Where do you buy insurance from, well specifically for cruises? I honestly have no idea. A friend of mine was on a European cruise - her husband had a bleeding ulcer - and they ended up in the hospital. But she was glad she had insurance!! I have heard you can be stuck with a bill of 100k or more if you require a helicopter to rescue you off the ship. Also, is it true that if you are in a foreign country - and need emergency surgery - they won't do it unless you have $$$$ right then and there? I've heard of people having to call people in the states to wire them the $$$$?
Usually I get travel insurance directly with the travel agency I booked the trip with, and in the cases I don't use a travel agency to travel, I will just check with my local insurance and ask coverage to be extended for the trip. They certainly charge extra, but sometimes the fee is even lower than the agency insurance.
Travel insurance is easy enough to arrange, just do a quick search on a comparison site and choose the one which suits your needs. Jobs a good 'un. @joyful728 I don't think it's true that "foreign hospitals" refuse to treat people unless they have been paid up front. As with anything in life, it's easy enough to Google the policy for the country you intend to visit.
I usually go to my local AAA office and they help me with travel insurance whenever I go out of the country. I sometimes ask the airline that I am traveling on and they give me good deals too. You can contact your local travel agent, but it might be a little pricier.
Yes it is true and is the case in many countries now and particularly so across the majority of Europe - where unless you have adequate travel insurance to cover medical costs - should you need to visit a hospital, a clinic or be hospitalized - not only would your treatment be delayed if you didn't have cover - but it may not even take place - as you would be required to pay for all services and treatment up front prior to receiving any kind of treatment - regardless of how ill you might be. Also as visitors to most countries are now generally referred to the private health sector and those services can be extremely expensive and especially so - if medical evacuation to a better equipped medical facility or to your home country is needed - taking out extra health insurance when traveling is very definitely the smart thing to do - especially as all the costs previously mentioned can easily amount to a huge amount of cash in just a matter of hours. With regard to where to get your travel insurance from - as its generally not advisable to take out travel insurance through a tour operator - as you normally land up paying way more than you need to - the best thing to do - as premiums can vary a great deal as can the level of cover - is to shop around for quotes online - in fact although I have used quite few different sites and had favorable results from all - would say that Moneysupermarket.com is certainly worth checking out - not only for quotes but also - as they have charts available for comparing the prices of most travel insurance policies currently on offer - you can use those to make ensure that you are getting value for money.
