Trip insurance
 

Is it best or cheaper to buy trip insurance through the line you are sailing with or through the web such as Allianz?

There's no "best" place to purchase trip insurance, only different places.

As far as being "cheaper" that depends on what type of coverage you are purchasing, the policy terms and the particular insurance company you use..

There are many different companies that offer a wide variety of Trip/Travel Insurance policies in various price ranges. You can compare policy terms and premiums for almost every type of travel insurance policy available at www.insuremytrip.com

When purchasing travel/trip insurance be sure you read and understand the terms of the policy(ies) you are considering to be sure they cover the type of risk you wish to insure against.

After being booked on a cruise line that went belly up 3 days before our cruise, I would never buy insurance through the cruise line.

Good point abram.

Since I travel at least 6-8 times a year, I have found it to be cheaper to have a policy that includes travel, loss of luggage, travel health, accident, legal, etc., all in one package that covers both my wife and I. Be sure to read what is and is not covered and ensure that you won't have problems with travel insurance due to medical pre-conditions.

Bookmarking

We don't take travel insurance for land based travel that we plan ourselves (non-tours). Cruises can be quite expensive, so we always take insurance, but we do not purchase it from the cruise line. We check coverages and get recommendations from our travel agent. We have heard too many cases where friends have gotten ill just before a trip and lost their cruise fares for both husband and wife.

Not just cancellation insurance. Check your health insurance. Most public insurance (Medicare, Medicaid) does not cover you outside the US. Many private health insurance does not either (my Blue Cross policy does not cover me outside US).

Mine covers me for emergency treatment outside the US. Yours may also.

I've used World Nomads for international land travel.

Don't buy insurance from anyone you are traveling with (air, cruise, tours, etc) If they go out of business, your insurance does too.

As noted above, use insuremytrip.com to compare many plans and to read reviews.

We purchase insurance for our travels - but not so much to cover the cost of the cruise or airfare, but to be sure we have coverage for unexpected emergencies. If I am on a cruise ship or away from a big city I want to be sure I would be evacuated to a good hospital - or even home, if that is best.

You can cover the cost of your trip at almost any amount you choose - for us, we never cover all the cost - I think if we were to lose our cruise fare or plane fare, we could absorb it - maybe not happily, but it wouldn't present a financial disaster.

But a serious health issue or an accident? Evacuation? Could easily end up in the six figures.

Most policies will include the medical and evacuation coverage, usually to $250,000 for medical and the same for evacuation - the bottom line rate depends on how much of your actual travel expenses you are wishing to include in the coverage. For example - say your cruise and airfare come out to $10,000 for two travelers. You could insure the travel expenses for $5,000, and still get the full medical/evacuation coverage. The policy would cost less than if you insured it for the actual cost of the travel.

When you start looking at the various insurers, you can play around with the numbers and see what works best for you.

If you do decide to cover your travel expenses, be sure NOT to include refundable costs, such as rental cars, hotels that allow you to cancel without charge, etc.