The Necessity of Travel Insurance.

[DebbieandJerry]

Always get insurance unless I book short term. I have bought cruise airfare on ocassion but generally it's cheaper to buy it on our own.

Exactly what we do. I have even had travel agents quote me airfare (from the cruiseline) and then encourage me to shop on our own. As for travel insurance, the same agents have also said, "can you afford to walk away from $x,xxx per person if you have to cancel the cruise or cut it short?" In my opinion, the cost of the insurance is well worth it.

We would like to go to Europe on a cruise. We are looking at air included in the price. But we are also looking at air on our own and comparing.

In this day and age, we shop around until we feel we have gotten the best price.

[jbond]

We would like to go to Europe on a cruise. We are looking at air included in the price. But we are also looking at air on our own and comparing.

In this day and age, we shop around until we feel we have gotten the best price.

I realise that this is off topic, but if you are comparing air prices for a European cruise, make sure that you do a true comparison.

Depending where you are cruising from, transfers can be very expensive. Cruising out of England for instance, a transfer from London Heatrow to Central London can cost around $100 per couple and from Central London to the port of Harwich can cost an additional $200. You can do it for less, take the train for example, but with luggage etc, it can be a hassle. Cruise air usually includes transfers, so just be aware.

[elfed]

Vital, I would say. We were booked on the QM2 to the Caribbean 3 years ago and three weeks before sailing my mother in law was diagnosed with terminal cancer. This was in November. Our trip was booked for February. We contacted Cunard immediately and after a ton of paper work we were fully reimbursed. So yes travel insurance is necessary for everyone.

Regards,

James.

[TexasAggieOfc]

I added it for our first Cruise (Conquest July 09) for several reasons:

1. We are expecting our son to be born around Christmas this year, and you hope that nothing happens with him, but it's not implausible for a 7 month old to be extremely sick, and so we needed the security of getting our investment back if need be.

2. I'm a deputy sheriff, so I'm at a high risk of being injured in the line of duty. Not just fatally, but I already got laid up for two weeks earlier this year after spraining my ankle while chasing a little punk (still got him though)

3. We're flying from Dallas to Houston. Some people told us we were fools it was dirt cheap to drive to Galveston from Dallas, all it took was the rows of submerged cars for me to decide that the $600 round trip through Carnival was a sound investment. Between not wanting to fight Houston traffic, North Texas weather being unpredictable, and of course the chance of another Gulf hurricane, it just made sense.