How many times have you decided that travel insurance is not a mandatory expense for your vacation? And how many times did you actually travel outside the country without it?

I must admit that I have done this on several occasions myself in order to “save a few bucks” from the cost of my trip. It didn’t take me long to see the error of my ways and understand that I need to be prepared for any eventualities on my trip.

Let’s take for example the time I was stranded in Cozumel during a port visit. A police incident caused a heavy traffic jam on the way back from a private shore excursion that lasted for even hours after the ship sailed away without me! If it wasn’t for my super duper RBC travel insurance representative and their fabulous 1-800 number, that would have marked the end of my long awaited vacation. Lucky for me that my travel agent insisted I pay an extra $25 dollars to include travel insurance in my cruise vacation package! And for that little money, I was ensured that the flight to catch my cruise at the next port was all taken care of.

Or maybe we should talk about the time when my luggage ended up on the other side of the world while on my way to catch a cruise. My travel insurance paid for wardrobe necessities while I was waiting fo my luggage to catch up to me. I know…. I’m just a travel disaster waiting to happen…. so I never leave the country without a policy.

So when I read about Jack Clevenger this morning and his misfortune of being left at port intentionally because the ship doctor on the Carnival Legend recommended that he get medical treatment right away on the island, I felt bad for him. After all, the caribbean cruise he was on was for his 89th birthday celebration.

He spent $2,500 getting himself and his son home to the United States. That amount is nothing compared to what he would have ended up spending if his condition worsened during his cruise and he needed to be airlifted off the ship to the nearest hospital. Medical treatment can be quite expensive in a foreign country and your standard medical insurance will not cover it.

If you invest money on a vacation, you also need to spend the extra money to protect your investment from unforseen circumstances.