New Zealand travel insurance provider recommendations

[Kiwi_cruiser]

Hi New Zealand Members 🙂.
 

What travel insurance providers would you recommend that would cover cruises, Please?

[cruiser3775]

Most of the major companies will provide travel insurance for cruises. It is usually an add on cost to the comprehensive policy. This is because the costs of having to be medically evacuated if you become ill on a cruise are much higher than on land.  You might need to be taken off by helicopter, for example. There's also the risk of slips and falls on a wet deck or stairs if the ship is moving about in heavy seas.

Sorry, can't recommend any particular company, but you should be able to find reviews of individual companies from people who have used them.

[Linz48]

We have gone with Southern Cross, has cruise cover

[roaming_kiwi58]

 

For many years I used Southern Cross for insurance for my husband and myself, for many land tours and cruises all over the world. Over the years we claimed 3 times – once for a broken camera, once when my husband became ill in Poland and once for travel delay expenses when American Airlines cancelled our flight from Puerto Rico to Dallas and left us stranded in San Juan for three days. No complaints with SC handling of any of the claims, happy with cost of premiums.

 

In October 2022 I bought a policy from Southern Cross for an Asian cruise in March 2023. I had to pay an extra $200 or so to cover my husband’s existing medical conditions – being on medication for high blood pressure & high cholesterol (medication unchanged in years), and a benign kidney tumour which was completely excised in February 2022. In December 2022 my husband was diagnosed with nodular melanoma and had the first of several surgeries. I rang Southern Cross to advise them of the change in medical condition, but intention to go ahead with travel, as surgeries were being arranged around travel dates. I was expecting them to say they would not cover the melanoma but the rest of policy would continue as agreed. No way! They immediately cancelled ALL medical cover for my husband, even all the previous declared conditions which I had paid extra to cover. They did refund the excess I had paid for cover.

 

We thought this was appalling. You buy insurance to cover the unexpected, but when the unexpected happens the insurance company removes all your cover!? What is the point of buying the insurance? I cancelled the Southern Cross policy altogether – had to pay a $35 admin fee.

 

I will never use Southern Cross again. I got a policy for our March 2023 cruise through my travel agent, with Allianz. It actually worked out a little cheaper than the Southern Cross policy because they did not charge any extra for the blood pressure, cholesterol or kidney tumour – they considered all conditions to be “stable”. They would not cover the melanoma as surgery was ongoing, but we were okay with that. The Allianz excess if claiming was higher than Southern Cross - $250 compared to $100.  

 

That has been our experience with travel insurance!

[cruisine21]

On 7/20/2023 at 8:43 PM, roaming_kiwi58 said:

 

For many years I used Southern Cross for insurance for my husband and myself, for many land tours and cruises all over the world. Over the years we claimed 3 times – once for a broken camera, once when my husband became ill in Poland and once for travel delay expenses when American Airlines cancelled our flight from Puerto Rico to Dallas and left us stranded in San Juan for three days. No complaints with SC handling of any of the claims, happy with cost of premiums.

 

IWe thought this was appalling. You buy insurance to cover the unexpected, but when the unexpected happens the insurance company removes all your cover!? What is the point of buying the insurance? I cancelled the Southern Cross policy altogether – had to pay a $35 admin fee.

 

If Southern Cross cancelled the policy they should be giving you a refund. I would be lodging a complaint and taking it further.

[roaming_kiwi58]

They did not cancel the whole policy - but they did cancel all the medical cover for my husband. As the policy was no longer fit for purpose I cancelled the whole policy. They gave me a refund of the policy cost, less an admin fee of $35. I did object to paying the admin fee, given they changed the policy, but they refused to budge. 

What really stunned me was that they could cancel medical cover which they had already agreed to (and we had paid extra for), when he got another medical complaint which they did not want to know about!

Isn't buying insurance about covering the unexpected?

I did tell them what I thought of their action, but got no response. 

 

[sanne]

5 hours ago, roaming_kiwi58 said:

They did not cancel the whole policy - but they did cancel all the medical cover for my husband. As the policy was no longer fit for purpose I cancelled the whole policy. They gave me a refund of the policy cost, less an admin fee of $35. I did object to paying the admin fee, given they changed the policy, but they refused to budge. 

What really stunned me was that they could cancel medical cover which they had already agreed to (and we had paid extra for), when he got another medical complaint which they did not want to know about!

Isn't buying insurance about covering the unexpected?

I did tell them what I thought of their action, but got no response. 

 

I have spent hours and hours researching travel insurance and reading all the T&C for our several cruises and trips each year. 
 

For the very reason you found with Southern Cross, I did not like their policy at all. Perfectly acceptable if you have no medical conditions new or old. But buyer beware if you do have medical problems. All too ambiguous, so therefore not fit for purpose. 
 

I’ve found other policies particularly underwritten by Allianz to be much more transparent and can attest that we’ve had to claim twice in the last few years due to cancellation of cruise through I’ll health and had no problem with getting refunded for quite expensive cruises. And both of us have pre existing medical conditions that we pay extra to cover. 

[valantine80]

On 7/20/2023 at 6:43 PM, roaming_kiwi58 said:

 

 

I will never use Southern Cross again. I got a policy for our March 2023 cruise through my travel agent, with Allianz. It actually worked out a little cheaper than the Southern Cross policy because they did not charge any extra for the blood pressure, cholesterol or kidney tumour – they considered all conditions to be “stable”. 

 

Wondering what process you went through for them to determine all conditions "stable" as normally they are just straight "yes" or "no" answers and no further explanation.

 

[cruisine21]

I’ve just done a small claim through 1Cover. I had to upload a copy of my drivers licence and a selfie. I don’t look anything like the photo on my drivers licence. The claim is less than $100 for an GP consult and script after the excess is take off. They wanted a medical report which I completely forgot to get from the GP. If 1Cover say they want a report I guess I’ll have to email the medical practice.

[roaming_kiwi58]

On 7/22/2023 at 6:57 PM, valantine80 said:

 

Wondering what process you went through for them to determine all conditions "stable" as normally they are just straight "yes" or "no" answers and no further explanation.

 

Yes, the answers to questions were usually ‘yes’ or ‘no’. However, given my previous experience with Southern Cross charging for conditions which had not been diagnosed within the last year, or had a change of medication, I asked for confirmation of coverage and lack of charging, to make sure I had not misunderstood the agent.  We then had a discussion about conditions which were considered stable because of my answers, not being liable for an extra charge.

[cruisine21]

1 hour ago, roaming_kiwi58 said:

Yes, the answers to questions were usually ‘yes’ or ‘no’. However, given my previous experience with Southern Cross charging for conditions which had not been diagnosed within the last year, or had a change of medication, I asked for confirmation of coverage and lack of charging, to make sure I had not misunderstood the agent.  We then had a discussion about conditions which were considered stable because of my answers, not being liable for an extra charge.

[valantine80]

22 hours ago, roaming_kiwi58 said:

Yes, the answers to questions were usually ‘yes’ or ‘no’. However, given my previous experience with Southern Cross charging for conditions which had not been diagnosed within the last year, or had a change of medication, I asked for confirmation of coverage and lack of charging, to make sure I had not misunderstood the agent.  We then had a discussion about conditions which were considered stable because of my answers, not being liable for an extra charge.

Thank you for that information. It seems it may be advantageous to speak to a real person.

[roaming_kiwi58]

1 hour ago, valantine80 said:

Thank you for that information. It seems it may be advantageous to speak to a real person.

For years the policies I bought from Southern Cross have been online, with no interaction with an agent. When I bought the latest policy from Allianz, my travel agent started the process with the basic information (destination, date of travel, ages of travellers) and a quote. If I wanted pre-existing conditions covered then I had to ring Allianz to answer medical questions and whether there was extra to pay to cover these. Given my experience with Southern Cross, I found it useful to be able to discuss medical coverage with an agent at Allianz. 

[cruisine21]

23 hours ago, roaming_kiwi58 said:

 Given my experience with Southern Cross, I found it useful to be able to discuss medical coverage with an agent at Allianz. 

Though when I was wanting coverage for Norfolk Island the Allianz agent gave me the wrong information.

[roaming_kiwi58]

13 hours ago, cruisine21 said:

Though when I was wanting coverage for Norfolk Island the Allianz agent gave me the wrong information.

Yes, well, that is a problem! One trusts them to give you the right information. But if you get into a dispute then shouldn't they be able to produce a recording of any conversation? Never tried it, but they always tell you they are recording any phone interactions.