Poll do you buy trip insurance, if so have you had to use it?

Do you buy trip insurance, if so have you had to use it?

  • Yes, but I have never needed it

    Votes: 132 55.9%
  • Yes, and I used it (please tell more about that below)

    Votes: 45 19.1%
  • No, and I have not needed it

    Votes: 52 22.0%
  • No. but I wish I did (please tell more below)

    Votes: 6 2.5%
  • No, I could have used it in the past but I still don't plan to get it (PLEASE explain below)

    Votes: 1 0.4%

  • Total voters
    236

adSimba

Always another adventure with Mickey
Joined
Dec 18, 2014
I don't want to create arguments on the board, but I love information and opinions. Please keep this civil (i.e. don't tell other people what to do) it is potentially very useful information.
 
I have purchased it for the past 2 cruises because we book about a year in advance. We buy it through a USAA affiliate. We don't need it for airline coverage as we are only less than 30 mins from PC. Never had to use it..so far.
 
I purchase it. I have not had to use it in conjunction with a cruise but have used it on a trip to paris. I was bit by some kind of spider or something 6 or 7 times. No biggie, went to the pharmacy and got some cream and allergy pills. The next night I had a red streak running from my wrist to my elbow, a sign of blood poisoning. Had to go to the emergency room to get treated. Travel insurance covered all of my expenses including the uber ride to get there and back. Best $17 I ever spent.
 
Purchased it for our cruise years ago. The airline lost our luggage, and we were able to purchase $75 worth of clothing for each day that we were without our luggage and send the receipts into the travel insurance company for reimbursement.
 


Bought travel insurance for our cruise last year, and I will for our next cruise. Hadn't purchased travel insurance for any other trip we've done, but this was our first time 'out of the country'. The cost of evacuation from the ship if needed is part of why we bought it. Hopefully we will never need to use the insurance!
 
We are booked on our 11th DCL cruise in Feb 18. I buy insurance every time. I have lost count of the times they have had an ambulance pick someone up when we dock - I buy it strictly for the ability to cover $50,000 in medivac helicopter costs to get us back to the mainland should any medical emergency arise. Some of these islands you do NOT want to have their local hospitals treat you. Just my own opinion.
 


I have not had to use it yet, but I get it - at least for my Presidents' Week cruises. Because I live in NYC and Presidents' Week is in February. 'Nuff said.

Spring Break and Summer Break cruises I am a little more slack about, but usually end up getting it.

The way my luck goes, the one time I say "Oh, I just won't get it this time." is the time something will happen and I will wish I had it.
 
We've used it twice. DH had a gall bladder attack the last morning of a cruise and we had to spend the night in a hospital in Boston. (So glad we were back in the states!) Trip insurance covered everything that health insurance didn't take care of. Plus we were able to change our flights at no additional cost.

Second time DH was recovering from knee surgery and the dr didn't want him to fly to Europe -- too much danger of blood clots. Not to mention he wouldn't have been able to do much walking on shore excursions. Trip insurance reimbursed $8000. So yeah, we don't cruise without insurance.

Now that we're on Medicare and they don't cover out-of-country health expenses, it's especially to have trip insurance coverage.
 
We buy it through World Nomads. We usually only travel outside of the U.S. so our health insurance won't cover us. I always buy it for cruises (it's so cheap) because I'm terrified of those insane costs I've read about people having to be airlifted off the ship! Fortunately we've never had to use the insurance. (We also book very far in advance and my husband has to get visas for most places we go so at least we'll be covered if for some reason we can't go.)
 
Buy it every cruise due to booking so far out. Had to use it once due to illness in the family.
 
Yep, cruise back into Galveston was fogged out, we were stuck in international waters for hours with no cell coverage, had to wait hours in line on board for satellite phone. Missed flight, missed car to airport and was charged as a no show, had to change 5 airline tix, needed dinner and hotel, food next day, so yeah, would never cruise without it.
 
So. We buy travel insurance for every trip. Even land-based trips. (not weekend getaways, etc. You know what I mean.) So lets see... over 20 years, we've probably taken 20 trips with Insurance. Out of those 20 trips, we have needed it twice. Once for a cruise vacation, one for a land-based vacation.

The land-based vacation was for a trip to OBX and a hurricane wreaked havoc on the barrier island and the island was still under evacuation orders the day we were to arrive. And, the house was damaged and so we couldn't even salvage part of the two-weeks. We had to provide all sorts of documentation (including the public evacuation order and documentation form the rental company that we could not get into the house and they had no other comparable house to place us) but eventually we received a check for all of the expenses related to our 'loss'. I want to say it took about 6 weeks.

The cruise vacation, our primary residence was damaged during a hurricane that came through two days before we were to board and we could not leave because our homeowner's insurance requires that we do all we can to protect the home and property until they could properly come out and assess, etc. so we missed our cruise. Again, lots of documentation including my insurance binder stating that it was our responsibility to secure our home (which took a while since we had multiple egresses damaged) and there was some other kooky thing they asked for but I can't remember what it was but my husband got it and sent it off. I think we got that check within 2-3 weeks that time.

We always get 'cancel for any reason' insurance and purchase it immediately after booking (we consider the expense part of our 'deposit') as the whole per-existing condition thing is a big deal. And insurance companies are slick... if you have to cancel your vacay because your mother is on her deathbed and you didn't get insurance that covers per-existing conditions? They can say HER per-existing condition isn't a covered reason to cancel. In other words, you should just big poor Mom farewell and your butt on that plane/ship. And really, just about all of us have parents with some sport of per-existing condition...

ETA: My mother just reminded me about the time I broke my ankle on my Celebrity cruise 14 years ago and had to get immediate medical attention while in Hawaii and all of that was covered by my insurance. So technically, that makes three out of about 20.
 
I never buy it. I understand why others buy it for the medical evacuation insurance though. That could be pretty expensive if you couldn't get your existing health insurance to pay for it.
 
Thoughts....
  • there is more than one type of trip insurance. Baggage? Medical?
  • the only one I buy is medical. Don't plan to use it, so I ask for the highest deductible for the biggest savings.
  • if you book ship excursions.... the extra they charge is a form of insurance for missing the boat compared to the excursions at the port.
 
We never buy it anymore.
Years ago I bought it once but then found out our credit card has us covered for almost every concern we might have. By buying trip insurance I was over insured/doubling up and wasting money.
 
Home airport was closed/flights cancelled when we disembarked. Insurance covered extra day rental car, meals and hotel. We had a lovely day at disney springs instead of shoveling snow.
 

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