We're new to cruising. Planning a July Grand European river cruise on Viking. Is it important to get the travel insurance for such a trip? Does anyone have experience with this cruise company? We're grateful for any input. Thx.

It is always recommended you get travel insurance. It not only protects you for sickness or death in the family before you leave. It also provides protection for trip delays, trip interupptions, medical evacuation, medical emergencies on the trip, lost luggage and more. Sorry I haven't been on Viking.

Don't leave home without it !

I agree about getting insurance. It's like any insurance, in that if you buy it and don't need it, it's money spent that you didn't need to spend. But if you end up needing the insurance, it can save you a lot of otherwise lost money.

I sailed with Viking River Cruises a couple of years ago in France, and had a great time. It's not the same experience as mega-ship cruising, and has a lot of advantages. The company did a good job for us.

Sandy

Hi everyone,
I would think that cruise insurance is good in some respect, but we recently experienced a problem.
We were stuck at JFK airport in NY, March 25, 2007. We were to arrive in Rome 11:20am March 26th to go on our 12 night European cruise. Unfortunately our flight with Alitalia was cancelled because someone ran the truck with our luggage into the door of the airplane.
There was 58 passengers on that flight to catch that cruise ship, Carnival Freedom, the next day.
Alitalia put us up in a hotel for the night. While at the hotel I called Travel guard and explained what happened. The lady told me that the insurance wouldn't cover that type of a problem and gave me no assistance what so ever.
40 of us had to take a bus to Newark, NJ to catch Air France to Paris, the other 18 got flights out from JFK, we all met in Paris and rushed over to catch another flight to Naples to catch our ship there.
I told Travel Guard I want to start a claim anyway to have someone review it.
Now we have to wait for a letter from Alitalia to give us a letter explaining why the flight was cancelled.
Be sure to alway keep your boarding passes in case you experience this type of a problem.
I would imagine the insurance is good for normal conditions and medical, but I believe with Travel Guard you have to pay first and put in a claim to get your money back.
We did get travel insurance for our next 2 cruises and hope that everything goes smooth.
Sandy

Please let us know how this turns out. Still better to have it than not to have it and I have a sneaking suspicion that they will cover.

quote:

I believe with Travel Guard you have to pay first and put in a claim to get your money back.

It depends on the type of insurance you purchased. If you purchased "secondary insurance," that's the case. If you purchased "primary insurance," the insurance company pays you outright if you're making a claim for a covered reason.

Sandy

Hi Sandy,
Thank you for that information. I didn't know that there was a primary or secondary insurance. I will check that out for our next 2 cruises and future cruises.

Chef Ken,
I'm sure it will be time consuming, but I will let you know what happened.
Sandy

Sandy, I didn't word my explanation exactly right. With secondary insurance, you first have to exhaust other avenues, other types of insurance you already have (homeowner's, credit card insurance, medicare for the seniors, etc) to see if any other insurance will pay for your loss. Then Travel Guard will pay whatever you can't recover from other sources, if you canceled for a covered reason. With primary insurance, they pay right away, without your having to exhaust other types of coverage you may have.

Sandy

Hi Sandy,
Thanks for the information. I really appreciate it.

Chef Ken, I am totally shocked I received a letter from Alitalia today. I thought they would take forever to get back to me.
They said the flight was cancelled because of Technical Difficulties.
I'm hoping that will be a good reason for us to get some of the time & money we lost.
I will update you when I find out more info.
Sandy p

Thanks Sandy, this will be interesting for many of us here!

Ken

Sandy, I am certainly interested as well. I hope this works out. TravelGuard has approached me to do an affiliation with them. I am waiting to see how this plays out.

IslandCruz

My TA has always recommended Travel Guard, and they have always come through for us, although I probably didn't go through exactly what you went through.

One example, our luggage ( other than the outfit we were wearing, and the one outfit we carried in our carry on overnight bag) went on another ship, and did not come back for almost 5 days. By the time we unpacked, it was time to repack.

Since this was several years ago, they did give us $100 a day, but when you're trying to purchase clothes (bathing suits) on ship, they DO NOT come cheap. To say the least, we were unhappy campers.

I still cruise with RCCL, even though that happened. I discovered Carnival Triumph last year, and it was a great cruise.

We have one year multi trip world wide insurance, I am 56yrs my wife is 42yrs this cost us about $210 converted from £, we missed a cruise because of an injury to me and I was compensated in full within 2 wks of my injury, 2yrs ago because of a hurricane we had to stay in n/york overnight even though the airline put us in the Marriot at their expense I was given on return about $300 for the disruption, when I booked through a U S T/A a cruise this year they pushed trip insurance, I refused, payed but it still appeared on the invoice showing the amount as a debit balance that was sorted out but I found the amount for the cover for 7 days rather inflated, use the internet to shop around,it ia accepted here that the add ons that T/A push are a very large profit maker you tend to take great care in getting the best deal for the holiday, and let overpriced insurance slip through.you must take out insurance, reason, I saw a passenger choking on a piece of meat lodged in his throat the Doctor could not move it, the ship turned around a helecopter met the ship winched him off, 3 days later he got back on board, his insurance payed

Steve, thanks for the info in regard to the insurance. Yes, I know we definately need it.

I guess I don't want to cause problems with my TA. She doesn't push the insurance, but she knows I always take it out through her. (I get the insurance to cover the cruise/flight.)

When I say cause problems, here is one of the reason why. This year when I was reading on the forums, some people had mentioned about checking with the cruise line itself on prices. When I did, I found a big difference in price. I let my TA know, and of course....she was NOT happy about this. The reason being, she had to take a cut in her bonus.

I do normally try to get my flights on my own, as through the TA, is can be expensive.

quote:

This year when I was reading on the forums, some people had mentioned about checking with the cruise line itself on prices. When I did, I found a big difference in price. I let my TA know, and of course....she was NOT happy about this. Mad The reason being, she had to take a cut in her bonus.

Brneyes, are you sure that's the reason your travel agent wasn't pleased?

I always suggest to my clients that they buy insurance from a separate insurance company and not from the cruise line. It has nothing to do with any money coming to me. I do it because I feel it is in the client's best interest. Why? Often, the coverage offered by the outside insurance company is better, with higher coverage limits in case of medical emergency, emergency evacuation, etc. Also, most outside insurance companies offer coverage for cancellations due to pre-existing conditions in yourself, your traveling companion(s) and even immediate family not traveling with you, if you buy the insurance within 7-14 days after putting down your first payment on the trip. Not all cruise lines' insurance offers this.

Also, as has happened sometimes, if a cruise line happens to go out of business between the time you buy insurance from them and your cruise, your insurance is trashed as well. I have no fear about most cruise lines these days, but it has happened in the past, and one should never say "never."

Outside insurance companies sell different types of insurance that offer different levels of coverage. The more coverage you get, the more expensive the insurance. It's likely that your travel agent, or you, could find travel insurance through an outside company that offers better coverage than the cruise line's insurance without a big difference in price.

Travel insurance is like any insurance: if you end up not needing it, you've spent money you didn't need to spend. But if you do have to cancel for a covered reason, the insurance can save you a whole lot more money than you've spent on it. I always suggest insurance to my clients, for their benefit, not for mine.

Sandy

Sandy I live in the uk,I have 2 existing health problems, I have a choice exclude them and if I have a problem caused by them im on my own, include them for an additional cost im ok, I dont no any european travel company that owns it own insurance company, so it would appear that the travel company that uses an insurance company in its brochure would do so for a number of reasons and as it is a profit making organisation one reason would be financial, the advice an agent gives will like life good bad or indifferent, if you pay by credit card here and the company goes bust the credit card company makes the refund, we also have a very active insurance obudsman who if you have a problem will intervene,there are also consumer groups who will offer impartial advice, but people should not travel without it, and infact some travel companies ask to see your insurance if you refuse to take a policy out with them kalo taxidi

Thank you all for your suggestions and insight. We decided to buy our insurance through a separate company, and we got very similar coverage for a 45% savings. Hopefully we won't need it, but it does make us feel more secure. Happy cruising!