My wife and I recently signed up for the Mariner Sept. 20 Tokyo to Hong Kong cruise and I automatically purchased the Radisson trip insurance package. Does anyone have an opinion regarding the comparative value and price of trip insurance purchased through cruise lines versus doing it independently? Is the Radisson package better or worse than most?

Welcome to your first post Jim. No idea how to answer your question but I am sure many of the fine posters on this board will.

R

RSSC insurance is probably as competetive as any other. The real secret is to investigate which one has the best track record and gives you the best coverage. I think RSSC is probably excellent in that area, based on everything else they do. We use Travel Insured Int'l, but there are many different ones available. Just make sure you have insurance. The time you don't is when you'll have the problem!

Welcome Jim! I would agree, the main thing is having insurance. I've purchased private insurance and cruiseline insurance in the past and there are small differences which may make a difference. I find that generally, private insurnace usually has slightly better coverage (lower deductibles, higher limits, etc.) than cruiseline insurance and I try to go with private insurance whenever possible. Also, if the cruiseline goes bankrupt for whatever reason (heaven forbid!), then you can still recover money from your private insurance as opposed to your cruiseline insurance (which goes bye-bye if the cruiseline is no longer there).

However, one BIG advantage of taking cruiseline insurance is that if you end up cancelling the cruise before final payment, then you don't waste any money as opposed to taking private insurance (with the usual deals of taking the insurance within X number of days of booking the cruise) where if you cancel the cruise, you're out the money you paid for the insurance.

For our last 2 cruise, we took private insurance because we were positive that we would be taking those. For our next 2 cruises that are booked currently, we're using RSSC insurance because there's at least a theoretical possibility that we might have to cancel.

Hope this helps.

Masaki

Welcome to LCT, Jim.

The 3 major differences that I see between Radisson insurance and independently purchased travel insurance are:

1) Coverage of pre-existing conditions. Many independent travel insurance policies will cover pre-existing conditions IF you purchase your insurance within a specified time of booking your trip (usually 7 - 14 days) Radisson's insurance does not cover pre-existing conditions.

2) Coverage of other travel costs such as air and/or hotel. My understanding is that Radisson insurance only covers the cruise portion of your trip unless you purchase your air and hotel thru Radisson.

3) Coverage in case of the cruise line's bankruptcy.

If these items are of importance to you, you might want to consider purchasing independent coverage. Depending on your age, independent insurance may also be less expensive, while providing greater coverage levels. Here's a good site for checking and comparing travel insurance:

insurance comparisons


Enjoy your trip.

Ngaire also has a pretty good comparison on her website. Depending on your age, it can be much less expensive to get independent rather than through the cruise line, as Ngaire explained to me for my coming cruise. The benefits seemed very similar, except the delayed baggage cap was much less on TravelEx than through the cruise line.

Regarding the question of the cruiseline going bankrupt and the insurance then not covering. Ngaire assured me that the insurance company that Radisson uses is independent of the cruiseline company so that is not a problem. I found that the coverage was better for less money in our situation. We had always used private companies but this time went with Radisson. We have purchased Radisson air so everything should be covered that we would need.
Hope we don't have to use the $1000 lost luggage coverage!
Maggie

I should mention that on our one and only cruise on Radisson, we used their insurance. Our air was also booked thru Radisson. And because of my mother's age (86 at the time) it was very much less expensive than independent insurance. And Ngaire's site does have a nice comparison chart.

I may be a bit over-concerned about bankruptcy, not only of a cruise line but of an air carrier as well, because we were caught up in the Renaissance mess. The wording of the Radisson policy does not cover this. Now, I'm not worried about Radisson, but I am worried about some of the airlines I must take to get to the ship. So here's my advice. If the price on Radisson insurance looks good to you, check with your TA to see if any supplemental insurance might be available to cover you if ANY of your booked carriers stops operation in the middle of your trip. For what it covers, Radisson's insurance does pay valid claims promptly and in full.

Thanks,
Richard :) :) :)

We are also on the Mariner Tokyo to Hong cruise on September 20. We have used Access America for all of our past cruises. We purchase it within 14 days of deposit to have the waiver of pre-existing conditions. If we need to cancel and it is more than 60 days from the original departure date, we can transfer the existing insurance to a new cruise whose departure date is up to 550 days later than the original departure date. If it is less than 60 days to the original departure date, we can transfer the insurance to another cruise but it must have a departure date no more than 30 days after the departure date of the original cruise. Any differences in insurance premiums are either debited or credited to our credit card. You can only transfer the policy if you haven't or do not plan to make any claim against the policy for the original cruise. Also, be aware that Radisson's change and/or cancellation penalties start at 120 days, not 60 days, before departure. So it is best to cancel outside 120 days to avoid any kind of penalty and be assured of the ability to transfer insurance.

We use either Travel Guard Protect Assist or Radisson insurance, whichever is cheaper. They are both secondary medical insurance. The nice thing about not using Radisson insurance is that you can insure for less than the total cost. If you have a Radisson package, you are insuring everything when what we most care about is emergency medical evac and medical coverage, not replacing every cent we paid in case of cancellation in advance.

Thank you for the excellent responses. You certainly know the fine points of how to intelligently purchase travel insurance. I am most appreciative and will print out and file your advice to follow for our next trip.

I guess I'm a maverick - have never bought travel insurance ( I self-insure) and we travel a lot. Have never had a loss because of canceling or been affected by bankruptcy. Some day I should add up what we've saved over the years. I must confess that advancing age is forcing me to re-evaluate my philosophy!

Because of my mother's age, the possibility of having to cancel is a consideration for me. But I could survive the loss if I had to cancel and had no insurance. The bigger concern to me is the cost becoming ill or of medical evacuation in case of injury. Didn't one of the cruisers on the recent Voyager Panamal Canal cruise get injured on a shore excursion, requiring a medical flight back to LA? Now that could really break the bank! While it doesn't happen often, the peace of mind is worth the relatively small additional cost.

Agreed, Vickie.

Masaki

Should have mentioned that a post-retirement perk from my company includes medical evacuation coverage as part of medigap coverage - we spend a lot of time in remote areas, so this is comforting. Fortunately, have not had to use this. This thread compels me to re-read the fine print!

You should read the fine print. Most coverages like that don't give you much outside the U.S.

Just to clarify a few fine points.

RSSC DOES cover pre-existing conditions for all family members with the only exception being the travelling guests as described below.

They will cover any pre-existing condition that does not manifest itself for the FIRST time or for any pre-existing condition that has now worsened or required new treatment within 60 days of the time you purchase insurance. This is the most misunderstood clause. So unless something NEW happens within 60 days of purchasing the insurance your pre-existing condition is covered.

Also on the default of the cruise line the CREDIT CARD company will refund your money. Always put your travel on a credit card and you are protected.

Radisson is "secondary" coverage for medical. Travelex is "primary". These are the only two I am really famliar with.

Travelex is usually cheaper if you are under 60 Radisson is usually cheaper if you are over 60. This is just a generalization it depends on the cost of the trip. Travelex considers age in the premium, Radisson does not.