Cat amongst the Pigeons?

[zap99]

2 minutes ago, Dermotsgirl said:

Its ok, they are also saved on the computer.

 

in the circumstances we are talking about, I wouldn't just be relying on the email account. I’d either have saved the documents on the phone as well, or have a paper copy 

When you get locked out, it's a real pain to get unlocked and takes a few days. Plan B's are good.

[silversurf]

3 hours ago, jeanlyon said:

Yes ive just received that email. Denied boarding without proof of insurance.  My balance isn't due until July.  It's going to be difficult to choose insurance without knowing if the cruise will sail.  Also if it's cancelled do you get the premium back I wonder 

Jean. We cancelled a cruise some time ago and we’re not able to get our premium back. As it is getting on for £700 for 14 nights in Europe, that was a lot to lose. So next time we didn’t take out insurance until 13 days before we sailed; you have 2 weeks grace to cancel by law.

[wowzz]

9 minutes ago, silversurf said:

Jean. We cancelled a cruise some time ago and we’re not able to get our premium back. As it is getting on for £700 for 14 nights in Europe, that was a lot to lose. So next time we didn’t take out insurance until 13 days before we sailed; you have 2 weeks grace to cancel by law.

But isn't the problem with that method, if you unfortunately cannot cruise after you have paid the full deposit, you will lose the full cost of the cruise, which I assume will be more than the insurance policy?

[tring]

May sound a simple point, but they say you must let your insurer know you are taking a cruise holiday.  We could try, but previously we have just been told we are covered for cruises and will say what we are covered for, but they would not normally want to note that we have informed them we are taking a cruise as they do not ask about any holidays.  May not be as easy as it sounds.

[Rupert2251]

3 minutes ago, wowzz said:

But isn't the problem with that method, if you unfortunately cannot cruise after you have paid the full deposit, you will lose the full cost of the cruise, which I assume will be more than the insurance policy?

Exactly, I just don't understand why people do not take out insurance when the cruise is booked.  

Edited March 10, 2021 by Rupert2251

[wowzz]

1 minute ago, Rupert2251 said:

Exactly, I just don't understand why people do not take out insurance when the cruise is booked.  

I don't necessarily see why you need to take out insurance when you book, especially if the deposit is only £50 or so . Once you pay the deposit is when insurance is needed.  Mind you, we have an annual policy, so not really relevant in our case. 

[Rupert2251]

1 minute ago, wowzz said:

I don't necessarily see why you need to take out insurance when you book, especially if the deposit is only £50 or so . Once you pay the deposit is when insurance is needed.  Mind you, we have an annual policy, so not really relevant in our case. 

OK, but certainly before you hit cancellation charges. My hubby worked as a TA for 43yrs and it was drummed into him so it is something we have always done.

[wowzz]

13 minutes ago, Rupert2251 said:

OK, but certainly before you hit cancellation charges. My hubby worked as a TA for 43yrs and it was drummed into him so it is something we have always done.

Yes, once the cancellation charges are more than the premium, then that would be the time to get cover.

[zap99]

32 minutes ago, tring said:

May sound a simple point, but they say you must let your insurer know you are taking a cruise holiday.  We could try, but previously we have just been told we are covered for cruises and will say what we are covered for, but they would not normally want to note that we have informed them we are taking a cruise as they do not ask about any holidays.  May not be as easy as it sounds.

With the last couple of annual insurance policies we have purchased, cruise cover was an optional add on.

[kalos]

20 minutes ago, Rupert2251 said:

OK, but certainly before you hit cancellation charges. My hubby worked as a TA for 43yrs and it was drummed into him so it is something we have always done.

Same as you always got insurance cover at the time of booking , only ever claimed once 

and that was to cancel our Christmas /New year cruise due to newly discovered heart problem .

It would have been a costly mistake had I not had insurance .

[Gettingwarmer]

6 minutes ago, zap99 said:

With the last couple of annual insurance policies we have purchased, cruise cover was an optional add on.

This is usually the extras such as missing ports etc. Most policies cover cruising as normal. 

[zap99]

4 minutes ago, Couple-Somerset said:

100% get the reasoning behind this email - we all MUST be insured rather than having crowdfunding pages appear to cover medical bills for the few who wanted to save a few £££ or thought it would never happen to them.

 

Cruise ships are now being forced - at their cost - to improve their on board medical facilities AND have dedicated systems, procedures and actual medical facilities in place to remove guests who fall ill.

 

Insisting on insurance coverage gives the cruise lines an avenue to reclaim their costs.

 

However, a couple of things;

 

(1) at present most insurers don't provide adequate Covid related cover so buying a Policy now is problematic.

 

(2) my easy straight-forward insurance policy is usually under £100 for the year. A recent health issue has pushed that to over £700 for a 2 week cruise from the USA. I am confident it's that high due to the Covid situation and not just my health change. So again, I wont be buying a Policy until things quieten down.

 

I am amazed that cruise lines don't offer their own travel insurance product - economy of scale across a brand would be extremely lucrative for them and would solve their insurance requirement and monitoring in one process.

 

We pay just under £600 annually for couples, worldwide including USA, cruise, Covid and some simple pre-existing conditions. I haven't checked the small print to see if a holiday booked after you took out the policy is covered, but considering the cost of a years holidays, cruises, weekend breaks and the risk if things go belly up, in our mind just a small price to pay.

[wowzz]

8 minutes ago, Couple-Somerset said:

(1) at present most insurers don't provide adequate Covid related cover so buying a Policy now is problematic.

Well, StaySure offer CV19 cover as a matter of course.  I just got an online quote for 15 months cover (excluding US and Caribbean) for the two of us for just over £500. 

[zap99]

1 minute ago, wowzz said:

Well, StaySure offer CV19 cover as a matter of course.  I just got an online quote for 15 months cover (excluding US and Caribbean) for the two of us for just over £500. 

That's who we use. To be honest, as long as it covers us for what we need, We can't be bothered to hunt all the available companies websites to save a few quid. We renewed online and got 15 months. I did check on a comparison site and the best option was about £400 more.

[Dermotsgirl]

2 minutes ago, wowzz said:

Well, StaySure offer CV19 cover as a matter of course.  I just got an online quote for 15 months cover (excluding US and Caribbean) for the two of us for just over £500. 

We are with Staysure.

 

I've just been checking my documentation.

 

We have cruise cover, and confirmation is shown on the insurance certificate, along with confirmation of the Covid cover.

 

The  £ amount of medical cover is not shown on the certificate, but the policy document says it is £5m 

[wowzz]

1 minute ago, zap99 said:

That's who we use. To be honest, as long as it covers us for what we need, We can't be bothered to hunt all the available companies websites to save a few quid. We renewed online and got 15 months. I did check on a comparison site and the best option was about £400 more.

My wife has a medical condition that has to be declared, which makes the use of comparison sites difficult.  Sounds like StaySure are pretty good value, although in the past we have used Insure&Go.  

[wowzz]

2 minutes ago, Dermotsgirl said:

The  £ amount of medical cover is not shown on the certificate, but the policy document says it is £5m 

Yes , that was the figure shown for the "basic" cover. If you opt for the "premium" cover, you are covered with no maximum limit. 

[RebsterRoo]

55 minutes ago, tring said:

May sound a simple point, but they say you must let your insurer know you are taking a cruise holiday.  We could try, but previously we have just been told we are covered for cruises and will say what we are covered for, but they would not normally want to note that we have informed them we are taking a cruise as they do not ask about any holidays.  May not be as easy as it sounds.

This is the bit that concerns me. I don't have the cruise cover upgrade on my policy (and don't particularly want it), but it does cover cruises and meets all of P&Os other specifications. I've contacted P&O to ask if I can send them a copy of my policy for them to review so will await their response. 

 

Cynically I wonder if they are trying to force us to take out insurance with their recommend partner (holidayextras)

[Dermotsgirl]

3 minutes ago, wowzz said:

Yes , that was the figure shown for the "basic" cover. If you opt for the "premium" cover, you are covered with no maximum limit. 

I can't remember opting for Premium Cover, so I'm fairly sure it's basic.

 

We normally have Worldwide Cover, but on renewal in October, we decided that we were unlikely to travel too far for the time bring, so we had Europe only cover, for £172 for two, for 15 months.

 

My husband will be 70 in October, so I'm expecting that next time, the premium will rise

[kalos]

2 minutes ago, zap99 said:

That's who we use. To be honest, as long as it covers us for what we need, We can't be bothered to hunt all the available companies websites to save a few quid. We renewed online and got 15 months. I did check on a comparison site and the best option was about £400 more.

That's the mistake I made last time when I needed to make a claim . We did not realise by 

saving a tenner , there was little help, no call centre ,most of the claim was via another 

insurance company and not the "trade name" we had booked with . Don't get me wrong we 

got paid out but I would not call it an easy process . It's not until you need them that you find 

out how good they are , so you do right to stay put as saving that tenner is not worth it .

[zap99]

18 minutes ago, wowzz said:

My wife has a medical condition that has to be declared, which makes the use of comparison sites difficult.  Sounds like StaySure are pretty good value, although in the past we have used Insure&Go.  

Same here, we changed a couple of years ago.

[yorkshirephil]

I wonder how many people have hunted their insurance policies out to check? I have. It reminds me of when we first started cruising in the 90's someone mentioned cruise cover and we didn't have a clue what they were talking about at the time, I went back to the travel agent and asked why they hadn't mentioned it when we booked. Since then we have met lots of people on cruises who were not aware they needed cruise cover.

[zap99]

23 minutes ago, Dermotsgirl said:

We are with Staysure.

 

I've just been checking my documentation.

 

We have cruise cover, and confirmation is shown on the insurance certificate, along with confirmation of the Covid cover.

 

The  £ amount of medical cover is not shown on the certificate, but the policy document says it is £5m 

Same here. We get skiing cover as well. I did ask how much I would save if they took it off. Nothing, so off to the Alps this winter.🤣

[yorkshirephil]

Just now, zap99 said:

Same here. We get skiing cover as well. I did ask how much I would save if they took it off. Nothing, so off to the Alps this winter.🤣

It will only be a matter of time before a cruise line has a ski slope.

[bee-ess]

40 minutes ago, zap99 said:

With the last couple of annual insurance policies we have purchased, cruise cover was an optional add on.

Good point Zap - we tick to box say that we are on a cruise, but do not buy the additional cruise cover.

It's not clear if the additonal cover is required or not by P&O.