Cruise insurance oddities

[Tafia69]

Friend of mine uses Eurotunnel cruise holiday insurance and says it costs £20 per person per cruise. He is 69 and his wife perhaps 71 or 72.

I have just taken out cruise insurance with another company and added a couple of pre-existing medical conditions and paid £180 for two. ( I am 74 and fairly healthy. Cholesterol a little high and blood pressure a little high. Wife is 69)

I now see both insurances are provided by the same insurance company, Allianz Global Assistance.

 

 

I went direct to their site and found they would only cover me if I was still in my sixties.

 

 

It was also a puzzle to read that some insurers would offer European cruise cover but exclude Spain, Greece, Malta, Cyprus and Turkey as those countries had allegedly raised their costs of medical treatment to help the national deficit.

 

Can anyone able to explain the wide discrepancy? Anyone had experience of Eurotunnel claims handling?

Cheers

[mandylennon]

No, never heard if them, but understand your frustration, insurance is a minefield. I have the same conditions as you, but younger and pay no more than £35 for a 7 day cruise, this is with Staysure.

[majortom10]

We have annual travel insurance with Aviva and even though it doesnt cover you for missed ports or confined to cabin which you can get with some insurance companies at extra cost ours covers for all other aspects of cruise holidays. We are both in our late 50s wife suffers with high blood pressure and I suffer from enlarged Prostate and we paid less than £100 for worldwide annual cover.

[Cristaltips]

We have annual travel insurance with Aviva and even though it doesnt cover you for missed ports or confined to cabin which you can get with some insurance companies at extra cost ours covers for all other aspects of cruise holidays. We are both in our late 50s wife suffers with high blood pressure and I suffer from enlarged Prostate and we paid less than £100 for worldwide annual cover.

 

We’ve always found them good and reasonably priced. We had to cancel a cruise last October as our 5 year old granddaughter had pneumonia and we needed to be available to help with the other child. They were brilliant and we had a full refund of cruise, hotel and parking within 3 weeks.

[jeanlyon]

Maybe they have no medical conditions, but it does sound too cheap. There was an article in the British Medical journal recently saying that they now don't think high cholesterol causes plaques in arteries. So we have billions of people on statins for no good reason. Grrrr.

[jeanlyon]

Just been to their website and you can't do a quote anywhere.

[Harry Peterson]

Medical conditions make an enormous difference to premia, and their impact varies from company to company, according to the risks they're happy (or not) with.

 

A cheap annual premium of £100 for two can easily be bumped up to £1000 (or a lot more) with a heart condition (even Angina, which varies hugely in its impact) or late-diagnosed asthma.

 

Whether or not you need specific cruise insurance (assuming that the standard policy doesn't specifically exclude cruises) is arguable though - a question of weighing up the extra costs against the extra benefits.

[my marina bay]

My friend has high BP, is on statins and had a mini stroke two years ago yet her insurance with the Post Office online was only £40. May be worth a look.

[majortom10]

Medical conditions make an enormous difference to premia, and their impact varies from company to company, according to the risks they're happy (or not) with.

 

A cheap annual premium of £100 for two can easily be bumped up to £1000 (or a lot more) with a heart condition (even Angina, which varies hugely in its impact) or late-diagnosed asthma.

 

Whether or not you need specific cruise insurance (assuming that the standard policy doesn't specifically exclude cruises) is arguable though - a question of weighing up the extra costs against the extra benefits.

 

If your comment is referring to my statement about my annual travel insurance with Aviva when I renewed as I always do I shopped around and Staysure wanted for annual travel insurance with same medical conditions and very little difference in the policy nearly £300 and All Clear were even dearer. I do not think there is any one insurance company that is generally cheaper than the rest and yes you have to compare quality of what is on offer and worth shopping around.

[Harry Peterson]

If your comment is referring to my statement about my annual travel insurance with Aviva when I renewed as I always do I shopped around and Staysure wanted for annual travel insurance with same medical conditions and very little difference in the policy nearly £300 and All Clear were even dearer. I do not think there is any one insurance company that is generally cheaper than the rest and yes you have to compare quality of what is on offer and worth shopping around.

 

No, it was just a general observation about the impact of medical conditions and the different ways that different companies treat them. It’s an absolute minefield if you have any medical conditions and there comes a point when you say enough’s enough and holiday in the UK.

[Adammara]

No, it was just a general observation about the impact of medical conditions and the different ways that different companies treat them. It’s an absolute minefield if you have any medical conditions and there comes a point when you say enough’s enough and holiday in the UK.

 

We have several notifiable conditions between us, and as we get older it gets more difficult, and have been dumped by several of the major insurers, even Staysure referred us to a specialist insurer, and it was a specialist price! Its UK holidays for us now!

[Tom Baker]

The vagaries of insurance have baffle me for years. I have a diagnosis of High Cholesterol and High Blood Pressure and was charged an significant extra premium.

 

 

Later I was diagnosed with Diabetes, insurers lump HBP & HC in with the Diabetes and my premium has dropped significantly by over £100 per year. Why does having an additional illness reduce your premium, it makes no sense.

[picsa]

For anyone who has medical issues that result in significant premiums, if they are / were public sector employees (civil servants, local government, NHS, teachers, police, fire, Armed Forces, etc) which enables them to join the Civil Service Sports Club then the CSSC does an annual insurance policy which requires no medical declarations.

 

It covers people aged from 50 to 79 for worldwide cover (trips up to 65 days (45 for Caribbean, USA or Canada) with no medical screening, and covers cruise ship evacuation (but not missed ports).

 

It isn't particularly cheap at £195 for an individual, £275 for a couple, or £295 for a family and it is an odd annual policy that it runs from 1st April no matter when you buy it.

 

However maybe worth looking into for those who have had substantially higher quotes.

[jeanlyon]

My friend has high BP, is on statins and had a mini stroke two years ago yet her insurance with the Post Office online was only £40. May be worth a look.

 

I almost cannot believe that price with those conditions. Are you sure they were covered for only £40? What sort of age is she?

[wowzz]

"we paid less than £100 for worldwide annual cover."

I really can't believe that you got world wide cover for £50 each! Even £100 each is very cheap.

 

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[balf]

You never know the price of insurance till you make a claim.

 

DAVID

[my marina bay]

I almost cannot believe that price with those conditions. Are you sure they were covered for only £40? What sort of age is she?

 

I agree I couldn't believe it either! She had been quoted three times+ more by other companies for a single policy for a two week holiday but she said she had declared her conditions (her daughter helped fill the form in) and that was the price paid last year. She is early 60s.

[Tafia69]

Maybe they have no medical conditions, but it does sound too cheap. There was an article in the British Medical journal recently saying that they now don't think high cholesterol causes plaques in arteries. So we have billions of people on statins for no good reason. Grrrr.

 

Indeed, I have read much on the cholesterol myths. Can you give me a link to the BMJ article

[Tafia69]

Just been to their website and you can't do a quote anywhere.

 

I am told Eurotunnel will quote by phone and their only requirement is that your doctor has said you are fit to travel at that time. They allegedly don't ask about pre-existing conditions.

 

I know of people who were confined to cabin for several days with noro-virus. They then had to get a taxi ride home as the cruise company and/or the coach company said they could not use the coach transfer due to the noro-virus. They tried to claim from their travel insurance as the taxi ride cost hundreds of pounds. Claim was refused as " the taxi ride was in UK"

 

I know a little of insurance and believe the claim was valid as the "proximate cause" ( the initial event which, had it not happened would not have led to a need for a taxi) occurred abroad and should have been covered.

[my marina bay]

(I know of people who were confined to cabin for several days with noro-virus. They then had to get a taxi ride home as the cruise company and/or the coach company said they could not use the coach transfer due to the noro-virus. They tried to claim from their travel insurance as the taxi ride cost hundreds of pounds. Claim was refused as " the taxi ride was in UK" )

 

I find the above a little hard to believe. I contacted NV in the last 36 hours of our holiday on Arcadia. We too travel by coach and my OH was also told we couldn't use the coach but ....... no need to worry as we would be disembarked when everyone else had left and PO was providing a taxi home to the North West free of charge.

[Scorpio41]

I found out a very important fact about travel insurance.

 

My travel insurance was due for renewal mid cruise. I shopped round, got a better price than my present company renewal. Signed up for new policy. I had to contact the new company and during the conversation I mentioned the start date of my holiday, before my policy with them started. They explained I wouldn't be insured. Reason being the terms of travel insurance covers you from the UK back to the UK,

 

I was totally unaware of this but I could have been on the cruise with no insurance All I had to do was move the start date, easy done no extra cost.

[majortom10]

"we paid less than £100 for worldwide annual cover."

I really can't believe that you got world wide cover for £50 each! Even £100 each is very cheap.

 

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Believe it or not but its fact annual worldwide travel insurance for myself and my wife both late 50s. By the way I am not in the habit of lying.

[jeanlyon]

Have you asked if it covers cruises> Lots don't. Also, you need to look at cancellation and how much that is. I nearly chose a Basic policy and then read it only covers for £500 cancellation or nothing at all.

[qm2lover]

majortom 10, which insurance company is that with, please?

[majortom10]

majortom 10, which insurance company is that with, please?

 

Aviva