World Cruise - Repatriation of Remains? What??

One of the less exciting aspects of our World Cruise is the thought that something could go wrong with us during the trip and require medical assistance or, perish the thought, repatriation of remains. What is that you say? Well, it means flying or shipping the remains of the one (or two of us) who decides to "cash out" on the rest of the cruise. Bob has been researching and studying different types of travel insurance to see what best suits our needs and fits our comfort zone.

For instance, what if we were to fall and need more medical attention than the locals could provide? What if one of us had a stroke or a heart attack? At our ages, we need to begin thinking of those things and in this case, we could be a long way from the care we would need/want and or home if our cruise were to end that way. Medical evacuation is very expensive and could cost as much as our cruise fare or more.

There is also insurance available that will cover the cancellation of our cruise or the portion we couldn't finish if we ran into medical circumstances that meant we needed to come home.

All of that being considered, insurance is also costly but in this case and at this stage in life, we felt we needed a cushion should an emergency arise. Our major concern being a medical evacuation, Bob zeroed in on the policies that provided for that as well as any local medical expenses that might occur along the way.  (And of course covers the repatriation of remains.) Medicare and our supplemental insurance would not cover all medical situations out of the U.S. that might happen.

On the other hand, adding to a travel insurance policy the portion that would cover the premature cancellation of our cruise--all or a part of it, also adds a hefty premium to the insurance. Bottom line is that we are comfortable with the medical part and the cost of that. If we lose a portion of the cruise, so be it. After all, all insurance is a gamble of sorts. We're hoping we won't need any of it.

Bob has settled on a policy from FrontierMedEx called TravMed Global. I'm trusting in his judgement but if I have to repatriate his remains, I'm still finishing the cruise. I expect he'll do the same.