“We never buy insurance on our 30+ cruises”
We always do. We hate doing it, but we do. For our Feb. cruise the cost was $104/person. Turns out Hubby had to use the medical office for something minor, but it wasn’t a cheap visit. (It was fair, though.) Our medicare supplemental paid 80% of the bill, and our travel insurance paid the remainder. No questions from anyone. It was worth it this cruise. (Of course it still didn’t recoup what we had paid in the past.)
About ten years ago, we had to cancel four days before a cruise because we both had pneumonia. No problem with cancelling through insurance.
Again, we hate to put out the money, but it does give peace of mind.
You are probably doing the right thing. It all depends on health conditions and ages in the family.
Now we do only last minute cruises, so do not need to worry about insurance. Last cruise on Feb 24th we booked like 3 days before because the discount looked good.