UK Cruisers and Travel Insurance

[emmas gran]

We found a brilliant cruise deal yesterday however as the cruise is in 2022 we decided to check with our insurers how we stand for cover on our annual policy.

" We will not be covered for any cruise booking while the FCO is advising against cruise travel" 

the cruise could be in 3/4/5 years time the advice at the moment is no cruising so any booking not covered.

Anyone thinking of booking a cruise I suggest you check your cover

 

Liz

[zanderblue]

Might be time to change insurers? There are plenty in UK who will provide Covid medical cover, even for right now, never mind 2022. Travel disruption/cancellation cover is another matter, but you should only be exposed for the deposit amount. If the deal is that good you may want go for it??

Out of interest; do you mind sharing who your insurer is?

[emmas gran]

I am quite happy to accept the point made by my insurers, this is for total cover not just Covid. We are experienced cruisers with over 50 cruises and do not take the FCO advice lightly which is why we checked it out. Our T/agent gave us another company to check and they would only cover UK/Europe, this is for Caribbean.

 

Our insurance is via a bank account

[chemmo]

28 minutes ago, emmas gran said:

We found a brilliant cruise deal yesterday however as the cruise is in 2022 we decided to check with our insurers how we stand for cover on our annual policy.

" We will not be covered for any cruise booking while the FCO is advising against cruise travel" 

the cruise could be in 3/4/5 years time the advice at the moment is no cruising so any booking not covered.

Anyone thinking of booking a cruise I suggest you check your cover

 

Liz

 

Good advice...

 

We received a mail from Virgin yesterday where they are offering free insurance for flights including virus cover (up to next March I think)...No good to us at present as we will avoid flying for a while yet. I also noticed Tui is offering some free cover. Perhaps this is how things will operate over the next few years, insurance being part of a flight/holiday/cruise package?

 

One of the good things we like about Celebrity is if things change it is so easy to ‘swap’ cruises until final payment (free for Elite £75 first two guests otherwise).  We presently have a Southampton cruise booked for next September. We hope things will be good to go but will not purchase anything (including insurance) until we are near final payment. If we can’t get a comprehensive insurance we will simply leave our deposit with Celebrity and shift the cruise (again!). 

 

If we did see a cruise we fancied for 2022 we would consider booking but again view as ‘provisional’....Too far ahead for any of us to predict. 

 

Now to packing our touring caravan for a week in the hills! No drinks package, no butler, no one to make our beds and no sunshine either by the look of it....A welcome change of four walls though!

[Alushar]

Checked with our annual insurers and they said we were ok to book but wouldn't be covered if we took the trip if FCO advice was against it so happy with that as we wouldn't go against FCO anyway.

[sandancer]

Our travel insurance is also through the bank. When all of this started we were emailed by the insurers to the effect that from the 1st day of lockdown any holidays booked after that date would not be covered for anything Covid related. However, holidays booked before that date would still be covered. Our policy is up for renewal within the next 4 weeks. It will be interesting to see exactly what they will and will not provide cover for now. Especially the question of cruising following FCO advisory. Our next cruise is in April and we are considering cancelling as it is not eligible for L&S. I’ve already checked (twice). 

[Arizona Wildcat]

Absolutely need to check on coverage.  Our US medical insurance will not cover us if we travel to a country or place with a do not travel warning by the State Department.  Our coverage normally has a large deductible but covered us in Russia and Australia.  Seems most Canadian travel insurance is the same

[jojo1966]

Not quite sure why this is a big issue at the moment?? Surely the only thing you would lose between now and booking flights/final payment...is

the 300 quid deposit....Why do you need to worry about cinsurance for the cruise at the moment??

[rachiem]

22 hours ago, emmas gran said:

We found a brilliant cruise deal yesterday however as the cruise is in 2022 we decided to check with our insurers how we stand for cover on our annual policy.

" We will not be covered for any cruise booking while the FCO is advising against cruise travel" 

the cruise could be in 3/4/5 years time the advice at the moment is no cruising so any booking not covered.

Anyone thinking of booking a cruise I suggest you check your cover

 

Liz

Isn't this just for cancellation?

Ours is a Lloyds Axa cover and they won't cover any cancellations due to Covid but does cover medical from my understanding.

[emmas gran]

No we have double checked FCO is advising against cruising so we will not be covered for anything!! It really was a post to give people the heads up to check their cover. If you transfer a booking booked before Covid with the same ref it's OK but no New bookings with Nationwide Flex Plus insurance.

 

I am really trying to be helpful re insurance and I do not know why people think it is only cancellation/covid I am referring too

[rachiem]

I'm not doubting you but it's troubling when articles such as Which tell you the opposite.

I also have a Nationwide account and nearly upgraded after reading this but won't now.

Such a mine field regarding insurance 😞

https://www.which.co.uk/news/2020/08/coronavirus-what-it-means-for-your-travel-insurance/

[emmas gran]

When we queried with the insurers we specifically asked regarding other problematic issues ie What if we break a leg, lost luggage etc and we were told 

As you were booking during a period when FCO advice is not to cruise there would be no cover.

As I said previously the cruise in question is in 2022. Thanks for the Which link, which on a brief look I didn’t see cruises 🚢 mentioned 

 

Liz

[rachiem]

Thanks for the heads up. We just did a lift and shift so will give the insurance company another call to query before final payment. May have to look for another provider if we aren't covered (Galapagos May 2022)

[emmas gran]

15 minutes ago, rachiem said:

Thanks for the heads up. We just did a lift and shift so will give the insurance company another call to query before final payment. May have to look for another provider if we aren't covered (Galapagos May 2022)

We had a cruise in March 2021 moved to April and we could not do due to commitments. Our insurer said if it’s the same reference on a transfer we are covered so your lift & shift may be OK

As I have said trying to help people not cause problems, may look at Saga as they have ships/cruises under their umbrella . If you find anything please post

Liz

Edited August 29, 2020 by emmas gran
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