Trip insurance

[Marla1106]

Do you buy it for your Disney package?

I have never bought it before. But, on our last Disney trip, we found out that my sister had a brain tumor and that it was cancer. THis was on our last day... so we just left as scheduled. Even though I was so torn being so far away when she had brain surgery.

Well, my sister isn't doing well and is now living with my parents. We never know what is going to happen.

I'm scared if we don't have trip insurance and something happens..... we'd be in a mess.

So in this case, would you buy trip insurance? Would it refund our money if something (hopefully not) happened and we had to back out or leave early?

 

[Canooknic]

We always buy travel insurance if we are going more than a few hours drive away (I worked in travel insurance in the UK for several years so know lots of horror stories!). My SIL however never does.

It all depends on which policy you take out, but most would cover you to get flights home, but not necessarily the missed part of your vacation. Some would, some even cover a new trip but you would have to look into it with the specific company

 

[DVC-Don]

I've only purchased trip insurance for cruises.

 

[figmentswife]

We always plan for the worst and hope for the best. So, Yes, we get the trip Ins. 1st trip, lost my cell phone, and the trip Ins. paid for it.....so it paid for itself.

I would check to be sure that it will cover you needing to leave early for your sister (god forbid you need to) it may only cover parents, children...that sort of thing. It would do you no good if it doesn't cover that you would have to go home for your sister. So read the info and then decide.

 

[bumbershoot]

If you had to leave for her sake, you would need to make sure your insurance covered pre-existing conditions (in insurance speak it means you have the pre-existing condition waiver). This probably means the Disney insurance isn't going to work for you (though I'm only going off of the fact that Disney *cruise* insurance doesn't cover such conditions). I would recommend calling the CS people at insuremytrip.com to talk about exactly what you need and what you would get, if you had to cut it short.

I'm really sorry about your sister.

 

[Handbag Lady]

I am so sorry about your sister. In this case, I would buy insurance and make sure it covers what you want it to cover.


We usually buy insurance if it is an expensive trip and if we are going out of the country or on a cruise, and our coverage is for various needs: medical airlift (cruise ship), cancellations due to anything (expensive trips), medical (out of the country trips).

If we are just going to WDW on SouthWest, we usually don't buy insurance and take our chances.

 

[robinb]

I usually don't buy insurance but in your case I would just to ease your mind. It would be worth it. Sorry about your sister {{hugs}}.

 

[Marla1106]

Thanks everyone. I will call and see what it covers and make sure that this would be covered.

It was a shock two years ago when we were at Disney. I was almost scared to book again, but we need to continue to live our lives. Her tumor is currently not active, which is great, but the radiation treatments have caused brain damage, so new issues are starting because of all that.

 

[sookie]

I would buy the insurance. If you had to file you would file with the new issue as the reason - for instance, if someone had a stroke secondary to a tumor - you file with the stroke (the acute issue) as the reason for filing. At least that was what I was told. Some insurances only cover the person who is sick - some cover the entire family. So you have to know what your policy covers. The better the policy - the higher the cost.

I always bought the insurance but have never had to use it. But every insurance is different so you would need to talk to your agent. Some insurance companies are better than others. You can buy some insurances after you buy your packages (up until the day you leave) and other packages you can only buy when you book.

Hope that helps.

 

[magsmum]

I have purchased trip insurance twice. The first time we were traveling to Peru and my mother needed surgery to remove a very large cyst from her liver. The surgery was scheduled to happen during our trip. Had something gone badly and I needed to return, my costs to travel back and reimbursement for missed travel costs would have been covered- I spoke at length with the agent and even though my mother's condition was known before our trip, a bad situation would have been covered. I bought the insurance the day before we left. Fortunately all went well for my mom, but DH fell ill while we were in Cusco and the insurance was well worth it for covering his medical costs (doctor at hotel, hospital, tests) as well as nonrefundable train/bus tickets and entrance to Machu Picchu.

The second time I bought insurance was b/c we were traveling to FL from New England during Feb. We are going again this year and I may pick it up again in the event that weather strands us.

Good luck!

 

[MommytoaSweetie]

I'm so sorry about your sister!! I lost my brother to brain tumors. It sucks. Even when he was in remission for awhile and not actively dealing with them, it just totally sucks. I pray her health improves!

As for trip insurance, we've used it in the past (non-Disney... we were supposed to take a family trip to Hawaii before my brother got worse, it got changed twice and then eventually cancelled) and it was helpful, so for that reason, I used to always purchase it. Then for this coming trip, we got to thinking about it more and for our purposes, we're not certain it would really be helpful, so we're not going with it this time. I'm praying that was a good choice. However, if it could work for your case with your sister, I absolutely would get it - it's not a bad idea even without an outstanding reason.