Patois

I certainly agree with Galesa it is a real pain. I would like to know when a pre existing condition no longer becomes pre existing. I also have suffered from Angina but my cardiologist now reckons I am a much lower risk after treatment than I was before but all insurance companies still charge extra regardless of any medical opinion. I won't even start to on about the total rip off that domestic travel insurance is.

On 11/28/2022 at 5:24 AM, MMDown Under said:

Good to read smaller ships like Azamara require a supervised RAT or PCR. I cruised on Coral Expeditions' Coral Geographer this year and they required PCR within a set period and a supervised RAT at Cairns prior to boarding.  A nurse took our temperatures every morning.  Result 100 passengers with no covid.  

Who made the irresponsible decision that international arrivals did not have to test at all?

We for off Coral Geographer Adelaide  to Fremantle last week. Had to have a negative RAT 24hr before boarding and RAT again at boarding. Had first reported case 2 days into cruise. A further 6 cases reported during cruise. Judging by the amount of coughs etc in the last week I am sure than were more cases. 

I am not sure about the whole effectiveness of the mask wearing. As during meals people were without masks and that is the times people are closest to each other. I just don't think it is possible to keep any cruise clean particularly longer ones. 

22 minutes ago, sayaguru said:

I had a problem with carnival and the problem was they had a fullstop at the end. Crazy!

 

Try that. 

Thanks tried that and looks like it went through.

I am trying to send an email off to Princess 'feedback@princesscruises.com.au.'and it keeps getting bounced back. 

Has anyone else had problems?

Bob

5 hours ago, cruiser3775 said:

If the cruise is to somewhere remote like the Kimberleys, then $3000 is just a drop in the bucket of what it might cost to evacuate you by helicopter to Broome or Darwin, and then maybe south to another specialist hospital in a larger city. That's why the insurance companies insist on 'international cruise' cover, even if you never leave Australian waters.

Not all insurers require international cruise cover for domestic cruises like Kimberleys. NRMA and Medibank ( I think both are underwritten by Covermore) have domestic policies that cover Kimberley cruises without need to add a cruise cover to the policy.

Port of Brisbane guy was just on ABC radio Brisbane saying it was too rough for the pilot to board. There are about 20 ships waiting to get into the port when it opens. He said they hope to get Coral into port mid morning tomorrow.

7 minutes ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

The standard policy includes medical evacuations.

 

I can't remember all the cruise policy differences as it's a long time since we used a cruise policy.  For 2017 -2019 we used annual policies as we were doing 2-3 cruises a year and usually one of those included land travel. To have insured those cruise trips separately would have cost several hundred dollars more for very little benefit.

 

We've only had to claim once when I had a minor health issue on a cruise that required treatment for a few days. The insurance company paid up fairly quickly.

 

I think you could claim for missed ports. That's possibly useful if you tend to book private excursions.

I had a look at Insure and Go as your idea seems sensible, but their PDS says

You are not covered for any Any claim relating to travel via a commercial cruise ship.

This is on their latest PDS. Although it looks like there have been multiple PDS before and after 20/3/20 so maybe there have been changes made to the T&C's.

To follow up on my previous post I have received a formal response from Qld Health.

The emergency air retrieval services Queensland Health manage are provided at no cost to Queensland residents in situations whereby the service is coordinated or requested via a Queensland Hospital and Health Service or Queensland Ambulance Service. However. I have been advised because cruise ships are operated by private entities, where applicable retrieval services are provided to those entities at a cost which is typically then passed onto the passenger.

Acting Deputy Director-General and

Chief Medical Officer, Prevention Division and

Chief Clinical Information Officer

Queensland Health

8 minutes ago, Aus Traveller said:

What department was your written response from?

 

By the way, I also have personal experience of a case where the medical evac from a cruise ship was treated as free ambulance transport.

I was talking to a the Principal Project Officer from the 

Aeromedical Retrieval and Disaster Management Branch, Prevention Division Queensland Health

10 minutes ago, Aus Traveller said:

The latest advice (today) from the Queensland Ambulance Service differs from what you were told.

I was told that Q'ld residents are covered for free ambulance transport anywhere within Australia and within territorial waters. A helicopter evacuation from (for instance) the Glasshouse Mountains is free of charge. When I asked about medical evacuation from a cruiseship, the Q'ld Ambulance Service operator read from her notes to say that it would only apply in territorial waters.

 

For transport on land in other states, the Q'ld resident has to forward the interstate invoice to the Q'ld government for payment.

 

We will have to agree to disagree. I will rely on my info 🙂 that I have obtained on two separate occasions and Sinbad has also obtained.

I don't think it is a case of having to disagree, we both have been relying on advice from a government employee. The written response (email) that I have been promised might have more details than was expressed to me via two phone calls today. 

Good question about the cruise lines knowing this.

1 minute ago, Aus Traveller said:

I don't go along with bothering my MP, then the Minister, who have to refer the matter to the relevant staff.

 

I will enquire again from Queensland Ambulance and see what they say. I do know what happened in the past (the medival evac from Ql'd territorial waters was free for a Q'ld resident).

 

 

I don't see it as bothering my MP they are there to serve their community , so each to their own.  

2 minutes ago, Aus Traveller said:

The information you have received is at variance with what Sinbad and I got from Queensland Ambulance, the government body that would organise a medical evac. I am rather puzzled why you would ask your MP. I would not expect them to know the financial arrangement regarding a medical evac from a cruise ship.

 

Which department did you speak to, to get your final answer?

From my experience you get the right answer by going to the top. The reason to go to the MP was that I could not find an answer on either Qld Ambulance or Qld Dept of Health websites. The MP office flicked to the Minister who flicked to the project area of Qld Health who responded today.

5 minutes ago, Aus Traveller said:

What state do you live in?

Qld

5 minutes ago, Aus Traveller said:

What state do you live in?

On 5/5/2022 at 4:20 PM, Aus Traveller said:

The medical evac from the Sea Princess that I mentioned was from a spot 70 km NE of Cairns, to Cairns. The woman involved lived in Queensland. They were informed that the cost of the evac would be covered by the Q'ld gov't.

 

From other research, I believe that the Q'ld gov't will cover the cost of ambulance transport incurred interstate, but I do not believe this would include medical evac from a ship. The person has to apply for reimbursement of any ambulance bills.

I sent a query of to my local member re query re evac from a cruise ship. After the usual pass the buck between departments, i have been advised that medical evac from an overseas operated cruise ship will be billed to the cruise ship. 

14 minutes ago, Vader1111 said:

No.  Adelaide to Freo would leave Australian Coastal Waters while crossing the Bight.  For travel insurance purposes, it's exactly the same as a GBR cruise to Willis Island.

 

The difference is that medical treatment inside Australian Coastal Waters is covered by Medicare.  Medical treatment outside of these waters is not - and it's hideously expensive as a result.

 

As a general rule, if you're getting on a big white virus incubator, then you'll need "Domestic Cruising" travel insurance.  If you're getting on a small boat that doesn't leave coastal waters, then you don't.

As I am not getting on one of those big white incubators it will be same as Kimberley cruise.

Like many I have been doing the travel insurance research for a cruise up the cost of Qld and one from Adelaide to Fremantle .

I had a look at Medibank PDS for domestic travel which was interesting

When don’t I need to add Cruise Cover?

You don’t need to add cruise cover if You are:

are cruising in Australia (e.g. on the Murray River) or in Australian coastal waters (e.g. a Kimberley Cruise);

What about a cruise?

From a port in Australia to another port or ports in Australia without any stopover at a port outside of Australia (e.g. a ‘Sampler Cruise’, a cruise from Sydney to Brisbane) - these cruises go outside of Australian Coastal Waters – Please choose or enter “Domestic Cruising”.

So  our cruise from Adelaide to Fremantle is covered by their domestic policy but the Qld coastal cruise is not because it goes around Willis Is. Pretty sure the remoteness of the Kimberley would be a higher risk than coastal Qld

On 3/26/2022 at 10:35 AM, sewgood said:

To those of you that have booked with a Princess cruise planner, do you have the ability to make a payment on your Payments and Credits page in the Princess Personalizer?

I have had to email my planner to ask for a BPAY code this morning so that we are able to pay the deposit.

I've never had this problem when I've booked a cruise myself. The payment choices always come up in my personalizer but not this time.

Karryl

We have used a planner in the past here is part of the email he sent.

On 10/30/2021 at 12:18 PM, By The Bay said:

News.com.au is reporting the following. I cannot find another source. This will be terrible news for the Southerners that have made bookings when it was announced that the border would open on the 17th December. Good luck getting a refund.

 

"Queensland’s hard border will likely remain in place over the summer break as the state’s lagging vaccination rate threatens to put a dampener on the Christmas period.

 

Despite originally planning to reopen on December 17, Deputy Premier Steven Miles says the state needs to reach 90 per cent fully vaccinated – predicted to take place in January – before all border barricades are removed."

 Unfortunately this looks like just another News Ltd stitch up. Quote from Miles referred specifically to international travel not domestic travel . 

The Qld plan to reopen is , 

3 minutes ago, Aus Traveller said:

Coral Expeditions is a very small 'cruise line' that operates (as far as I know) totally in Australian waters. It is also very expensive.

I was just pointing out that there are Australians who will work on cruise ships contrary to some posts. They started to move into international waters with their two new ships before the plague hit.  

Coral Expeditions employ Aus staff .

2 hours ago, NSWP said:

The Govt gave the AZ to us dinosaurs because it is $2 a pop and we are expendable.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing, they placed orders for 4 different vaccines which seemed to be a good thing at the time to spread any risk in case one vaccine fell over which turned out to be true with the UQ vaccine. The real criticism should be that the Government did not set up a manufacturing facility for the mRNA vaccine in Australia. I recall the Industry Minister being questioned about this issue early in 2020 saying that it would take 12 months to establish and that by then we would be all vaccinated.  

1 hour ago, mr walker said:

That was why they were formed & for many years they did a good job of it. Then it became self-serving on behalf of the union officials & employees, rather than for the members, certainly with the unions I had interaction with. Get a job with the union, get paid by the members money & hopefully end up with a job in politics - the gravy train.

ABS figures show that union membership in Aust dropped from 46% in 1986 to 19% in 2007. EDITED to add that as of Aug 2020 it had dropped to 14% Now, to be fair, the number of jobs that would have normally been 'union shops' dropped away as manufacturing went offshore, but there is clearly a lot less union membership, and there must be a reason for that 😉

Maybe there is a correlation between declining union membership and no real wages growth .

Coral Expeditions have also released their Covid-19 plan for their cruises. 5 step plan below. Although they only operate small ships it could be a sign of what the larger companies might introduce.

1. LEVEL ONE SCREENING: VISIT YOUR GP Your GP will be asked to complete the detailed questionnaire which Coral Expeditions will have supplied to you. This Level One medical should be conducted seven days prior to the departure of your expedition. Once completed, the questionnaire will be sent to Coral Expeditions’ medical practitioners to complete at Level Two screening prior to boarding.

2. REDUCE RISK: SELF-ISOLATE BEFORE YOUR CRUISE We ask that all guests and crew self-isolate to the extent possible between their GP visit and arriving at the departure point of their cruise. We suggest the following approach: • Conduct only essential activities outside of your home • Limit your exposure to indoor public spaces or transport • Avoid large social gatherings.

3. TRAVEL SAFE TO YOUR DEPARTURE PORT To reduce the risk of exposure to COVID-19 as you travel to your cruise departure port, our recommendations include wearing a mask whilst travelling in public transport and in terminals, wash hands regularly, and physical distance in public spaces.

4. LEVEL TWO SCREENING & CLEARANCE TO TRAVEL Guests must arrive at the departure port 24 hours prior to departure. The Level Two health screening will be performed by a Coral Expeditions medical practitioner at the departure port for your cruise 12-24 hours before departure. We will designate a venue for pre-boarding check in and health screening, which will provide both physical distancing and privacy. Your pre-boarding health screening will complete your health questionnaire and include a COVID-19 PCR test. This test involves some small discomfort in gathering a nose and throat sample, but lasts only a matter of moments. Results will be lab-tested and confidentially provided to the medical practitioner and the individual. A negative test will be required for travel for both guests and crew. At check-in guests will also sign a travel declaration acknowledging completion of pre-screening steps. If there are any significant health concerns raised at Level One or Level Two screening, guest/s will be asked to postpone their expedition or a refund offered if required. Health concerns include a positive result on the COVID-19 test or detected symptoms.

5. GROUP TRANSFERS TO VESSEL To maintain the safe travel environment, we will provide transfers to the vessel for all guests. These transfers will undergo hygiene and sterilisation protocols as required, to maintain your safety at all times.

We did Alaska cruise Vancouver to Whittier then land tour with Princess from 12th May this year. Advantage of going in May still see lots of snow and winter scenery, less crowds. Downside was we didn't see a lot of wildlife although we were lucky to see some bears next to our bus. The other issue was that on the land tour there were a lot of new staff who were being trained on the job so service was very hit and miss. Weather was very good cold but no rainy days. Had done cruise only previously in late August and it rained nearly everyday.

Has anyone here ever made a claim for a missed port with InsureandGo? They do cover it in their silver and gold policies.

We just missed Lifou due to a Cyclone and my wife is frightened that they will charge us extra for our next policy if we make a claim.

Russell we made a claim for 4 missed ports on the 2016 world cruise. We provided documentation from Princess and claims were paid no issues. We have also taken out policies since then and there does not appear to be any indication of extra charges.