Cruise lines with included insurance

[silversurf]

I know Saga offer this, which is why we’ve booked with them before.

Any other cruise lines offer this?

[John Bull]

I very much doubt it.

Insurance premiums soar incrementally for those aged from about 60 upwards, and pre-existing conditions preclude insurance for many. Premiums for younger healthier folk are much much lower so they'd get poorer value out of an insurance-included cruise, and whilst some cruise lines - such as Fred Olsen and HAL - have a fairly high proportion of older folk, most cruise lines have a much wider demographic.

 

That's a major reason why coach tours (which normally include insurance) are so popular with old folk But UK coach holidays are limited to UK & Europe, and it's a great deal easier to take a passenger to hospital from a coach than from a ship. (I don't know the effect of Brexit on continental coach tours, but I suspect it may restrict them to countries which have signed reciprocal healthcare arrangements with the UK.)

 

JB 🙂

[Bertie Doe]

P&O, Marella and Cunard offer Insurance as an extra. Normally I use the search engine 'Moneysupermarket' who provide me with a list of Insurers to choose from.

My annual worldwide travel insurance (including Caribbean and USA and cruise cover) has just come up for renewal. Last year was £100, now they want £150, which confirms what you say JB.

I just went to the P&O site under 'Manage my Booking' and they wanted £220 for similar cover.

Regards Paul

[Aulanis]

16 hours ago, Bertie Doe said:

 

My annual worldwide travel insurance (including Caribbean and USA and cruise cover) has just come up for renewal. Last year was £100, now they want £150,

Regards Paul

Hi that is about what we used to pay  but ours has gone up  a lot more

who did you get that quote off?

[Bertie Doe]

7 hours ago, Aulanis said:

Hi that is about what we used to pay  but ours has gone up  a lot more

who did you get that quote off?

Last year travelsupermarket recommended Alpha Travel Insurance. They have about 4 levels of cover, Bronze, Silver etc. The £150 was their cheapest for annual cruise multi trip worldwide including USA and Caribbean. I pay the first £175 of the claim.

The advantage with using search engine moneysupermarket is, it remembers your personal details for quotes in future years. i.e. me 73 in good health and retired etc. This year Alpha travel wasn't in their top 5 so I guess there are cheaper Insurers out there.

Before buying, I'll get another quote from moneysupermarket in early May when the final cruise balance is due.

Regards Paul. 

[silversurf1]

We booked two cruises in 2019 for 2020. Then moved them to summer 2021. One is with Saga with included insurance, so no problem there. The other for 14 days with P and O to Spain and Italy. Got a recent quote from an insurance company often advertised on TV with 5* reviews on Trust Pilot. Single Trip to Europe nearly £700. We do have a few medical conditions, but nothing life threatening, no heart, cancer etc.

We have tried insurance quotes with companies associated with cruise lines but they won’t quote for us. We are mid seventies.

[Bertie Doe]

On 2/9/2021 at 10:41 PM, Bertie Doe said:

Last year travelsupermarket recommended Alpha Travel Insurance. They have about 4 levels of cover, Bronze, Silver etc. The £150 was their cheapest for annual cruise multi trip worldwide including USA and Caribbean. I pay the first £175 of the claim.

The advantage with using search engine moneysupermarket is, it remembers your personal details for quotes in future years. i.e. me 73 in good health and retired etc. This year Alpha travel wasn't in their top 5 so I guess there are cheaper Insurers out there.

Before buying, I'll get another quote from moneysupermarket in early May when the final cruise balance is due.

Regards Paul. 

Ah, a word of caution with Alpha. Although I ticked "add cruise cover extension" to get a quote, I couldn't find any reference to cruises in the Summary of Cover.

 

The reason is because Alpha won't provide cover because the FCO is advising against ALL cruise ship travel.

 

Therefore, there's no point in my paying final balance on any cruise or purchasing cruise cover, until the FCO gives the 'thumbs up'

 

There's another fly in the ointment with Alpha. They won't pay out if you are booked on a package holiday, because a package holiday is covered by the 'Package Travel Regulations Act 2018'

 

The following Cruise Critic  thread suggests that  cruise holidays are indeed package holidays :-

 

 

Hmm so the cheapest quote is not necessarily the best cover.

 

It begs the question - why do cruise companies require extra travel insurance if there's cover under the 2018 Act? I'll need to dig deeper. Maybe the 2018 Act cover refunds for cancelled holidays, whereas cruise insurance deals with the nitty gritties of accidents, hospitalisation and repatriation - any thoughts?