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Comment by Michelle Simons on April 2, 2012 at 1:40pm

My sister went on a cruise to Hawaii on a huge ship for 7 days and my sister lost her beautiful expensive gold diamond necklace. She never had travel insurance but I know she wish she had. @mcjunkie

Comment by Allie McCoy on April 2, 2012 at 10:57am

I am sure you will get more upbeat stories than this. However, my story is a cautionary tale that changed the way I prepare for traveling. In 1970 two of my colleagues went to India for their summer vacation. One of them got very sick but, because she was young and not being paid well, she could not afford to be evacuated. She had surgery in a rural hospital, and she died. This was heartbreaking because it probably was preventable. 

Comment by John Kipper on March 29, 2012 at 10:30pm

I always thought travel insurance was for old people who worried they might get sick on a trip. And then it happened to me. Junior year in college I was studying abroad in Barcelona (it was rough, i know!!) and I was going to fly home for the Christmas break. Two days before the flight I started to feel funny. Being a hypochandriac of course I thought it was ebola, but it was just your garden variety flu. Lasted three weeks of sheer hell, though, I couldn't get out of bed let alone get on an airplace, so there went $900+ of airfare out the window, which for a college student is no small potatoes. Lesson learned? Nope. I still don't buy travel insurance but reading some of these stories I think maybe it's time....

Comment by Deena Mayhew on March 29, 2012 at 12:14pm

We had taken several cruises and ALWAYS purchased Travel Insurance.  We felt it was positively necessary since our Michigan winters can produce severe snow and ice storms that could delay travel from Michigan to our port city and we always wanted to protect our travel investment.  However, we booked our 1st summer cruise to Bermuda, and decided to forgo the purchase of travel insurance as we don't have snow storms in August!  Unfortunately, my Father-in-law's health condition abruptly changed, and we had a message waiting for us at the airline counter when we checked in.  It was 8 AM and he was to undergo emergency brain surgery at noon - at a hospital 100 miles away!  We grabbed our suitcases and left immediately to be by his side & to help my Mother-in-law.  While the airlines were very helpful, the cruise line was not.  They would not let us reschedule our trip, nor refund any portion of our cruise purchase.  It was very disappointing, but we did learn that it's important to always carry travel insurance as it may cover life's "bumps in the road" that you never see coming. 

Comment by David Lawrence on March 28, 2012 at 9:56am

I blew a knee out in back country in Colorado and they had to get me in a chopper and that cost a few thousand.  

Comment by Wendy Capra on March 27, 2012 at 10:28am

I have seven brothers and sisters -- don't ask. It wasn't easy growing up!! Travel insurance is a topic we still kid around with in my family, you see when I was 15 my older brother graduated from college and my parents decided to take us all back to Italy to meet relatives, visit our ancestral hometown, etc. That's eight kids plus two parents -- you do the math. About five days before the trip, my graduating brother came down with a CRIPPLING case of mono, he was flat on his back for about a month. Every symptom in the book. Needless to say, the trip was canceled. Had my parents bought insurance? NOT! So they were out a whole lot of money. Fortunately the airline was very understanding and gave them some kind of credit, and there were no hotels involved, as we were supposed to stay with relatives. But boy, did my parents learn a lesson! These days they won't go the corner store without buying insurance LOL

So my advice would be, the more people in your party, the more you need insurance!

Oh and we never did find out who my brother kissed to get the mono!!! ;-)

Comment by Jan Warner on March 26, 2012 at 8:15pm

I luckily have only had one time when I wished I had purchased travel insurance.  My husband and I had been married just a year and planned a trip out to the east coast.  We were flying into Boston, renting a car and driving along the coast. We were staying in Bed and Breakfast Inns to make the trip more memorable.  I knew my grandfather was sick with brain cancer, he had found out he had it days after we were married.  He ended up dying the day before our vacation and the funeral was going to be when we were away.  I called all of the Inn's and none of them would refund our money, I had not purchased any type of travel insurance.  To tell you the truth, I hadn't expected anybody to believe the story because I'm sure people use death as an excuse to cancel a reservation.  The airline wouldn't do anything either.   My grandma told me not to cancel the vacation and that my grandpa wouldn't have wanted me to cancel it anyway.  I felt terrible but I knew she was right.  I ended up missing the funeral and learned a very valuable lesson about travelers insurance.  

Comment by Sims Family Tours & Travel on March 26, 2012 at 4:07pm

As a travel agent that sells travel insurance regularly, I am a little embarrassed about my story.  Maybe being able to share it will help in my therapy.

The family booked a Hawaii cruise last year.  This was a 12-night sailing from Ensenada to Honolulu.  I kept reminding myself that I needed to get the travel insurance for everyone.  The cruise date kept getting closer and still no insurance.  Finally, I tried to put my mind at ease by saying we really didn't need it since the majority of the trip was going to be in the US and any medical issues would be covered by other insurance.  

The cruise crossing (1st 5 days) went super.  Then, the day before we arrived in Hilo, my dad had a heart attack.  He was taken off the ship at the port and would be hospitalized for the remainder of the cruise.  Fortunately, he recovered well and did not have major damage.  Unfortunately, he did not get to rejoin us and had to be flown back to San Diego a few days earlier than planned.

What a mess with all the air change fees, hotel expenses and unused cruise time.  Sure wish I would have taken those few extra minutes to purchase the Allianz insurance for them!  Lesson learned.

Comment by David Paul Appell on March 26, 2012 at 2:19pm

As someone who works for Tripatini I'm not eligible for the prize, but even so, I want to share my own family travel insurance classic.  Back in the 1990s, my mom and dad were all excited to be going on a Viking Princess cruise of the Far East, starting in Hong Kong with port calls in Japan, Taiwan, Shanghai, and Dalian (in Manchuria, China) before ending up at Tianjin and transferring to Peking (oh, all right, Beijing - but then I get to call the country Chung-guo). 

Anyhow...literally the week before departure, my mom slipped on the ice and broke her ankle. And no travel insurance bought!  Fortunately, I was unselfish enough to step in and take the trip so that at least it wouldn't go to waste (I know, whatta guy, eh?).  Yes, they were out $14K, but in this case at least someone in the family benefitted.  I can't imagine how I would've felt had it been me watching all that money literally go down the drain. I've been a travel insurance believer ever since.

Comment by Allianz Global Assistance on March 22, 2012 at 12:21pm

We're pleased to report we have a winner from our popular recent #LaunchAllianzTravel contest on Twitter that concluded this past Tuesday night.  It's Christy Blanc (@TwistyBlank) of Summerville, South Carolina.  Enjoy your Kindle Fire, Christy! And thanks to all of you who played - we'll be offering another chance to win starting this Monday, and are dreaming up other things for the pipeline, so please stay tuned!!

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