Cat amongst the Pigeons?

[Zombatar]

16 minutes ago, jeanlyon said:

We are 82 and 74 - 2 pre-existing conditions each.  Staysure quote was £606 for 15 months.

We get our insurance through the bank as do many others. We are 73 and 68 each of us also have a couple of pre-existing conditions and we paid £490 for our renewal this year(£20 per month for account charge and £250 for pre-existing conditions (and me being over 70!!). That's multi trip, world wide and covers all the requirements of P&O. We also get mobile phone insurance and car breakdown cover.

 

Not bad value for money me thinks!!

 

Peter and Jenny

Edited March 11, 2021 by Zombatar
added "world wide"

[jeanlyon]

1 minute ago, wowzz said:

Seems reasonable, but I assume it does not cover the US, Caribbean etc at that price? 

Correct.  Only Europe, but that's fine.

[wowzz]

4 minutes ago, Snow Hill said:

We usually have annual travel insurance which normally gets renewed each year, we let it lapse last May as with thought unlikely we would be going anywhere in 2020 or early 2021. The recommendation from the likes of Martin Lewis is take out insurance as soon as you can after booking your holiday so you are covered from the period of booking until end of holiday otherwise you risk losing deposit or more if closer to the travel date.

If you have only paid a small deposit, I can't see the point of buying insurance until the final balance us due. Losing the deposit is just a small risk.  

[ann141]

Someone on another site says that if you have worked for the Civil Service or Local Authority you can usually get annual travel insurance for £295 with no questions about medical conditions. I think you have to join the Civil Service Sports club at a cost of about £40 but sounds good for those of us with medical problems.As I have previously worked for the Civil Service and as a teacher I shall look into it in July when the balance is due for our October cruise.The deposit is very low so I would sooner risk losing that then have to start annual insurance now when the cruise may not go ahead

[pete14]

I think a lot of this is that you get what you pay for. If you want a policy with just the minimum requirements of P&O and basic coverage for things such as lost luggage etc it can be got relatively cheaply. If you want a policy with lower excess payments, higher benefits and extras such as missed port cover, it will cost more. No different from other insurances. Cheapest can be best provided you want basic cover. If you never have to claim, the basic cover is enough, it is just a pity you can’t anticipate whether you will ever need to claim off any insurance.

[jeanlyon]

8 minutes ago, ann141 said:

Someone on another site says that if you have worked for the Civil Service or Local Authority you can usually get annual travel insurance for £295 with no questions about medical conditions. I think you have to join the Civil Service Sports club at a cost of about £40 but sounds good for those of us with medical problems.As I have previously worked for the Civil Service and as a teacher I shall look into it in July when the balance is due for our October cruise.The deposit is very low so I would sooner risk losing that then have to start annual insurance now when the cruise may not go ahead

You must have to declare conditions?  If you don't and something happens, you would definitely not be covered. 

[ann141]

4 minutes ago, jeanlyon said:

You must have to declare conditions?  If you don't and something happens, you would definitely not be covered. 

According to their website it states that no medical screening is needed.It may mean you have to declare conditions, but that that you will be covered for them unless terminal diagnosis whereas usually when you declare them you get a quote according to what you declare.I am only going by what I have read on the website and what someone who has got their insurance has stated so I would have to check it properly when I need to apply

[jeanlyon]

Yes I think you should.  All medical conditions have to be declared.  I have diverticular disease and wasn't going to bother declaring it, but then changed my mind.  On leaving Canada, the next day I was hospitalized on the ship with diverticulitis, on a drip.  It was over £1200.  I would not have been covered if I hadn't declared it.

Edited March 11, 2021 by jeanlyon

[niltava42]

I have now had an email from P&O SIX times on this subject in the last 2 days.

 

I have asked my Annual Policy provider (Insure & Go) whether I was covered sending the exact requirements as given by P&O and all I could get out of them was the stock response:

 

Although your policy wording excludes all Coronavirus claims, we will now consider claims for:

• Medical expenses if you need treatment for Coronavirus while abroad, including up to £2,000 to cover additional accommodation costs if this treatment means you need to extend your trip.
• Cancelling or cutting short your trip if you, a member of your family or travelling party, are medically diagnosed with Coronavirus or personally instructed to isolate by an NHS service or medical professional.

Please be aware there is no cover for any other Coronavirus related claims, and all other terms and conditions of the policy apply.

 

So no idea whether that meets P&O's criteria or not... I guess I have to ask them...

 

[ann141]

21 minutes ago, jeanlyon said:

Yes I think you should.  All medical conditions have to be declared.  I have diverticular disease and wasn't going to bother declaring it, but then changed my mind.  On leaving Canada, the next day I was hospitalized on the ship with diverticulitis, on a drip.  It was over £1200.  I would not have been covered if I hadn't declared it.

I always have declared my medical conditions which meant when I had to cancel a cruise in Jan 2020 I was covered and had the full cost returned. Because it states no medical screening required it may be necessary to declare them still but not to have to answer lots of questions about each condition to see if you will be accepted

[niltava42]

1 hour ago, niltava42 said:

I have now had an email from P&O SIX times on this subject in the last 2 days.

 

I have asked my Annual Policy provider (Insure & Go) whether I was covered sending the exact requirements as given by P&O and all I could get out of them was the stock response:

 

Although your policy wording excludes all Coronavirus claims, we will now consider claims for:

• Medical expenses if you need treatment for Coronavirus while abroad, including up to £2,000 to cover additional accommodation costs if this treatment means you need to extend your trip.
• Cancelling or cutting short your trip if you, a member of your family or travelling party, are medically diagnosed with Coronavirus or personally instructed to isolate by an NHS service or medical professional.

Please be aware there is no cover for any other Coronavirus related claims, and all other terms and conditions of the policy apply.

 

So no idea whether that meets P&O's criteria or not... I guess I have to ask them...

 

 

I just spoke to a very nice lady at P&O who has no more information other than what has been emailed to us.

 

She was unable to help me with my query. 

 

It would appear we would be at the mercy of the person checking our insurance....

[jeanlyon]

I don't see that as a problem.  Most good policies will cover Covid and that's what they are after.

[majortom10]

2 hours ago, ann141 said:

Someone on another site says that if you have worked for the Civil Service or Local Authority you can usually get annual travel insurance for £295 with no questions about medical conditions. I think you have to join the Civil Service Sports club at a cost of about £40 but sounds good for those of us with medical problems.As I have previously worked for the Civil Service and as a teacher I shall look into it in July when the balance is due for our October cruise.The deposit is very low so I would sooner risk losing that then have to start annual insurance now when the cruise may not go ahead

CSSC is currently annual fee £54 a year or £48-60 if you receive a pension.

[RebsterRoo]

1 hour ago, jeanlyon said:

I don't see that as a problem.  Most good policies will cover Covid and that's what they are after.

Covid cover isn't the bit that concerns me. It's the fact that the requirements aren't entirely clear and we may not find out until check in whether our insurance meets their requirements. I'm hoping they figure out some facility to allow us to send them digital insurance details well in advance to provide some clarity and assurance around the whole situation.

[RebsterRoo]

1 hour ago, niltava42 said:

 

I just spoke to a very nice lady at P&O who has no more information other than what has been emailed to us.

 

She was unable to help me with my query. 

 

It would appear we would be at the mercy of the person checking our insurance....

This is very concerning. Hopefully they firm their policies up before things resume. In fairness I think they would be on tricky ground deeming cover unacceptable if they aren't able to offer clear advice in advance.

[FamilyCruiserUK]

Very hard to get insurance at the mo due to gov no holiday abroad lockdown. I looked the other day for my aug cruise from barcelona

[Guest]

When I first read this email at 7am I was convinced they were forcing us to use their insurance!
 

After I had woken up a bit more I realised it was just enforcing insurance in order to cruise. We have annual cover that just rolls over. I just checked and it covers up to $10million per person for medical and repatriation. 
 

This gives me confidence they are really trying to get back to normal service!

[Son of Anarchy]

3 hours ago, jeanlyon said:

You must have to declare conditions?  If you don't and something happens, you would definitely not be covered. 

 

[Son of Anarchy]

15 minutes ago, Glitterati said:

When I first read this email at 7am I was convinced they were forcing us to use their insurance!
 

After I had woken up a bit more I realised it was just enforcing insurance in order to cruise. We have annual cover that just rolls over. I just checked and it covers up to $10million per person for medical and repatriation. 
 

This gives me confidence they are really trying to get back to normal service!

I felt a bit that like that as well.  Make things so stringent that your only option is to use their preferred travel insurance company.  Which if it worked the way I've read that Saga's travel insurance works, I would probably be quite happy with. 

 

We always take a copy of the summary of our policy with us anyway.

[yamanid]

On 3/10/2021 at 10:31 AM, pete14 said:

Quite right too. I am surprised that insurance has not been checked before boarding before but just imagine the queues of people waiting to board in the future. They will not only need more staff doing checkin but more check in desks. At least they have time to get this sorted out before cruising restarts

Maybe they could come up with a way of seeing your Travel insurance policy Before we travel??  Only a thought (or wishful thinking!!!!)

[Harry Peterson]

48 minutes ago, yamanid said:

Maybe they could come up with a way of seeing your Travel insurance policy Before we travel??  Only a thought (or wishful thinking!!!!)

They may well do something like that. There’s no way they can carry out a proper policy check on each individual at the port though - just not the time. They’ll either do a very perfunctory check, or maybe a full check of a small percentage.

 

Either way, the new procedure will have worked, because the vast majority of passengers won’t take the chance, and will have bought suitable policies. 

[Snow Hill]

56 minutes ago, Harry Peterson said:

They may well do something like that. There’s no way they can carry out a proper policy check on each individual at the port though - just not the time. They’ll either do a very perfunctory check, or maybe a full check of a small percentage.

 

Either way, the new procedure will have worked, because the vast majority of passengers won’t take the chance, and will have bought suitable policies. 

They should allow a secure upload of a copy of your Travel Insurance when you pay you final invoice, that way they will have plenty of time to check whether meets criteria or not. 
 

I wonder if other land based travel companies will be taking a similar approach?

[Zombatar]

Just a thought, what happens with fly cruises? If they wait until check in to look at policies I cant see that happening at the airport. So next January we fly to Barbados, get to the port, they check our policy and say we don't meet their requirements, will we be expected to fly home at our own expense? 

[Son of Anarchy]

1 hour ago, Harry Peterson said:

They may well do something like that. There’s no way they can carry out a proper policy check on each individual at the port though - just not the time. They’ll either do a very perfunctory check, or maybe a full check of a small percentage.

 

Either way, the new procedure will have worked, because the vast majority of passengers won’t take the chance, and will have bought suitable policies. 

It does make you wonder how many people either didn't have adequate cover because they never checked, or took a chance and had no cover at all.

[WECRUISEUK]

2 minutes ago, Son of Anarchy said:

It does make you wonder how many people either didn't have adequate cover because they never checked, or took a chance and had no cover at all.

We know people that have done that all the time for land based holidays,told them it's just not worth the risk and one that we're not prepared to take.As for cruising and allowing the company to check before boarding sounds like a great idea,thing is,if people fail to declare all pre existing conditions then surely this check for cruise cover is void?