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Canadians - What to do - Cruise from US or All Inclusive?


LuCruise
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1 minute ago, Fouremco said:

Their coverage is the same for AI's outside Canada as it is for cruises outside Canada. They don't differentiate between the two travel advisories currently in place.

Thanks for clarifying.

 

I did get full Covid-19 coverage as part of an Air Canada Vacations AI package, though.

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3 minutes ago, lots-of-km2 said:

Thanks for clarifying.

 

I did get full Covid-19 coverage as part of an Air Canada Vacations AI package, though.

To the best of my knowledge, no Canadian travel insurance company currently provided "full Covid-19 coverage". What they will provide is coverage for Covid-related emergency medical expenses, but not for trip cancellation or interruption resulting from Covid-19.

 

As for Air Canada Vacations, their travel insurance is provided by RBC. The latter provides the following notification on its website (https://online.worldprotect.com/cgi-bin/weblinkca/en/travel-insurance.cgi?agency_code=AIRCVAC). The main difference is that RBC doesn't cover Covid-related emergency medical insurance for travel subject to the GOC travel advisory.  The same information is also provided with more detail on the main insurance pages (https://www.rbcinsurance.com/covid-19/index.html)

 

Important Notice

As of March 13, 2020, the COVID-19/Coronavirus outbreak has been identified as a “known or anticipated event”. As a result, for RBC travel insurance coverage purchased on or after March 13th 2020, any Trip Cancellation/interruption claim related to COVID-19/Coronavirus will not be payable.

Also note, you will not be covered under emergency medical insurance if you contract COVID-19/Coronavirus, and you travel to a destination in which the Government of Canada has advised Canadians to “Avoid all Travel” or “Avoid all non-essential Travel” effective March 13, 2020.

 

Given RBC's Notice and your statement that you have "full Covid-19 coverage",  can you explain the apparent contradiction between the two?

 

 

 

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2 hours ago, Alberta Quilter said:

Did you also take advantage of the promo for BC/AB residents?  We did!  We hope to do the second trip next spring.

We sure did. Managed to convince myself it was half price with an early payment for the second trip! Please don't damage my fantasy!! We have wanted to do it for years but could never cope with the cost. Even though we paid for the Indian Pacific 3 years ago in Australia. It was so much fun we never thought about the cost when onboard!!

We even get Aeroplan points which I am trying to accumulate to see if we can travel in comfort to South America in 2023 to do Antarctica again.

Got an ok direct flight home to Victoria from Air Canada. Sometimes one is lucky as it doubled the day after I booked.

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19 minutes ago, Fouremco said:

To the best of my knowledge, no Canadian travel insurance company currently provided "full Covid-19 coverage". What they will provide is coverage for Covid-related emergency medical expenses, but not for trip cancellation or interruption resulting from Covid-19.

 

As for Air Canada Vacations, their travel insurance is provided by RBC

 

Nope, mine is provided by Manulife, and it was advertised as full coverage, incl trip cancellation or interruption. https://www.aircanada.com/ca/en/aco/home/book/travel-news-and-updates/2020/covid-19-insurance.html

 

I did notice this now:

  • Travel must originate in Canada to any international destination (USA included) for which there is no Level-4 “avoid all travel” advisory in effect issued by the Canadian government at time of departure.

Yikes. Does that mean that an "avoid all essential travel" advisory nullifies the coverage? 

 

 

 

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2 minutes ago, lots-of-km2 said:

 

Nope, mine is provided by Manulife, and it was advertised as full coverage, incl trip cancellation or interruption. https://www.aircanada.com/ca/en/aco/home/book/travel-news-and-updates/2020/covid-19-insurance.html

 

I did notice this now:

  • Travel must originate in Canada to any international destination (USA included) for which there is no Level-4 “avoid all travel” advisory in effect issued by the Canadian government at time of departure.

Yikes. Does that mean that an "avoid all essential travel" advisory nullifies the coverage? 

 

 

 

I suspect that it might. I'd be double-checking with Manulife if I were you. 

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31 minutes ago, lots-of-km2 said:

 

Nope, mine is provided by Manulife, and it was advertised as full coverage, incl trip cancellation or interruption. https://www.aircanada.com/ca/en/aco/home/book/travel-news-and-updates/2020/covid-19-insurance.html

 

I did notice this now:

  • Travel must originate in Canada to any international destination (USA included) for which there is no Level-4 “avoid all travel” advisory in effect issued by the Canadian government at time of departure.

Yikes. Does that mean that an "avoid all essential travel" advisory nullifies the coverage? 

 

 

 

If you read the website I linked below we are in a Level 3.

 

https://travel.gc.ca/travelling/advisories/risk-levels-and-travel-advisories

 

However the wording you posted states the country you are travelling to, so I would look here to see what your country is listed at:

 

https://travel.gc.ca/travelling/advisories

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48 minutes ago, john2003 said:

We sure did. Managed to convince myself it was half price with an early payment for the second trip! Please don't damage my fantasy!! We have wanted to do it for years but could never cope with the cost. Even though we paid for the Indian Pacific 3 years ago in Australia. It was so much fun we never thought about the cost when onboard!!

We even get Aeroplan points which I am trying to accumulate to see if we can travel in comfort to South America in 2023 to do Antarctica again.

Got an ok direct flight home to Victoria from Air Canada. Sometimes one is lucky as it doubled the day after I booked.

I have the same fantasy!  And I am booked for SA/Antarctica for 2023 but I already have enoughAeroplan points for bus class for that trip.  Just hoping that COVID settles down so that we can go.

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1 hour ago, K_e_short said:

If you read the website I linked below we are in a Level 3.

 

https://travel.gc.ca/travelling/advisories/risk-levels-and-travel-advisories

 

However the wording you posted states the country you are travelling to, so I would look here to see what your country is listed at:

 

https://travel.gc.ca/travelling/advisories

 

Thank you so much! I'm learning a lot from these kinds of interchanges, and a ton from this forum. 

 

The country I'm travelling to is indeed a Level 3, which is covered by the insurance.   Air Canada Vacations confirmed yesterday that I'm covered for trip cancellation & interruption, medical assistance and quarantine expenses. I'll call Manulife too just to be safe. 

 

So yeah, my upcoming AI does have Covid insurance.  Haven't come across any Covid insurance for cruises so far. 

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1 hour ago, Alberta Quilter said:

I have the same fantasy!  And I am booked for SA/Antarctica for 2023 but I already have enoughAeroplan points for bus class for that trip.  Just hoping that COVID settles down so that we can go.

The trips that I have looked at Bus Class have concerned me as the points that bought Bus in the past would only buy PE under the new program. This has just been investigation. I did get a reasonable Bus class to LHR in October but will probably have to cancel. Does your investigation suggest I am being too pessimistic? Are you thinking AC or United?

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On 8/26/2021 at 10:28 AM, ALD18 said:

Spot on!!!!  Our philosophy as well, mid 2022 at the earliest.  Only change would be to expand Yanks to Global community.  Everywhere is struggling to get things figured and straightened out.

Yep, we have our share here as well. Thus the vaccine passport

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8 hours ago, john2003 said:

The trips that I have looked at Bus Class have concerned me as the points that bought Bus in the past would only buy PE under the new program. This has just been investigation. I did get a reasonable Bus class to LHR in October but will probably have to cancel. Does your investigation suggest I am being too pessimistic? Are you thinking AC or United?

I haven’t really done any research other than to check how many points were needed for business class to SA and compare to my balance.  It’s still far too early to book flights.  I’m also very reluctant to book as soon as I can (as I used to do to get reward flights) because of the pandemic.

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1 hour ago, Alberta Quilter said:

I haven’t really done any research other than to check how many points were needed for business class to SA and compare to my balance.  It’s still far too early to book flights.  I’m also very reluctant to book as soon as I can (as I used to do to get reward flights) because of the pandemic.

If you are booking using Aeroplan points, it is very easy to cancel and get your points and money back.  Believe me, we have been doing that for the past year now.  

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1 hour ago, Magicat said:

If you are booking using Aeroplan points, it is very easy to cancel and get your points and money back.  Believe me, we have been doing that for the past year now.  

Thanks, that’s good to know.  I haven’t used my Aeroplan points in several years.  You didn’t have to purchase any extra insurance to do that, did you?

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42 minutes ago, Alberta Quilter said:

Thanks, that’s good to know.  I haven’t used my Aeroplan points in several years.  You didn’t have to purchase any extra insurance to do that, did you?

No, you just cancel.  They return your points and if you paid the taxes, in a couple of days.  Also noticed with the new Aeroplan that seats come and go.  We purchased economy seats to Nassau a couple of months ago.  When we looked last week, business class showed available and we purchased them.  Cost us an additional 25k points but saved us money because now we don't have to pay for baggage and select seats.

Another interesting thing is the routing of flights.  When we were looking to go to Europe we could either pay +90k points and $700 to fly to Munich, however it was only 72k and $300 to go to Vienna.  So we chose that option and planned to take the train.  So the best advice would be to expand your search to nearby cities too.

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14 hours ago, K_e_short said:

If you read the website I linked below we are in a Level 3.

 

https://travel.gc.ca/travelling/advisories/risk-levels-and-travel-advisories

 

However the wording you posted states the country you are travelling to, so I would look here to see what your country is listed at:

 

https://travel.gc.ca/travelling/advisories

There are two points to be considered, the level and the country. Under normal circumstances, I agree that checking the country one is visiting is necessary, but as the current travel advisory is to any country outside Canada, the specific country is moot:

 

 

Avoid non-essential travel outside Canada until further notice

 

 

 

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4 hours ago, Alberta Quilter said:

I haven’t really done any research other than to check how many points were needed for business class to SA and compare to my balance.  It’s still far too early to book flights.  I’m also very reluctant to book as soon as I can (as I used to do to get reward flights) because of the pandemic.

They have have had free cancellations on reward flights but I think that ended. A few more months yet before we will book. Good luck with it.

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29 minutes ago, Fouremco said:

There are two points to be considered, the level and the country. Under normal circumstances, I agree that checking the country one is visiting is necessary, but as the current travel advisory is to any country outside Canada, the specific country is moot:

 

 

Avoid non-essential travel outside Canada until further notice

 

 

 

Just to be a picky poster....I'm wondering if "avoid" falls into the same category as "must not"?

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On 8/25/2021 at 10:10 AM, LuCruise said:

But currently Royal is flying anyone back home that tests positive....so perhaps flying is better as our car would be stuck in NJ in the chance that this happens?

This is currently scheduled to end on October 31.  If they extend it into 2022, I'm booking a cruise.  This way IF we did test positive, they would get us home and we wouldn't be stuck in the US in a hotel for 2 weeks.

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1 hour ago, Oceangoer2 said:

Just to be a picky poster....I'm wondering if "avoid" falls into the same category as "must not"?

We Canadians are too polite to use such extreme measures! 😊

 

Seriously, the entire travel advisory system is just that, advisory in nature. As far as I can remember, the GOC has never placed an outright ban on travel to any location, choosing instead to suggest avoidance. While a ban on direct flights to and from India was implemented in April, the only advice to potential travellers to India was to "Avoid non-essential travel outside Canada until further notice."

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1 hour ago, ilovetotravel1977 said:

This is currently scheduled to end on October 31.  If they extend it into 2022, I'm booking a cruise.  This way IF we did test positive, they would get us home and we wouldn't be stuck in the US in a hotel for 2 weeks.

Everything is so up in the air...border opens (so driving an option) or not, purchase flights or wait (latter risks high flight prices, but don't know if we'll have option to drive or not), to drive and then they still fly you back if test positive), and if Royal is still flying you home or not (if they do, then better to fly, if not then better to drive).  We just don't know what to do.

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59 minutes ago, ilovetotravel1977 said:

If the border was open, could you cross into Canada if positive? Would you just need to show a quarantine plan?  

I can't tell for sure. It certainly reads like you just need a quarantine plan, and presumably have to go to it immediately.

https://travel.gc.ca/travel-covid/travel-restrictions/covid-vaccinated-travellers-entering-canada#entry-vaccinated

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1 hour ago, ilovetotravel1977 said:

If the border was open, could you cross into Canada if positive? Would you just need to show a quarantine plan?  

 

Use the entry test questionnaire,  https://travel.gc.ca/travel-covid/travel-restrictions/wizard-start. Detailed instructions are provided at the end.

 

I believe the border is always open to returning Canadians.

 

Briefly, Canadian citizens that test positive within 72 hours prior to entry can cross on land or water but not by air. (Airlines will not knowingly carry infected people.)  Naturally there are restrictions, including quarantine.

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Okay, we wouldn't be stuck in the US.  Just a 3-4 day drive home to NS for me LOL

 

Maybe I should look at cruising out of NY/NJ as it would be a much easier drive home!

 

Oh, and refundable airfare would be required so you could cancel at the last minute. 

 

Yikes...so.many.things.

Edited by ilovetotravel1977
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6 hours ago, Oceangoer2 said:

Just to be a picky poster....I'm wondering if "avoid" falls into the same category as "must not"?

 

We know of Canadians who are cruising. I'm sure many others have gone out of the country on vacation (the group I belong to on social media for my AI in Mexico has a pile of Canadians who have travelled there this summer).

The issue is in terms of insurance. If we had had unlimited amount of money it wouldn't matter but being stuck in another country is expensive.

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