Required travel insurance

[CatalinF]

Fresh member here - and in serious need of advice from experienced Cunard travellers.

 

I'm going on a cruise on Queen Victoria in two weeks' time together with my parents. I've been aware of the UK insurance requirements ever since I made our bookings, a few months ago, but didn't realize that they apply to us. We are Romanian nationals and it only recently became clear that our booking is still considered to be a UK booking, because I made it directly through the Cunard website. At the time of the booking I actually wrote to Cunard and their response did not clearly state that the UK terms apply to us.

 

My story is similar to others I've read on this forum: there's no local product to match UK insurance requirements, and I'm worried about being denied boarding, especially since my parents are around 70 and it's their first cruise 🙂 I've seen comments about insurance proof actually never being checked. We all have travel insurance, but can't match UK requirements because there's no way to get cover for pre-existing conditions. I've been in touch with my insurance broker and the closest thing would be a global insurance with a small cover (~20k Euro) for pre-existing condition episodes, which for my parents would cost as much as the cruise itself. For reference, the standard travel insurance coverage in Romania is around 50k Euro and pre-existing conditions aren't included.

 

I've just talked to Cunard customer support and, as expected, they upheld the terms on their website (I appreciated the operator's attitude, but in the end I didn't get any useful information).

 

I have a Revolut Metal insurance (via Xcover), which for a reasonable price provides a 10m Euro global coverage for a couple. I'm considering opening a Revolut Metal account for my parents, just for them to be able to show a paper with a high coverage if needed. It still wouldn't match UK requirements, obviously - but I'm guessing it could reduce the risk to be denied boarding. Just to be clear, I don't have a good opinion about Xcover, and have worked much better with local insurers in the past.

 

What do you think? Has anybody reading this ever been asked for proof of travel insurance? If yes, is that a thorough check? Are you aware of any situation when somebody has been denied boarding because if this?

 

I hate to be jury rigging my booking like this - I'm just looking to avoid a difficult situation.

[Summergee]

Make sure that whatever cover you get gives you a good amount for repatriation.

[Clewgarnet]

I've never been asked for proof of insurance, but I've always put my insurance details in online long before check-in, so it's possible it's already been noted and approved through that. (That said, I'd be very surprised if it had been. There's a lot of duplication of info you've already given when you come to board.)

 

Could you try putting your own Revolut Metal details in on My Voyage and see if it's accepted?

 

Good luck. I really hope you and your parents are able to enjoy your holiday.

[Pushpit]

Welcome to Cruise Critic

 

The one and only time that I've had a substantive sift through my document was on one of the first sailings after the pandemic, when there was a huge amount of nervousness around, and even then the insurance document was just glanced over to check it was in validity. She looked at it for 2 seconds.  I've done a number of sailings since then and the insurance document has not been checked, in fact I don't bother to bring it with me any more, if someone really wants to see it then I'll dig it out of the email on my cellphone. Admittedly while I am a pensioner, I still play rugby and don't look like someone about to keel over in the near future.

 

I'm not sure calling Cunard would help since ultimately all they could possibly do is read back what it says in the conditions of carriage, and you may be flagging your booking for extra scrutiny.

 

That said, the relevant page is a mixture of good advice and a small amount of requirement, and it's important to distinguish the two. So yes of course if you don't declare pre-existing conditions your cover may be invalid, every policy says that, but Cunard is actually demanding evidence around it. This is the requirement:

 

When travelling with us, your insurance must include medical and repatriation cover for not less than 2 million GBP minimum, including cover for emergency evacuations and full cover for pre-existing medical conditions in the countries you are due to visit. 

 

I guess all you can do is to get the best set of insurance documents together and only present them if asked. In the meantime, keep hunting around for an insurance company willing to give cover for a reasonable cost. If you are going to EHIC countries on your sailing then obviously it gets a lot easier since the last clause is more easily met.

[CatalinF]

4 minutes ago, Clewgarnet said:

I've never been asked for proof of insurance, but I've always put my insurance details in online long before check-in, so it's possible it's already been noted and approved through that. (That said, I'd be very surprised if it had been. There's a lot of duplication of info you've already given when you come to board.)

 

Could you try putting your own Revolut Metal details in on My Voyage and see if it's accepted?

 

Good luck. I really hope you and your parents are able to enjoy your holiday.

 

Thank you!

 

It appears to me that anything will be accepted in the insurance section on My Voyage 🙂 It's currently filled in with the Revolut Metal details for myself and an ongoing Omniasig VIG insurance for my parents (linked to their payment cards) - there doesn't seem to be any validation of those details.

[WantedOnVoyage]

I am always astonished at these U.K. insurance requirements... but I can state positively from my experience only, I have never seen anyone at check-in producing anything more than their boarding pass, credit card and passport.  And since there is no separate queue for nationalities or "markets", that's another consideration.  I have a U.S. passport and my wife a U.K. one and we've never been asked.  Then again, we always book in the U.S. if nothing else than to get around these astonishing insurance requirements.  In the U.S., you cannot force anyone to buy travel insurance, either. 

Edited June 25 by WantedOnVoyage

[CatalinF]

7 minutes ago, Pushpit said:

Welcome to Cruise Critic

 

The one and only time that I've had a substantive sift through my document was on one of the first sailings after the pandemic, when there was a huge amount of nervousness around, and even then the insurance document was just glanced over to check it was in validity. She looked at it for 2 seconds.  I've done a number of sailings since then and the insurance document has not been checked, in fact I don't bother to bring it with me any more, if someone really wants to see it then I'll dig it out of the email on my cellphone. Admittedly while I am a pensioner, I still play rugby and don't look like someone about to keel over in the near future.

 

I'm not sure calling Cunard would help since ultimately all they could possibly do is read back what it says in the conditions of carriage, and you may be flagging your booking for extra scrutiny.

 

That said, the relevant page is a mixture of good advice and a small amount of requirement, and it's important to distinguish the two. So yes of course if you don't declare pre-existing conditions your cover may be invalid, every policy says that, but Cunard is actually demanding evidence around it. This is the requirement:

 

When travelling with us, your insurance must include medical and repatriation cover for not less than 2 million GBP minimum, including cover for emergency evacuations and full cover for pre-existing medical conditions in the countries you are due to visit. 

 

I guess all you can do is to get the best set of insurance documents together and only present them if asked. In the meantime, keep hunting around for an insurance company willing to give cover for a reasonable cost. If you are going to EHIC countries on your sailing then obviously it gets a lot easier since the last clause is more easily met.

 

Thanks you!

 

Indeed, we are only cruising in the West Med, from Rome to Barcelona - so we should be covered by the European Health Card. I mentioned this to Cunard support and they didn't seem impressed 🙂. Also, I can't find any explicit mention of the EHIC covering pre-existing conditions, although it's a matter of common sense that it does (since it enables medical assistance in member states in the same conditions as in your home country).

 

Come to think of it, EHIC (pre-existing medical conditions) + Revolut Metal (coverage amount for medical and repatriation) could work. Also considering the explicit mention that EHIC is not an alternative to travel insurance, since it only includes public healthcare.

[exlondoner]

1 hour ago, WantedOnVoyage said:

I am always astonished at these U.K. insurance requirements... but I can state positively from my experience only, I have never seen anyone at check-in producing anything more than their boarding pass, credit card and passport.  And since there is no separate queue for nationalities or "markets", that's another consideration.  I have a U.S. passport and my wife a U.K. one and we've never been asked.  Then again, we always book in the U.S. if nothing else than to get around these astonishing insurance requirements.  In the U.S., you cannot force anyone to buy travel insurance, either. 

It may be astonishing to you, but I don’t think it is remotely astonishing, just sensible.

[david63]

Travel insurance is no different to any other type of insurance (unless it is car insurance which is a legal requirement) in that it is considered an unnecessary expense - until you need it.

 

The big costs with travel insurance, especially on a cruise, is using the medical centre where just a consultation will be in three figures, overseas hospitalisation/treatment (where I certainly would not rely on an EHIC card to provide total cover) and repatriation costs where if it is by air can be in six figures.

[WantedOnVoyage]

1 hour ago, exlondoner said:

It may be astonishing to you, but I don’t think it is remotely astonishing, just sensible.

Oh we buy own travel insurance and of the coverage that suits US... not a third party. The notion of 2 mn. quid as minimal coverage is astonishing enough that no U.S. travel insurance even offers such coverage.  Travel insurance should be our personal choice... not Cunard's.  Now that is sensible. 

[D&N]

@CatalinF

I'm not aware of a European policy to match UK requirements. As UK nationals we qualify for Staysure Expat, but at least one of you needs to be a UK expat and all covered must live in Spain, France or Portugal.

Cunard's French site used to link to a policy that offered much less cover. Companies like AXA and Allianz offer policies where medical fees might be limited to €150,000 or maybe a bit more but repatriation costs are specified as actual fees (theoretically unlimited).

However provided you can post insurance company name and emergency contact details in My Cunard and carry paperwork showing you have some cover it's unlikely that it will be checked in great detail.

Besides if you are in the Mediterranean any resulting medical fees are likely to be within European insurance values. I wouldn't want to be hospitalised in the US without significant cover!

[King Amo]

I've no real comprehension over the appropriateness of the levels, but travel insurance is a risk mitigation for Cunard as much as it is for ourselves. They will not want to be going after individuals for the huge sums they could be out of pocket, and certainly wouldn't want to be seen to do so. 

[D&N]

5 minutes ago, WantedOnVoyage said:

no U.S. travel insurance even offers such coverage.

I was looking at several million $$s of cover with Seven Corners, before Staysure resumed their Expat service after Brexit

[exlondoner]

7 minutes ago, WantedOnVoyage said:

Oh we buy own travel insurance and of the coverage that suits US... not a third party. The notion of 2 mn. quid as minimal coverage is astonishing enough that no U.S. travel insurance even offers such coverage.  Travel insurance should be our personal choice... not Cunard's.  Now that is sensible. 

I don’t imagine Cunard are that keen on being cluttered up with seriously ill passengers needing air ambulances who can’t afford them. Surely they should be allowed some say in the matter?

[david63]

26 minutes ago, WantedOnVoyage said:

The notion of 2 mn. quid as minimal coverage is astonishing enough that no U.S. travel insurance even offers such coverage.

I can to some extent understand that argument but take an extreme example. Repatriation costs can be anything upwards of £200 per mile. A world cruise could be in New Zealand which is roughly 12,000 miles away - so the sums.

 

If the cruise lines had different requirements for different parts of the world all that would do is lead to confusion with passengers having the wrong cover, so the only option to safeguard both the passenger and the cruise line is a "worst case scenario".

37 minutes ago, WantedOnVoyage said:

Travel insurance should be our personal choice... not Cunard's

It is but with the cruise line's requirements - otherwise you pick up the bill.

 

It is no different to insuring your house - you insure it to cover worst case scenario otherwise you are deeply out of pocket.

[CatalinF]

Thanks everybody,

 

@D&N: I've confirmed with Cunard that we are considered a 'UK booking' because I've booked through their website. Unfortunately, there's no way around it.

 

It is not my intention to debate on the need for travel insurance or even the amounts considered to be sufficient. I'm just trying to make sure that we are able to board our ship, while knowing that, in my market, I am not able to find an insurance product matching UK requirements.

 

The difference in coverage seems to be strongly market-dependent. A standard Allianz travel offer in the UK covers 2-10m GBP, while a standard Allianz offer in Romania covers 30-50k Eur (same inputs for quote generation). And the difference in price is around 2x - which I would gladly pay for the UK version of the insurance, if it were available in my market. As it stands, I have 2 of the local-flavor travel insurances (they come with payment cards) + Revolut Metal + EHIC - but no practical way to get exactly what Cunard requires.

[D&N]

10 minutes ago, CatalinF said:

Thanks everybody,

 

@D&N: I've confirmed with Cunard that we are considered a 'UK booking' because I've booked through their website. Unfortunately, there's no way around it.

 

It is not my intention to debate on the need for travel insurance or even the amounts considered to be sufficient. I'm just trying to make sure that we are able to board our ship, while knowing that, in my market, I am not able to find an insurance product matching UK requirements.

 

The difference in coverage seems to be strongly market-dependent. A standard Allianz travel offer in the UK covers 2-10m GBP, while a standard Allianz offer in Romania covers 30-50k Eur (same inputs for quote generation). And the difference in price is around 2x - which I would gladly pay for the UK version of the insurance, if it were available in my market. As it stands, I have 2 of the local-flavor travel insurances (they come with payment cards) + Revolut Metal + EHIC - but no practical way to get exactly what Cunard requires.

I am not trying to affect your decision, please do as you think fit.

 

But you would expect EU policies to be very similar.

 

The Allianz France version quotes this:  "Medical assistance

Actual costs (emergency evacuation, medical repatriation, bedside transport, return of dependents, body repatriation)" In French of course.

 

Does the Romanian version not have something similar?

 

To me "Actual costs" are unlimited, although travelling in Europe/Mediterranean repatriation probably would be less than €50k.

 

There's a problem just now with their French site and I can't access the conditions, which would probably give the maximum cover values for anything else.

[CatalinF]

1 minute ago, D&N said:

I am not trying to affect your decision, please do as you think fit.

 

But you would expect EU policies to be very similar.

 

The Allianz France version quotes this:  "Medical assistance

Actual costs (emergency evacuation, medical repatriation, bedside transport, return of dependents, body repatriation)" In French of course.

 

Does the Romanian version not have something similar?

 

To me "Actual costs" are unlimited, although travelling in Europe/Mediterranean repatriation probably would be less than €50k.

 

There's a problem just now with their French site and I can't access the conditions, which would probably give the maximum cover values for anything else.

The Allianz RO quote includes fixed coverages (e.g. 10,000 Eur for repatriation) and mentions that all medical costs will be deducted from the maximum coverage of 50,000 Eur. This is similar to other policies I've encountered (Groupama, Omniasig). With Revolut, repatriation (either medical or deceased) is just labelled as "arranged by XCover Assist".