Is cruise insurance worth it?

“We were going,” Susan said. “There wasn’t a reason to take out the insurance. It seemed like a waste of money to me.”

But her life was turned upside down with the cancer diagnosis. 

Susan recalls her doctor said, ‘”You cannot go on that cruise. I’ll write you a medical letter. I’ll do whatever I need to do to help you, but there’s no way you’re going to be out of this country.'”

Suddenly, Susan regretted the decision not to purchase travel insurance, but thought the cruise line could offer some kind of help, with medical documentation. Maybe she could delay the cruise until treatment was over, she thought. Maybe she could gift the cruise to a family member or friend, she wondered. 

She was shocked by the cruise line’s reaction to those questions. The representative was short.

“She said, ‘Absolutely not. You didn’t buy the insurance. You don’t buy the insurance, you get nothing out of it,'” Susan recalled. “It was hardcore. ‘Nope, sorry, you’re out of luck. Boom. Bye-bye.'”

Not only did NCL not offer any money back or allow her to give the trip to a friend, Susan claims the room was quickly rebooked. 

“Someone else was in our special suite on that cruise so basically NCL was able to double dip by getting more money by booking that room.”

In Susan’s case, if she had purchased standard trip insurance, she would have received 100 percent of her money back. 

Without travel insurance, cruise lines typically don’t offer any reimbursement for a cancellation. But is trip insurance always worth it?

Believe it or not, travel experts say it’s not always a good decision to fork over the extra money for insurance. Sometimes, the gamble may actually be worth it. 

But as Susan’s case tragically highlights, when you lose, it can hurt deeply.

Megan Moncrief, of Squaremouth, a travel insurance comparison company in St. Petersburg, says determining if travel insurance is worth it for you depends on your personal situation. Depending on the reason you end up canceling, your insurance policy might not even offer you reimbursement, Moncrief says. 

That’s why, she says, insurance isn’t right for everyone. But in some cases, she adds, you should absolutely buy the insurance. 

“We have customers that call us all the time and say, ‘We just want a policy that would cover anything that comes up. We stop them right there. It’s not going to cover anything in the whole world,'” Moncrief said. 

So, what are your options? 

There are two types of coverage:

Standard coverage, which includes things like family emergencies, a sudden medical problem or death in the family. It also covers an airline strike, a hurricane or terrorism. (With this type of policy, you can cancel up to the minute the boat embarks and still get a 100 percent refund, as long as your cancellation reason is covered.)

And for extra protection, you can pay more for a “cancel for any reason policy.” But there’s a catch. If you cancel for something not covered by the standard policy, you can only get back 75 percent of the trip. (You cannot cancel within 48 hours of the boat’s planned departure)

Moncrief says it comes down to price and gambling. If the trip is inexpensive and/or soon, it might not be worth it. 

She recommends passengers speak a professional about what their concern is. For example, some things, like pregnancy, might not be covered. 

“You have to do your homework and read your policy,” Moncrief said. 

Cruise ship insurance policies:

• Norwegian
• Carnival
• Royal Caribbean
• Princess
• Viking
• Disney
• Celebrity