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Travel Insurance


zoe sproodle
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We are being joined on our next cruise by relatives who were not convinced of the requirement for insurance (because "we don't leave the EU"). I've now shown them all P & O have to say on the subject and convinced them to buy, but wondered if anyone has come across an instance of someone being refused boarding due to lack of insurance, or will e-tickets not be issued if the appropriate bit of cruise personaliser isn't completed?

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I can't answer the question regarding being denied boarding. However from a conversation i had with a fellow passenger on a previous P&O cruise who could not understand why the doctor on board refused to accept her EHIC card, there is obviously a misunderstanding about reciprocal medical treatment in the EU. It may be useful for your relatives to know that the EHIC only covers treatment in state run medical facilities in the EU. More info can be found on the Gov.uk website. It does not cover medical treatment on a ship even if it is in EU waters as this is a private facility. Just something for your relatives to consider.

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You cannot rely on the EHIC card. It will not cover any visit to the ships doctor or being kept in the medical centre for example. I spent one night in the ships medical centre had ecg, blood tests etc. The cost was £1200. I had to pay this up front and claim back from insurance. The big cost would be if you needed to be removed from the ship by helicopter or the ship needing to divert to off load you for urgent medical care. These costs would run in to tens of thousands of pounds.

P&O have never asked to see travel insurance. They do ask for insurance details on cruise personaliser which I am sure that they don’t check.

It is just not worth the risk of travelling without insurance that covers pre existing conditions as well.

Val

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I wouldn't go anywhere in Europe just with an EHIC. It's just not worth it. Also, I thought I was a definitely requirement on your Cruise Personaliser. You have to fill in the details on there and if it's not complete, they would definitely know.

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Thanks for the replies, I did mention the consequences of having an accident or being taken ill at sea, God forbid this should ever happen.

 

I have often wondered why they don't check insurance at check in, we always carry the documents with our passports, etc but no-ones ever asked for them.

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Well I think that's the reason for the Cruise Personaliser. They don't need to check. I had missed a part of mine and a week before I was sent an email saying it was not complete. My friend isn't on the internet and she is sent a paper form to fill in as she doesn't do Cruise Personalier. They also need the Emergency telephone number of the insurance company in case you have to be helicoptered off the ship. It happens reasonably frequently and the costs are astronomical. Anywhere from £30K upwards

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Some people get Travel Insurance as a fringe benefit relating to having a particular type of bank account, credit card etc. This probably satisfies the requirements of filling in the cruise personaliser insofar as you have a policy number and an emergency telephone number. Going around Europe as an EEC member nation you might scrape through if you are fit and do not have pre-existing medical issues. Certainly weekenders to Bruges are low risk. I should however not risk this level of cover myself as these policies are a bit marginal.

 

In my opinion getting bespoke Travel Insurance from a reputable provider is the way to go. Single trip is possible but I prefer the Annual policy as it covers all your cruises plus weekends around the UK in hotels where your luggage might go AWOL. Do not forget it's not just health it covers a multitude of other issues.

 

Regards John

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Some people get Travel Insurance as a fringe benefit relating to having a particular type of bank account, credit card etc. This probably satisfies the requirements of filling in the cruise personaliser insofar as you have a policy number and an emergency telephone number. Going around Europe as an EEC member nation you might scrape through if you are fit and do not have pre-existing medical issues. Certainly weekenders to Bruges are low risk. I should however not risk this level of cover myself as these policies are a bit marginal.

 

In my opinion getting bespoke Travel Insurance from a reputable provider is the way to go. Single trip is possible but I prefer the Annual policy as it covers all your cruises plus weekends around the UK in hotels where your luggage might go AWOL. Do not forget it's not just health it covers a multitude of other issues.

 

Regards John

 

We should be on Britannia at the moment but my 4 year old granddaughter was admitted to hospital with pneumonia which resulted in a chest drain. We couldn't possibly have left with her so ill. Thankfully, she is now on the mend and the insurance company have indicated they will cover our costs ( even if they hadn't we wouldn't have gone). My point is, you never know what is around the corner. We would never travel without insurance

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Think you will find that without providing travel insurance details online in your Cruise Personaliser you would not be able to download your e-tickets.

Yes that’s right, however, there is nothing to stop you adding an emergency telephone number and a fake policy number. No checks are made to see if the policy exists.

 

Val

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You don’t need to pay a fortune for good insurance cover. We have an annual travel insurance policy with Aviva that only cost around £70, covers all members of the family (including my wife’s pre-existing medical condition) and provides up to £10m cover, including medical costs on ships and medical evacuation. They make no distinction for cruises whereas some people pay a small fortune for bespoke cruise policies.

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We should be on Britannia at the moment but my 4 year old granddaughter was admitted to hospital with pneumonia which resulted in a chest drain. We couldn't possibly have left with her so ill. Thankfully, she is now on the mend and the insurance company have indicated they will cover our costs ( even if they hadn't we wouldn't have gone). My point is, you never know what is around the corner. We would never travel without insurance

 

Sorry you had to miss your cruise, I hope your granddaughter is OK.

 

We have our cover as a freebee with our bank account and the level of cover is pretty good, way above what P & O stipulate as a minimum.

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The EHIC has some benefits, certainly, within the EU, but it won't pay for an air ambulance and it has severe restrictions for cruise passengers in particular. I use a bank policy which covers existing conditions, but that's an area to watch carefully, as with all travel policies. Some of them exclude cruises too. Quite a minefield, and the cheaper policies contain so many exclusions that their value is pretty limited.

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the cheaper policies contain so many exclusions that their value is pretty limited.

 

Not always. The annual policy that we have with Aviva covers us for all medical eventualities on a cruise, including medical evacuations. I double checked with them, because it was so cheap!

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It does seem strange that cruise lines do not require more information on passengers insurance policies, especially whether they cover all pre-existing conditions (PEC). I know from recent quotes for our travel Insurance how costly it can be to cover these, especially when physical disabilities are involved.

I often wonder when seeing some disabled passengers whether their PEC's have been fully disclosed, and what the cost implications to them might be if they have to be taken to hospital abroad, or worse still medi-vacced off the ship by helicopter.

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Locally, we had a passenger who did not disclose a heart condition he had suffered from some years ago. He was taken ill on a cruise in the Med and was hospitalised in France. As he had not declared his problem the insurance company refused to pay up, and he was left with a bill of around £6000.

 

Unfortunately, age and pre existing conditions really bump up your premium, now in our mid 70's and both with pre existing conditions, typically insurance costs us 5 to 10% of the cruise fare, and we can only get trip insurance.

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Unfortunately, age and pre existing conditions really bump up your premium, now in our mid 70's and both with pre existing conditions, typically insurance costs us 5 to 10% of the cruise fare, and we can only get trip insurance.

 

Our insurance typically costs 40 to 50% of the cruise fare and we travel in a suite so you can imagine the cost. Whatever the cost, we would never travel without full cover for pre existing conditions.

 

Val

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Yes that’s right, however, there is nothing to stop you adding an emergency telephone number and a fake policy number. No checks are made to see if the policy exists.

 

 

 

Val

 

 

 

It’s not right. I know someone who didn’t fill any of that detail in and still printed off their E ticket. They didn’t get insurance.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

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I repeat. Our insurance cover DOES cover my wife’s pre existing condition and is a small fraction of what some people seem to be paying. Admittedly, we are in our 50’s and I know that insurance premiums rocket when you are 70+ (for obvious reasons), but I also know that insurance premiums vary wildly for the same cover. It is quite common to find insurers who will charge up to 5 times or more than the price of another provider for identical cover. Do shop around. You do not need expensive bespoke cruise insurance if you find an insurer who does not exclude cruises from their regular cover. If in doubt, do as I did and call them and talk through worst case cruise scenarios (helicopter evacuation, ship diversion, procedures in ships medical centre etc) to reassure yourself that they are covered.

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Unfortunately not all insurance companies will cover all pre existing conditions. For example Aviva declined to offer me any cover however I would encourage people to keep trying even if you are not initially successful.

 

I for one would never cruise without comprehensive cover and eventually did find an excellent company who cover my wonderful array of conditions including cancer, heart attack and diabetes. The company is Open Travel Insurance who offer an annual world wide policy (including cruises) for WI Members and their families.

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Aviva and many other insurance companies have declined to cover us. There are very few companies who will cover cancer that has spread and those who do offer cover, charge extortionate premiums.

 

It is annoying because we only travel when we know things are stable. On one occasion one of the questions is ‘how many times have you seen your consultant in the last 12 months’. We answered two but realised afterwards that it was actually three times because we brought routine scans forward by a month to make sure all was well before taking insurance and paying the full balance. When I called to explain this, we were charged an additional £300. I argued that we were trying to prevent a claim to be told that we should not have bothered bringing the scan forward. Just make a claim if necessary.

 

Very frustrating and expensive

 

Val

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It also strikes me as odd that in the FAQ it says that you must have insurance at time of booking, yet they never seem to enquire when you book. Presumably it's in the terms and conditions as well, so it gets them out of any liability for any medical costs you incur as you've accepted the contract?

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It also strikes me as odd that in the FAQ it says that you must have insurance at time of booking, yet they never seem to enquire when you book. Presumably it's in the terms and conditions as well, so it gets them out of any liability for any medical costs you incur as you've accepted the contract?

 

It strikes me as inappropriate for the cruise line to insist that you have valid Travel Insurance at the time of booking. I do not believe they do under their Booking Conditions but contrary information may exist on the website. If you have an Annual Travel Insurance clearly you might already have insurance at the time of booking. However, if you did not have such a policy you would have to arrange a single trip policy but why would you do that when you have not booked a holiday. It would lead to a "catch 22" situation because of the possibility of one of the following problems occurring. Firstly the trip is sold out and on the other hand you might not be able to get insurance. The only way around this technical dilemma would be: buying your Travel Insurance simultaneously with your cruise booking. In other words buy it from the cruise line, well that is going to work out expensive when the cruise line realises the passenger predicament.

 

Basically to get around the dilemma you can book a cruise without having any insurance at all. The cruise line allows this legitimately. This is consistent with Booking Condition 33, Insurance. This goes on to say you must have relevant insurance for the whole duration of the package. Note that; immediately after booking it is prudent to obtain Travel Insurance as soon as possible at this point in time and on most bookings you are only liable to lose your deposit if you book last minute your risk could be financially greater. The thing to think about is "can I get and afford Travel Insurance?" If in doubt never book late availability deals.

 

Regards John

Edited by john watson
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