House & contents insurance for long cruises

[pennib]

Morning all. We are on Ventura for her 35 nighter starting 3 September 2025. Balance is due very soon. I rang our home & contents insurer as their Ts&Cs state that their cover is only for a 30 day period if the property is left unoccupied. I was informed that they were not prepared to extend this to 35 even for an extra premium and I would have to cancel their policy and get another from someone else.

There are plenty of posters on here who must have this problem so perhaps someone could point me in the direction of a couple of providers who could help. We also have a 12 night  cruise before Ventura.

 

Thanks in anticipation as we don’t want to cancel the cruise.

[Gettingwarmer]

8 minutes ago, pennib said:

Morning all. We are on Ventura for her 35 nighter starting 3 September 2025. Balance is due very soon. I rang our home & contents insurer as their Ts&Cs state that their cover is only for a 30 day period if the property is left unoccupied. I was informed that they were not prepared to extend this to 35 even for an extra premium and I would have to cancel their policy and get another from someone else.

There are plenty of posters on here who must have this problem so perhaps someone could point me in the direction of a couple of providers who could help. We also have a 12 night  cruise before Ventura.

 

Thanks in anticipation as we don’t want to cancel the cruise.

Other insurers have longer periods. Check Direct Line. 

[kalos]

12 minutes ago, pennib said:

There are plenty of posters on here who must have this problem so perhaps someone could point me in the direction of a couple of providers who could help.

 

@Selbourne  had same problem and maybe able to advise you .

[sandancer]

11 minutes ago, Gettingwarmer said:

Other insurers have longer periods. Check Direct Line. 

60 days on Direct Line policy 

[Plugtheleak]

Could you get someone to house sit for a week? Would that be a way of getting around it?

[pennib]

Thanks to the prompt responders. I will check Direct Line. We used to be with them.

[Gettingwarmer]

6 minutes ago, pennib said:

Thanks to the prompt responders. I will check Direct Line. We used to be with them.

Then check the days on your travel insurance. 
also I presume you mean 3 January 2025 not September 

Edited Sunday at 08:45 AM by Gettingwarmer

[Palaceman]

15 minutes ago, Plugtheleak said:

Could you get someone to house sit for a week? Would that be a way of getting around it?

Probably not as insurers will not accept that scenario either. To save you time best contact a local insurance broker. There are many companies that provide up to 60 days unoccupancy as standard. 

[Selbourne]

This can be a problem with longer cruises, although our cruise was 65 nights and our insurer (Aviva) only covered up to 60 days. 
 

It’s worth remembering that on the day you depart and the day you arrive home your house is not unoccupied, but that still leaves you a few days short. Insurers don’t count a family member or friend calling in to check on the house, so one of our daughters stayed at the house for a number of days to ensure that we didn’t have a continuous run of 60 unoccupied days. 
 

In your case, you should easily be able to find an insurer who will cover far more than 30 days unoccupied. As I say, Aviva cover 60 days and also do not insist on any measures being taken during your absence (some insurers want water turned off etc). 
 

The bigger challenge for many of us with longer cruises will be travel insurance. We are with Nationwide and, by all accounts, the cover is no longer as good or as cheap. I’ve also had an email to say that the monthly account fee is rising by almost 40% (from £13 per month to £18 per month) and as we only use the account for travel insurance that’s a £60 premium increase before we even get to all the ‘add ons’ (which apparently have risen as well)!

[pennib]

Thanks again and yes I did mean 3 January 2025!

[daiB]

Interesting, our insurers sad that they would carry on insuring us but we had to have someone check on our house once a week and they would have to adjust the price …….. down as accidental damage inside the house would not be needed. The next time I rang they just said OK carry on.

[nosapphire]

I believe Saga, LV and M&S are among the insurers who include up to 60 days away as standard. There are some conditions, most of which one does anyway (leaving the heating on low if away in winter, having somebody check once a week or so etc.)

 

[Snow Hill]

13 hours ago, pennib said:

Thanks to the prompt responders. I will check Direct Line. We used to be with them.

This is what is in our DL Home Insurance Polic, which would seem to exclude getting someone to stay in the property whilst you are away, as you is in bold

 

 

[nosapphire]

On 9/22/2024 at 9:56 AM, Selbourne said:

so one of our daughters stayed at the house for a number of days to ensure that we didn’t have a continuous run of 60 unoccupied days. 

Be careful with this, as some insurers do not count somebody else staying for a few days as being "occupied". All depends on the policy wording.

Incidentally, many mainstream insurance brokers do offer special policies for unoccupied properties simply to provide cover for the duration you are away for, useful if planning a 3 month cruise.

[Selbourne]

1 hour ago, nosapphire said:

Be careful with this, as some insurers do not count somebody else staying for a few days as being "occupied". All depends on the policy wording.

Incidentally, many mainstream insurance brokers do offer special policies for unoccupied properties simply to provide cover for the duration you are away for, useful if planning a 3 month cruise.

I checked our policy extremely carefully and there was no specific requirement that the occupation had to be the policy holder. Interestingly (and I was very surprised at this) the 60 day maximum on our standard policy provided full cover for the first 60 days that the house was unoccupied. The fact that we were away for 65 nights meant that we only had to worry about a few days (once excluding the day we departed and the day we arrived home). I thought this seemed too good to be true so I emailed the insurer querying this and received confirmation that was correct. I looked at unoccupied property insurance but in the end decided that it wasn’t necessary in our case. These policies also contained quite a list of things that you had to do when the property was unoccupied, whereas our insurer made no requirements at all. We left the heating on low out of choice and to minimise the risk of a frozen pipe. Sadly, I doubt we will be dealing with this issue again as, due to the new policy re accessible cabins, I doubt we will get a late booking for a cruise such as this again.

[nosapphire]

In most cases, the unoccupied clause (whether 30 or 60 days) does include full cover.

Some insurers add requirements, some give suggestions - which are the sort of thing you would do yourself (we turn the water off, leave the heating on low, leave policy details and emergency contacts with a neighbour, who does a quick check round at intervals).

And many, if asked, will extend the cover for a few extra days, sometimes with a small extra premium, sometimes no extra cost.

Regardless, I really do hope that you and Mrs manage to make use of at least the some of 60 days unoccupancy cover for another lovely cruise.