Nobody Wants The insurance Details

[TOBY1965]

If anyone wants a definitive answer that you must purchase insurance with a minimum of £ 2 million cover before sailing from a UK Port on a cruise ship with P & O , then download the terms and conditions available on their official webpage.

 

Please note it makes absolutely no mention of passenger nationality or country of origin of travel agents involved in the booking process nor does it feature later in any exclusions.

 

As mentioned, they may make exceptions or turn blind yes but these are the facts as staged , they are not legal requirements , they are UK cruise liners personal terms & conditions.

 

https://www.pocruises.com/legalbooking/

[sail7seas]

Well sorry but that is not an answer at all. As already stated, to board a cruise ship in the UK, you MUST have travel insurance, irrespective of where you live or where you booked the cruise from. It is compulsory for every passenger.

 

The editor in chief of this very site confirmed this when asked the question as I have quoted above. :)

 

There are a number of misstatements regarding U.S. travelers and travel insurance but that is not what this thread is about. Some assumptions and statements were made that are questionable at best.

 

What I don't understand about your question, OP, is......

 

Seeing you have purchased the insurance which is not only wise to do for anyone traveling out of the region where their usual medical care would cover but also it is Mandatory it seems for U.K. travelers.

 

When you purchased this insurance, didn't they issue a policy? Didn't they send you or your parents a copy of the travel medical insurance you purchased?

 

If so, why would that not suffice as evidence when your parents go to board the ship? If they have a copy of the policy, isn't that adequate proof of coverage?

 

If you don't have a policy, why not? I always have one and bring it with me on my trip.

 

[Darcy15]

Direct copy from Princess passage contract -

 

27. It is a condition of the Contract that every Passenger must have full and valid medical insurance which includes cover for pre-existing medical conditions worldwide, or as a minimum, in the countries that the Passenger is due to visit and which must remain in force for the entire duration of the Package. The insurance policy must, as a minimum, include medical and repatriation coverage for not less than £2 million and must include cover for the cost of emergency evacuations from the ship, including but not limited to, evacuations by helicopter.

[zqvol]

OP: The article you are quoting is over 7 years old. Who knows what has changed in that time.

[TOBY1965]

OP: The article you are quoting is over 7 years old. Who knows what has changed in that time.

 

well obviously nothing at all if you bother to download the terms & conditions from the P & O website I posted above.

[zqvol]

IF the OP had provided two pieces of information in his original post, this thread would have been much shorter. It seems that P&O, which few Americans travel on (though most posters on CC are American) has a very unique term in its contract of carriage. No American is able to answer the OP's question and if he had mentioned that the cruise line was P&O and that there are special terms in their contracts then this would have been a really short thread..

[TOBY1965]

I mentioned in the first post that the cruise was leaving from Southampton Docks and that the cruise was booked through a European travel agent.

 

It's not specific to P & O, I thought we had already covered that - every UK cruise company has almost identical rules. P & O, Princess, Fred Olsen, Cunard etc Whether they enforce the rules or not is another matter.

 

Sorry for all the posts, I'll try and find a non -American dominated cruise forum to post in so I don't confuse or annoy anyone in future. :)

[notentirelynormal]

Sorry - my quote feature doesn't seem to be working....

 

from: zqvol

IF the OP had provided two pieces of information in his original post, this thread would have been much shorter. It seems that P&O, which few Americans travel on (though most posters on CC are American) has a very unique term in its contract of carriage. No American is able to answer the OP's question and if he had mentioned that the cruise line was P&O and that there are special terms in their contracts then this would have been a really short thread..

 

what everyone seems to be missing in their comments is that he did not book through US or UK -

 

from TOBY1965

 

 

Booked my parents (who are 84 and 83) on a 1 week cruise to the Norwegian Fjords in July with Princess Cruises.

 

Having checked the price with their online booking office £ 2,700 I decided to purchase the exact same cabin, date, ship and trip from an online travel agent based in Germany for £ 1,900.

 

 

 

 

So he added yet another country into the equation.

[TOBY1965]

In the original post...

 

1) I quoted the prices given in UK sterling

2) I stated I phoned the Uk office first and then found it cheaper online with a German travel agent

3) I mentioned the cruise leaves from Southampton Docks and that they are travelling by coach to get there.

 

Apologies if that is too cryptic for you to comprehend that we are based in the UK.

Edited May 12, 2015 by TOBY1965

[CruisingAlong4Now]

Here's more anecdotal evidence that insurance isn't needed by all when departing from UK.

 

Sailed from London on Seabourn,

US citizen booked through Seabourn USA

 

Insurance was neither requested nor required.

 

But, none of this matters since you bought insurance.

 

Is all this jibber jabber about the form not having a special line on which you can enter the insurance number? Is this an issue of form over substance?:rolleyes:

[dsrdsrdsr]

Seriously what a load of misinformation

 

Are you sure that A or B are the only options ;)

 

If you need treatment on the ship you will get it all costs are added to your shipboard account ...

If you cannot pay on disembarkation day you will be asked to sign an IOU of sorts

The cruise line will treat you & collect any monies ...not to worry

 

If you ashore you may or may not get treated unless you pay upfront

 

Travel insurance is a good thing to have but some people have an allergic reaction in buying it

 

It's not misinformation. You have read it wrongly. I said that if a ship gives treatment to someone who isn't insured, the line risks not getting the money back. That is absolutely true. Just because they make the ill person sign a promise to pay, does not mean the line is certain of getting the money back. They may not have the money, or they may die and leave no-one left to pay, or they may skip to a foreign country and be uneconomic to sue. That's why the cruise company wants you to have insurance.

 

To the OP, you need to contact P&O by phone to get a definitive answer. But basically, they want your parents to have insurance; your parents have got insurance; P&O don't know your parents have got insurance, so may ask them at the dockside; your parents will be able to clearly demonstrate they have insurance. P&O will let them on. They do not turn people away just because they meet the conditions but didn't say so far enough in advance.

 

On third thoughts - however the cruise was booked, there will be a cruise personaliser and that will have a space to enter insurance details, as well as passport details, next of kin, etc. Do it there.

[sail7seas]

I mentioned in the first post that the cruise was leaving from Southampton Docks and that the cruise was booked through a European travel agent.

 

It's not specific to P & O, I thought we had already covered that - every UK cruise company has almost identical rules. P & O, Princess, Fred Olsen, Cunard etc Whether they enforce the rules or not is another matter.

 

Sorry for all the posts, I'll try and find a non -American dominated cruise forum to post in so I don't confuse or annoy anyone in future. :)

 

 

Some of us have suggested to you holding a written copy of the medical insurance policy should be sufficient proof.

 

Did you request/did you receive a written copy?

If not, you should regardless of your issue about boarding. In the unhappy event your parents need to make a claim, it would be most useful to know the terms of the insurance you bought.

 

[sail7seas]

It's not misinformation. You have read it wrongly. I said that if a ship gives treatment to someone who isn't insured, the line risks not getting the money back. That is absolutely true. Just because they make the ill person sign a promise to pay, does not mean the line is certain of getting the money back. They may not have the money, or they may die and leave no-one left to pay, or they may skip to a foreign country and be uneconomic to sue. That's why the cruise company wants you to have insurance.

 

To the OP, you need to contact P&O by phone to get a definitive answer. But basically, they want your parents to have insurance; your parents have got insurance; P&O don't know your parents have got insurance, so may ask them at the dockside; your parents will be able to clearly demonstrate they have insurance. P&O will let them on. They do not turn people away just because they meet the conditions but didn't say so far enough in advance.

 

On third thoughts - however the cruise was booked, there will be a cruise personaliser and that will have a space to enter insurance details, as well as passport details, next of kin, etc. Do it there.

 

The doctors and infirmaries on most of the ships we sail from U.S. ports do not accept insurance for medical treatment. If you use the medical services, you are charged on your shipboard account and it is up to the guest to seek reimbursement,,,,,,,, if they have insurance. If they do not have insurance, they will be liable for the whole bill themselves.

 

Is it different for cruise lines that mostly sail in Europe? Do they accept insurance for payment of medical services delivered on the ship?

 

[navybankerteacher]

Ermm pardon me but I didn't misquote her at all, I repeated what she said word for word here ;-

 

P&O and Cunard holidaymakers must have a minimum of £2 million cover for medical and repatriation costs before they can sail. “Most UK cruise lines have now made travel insurance mandatory,” says Carolyn Spencer Brown, editor-in-chief of Cruise Critic. “Although travellers don't have to purchase the cruise line's own product, they will have to show proof of cover.”

 

the original article the quotation came from is here :-

 

http://www.itij.com/feature/no-travel-cover-no-exit

 

What you are trying to suggest from your misquotation accusation is that ther are different sets of rules applicable to UK travellers and foreign travellers ? That is irrelevant as far as the UL cruise company is concerned, as stated in the quote "a holidaymaker" does not infer any nationality exemptions.

 

It may well be that P & O turn a blind eye in such cases , I don't know if they do or not but please check the facts before you accuse people of misquoting others with such fanfare "It is clear that" because I most certainly have not misquoted her.

 

Perhaps you would like her to ask her comment herself on what she meant exactly considering she is the editor-in-chief on this site ?

 

That's the easiest and quickest way to get the truth. She may well have been misquoted on the other website but until you ask, we won't know but I simply repeated what was said on there and attributed to her as a direct quote.

 

If you reread your post # 6 vis a vis what the editor actually said, you should see my point.

[dsrdsrdsr]

The doctors and infirmaries on most of the ships we sail from U.S. ports do not accept insurance for medical treatment. If you use the medical services, you are charged on your shipboard account and it is up to the guest to seek reimbursement,,,,,,,, if they have insurance. If they do not have insurance, they will be liable for the whole bill themselves.

 

Is it different for cruise lines that mostly sail in Europe? Do they accept insurance for payment of medical services delivered on the ship?

 

I suspect it may be the same, at least as far as services provided directly by the ship are concerned. The point is, though, that the cruise line feels it is more likely to get the cash from the customer if the customer is insured.

[navybankerteacher]

I suspect it may be the same, at least as far as services provided directly by the ship are concerned. The point is, though, that the cruise line feels it is more likely to get the cash from the customer if the customer is insured.

 

The fact is: medical personnel on ships actually perform very few major medical procedures as their function is primarily to provide minor treatment or, for patients requiring serious treatment, to stabilize them until they can be evacuated. While the charges reported have often seemed high for the services provided, they rarely involve really significant amounts -more than a couple of thousand dollars - which the line can generally collect from the passengers without much difficulty.

[GottaKnowWhen]

Well sorry but that is not an answer at all. As already stated, to board a cruise ship in the UK, you MUST have travel insurance, irrespective of where you live or where you booked the cruise from. It is compulsory for every passenger.

 

 

 

The editor in chief of this very site confirmed this when asked the question as I have quoted above. :)

 

 

I boarded a cruise ship in Southampton last November. I did not have insurance. I had no clue that anybody cared about my financial dealings! They fortunately did not challenge or I would still be there in the UK sitting at the side of the road... But maybe Southampton is not really part of the UK?

[John Bull]

Plenty of misunderstandings on this thread.

 

Insurance is required by most (all?) cruise lines for those who make their booking in the UK, regardless of where in the world the ship sails from, but that doesn't always apply to those who make their booking in the States, even if the ship sails from the UK.

 

As per other posts, there's not always the same requirement for those who make their booking in the US or thro' a US agency. And I've seen plenty of posts by Americans who simply don't bother to take out insurance.

 

The waters are muddied by the OP booking via a German website - I don't know whether such a booking requires the passenger to be insured & I suspect few on Cruise Critic do, though the absence of the box on the booking form suggests not.

 

But the passengers are insured, & there's no Govt requirement to advise in advance, such as API for flights or some visas. So I can see no reason why, if insurance is required, it can't be resolved by simply producing details at check-in.

Wouldn't surprise me if that happens anyway with cruises booked in the UK where the cruiser has forgotten to fill in the box. :rolleyes:

 

The OP's anxiety is understood, but there's really no need for anxiety.

 

No worries :cool:

 

JB :)

Edited May 13, 2015 by John Bull

[navybankerteacher]

Plenty of misunderstandings on this thread.

 

Insurance is required by most (all?) cruise lines for those who make their booking in the UK, regardless of where in the world the ship sails from, but that doesn't always apply to those who make their booking in the States, even if the ship sails from the UK.

 

As per other posts, there's not always the same requirement for those who make their booking in the US or thro' a US agency. And I've seen plenty of posts by Americans who simply don't bother to take out insurance.

 

The waters are muddied by the OP booking via a German website - I don't know whether such a booking requires the passenger to be insured & I suspect few on Cruise Critic do, though the absence of the box on the booking form suggests not.

 

But the passengers are insured, & there's no Govt requirement to advise in advance, such as API for flights or some visas. So I can see no reason why, if insurance is required, it can't be resolved by simply producing details at check-in.

Wouldn't surprise me if that happens anyway with cruises booked in the UK where the cruiser has forgotten to fill in the box. :rolleyes:

 

The OP's anxiety is understood, but there's really no need for anxiety.

 

No worries :cool:

 

JB :)

This is an interesting example of inconsistently applied regulation. It does appear that the UK government, rather than any cruise line, is the party imposing the requirement - and it seems to be imposed based upon where the reservation was made rather than on the nationality of the passenger, the destination of the cruise, or other variable. I know that UK citizens with US residence can book travel in the US.

 

The apparent basic source of the information being frequently misunderstood: the editor, has given certain clues - using GBP in discussing fares and the distinctly British term "holiday" as opposed to the common American term "vacation" as to the localized applicability of the regulation.

[John Bull]

This is an interesting example of inconsistently applied regulation. It does appear that the UK government, rather than any cruise line, is the party imposing the requirement

 

.

 

Nope. Wrong on that count :p

No Govt requirement, & it doesn't apply to other forms of travel - air, ferries, etc , or to accommodation & other elements.

 

It's a requirement of the cruise lines, & other packagers of foreign holidays.

 

A subject that's often discussed, especially the reasons for the requirements.

Nobody's come up with a conclusive reason, but my pet theory is that it absolves the operator of financial penalty for their moral obligation to care for those who need medical treatment, and cruise lines are simply taking advantage of the UK norm. for other package vacations.

Bear in mind that free medicare provided in the UK is extended for Brit travellers to most of Europe through reciprocal arrangements (known as the E1-11), so Brits have less need of travel insurance than Americans for European travel - before I took out an annual policy I never bothered with insurance for forays into Europe .

 

One reason why European coach tours are popular with older folk in the UK is that insurance is included in the fare - particularly important for those who can't get insurance for other vacations such as cruises, due to age or existing conditions. For instance its just about possible to get a coach tour for the same cost as OP's parents' cruise insurance.

 

JB :)

Edited May 13, 2015 by John Bull

[navybankerteacher]

Nope. Wrong on that count :p

No Govt requirement, & it doesn't apply to other forms of travel - air, ferries, etc , or to accommodation & other elements.

 

It's a requirement of the cruise lines, & other packagers of foreign holidays.

 

A subject that's often discussed, especially the reasons for the requirements.

Nobody's come up with a conclusive reason, but my pet theory is that it absolves the operator of financial penalty for their moral obligation to care for those who need medical treatment, and cruise lines are simply taking advantage of the UK norm. for other package vacations.

Bear in mind that free medicare provided in the UK is extended for Brit travellers to most of Europe through reciprocal arrangements (known as the E1-11), so Brits have less need of travel insurance than Americans for European travel - before I took out an annual policy I never bothered with insurance for forays into Europ

JB :)[/quote

 

It is hard to understand why the cruise lines would apply such a requirement selectively - just to people who book in the UK. Is it because a much higher proportion of them would not have medical insurance when they travel because they rely on National Health so heavily at home?

 

Are you suggesting they would not have a comparable "moral obligation" to care for non-Brits?

 

I accept you statement that there is no government requirement, as you would know better than I, but I have a hard time understanding such selective application by the cruise lines.

[cruisemom42]

I have booked several cruises on UK-only lines (Swan Hellenic, for example) and also a couple of land tours. It's true that they require verification of insurance, and it must cover not just medical but also liability. (As one operator explained, it must cover you in case you topple over a priceless vase in a museum....)

 

I suspect one of the factors governing whether an American would have to have such insurance is whether the company is actually based in the UK (as P&O are) or whether you are only boarding a ship that may simply be departing from the UK for a specific cruise but operations are not actually based there.

 

As JB says, it's a bit of a mystery. I generally just find out what I need to have and then I get it. No real problem.

[John Bull]

 

It is hard to understand why the cruise lines would apply such a requirement selectively - just to people who book in the UK. Is it because a much higher proportion of them would not have medical insurance when they travel because they rely on National Health so heavily at home?

 

Are you suggesting they would not have a comparable "moral obligation" to care for non-Brits?

 

I accept you statement that there is no government requirement, as you would know better than I, but I have a hard time understanding such selective application by the cruise lines.

 

As per my post, I don't understand the reason either - other than that they can do it because its the norm for other vacation packages.

 

Not dis-similar to a cruise deposit being at forfeit from the moment that it's paid - same as other vacations booked in the UK.

 

Ditto, until recently, bookings for hotels/motels. You book, so you're committed. Couldn't get my head round booking hotels elsewhere in the world & then cancelling without penalty.

Can't make your mind up which hotel? Book a dozen, then cancel the runners-up three days out. Seems so unfair on the hotels, and on those who find their choice "booked out" weeks before their dates.

The rigid commitment still exists a lot in the UK and to an extent elsewhere in Europe, but is diminishing due to the growth of internet giants like booking.com

 

So my money's on cruise lines simply adopting local practice. Though I may be wrong - wouldn't be the first time :D

 

No, I'm sure the moral obligation is the same in the US & on US ships - the practice in the US of checking the unfortunate's wallet before checking his pulse is surely a thing of the past, if indeed it ever happened.;)

But its so much better to provide the care knowing you'll be recompensed - especially with expensive medevacs.

 

JB :)

[sail7seas]

I suspect it may be the same, at least as far as services provided directly by the ship are concerned. The point is, though, that the cruise line feels it is more likely to get the cash from the customer if the customer is insured.

 

Why? What does having insurance or not have to do with whether the guest will pay their shipboard account? I have not heard of any medical/travel insurance that pays for medical care provided on board, by ship's doctor or nurse and charged to their ship board account.

 

The guest has to pay their shipboard account at the end of the cruise for whatever has been charged and that includes any medical care they got. Either that account for drinks, spa treatments, photos, excursions and the like gets paid or not.

 

Insurance *might* reimburse the guest for any medical claim they may file. We never really know what insurance will pay until they actually pay it.

 

[navybankerteacher]

Ditto, until recently, bookings for hotels/motels. You book, so you're committed. Couldn't get my head round booking hotels elsewhere in the world & then cancelling without penalty.

Can't make your mind up which hotel? Book a dozen, then cancel the runners-up three days out. Seems so unfair on the hotels, and on those who find their choice "booked out" weeks before their dates.

The rigid commitment still exists a lot in the UK and to an extent elsewhere in Europe, but is diminishing due to the growth of internet giants like booking.com

 

 

 

JB :)

 

This is a bit off topic, but since you mentioned it I have recently found an increasing trend - if you pay at the time you book, be it rental car or hotel, you get a discount. You can still cancel prior to booking date, but you will lose a part of what you pre-paid, which is always more than what the discount was. In these days of close-to-zero interest, prepaying a booking to get a discount is a smart way to keep funds "on deposit".