Travel Insurance

[Kendall James-Vargas]

Does anyone purchase travel insurance when they cruise? I never purchase it, and I'm curious if others do the same.

https://www.cruisehive.com/cruise-travel-insurance-buy-not-buy/17590

[FJB]

The 1st time we purchased travel insurance was for our 3 week Fiji/Australia/New Zealand trip/cruise in 2018. We had more than $10k in that trip with lots of moving parts. Up until this point we had done 20+ cruise and a couple of overseas trips without ever purchasing travel insurance and never had any hiccups. Luckily on this downunder trip, we did not have a claim on the insurance policy.  We did purchase travel insurance for our upcoming cruise, but that was only in the event the face diaper came back - I refuse to vacation with someone muzzling me!

Otherwise - no we don’t regularly purchase travel insurance. I’m a farmer so I’m a natural gambler...

[Kendall James-Vargas]

@FJB That's a grande investment for a cruise. I see the value in insuring such an expense! Once again you have me chuckling at the face diaper commentary. It's also a great idea to protect your vacation if you are fearful of an unexpected itinerary change, such as the face mask mandate. 

I don't find traveling without the recommended insurance to be a gamble. I think, if anything were to randomly occur, the cruise lines are usually pretty flexible and accommodating to meet guest needs. 

[PaulB]

I always get travel insurance as you never know about the unexpected. 

[Kendall James-Vargas]

For those of you still deciding, I found some answers to common questions about purchasing cruise travel insurance.

https://www.cruisehive.com/answers-cruise-travel-insurance-questions/18010

[Cruising Caribbean]

@FJB I think "face diapers" are mostly gone for the time being. I also found masking a challenge, but my days of having to bring along a mask while cruising are practically over now. It's definitely a gamble, but the extra cost of the travel insurance could be quite a few drinks at the bar!

[FJB]

10 hours ago, Cruising Caribbean said:

@FJB I think "face diapers" are mostly gone for the time being. I also found masking a challenge, but my days of having to bring along a mask while cruising are practically over now. It's definitely a gamble, but the extra cost of the travel insurance could be quite a few drinks at the bar!

Hoping they never return! 

[Kendall James-Vargas]

@FJB It's so nice not to have to worry about bringing them along either. Facial masks either have the be washed often or thrown away often because the disposable ones break far too frequently. Do you think that masking was effective? 

[LukeJ]

@FJB considering the masking was only apparently effective for 15 minutes and was advised to change every occasion, it did help somewhat 

[Cruising Caribbean]

@LukeJ Masking was only effective for 15 minutes? I was unaware of this. I think the key is "proper" masking. When half of everybody onboard is wearing it improperly, it didn't serve much of a purpose. Also, many of the more casual cruise lines seemed to have guests with a generally more relaxed stance on masking. With or without a "facial diaper" cruising was still a great experience for me, even if it took more pre-boarding work.

[LukeJ]

@Cruising Caribbean I was shocked too as I was told by several nurses that masks were only effective for a short amount of time. In care homes, they would be told to change repeatedly and to change masks everytime they would enter another room.

[Cruising Caribbean]

@LukeJ Is it because of the moisture in your breath penetrating the mask barrier? I guess the humidity could alter the condition and effectiveness of a mask. Changing masks per patient sounds like the best practice, to be extra cautious, especially when dealing with medically fragile patients.

[FJB]

On 2/23/2023 at 3:04 PM, Kendall James-Vargas said:

@FJB Do you think that masking was effective? 

Maybe if the person wearing the mask actually had the virus and was constantly coughing/sneezing.  Otherwise - no.

[FJB]

On 1/29/2023 at 10:09 PM, FJB said:

We did purchase travel insurance for our upcoming cruise, but that was only in the event the face diaper came back - I refuse to vacation with someone muzzling me!

Otherwise - no we don’t regularly purchase travel insurance. I’m a farmer so I’m a natural gambler...

Happy to report we did not have a claim on our travel insurance on the cruise we just returned from!  

[3Sisters]

@FJB That's wonderful news! Were you able to stop at all of the scheduled ports of call? With Royal Caribbean's Wonder of the Seas overbooking it makes me think grabbing travel insurance would have been a great choice while booking that cruise. That's a significant error on the cruise line's behalf. I'm sure they are dealing with some pretty furious cruise guests right now. 

[FJB]

7 hours ago, 3Sisters said:

@FJB That's wonderful news! Were you able to stop at all of the scheduled ports of call? With Royal Caribbean's Wonder of the Seas overbooking it makes me think grabbing travel insurance would have been a great choice while booking that cruise. That's a significant error on the cruise line's behalf. I'm sure they are dealing with some pretty furious cruise guests right now. 

We arrived and departed at all ports of call as advertised and scheduled.  And no overbooking on this cruise ship - about 1700 passengers aboard if I recall correctly.

[Kendall James-Vargas]

@FJB I'm so glad to hear your cruise wasn't fully packed with guests. I love when the ship doesn't feel overly crowded. Since Celebrity Millennium has a guest capacity of 2,218 guests, 1,700 is likely perfection. I'm also excited to see your recount that there weren't any glitches with your cruise itinerary. Lately, I see so many cruisers commenting on the constant frustrations of shifting itineraries, so this remark is refreshing to see. 

Edited March 7, 2023 by Kendall James-Vargas

[LukeJ]

@Cruising Caribbean I'm not a scientist or anything and if anyone has the correct reasoning or protocol then please feel free to correct me but once I was told by several people, I decided to look into it for my own personal gain. I believe it has something to do with the respiratory droplets that leave your mouth when you're speaking a simple phrase, and these droplets are blocked, which reduces the amount of respiratory viruses that would be emitted from droplets and aerosol.

[Cruising Caribbean]

@LukeJ That makes perfect sense! It seems very logical to me. I just didn't know you were supposed to change them that often! I used to use one per day (or two), so maybe on day two, it wasn't that effective anymore. I'm not quite sure, but I'm glad I don't have to bring one around anymore. If I go somewhere they are required, they usually have throwaway ones at hand for me to use. I don't mind putting one on as long as I don't have to bring it around everywhere!

[LukeJ]

@Cruising Caribbean yes I totally agree with you on that one. Thankfully we have moved on from this now and can lead a more normal life. However as you stated, I don't mind wearing one of needed as long as we don't have to keep carrying them around. 

[Kendall James-Vargas]

I'm right there with you @LukeJ! One thing I'm appreciative of is the staggered cruise entry during embarkation. It's really nice not to have to worry about everyone trying to get on board at the same time. The lines to get onboard have been much better due to this embarkation policy.

[LukeJ]

Being impatient person though, the lines to get onboard is still too long for my liking ha ha

[Kendall James-Vargas]

@LukeJ If you are a high-ranked loyalty member you can definitely start skipping some of the longer lines once you receive the perk of priority embarkation and disembarkation. What are some of your preferred cruise lines? I'm getting close to receiving that perk with MSC Cruises and that incentive is keeping me pretty loyal to the line right now. Traveling with kids makes this ever more desirable. That's why I invested in being TSA approved because all lines are extra difficult with a toddler who has difficulty staying in one place for more than a minute!

[3Sisters]

@LukeJ & @FJB Are masks being found onboard cruise ships again? https://www.cruisehive.com/princess-cruises-advises-mask-wearing-on-one-ship/99028 What do you think of this? 

[LukeJ]

@3Sisters reading the post, I can see why the company are resorting to this as they have had some positives, however I do believe that we have come a long way since COVID began and I think it should be the guests choice maybe if they wish to have masks on if it makes them comfortable.