Why you need to purchase travel insurance for your cruise

Should you purchase insurance for your upcoming cruise? It's a decision you shouldn't overlook, and we've got a few reasons why it's probably a good idea to get it.

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[KATrewin]

I used to be a travel agent. I sold one of my clients insurance before he went overseas for the first time. A short time later, I had his father at my desk in tears. My client had suffered a fatal accident and was on life support until his parents could arrive (minimum 24 hour travel time). Insurance helped get his parents to him, covered the medical expenses and repatriation of his remains. Insurance isn’t just for the person who takes it out...sometimes it’s to help your family if something goes wrong.

[mariareyes-ku]

It does not really matters how old you are. Everyone needs travel insurance because anyone can have an accident. I know there was a case of a young man that suffered from apendicitis onboard the ship and they had to take him to the nearest port for an emergency surgery. Check out Nurse Nancy’s video where she was injured ice skating onboard RCCL cruise ship. We all need it and should get it.

[tarac]

Its not always a medical emergency or getting to the ship....We went on a 3 day cruise in 2011 and the entire cruise was great. We stayed one night(Sunday)at Disney after the cruise. However, our flight was canceled due to mechanical failure on Monday. We were rebooked for Tuesday. We made the best of it and went to Magic Kingdom. Tuesday's flight was canceled due to weather. Wednesday's rebooked flight was rerouted due to weather and we missed our connection in Chicago. Had to stay the night in Chicago. Finally on Thursday, our Chicago flight was canceled due to weather. We drove 9 hours home to make it back home for work on Friday. This all took place in MAY. Not winter, May. Travel insurance paid for all our hotel rooms and meals....we ended up getting an $1100 check for this delay. Well worth our $100 we spent to get it.

[FreakoutVideosUS]

Get it, Have it and not need it. Rather than needing it and not having it. Accidents happen all the time.

[waldocruise]

One addition I’d like to add about recent changes with Travel Guard. They’ve added inconvenience coverage which does cover some of those things mentioned as not covered in the video. Detours of the itinerary or delays due to weather even if the rest of the trip goes as planned. It’s not available in every area, but here’s a quick copy/paste from their site about it.

Travel Inconvenience Benefits: $750 (aggregate), $250 limit per coverage. Reimburses up to the Maximum Limit shown on the Schedule of Benefits if any of the following Unforeseen events occur: Flight Delay, Flight Cancellation, Runway Delay, Cruise Diversion, River Cruise Diversion.

[rozhonea]

We always get the insurance because we book a year in advance. You never know what's going to happen in life!

[algiersc]

I paid $125 for two adults. We didn't need to use it, but it provided security. My concern was medical and I wanted to make sure we were covered.

[sherrykassai]

Always buy insurance. Husband broke leg in Nassau & we had to pay $250. before ship doc would see him. Making a claim for reimbursement is totally worth it.

[NubianJourneys]

Travel insurance is highly recommended and important. I missed a 8 day Balcony Royal Caribbean cruise on the Symphony of Seas out of Barcelona Spain because I misplaced my passport. I lost $3, 000 because Royal Caribbean wouldn't allow me to transfer the funds to a future cruise and because I didn't want to pay an extra $180 for travel insurance. My mistake which will never happen again.

[MrJdjking]

I’ve been on 20 cruises in the past. Had one booked for Nov through BJs Warehouse Travel. The agent told me a should get the insurance. First time I did. Had to have surgery on my hip 3 weeks before the cruise. I cancelled and used the insurance. I got a full refund.

[Jetfuture]

Insurance is generally a for-profit business. The qualifying question for anyone to consider is “can you afford the loss?” If you have paid for your vacation ahead of time, like a cruise, or could easily pay off the credit card you put a vacation on, then you likely don’t need insurance. Don’t go by your own experience, or the experience of others. Go with the stats. The actuaries know how much to charge to make X% of profit. The airlines, cruises, travel companies don’t all offer insurance to give you a great deal. They do it to MAKE MONEY.

By all means, if you CANNOT afford the loss, then purchase the insurance. But if you are paying out thousands for a cruise, and cannot afford the loss, can you really afford the cruise to begin with?

Other thing to keep in mind is many credit cards likely provide you with travel insurance at no charge.

Just an opinion from a guy who has never bought additional insurance and is likely ahead by about $40, 000 over the past few decades. Invest the insurance premiums you would have paid and become “self insured”.

[mariareyes-ku]

The one time we did not buy travel insurance, we ended up at the Emergency Room of a nearby clinic in Chile with our son. The bill was for $250.00. When we came back to the U.S. our healthcare insurance did not wanted to reimburse it because they wanted a more “detailed” invoice from the clinic. Although it was not a big amount of cash, it could have been worst.

[josephjohnson]

Never purchased travel insurance for our previous cruises but thinking about it for out next cruise

[fernlin-healy]

For American senior citizens, it is particularly important to have travel insurance when traveling outside the United States, as Medicare does not cover expenses incurred in foreign countries. If you have pre-existing conditions you should buy the policy as soon as you make the first trip payment because most travel insurance policies only cover pre-existing conditions if the policy is bought within 7-10 days of the first trip payment.

[lindabaca]

I always buy insurance but the insurance I got from Costco's offered insurance did not cover train delays. A hurricane (I think it was Irene) was coming up the east coast and Amtrak (Auto Train) called to inform me that all trains in the south east were being cancelled the next day which was when I was leaving. I called the insurance company and was told only and bus delays were covered so I would not receive any coverage and would lose thousands of dollars. In hindsight I did a stupid thing and drove through the outer bands of the hurricane. I now get insurance through Royal Caribbean which I think still has a "cancel for any reason" clause and gives you a 75 percent credit on a future cruise.

[soremekun]

We buy insurance through Geo Blue for med and evac.

[AFoxGuy]

Got it, bought it.. than hurricane Dorian made our 5 day navigator cruise into a 3 day (Still Went!) and got half our tickets cost back :) (Generously by Royal) were about to not go but went anyway :)! "GET. THE. TRAVEL. INSURANCE. IT. IS. WORTH. IT."

[dvandentop]

what is a preferred one that covers air and cruise? along with price range to expect

[dinaelhag]

Thanks Matt for another great video! This clarified a lot of confusion for me!

[BrianAlt]

Always buy Allianz cancel-for-any-reason insurance.