To avoid common headaches such as receiving “reimbursement” in the form of vouchers for future cruise experiences you may or may not want to take, as well as to secure additional benefits for yourself that could be useful in helping you to recover the costs of additional transportation, or cover your medical expenses out of country if necessary, buying travel insurance for your cruise should always be done through a third party.  The Huffington Post article recommends InsureMyTrip as a “respectable and easy to use service” for just this sort of purchase.

The full text of “Carnival Cruise Lines and why Third Party Travel Insurance Pays” can be found on the Huffington Post’s Travel section.

Among the excellent points raised in the article is the relative cost of travel insurance vs. your trip cost, and whether or not your personal financial picture allows you to tolerate losing all your pre-paid costs.  “If you can hear that you just lost the cost of your trip, then roll over and go back to sleep, you probably don’t need insurance,” a tour company spokesperson is quoted as saying.  However, given the relatively low cost of a travel insurance policy that will cover the needs of most recreational golfers — noted in this piece as anywhere from 5% to 15% of total trip cost, depending upon whether or not you want specialized benefits such as “Cancel for Any Reason” coverage — even those who have a high tolerance for absorbing financial losses may find that it’s worth it to protect their trip investment.  Golf Digest recommends shopping around to compare different insurance plans and rates from different companies, and highlights InsureMyTrip.com as the place to do the best comparison shopping.

The full article “Money Clip: Man Down” can be found on Golf Digest’s site.

Among the concerns raised by the Frugal Traveler are the cost of travel insurance relative to the cost of a trip; the relative likelihood of misfortune befalling you on your trip (for example, greater for one who is traveling by motorcycle through remote mountains than for one who is visiting Grandma for a week); the coverage already offered to you by your own medical insurance or homeowner’s insurance; and your individual financial tolerance — whether or not you think you’d be able to absorb the cost of a medical evacuation or other major unforeseen expense.  In most cases, the Frugal Traveler recommends using InsureMyTrip as one of the key sources for comparing and purchasing travel insurance options that suit your needs.

The entire column, “Should You Buy Travel Insurance?” can be found on the NY Times website.

“The 2005 hurricane season was a wake up call for the industry…Prior to that time, weather-related insurance for travelers was mostly limited to protection if your airline or cruise line ceased operating due to severe weather.  The damage and destruction brought on by the 2005 storms was a call to action for change, to work harder to protect people better.”

The full release can be found on Wall Street Select.