OK, that was funny.

Doug

PS: you can still come

:b:

He better take out the insurance

Or you can say as a good stepford wife - "whatever you decide darling" .... if there is need for insurance you can say "SO? you're an idiot again? " :jester: :jester:

Just my two cents worth if you are planning on buying insurance.

Pre existing coverage is really a big thing whether or not you have any pre-existing conditions. With that type of coverage there is no delving into your medical history by the insurance company trying to find a reason to decline the claim. It makes the whole claims process MUCH easier.

I have one client where a doctor made a note on a visit that the client could develop a knee problem. The client did not remember that even being mentioned and it was the knee condition that developed that caused her to cancel. The claim was denied due to the doctors note. After that she took pre-existing coverage. With pre-existing coverage the claim would have been paid.

The cost of pre-existing can be much higher on some policies but with CSA Freestyle we use it is simply included and the insurance can be bought at final payment where most policies require you to purchase the insurance within a few weeks of deposit to get pre-existing coverage.

I do not do the insurance every day Lisa handles it but I know she has found that often CSA about the same as regular policies WITHOUT the pre-existing condition coverage. It can vary of course by age, state of residence, cost of trip etc. Also I believe there are CSA policies that do NOT cover pre -existing coverage so you need to check that when comparing.

I just do encourage people to seriously think about pre-existing coverage if it is not much more expensive.

"Pre existing coverage is really a big thing whether or not you have any pre-existing conditions. With that type of coverage there is no delving into your medical history by the insurance company trying to find a reason to decline the claim. It makes the whole claims process MUCH easier."

OHHHH SOOOO true

Someone here explained pre to me past 2 hrs...(an insurance guy) and, yes, just as Ngaire said take the pre exist

Andi looks to be about 32 with her skin that has not grown the first line. I kept wanting to say that the premiums are not that large when you are so young!

I always get that CSA coverage, whatever I did after research several years ago told me to, I keep buying it, as much as I hate paying those premiums. I think because I am afraid of some fall, or a problem at home, either one causing me to cancel before or during a cruise. Too many kids and grandkids. Several years ago, I had an independent land trip interrupted after two or three days (a fall, and broken arm, needed surgery), had no travel insurance. No harm, everything was booked and not paid, and MedJet Assist took care of rebooking (in biz class) and paid all the fees. Big difference between this and a fully pre-paid cruise. I've always thought you had to decide at the time of final payment for the cruise. Maybe it just kicks in at the time you buy, in case something happens pre-cruise.

I'm just not a very good gambler.

Now if you don't take the cancellation piece, but take the other insurance for everything including air, cruise hotel...aren't you covered for everything, including illness or injury including medjet? Doug and I were just not considering taking the insurance piece for cancellation, but insuring the entire rest of the trip from the moment we set foot on the plane. Isn't that another option and less of a risk as we've been cruising for 10 years and never cancelled even once? No grandkids yet or sick parents anymore....we always took insurance for the whole thing before. So, if I understand Ngaire's post, the key issue is, if anything happened DURING the trip, we could have more problems collecting due to the pre-existing clause?

Andi, I agree with your approach. It is medical and medical evacuation that are our primary concerns. Of course, we have parents in their 80s so we are concerned we might need to cancel ahead of time for that. Therefore, we do tend to also pay for cancellation.

If we had no parents alive, we would probably opt for a medical and evacuation policy only. When we lived overseas and had medicl good world wide, we did decide to not putchase insurance on a couple of trips.

Medjet is an entirely DIFFERENT and separate insurance that is paid annually and is in effect anytime you are 50 miles away from home. Ken and I bought that for 10 years and hope we never use it would love to waste that premium. It ONLY covers evacuation expenses no other medical expenses.

Medjet if you are an inpatient in a hospital they fly to you with nurses to assist and fly you home from anywhere in the world. Criteria you must be in hosptial.

Different issue with the regular travel insurance to bring you home.

REgular travel insurance pays what your normal medical policy will not pay and you stay in a hosptial until you are stable enough to fly home commerically. Who knows how long that will be and then you fly home on a regular plane in coach. Only way you would be privately "jetted" home is if it was serverly life threatening.

Some insurers have PRIMARY medical coverage (Travelex) they pay medical without you filing on your own normal coverage. Of course that must be purchased within a certain time frame of deposit to have pre-existing conditions. Then if you cancel early (no penalty) you are still out the insurance premium. Some companies allow that to be transferred to another trip, I know CSA does but not sure about other insurers.

Trip interruption that Ken and I just used to fly home from London when his mother passed away the night before WINES in August really helped with the expenses. We were glad we had it.

Andi you are correct if you buy what is called ZERO BAND insurance almost everything other than cancellation costs are covered. I honestly have not really studied insurance issues for years. Lisa handles it and knows more than I do now and things are always changing. This is a good option and better than buying nothing.

The problem is anything can happen to anyone unexpectably and losing a 100% of your cruise fare is a killer. If the price seems too high covering at least some of the cost is an option as a middle road approach.

Thanks so much for the clarification.