nina88

We have been travelling for the last 20 years and other than our European travel last year (there was a scheduled strike during our visit + we prepaid the apartment stay) we never took travel insurance. Most probably because we never took packaged vacation and we stayed at hotels where you're charged just about a night or so for cancellation. This time, our BI/Maui condo are prepaid; still, we would not have thought about taking insurance until the Japan tragedy happened. Will appreciate feedbacks on whether to get insurance or not and what was your experience. Also, been reading about travel insurance forums and it seems that lots of people are having problems getting paid because of some exclusions, conditions, etc. Thank you.

bettyk

We've taken out trip insurance for our last few trips to Europe. About 8 weeks before our trip last year, my husband got very ill and we ended up having to reschedule our trip from mid September to the end of October. We had over $1000 in non refundable copayments for our flight upgrades as well as the $250 pp penalty to rebook flights.

I had purchased a policy through www.squaremouth.com with TravelSafe Insurance. I notified them of the claim online and downloaded the claim forms. They required an Attending Physician's Statement, which we were able to get from my husband's doctor. In addition to receipts for all prepaid items, I sent paperwork showing when he was hospitalized and that he was still taking prescription pain medication.

Within a couple of weeks, we received full reimbursement for everything we submitted.

Obviously, you need to read the policy carefully before you purchase to make sure it meets your needs. Because we both have some health issues, I wanted to make sure that pre-existing medical conditions would be covered. This required that I purchase the trip insurance within a specified number of days after I made the first payment towards our trip, which in our case was our airfare. We also wanted medical coverage since our insurance does not cover us outside the US.

SiteC_er

No

LindainOhio

You have to look at how much you could lose if you cancel. If we have a lot of nonrefundable prepays,(like villas in St. John), I get insurance to cover unexpected illness. We do not have any preexisting health issues, but we make sure the policy includes trip evacuation insurance, especially when we visit a foreign country or go on a cruise.

We have a large family so I get a policy that covers trip cancellation and trip interruption in case of a death of a family member.

You would have to look at the policy regarding natural disasters.

You can compare policies on www.insuremytrip.com. Travelguard has a good reputation and several posters have mentioned receiving reimbursement.

rpowell

We also use insuremytrip but have never had to make a claim. It gives us peace of mind when we have made large nonrefundable reservations.

nina88

Thank you, we considered Amex Travel but decided on Travelguard (Basic).

turtlegirl

Considering our favorite resort, Kona Village on the Big Island, was just wiped out and is closed indefinitely due to the tsunami, I would definitely recommend trip insurance.