Insurance?

[TxStateMouse]

Just out of curiosity...how do you all feel about trip insurance?

I can't find much on it (or I am not looking in the right place), but do you all get the insurance? Also, if I book through WDW on the Magic Your Way tickets, is this added on automatically? I am the September traveller and with the weather, ya never know. If this has already been posted can someone point me in right direction?

I do believe that Disney trips take more planning and preparation than any other vacations out there...:brick:

 

[WDWmazprty]

The insurance covers a wide range of things, but its optional. Th eprice goes down if you don't get it.:wave:

 

[CatsMeow]

The only time we have purchased insurance is for the 3 cruises we have taken in the past (one of them the Disney Cruise). All of the cruises were pricey and we wanted some added protection.

For WDW, we now stay exclusively at DVC and the only real outlay is our plane fare (and we try to book through SWA if we can). So we don't feel the need for insurance at this point.

 

[Gig 'Em Mickey]

Former business travel coordinator here. Travel insurance only pays out under a limited number of circumstances, most rare or unlikely. Booking through Disney the insurance is automatically added in the price they quote you. However, request that it be taken off and it will come down. For us it was $200.

The insurance basically covers last minute type things, and sometimes lost luggage. You can always cancel up to two weeks prior to your trip.

 

[disneytopdog]

I have gone for 4 years in September (Peak Hurricane Season). Never got the insurance. But even if I did I dont think it covers "Acts of God" like weather.

 

[Rob562]

Also, if you're worried about hurricanes, Disney has a Hurricane Policy that's separate from the travel insurance and applies to anyone with a reservation at a WDW resort.

I'd have to look up the details, but essentially it applies if there's a Hurricane Warning issued for either Orlando/Disney or your home within 7 days of your arrival date. You can rebook or cancel with no penalty, though if you have a discount on your reservation it may not be available for the re-booked dates.

But this would only apply to your Disney booking, not your airfare.

-Rob

EDIT: Here's the FAQ for the Hurricane Policy on the WDW site:
http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/wdw/common/helpFAQ?id=HelpFAQHurricanePage

 

[DisneyJoe]

IMO, Vacation Protection Insurance is best for things that happen between the time you walk out your front door at home until the time you return home again:

- lost or delayed baggage
- plane issues, weather, etc
- death in the family while you are on the trip and you need to cut the trip short, get emergency airfare, exchanges, etc (always talk to the front desk and/or your travel agent before leaving - in many cases things can be handled so your loss is minimal - ie. add non-expiration option to your tickets!)
- you get seriously ill while on the trip
- Emergency medical transportation

We don't always get it on our WDW trips, but we ALWAYS get in on our Disney Cruise trips - just for medical reasons alone. If you need to be evacuated from the cruise ship for medical reasons via helicopter, or need to seek treatment in a foreign port, the medical bills can be HUGE.

For WDW packages - cost is $66.95 per adult, all adults in a room must get it if purchased, it is non-refundable once purchased. All children on the reservation are covered at no extra cost.

-Joe

 

[Uncle Lupe]

I do have experience with re-booking airline tickets due to a hurricane. When our original arrival city ,Panama City FL, was hit by the storm no flights could go in or out for weeks. The airline company let us change our tickets to a different city, Myrtle Beach ,without charging any fees. We did have to keep the dates the same/length of stay.

The "Act of God" policy saved us the fees without any insurance.

Delta is my airline of choice.

 

[Monty]

Between my employer benefits and my credit card, I have all the travel and health insurance I could possibly need. I never get flight, travel or health insurance in addition, it would just be a waste of money.

 

[The Mom]

I've only purchased trip insurance a couple of times.

I would purchase it when my parents were alive, as they were having frequent health emergencies towards the end of their lives; I did have to fly home once in the middle of a vacation.

I purchased it when we were out of the country or cruising, as I wanted anyone in our party to be able to be flown to a major hospital, or to get home at no extra cost if need be. Unfortunately, on our last big trip, I didn't purchase it for the last 3 hour flight home after our overseas flights.

 

[Kingdom Konsultant]

IMO, Vacation Protection Insurance is best for things that happen between the time you walk out your front door at home until the time you return home again:

- lost or delayed baggage
- plane issues, weather, etc
- death in the family while you are on the trip and you need to cut the trip short, get emergency airfare, exchanges, etc (always talk to the front desk and/or your travel agent before leaving - in many cases things can be handled so your loss is minimal - ie. add non-expiration option to your tickets!)
- you get seriously ill while on the trip
- Emergency medical transportation

We don't always get it on our WDW trips, but we ALWAYS get in on our Disney Cruise trips - just for medical reasons alone. If you need to be evacuated from the cruise ship for medical reasons via helicopter, or need to seek treatment in a foreign port, the medical bills can be HUGE.

For WDW packages - cost is $66.95 per adult, all adults in a room must get it if purchased, it is non-refundable once purchased. All children on the reservation are covered at no extra cost.

-Joe

I agree with Joe on the Cruise insurance. It will cost you approx. $35,000 if you have to get airlifted from a cruise ship. Something that is covered with the cruise insurance. For a minimal fee I would rather be safe than sorry. Personal health insurance policies generally do not cover these type of things so again better safe than sorry.

As for the Disney package insurance it will cover if you have to cancel inside of your 45 days prior due to illness, injury or death and then you have to file a claim.

For a refresher of what the penalties are for canceling inside of your 45 days prior mark, here it is.

44-6 days prior $100
5 days or less $200 plus supplier fees
Any changes made inside of 45 days prior unless you are upgrading your package in some way will carry a $50 change fee for each change made.

Pam

 

[CleveRocks]

It was a no-brainer to me to skip the travel insurance. Looking at Disney's cancellation/rescheduling policies, I couldn't see any advantage to paying the premiums.

So when I asked my wife, I was really just double-checking that it was silly to buy the insurance. But she set me straight.

She's a physician, and she brought up the issue of the cost of MEDICAL TRANSPORT. Your normal health insurance will very likely be just fine for emergency medical treatment, but the problem area will be medical transport. Many health insurance plans will leave you holding the bag for an ambulance ride, or will reimburse at a very low rate, leaving you responsible for the full balance. Right there, that could be hundreds and probably thousands of dollars (have you seen what they charge for ambulances lately???!!!).

The other related problem would be if you were unable to fly back home and needed some type of medical transport, or if you can't fly and have to make other personal arrangements to get home (rent a van, or something like that). A medical flight will run into multi-thousands of dollars.

In addition, our health insurance is in the form of a PPO. Obviously, no providers in the Orlando area would be in our network of preferred providers. Our out-of-network cost is something like 20 percent. A visit to an emergency room even for something relatively minor and straight-forward can easily cost a couple of thousand bucks, which would mean that our responsibility for 20% of the bill would be far more than the cost of the insurance premium.

So that's why we chose to buy the trip insurance ... on the small chance that we'd require some type of medical transport, and because of out-of-pocket cost for services from an out-of-network medical provider would be very very high.

 

[Kingdom Konsultant]

Exactly. The cost of the medical transporation alone should have anyone booking a cruise getting the insurance.

Pam