Insurelane Insurance Blog

With the recent tragic accident regarding the sinking of the Costa Concordia cruise ship in Italy, many people are wondering if buying travel insurance is the right thing to do before heading out on a vacation. Travel insurance has always been a good choice if you aren’t covered through any other types of insurance plans. If you decide to take a vacation and you don’t have the proper insurance plan in place you could end up losing quite a bit of money and/or personal property.

While disasters such as a cruise ship sinking rarely happen, you just never know when they’re going to strike, especially when it comes down to human error. Passengers who had travel insurance on the Costa Concordia received benefits from their policies when the ship flipped in shallow water. Most passengers who had travel coverage had their identification documents replaced, since many of them were left on the sinking ship, and flights were also arranged for them to return home.

The typical cost for insurance on that particular cruise was approximately five to seven per cent of the cruise. The insurance covered trip cancellation and interruption along with baggage protection, medical expenses, and emergency evacuation. Luckily, more lives weren’t lost during the accident and there weren’t as many serious injuries as there could have been. But those who had insurance were sure glad they bought it before their trip.

The insured passengers on the ship will be reimbursed for medical expenses and emergency evacuation costs that they ended up having to pay. In addition, most travel insurance plans include a specified amount for dismemberment and accidental death coverage, which is usually about $10,000. Baggage claims can also be made since everybody should have most left their luggage on board the ship.

It’s unclear exactly what the cruise line will do as far as reimbursements go since many of these cruise companies ask passengers to sign long documents before they board ship that resolves them of any responsibility. However, in cases like these they are often challenged in court, especially since the captain as basically admitted fault for the mishap.

The fact is, those passengers who had travel insurance will come out of this ordeal a lot better off than those who didn’t have coverage. It’s never a bad idea to shop around for the best prices, service and coverage before taking a vacation, no matter how far you’re traveling and how you’re getting there.