Trip Insurance

[MissNurse]

Okay, I need some input. We will be going to Disney June 2010, and I want to know everyone's opinion on purchasing trip insurance. Has anyone ever needed it and used it? Was it worth it? Any advice appreciated!

 

[a1tinkfans]

Usually buy it each summer trip in Aug as it is hurricane season. This year thru Disney, in past thru online company.
I have nit used disneys but I will say that years back a trip to Cabo that was several thousands of dollars was canceled due to illness and we got back ALL our money.

Some people like to chance it.....others don't....I think disney says it'll charge 200 if you cancel within 5 days of trip (plus any other fess...you'd have to read it)

So, its a personal decision....if you can affird to LOSE the $$ in the event of a cancellation, forgo it, if it would stress you out to lose the money (which also covers air, etc) buy it, it is relatively cheap compared to lost $$$.

Also, be VERY careful to look at policies, pre existing injuries/illness (to you AND others) is Excluded....some policies look back a certain number of days.....Basically, you can "add" that in if you want...I usually do when it is not thru disney....and most say that you have to add the Ins within 5 days of final payment........

ASk questions to be sure you get what you want....I have used insure my trip dot com and they were great in my experience with them/
Good Luck, hope this helped a bit........

 

[disneycountrygirl]

I think the answer was touched on in the post above - it depends on how much it would mean to you to lose that money.

Our family always gets trip insurance when the trip will be over $1500. That's our comfort limit. That's the point in which we could eat it, even though it would totally suck, but that's life sometimes - and then just do the trip later.

But when we are spending almost $4K, if we have to eat it, we wouldn't be booking it again, and it would be $4K down the drain. So it's worth it for trip insurance.

We have taken 5 trips (a cruise, Disney Cruise, Disney World, Disneyland, and Mexico) where we got travel insurance and didn't have to use it any of the times, and both of the cruises and DW trip were right in the middle of hurrricane season.

 

[Chicago526]

I wouldn't buy it for the Disney portion of the trip, Disney has a pretty decent cancelation policy, you'll get most of your money back. BUT, if you are flying I'd buy insurance on the airline tickets. Depending on how many tickets you're buying and how $$$ they are, that could account for half or more of your total vacation cost, and those are non-refundable no matter how much you cry on the phone to the customer service rep. It also covers you for lost/delayed bagagge and a few other things as well. Cost of airline ticket insurance varries a bit, but I'd figure on around $25 per person. I recommend either Trave Safe or TravelEx, I've used both for my clients (I'm a travel agent) with great success the few times claims had to be made.

 

[jpatro21]

I would buy it. Never know when a hurricane might come sweeping through in the summer.

 

[eeyoregon]

I buy it for any trip that involves a cruise or airfare and if we are traveling during hurricane season.

I purchase thru insuremytrip.com and go with the companies that give free coverage to children if their parent(s) purchaes coverage.

You just NEVER know what could happen and as a single parent with one income, I can't afford to lose my travel investment, especially when it could have been covered for as little as $50.

In July I was rushed to the ER in the middle of the night, had emergency surgery and spent the next 5 days in the hospital. If I had been on a cruise (which I was just 9 weeks earlier!), I would have needed medical evacuation as the ship's medical facility could not have handled my illness. Depending on where you are, medical evac can cost thousands and thousands of dollars plus the cost of the actual hospital bills, of which my personal insurance only pays 90%, accomodations for my family in a foreign place, airfare home from the hospital, etc. All of this would have been covered 100% between my personal insurance and the trip insurance.

I'm glad I have never had to use my trip insurance but happy to know it is there just in case.

 

[Belle & Ariel]

We get it through Travel Guard when we cruise or do air/land packages.
Disney has a great cancellation policy and we do not get it for them. If you cancel up to 5 days prior, you lose $100. I think up to the day of arrival you lose $200. Your insurance through them can be more than that, so if you go, you lose more than that for sure, and cancelling is a small risk.
For example, we could get Travel Guard for about $70. If we cancel up to 6 days prior, we lose $100, so we are really only risking the loss of $30.
If you read the policy, it is not as great as you would think and not as easy to collect, especially in the event of a hurricane. It also does not cover illness of family as well as you would think. Much fine print!

 

[findmewdw]

Yes, I always buy it and my grandmother died during one of our WDW trips a few years ago. I was so glad I had purchased it. They helped me get new flights out and knowing I didn't have to worry about the money at an emotional time was wonderful.
I normally purchase CSA, but I think I'm going to go through insuremytrip.com and get my insurance through Travel Insured. I am interested in knowing if anybody has used this company before. It's a lot cheaper and while it won't pay for preexisting coverage, I think it sounds okay for my family and is much cheaper than CSA. Anybody use this company?

 

[MissNurse]

Thanks for the advice, everyone. I didn't realize that there were so many options for trip insurance out there. I was just asking about the one Disney offers. We purchased it on our trip last year, and thankfully didn't need it. Thanks everybody!

 

[SuzanneSLO]

You also need to compare your real loss to the cost of the insruance. For example, while plane tickets may be $500 each, on most airlines you would only lose $150 per ticket or less if you need to cancel or change them, as long as you can travel again in the near future. Again, while the total cost of your hotel might be $1500, you might only lose one night if you need to cancel.

You may be better off putting the money you were going to spend on travel insurance in an emergency fund. After a few trips, you will be able to financailly handle anything that the travel gods throw at you. -- Suzanne

 

[opus_00]

Isn't the Disney vacation insurance pretty restrictive? We didn't buy it for the last package we booked through Disney because my main concern was that my husband would get sent out of town on a last-minute business trip, forcing us to cancel. They told me the insurance would NOT cover a situation like that. Since that scenario was more likely than someone getting sick or dying, we decided not to purchase it. What reasons for cancellation are covered by the insurance?