Is 'Comprehensive with Covid cover' insurance mandatory or not? I'm Confused.

[northg32]

We are cruising with P&O Aus to New Caledonia and Vanuatu on May 30th 2023 and the information given on the P&O website says " Comprehensive insurance with Covid cover is highly recommended, but insurance policies will not be checked on embarkation or onboard ship.  However, they also say that the New Caledonian authorities demand that all cruise passengers are required to have Covid cover.

This week we received an email recently saying that this type of insurance is required by the New Caledonian authorities and passengers without it will be refused to board.

We have spoken with other travel agents who say that New Caledonian authorities are not stating that this type of insurance is mandatory.

Basic cover with evacuation by air will cost $182. Comprehensive with Covid cover will cost us $720!!

Does anyone have any experience or advice please?

[SuitesRbest]

Just make sure your covered in case you need to use the medical facilities on the ship. We are cruising to PNG in June and we are not worrying to much about Covid insurance meaning cancelation costs and so forth. We are still getting insurance. That is my opinion only though!!!

[marinating]

On 5/12/2023 at 12:46 PM, northg32 said:

We are cruising with P&O Aus to New Caledonia and Vanuatu on May 30th 2023 and the information given on the P&O website says " Comprehensive insurance with Covid cover is highly recommended, but insurance policies will not be checked on embarkation or onboard ship.  However, they also say that the New Caledonian authorities demand that all cruise passengers are required to have Covid cover.

This week we received an email recently saying that this type of insurance is required by the New Caledonian authorities and passengers without it will be refused to board.

We have spoken with other travel agents who say that New Caledonian authorities are not stating that this type of insurance is mandatory.

Basic cover with evacuation by air will cost $182. Comprehensive with Covid cover will cost us $720!!

Does anyone have any experience or advice please?

My sister and I leave Sydney tomorrow for 12 nights to the South Pacific, we’re told that Covid cover mandatory for New Caledonia, we paid $274 for the two of us with Qantas, neither of us have pre-existing conditions and are under 65. Another option is if you have free travel insurance with your debit/credit card and you paid the required amount using your card towards the holiday. I opened a NAB Platinum Debit account and used their free travel insurance for NZ and coastal Australia, this included Covid Cover and cruise cover. My husband has many pre-existing conditions and I paid $750 for 16 days with Qantas insurance, he is 73. Hope this helps. 

[Zetta83]

Did you pay your trip with a credit card? If so, check if there is complimentary cover. Both my cards from ANZ and St George have cover, underwritten by Allianz. 

 

I filled up a form with Allianz and managed to print a cover for my trip. That was sighted and accepted by the embarkment staff. 

[sewgood]

On 5/12/2023 at 12:46 PM, northg32 said:

Does anyone have any experience or advice please?

I'm on the same cruise and in the pre-cruise email from a couple of days ago it clearly stated that you had to have the covid insurance and it would be checked at the terminal.

 

Well, we'll see on Tuesday if they do check it.

[chris_h_11]

We're cruising in September and I wasn't sure about this question. I did some googling and ended up on the New Caledonia consulate website and all it says is full medical coverage - with no specific mention of Covid. We assumed the requirement of "full" coverage would include Covid anyway, so we got insurance with Covid cover, but I'd be interested to know if anyone's been held up over it.