trip insurance

Old Oct 6th, 2013, 05:45 PM
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trip insurance

My wife and I are planning a Viking River cruise (Romantic Danube) from Budapest to Nuremberg, with a three day extension in Prague a year from now. Much can happen in a year, so we're want trip insurance. Viking offers a "Cancel for ANY REASON" waiver in their policy if purchased within 14 days of trip deposit. Other policies we've researched cost less, but offer cancellation refunds of only 75% or less and primarily for medical reasons.

Any advice or recounts of experience would be appreciated. Thank you.
joevainella is offline  
Old Oct 6th, 2013, 06:16 PM
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I like www.insuremytrip.com to compare policies. You can also call them with questions.
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Old Oct 6th, 2013, 08:08 PM
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Insurance is a gamble with the odds set against you. Insure only what you can not afford to lose. Myself, I have medical insurance only. Losing a bag or a flight or a trip I would not be happy but it would not severely impact my lifestyle. Incurring a $30,000 medical bill would.

However, if insurance makes you feel better, sure, consider it a part of your nice trip experiences.

regards - tom
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Old Oct 7th, 2013, 06:40 PM
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Tom, most cruises -- river or otherwise -- require full payment 60 or 90 days prior to departure. At that point, you are risking a whole lot of money, not just the cost of a bag or flight.

Joe, obviously you are not risking serious money until you make your final payment. At that point, I'm not sure what reason you think might cause you to cancel your trip that isn't included in a standard trip cancellation policy. I suppose if your dog was very sick or died, you wouldn't be covered but usually you can work around most things and still make your trip. If you or your spouse get very ill, however, then you obviously wouldn't be able to travel.

I think only you can determine if it is worth the additional premium cost to be able to cancel for "any reason."
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Old Oct 7th, 2013, 09:32 PM
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I know about when full payment is due on cruises, tours, etc.
But that is beside the point. The point being how would losing the cruise affect you? If it means never ever in your life being able to go on a cruise, then insure it. In my case, and I suspect most peoples, it would mean I'd miss that cruise, lose the money, and not be happy. But next years travel budget would include a cruise.

Again, losing a cruise (or suitcase) for me is not life changing. Incurring a $50,000 medical expense is. Does your medical insurance cover you when out of USA? Many do not.

What if the best possible care for you (medical emergency) is in the USA? Can you afford the $80,000 charter flight (international) back? MedJetAssist is an insurance I do buy.

regards - tom
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Old Oct 7th, 2013, 11:12 PM
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I absolutely would buy insurance when going out of the country. I got seriously injured when in Europe a couple years ago and missed a cruise and had to fly home early for additional treatment. The insurance paid close to $20,000 for our missed cruise, change in airfare (which was over $3,000 even tho we had bought business class seats for the trip) and other expenses. We were very happy that we had bought the insurance. We also now have MedJet Assist insurance also which we did not have at that time.
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Old Oct 8th, 2013, 06:00 PM
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We always get trip insurance when traveling to Europe. We also try to get the most medical insurance coverage in conjunction with the trip cancellation/interruption coverage we require to cover our non refundable costs.

While not life changing, I don't feel it is financially prudent for me to put the cost of a cruise at risk when I can purchase insurance for a reasonable amount of money and also cover any medical issues that might arise when I am out of the country.
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Old Oct 9th, 2013, 07:37 AM
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We always do it. It's just part of the trip. We had to cancel 2 trips for medical reasons and were very glad we had it. We have also been on trips where people fell, etc. and had to leave. The extra money is worth it for peace of mind.

Cali, going to look into MedJet Assist insurance too. Thanks for the information.
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Old Oct 9th, 2013, 08:23 AM
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I very much favor trip insurance, but I'm somewhat hesitant to recommend policies offered directly by the travel provider. They usually don't offer refunds but rather credits for future travel. So if you had to cancel for medical reasons, you might only get a credit (sometimes transferrable, sometimes not). So you definitely have to read the fine print carefully. And these policies may or may not include medical coverage abroad, so you could need to buy yet another policy. A medical policy that covers evacuation is particularly important when traveling abroad, and that's the main purpose of my insurance.

But if you have health issues of your own or older parents or young kids, health problems can often disrupt trips.

Finally, so-called "cancel for any reason" policies rarely allow you to cancel for any reason at all. The reasons are always spelled out in the policy, and you always have to read the fine print to make sure it covers the reasons you feel are most likely to affect you.
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Old Oct 9th, 2013, 01:51 PM
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Good points, Doug. Always read the fine print and if there is some insurance speak you don't understand, call and have them explain it to you.
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Old Dec 17th, 2013, 07:16 PM
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I would also be hesitant about using the travel providers policies they are mainly just an extra to encourage ease of selling and you really need to be careful. It would be far better to have a look at some of the bigger companies like Travel Guard that have a wide range of policies so that you should be able to find something that suits your circumstances.
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