Travel insurance - P&O's strictly worded policy?

[Spesh]

Just booked with P&O for the first time for a short break to Amsterdam from Southampton for our anniversary.

 

Amongst the booking process and confirmation email were a fair few, rather specific, requirements for travel insurance that seem to smack of upsell.

 

We have always used the insurance with our bank account (Natwest) and not had an issue before but things like "cruise specific" in the P&O requirements have me a little woried.

 

I've checked our policy and it mentions cruises as covered, but it is not cruise "specific".  I've phone and spoken to the insurance people at the bank and its their opinion that we are covered for all that P&O want (including the repatriation/Curtailment and cancellation clauses) but it worries me that we will get turned away for a technicality on boarding and cause the "denied boarding at your own expense" to happen.

 

Having read through the paperwork i'm reasonbly happy we are covered but I'm no insurance expert and am always cautios of such things.

 

Any advice?

[charlie-le-chat]

Our insurance is with NatWest and we're confident that it provides the required cover.

A 'Confirmation of Cover' document downloaded from the NatWest Membership Services web site includes the following:

 

Cruise
This policy will provide cover for emergency medical and repatriation costs up to £10,000,000 when you are travelling on a cruise including UK cruises. The cruise duration must be a minimum of 2 nights for cover to apply.
You must ensure you meet all the conditions of carriage for your cruise provider.

[Plugtheleak]

We are also with Natwest and have a Platinum Account which gives us the Worldwide travel insurance. I've had a good read of all the documentation and I'm fairly sure it covers us better than some of the dedicated cruise insurance being offer. @Megabear2 completed a very thourgh review of all the insurance providers. I'm sure you can find it if you look back. As a previous poster has written I always take a copy of the Policy confirmation letter and this should clearly give evidence of all the required cover. We have been on 4 cruises since the Covid curfew has been lifted and asked on all 4 occasions if we have insurance. But never asked to prove it yet!

[bbtablet]

I think you will find that what P&O mean is that passengers must not rely just on "standard" travel policies which understandably do not include cruise cover automatically - it is an add-on, just like the one-legged blindfold ski-ing question which I am happy to decline cover for when asked.

If you start from scratch to book a policy with an insurer on-line, you therefore have to make sure you answer the early standard question "are you going on a cruise?" with Yes, in order to cover the "add-on" cruise aspects (rather than a policy that is specifically written only for cruises), which you quite reasonably have picked up on.

As you have reassurances from your insurance provider re this, I am 100% sure you will have no problems - enjoy your cruise!

Edited April 5, 2022 by bbtablet

[Selbourne]

26 minutes ago, bbtablet said:

I think you will find that what P&O mean is that passengers must not rely just on "standard" travel policies which understandably do not include cruise cover automatically - it is an add-on, just like the one-legged blindfold ski-ing question which I am happy to decline cover for when asked.

If you start from scratch to book a policy with an insurer on-line, you therefore have to make sure you answer the early standard question "are you going on a cruise?" with Yes, in order to cover the "add-on" cruise aspects (rather than a policy that is specifically written only for cruises), which you quite reasonably have picked up on.

As you have reassurances from your insurance provider re this, I am 100% sure you will have no problems - enjoy your cruise!

Some insurance companies do include cruises as part of their standard cover. We have an annual travel insurance policy with Aviva and they cover all cruise related eventualities (including medical evacuations etc) as standard - not an add on. They consider cruises to be a regular holiday. Cruise specific add-ons usually add things like compensation for missed ports (which our policy doesn’t) but aren’t a requirement to board a P&O cruise. 

[Spesh]

Thanks all.  I think I'll print out the confirmation of cover mentioned by charlie and highlight the clause mentioned.

 

Perhaps I'm being a bit OTT but its our first holiday since the Covid stuff started so we are a little nervous on a few levels.

[Megabear2]

53 minutes ago, Spesh said:

Thanks all.  I think I'll print out the confirmation of cover mentioned by charlie and highlight the clause mentioned.

 

Perhaps I'm being a bit OTT but its our first holiday since the Covid stuff started so we are a little nervous on a few levels.

Your insurance was actually one of the very best at looking after passengers affected by Covid when I carried out my research.  You will be absolutely fine on all front.  I'm certain you will have a wonderful cruise. Enjoy!

[P&O SUE]

I’ve printed out my cover confirmation page to show at Southampton, that doesn’t show the amount of cover but it clearly shows it’s ‘gold’ cover and ‘cruise cover’ included.