Reliable travel insurance

[Kinkacruiser]

Just back into cruising after the covid drought. We are  now a few years older (80 and 71) so insurance premiums are much higher. I booked a 2 week cruise to NZ for January '24 and have started looking for reasonable cover. Can anyone help me choose a company that they have found easy to deal with? 

Cheers and thanks in advance.

[Aus Traveller]

We use the complimentary travel insurance attached to our ANZ Platinum credit card. It covers cruises that are booked before the person's 81st birthday. We have to use the card for at least $250 of the travel cost. Other banks have similar products. Others on this site will be able to recommend travel insurance policies that you can purchase. Whatever type of insurance you consider, check what pre-existing medical conditions they will cover.

[MMDown Under]

1 hour ago, Kinkacruiser said:

Just back into cruising after the covid drought. We are  now a few years older (80 and 71) so insurance premiums are much higher. I booked a 2 week cruise to NZ for January '24 and have started looking for reasonable cover. Can anyone help me choose a company that they have found easy to deal with? 

Cheers and thanks in advance.

Good Luck!  Sorry I can’t help you.  I’m trying to organise my overseas travel before 80!!  USA has already been ruled out even though I have two girlfriends there. One is coming to visit me next February. 
My next trip could be Norway and UK.

 

 

[SinbadThePorter]

1 hour ago, Kinkacruiser said:

Can anyone help me choose a company that they have found easy to deal with?

 

If it's any help, I use Qantas. Which resells NIB travel insurance, but I get points though Qantas.

 

They seem reasonably priced and not punitive with age.

[greyskier]

I have just used qantas for a PNG cruise we are 77and 78.  they were very reasonable and only added an extra $100 for medical problems.  the anz platinum wouldn't cover me for pre existing problems.I did some rough quotes with about 7 companies and Qantas came out the best

[OzKiwiJJ]

We've been using Insure and Go and have been happy with them. They processed a claim back in 2017 reasonably efficiently. They also put our newly purchased annual policy on hold two months into the pandemic then when we requested it be restarted they gave us a full year instead of the ten months remaining at the time of the hold.

[SinbadThePorter]

13 minutes ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

They also put our newly purchased annual policy on hold

 

I don't think that Insure and Go do annual policies any more.

[OzKiwiJJ]

3 hours ago, SinbadThePorter said:

 

I don't think that Insure and Go do annual policies any more.

No, not at the moment but they do cruise policies.

[Kinkacruiser]

Thanks a lot for the tips everyone. I'll check out the ANZ policies. Always used Insure and Go in the past, but since hubby turned 80 it's a battle. 

[ceeceeDee]

Also, if you are considering credit card policies, ensure they cover for Covid. Some don't.

[cruisine21]

On 5/15/2023 at 10:00 AM, SinbadThePorter said:

 

If it's any help, I use Qantas. Which resells NIB travel insurance, but I get points though Qantas.

 

They seem reasonably priced and not punitive with age.

My daughter used Travel Insurance Direct which resells NIB. They took 5 months to pay a medical claim.

[MMDown Under]

On 5/15/2023 at 10:00 AM, SinbadThePorter said:

 

If it's any help, I use Qantas. Which resells NIB travel insurance, but I get points though Qantas.

 

They seem reasonably priced and not punitive with age.

Oops I use Qantas also.  

[MMDown Under]

i just received an email from Fast Cover Travel "How to Use Travel Insurance".

Covid Cover provided after 72 hours. 

I bought cover with this company when I needed evacuation cover and found them very helpful. I didn't have to claim.  

fastcover.com.au

[Kinkacruiser]

Thanks to all for the pointers. I checked them all and found AllClear the best option so far since they cover our ages (80, 71) and our pre-existing ailments. I was expecting a premium of around $1000 and wasn't far off. Still, insurance is all about peace of mind in the end. 

[jland]

We have used AllClear for many years due to my husbands many pre existing ailments. They are the go to company for major illness cover. Yes they are expensive but at least they will cover almost all major ailments and age groups. We have claimed from them and although they were very thorough, they did pay us promptly.

[fifa]

Be vey cautious of using credit card insurance if you have pre-existing medical conditions. Many won’t cover you for anything but the basic listed conditions. 

[Kinkacruiser]

1 hour ago, jland said:

We have used AllClear for many years due to my husbands many pre existing ailments. They are the go to company for major illness cover. Yes they are expensive but at least they will cover almost all major ailments and age groups. We have claimed from them and although they were very thorough, they did pay us promptly.

So happy to hear about your positive experience with AllClear. Thanks for your input, 

[Elorac123]

1 hour ago, fifa said:

Be vey cautious of using credit card insurance if you have pre-existing medical conditions. Many won’t cover you for anything but the basic listed conditions. 

I have a couple of existing that are not on the list and Westpac charge $45 per item,  still good value for us 

Cheers Carole

[boeckli]

@Kinkacruiser Are you sure your cruise will be covered?

 

I hadn't previously heard about  AllClear so had a quick look at their website and their PDS.

 

Front page  https://www.allcleartravel.com.au/ states:

 

"We’re unable to offer cover for cruise trips at this time. However, we’re excited to announce that we can provide cruise cover again in early 2023!

Thank you for your patience while we bring cruise cover back to our policies, and we look forward to covering your cruise needs very soon."

 

And this is from the PDS: 

 

[Aus Traveller]

1 hour ago, fifa said:

Be vey cautious of using credit card insurance if you have pre-existing medical conditions. Many won’t cover you for anything but the basic listed conditions. 

It depends what the pre-existing medical conditions are. Those that are covered are listed very clearly. If someone is unsure, they can phone and check .

[jland]

AllClear travel insurance is an off shoot of insure and go. They share the same office building. We claimed from them whilst on a cruise ship but before covid. AllClear are a lifeline for us, without them we could not travel, no other company will consider my husband with his many ailments.

[Kinkacruiser]

Finally found a company willing to cover our pre-exisitings and mature ages 7 months out from our cruise. I was quite surprised as One Cover would never have considered us when we started cruising in 2006. Just over the '000 but peace of mind and they will cover Covid 😉 ....should it still be about in January.

Hubby will be 80 in 2 weeks time. Does anyone know if 80 is a cut-off age? I couldn't find reference to age limit anywhere??

[MMDown Under]

1 hour ago, Kinkacruiser said:

Finally found a company willing to cover our pre-exisitings and mature ages 7 months out from our cruise. I was quite surprised as One Cover would never have considered us when we started cruising in 2006. Just over the '000 but peace of mind and they will cover Covid 😉 ....should it still be about in January.

Hubby will be 80 in 2 weeks time. Does anyone know if 80 is a cut-off age? I couldn't find reference to age limit anywhere??

It is the travel insurance industry’s dirty little secret.  I always remember the shock when my travel insurance company would no longer cover me when I turned 70!  Little did I know this would continue when I turned 80!  When I booked a ferry to TI Insure and Go wouldn’t insure me because it was 4 months out.  I

cancelled the trip.  BTW I have never made a health related claim.  I currently insure with Qantas.  I’d rather change my travel plans than be ripped off by travel insurance.  

[cruisine21]

On 5/17/2023 at 8:11 AM, MMDown Under said:

i just received an email from Fast Cover Travel "How to Use Travel Insurance".

Covid Cover provided after 72 hours. 

I bought cover with this company when I needed evacuation cover and found them very helpful. I didn't have to claim.  

fastcover.com.au

The issue with Fast Cover is that since Covid the don’t do screening for pre-existing medical conditions. So if your condition is not one of the 43 automatically covered you can’t get any cover.

[MMDown Under]

9 hours ago, cruisine21 said:

The issue with Fast Cover is that since Covid the don’t do screening for pre-existing medical conditions. So if your condition is not one of the 43 automatically covered you can’t get any cover.

Someone said they have an age limit also.