Cruise Insurance - Worth it?
 

Hello,

I just booked a 7 day Caribbean cruise and the agent added insurance to cost and said i can remove it later if i want. I'm from California and this is my first time cruising. My question, do you think i should keep the insurance or remove it? Also, is it the same type of insurance that credit card companies offer? Please advise. Thanks!

There are many different travel insurances, providing a variety of coverage. I never buy the insurance offered by the cruise or airline companies. I like to buy separate travel insurance that gives me exactly what I want, usually medical care and/or cancel for any reason. You might do some comparison shopping at the website, insuremytrip.com

Truth is, we have bought travel insurance only a couple of times when flights were expensive and we had family and health stuff going on that we worried might make us cancel the trip. Then, the only time we needed it because we had a family emergency and cancelled expensive flights, we had not bought any. Weigh cost of insurance against possible loss, but make sure the insurance you buy would actually cover possible situations.

If your cruise is very expensive or there is anything that could possibly happen to make you miss the cruise, then you might want insurance. The most important thing for us, is some kind of medical evacuation insurance, which I would certainly buy if we were going anyplace without great medical care.

Since it is your first cruise, where are you departing from? If you have to fly to your port, like to Florida, go at least the day before and stay overnight pre-cruise, just in case of flight delays. Once, we did fly in the day of a cruise, getting there just in time to check in. It was a nail biting experience, one I won't repeat.

Whether or not Trip Insurance is "Worth It" - is something only you can decide. It's like any other insurance - it becomes "worth it" only when you have a claim and the terms of the policy you purchased covers your potential loss. Ask yourself would canceling or rescheduling your trip cause you a sever financial burden? If so you might want to consider keeping/purchasing Trip insurance. On the other hand if you cancel or reschedule and your out of pocket expense is small or does't cause you much concern then you might not need Trip Insurance.

First, make sure you fully understand the terms of the Trip Insurance Policy so you know if it covers the type of "loss" you wish to insure against. For example: Cancel because of medical condition, cancel because of hurricane, cancel because for any reason, Trip Interruption, Lost Luggage, etc. As Sassafrass says, there are many different types of Travel Policies and coverage can vary greatly so you MUST READ THE FINE PRINT.

Second - Make sure you understand the cancelation policy of your cruise line and, if flying to your embarkation point, your airline's cancelation and/or rebooking policy. Figure out how much your out of pocket costs would be if you had to cancel or reschedule your trip and what affect that would have on your personal finances if you don't have insurance. Keep in mind that some airlines allow you to change your flight to a future date (within the next year) for a relatively small fee (when compare to the cost of the actual ticket).

Third, if you have a pre-existing medical condition most Travel Policies will cover you only if you purchase the policy within a set time period of the date you book your trip.

Trip insurance is rarely inexpensive but if it is needed the benefits can give you peace of mind. ONLY YOU can decide if it is "Worth it".

Oh, and by the way - without knowing what the insurance provided by your credit card covers there's no way anyone can tell you if it is the same as the individual policy offered by your cruise company/travel agent or the policy you purchase from a different source. YOU HAVE TO READ AND COMPARE POLICY TERMS BEFORE making a decision.

Thank you for your responses.

We always buy travel insurance whether it be for a cruise or a land vacation and twice it has paid out big time. Do find out what it covers and consider if you were to become ill abroad and if your medical insurance covers that. Most do not and such things do happen. It happened to my wife who needed 5 days hospitalization in Bangkok and our travel insurance covered the bill 100%.

We had to cancel a cruise over the holidays due to an unexpected serious illness and hospital stay by my mother in law the day before we were to leave. If we hadn't had the travel insurance we would have been out the $5000 for the cruise. We did buy it through AIG ourselves. Very glad we had it.

Thank you for all your helpful responses. Love the website u gave me. I cancelled the insurance offered by Carnival. Doing some research now to buy my own...you are correct... A lot cheaper.

Turns out I only need medical insurance and evacuation. My credit card companies (I paid with multiple cards for air and cruise) already cover baggage lost, trip cancellations/interruption, accidental death/dismemberment, already.

Since my mother is coming with me (she's 73 and healthy), I ll just buy the medical just in case. We are going on a Caribbean cruise by the way. Jamaica, Cozumel, grand Cayman.

I hope you have a wonderful cruise? What ship?

Glad you decided to get some insurance. Some people balk at the extra cost but it really isn't that much and its so comforting to know you are covered.

Cheers, Larry. :).

...If we hadn't had the travel insurance we would have been out the $5000 for the cruise......

However, read the fine print carefully. Not all travel insurance would cover the situation described by travel-princess. Remember it is insurance to cover risk. The more risk cover, the more expensive the policy would be.

You might also want to look at a supplemental policy for medical emergencies that covers you year around. We carry a policy for emergencies on any travel more than 500 miles from home for about a $150/year. Spend some time with an insurance broker to determine what best fits your travel situation.

We always get travel insurance for our vacations. We've had to use it four times over the years. They weren't for a large amount of money but we had piece of mind knowing we had some coverage when we had the medical issues. In our case we paid for the treatment then applied for reimbursement from the policy when we came home. We use a popular private website to compare policies to make sure it will cover what you want it to cover.

Are you sure the insurance you got covers trip cancellation by YOU, or by the cruise line? Please make sure it covers if you have to cancel the trip (usually due to illness). As I tell my cruise clients, only cover the amount of money you don't want to lose!

Probably not directly relevant to the OP, but here is a cautionary tale that may be useful to others. Last year at this time my mother’s health declined rapidly (not unexpected as she was 99) and it was clear she did not have long to live. My daughter had insurance for an upcoming 2 week trip with her family of four. However, she discovered that while it would cover her in the event of the death or serious illness of many family members it did not include grandparents. As it turned out, we had the funeral a couple of days before her departure.

So as others have said, review carefully before purchasing and make sure you understand the fine print.

Eliztravels2,
Thanks for that very helpful example.

I've always thought that if you can afford to travel, then you can afford to have travel insurance.
Incidentally, in my country a lot of travel insurance policies will not cover you in the event of illness or death of relatives aged over 80.