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TRAVEL INSURANCE


VinceC

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Is it necessary for a young person to have health insurance?  My 20 something son hasn't needed a doctor visit in years.  

You can buy house insurance that covers the dwelling only, no content coverage.  Do you need to protect the stuff in your house?

You can buy the minimum auto insurance coverage required by your state.  However if your car is stolen you are on your own.

For anyone who has had something occur that they didn't expect the resounding answer is... YES!  You need insurance.

A cruise vacation can be a sizable amount of money.  If you have lots of money and can afford to walk away from the potential loss then you don't have to have insurance.

Insurance is for the unexpected.  No one expects to miss a cruise when weather or an airline cancels your flights.  No one expects to have a car accident on the way to the port.  No one expects to be rescued off a ship with a $40,000 helicopter medical evacuation and placed into a foreign country in a foreign hospital that doesn't take your health insurance from home.  

If you decide to travel without insurance you assume any loss when the unexpected occurs.  You can scream at an airport gate agent.  You can shout at the cruise line on the phone.  You can write a negative on the internet but at the end of the day it's not their fault and you have lost the money.  

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11 minutes ago, VinceC said:

What would be the best option for CRUISE INSURNACE?

The best option is doing your research and knowing exactly what you WANT to be covered and finding a policy that covers it.  Different policies cover different things.  For instance, while many people may not need this protection, I personally need "cancel for work reasons" due to the fact that my work can rescind my PTO last minute.  I should consider "cancel for any reason" due to the fact that insurance doesn't usually consider "pet sitter backed out" to be an emergency.  Some people wouldn't need this.    Some websites (there are a few) will give you a quote from a variety of providers with different levels of coverage.  Sites like insuremytrip.com and tripinsurance.com are just two - others may have different suggestions.  The key is, as boring as it is, read and know what it covers before you purchase it.

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32 minutes ago, VinceC said:

What would be the best option for CRUISE INSURNACE?

Best is in the eye of the beholder.

Find out if your credit card offers any travel coverage.  Consider what is important to you.  Is emergency medical transportation a concern?  If you don't fly to port then lost luggage coverage might be less important.   

I cruise often so for me an annual insurance plan is attractive but the coverage limits are lower compared to other types of travel insurance.  Someone who books suites might look ay my policy and say "heck no, I need more coverage".

One policy might not cover 100% of every possible expense but it can take the sting out of the situation and lower your losses to an acceptable amount you can live with.  More insurance that has higher coverage limits costs more.  Only you can decide what is appropriate for your needs.

 

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We always get the insurance. It is so worth the peace of mind.  We have witnessed 2 helicopter and 1 boat  pick up of ill passengers over the last 4 years.  Anybody young or old can get injured or take ill.   Dunn`s River Falls is notorious for causing many injuries.  It`s like that slogan.  Don`t leave home without it. 

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Travel insurance is relatively inexpensive and most times it covers a LOT of things you may not have even though of. Every thing from a medical emergency enroute at any point, delayed or cancelled flights, mechanical breakdowns on the way to the airport, unscheduled delays that require additional travel or lodging and so on. If it cost you lost time or money and is legit and you can justify it with receipts, travel insurance probably covers it. The insurance usually only cost $100-$200 or so.

Even so, I do not get it all the time. I weight the cost of the trip and complexity. If I have to change planes several times, have multiple hotels, and the total cost of the trip is 'expensive' (for me, expensive is in the neighborhood of 8k or more) then I go with insurance. If I am simply driving for a day to catch a week long cruise that only cost maybe 4k, then I probably take my chances and forgo the insurance.

The rules may vary for international travel. I am not well versed there. I would view it as complex/expensive and get insurance but I am not sure of the cost. I do know travel agencies often offer insurance or may even include it in the package.

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8 hours ago, FManke said:

Insurance is the only thing all of us have and never hope we use.

Agree, just never know the what ifs that might occur.

So far my only insurance story has to due with an airport closure due to an impending hurricane. New one way plane tickets back home cost just about what the policy cost.

I live in Tallahassee and the original plan was flying Southwest to Orlando from Newark and the drive back home. Well Hurricane Irma had other plans with the Orlando area and caused an airport shutdown that started a few hours before our flight would have arrived. Did work out for the better because we flew back to Tallahassee. Unfortunately Tallahassee was in the cone for Irma's second visit to Florida. Still it was nice in a way to make it back home so last minute preparations could be made.

Now on the flip side the claim process can be fun. @AshleyDillo can explain all the joys of putting together a 70 some odd page document for the claim.

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I never thought travel insurance was necessary until 2 years ago when a friend had a massive stroke just hours of boarding a RC ship.  Because he was already onboard, the ship's doctor arranged for him to be helicoptered off the ship and to a hospital near Miami (ship had not even set sail yet).  The travel insurance not only covered the cost of the cruise, but also the cost of the transport.  There would've been no way his medical insurance would have paid 100% of the helicopter transport.  You may never need the travel insurance, but I would rather have it for peace of mind.

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  • 2 weeks later...

i never bought travel insurance until something happened.  ive never booked without it since.   its worth it, even if your young and in your 20's it usually covers problems with extended immediate family where you must cut your vacation short to get home.  parents, grandparents etc......   

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24 minutes ago, CyclingVa said:

i never bought travel insurance until something happened.  ive never booked without it since.   its worth it, even if your young and in your 20's it usually covers problems with extended immediate family where you must cut your vacation short to get home.  parents, grandparents etc......   

Some of them even cover pet emergencies - perfect for someone like me!

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On 4/14/2019 at 11:54 AM, WAAAYTOOO said:

Only if you want to be protected against unexpected risks. I’m sure Twangster and Sweety have some important opinions on this subject due to recent events beyond their control.

Yes! Yes! Buy travel insurance. It's the second thing I do. The first YOLO book the cruise.

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On ‎4‎/‎14‎/‎2019 at 11:49 AM, VinceC said:

Is it really necessary to buy Travel Insurance?

I pondered this not long ago and reasoned it out this way:

When I was young I was invincible. Nothing would happen to me. It always happened to someone else. And if by some fluke, it did happen to me I'd deal with it.

Now that I'm not so young, I've realized it can and does happen to me. And with each passing year, the probability increases.

We will probably go for the insurance on future cruises, also.

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There are many  types of insurance (although you can combine them).

1. Travel health insurance which  to my opinion is a must as it comes to cover unexpected expense which can be very big.

2. Travel cancellation insurance - This one comes to protect your investment for what you already paid , each one should think if it makes sense to him or not, if someone going to do his once of a lifetime cruise and invest allot in it I would for sure add this insurance just to make sure if something happens you can still do you dream cruise just on another date. for someone that cruise allot  I guess you need to do the math ,  cost of cruise , number of cruises , cost of insurance  and chance that it will happen . for example , if you are going on 10 cruise a year, cost of the insurance is 200 $ , cost of flights and cruise is 3000 $ , statistic says you will need to cancel every 30 cruise -  200*30 = 6000 $ to insure 3000$ ....  But cost can can be reduce with annual insurance and other options.

Its all about doing the math. 

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1 hour ago, spursfreak21 said:

Has anyone had any experience with utilizing the travel protection/insurance benefit through their credit card?  I know most major carriers offer trip cancelation/interruption/medical coverage automatically if you use the card to book the travel.  Has anyone encountered this?

I have a Citibank Black Diamond card and they cover some cancellation/interruptions up to $3,000 per person per trip.  Full details at www.cardbenefits.citi.com.

Covered Reasons include:

  • Traveler(s) sick and advised to not travel (by licensed medical practitioner)
  • Medical advisory for area traveler is visiting
  • Traveler needs to provide care to family member verified by licensed medical practitioner
  • Traveler's pet is ill (verified by DVM)  *Note: SpeedNoodles*
  • Traveler dies
  • Traveler family member dies
  • Traveler or family member called to active  military service
  • Traveler's residence is burglarized or declared unfit for habitation within 10 days of trip departure
  • Terrorist act on itinerary
  • Mandatory evacuation on itinerary
  • Natural disaster on itinerary stopping travel for at least 24 hours

Citi also offers death/dismemberment for accidents on trips, but no medical/transport/repatriation.

 

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