Cancellation Insurance Cover for Expensive Cruises

[arlowood]

Just read a cautionary tale in the Business and Money supplement of the Sunday Times. Their Money "Agony Aunt", Jill Insley reported the plight of an 83 year old gentleman who had booked a 103-day world cruise with Cunard and paid a deposit of £14,187 against the total cost of £46000. Cunards T&C's (as P&O's do) required him to have a minimum of £2million cover for emergency medical treatment and repatriation which was claimed to be impossible to buy for this gentleman. However the nub of the problem was more nuanced than that.

The sticking point for Cunard was that they were insisting that he had cancellation cover that would cover the total cost of the cruise if he were unfortunate enough to have to cancel after he had paid the balance. He had found it impossible to find any cancellation cover above £15000  and contacted Cunard to see what could be done. They refused to allow him to cancel  and return his deposit - instead offering him the option of a cheaper cruise where the £14185 could be covered by insurance.

 

On his behalf Jill Insley went to battle but found it impossible to find any company willing to offer more than £15000 of cancellation cover. She speculates that this cannot be an isolated instance. She did however manage to persuade Cunard to refund his deposit.

Obviously it is likely to only apply to a relatively small number of passengers who are on world cruises or segments of world cruises in the more expensive staterooms. However when I read the Cunard T&C's there does not appear to be any specific reference to the requirement for cancellation cover to meet the full cost of the cruise. They have the £2 million emergency medical and repatriation requirement but that would apply after the cruise has started.

 

P&O's T&C's are a mirror of the Cunard wording so maybe it would be worth any potential world cruisers to check whether P&O would take the same view.

[Satellite city]

Cunard’s partner firm is holiday extras.  I looked and if you select £15k+ it says to call them and a reference to quote.  
 

£2m repartition is not going to be a sticking point at all.  

[arlowood]

1 hour ago, Satellite city said:

Cunard’s partner firm is holiday extras.  I looked and if you select £15k+ it says to call them and a reference to quote.  
 

£2m repartition is not going to be a sticking point at all.  

The article did say that Cunard had suggested to the gentleman concerned that Holiday Extras  could offer up £25000 cancellation cover and to contact them to see if they were able to offer anything above that to meet his requirements. He did contact Holiday Extras but not only were they not be prepared to cover his cruise cancellation figure (£43000),  they confirmed that their maximum cancellation figure was £15000, not the £25000 that Cunard alluded to.

 

So it would appear that Cunard passengers who have booked expensive cruises costing more than £15000 will be struggling to meet this requirement of cancellation cover for the full cost of their cruise.

 

I'm really a bit puzzled by all this. Surely the onus is on the customer to insure him or herself against the possibility of having to cancel their cruise. If their cruise costs £43000 but they can only insure up to a maximum of £15000 then surely they must decide if they are willing to stand that shortfall if they have to cancel. I don't see it as Cunard's business to deny them boarding because they have not covered the full cost of their cruise.

 

Maybe I'm missing something

[Windsurfboy]

I agree there is no risk to P&O if he looses his money.

 

I'm sure some agent has got the wrong end of of the stick.  

 

The cost of insurance for cancellation  for expensive cruises once you get old is exorbitant.  Even in 70s.  I think answer is treat cruise like a stock market investment,  ie don't spend more than you can afford to loose

[david63]

We had a similar situation where we needed an above "normal" level of cover for a holiday a few years back and there are plenty of companies that will insure you, at a cost obviously, but you need to go through an insurance broker - none of the online companies will touch you.