Would you cruise to the US in the next 6 months?

[MMDown Under]

On 2/29/2020 at 2:36 PM, aussielozzie18 said:

We have a cruise booked to Alaska + 7 day land tour in August.

 

I am seriously considering cancelling which will incur a cost.  My main concern is that in the event we were to fall ill with the virus. travel insurance would not cover us, there is no reciprocal medical between our countries and  US medical costs are horrific.  I am also concerned about being stuck in the US airports due to shut downs. 

 

Whilst I know no-one can predict what is going to happen on a week to week basis right now, let alone 6 months time.  If you were me, would you keep the booking or cancel?

I think you are wise to be concerned.  Might be a good idea to cancel and book in May next year, which I've been told by a local is the best time of year to visit Alaska. 

I am always worried when a family member gets sick in the US, even though we have travel insurance, because I know how expensive medical can be in the US.

Health officials on the West Coast of the US are worried because three people with the virus haven't been in contact with anyone who has travelled overseas.  The numbers of people with the virus are expected to rise on the West Coast.

 

[peter1956]

We have a cruise booked in May. Honolulu to Vancouver and an Alaskan cruise a few days later.

At the moment still going, but it might all be a forced change beforehand. But if we do go I will be checking our travel insurance before hand. 

Booked through RACV and it does have this paragraph.

High risk countries

This policy excludes travel to any country with the advice of “Do not travel” on the Smartraveller website

[MMDown Under]

2 minutes ago, peter1956 said:

We have a cruise booked in May. Honolulu to Vancouver and an Alaskan cruise a few days later.

At the moment still going, but it might all be a forced change beforehand. But if we do go I will be checking our travel insurance before hand. 

Booked through RACV and it does have this paragraph.

High risk countries

This policy excludes travel to any country with the advice of “Do not travel” on the Smartraveller website

Check the fine print to see whether you are covered for an epidemic.  Many Australian insurance policies don't cover epidemics. 

The Government doesn't often issue advice "Do not travel", however often "reconsider the need to travel".  In this case you would be covered by your insurance policy.  But would you want to travel?

[thistledoo]

My take is that unless you took out travel insurance before all this virus stuff blew up in January, then any insurance taken out after that will not cover you for Corona virus medical treatment/hospitalisation in another non-reciprocal country - period.    Frightening thought.

[MMDown Under]

7 minutes ago, thistledoo said:

My take is that unless you took out travel insurance before all this virus stuff blew up in January, then any insurance taken out after that will not cover you for Corona virus medical treatment/hospitalisation in another non-reciprocal country - period.    Frightening thought.

Even if you did take out travel insurance prior to corona virus, you would need to check the fine print of your travel insurance policy to see if you are covered for epidemics.

[subaru94]

It depends when you took your travel insurance out if you took it out before I think 19th January, then you ARE  covered as there were no coronavirus alerts, if however you take travel insurance after that date you are NOT covered for coronavirus.  I think if you take out cancel for any reason and cancel for other reasons e.g. death of partner, accident then you are covered.  Hope all that makes sense.   Of course check with your insurance company as they do vary in what they cover, some do cover epidemics and some don't.

Edited March 3, 2020 by subaru94
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[aussielozzie18]

38 minutes ago, subaru94 said:

It depends when you took your travel insurance out if you took it out before I think 19th January, then you ARE  covered as there were no coronavirus alerts, if however you take travel insurance after that date you are NOT covered for coronavirus.  I think if you take out cancel for any reason and cancel for other reasons e.g. death of partner, accident then you are covered.  Hope all that makes sense.   Of course check with your insurance company as they do vary in what they cover, some do cover epidemics and some don't.

It varies between insurance companies.  Some have a Jan 23 deadline.  Others have Jan 30.

[sanne]

Choice have a good site that tells you what insurance companies cover for pandemics/endemics pre the Jan 20 th? cut off date. A significant number of them don’t, neither for cancellation or medical.
 

Worldcare, underwritten by Allianz, the insurance  company I have 3 policies with for this year do not cover me for cancellation or medical relating to COVID -19. All were bought in 2019 for travel in 2020. This effectively means that we will have to cancel the trips/cruises and lose our money. 

[MMDown Under]

9 hours ago, sanne said:

Choice have a good site that tells you what insurance companies cover for pandemics/endemics pre the Jan 20 th? cut off date. A significant number of them don’t, neither for cancellation or medical.
 

Worldcare, underwritten by Allianz, the insurance  company I have 3 policies with for this year do not cover me for cancellation or medical relating to COVID -19. All were bought in 2019 for travel in 2020. This effectively means that we will have to cancel the trips/cruises and lose our money. 

That was my understanding.  Were epidemics/pandemics excluded in the fine print of your 3 policies?  I'm sorry that you have found yourself in this position of not being covered for cancellation or medical relating to COVID-19.

[mr walker]

I'd be reluctant to travel to US, cruise or otherwise this year, as it's Election Year & I would want to dodge that 🙂

 

Plus our dollar is very low, so the costs will be high

[cruiselover53]

We are isured with Cota (Allianz) and our policy states that all epidemics/pandemics are excluded no matter when you purchased the cover

[aussielozzie18]

Seattle area is being impacted by the virus.  This is one of the two departure ports for Alaskan cruises.  Alaska cruise season begins in May and it will be interesting to see what happens by then.  And yes, the USD is crap ATM.

[aussielozzie18]

16 hours ago, sanne said:

Choice have a good site that tells you what insurance companies cover for pandemics/endemics pre the Jan 20 th? cut off date. A significant number of them don’t, neither for cancellation or medical.
 

Worldcare, underwritten by Allianz, the insurance  company I have 3 policies with for this year do not cover me for cancellation or medical relating to COVID -19. All were bought in 2019 for travel in 2020. This effectively means that we will have to cancel the trips/cruises and lose our money. 

Sorry to hear that.

[sanne]

11 hours ago, MMDown Under said:

That was my understanding.  Were epidemics/pandemics excluded in the fine print of your 3 policies?  I'm sorry that you have found yourself in this position of not being covered for cancellation or medical relating to COVID-19.

 

4 hours ago, aussielozzie18 said:

Sorry to hear that.

Yes all 3 policies. And I did a lot of research and read all the T&C but missed that. But to be honest who would have thought that a pandemic would be an issue in 2020. 
 

I feel there are many out there who have no idea that their policy will not cover them and that is very worrying. 

[MMDown Under]

23 minutes ago, sanne said:

 

Yes all 3 policies. And I did a lot of research and read all the T&C but missed that. But to be honest who would have thought that a pandemic would be an issue in 2020. 
 

I feel there are many out there who have no idea that their policy will not cover them and that is very worrying. 

I agree.  However, Insurance companies must have thought epidemics/pandemics were a possibility to have exclusions from coverage in their policies.     I hope passengers are phoning or emailing their insurance companies to check their coverage.

[The_Big_M]

5 hours ago, MMDown Under said:

I agree.  However, Insurance companies must have thought epidemics/pandemics were a possibility to have exclusions from coverage in their policies.     I hope passengers are phoning or emailing their insurance companies to check their coverage.

 

We've had a few in the past 20 years so it's on their radar.

[Relaxing Robbies]

Our annual policy with 1Cover has a general exclusion for epidemics and pandemics. We are cruising Sydney to Hawaii in March so I was really concerned about not having medical coverage in the unlikely event we caught the virus and ended up in hospital.

 

Fortunately we did pay for our travel with a Jetstar credit card. Checked with the company that provides the free travel insurance that comes with the card, and found out that they will provide cover for medical from the virus, but the insurance is limited to 30 days for a trip. Our trip involved cruise Melbourne to Sydney, then time in Sydney and Newcastle prior to boarding the cruise to Hawaii. Total travel time was going to exceed 30 days. My husband thinks I am completely crazy, but we have got around the situation by breaking the trip down into 2 separate trips. I spent today cancelling a few nights accommodation in Sydney and organising that we fly home from Newcastle to Melbourne for 2 nights at home before we travel again to Sydney for the Hawaii cruise.

Flight home was cheap, accommodation was refundable, so we are not too out of pocket. At least I can sleep tonight knowing that we are covered for virus medical in USA.

[MMDown Under]

5 hours ago, Relaxing Robbies said:

Our annual policy with 1Cover has a general exclusion for epidemics and pandemics. We are cruising Sydney to Hawaii in March so I was really concerned about not having medical coverage in the unlikely event we caught the virus and ended up in hospital.

 

Fortunately we did pay for our travel with a Jetstar credit card. Checked with the company that provides the free travel insurance that comes with the card, and found out that they will provide cover for medical from the virus, but the insurance is limited to 30 days for a trip. Our trip involved cruise Melbourne to Sydney, then time in Sydney and Newcastle prior to boarding the cruise to Hawaii. Total travel time was going to exceed 30 days. My husband thinks I am completely crazy, but we have got around the situation by breaking the trip down into 2 separate trips. I spent today cancelling a few nights accommodation in Sydney and organising that we fly home from Newcastle to Melbourne for 2 nights at home before we travel again to Sydney for the Hawaii cruise.

Flight home was cheap, accommodation was refundable, so we are not too out of pocket. At least I can sleep tonight knowing that we are covered for virus medical in USA.

Well Done.  I'm assuming the main cruise from Sydney to Hawaii remained unchanged. 

[subaru94]

7 hours ago, Relaxing Robbies said:

Our annual policy with 1Cover has a general exclusion for epidemics and pandemics. We are cruising Sydney to Hawaii in March so I was really concerned about not having medical coverage in the unlikely event we caught the virus and ended up in hospital.

 

Fortunately we did pay for our travel with a Jetstar credit card. Checked with the company that provides the free travel insurance that comes with the card, and found out that they will provide cover for medical from the virus, but the insurance is limited to 30 days for a trip. Our trip involved cruise Melbourne to Sydney, then time in Sydney and Newcastle prior to boarding the cruise to Hawaii. Total travel time was going to exceed 30 days. My husband thinks I am completely crazy, but we have got around the situation by breaking the trip down into 2 separate trips. I spent today cancelling a few nights accommodation in Sydney and organising that we fly home from Newcastle to Melbourne for 2 nights at home before we travel again to Sydney for the Hawaii cruise.

Flight home was cheap, accommodation was refundable, so we are not too out of pocket. At least I can sleep tonight knowing that we are covered for virus medical in USA.

I wonder who the underwriters are for the jetstar credit card, would be good to know for people wanting to get travel insurance.

[By The Bay]

No way would I be going to USA, not with the daily expansion of the COVID-19 crisis. Today it is San Francisco and Los Angles. Which ports tomorrow? 

[NSWP]

On 3/3/2020 at 9:38 PM, sanne said:

Choice have a good site that tells you what insurance companies cover for pandemics/endemics pre the Jan 20 th? cut off date. A significant number of them don’t, neither for cancellation or medical.
 

Worldcare, underwritten by Allianz, the insurance  company I have 3 policies with for this year do not cover me for cancellation or medical relating to COVID -19. All were bought in 2019 for travel in 2020. This effectively means that we will have to cancel the trips/cruises and lose our money. 

Very sorry to hear of your problems, hope it works out for you.

[Relaxing Robbies]

5 hours ago, subaru94 said:

I wonder who the underwriters are for the jetstar credit card, would be good to know for people wanting to get travel insurance.

The insurance is through Chubb Insurance Australia.

[MicCanberra]

I would think in 6 months the situation would be much different and the vaccine (hopefully) will be out for some time.

[LittleFish1976]

Just now, MicCanberra said:

I would think in 6 months the situation would be much different and the vaccine (hopefully) will be out for some time.

 

I've heard a number of medical experts talking about the development of the vaccine - all say it's at least 18 months away.

 

Personally and FWIW, I think it'll take 12 months for things to settle down, by which I mean for the risk of infection to be low enough that most of us would be happy to travel. I hope it's sooner but that's just my reckoning. It's still nowhere near its peak and it'll take a while to diminish once it has peaked.

 

Lots of time for planning, I guess!

 

[MicCanberra]

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) was first discovered in Asia in February 2003. The outbreak lasted approximately six months as the disease spread to more than two dozen countries in North America, South America, Europe, and Asia before it was stopped in July 2003.

MERS was more protracted around 12 months, with another outbreak a few years later in Korea but it was no where near as bad.

They have a vaccine in testing already so I am hoping it will be ready sooner rather than later due to the similarities to the SARS virus.