Why you need travel insurance - even on a cruise

Posted by frann on April 8th, 2008 at 06:36pm

You might think that taking a cruise would be your safest bet when booking a vacation. And while it’s true that taking both travel and accommodation on a ship makes things a lot simpler, it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t take out travel insurance.

A couple of stories in the news recently have highlighted the importance of having a good travel insurance package. The most recent was just today, when a cruise ship, the Queen of the West operated by Majestic America Line, had to be evacuated and towed to shore after a fire broke out in the engine room.

Last week it was reported that the Van Gogh cruise ship had been impounded with all its passengers left stranded on board, after a dispute between the current and former owners. It might have seemed like an April fool, when passengers were told they were stranded last Tuesday (1st April), but the joke turned out to be on them. They were finally able to return home yesterday, 6th April.

How much help travel insurance would be in either of these cases, I’m not sure, but the stories illustrate that you never know what could happen when you step on board that cruise liner and head out for the open sea. Go Travel Insurance
are offering new cruise policies for the under 55s. Worth a look, I’d say.

British travelers would also be well advised to take note of one lady in Chicago’s story of how her travel agent withdrew some $6,000 from her credit card (on top of the $2,175 cost of the cruise she had booked), leaving her with a huge debt increasing by the day because of interest charges. She was able to prove that the additional charges should not have been raised and obtained a refund from the credit card company. It’s good practice to buy large purchases like this on your credit card (not debit card) as this carries extra consumer protection against fraud.

Under Cruise vacations