still take the risk though, but it's up to you.

Now, we go to the beach in august (just got home actually) and always get insurance. Have needed it a handful of times. There is no canceling the beach house. If they re-rent it you get most back I think, but if there is a hurricane you get nothing without it.

 

[570traveler]

We bought it for our trip last Thanksgiving. Being from the northeast I was worried about an early snow fall. It was a waste of money. Going again this thanksgiving and won't purchase it. Worse comes to worse and I'll just reschedule the trip. I'd rather take my chances then pay again. It's a $200 fee up to 2 days before the trip. I'm sure we'd know if it was going to storm by then!

 

[garada3]

I wouldn't for disney. Even with a package if you'd have to cancel within a few days you'd only be out $200, right (not sure if the rules actually)? The insurance cost would be more than that probably.

I don't know about other airlines, but you could rebook with southwest for use within a year of original booking. The airfare, to me, would be my biggest worry about losing money on. If we'd have to cancel most likely we wouldn't be able to travel with the time frame to rebook. I would still take the risk though, but it's up to you.

Now, we go to the beach in august (just got home actually) and always get insurance. Have needed it a handful of times. There is no canceling the beach house. If they re-rent it you get most back I think, but if there is a hurricane you get nothing without it.

Can you offer suggestions as to what to look for in a policy for a beach rental? We are part of multi family beach rental next August and would like coverage to avoid losing our money.

 

[pens4821]

Can you offer suggestions as to what to look for in a policy for a beach rental? We are part of multi family beach rental next August and would like coverage to avoid losing our money.

I always just take the basic insurance offers by the realty company. For the most part they give you 100% back (minus insurance cost). I've had to use it for hurricanes, a death in the family, and the road on the way to the island being closed one year. For some peace of mind you could look for the cancel for any reason insurance but you're going to pay more for that. When you're searching just make sure to look at all the details (for example, is it fully covered or just 90%?).

Sometimes the insurance companies make things difficult. Like the year the road was closed there was a provision of something like the road being closed up to 14 days or something. We lucked out because we were going right after it was closed, but they were denying claims for others (the road was out for a couple months). Don't know if people got their money back or not. Then this year there was a power outage caused by human error. Well the insurance said only natural events, not manmade were covered. Once again, not entirely sure how that played out.

We go to the outer banks and the realty companies offer it when you're booking. Not sure about other beach destinations. If you aren't offered it, you could just google travel insurance and there are plenty of options. Red sky and travel guard are two that I know are used in the outer banks. I know at one point I was looking for trip insurance and I found a site that let you compare different companies. I will look to see if I can find that site again.

EDIT- the site is insuremytrip.com.

EDIT 2- Not sure why it's not showing up but you can easily find it by using google.

 

[lovesmurfs]

For Disney, I wouldn't -- most everything is cancelable.

We booked a trip to Scotland, though, back in February, for October. We just took DD to college. Because I didn't know whether/how it would all work out, so I went ahead and bought the travel insurance. Probably won't need it, but it was mostly for the peace of mind in case we needed to cancel.

 

[pearlieq]

Check your credit cards. Many of them offer decent enough trip insurance. I use my Citi Double Cash for booking flights/cruises because it offers full travel insurance, including cancellation for pet illness. It's one of the best plans I've found, and it's free as long as I pay for the trip with my card!