Is cruising finished with travel insurance now excluding CV19?

[Pentlands]

My annual travel insurance company, in common with many others, have now excluded any claims relating to CV19 on new bookings. That means that one is not covered for cancellation due to catching this, but also for being sick with it on board ship.

 

As I understand it cruise lines will not take passengers without travel insurance and over the next months, perhaps years, CV19 is going to pay a prominent part in how people get sick. If they take a passenger without cover for re-patriation, hospitalisation or transfer from ship to hospital that will breach their T/C's.

 

I am not surprised that cruise lines do not want to be left trying to get money from an ill or indeed dead passengers family for their costs, under normal circumstances, but the likelyhood of them needing to do so in the future seems to have increased.

[Les_ldh]

9 minutes ago, Pentlands said:

My annual travel insurance company, in common with many others, have now excluded any claims relating to CV19 on new bookings. That means that one is not covered for cancellation due to catching this, but also for being sick with it on board ship.

 

As I understand it cruise lines will not take passengers without travel insurance and over the next months, perhaps years, CV19 is going to pay a prominent part in how people get sick. If they take a passenger without cover for re-patriation, hospitalisation or transfer from ship to hospital that will breach their T/C's.

 

I am not surprised that cruise lines do not want to be left trying to get money from an ill or indeed dead passengers family for their costs, under normal circumstances, but the likelyhood of them needing to do so in the future seems to have increased.

You are quite correct. I posted that as the main reason I won’t be cruising for a while yesterday on another thread. The way I see it is once a vaccine is widely available and the majority of the population have been protected this will cease to be an issue, and then it will be safe to start cruising again, not before.

[crompton21]

35 minutes ago, Les_ldh said:

You are quite correct. I posted that as the main reason I won’t be cruising for a while yesterday on another thread. The way I see it is once a vaccine is widely available and the majority of the population have been protected this will cease to be an issue, and then it will be safe to start cruising again, not before.

As it stands today there is a disconnect between the current insurance cover and what is required.  Should that situation continue then it would be unwise for anyone to cruise until coronavirus is eradicated.  If not covered by insurance the risk of catching the disease whilst on a cruise ship or any foreign holiday would deter the vast majority (and quite rightly so).

 

The insurance industry is presumably taking this stance in order to control the current losses by effectively closing down the holiday insurance market to new business.

 

Once some clarity is restored, I would expect cover to be reinstated as there isn't another option. Normal flu/Norovirus are covered by insurance even though they are known about.  Premiums will presumably have to rise.  If they don't do this, then they don't really have a product that is fit for purpose or a market to sell it to.

[Les_ldh]

14 minutes ago, crompton21 said:

As it stands today there is a disconnect between the current insurance cover and what is required.  Should that situation continue then it would be unwise for anyone to cruise until coronavirus is eradicated.  If not covered by insurance the risk of catching the disease whilst on a cruise ship or any foreign holiday would deter the vast majority (and quite rightly so).

 

The insurance industry is presumably taking this stance in order to control the current losses by effectively closing down the holiday insurance market to new business.

 

Once some clarity is restored, I would expect cover to be reinstated as there isn't another option. Normal flu/Norovirus are covered by insurance even though they are known about.  Premiums will presumably have to rise.  If they don't do this, then they don't really have a product that is fit for purpose or a market to sell it to.

I totally agree 

[Pentlands]

4 hours ago, Les_ldh said:

You are quite correct. I posted that as the main reason I won’t be cruising for a while yesterday on another thread. The way I see it is once a vaccine is widely available and the majority of the population have been protected this will cease to be an issue, and then it will be safe to start cruising again, not before.

You assume that a vaccination is possible. There is evidence that people can get re-infected and that would mean it is not possible.

 

This policy also means that offering FCC for cancelations is very iffey as future cruises will not at present be covered. After taking FCC, wonder if there will be a way to change and take a refund?

[jeanlyon]

I am sure there will be a vaccination, just not yet.  Until then, there is no way to cruise with travel insurance.

[grapau27]

12 minutes ago, jeanlyon said:

I am sure there will be a vaccination, just not yet.  Until then, there is no way to cruise with travel insurance.

FCCs are no good for over 70s and people with medical issues while the current FCO advice is in force.

Let's pray that a vaccine is found soon.

[yorkshirephil]

There will be a vaccine, how successful it is will be a different story. Covid -19 will mutate making any vaccine less efficient, we can only keep our fingers crossed.

[kalos]

You can be sure of one thing , it is going to cost more with possible less cover.

I have renewed my home insurance and that has jumped in price by £38 this year.

So I  rang up a woman in the main office and was told they are under instruction  to 

keep to the quoted prices .

She went on to say .. The floods,Thomas cook  and now this virus is hitting 

all insurance companies  bad.  Going forward the prices are going to be more.

Edited March 22, 2020 by kalos

[the english lady]

1 hour ago, yorkshirephil said:

There will be a vaccine, how successful it is will be a different story. Covid -19 will mutate making any vaccine less efficient, we can only keep our fingers crossed.

Flu vaccine only lasts for a year. So you will probably move to the realms of a double whammy jab that will endeavour   to protect you from that years flu and coronavirus. Probably as it works now olders will get it free on the NHS. spring chickens like wot i'm not will have to pay for it.

 

[Pentlands]

7 hours ago, yorkshirephil said:

There will be a vaccine, how successful it is will be a different story. Covid -19 will mutate making any vaccine less efficient, we can only keep our fingers crossed.

or not. We have no certainty that once caught equals some imunity and if that is true a vaccine cannot be found.

 

[davemorton]

The flu jab is only effective for around 45% of people (based on 2018/19 figures), do we think a Covid19 jab can be more effective? I think there isnt that much chance. Sadly. 

[dorsetlad]

15 hours ago, yorkshirephil said:

There will be a vaccine, how successful it is will be a different story. Covid -19 will mutate making any vaccine less efficient, we can only keep our fingers crossed.

The seasonal flu mutates year by year, which is why each year a new vaccine is produced to cover the main variations. Maybe the Covid vaccine will be updated annually as well.

[terrierjohn]

9 hours ago, Pentlands said:

or not. We have no certainty that once caught equals some imunity and if that is true a vaccine cannot be found.

 

I assume the scientists know what they are doing, and would not be wasting their time desperately trying to develop a vaccine if there was any serious doubt that it would be effective. 

[cruisenewbie1976]

Jeez, I know we're in a dire situation but this place is so doom and gloom.

There will not only be a vaccine in time, but the health services will undoubtedly find ways to treat symptoms if people do catch it, like they do with many other viruses now.  So in future, getting COVID-19 shouldn't be a death sentence.

In terms of travel insurance, the insurers are just protecting themselves because there's a pandemic!  The situation will ease.  It won't mean the end of cruising because if that was the case it would effectively rule out any international travel forever more.

It's going to be a difficult few months but you can be certain that this will have billions thrown at it worldwide to come up with a vaccine/treatment as without it the world cannot function. 

Edited March 23, 2020 by cruisenewbie1976
typo

[Pentlands]

I knew people who said that definately CV19 was no worse than the flu, no problem keep going about your normal business. How wrong they were, and Cool Cruiser I think you are just as wrong about a vaccine and treatment. Just hope and refuisng to accept that noone knows. There is no certainty about any of this. They are throwing billions at it in the hope that they can come up with something, but only a hope, sadly.

 

[cruisenewbie1976]

8 hours ago, Pentlands said:

I knew people who said that definately CV19 was no worse than the flu, no problem keep going about your normal business. How wrong they were, and Cool Cruiser I think you are just as wrong about a vaccine and treatment. Just hope and refuisng to accept that noone knows. There is no certainty about any of this. They are throwing billions at it in the hope that they can come up with something, but only a hope, sadly.

 

I was certainly wrong on the severity of the situation (however, my partner has had it and was pretty much just a few days of having no energy. Fully accept that won't be everyone's experience though).

There's nothing to suggest that a vaccine can't be found. The main barrier is usually funding and the huge amount of red tape that they have to go through. But you can be certain that they'll throw all the money they can at getting this sorted, because that will still cost them less than having the world shut down for months/years. 

[jeanlyon]

and do we really want to cruise again when we read this?

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-51999845

 

[Eddie99]

Probably not 🙁

 

Five cruises booked, up to January 2022.  I think we might still not be virus free then.  Certainly don’t want to be in a cruise ship lockdown - that’s more like prison than holiday

[Pentlands]

15 hours ago, cruisenewbie1976 said:

I was certainly wrong on the severity of the situation (however, my partner has had it and was pretty much just a few days of having no energy. Fully accept that won't be everyone's experience though).

There's nothing to suggest that a vaccine can't be found. The main barrier is usually funding and the huge amount of red tape that they have to go through. But you can be certain that they'll throw all the money they can at getting this sorted, because that will still cost them less than having the world shut down for months/years. 

There does seem to be some evidence that having caught it you can get it again, and that would mean no vaccine.

[cruisenewbie1976]

7 hours ago, Pentlands said:

There does seem to be some evidence that having caught it you can get it again, and that would mean no vaccine.

Does there? Everything I've seen suggests it is extremely rare that you catch it again. Didn't it turn out that a lot of the people that tested positive again had seemingly caught it again very quickly, indicating that the negative reading they'd had was probably a false one? 

The latest evidence is that the virus is fairly stable too and doesn't seem to be mutating, which is another good sign as it means a vaccine will probably give long term protection. 

[terrierjohn]

7 hours ago, Pentlands said:

There does seem to be some evidence that having caught it you can get it again, and that would mean no vaccine.

How do come to that conclusion? You can get flu more than once but they still recommend a vaccine for higher risk people.

[simonpjd]

Currently there is no proof that you can get the virus twice. 
Currently there is no proof that you cannot get the virus twice.

 

pentland stop spreading scare stories which may not be correct.

 

Stupid to talk about this when we do not know enough. Let us wait and see for now. Actual facts will emerge soon enough and then we can make our future plans accordingly.

 

keep well.

[rachiem]

I rang my travel insurance company...I've just had one cruise cancelled and have 5 more booked (another one will probably be cancelled too)

I was told that I am covered for the cruises I've booked but if I change the date of one of them it is classed as a new booking, so no cover. So no FCC for me or new bookings.

This is with Axa

[Gettingwarmer]

3 hours ago, rachiem said:

I rang my travel insurance company...I've just had one cruise cancelled and have 5 more booked (another one will probably be cancelled too)

I was told that I am covered for the cruises I've booked but if I change the date of one of them it is classed as a new booking, so no cover. So no FCC for me or new bookings.

This is with Axa

Do you have annual travel insurance. If so are your cruises more than 12 months away.