Travel Insurance

[Evilmuffin]

I went through this whole thread and wrote down the names of every company mentioned.   Tomorrow I will start calling them all.   And if I do get a positive answer from someone, I’m definitely asking for it in writing.   I am booked on HAL Eurodam 5 - 15 Dec 2021.   HAL has this on their website.   If I chose the Platinmum Plan, would I still need to get insurance from a company in Canada?  The price for the Standard plan is $987 and the Platinmum plan is $1500.   Apparently they have a cancellation program in effect if you test positive for COVID for any cruises until Dec 2021.

 

 

[brontravel]

On 8/1/2021 at 7:56 AM, Sharon1927 said:

Has anyone purchased the Manulife Covid medical insurance recently for a cruise ? I have been trying to figure out if it will truly cover covid. I have received different responses from Manulife reps. One says it will cover you if you are fully vaccinated and another says no.

I’ve read the policy a few times to see what the exclusions are. It clearly states that there is no emergency medical coverage if it is related to the level 4 travel advisory, which is the level Canada has for cruises right now. If it drops to a level 3, Avoid all Non Essential travel then it will cover Covid related expenses. Medical expenses not related to the advisory are still covered. Insurance is so confusing. You really gotta read through the policy or get it in writing that what you want is covered. Verbal isn’t enough. 

[Magicat]

My DW was an insurance broker for 33 years.  Now she did not handle life or medical so she can't help here.  But the bottom line would be, is to contact your insurance broker or a insurance broker and get their opinion.  They handle multiple companies and can recommend the right coverage for you.  No I don't work in insurance but know enough to ask an expert for their advice on these matters. 

[john2003]

Just received the renewal for our Prestige insurance through Johnson. Cost has tripled so I have work to do.

[Ayden]

15 hours ago, Evilmuffin said:

I went through this whole thread and wrote down the names of every company mentioned.   Tomorrow I will start calling them all.   And if I do get a positive answer from someone, I’m definitely asking for it in writing.   I am booked on HAL Eurodam 5 - 15 Dec 2021.   HAL has this on their website.   If I chose the Platinmum Plan, would I still need to get insurance from a company in Canada?  The price for the Standard plan is $987 and the Platinmum plan is $1500.   Apparently they have a cancellation program in effect if you test positive for COVID for any cruises until Dec 2021.

 

 

Try Medipac as well and see what you find out.  My phone chat with a rep, preliminary research and the brochure I requested seems to indicate we would be covered however I would have this in writing before booking to be 100 percent sure. Good luck.

[john2003]

On 8/5/2021 at 5:11 PM, john2003 said:

Just received the renewal for our Prestige insurance through Johnson. Cost has tripled so I have work to do.

Clarified that being 75 is a major contributor. The cover letter only mentioned Covid. I guess I should be very concerned that I am now such a large risk if I travel.

[jean163]

We are booked for the holiday voyage on Oceania, Miami to LA.  Oceania will NOT provide any insurance to any of their Canadian passengers.  This is getting very difficult and of course we're in penalty now.

 

[waiting2retire]

4 hours ago, jean163 said:

We are booked for the holiday voyage on Oceania, Miami to LA.  Oceania will NOT provide any insurance to any of their Canadian passengers.  This is getting very difficult and of course we're in penalty now.

 

I have never travelled with Oceania before. Do they usually cover Canadian pax?  If so, that makes no sense since the U.S. has astronomically higher COVID cases than we do. 
 

[iancal]

We view out of country medical and evac coverage as the major risk when traveling.

 

One thing we would never do is turn or rely only  on any forum for details about coverage.  Nor would we accept the sales patter of a TA or any cruise line sales rep, or bank insurance CSR at the other end of the phone line.

 

It is so important to us that we consult an insurance broker who specializes in this,, communicate directly with the insurer, AND we review the policy T's and C's as best we can, etc. If we do not understand something....we ask for clarification.  

 

We do not want to be in a position where we are reading/understanding our policy AFTER and unfortunate event.  We have a policy that covers us for the first 60 days out of country.  We review that policy for updates each time we travel.  Just as we do our credit card coverage.  Rental car coverage was dropped from one of our cards.  The only way we knew this was going to the credit card issuers site and reading the benefit guide.

 

We are both in very good health.  But we do know what others have gone through in terms of out of country medical/evac  exposure.   

 

This is too important not to get it right.

Edited August 10, 2021 by iancal

[K_e_short]

I am not travelling until December but called my insurance company to get clarification as I wanted information ahead of time for when and if I need to cancel or pay my balance quickly.

 

I am with OTIP and they do not have Covid restrictions. Carnival requires insurance without Covid restrictions.

 

I am covered, however they said that with the government banning travel:

https://travel.gc.ca/travelling/advisories

 

It would be unlikely I would be covered, however if I just needed to show Carnival I was covered that would work.

Basically she said I would be taking a chance IF something happens as the claim would be dealt with on a case by case basis.

 

[canadianbear]

14 minutes ago, K_e_short said:

I am not travelling until December but called my insurance company to get clarification as I wanted information ahead of time for when and if I need to cancel or pay my balance quickly.

 

I am with OTIP and they do not have Covid restrictions. Carnival requires insurance without Covid restrictions.

 

I am covered, however they said that with the government banning travel:

https://travel.gc.ca/travelling/advisories

 

It would be unlikely I would be covered, however if I just needed to show Carnival I was covered that would work.

Basically she said I would be taking a chance IF something happens as the claim would be dealt with on a case by case basis.

 

And that is the problem-we (Canada) are  still at level 4.  We will not cruise until that is changed and we can get medical & cancellation insurance like before COVID.    We just don’t want to take a chance and have recently cancelled our Mediterranean & transatlantic cruise that was for this October.  

[ilovetotravel1977]

How do we know it is "Level 4"? The website just shows this:

 

Official Global Travel Advisories

• Avoid non-essential travel outside Canada until further notice
• Avoid all cruise ship travel outside Canada until further notice

Also, if vaccinated, the odds of needing to be medically evacuated (air lift) off the ship is low.  I wonder if we could get "regular" insurance for the cruise portion in case of heart attack, etc, and then covid insurance for any of the land portions?  None of the insurance companies cover the quarantine portions anyways, so that would be a moot point.

 

[soccersharon]

On 8/5/2021 at 4:00 PM, brontravel said:

I’ve read the policy a few times to see what the exclusions are. It clearly states that there is no emergency medical coverage if it is related to the level 4 travel advisory, which is the level Canada has for cruises right now. If it drops to a level 3, Avoid all Non Essential travel then it will cover Covid related expenses. Medical expenses not related to the advisory are still covered. Insurance is so confusing. You really gotta read through the policy or get it in writing that what you want is covered. Verbal isn’t enough. 

Thank you!  There is another thread on this board where one of the posters insisted Cruises are covered for Covid related medical, etc.  Even after a couple of us has contacted them - and we’re told no.

[Fouremco]

On 8/10/2021 at 11:04 AM, canadianbear said:

And that is the problem-we (Canada) are  still at level 4.  We will not cruise until that is changed and we can get medical & cancellation insurance like before COVID.    We just don’t want to take a chance and have recently cancelled our Mediterranean & transatlantic cruise that was for this October.  

 

21 minutes ago, ilovetotravel1977 said:

How do we know it is "Level 4"? The website just shows this:

 

Official Global Travel Advisories

• Avoid non-essential travel outside Canada until further notice
• Avoid all cruise ship travel outside Canada until further notice

Also, if vaccinated, the odds of needing to be medically evacuated (air lift) off the ship is low.  I wonder if we could get "regular" insurance for the cruise portion in case of heart attack, etc, and then covid insurance for any of the land portions?  None of the insurance companies cover the quarantine portions anyways, so that would be a moot point.

 

We are not at Level 4, we are at Level 3. It's far better to read what the advisories say rather than worrying about a numeric level indicator.

 

These are the levels and their descriptions:

 

Level 1 - Practise usual precautions

Travel health notices advise practising usual travel health precautions. For example, notices at this level may remind travellers about routine vaccinations, highlight the importance of hand washing, or recommend protective measures to avoid mosquito bites.

Level 2 - Practise special precautions

Travel health notices recommend that travellers practise special health precautions, such as receiving additional vaccinations. A notice at this level would be issued if there is an outbreak in a limited geographic location, a newly identified disease in the region or a change in the existing pattern of disease.

Level 3 - Avoid non-essential travel

Travel health notices include a warning to avoid non-essential travel in order to protect the health of Canadian travellers and the Canadian public. The notice outlines specific precautions to take when visiting the region and what to do if you become ill during or after travel. A notice at this level would be issued during a large-scale outbreak in a large geographic area, or if there is increased risk to the traveller and an increased risk of spreading disease to other groups including the Canadian public.

Level 4 - Avoid all travel

Advises travellers to avoid all travel in order to protect the health of the Canadian public. A notice at this level would be issued if there is a high risk of spread of disease to the general public regardless of measures taken while travelling. Avoiding travel will limit the spread of the disease in Canada and internationally.

[gnome12]

Avoid all cruise ship travel means that cruise travel is at level 4.

[ilovetotravel1977]

I was just asking that because people above were posting that we are in a Level 4 warning, but to me it didn't seem like that according to the Govt warning.

[Fouremco]

15 minutes ago, gnome12 said:

Avoid all cruise ship travel means that cruise travel is at level 4.

For cruising, there are no levels similar to the more general travel advisories, but if you want to draw a comparison, yes, it's comparable to Level 4. 

[waiting2retire]

16 minutes ago, gnome12 said:

Avoid all cruise ship travel means that cruise travel is at level 4.

I agree. Although I may feel like a cruise is essential to my spiritual wellbeing, the reality is that cruising is NOT considered “essential” travel. 
 

 

[gnome12]

14 minutes ago, waiting2retire said:

I agree. Although I may feel like a cruise is essential to my spiritual wellbeing, the reality is that cruising is NOT considered “essential” travel. 
 

 

Not only is it not essential, cruising is at the level higher than avoid all non-essential travel, it is at the level "avoid ALL cruise travel".

[Fouremco]

Just to be clear, the cruise advisory is for cruises outside Canada. The concern is over what happens should there be an outbreak while you are on a ship in foreign waters:

 

If an outbreak of COVID-19 were to occur on a cruise ship while you are outside of Canada:

• you could be subject to quarantine procedures onboard ship or in a foreign country
• the range of consular services available to those on cruise ships may be significantly restricted by local authorities, especially in situations of quarantine
• it is unlikely that there would be a government-organized repatriation flight to return to Canada

 

On the other hand, there's a good number of Canadian companies offering cruises within Canada on ships that meet the under 100 people threshold for operating in Canadian waters:

• smaller cruise ships certified to carry 100 or fewer people are not banned

 

While on CC we generally discuss major cruise lines, there are smaller Canadian options for those eager to get back aboard without worrying about travel advisories.

[ilovetotravel1977]

Just read this that Blue Cross is resuming cruise insurance:

 

https://news.paxeditions.com/news/cruise/blue-cross-has-resumed-selling-travel-insurance-cruises-canadians

[soccersharon]

3 hours ago, ilovetotravel1977 said:

Just read this that Blue Cross is resuming cruise insurance:

 

https://news.paxeditions.com/news/cruise/blue-cross-has-resumed-selling-travel-insurance-cruises-canadians

It doesn’t specifically mention insurance for any Covid related emergencies though.  

[ilovetotravel1977]

No, but companies were not selling ANY cruise insurance, covid-related or not.

 

This at least gives you coverage for heart attack, med air evac, etc again.  

 

What we seem to be seeing now is vaccinated people aren't needing to go to the hospital. I know there are the odd time, yes, but they might have other medical issues that trigger the hospital visit.

 

 

[traceytd]

The travel ban for cruises in Canadian waters is until November 1st so would this not change the ban for all other cruises?

[Ayden]

21 hours ago, ilovetotravel1977 said:

Just read this that Blue Cross is resuming cruise insurance:

 

https://news.paxeditions.com/news/cruise/blue-cross-has-resumed-selling-travel-insurance-cruises-canadians

Thank you! Thank you!  

I made the call and Blue Cross will be the answer for us.

We now have one less worry for our long awaited October cruise.