Insurance for medical while on cruise

My husband and I are doing a back to back (basically) US to Sydney 24nt, then next day hoping on another ship to do a 12 night around New Zealand. Our concern is if there is a medical emergency (as our last few cruises had this happen) and one must be flown off ship or in port hospitalized. What type of insurance would cover this? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!

My husband and I are doing a back to back (basically) US to Sydney 24nt, then next day hoping on another ship to do a 12 night around New Zealand. Our concern is if there is a medical emergency (as our last few cruises had this happen) and one must be flown off ship or in port hospitalized. What type of insurance would cover this? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!

In Canada (don't know which country your from) I haven't found insurance that actually covers you on board or pays for a evacuation from the ship. Some countries a medivac from a ship is covered by the government.To evacuate us home if we are injured , we pay for a special insurance to cover this. Medical plans that have found usually require you to pay the bill and then submit to them for payment.

Guessing you are from US, as you list your location as Chicago. This type of cost can be covered by a travel insurance policy. You can go to insuremytrip.com and compare policies. Call them with any questions.

I find the folks at https://tripinsurancestore.com/ very helpful. We find that our credit cards have some travel coverage. We will be purchasing a GeoBlue policy for our next cruises.

The medical department on board won't deal with insurance companies board. They charge your on board account for services rendered. An official receipt is given and you file a claim with your carrier.

We purchase two policies.

We purchase travel insurance which includes medical evacuation insurance.

We also purchase MedJet which is exclusively for medical evacuation.

Keith

Taken 17 cruises and many, many trips around the world with never once buying medical or travel insurance. It's my belief that living in FEAR is worse than any possible apocalyptic outcome.

Taken 17 cruises and many, many trips around the world with never once buying medical or travel insurance. It's my belief that living in FEAR is worse than any possible apocalyptic outcome.

I'm confused, are you saying that getting insurance is living in fear?

I think it's the opposite, having it means one less thing I have to think about. I've used travel insurance once after having bought it twice, not a cruise but another trip(yes, other vacations then cruises exist! :cool:) I thought I was fine, but then had an incident one night that sent me to the ER and a round of tests that found Uterine cancer. The week we were supposed to travel I was recovering from surgery and prepping to start chemo. I'm so glad we had the insurance, and will always get it now.

Taken 17 cruises and many, many trips around the world with never once buying medical or travel insurance. It's my belief that living in FEAR is worse than any possible apocalyptic outcome.

I have owned several homes over the decades and not once has one burned down. Yet I always have had homeowners insurance that covered fires. It was not from FEAR, but from an analytical decision making process that led to the homeowners insurance buying decision as part of an overall risk management plan.

That same decision process has resulted in us sometimes self-insuring the cost of the cruise, but always buying extensive coverage for emergency medical/dental and emergency evacuation. Additionally, we have Medjet membership which will transport us from any hospital in the world to our choice of hospital at home (if necessary in a specially equipped private plane or in first class of a commercial plane.)

I'm all for personal choice. If your risk management strategy is to self-insure for medical emergencies that may happen anywhere around the world, may your good fortune continue.

Sorry for being a bit flippant, but I was looking at the OP's question about a cruise to New Zealand on top of a 24 day US to Australia cruise. If any medical emergency should arise for Lillysoma and her husband, the hospitals in NZ and OZ would treat them without any question of payment. Speaking as a Canadian I'd add that the New Zealand medical system is even better than ours. The cost of any prescription drug in NZ is $5 even if it costs thousands of dollars in the US.

In terms of risk assessment, I travel without any insurance because I can self insure the cost of cancelling or changing plans or quickly booking a flight home should the need arise.

As a Canadian I enjoy the exact same medical coverage that US members of Congress give themselves. If I get sick anywhere in the world I'm covered by Canada's government single payer system up to their cost equivalents and that includes Med-Evac from anywhere. Our greatest risk is actually falling ill in the Good Ole' US of A.

How's that for irony! Don't get sick in the US if you're an American. My answer to the OP is don't worry at all about medical risk in New Zealand and Australia, it's free down there!

Sorry for being a bit flippant, but I was looking at the OP's question about a cruise to New Zealand on top of a 24 day US to Australia cruise. If any medical emergency should arise for Lillysoma and her husband, the hospitals in NZ and OZ would treat them without any question of payment. Speaking as a Canadian I'd add that the New Zealand medical system is even better than ours. The cost of any prescription drug in NZ is $5 even if it costs thousands of dollars in the US.

 

In terms of risk assessment, I travel without any insurance because I can self insure the cost of cancelling or changing plans or quickly booking a flight home should the need arise.

 

As a Canadian I enjoy the exact same medical coverage that US members of Congress give themselves. If I get sick anywhere in the world I'm covered by Canada's government single payer system up to their cost equivalents and that includes Med-Evac from anywhere. Our greatest risk is actually falling ill in the Good Ole' US of A.

 

How's that for irony! Don't get sick in the US if you're an American. My answer to the OP is don't worry at all about medical risk in New Zealand and Australia, it's free down there!

Which province do you live in? Who is your employer ? I work for a BC government corporation never had any coverage like what you describe.