Cruising in October

[jeanlyon]

I was treated on board for 4 days with a severe diverticulitis.  We had left Newfoundland and were on the crossing back.  I was on a drip each day.  They were absolutely fantastic.

[Selbourne]

14 minutes ago, jeanlyon said:

I was treated on board for 4 days with a severe diverticulitis.  We had left Newfoundland and were on the crossing back.  I was on a drip each day.  They were absolutely fantastic.

Sounds dreadful Jean and just goes to demonstrate the importance of adequate travel insurance. I can’t imagine what the bill for that would have been had you been forced to pay it yourself. 

[zap99]

3 hours ago, terrierjohn said:

Yes and no, the ships doctor would decide whether you were too sick to be treated on board, but if you were OK to remain on board I would expect that all on board treatment costs would be covered, since no public facility exists on a cruise ship.

Some years ago on Ocean Village in the Caribbean I got pnumonia. The ship medical centre treated me at a cost of over £1000. Good news was the insurance paid up in a week,or so and as I paid the bill on AMEX I got 2000 air miles. Every cloud has a silver lining 😷.

Edited April 26, 2020 by zap99
Spelling

[jeanlyon]

It was just on £1000 and of course my insurance paid, less excess which was about £100 I think.  Their care was absolutely great.  I did ask what they would have done if I had perforated my bowel and the doc just said "prayed".  We were about 500 miles out when it happened.

Edited April 26, 2020 by jeanlyon

[Splice the mainbrace]

We are booked onto the Arcadia Eastern Med cruise in October and due to pay the balance mid June. It was booked back in September 2018 around the day that it was released and got a great deal and cabin. I doubt that I will pay the balance and if it is still available take the deposit FCC.

 

I'm not inclined to pay the balance when already I am awaiting the result of an insurance claim for a curtailed Vietnam and Cambodia land tour in March and also reimbursement for a 'bargain' (about 20% normal cost) Queens Grill Cross Pacific cruise in May on Queen Elizabeth that has now been cancelled. The cruise was a hurriedly rescheduled by Cunard in February when abandoning their planned Asia cruise programme. In total that is about £9000 I'm hopefully going to get back at some point, so I don't want to potentially have another refund or full cruise cost FCC to contend with.

 

After extensively travelling the world for the past 5 years I think it will be exploring regions of the UK that I haven't been to before or for many decades for the foreseeable future, of course when the restrictions allow.

[jeanlyon]

Yes we are on the same one and I shan't be paying the balance either.  There is no way I am cruising until a vaccine is out when no insurance company will cover you for this virus.

[mercury7289]

1 minute ago, jeanlyon said:

Yes we are on the same one and I shan't be paying the balance either.  There is no way I am cruising until a vaccine is out when no insurance company will cover you for this virus.

And me, although already aware that this will not go ahead, Italy not accepting ships until at the earliest 2021.

 

 

[Eddie99]

Ah, me too.

Also not holding out the slightest hope of it going ahead/me joining it

 

[jeanlyon]

7 minutes ago, mercury7289 said:

And me, although already aware that this will not go ahead, Italy not accepting ships until at the earliest 2021.

 

 

Oh didn't know that.

[mercury7289]

Just now, jeanlyon said:

Oh didn't know that.

It's been on other sites, and I  also google it!

[jeanlyon]

I looked at all the ports and Italy just says closed indefinitely.  No date given.

[Eglesbrech]

On 4/26/2020 at 10:12 AM, terrierjohn said:

Yes and no, the ships doctor would decide whether you were too sick to be treated on board, but if you were OK to remain on board I would expect that all on board treatment costs would be covered, since no public facility exists on a cruise ship.

With our insurance, yes they were. They charge you line by line for every swab, injection and part of a day in the infirmary, cabin visit, bloods, o2 sats readings etc etc it mounts up at an alarming rate even for something fairly minor. The treatment is second to none in my experience, if costly.

 

Most insurance companies have a limit where you need to contact them for permission to continue private treatment. They then decide if you are offloaded for public health care, if the Doc says it is safe to do so. I suspect it will happen less often now as we won’t have EHIC for European ports so the land based care would probably be as much as the ship and they would have to pay to get you home.

 

I stayed onboard all the way home as it was safe to do so. The medical bill went onto the ship board account and I then claimed it back from my insurers.

 

 

[Purdey16]

I’m too are on the same cruise as you all but I’ve paid for my cruise last year along with 3 other cruises for this year , stupidly I know now but at the time we had some money and thought it would be a good idea instead of letting it waste away on trivial things so , so far I’ve had two cancelled and looking at October on Arcadia to be cancelled and a December on aurora cancelled, I’ve learnt my lesson to never pay up front again!!! 😡

[Eddie99]

omg - you practically own P&O 😳

[Purdey16]

Yes they will certainly be owing me a awful lot 

[Splice the mainbrace]

As I said in my previous post, if still available I will claim deposit FCC but I don't know if I'll use it. Fortunately it was only a 5% deposit so not nice to lose it if I don't use it but at least it's not too much in the scheme of things.

[tring]

Re Insurance:-

 

Our insurance is with AXA (provided by one of the original big banks).  Our annual policy ceased to cover for COVID for cruises booked after 18th March for cancellation and curtailment purposes, but medical cover is still included for newly booked holidays.

 

That is probably not the case at present since the FCO are advising against any travel abroad and our understanding is that a holiday booked now would not even be covered if the FCO advice changes, as our holidays are insured according to what was in place at the time of booking - hence no cover for anything at present, COVID or not.  Not a risk we wish to take.

 

There has been a more recent change to the policy though, in that if a holiday is re scheduled to another one straight from the original booking, (i.e. not after getting a future credit and re booking), then they will continue to cover the new holiday (even for COVID), which seems a very generous position.  I am not sure about any restrictions regards that, as I presume they would not cover something that is much longer than the original holiday or a much more expensive venture.  Perhaps it has to be an identical holiday at a later date.  We hope to use that option if a Spanish land holiday we have booked for November does not go ahead.

 

I have not written this with reference to the original policy wording but was clearly stated as that.