Travel Medical Insurance for World Cruise

[Paul123]

Have any UK residends taken out travel/medical insurance to cover say 100 plus days on the likes of a world cruise?

I'm struggling to find a company that I can get a compeditive quote from with some pre existing issues and ages of about 70 years.

Thanks in advance

[Parsman]

It really is a problem. it's not just the medical insurance but cover for cancellation as most companies have a £5000 limit which, for a world cruise, is totally inadequate. One thing is to take out cover merely for the deposit but for the full number of days which will be significantly cheaper but has obvious risks. As a final hope the cruise line (eg Fred. Olsen) recommends an insurance policy with full cover but at an enormous expense. You have to shop around. I am in the midst of the same thing for 2013!

[Coravel]

I shopped around for ages but got absolutely nowhere. Nobody wanted to know yet my wife and I are under 70 and have no major illnesses. Eventually we settled for Fred Olsen's suggested company and paid an outrageous amount of money. We are doing the 89 night South America cruise on the Balmoral next year and felt we had no choice. I think a lot of people are travelling without adequate insurance and hoping for the best. My neighbours have just had to stump up £30,000 because their daughter became ill and had to be airlifted off the ship during an Alaska cruise. They thought they were insured but they had neglected to inform the insurance company about a pre-existing medical condition.

[KenQE2]

I was contemplating this issue re my friend with his problems. Can you not get anywhere by offering a substantial voluntary excess?

[balf]

This is a massive problem for many of us who are in the same situation as the OP. We wanted to do a cruise that called in to a number of US ports. Our annual insurance does not cover US because this is so much more expensive, and in our case impossible to get anyway on an annual.

We were offered a one trip price of £1000, so it seems that America is out for us now.

I am sure that many people are taking a chance. It is possible to get "free" travel insurance as an add on to bank accounts. If you don't declare pre conditions the cruise line will accept the insurance and all is well till something goes wrong. Insurance companies are quite happy with this, and will even wriggle out of many claims because of minor non disclosure.

David.

[KenQE2]

will even wriggle out of many claims because of minor non disclosure.That, I'm sorry to say, is business-as-usual for all insurance.

[Parsman]

I regularly take long cruises and my insurance covers all but cancellation costs (limited to £5000) which is a big risk on a world cruise.
When you see fellow passengers on board ships with obviously serious medical problems it makes you wonder how they get insurance cover. Perhaps they just take a gamble and don't insure?

[Paul123]

Thank you all for your comments.

I have now had a quote from Diamond Insurance (UK Company) and they are very reasonable. They will cover me for my pre-existing conditions world wide except...wait for it.....USA, Spain, Malta, Singapore, China and Hong Kong. Interesting! As a result I am now looking at the Rotterdam's 88 day voyage out of Southampton in Jan 2013 as it does not hit any of these countries other than a day in Spain and Malta and I am covered through the Europe medical exchange thing if ill on these two days.

The other problem of cancellation insurance is still a problem as the standard coverage is just £5,000 well below the cruise price but enough to cover the deposits. We'll probably just take a risk with the cancellation thing. I was quoted seval thousand pounds for full cancellation coverage.

For pre-existing coverage I have contacted Freedom insurance Services Ltd
01223 454 290 who sought out the best coverage for my pre-existing problems. They then arranged for a quote for me from goodtogoinsurance.com. Ahain very compeditive and well worth looking at.

I hope this helps any Brits that are seeking long voyage medical insurance. I assume that it covers evacuation from a ship if ill as it states up to £10 million for medical and evacuation.