Travel insurance

[MicCanberra]

We have an HSBC platinum visz card $99 per annum and this is used for our travel insurance so if the travel agent is charging .75% to use the card that cost is what we pay for the insurance. I have had a couple of lost/stolen property claims which were paid with no problems but luckily not had to claim for medical or cancellation causes.

 

Nearly all the credit cards have this cover and they mostly use the same two Insurance companies as their cover ours being Zurich and as said you can have pre existing ailments covered at sometimes an extra cost or sometimes not they just need to know

 

Zurich and QBE tend to be the Credit Card travel insurance backers. I have had no issues with any of our claims so far.:D

[wombat13]

Zurich and QBE tend to be the Credit Card travel insurance backers. I have had no issues with any of our claims so far.:D

 

Hi Mike,

We were on the Solstice with you last Oct.

Just wanted to add we have a St George Platinum card for insurance purposes. I tried to cancel airfares for my up coming Black Sea cruise (Sept) because of Mr Putin. But was declined because the ins policy Zurich does not cover civil unrest / terrorism. Not sure than any insurance company does. I would be interested if anyone knows of one.

Jean

 

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[Kinkacruiser]

For value, annual is definitely the way to go - providing you board here or buy airfare a month out.

 

Incidentally, I found prices were a lot less if you buy through a TA than buying online.

[MicCanberra]

Hi Mike,

We were on the Solstice with you last Oct.

Just wanted to add we have a St George Platinum card for insurance purposes. I tried to cancel airfares for my up coming Black Sea cruise (Sept) because of Mr Putin. But was declined because the ins policy Zurich does not cover civil unrest / terrorism. Not sure than any insurance company does. I would be interested if anyone knows of one.

Jean

 

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Hi,

Not sure if any cover for that but I wouldn't worry about the cruise. If there are any safety concerns, the cruise will just miss Odessa, it would be a shame of course, but at least your safety is ensured. :D

Edited May 31, 2014 by MicCanberra

[davwen81]

Hi MicCanberra they haven't only dropped Odessa it's Sevastopol and Yalta too so the whole Crimea region making a Black Sea cruise at the moment a waste of money as these are the three main ports on this itinerary:( We just flipped out of our Black Sea cruise till 2016 hoping things will settle by then.

 

No there isn't any insurer who will cover for civil unrest or riots unfortunately.

 

 

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[Cruise_me_Crazy]

Great info. Thanks.

Will get onto smelly ole ANZ. Been writing to them about being one of the "big four" funding land grabs in 3rd world countries etc, so will add this to my lust of follow ups. :)

[Aus Traveller]

Hi Mike,

We were on the Solstice with you last Oct.

Just wanted to add we have a St George Platinum card for insurance purposes. I tried to cancel airfares for my up coming Black Sea cruise (Sept) because of Mr Putin. But was declined because the ins policy Zurich does not cover civil unrest / terrorism. Not sure than any insurance company does. I would be interested if anyone knows of one.

Jean

 

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I don't think any insurance covers civil unrest or war. At the time of the recent coup in Thailand there was a comment about that in the newspaper.

[wombat13]

Hi MicCanberra they haven't only dropped Odessa it's Sevastopol and Yalta too so the whole Crimea region making a Black Sea cruise at the moment a waste of money as these are the three main ports on this itinerary:( We just flipped out of our Black Sea cruise till 2016 hoping things will settle by then.

 

No there isn't any insurer who will cover for civil unrest or riots unfortunately.

 

 

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Thanks everybody just wanted to make sure. Also your are right about the Black sea cruise Celebrity have now changed the itinerary ( they took awhile to do it). New ports are Sinop, Varna, Costanza & Trabzon. We are doing a Mediterranean before this one so a B2B. So that made it a more difficult decision to cancel or not. But then we found out we would lose too much money trying to cancel our airfares. So now we are still doing both cruises and hoping the Black sea portion will be OK.

Jean

 

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[The_Big_M]

I don't think any insurance covers civil unrest or war. At the time of the recent coup in Thailand there was a comment about that in the newspaper.

 

That's the issue here. Russia invaded and annexed part of Ukraine, so it's like war - but not been declared.

 

Unfortunately, even though it can be unexpected and the sort of thing you would want to be covered for, it's not something I've seen offered locally.

[MicCanberra]

Hi MicCanberra they haven't only dropped Odessa it's Sevastopol and Yalta too so the whole Crimea region making a Black Sea cruise at the moment a waste of money as these are the three main ports on this itinerary:( We just flipped out of our Black Sea cruise till 2016 hoping things will settle by then.

 

No there isn't any insurer who will cover for civil unrest or riots unfortunately.

 

 

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I agree that missing all those ports is bad, I would wait and see if the unrest settles like you are and if not perhaps transfer to another cruise altogether. :D

[MicCanberra]

Thanks everybody just wanted to make sure. Also your are right about the Black sea cruise Celebrity have now changed the itinerary ( they took awhile to do it). New ports are Sinop, Varna, Costanza & Trabzon. We are doing a Mediterranean before this one so a B2B. So that made it a more difficult decision to cancel or not. But then we found out we would lose too much money trying to cancel our airfares. So now we are still doing both cruises and hoping the Black sea portion will be OK.

Jean

 

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I am sure you will be fine and the new itinerary is not too bad. still it would have been disappointing to miss the main ports. Make the most of it and enjoy.:D

[MicCanberra]

Great info. Thanks.

Will get onto smelly ole ANZ. Been writing to them about being one of the "big four" funding land grabs in 3rd world countries etc, so will add this to my lust of follow ups. :)

 

I lust after things other than follow ups. like great cruise itineraries.:p

[wombat13]

I am sure you will be fine and the new itinerary is not too bad. still it would have been disappointing to miss the main ports. Make the most of it and enjoy.:D

 

Thanks Mike. I think a lesson has been learned not to book air flights too early or pay more for the flexible ones. But hindsight is a wonderful thing😃. The airfare sale was too good to pass up.

 

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[MicCanberra]

Thanks Mike. I think a lesson has been learned not to book air flights too early or pay more for the flexible ones. But hindsight is a wonderful thing😃. The airfare sale was too good to pass up.

 

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Yes, we have been burned on some airfares before luckily they were really cheap to start with.:D

[Freedale]

I've read a couple of threads with regard to travel insurance and I thought I should bring a certain clause to your attention.

We use ANZ Platinum travel insurance whish is underwritten by QBE. We are due to fly out on the 5th October 2014, to join Oasis of the Seas TA and then spend a couple of weeks in America,

My Dad has taken ill and currently is in hospital. I'm thinking - that's ok the travel insurance will cover any cancellations, if need be. How wrong can a person be.

 

Under General Exclusions clause number 8:

the illness, injury or death of a person who is not a member of your travelling party an is 80 years of age or over at the time of activation of any trip.

 

Under another section about Non-Travellers

There is no cover for any costs incurred due to the illness, injury or death of any person 80 years of age or over not travelling with you.

 

Key words here for me are 80 years at time of activation, thankfully Dad was 79 when we booked the cruise and flights. I don't know if we are covered for accommodation etc that we booked after he turned 80. We will wait and see - we're still hoping to make the cruise at least - which has the biggest cancellation costs.

This will probably be the last time we use the ANZ card insurance, but I will be reading all product disclosure statements from now on. I've found another policy that only covers non travelling family members for Death or life threatening illness! Neither of which would include my Dad.

 

Cheers

Diane

[Bpos]

In 2008 I took the trouble of getting a pre existing heart condition covered with a travel insurance policy issued by QBE. Had to get doctors and specialist reports etc.

 

Two weeks into our trip to Canada and USA I ended up in a New Jersey public hospital for four days to have a pacemaker fitted as things turned bad.

 

The account came to $150,000 Aust and it still took three years to have the insurance paid out despite being assured by QBE that my claim was with the ambit of the policy. The battle to get the claim paid is too long to go into here,

 

The moral of the story is to make sure you have travel insurance, read the fine print and clarify any pre-existing illness you want covered BEFORE YOU LEAVE HOME.

 

Needless to say I cannot get insurance for my heart but that will still not prevent me from traveling as I am not going to stay home and wait to die - but I still make sure we have cover for most other events before leaving home.

[Chelseapop]

I know that National Seniors Travel Insurance, RACQ/NRMA etc cover pre existing problems. I have a friend with a pre existing heart condition and he was covered by NRMA.

[kate59]

Unfortunately they won't cover for being on immune suppression medication - I have tried several times and a shareholder of NRMA.

 

Each Travel insurance company cover different things so if you have pre existing illness or disease keep looking as you can usually find one if condition is under control.

[MicCanberra]

I've read a couple of threads with regard to travel insurance and I thought I should bring a certain clause to your attention.

We use ANZ Platinum travel insurance whish is underwritten by QBE. We are due to fly out on the 5th October 2014, to join Oasis of the Seas TA and then spend a couple of weeks in America,

My Dad has taken ill and currently is in hospital. I'm thinking - that's ok the travel insurance will cover any cancellations, if need be. How wrong can a person be.

 

Under General Exclusions clause number 8:

the illness, injury or death of a person who is not a member of your travelling party an is 80 years of age or over at the time of activation of any trip.

 

Under another section about Non-Travellers

There is no cover for any costs incurred due to the illness, injury or death of any person 80 years of age or over not travelling with you.

 

Key words here for me are 80 years at time of activation, thankfully Dad was 79 when we booked the cruise and flights. I don't know if we are covered for accommodation etc that we booked after he turned 80. We will wait and see - we're still hoping to make the cruise at least - which has the biggest cancellation costs.

This will probably be the last time we use the ANZ card insurance, but I will be reading all product disclosure statements from now on. I've found another policy that only covers non travelling family members for Death or life threatening illness! Neither of which would include my Dad.

 

Cheers

Diane

In this case you have learnt a very good lesson, always read the discosure statements and make sure you are covered for what you need and want. Hopefully you will not need to make a claim.:D

[GUT2407]

I can say for an absolute FACT that lawyers love people who don't read the conditions before they sign up for anything.

 

Insurance companies do too.

 

However I can fully understand why they exclude some items from coverage otherwise the questionnaire would take weeks to complete and be examned before issuing your policy.

[Meamat]

Just weighing in on annual policy choices...

 

We have had a 1cover annual policy in the past and I found them fantastic to work with when making claims. One year my daughter needed treatment in the US (tonsillitis) and then my son needed treatment just a couple weeks later (severe ear infection on a public holiday in the US, so it was an emergency room visit). Great both times and even went to the effort of calling us to check on my sons ear and if he had medical clearance to fly or needed changes to our itinerary. We did learn an expensive lesson that year because we paid two $100 excess charges. Since then we have paid the extra $25 or so to remove the excess.

 

We did need to claim a few years later when my son contracted mono/glandular fever overseas. 1cover again, and they covered all our travel change fees etc without blinking an eye.

 

 

 

 

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[cruisine21]

We have had a 1cover annual policy in the past and I found them fantastic to work with when making claims.

 

 

 

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Unfortunately the 1cover annual policy is no good for us now because my husband is over 60.

[cruisine21]

My dad is also now 87. I don't think any travel insurance policy would cover us if anything happened to him before or during our holiday. I know with 1cover they will only cover if the relative is under 85.

[Meamat]

Yes - I think the first person to mention the 1cover policy also said something about it not being covered for passengers over 60. I suppose we've ended up with them at times in the past because they were the best choice for us as a family of 4, but I'm aware that they don't suit everyone. I suppose it's the caveat someone mentioned above - terms and conditions vary wildly and it's well worth going through them with a fine-toothed comb before making a decision!

[Cruise_me_Crazy]

Just weighing in on annual policy choices...

 

We have had a 1cover annual policy in the past and I found them fantastic to work with when making claims. One year my daughter needed treatment in the US (tonsillitis) and then my son needed treatment just a couple weeks later (severe ear infection on a public holiday in the US, so it was an emergency room visit). Great both times and even went to the effort of calling us to check on my sons ear and if he had medical clearance to fly or needed changes to our itinerary. We did learn an expensive lesson that year because we paid two $100 excess charges. Since then we have paid the extra $25 or so to remove the excess.

 

We did need to claim a few years later when my son contracted mono/glandular fever overseas. 1cover again, and they covered all our travel change fees etc without blinking an eye.

 

 

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Great to hear an insurance company coming up with the goods!