Trip Insurance needed?

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jimtheswede

Guest
Hello,
I just booked our 3rd cruise aboard the Galaxy for 2-27-04. On our previous cruises I booked thru Expedia and purchased their travel insurance. On this one, I booked thru Celebrity and haven't bought any travel insurance. Just wondering if this is really needed? Has anyone ever used it and is it really necessary? Any advice or feedvack is greatly appreciated! Thanks,
Jim Swedlund

Constellation 4/03
Century 4/02
 
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BP

Guest
We never buy insurance but it is an individual thing. If you are concerned, buy it. To me it is a waste of money. Take a buck and buy a lottery ticket. We have been traveling for thirty years and never would have collected on any insurance.
 
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thmsmcdnld

Guest
Just completed my 14th cruise on Celebrity and have never booked trip insurance.I think it's a waste of $. But again it's a personal thing.
 
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BSeabob

Guest
You don't need it....until you need it. That's why it's called insurance. Never leave your country without some kind of extra health coverage would be my advice.
 
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cruisequeen

Guest
We never used to book insurance but will from now on. Last fall we had a cruise booked and I got hospitalized. We had no trip insurance and would have been out all that money if we couldn't have gone. Luckily I was allowed to go but I was fortunate.
 
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Frank Black

Guest
Take the Insurance. Look at CSA's web site. Good rates too.


<http://www2.csatravelprotection.com/csa/do/csa/dispatcher;jsessionid=B24252268221D87792C30945725358E4?forward=twelcome&phc=bqpjbp6khnh9p>

Here is one reason to take insurance. It's from my Mercury review of a few weeks ago.


One passenger twisted his ankle playing volleyball and had to have x-rays in Cabo San Lucas. (The x-ray machine on the ship was not working). They charged $800 CASH plus $100 each way for an ambulance ride to and from the ship.
 
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ljeanbrown

Guest
You need ins. if something happens or someone gets ill either on your cruise or in your family. We would NEVER cruise without it. For those that have been lucky and never needed it, that is great, but you never know, none of us do and that is why people buy ins. We have been on 18 cruises and not used it UNTIL the 19th cruise and boy were we glad we had it! OK , here is one example: you have a cruise booked and paid for. It is 2 days until you cruise and a family member becomes very ill and you can't make the cruise. You cancel the cruise and loose all your money because they do not give refunds after a certain # of days prior to the cruise. Or same thing happens and you have ins. and you file a claim as we did and you get your money back! Ins. is for things that happen when we don't expect them to happen. It is just like having health ins. maybe you don't use it but you have it if you need it. JMHO
 
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jael23

Guest
We never bought insurance when we first started cruising. Unfortunately we have been on cruises that people needed it. On one cruise a fellow 54 years old and that had been in perfect health had a heart attack and did not make it. Another cruise we were on someone had a heart attack in Costa Rica. Thanks goodness she had insurance which paid for her to be flown by private plane back to Florida. I also had a cousin get sick when she was in Spain. The insurance paid for her hospital there and flew her home. I would buy insurance and hope you never need it. All you need is one thing happening and you would never complain about the cost. It is not that much for the peace of mind you would have. Jan
 
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BarbaraK

Guest
We always have insurance, you never know when you may need it. :)
Ask ' Maw ' one of our C@, she fractured her ankle last year.
This is what she just posted to someone asking about insurance on the "Community Board'.

Buy the insurance. I didn't on my 2nd cruise. Broke my ankle in the Caymans and it cost me $3800 just to get off the island. I had to pay for air fare home for my daughter and myself and settle the hospital bill before I left the Island. Your private hospitalizan does not normally cover you out of the continental US.
Maw
 
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thmsmcdnld

Guest
As my previous post comments indicated that I don't take trip cancellation ins. but i do get a rider on my health ins.for international travel as well as insurance for emergency evacuation. Many types of insurance exist so I would suggest that people define what insurance they are talking about.
 
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ljeanbrown

Guest
thmsmcdnld,
I am refering to all types of ins. that could be needed while traveling (ie. medical, medical evacuation, trip cancellation, baggage protection, trip interuption and so on) not just a certain section of coverage. We purchase an all inclusive plan through Travel Guard that is our primary ins. while traveling. Like I mentioned trip cancellation ins. is very good to have. With the plan we get it doesn't cost a lot for what you get. Also we just put in 1 claim that made buying the ins. for all of our cruises more than worth it. We are ahead of the game so to speak, and that is with just 1 claim.
 
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jimtheswede

Guest
Thank you everybody for the excellent advice and feedback! I guess my decision is made - now I need to shop for the policy. Anybody ever buy it thru Celebrity? Again, thanks all for the great help!

Jim Swedlund

Constellation 04/03
Century 04/02
 
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jael23

Guest
Don't book through the cruise line. Have you ta check and see what they can do for you. You will save alot of money and get more coverage.
 
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theodorebpjr

Guest
I've always bot trip insur. with queationable results. With the sars outbreak in Canada, my MD said "he would't go", so I cancelled with Holland America but my claim was turned down. Another time had to see the ship's MD, but the minimums ruled me out.
Also MEDICARE won't cover outside US.
 
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egee

Guest
Take trip insurance and definitely take it from the cruise line. I don't understand why most people who are quick to say buy coverage from another source don't understand the value of cancel for any reason benefit only offered through cruise line insurance. With cruise line sponsored coverage you can cancel either for an insurable reason, such as medical for yourself or family and get cash back or they will give you most of your money back in the form of future cruise credit if your reason is not insurable...like you just don't want to go or something comes up in your job. That's great piece of mind. If you buy from someone else, you give up your right to cancel for a reason which may not be insurable. We recently had to cancel a cruise because our adult daughter went into labor in her 6th month. This happened to be an insurable reason...we had her doctor fill out a form, sent it into Berkely which handles Princess coverage and we received a check within 2 weeks for the 75% penalty we had suffered.
 
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ljeanbrown

Guest
egee,
for one thing most do not cover pre-existing conditions and that is a valuable thing to have covered. Also most" other" ins. give you more $$$ coverage for each cat. covered. Also if you book your own hotel and airfare the cruise line ins. does not cover that. Those a a few reasons why cruise line ins. is not as good. Almost forgot another good one if the cruise line goes bankrupt the cruise line ins. doesn't cover that while the other ins. will ( if it is on there list of covered cruise lines) cover most cruise lines.
 
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joanpav

Guest
My Master card provides cancellation insurance for any trips charged to my card,for this they charge a fee of $60. a year ,unlimited trips. They have a health insurance component too but we don`t need it our own health ins plan covers travel. Ours is a Canadian Bank of Montreal Master card but there are many credit cards who provide this service. It`s really worth it ,we have had occasin to use it .No hassles.
 
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