Vacation Insurance...what If...?

[CheapMom]

I am a little confused on how insurance works.
What if one member of your party is sick before the cruise and we all can't go? Are we reimbursed for the trip? What if one member of our party gets sick onboard and is confined to cabin per captains orders?

 

[The4OfUs]

I used TravelGuard, and yes they would have covered both.

http://www.travelguard.com/products/protect-assist1103/coverage.asp?rnd=36114727420091021

My MIL, a TA, recommended this one for us because of the pre-existing conditions clause...and this one, with ALL those services, was cheaper than the DCL one, that offered alot less.

 

[CheapMom]

I am confused. It looks like they are saying that illness to cause trip cancellation or delay must be life threatening. I thought that if you had a stomach virus or the like you were supposed to NOT go on a cruise ship because you could be contageous.
What's the deal?? Also if you get sick on the cruise how do they reimburse you?
For example if 2 out of 5 of us are sick for the whole cruise what kind of reimbursement do we get? 2/5ths?

 

[The4OfUs]

We did not have to use it, but my MIL said that if we got sick prior, we would need a drs note saying that they did not recommend our travel...and if we got sick on board, and were confined to the cabin for day 48 hours, we would be reimbursed for those 2 days for the person who was confined.

As I said, I don't have the details, and every trip insurance will have different rules, but MIL uses this one because in her experience they have been the easiest to work with for claims for her other clients.

 

[CheapMom]

Thanks for the info

 

[bobby sox]

I too am a first-time cruiser and am trying to purchase trip insurance. Did you decide where to purchase your coverage from? I seem to recall seeing other insurance providers mentioned in these forums but don't recall their names.

 

[tkd lisa]

We had to use our trip insurance last January (2003). Our DD and my DH had the Norwalk virus and were quarantined. We submitted a claim saying when we got sick, and Access America refunded us for the percentage of our trip that was affected. My DS and I weren't quarantined, but he couldn't go to the kids programs, and they asked us to limit contact (i.e. no pools, dining rooms, etc.) We played shuffle board, watched a movie, etc. Anyway, the rebate was something like 2 days out of 4 * price of trip less price of trip insurance.

 

[CheapMom]

Access America- were they easy to deal with? I was looking at either ACCESS AMERICA or TRAVELGUARD
PS: Sorry to hear about your misfortune
ALSO- what if you are seasick? I have heard of people being confined for seasickness. Is this because they don't really know if you are seasick or have a virus? I also saw that seasickness was covered by at least one of the insurance companies.

 

[tkd lisa]

Access America is the company DCL uses if you buy through them. For our next trip, I'll probably go directly to AA (currently have it with our DCL booking, but will switch to save $ and get our non DCL WDW trip covered).

Anyway, as far as seasickness being covered, I'd imagine you'd have to be so sick as to not be able to participate in activities and not have medication help you.

The post about being quarantined for seasickness was during the height of the Norwalk scare, and is unlikely to happen again.

 

[dvarallo]

My son, friend's daughter and niece were all quarantined due to the Norwalk Virus on our January '03 cruise. Since they were all 5 years old at the time, an adult had to be quarantined with them. My friend and I flew home from St. Martin, but my sister decided to stay. The insurance paid to fly us home plus we were reimbursed for the days of the cruise we missed as well as the days we were quarantined. They added up the total we paid for the cruise less what we paid for trip insurance and divided it by the number in our party then multiplied it by the kids that were sick along with the adults that were quarantined with them. This case was a bit confusing because we were 3 different families in 3 different staterooms.
We retook the cruise in May and my son got sick again the day we were in St. Thomas. This time, the doctor diagnosed it as too much rich food (he ate about 10 slices of salami after we got back from Megan's Bay), but asked if we would stay out of the kids club for 24 hours. I submitted a claim to Access America and was reimbursed for the day we missed.
For all you people out there that are considering saving money by not purchasing the Trip Insurance, I would highly recommend it.

 

[tezb]

I just recently got 2 quotes for family of 5 RCCL cruise. Travelguard was double the price than Access America. I booked thru CSAA since I'm a member and they use Access America. I was quoted 281.00 for all 5 of us while Travelguard wanted to charge me 482.00! Big difference....I also didn't need so much medical coverage as my own insurance would also cover the cost in full.