FCO Advisory and the Over-70s

[Rawmac]

Mr Raab's Foreign Office has said that over-70's should not set foot on a cruise ship.  In the same "advisory", having one or more of a specific but wide-ranging list of (elderly's?) ailments also forbids embarking on a cruise ship.  These one-size-fits-all dictats have no end-date, but one could assume that in the fullness of time, they might just be lifted.  Insurance companies must be mighty pleased at this governmental reduction in risk / opportunity to charge much higher premiums, but in the current climate of cancellations and FCCs, a number of questions come to mind.

 

From those who have been booking, rebooking or applying vouchers for future(?) cruises, I would like to know

 

A)   Is the ban on over-70s being directly applied by British cruise companies themselves (P&O, Fred, SAGA, etc), European (Hurtigruten, Hapag-Lloyd etc) and the American biggies (X, RCI et al), in other words are they turning down bookings by over-70s?

 

B)   Is the ban being applied indirectly due to problems with travel insurance and insurance companies?  Are the insurance companies turning down cruise cover for over-70s, and the infirm for whom the list of ailments applies?

 

C)   Are the travel insurance companies being more picky about past medical histories (eg heart bypass many years ago or minor stroke,  from which there has been complete recovery)

 

D)   Has the list of "acceptable" ailments been trimmed/slashed?

 

I apologise if this has already been addressed, but I have not been keeping up-to-date recently.

 

[d9704011]

12 minutes ago, Rawmac said:

Mr Raab's Foreign Office has said that over-70's should not set foot on a cruise ship. 

In Canada our Government had a simpler message.... Avoid all cruise ship travel.

 

No distinctions on age, medical condition, etc...  I don’t know how it works in the UK but over here a prospective Canadian traveler/cruiser can choose to go on a cruise (when they restart anywhere) but it is entirely at their own risk and contrary to current government advice.  So, a Canadian shouldn’t have much expectation of any insurance coverage for anything no matter what their age or medical condition and they ought not anticipate too much Canadian consular support if they are somehow able to get on a ship and then run into problems.

Edited April 25, 2020 by d9704011