Is cruising around Aussie classified as International OR Domestic???

[JohnGc]

Still waiting to see what travel insurance Australian seniors and Budget will come up with when they start up again. Thought they might have started by now seeing so many are booking cruises.

[Elorac123]

3 hours ago, Cbtours said:

IN an insurance update, Covermore, was the company recommended on the Princess website. When I looked into it, particularly looking at covid cover because of the unknown, the specifically stated there was NO covid cover on multi night cruises! I actually took screenshots of this and sent them to my PVP asking how can they be recommending when they don't cover cruising lol. He submitted to his supervisors. Anyway, this week, I saw Covermore had now changed and were now including covid cover. You select the cancellation rate which takes the policy up from $380 for no cancellation cover right up to unlimited cancellation cover costing $2700.

 

The main thing is covid medical etc are all unlimited, in the unlikely event it is required. For the cruise we are looking to book for, its not a hugely expensive one (Melbourne to NZ return) so would not be overly concerned and would only be choosing smaller cover.

 

I presume many more insurance companies will start tweaking their policies as confidence in cruising grows.

Did you see this in the product disclosure? For me with a $200 excess plus the special excess that is the cost of my 3 day cruise.or am I reading it wrong 

Cheers Carole

[Elorac123]

1 minute ago, Elorac123 said:

Did you see this in the product disclosure? For me with a $200 excess plus the special excess that is the cost of my 3 day cruise.or am I reading it wrong 

Cheers Carole

 

[Aus Traveller]

The way I read the pds: there is a 'special excess' for COVID - $250 if you are diagnosed while on your trip and $500 for cancellation claims relating to COVID. This is in addition to whatever excess applies to other parts of the policy.

[Elorac123]

23 minutes ago, Aus Traveller said:

The way I read the pds: there is a 'special excess' for COVID - $250 if you are diagnosed while on your trip and $500 for cancellation claims relating to COVID. This is in addition to whatever excess applies to other parts of the policy.

Yes and for me it’s not worth it I will have to keep searching.

Think Allianz is the winner so far but still reading the PDS

Cheers Carole

[nermal9900]

but just get the insurance regardless I would classify the 7 night murray river mannum to mannum or great barrier reef cairns to cairns in the same category.whatever might cover you at home is not enough for travel.

[Elorac123]

26 minutes ago, nermal9900 said:

but just get the insurance regardless I would classify the 7 night murray river mannum to mannum or great barrier reef cairns to cairns in the same category.whatever might cover you at home is not enough for travel.

For sure I would not travel without insurance.but still have time to weigh up options

Cheers Carole

[Aus Traveller]

12 hours ago, nermal9900 said:

but just get the insurance regardless I would classify the 7 night murray river mannum to mannum or great barrier reef cairns to cairns in the same category.whatever might cover you at home is not enough for travel.

Some insurance pds I have read specifically classify a Murray River cruise as domestic and other cruises (that would include the Q'ld coastal cruise to Cairns) as international. The devil is in the detail - or in the pds as the case may be.

[Mickmmm]

Hello, I just joined this forum searching for this topic.

It’s interesting, to see how complicated is the understanding of ‘domestic’ and ‘international’ travel is interpreted.

I read that the definition of international waters states they start 12 knots from the land coast.
Australia's exclusive economic zone (EEZ) was declared on 1 August 1994 and extends from 12 to 200 nautical miles (22 to 370 km) from the coastline of Australia and its external territories, except where a maritime delimitation agreement exists with another state.
And also the difficulty to understand some agents helping you to make a quote.

But it seems that any ocean liners sail mainly on international waters.

So even cruising on one of them around Australia becomes ‘international’ for the purpose of insurance…

It would be so nice if companies agents could be clearer about it and to the point. Perhaps it is a too complex issue.

[ceeceeDee]

1 minute ago, Mickmmm said:

Hello, I just joined this forum searching for this topic.

It’s interesting, to see how complicated is the understanding of ‘domestic’ and ‘international’ travel is interpreted.

I read that the definition of international waters states they start 12 knots from the land coast.
Australia's exclusive economic zone (EEZ) was declared on 1 August 1994 and extends from 12 to 200 nautical miles (22 to 370 km) from the coastline of Australia and its external territories, except where a maritime delimitation agreement exists with another state.
And also the difficulty to understand some agents helping you to make a quote.

But it seems that any ocean liners sail mainly on international waters.

So even cruising on one of them around Australia becomes ‘international’ for the purpose of insurance…

It would be so nice if companies agents could be clearer about it and to the point. Perhaps it is a too complex issue.

My understanding is that international insurance is required for cruises, even 'domestic' ones. That was the case when we recently cruised up the Queensland coast and back.

[Mickmmm]

Oh, hello again and regarding the excess; I had lot of difficulty to understand what a company quoted me or explained to me. 
For me it was in regard to 'Pre-existing condition' additional cover.

With the medical assement done I was given a choice of excess to choose from. 
It started with $200 and climbed up to $10,000.
If I chose $200 it would have cost me $196 add on. But selecting $10,000 excess it was only $126!

I asked the agent to clarify this as it seemed so disproportionate; it was hard to believe why one would elect to have a refund truncated by $10,000 only to save some $70!
I wonder if anyone has encounter a similar situation

[Mickmmm]

"

My understanding is that international insurance is required for cruises, even 'domestic' ones. That was the case when we recently cruised up the Queensland coast and back".

I think river cruises and perhaps some smaller ships going only port to port in Australia may qualify as 'domestic'

[ceeceeDee]

2 minutes ago, Mickmmm said:

Oh, hello again and regarding the excess; I had lot of difficulty to understand what a company quoted me or explained to me. 
For me it was in regard to 'Pre-existing condition' additional cover.

With the medical assement done I was given a choice of excess to choose from. 
It started with $200 and climbed up to $10,000.
If I chose $200 it would have cost me $196 add on. But selecting $10,000 excess it was only $126!

I asked the agent to clarify this as it seemed so disproportionate; it was hard to believe why one would elect to have a refund truncated by $10,000 only to save some $70!
I wonder if anyone has encounter a similar situation

Haven't come across that one, sorry. I usually go for a $500 excess to keep the premium down and gamble I won't have to claim. Been lucky so far. (Mind you, I budget for the $500 just in case 🙂).

[arxcards]

7 minutes ago, Mickmmm said:

Hello, I just joined this forum searching for this topic.

It’s interesting, to see how complicated is the understanding of ‘domestic’ and ‘international’ travel is interpreted.

I read that the definition of international waters states they start 12 knots from the land coast.
Australia's exclusive economic zone (EEZ) was declared on 1 August 1994 and extends from 12 to 200 nautical miles (22 to 370 km) from the coastline of Australia and its external territories, except where a maritime delimitation agreement exists with another state.
And also the difficulty to understand some agents helping you to make a quote.

But it seems that any ocean liners sail mainly on international waters.

So even cruising on one of them around Australia becomes ‘international’ for the purpose of insurance…

It would be so nice if companies agents could be clearer about it and to the point. Perhaps it is a too complex issue.

Even for a cruise only visiting Australian ports, the ship is a foreign entity. If you board in Sydney, and were to fall down the ship stairs prior to departure, you would score a medical bill from a medical centre that has no connection to medicare. For most states, a coastal medivac will cost you a packet, even if the ship is within Australian waters.

 

I don't see it as complex. Any cruise requires additional coverage, however there are some insurers that have an add-on cruise component to a domestic policy for cruises that only visit Australian ports.

 

A domestic cruise is any cruise you don't need a passport for.

[OzKiwiJJ]

4 minutes ago, Mickmmm said:

"

My understanding is that international insurance is required for cruises, even 'domestic' ones. That was the case when we recently cruised up the Queensland coast and back".

I think river cruises and perhaps some smaller ships going only port to port in Australia may qualify as 'domestic'

River cruises certainly but for ocean cruises you need to check the medical cover. Cruise ship medical centres aren't covered by Medicare and treatment is very expensive. Then there is the risk of needing to be transferred from the ship, by helicopter, in an emergency which is very, very expensive.

[lorri111]

I did a lot of research on this insurance question for our short domestic cruise in April, particularly the question as to whether it was covered by our credit card international travel insurance. The bank itself was useless on this but the insurer (Allianz) was thankfully very clear...

Please be advised that the PDS booklet defines ‘overseas’ as “outside of Australia and its territories and includes when you are aboard a foreign registered cruise vessel in Australian territorial waters”.

– this means that cruises ships with foreign registered vessel have provision for cover under the international travel insurance, which does have as a benefit international medical expenses.

 

Medicare will definitely not covered medical expenses on board so this coverage is welcome.

Edited January 14 by lorri111

[OzKiwiJJ]

2 minutes ago, lorri111 said:

I did a lot of research on this insurance question for our short domestic cruise in April, particularly the question as to whether it was covered by our credit card international travel insurance. The bank itself was useless on this but the insurer (Allianz) was thankfully very clear...

Please be advised that the PDS booklet defines ‘overseas’ as “outside of Australia and its territories and includes when you are aboard a foreign registered cruise vessel in Australian territorial waters”.

– this means that cruises ships with foreign registered vessel have provision for cover under the international travel insurance, which does have as a benefit international medical expenses.

That is nice and clear. I must try to remember it.

[lorri111]

1 minute ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

That is nice and clear. I must try to remember it.

Yes, I do not want to have to reinvent the wheel on research for my future cruises so I have sent myself an email to keep which will remind me. Senior moments!

[OzKiwiJJ]

5 minutes ago, lorri111 said:

Yes, I do not want to have to reinvent the wheel on research for my future cruises so I have sent myself an email to keep which will remind me. Senior moments!

I just did a screenshot!

[Mickmmm]

our ship will call at Bali "for a few hours" I believe. But I can see there are more reasons to want an international cover. Tx to contributors:).
I was not sure if it's ok to mention companies but it seems so. My excess I called weird was from Allianz. As for the clarity, I'm not sure it was for me. I am hard of hearing and Philipines and Indian accents with some agents do not make it easy to understand. Also the rigid and robotic manner to go through the products details, that I understand are compulsory to be read, can add difficulty to follow (if one has not fallen asleep in the process; Cruisers often belong to the third age, as it is called in French!

[lyndarra]

16 minutes ago, Mickmmm said:

our ship will call at Bali "for a few hours" I believe. But I can see there are more reasons to want an international cover. Tx to contributors:).
I was not sure if it's ok to mention companies but it seems so. My excess I called weird was from Allianz. As for the clarity, I'm not sure it was for me. I am hard of hearing and Philipines and Indian accents with some agents do not make it easy to understand. Also the rigid and robotic manner to go through the products details, that I understand are compulsory to be read, can add difficulty to follow (if one has not fallen asleep in the process; Cruisers often belong to the third age, as it is called in French!

I hace CC travel insurance underwritten by Allianz and it is good for Bali, and most other places in the world,  but do not get on a scooter under any circumstances, you will not be covered.

I have hearing impairment and also have trouble understanding accented English. Just yesterday I was on the phone to Optus about my land line outage and I had to keep asking the call centre person to repeat almost everything.

[Mickmmm]

1 minute ago, lyndarra said:

I hace CC travel insurance underwritten by Allianz and it is good for Bali, and most other places in the world,  but do not get on a scooter under any circumstances, you will not be covered.

I have hearing impairment and also have trouble understanding accented English. Just yesterday I was on the phone to Optus about my land line outage and I had to keep asking the call centre person to repeat almost everything.

Ha ha, so familliar to both my wife and I. And so much misunderstanding, luckilly some are hilarious !

 

[Mickmmm]

Only my wife can use CC, I'm already 'over the hill!'!

[lorri111]

I have to say I have problems with accents on the phone and frankly, I don't trust anything told me verbally - if possible I get the other party to put it in writing.

[ilikeanswers]

1 hour ago, lyndarra said:

but do not get on a scooter under any circumstances, you will not be covered.

 

I was told if you have a motorcycle licence you would be covered for a scooter accident. Is that not true?