Travel insurance for cruise

Any recommendations on travel insurance for a cruise in the South Pacific? Need it to cover flights to and from Sydney as well.

Scott

Hi Scott,

I usually buy mine from one of the online companies, just search travel insurance on google and up they come. You enter the dates you are travelling and where to and they come up with the cost. Really easy. I usually don't buy until I've paid my final cruise money as we drive to Sydney, but I guess you should pay once you have paid for your flights.

I figure I can wear losing my deposit, so that's why I leave it until later to purchase insurance.

Jenny

Any recommendations on travel insurance for a cruise in the South Pacific? Need it to cover flights to and from Sydney as well.

 

Scott

Google travel insurance and there are plenty of brokers that offer policies underwritten by leading insurance companies (QBE, Allianz etc)

These are usually a fair bit cheaper than travel agent offer for the same\similar policies.

Also check out the websites for companies you already get insurance through. After we bought our last policy, we found out our medical insurance mob offered a better price to its existing members.

Hi Scott,

We're cruising soon and after some investigating went with "1 cover" www.1cover.com.au can't tell you what their like if you have to claim but they sound the best to me.

Mel

Mel, I have to agree with you there, we use 1cover all the time and have been averaging two overseas trips a year. I have made a claim once with no problems.

MsMinx works for an insurance mob, and after sussing out 1cover said it was great cover and she couldnt do it cheaper for us:)

They have unlimited coverage for the important things like medical etc.

I just purchased 29 days for two for $174, a great investment I think in relation to the price of the cruise:eek: and how far away we will be travelling.

If you do a search on this forum you will see many discussions, this topic has been covered lots:)

Chez

xx

That's the sort of feedback that I was after, thanks to Chez and Mel, and indeed to all who replied.

Scott

Hi Scott, we use http://www.worldtravel.com.au/ at work, good rates, good policy but that is for air travel. I notice that they also have cruising rates.

Good luck and please let me know what you decide on.

cheers

Jeff

Thanks Jeff,

leaning towards 1cover at present, about $70 difference. 1Cover is underwritten by Allianz and Worldtravel by QBE, both relatively reputable insurers - need to look at the PDS for both a little closer.

Scott

Any recommendations on travel insurance for a cruise in the South Pacific? Need it to cover flights to and from Sydney as well.

 

Scott

hi scott, i have a gold credit card and i pay for my cruises with the gold card which allows free travel insurance, as long as you pay 90% with the card you are ok

you have to pay the 1% or 2% surcharge but its still cheaper than paying for the insurance

the card is only good for overseas travel not australian domestic

I used tid.com.au and they were $50 cheaper per cruise. You need to pay for south pacific for cruising even within Australia.Hope this helps some!

I use worldcare.com.au

Underwritten by one of the biggies and cheaper as well.

Have had no problems with them in the last 3 years.

hi scott, i have a gold credit card and i pay for my cruises with the gold card which allows free travel insurance, as long as you pay 90% with the card you are ok

 

you have to pay the 1% or 2% surcharge but its still cheaper than paying for the insurance

 

the card is only good for overseas travel not australian domestic

I also have the gold card insurance but i will be taking out more insurance for our trip to america, just to be on the safe side.

I think for a pacific cruise it is enough though

just checked out icover and it is $479 for all our family for 12 months including america with no limits.

think I might have to go with them

So, for a south pacific cruise, do you take out world wide cover, or just Pacifc?

So, for a south pacific cruise, do you take out world wide cover, or just Pacifc?

Just Pacific.

Keepcrusing's family have used onecover a couple of times because her parents are over 70 and her sister travelled with a friend and they could take out a combined policy.

Her parents also had no trouble claiming for damaged stuff.

I have since checked out 1cover and they are definately cheaper than all the others I searched!!!

I will go with them also!!

Like everything else you get what you pay for with insurance.

Travel insurance has many variables and thus premiums should be compared with care.

Things I have been looking at are:

Level of excess payable for claims

Extent of cover for cancellations/alterations

Luggage cover (including delays)

Extent of accepted medical conditions and degree of flexibility (very important to some)

There are many others as well, but these are not particularly relevant to cruising eg hire car excess and hijacking (except perhaps in South China Sea)

I have done some detailed comparisons between 1Cover and CoverMore (company promoted by many TAs) and after allowing for certain variations in cover I have found little difference in quoted premiums.

The important thing is to get the right cover not just the cheapest price.

cheers

Like everything else you get what you pay for with insurance.

 

Travel insurance has many variables and thus premiums should be compared with care.

 

Things I have been looking at are:

Level of excess payable for claims

Extent of cover for cancellations/alterations

Luggage cover (including delays)

Extent of accepted medical conditions and degree of flexibility (very important to some)

 

There are many others as well, but these are not particularly relevant to cruising eg hire car excess and hijacking (except perhaps in South China Sea)

 

I have done some detailed comparisons between 1Cover and CoverMore (company promoted by many TAs) and after allowing for certain variations in cover I have found little difference in quoted premiums.

 

The important thing is to get the right cover not just the cheapest price.

 

cheers

You are correct to compare policy for policy, but price is also a factor. I could have gotten an identical QBE underwritten policy from several re-sellers for my last cruise. This included QBE themselves, online brokers, and other insurance retailers.

There was a difference of over 35% between the cheapest and dearest seller for an identical policy.

Yes I am looking to the underwriters of the other policies. I have done the same with house and car insurance and saved.

hi scott, i have a gold credit card and i pay for my cruises with the gold card which allows free travel insurance, as long as you pay 90% with the card you are ok

 

you have to pay the 1% or 2% surcharge but its still cheaper than paying for the insurance

 

the card is only good for overseas travel not australian domestic

We rely on the travel insurance that comes with our gold Visa card. The card costs us $85 per year, but then most cards have an annual fee. P & O charged an extra 1% to pay by credit card, but we would have paid that way even if we didn't need to do so to get our 'free' travel insurance. We have to pay at least $250 worth of travel on the card to be eligible.

We have relied on this type of insurance for many years during which we have had many, many trips. We have had to claim only twice and there was no problem. The excess is higher than with some other policies, but we don't mind as we are not trying to insure ourselves for a $100 visit to a doctor. We want insurance coverage of a major expense. The excess that we had to absorb on the two times we claimed was similar to what we would have paid for an insurance policy. :)

We rely on the travel insurance that comes with our gold Visa card. The card costs us $85 per year, but then most cards have an annual fee. P & O charged an extra 1% to pay by credit card, but we would have paid that way even if we didn't need to do so to get our 'free' travel insurance. We have to pay at least $250 worth of travel on the card to be eligible.

 

We have relied on this type of insurance for many years during which we have had many, many trips. We have had to claim only twice and there was no problem. The excess is higher than with some other policies, but we don't mind as we are not trying to insure ourselves for a $100 visit to a doctor. We want insurance coverage of a major expense. The excess that we had to absorb on the two times we claimed was similar to what we would have paid for an insurance policy. :)

On our last cruise the 1% card fee was dearer than the best policy we could get, so I went the other way, but am looking at the fine print for my gold card for our next one.

I used to pay $75 - $85 per year. Go into a branch and request a payout figure so you can cancel your card. When they ask for a reason, it is that you don't use it enough to justify the $85 fee. They are more than happy to waive the $85 annual fee to keep the account active. I have saved $400 over the last 5 years.