Cruise Insurance Question for US Citizens

[pete14]

3 hours ago, vikavin said:

Did you take your cruise yet? We are scheduled to sail w P&O in June. I just found out that P&O requires insurance. I am unable to find a $2ml coverage policy. Wondering how we should go about it. I have my primary medical but not sure if it covers global.

There is a thread ‘Is travel insurance a requirement’ that may help. Host Sharon included a link in the final post (at the moment) that you may find useful. You should be able to find it easily. It is currently on page 2 of the P&O listings.

[Pete Cruise]

7 hours ago, vikavin said:

Did you take your cruise yet? We are scheduled to sail w P&O in June. I just found out that P&O requires insurance. I am unable to find a $2ml coverage policy. Wondering how we should go about it. I have my primary medical but not sure if it covers global.

We haven't cruised yet.  We cruise June 6th.  If you are worried you can buy a policy from P&O on their website.  I never cruise without insurance even when I cruise Carnival or Viking.

[vikavin]

1 hour ago, Pete Cruise said:

We haven't cruised yet.  We cruise June 6th.  If you are worried you can buy a policy from P&O on their website.  I never cruise without insurance even when I cruise Carnival or Viking.

P&O only sells to UK residents. We are US citizens. I spoke to my agent yesterday and he said it is not required for American citizens. Just want to be sure so beforehand to prevent any surprises. I also emailed P&O about it but haven’t heard back.i am having hard time finding a policy w $2m coverage.

[terrierjohn]

1 hour ago, vikavin said:

P&O only sells to UK residents. We are US citizens. I spoke to my agent yesterday and he said it is not required for American citizens. Just want to be sure so beforehand to prevent any surprises. I also emailed P&O about it but haven’t heard back.i am having hard time finding a policy w $2m coverage.

I assume you live in the US, have you tried any UK travel insurance companies, are they able to sell you a similar 1 trip policy that they sell to UK  citizens?

[TRLD]

11 hours ago, vikavin said:

Did you take your cruise yet? We are scheduled to sail w P&O in June. I just found out that P&O requires insurance. I am unable to find a $2ml coverage policy. Wondering how we should go about it. I have my primary medical but not sure if it covers global.

We are from the US and have sailedon P&O before  The first time we purchased a policy from the US authorized agent for P&O and the.policy was no.where near 2 million. Actually not even 100,000.

 

Now we have an annual.medical and evacuation insurance that is 500,000 coverage.

 

They do want you to have a policy that covers medical and evacuation atleast.

 

If you write they will say the requirements are the same for US. Though their US authorized TA will.say it is not enforced for US. 

 

 

Edited May 1 by TRLD

[Megabear2]

43 minutes ago, TRLD said:

We are from the US and have sailedon P&O before  The first time we purchased a policy from the US authorized agent for P&O and the.policy was no.where near 2 million. Actually not even 100,000.

 

Now we have an annual.medical and evacuation insurance that is 500,000 coverage.

 

They do want you to have a policy that covers medical and evacuation atleast.

 

If you write they will say the requirements are the same for US. Though their US authorized TA will.say it is not enforced for US. 

 

 

Reading this you do have cover presumably for $500,000 for medical and evacuation which is sufficient for your use in the event of emergency?  I assume this policy is accepted by other tour companies you may use worldwide.  That being the case it is most likely the best you can do.  Realistically all P&O want you to have is enough cover to meet any onboard medical expenses and evacuation.  Once you leave the ship you would no longer be their problem and if you have sufficient cover to pay any onboard bill and evacuation actually off the ship you should be amply covered and I'm assuming this is why the agent is saying the £2,000,000 requirement does not apply.

 

There has been some debate on this issue on other threads and it seems to be confirmed any airlift from the ship to land is provided by the coastguard of the country involved for free.  Your financial obligations would therefore seem to be for P&O's medical bill and land based transportation, medical care ashore and repatriation.  Based on this as long as you are happy your $500,000 cover would meet all these costs you will most likely be fine with your current cover.  You do not state where you are sailing to but realistically and medical costs in a European country or the UK will be comfortably met by this sum.

 

Your booking through your US agent presumably has a cruise personaliser, and if there is an emergency insurance contact number required your travel agent should be able to assist with filling it it.

 

Only once have I ever been asked to show my policy and that was not read just nodded through.  So long as you have the $500,000 cover and have double checked with your insurer it will pay medical, evacuation and other associated Bill's I doubt you can do much more.

Edited May 1 by Megabear2

[vikavin]

3 hours ago, TRLD said:

We are from the US and have sailedon P&O before  The first time we purchased a policy from the US authorized agent for P&O and the.policy was no.where near 2 million. Actually not even 100,000.

 

Now we have an annual.medical and evacuation insurance that is 500,000 coverage.

 

They do want you to have a policy that covers medical and evacuation atleast.

 

If you write they will say the requirements are the same for US. Though their US authorized TA will.say it is not enforced for US. 

 

 

Thank you. I probably will purchase a smaller policy for just in case and hope that they don't turn us away because it is below $2 ml

[TRLD]

1 hour ago, vikavin said:

Thank you. I probably will purchase a smaller policy for just in case and hope that they don't turn us away because it is below $2 ml

I suspect that as long as you have the name and policy number to fill in the lines on the check in form it will not be an issue.

[brimarl]

We are from Canada and took a P&O cruise last year booked through the North American travel agency. We bought the insurance they sold - it satisfied the online form filling and were never asked at the port for anything else. 

[john watson]

Is there an Insurance link or availability on poamerica.com ?

 

Regards John

[FamilyCruiserUK]

We have never been asked to show proof of travel insurance by P&O excpet a cruise right after lockdown ended. 

We always travel with insurance, never used it yet but its best to be covered. 

The first question i would be asking your medical insurance company " does your home medical insurance cover any medical expenses outside of the US and its territories" Ie in international waters.

I would be surprised if it does TBH.

 

But then i am more surprised that there isnt lots of american companies offering travel insurance. 🤔 Good luck in your search though.