bee-ess

23 minutes ago, wowzz said:

That's strange, as I can see no mention of any testing requirements on the official Greek website.

It does seem odd, I'm expecting rules to be relaxed rather than being made stricter, Hoping it is a P&O mistake on the document.

Just seen that there is a new Destinations guide

https://www.pocruises.com/content/dam/po/pdfs/A-Z-destination-entry-requirements-guide-9-March-2022.pdf

Notice that Greece now requires an Antigen test, it previously said no tests required.

Hope that changes back as we have 4 Greece ports on our Easter Med cruise.

45 minutes ago, wowzz said:

I think that sums up our feelings as well. 

We are on Azura in March 2022, which we booked on launch, and I felt I was being daring at the time !

To think about booking for June 2024  is a step too far. 

I tend to agree, can't really think that far ahead. The only draw is that it is always the best prices - our next cruise in July (booked in Nov 20) is now £1000 each more expensive than when we booked.

Not sure what to do about  this launch, was hoping for some new itineraries but looking at the ship deployments, it is a bit same old same old

Just had a mail from P&O to say that Summer 2024 will be available for Pre Register on 23rd March.

Hope there are some different itineraries/ports.

49 minutes ago, purplesea said:

We're flying in from Bristol and our flight time is 6 am. 

We don't land in Malta until 6PM on P&O charter from Gatwick

1 hour ago, purplesea said:

Has that changed then? I last saw to be advised! We arrive lunchtime and was hoping to have a wander in the afternoon, before we sail. 

Where are you flying in from - ours is Gatwick and arriving into Malta quite late.

1 minute ago, purplesea said:

Has that changed then? I last saw to be advised! We arrive lunchtime and was hoping to have a wander in the afternoon, before we sail. 

I take TBA to mean it could go either way.

We are on Azura in July but luckily Trieste is our only Italian port so if the rules don't change we will stay on board and avoid the testing. Hopefully by July testing will not be a requirement. 

Also according to the document, going ashore independently is not certain in Malta either.

On 2/14/2022 at 10:21 PM, Megabear2 said:

I have asked in plain English for a yes or no on this point

 

"Reading this it seems to specifically refer to POSITIVE testing passengers but I am assuming that as all the conversations have been regarding NEGATIVE testing passengers being disembarked the phrase "However, if your insurance doesn’t cover your required disembarkation arrangements, we will organise and pay for your isolation stay and journey home" does in fact apply for those passengers forced to disembark by port authorities regardless of their test results. I should be grateful for your confirmation of this"

 

To my mind there would be little point in adding wording about paying for costs not covered by insurance for positive tested passengers because they are already covered. The only grey area there would be if the insurer would not accept the passenger being offloaded as necessary (and my previous reply had indicated this might occur). Therefore I think P&O are trying to cover all eventualities but as usual being very clumsy and non committal.  

 

I'm hopeful Molecrochip is right but await the confirmation from Adam Edinburgh.

Hi Megabear - did you ever get confirmation that the new P&O covid quarantine policy covers negative testing contacts as well as positive if not covered by travel insurance.

I wrote to P&O a month ago to ask this question and have received no reply and wonder if they are just being evasive on the subject.

4 minutes ago, wowzz said:

But why should P&O do that just because one TAis unscrupulous ?

Because as BBTablet says - 'Otherwise I am paying for a cruise without knowing where it is going!'

For similar reasons I have asked P&O both directly and via a TA to reduce the payment terms and both times they have said yes, once to 30 days direct and once to 60 days to the TA.

Just seen this on the News - I wonder if this stop EU ports insisting on Covid cases having to quarantine ashore and thus reducing the risk of the negative testing close contacts having to quarantine ashore. I

EU further relaxes COVID rules to enter the 27-nation bloc

This thread has got me thinking - does anyone know where the quarantine cabins are located on Azura ?

On 2/14/2022 at 11:55 AM, jeanlyon said:

Still have to go on an organised excursion in Italy and still no mention of Greece!

Or Croatia which has Ports on the E.Med Fly Cruise itineraries. If either Greece or Croatia don't allow us ashore independently it wipes out at least 4 ports for us. Would like to know what the rules are before we pay our balance on March 10th.

Was hoping to see Greece and Croatia in the document, getting near to payment time and would like to know the rules before we commit.

Megabear2 , Thanks for all your efforts trying to resolve this issue,  it is a ludicrous position  that no-one is prepared to take responsibility for and is still worrying with the Med season payments now due for some passengers and no obvious solution likely to happen quickly.

5 hours ago, Cpt Pugwash said:

Visitnorway.com advice on where to visit but also official advice on Covid which at the moment is everyone vaccinated allowed in but everyone over 16 must fill a form in 72 hrs before arriving.

What about quarantine if you test positive for Covid (or are a close contact), would it be on ship or ashore

I think I will be asking to delay payment until I know what the rules are.

The same with the Easter Med fly cruises - my balance is due soon and no info, looked in the Destinations PDF yesterday and no info in there. Assuming that Italy and Greece will be quarantine ashore ?

1 hour ago, Megabear2 said:

FCA have called. No need to do individual complaints. I need everyone's insurance replies forwarding under a reference he gave me.  I have forwarded 20 so far.  Don't worry if they're duplicate companies, Leigh wants them all! When forwarding refer to PAC (that's me!).

 

His email address:

 

Consumer.queries@fca.org.uk 

Our reference: 208031712

Attention Mr Leigh Genery

 

QUOTE

 

Dear xxxxxxxx

Thank you for your recent webform to our unfair contracts team that's been passed to me as best placed to respond to you and thank you for your time in our earlier telephone conversation this afternoon. 

I understand you're raising concerns that insurance firms are not clearly stating whether their travel insurance policy either includes or excludes the following: 'cover costs of quarantine including but not limited to accommodation, food and sustenance, sundries such as internet and telephone access, transportation to and from the quarantine premises, covid testing while in quarantine, nursing/doctors' costs for administering and documenting these required tests and repatriation to the United Kingdom.'

I can appreciate the concerns this has caused you and thank you for bringing this matter to our attention.
 
Our remit
 
We're responsible for authorising firms offering financial services and products to consumers in the UK. For example, a firm dealing in insurance would have to comply with our rules and we do expect firms to pay due regard to the information needs of its clients, and communicate information to them in a way which is clear, fair and not misleading.

What I have done with your information 
 
As I mentioned I have shared the information you provided with my colleagues in our General Insurance policy team for their intelligence and I'd welcome you coming back to me with any firm response you may receive for our additional intelligence.

Thank you once again for taking the time to bring this matter to our attention. If you need to speak to us further on this matter, have any other questions for the FCA, or have more information to share with us then please dont hesitate to contact us again and please quote the following number, to ensure we can link all your correspondence to the correct reference number. Your reference number is [208031712].
 
I trust this information is helpful and wish you the best going forward.
 
To help us improve our service, Im interested in finding out about your experience with the Supervision Hub today. Ill send you a link to a survey and Id appreciate it if you could take a few moments to share your feedback on the service youve received from me. 
 
Kind regards 
 
Leigh Genery (Mr) 

 

Unquote 

 

 

I have forwarded my 2 emails I sent and 2 replies I got from Staysure.

45 minutes ago, Interestedcruisefan said:

Does that need to say (even if your immediate travel party test negative) or are we assuming that's what it implies?

Posted in error

And a follow up letter and reply

Thank you for your reply to my query but it does not really answer my question.

There seems to be a ‘hole’ in our insurance cover that you cannot confirm is covered. There is a real risk that the situation that I have described in my original question can and does happen and there is no reimbursement of the substantial costs that are covered seemingly by either the insurance company or by the cruise line.

If the cruise line deem we need to be quarantined as a spouse/partner or as a close contact and test negative for Covid-19 whilst cruising in Spain then it has to be in Spain and not on the ship as per Spanish rules. At this point we would be offloaded and passed on to our Insurance Company and if we are not covered will have to pay substantial costs for quarantine and repatriation.

We need to know before travel if we would be covered as either a negative testing spouse/partner or as a negative testing close contact as there are substantial costs involved and is a factor in deciding if we decide to take the cruise or not. 

From reading experiences of other cruisers this seems to be a situation that is uninsurable and one that has not been fully realised by either cruise companies or travel insurance companies.

Please could you give me a clearer explanation of what would happen to us if this unfortunate situation happened to us and also if there is anyway we can insure ourselves against this risk.

Reply from Staysure

Thankyou for your reply
 
I can only apologise that I am unable to give a clearer answer on your cover.
As it stands, we only cover an affected traveller that has contracted Covid19. As mentioned, any scenario's outside of this remit, would need to be discussed with our medical officer at the time and handled on a case by case basis.
 
This requirement from the cruise companies has been flagged to our underwriter in order to review our policies and how that affects what we offer. However, we are still awaiting an outcome and can only confirm our current cover at the moment.
 
I do completely understand the need to understand the cover available to you before you travel and once again I can only apologise that this is not currently something I can confirm for you.
 
Please accept my sincere apologies for any inconvenience.

I wrote to Staysure as follows and got a pretty unhelpful reply -

We have a Staysure Annual Worldwide Travel Insurance Policy and have a specific question regarding a Cruise we plan to take to the Canary Islands.

I understand that if myself or my wife test Positive for Covid-19 that we will be quarantined ashore in Spain as that is the current procedure as per the current Spanish Covid directive. What is not clear is if one of us tests positive and the other negative, are we both still covered for the cost of quarantine and repatriation once the quarantine ends on our joint policy with Staysure?

I also have the same question regarding cover if one or both of us have to quarantine ashore because we are deemed to be a ‘close-contact’ of someone who tests positive but we test negative.

This appears to be a Travel Insurance grey-area regarding cruises calling at Spanish ports with some people reporting that their Travel Insurance companies did not cover them in these circumstances and that they also had no recourse to reclaim costs from the cruise line.

I would assume that as we have both Cruise Cover and Covid-19 Cover that we are covered for the scenarios described above, please can you confirm that we will be covered for either of the above scenarios.

REPLY

Thank you for your email.
 
Whilst we would certainly cover Emergency Medical and Repatriation expenses as per your chosen policy limits for any insured traveller who contracts Covid19 whilst travelling on an insured trip, any cover for additional travellers or where you are deemed a close contact would need to be authorised by our medical officer.
 
If this situation were to arise, we would just ask that you called our 24hour medical assistance team on the contact number provided in your policy documents in order to discuss how we can help.

1 hour ago, clearblueseas said:

This is the straightforward reply my travel companions received from Staysure today.

‘’ Thank you for your email.      In response to your questions please see below;    Sadly, any costs incurred due to a change in list, or restrictions etc. including but not limited to additional testing and hotel quarantine, cannot be claimed on your travel insurance.  We can  only cover costs if you were to get a positive test.      I am sorry for the inconvenience. “   Quite unbelievable and very worrying indeed.

Thanks for this - its certainly a straightforward reply, but not the one we wanted as we are insured with Staysure. I agree this whole situation is unbelievable.

What a ridiculous situation this is. We are unable to insure ourselves against a real scenario that could happen to any of us although the odds are very low against it happening. Even if the insurance companies made it a small supplementary policy I'm sure we would all pay it.

My opinion is that the cruise line should just pick up the cost weighed out against the extra people that will cruise if they are fully covered.

Puts me off cruising really until this is resolved.

1 hour ago, howmuch! said:

Its like 'pass the parcel' , but we have no idea who's controlling the music!

Somebody has to be left holding the parcel and unfairly at the moment that is the passenger !

Surely if the insurance companies won't pay out unless testing positive then you would think for the small number of cases involved that the cruise line would pick up the bill. I would think that would give  the passengers more security  knowing that the cruise line will pay if the insurance won't and that in turn that would make more people cruise.