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UK only cruise travel insurance


Stu UK
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Cover for cruises in UK waters for UK people. This is a minefield once you get into the policy wording. Many cover medical treatment abroad but specifically exclude treatment and repatriation in UK, you have to read the small print in the actual policy not the headlines.  They assume UK means on land and don’t necessarily cover travellers needs in UK waters. 

Cover for You have updated their information for UK only cruises. First company I have seen who have done this.

This is not a recommendation merely pointing out the detail you need to clarify with your own insurers. 

Link below, need to scan down to the Covid questions. 
 
https://www.coverforyou.com/faqs_travel.php#am-i-covered-for-a-cruise

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49 minutes ago, silversurf said:

If you have booked a Saga cruise, presumably their insurance will cover you properly.

I stand to be corrected if I’m wrong.

I would assume the same. 

We've let our annual worldwide insurance lapse since last year as all our future cruises are booked with Saga.

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Just looked at the SAGA included insurance for our the Northern Islands trip on 3rd July  which includes the the following statement "This means that we will also cover the associated costs to return you back home following you actually falling ill with a coronavirus on your trip"

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On 4/10/2021 at 8:39 PM, Glenndale said:

I would assume the same. 

We've let our annual worldwide insurance lapse since last year as all our future cruises are booked with Saga.

Does Saga insurance fully cover you for pre-existing medical conditions? It may not be an issue for you, so not a problem. 

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10 hours ago, wowzz said:

Does Saga insurance fully cover you for pre-existing medical conditions? It may not be an issue for you, so not a problem. 

Wowzz if you have pre-existing conditions it might be an idea to ring Saga before booking and talk this through with them.

Generally the screening is carried out after booking but if they turn you down I would expect that they would let you cancel your booking and return your deposit.

The only way to know would be to speak to them. 

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My experience, the included insurance with Saga goes through medical screening about 12-18 months prior to departure date.

They have a policy of all or nothing - if they cannot cover all existing medical conditions (with or without an extra premium), then you will be declined insurance, with the choice of either arranging your own insurance and getting a refund of the Saga insurance, or cancelling the cruise with a full refund.

The screening is quite straightforward, and (again my experience) they assume that most of their passengers will have existing conditions (one Captain asked by Port officials if any of his passengers were on drugs, answered, "most of them, I imagine").

Many of my dinner companions on Saga ships had Saga included insurance, and also had a mind-boggling array of existing medical conditions, so they must cover a lot (one couple embarked each cruise with a carrier bag full of prescription medication and a phone full of reminders when to take them).

They will not cover you if you are waiting for a diagnosis, they have to know what they are covering.

If you are booking a long way in advance, it is worth while including insurance as the cancellation cover will start immediately regardless of when medical screening will be done.

You can cancel the included insurance at any time prior to the cruise if you decide to take out you own cover, and get a refund of the insurance element.

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25 minutes ago, Glenndale said:

Wowzz if you have pre-existing conditions it might be an idea to ring Saga before booking and talk this through with them.

Generally the screening is carried out after booking but if they turn you down I would expect that they would let you cancel your booking and return your deposit.

The only way to know would be to speak to them. 

Hi Glenndale

You say that Saga generally do screening after the booking.  Do you know when this is?  I booked our August 2022 cruise online last September and I now can't remember what health questions I answered, if any!  I opted to take the Saga insurance and was sent the travel insurance policy document.  I do understand that we would need to notify them of anything that is diagnosed prior to the cruise (after booking) but I have a vague recollection that there was information on the online booking form that I would be contacted about 12 months before the cruise for screening but I can't find this in my cruise documentation.  Thank you.

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Hi Medeba,

We have a cruise hopefully leaving in September this year and have undergone our screening for this. 

We booked a cruise for next September on-line and have not undergone any screening for this as yet and don't expect any until next year.

Insurance can be an absolute minefield, we have been checking our policy trying to understand the situation with Covid and we are finding it quite confusing.

https://travel.saga.co.uk/-/media/acromas/sagatravel/files/travel insurance policy booklet/csb-tr2772_holidays_interactive.pdf

There is a lot to read through!

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42 minutes ago, nosapphire said:

My experience, the included insurance with Saga goes through medical screening about 12-18 months prior to departure date.

They have a policy of all or nothing - if they cannot cover all existing medical conditions (with or without an extra premium), then you will be declined insurance, with the choice of either arranging your own insurance and getting a refund of the Saga insurance, or cancelling the cruise with a full refund.

The screening is quite straightforward, and (again my experience) they assume that most of their passengers will have existing conditions (one Captain asked by Port officials if any of his passengers were on drugs, answered, "most of them, I imagine").

Many of my dinner companions on Saga ships had Saga included insurance, and also had a mind-boggling array of existing medical conditions, so they must cover a lot (one couple embarked each cruise with a carrier bag full of prescription medication and a phone full of reminders when to take them).

They will not cover you if you are waiting for a diagnosis, they have to know what they are covering.

If you are booking a long way in advance, it is worth while including insurance as the cancellation cover will start immediately regardless of when medical screening will be done.

You can cancel the included insurance at any time prior to the cruise if you decide to take out you own cover, and get a refund of the insurance element.

Thanks nosapphire.  Your very comprehensive explanation of screening had not popped up on my computer until after I had asked Glenndale my question (just in case you thought I was ignoring you!).

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Thanks for all the replies. At the moment we have various cruises,  land holidays booked, and therefore have annual cover.

I was interested to hear how Saga dealt with  existing conditions, and nosapphire has given an excellent answer.  

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 4/13/2021 at 10:59 AM, Medeba said:

Thanks nosapphire.  Your very comprehensive explanation of screening had not popped up on my computer until after I had asked Glenndale my question (just in case you thought I was ignoring you!).

Yes, thank you for this. I'm more hopeful of being included on Saga insurance now,I only have a stent,copd and type 2 diabetes!

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  • 1 month later...
On 4/10/2021 at 9:05 AM, Stu UK said:

 

Cover for cruises in UK waters for UK people. This is a minefield once you get into the policy wording. Many cover medical treatment abroad but specifically exclude treatment and repatriation in UK, you have to read the small print in the actual policy not the headlines.  They assume UK means on land and don’t necessarily cover travellers needs in UK waters. 

Cover for You have updated their information for UK only cruises. First company I have seen who have done this.

This is not a recommendation merely pointing out the detail you need to clarify with your own insurers. 

Link below, need to scan down to the Covid questions. 
 
https://www.coverforyou.com/faqs_travel.php#am-i-covered-for-a-cruise

 

Didn't Saga mention recently this was why they would be including a Fjords journey (ie to dept UK waters) . I just checked this with Zurich who confirmed you only need to leave once in the trips duration(as in most GB cruises pre covid which tend to include Eire or some outside UK point). But I would get this as written confirmation..

 

As Stu points out though this wont work for a P&O/Cunard or one of the current MSC cruises.. MSC are actually checking for this at boarding as they have already started cruising.

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