Nationwide travel insurance ‘longer trip’ upgrade

[dbjhughes]

We have been using Nationwide’s FlexPlus travel insurance policy for a few years. This was previously underwritten by UK Insurance Ltd, but Aviva have just taken over the underwriting. We were on the ~100-day world voyage earlier this year, and UK Insurance Ltd charged us £156 for trip extension cover for the year. We are on a 78-day South America circumnavigation early next year, for which Aviva are quoting us ~£900 for trip extension cover! Has anyone else had a similar experience? Do we just have to suck up this new cost, or has anyone found a cheaper alternative? Many thanks.

[Selbourne]

Whilst not wishing you to divulge personal information, do you mind me asking if there will be age or health related issues that are contributing to this high quote? Also, is the £900 purely for the extension, or is that the additional premium for all weighted factors over the next 12 months including the extension?

 

Prior to taking out Nationwide’s Flex Plus travel insurance we were insured directly with Aviva. When we booked a 65 night cruise Aviva wouldn’t even quote us for a cruise of that length, so they clearly don’t like insuring very long holidays. With any insurance quote I use a comparison website, but having had no luck with Aviva I asked the meerkats for help and was horrified to find that we couldn’t even get a quote from many providers and others were eye watering, hence why we were so relived to discover Nationwide as U.K. Insurance, as they were brilliant. 
 

Hopefully @Megabear2 might respond as she had done a lot of research on insurance. My only other suggestion, after the usual comparison sites, is to try Direct Line. They are linked with U.K. Insurance in some way and they never appear on price comparison websites.

[yorkshirephil]

7 hours ago, dbjhughes said:

We have been using Nationwide’s FlexPlus travel insurance policy for a few years. This was previously underwritten by UK Insurance Ltd, but Aviva have just taken over the underwriting. We were on the ~100-day world voyage earlier this year, and UK Insurance Ltd charged us £156 for trip extension cover for the year. We are on a 78-day South America circumnavigation early next year, for which Aviva are quoting us ~£900 for trip extension cover! Has anyone else had a similar experience? Do we just have to suck up this new cost, or has anyone found a cheaper alternative? Many thanks.

We also use the same insurance but are not affected until October. Looking at the new Aviva policy I think we may be changing insurers, the one thing that concerns me is that you effectively have to re-insure for every cruise if you need an extension as opposed to being covered annually with one extension. 

The £900 trip extension seems excessive if there are no other costs included. We have a 75 night South America cruise booked in 2026 so will be enquiring as to that extension when I renew/change in October. We are currently paying £28.80 for the year with UK Insurance which covers us for up to 43 nights per cruise.

There seems to be more increased costs with Aviva in general plus having to upgrade for each cruise as opposed to annual cover will affect us as regular cruisers who take longer cruises.

 

[david63]

The one thing that Nationwide has in its favour is that there is no age limit and once you reach 80 then finding annual insurance is almost impossible - and single trip is almost the same as an annual policy pre being 80

[Waju]

8 hours ago, dbjhughes said:

We have been using Nationwide’s FlexPlus travel insurance policy for a few years. This was previously underwritten by UK Insurance Ltd, but Aviva have just taken over the underwriting. We were on the ~100-day world voyage earlier this year, and UK Insurance Ltd charged us £156 for trip extension cover for the year. We are on a 78-day South America circumnavigation early next year, for which Aviva are quoting us ~£900 for trip extension cover! Has anyone else had a similar experience? Do we just have to suck up this new cost, or has anyone found a cheaper alternative? Many thanks.

Wow, so they're wanting around £115 per day???  That's just crazy! . 

 

We have travel insurance with both Nationwide and HSBC, both underwritten by Aviva now, both with very different terms, but surely it can't be the bank setting the rules rather than Aviva?

 

I know I looked at the Nationwide/Aviva website when it was all first announced but I've slept since then, can you get a trip extension price from the website or do you have to ring and ask a 'real person?'

[yorkshirephil]

9 minutes ago, Waju said:

Wow, so they're wanting around £115 per day???  That's just crazy! . 

 

We have travel insurance with both Nationwide and HSBC, both underwritten by Aviva now, both with very different terms, but surely it can't be the bank setting the rules rather than Aviva?

 

I know I looked at the Nationwide/Aviva website when it was all first announced but I've slept since then, can you get a trip extension price from the website or do you have to ring and ask a 'real person?'

It would be £11.50 per day, assuming that the £900 is just for the extension or as the policy covers the first 30 days as part of the policy the extension is £18.75 per day for the extra 48 days. Which I think is still excessive but without alternative quotes who knows. I have looked on the Aviva website and cannot find any sort of sliding scale for number of days extended so am assuming you need to speak to someone, there could also be other risk factors involved from person to person on an extended cruise?

[Megabear2]

3 hours ago, Selbourne said:

Whilst not wishing you to divulge personal information, do you mind me asking if there will be age or health related issues that are contributing to this high quote? Also, is the £900 purely for the extension, or is that the additional premium for all weighted factors over the next 12 months including the extension?

 

Prior to taking out Nationwide’s Flex Plus travel insurance we were insured directly with Aviva. When we booked a 65 night cruise Aviva wouldn’t even quote us for a cruise of that length, so they clearly don’t like insuring very long holidays. With any insurance quote I use a comparison website, but having had no luck with Aviva I asked the meerkats for help and was horrified to find that we couldn’t even get a quote from many providers and others were eye watering, hence why we were so relived to discover Nationwide as U.K. Insurance, as they were brilliant. 
 

Hopefully @Megabear2 might respond as she had done a lot of research on insurance. My only other suggestion, after the usual comparison sites, is to try Direct Line. They are linked with U.K. Insurance in some way and they never appear on price comparison websites.

I'm not going to be much help I'm afraid.  Very few mainstream insurers offer insurance for over 45 days and world cruises, there are countless stories, particularly on the Cunard website, of the difficulties in getting this insurance.  Even Moneybox had difficulties trying to help a lady last year.

 

I understand P&O cut the length of their world cruise to 99 days at one point to make it fall in the under 100 days some of the specialist insurers offer.

 

In 2019 when undertaking my WC on QM2 I personally searched high and low and couldn't get anything at a reasonable cost.  At that time I was getting quotes of around the cost of the cruise (as a single that was £15,000!), and that was with me being 64 with no declarable medical conditions.  I eventually ended up using my bank insurance (Halifax) for the first 40 days - their maximum at the time - and insuring the remainder with a specialist broker via my husband who works in the financial world. All of this was basic cover, no cruise extension with missed ports etc just pure cancellation, medical, repatriation cover.  As I was sailing alone no complexities with partners or companions.  Doing it this way my records show cost me £1,300.

 

P&O and Cunard use Holiday Extras for their preferred insurer as do most of the UK cruise line sales.  As such I found them to be exceedingly expensive- they were the quote near £15,000!

 

For what it's worth a large number of the providers of underwriting have chosen to leave the mainstream market so finding this cover is going to get more difficult and as such expensive. As UK Insurance were known to offer the cheapest cover  and Nationwide were very generous the insurance market will inevitably change as a result.

 

If £900 is for two, particularly over 65 and with health conditions, I think you may be hard pushed to beat it in the current tightening market.

Edited August 4 by Megabear2

[MBP&O2/O]

There was a similar thread some months ago. Outrageous increases by Ariva.

[Host Hattie]

Your previous thread is here

 

 

 

 

[david63]

1 hour ago, Megabear2 said:

I eventually ended up using my bank insurance (Halifax) for the first 40 days - their maximum at the time - and insuring the remainder with a specialist broker

Did that fall within the T&Cs of the insurance companies as most insurance states that the trip starts in the UK.

[Selbourne]

All of this takes me back to last year when I booked the Aurora 65 nighter. My excitement at having secured a balcony cabin at well under half the Select price turned to near panic within 24 hours when it looked as though we couldn’t get insured unless we paid an astronomical premium. It put such a downer on things that I would have cancelled the booking had I been able to.
 

A few days later, thanks to advice on this forum, I took out a policy through Nationwide and U.K. Insurance were absolutely brilliant, from the very reasonable add on quotes right through to the missed port claims that we submitted upon our return. Whilst we don’t have any cruises booked beyond the end of the current policy year, I intend to enquire as to the add on costs with Arriva, as it will help inform whether or not we are prepared to grab any late bargains again in the future. Next years 65 nighter doesn’t appeal as much as the one we did this year, but if we can get a similar price and reasonably priced insurance you never know 😂 

[Windsurfboy]

I got a virgin  annual  with up to 90 days  £450 world wide exc USA, £140 to add cruise, we are in 70s

[Megabear2]

1 hour ago, david63 said:

Did that fall within the T&Cs of the insurance companies as most insurance states that the trip starts in the UK.

Yes, it was a special policy bought through a broker hence expensive.  There are a few policies out there but very few know how to get them. I'd no idea but my husband asked one of his clients to help and they turned up trumps. Battleface were the recommended option but in the event I believe I used someone else but can't recall the name offhand.  I did help I was under 65 at the time.  I believe it would be more difficult now I'm past that milestone.

Edited August 4 by Megabear2

[Waju]

I have just spent (wasted) a few hours trying to sort the medical upgrade and trip extension with Aviva,  All has to be done online and I found a couple of things confusing so had to ring or try and contact them online.

 

The medical upgrade has cost £110, fair enough, although more expensive than UK Insurance charged last year.  Then the trip extension (35 night cruise) cost another £58.28 which I paid but then thought £58.28 is a lot for an extra 4 nights as I am already covered for 31??

 

I've emailed to ask the question!

[sleepingcat]

we are nationwide customers and have used their travel insurance probably for the last 15 years, including two large claims, one for Covid cancellation and one for a medical emergency, and which were excellently handled by UK insurance.

 

So I am dismayed to read that Aviva is so different. especially since after a couple of years of family crises we havent really been able to travel, I am just about to start looking at long cruises again. We are in our mid seventies so its all a bit discouraging.

 

thanks to everyone for the information provided so far. 

[Waju]

On 8/10/2024 at 12:10 PM, sleepingcat said:

we are nationwide customers and have used their travel insurance probably for the last 15 years, including two large claims, one for Covid cancellation and one for a medical emergency, and which were excellently handled by UK insurance.

 

So I am dismayed to read that Aviva is so different. especially since after a couple of years of family crises we havent really been able to travel, I am just about to start looking at long cruises again. We are in our mid seventies so its all a bit discouraging.

 

thanks to everyone for the information provided so far. 

@sleepingcat consider looking at Co Op bank - it means opening another current account I know but they do cover you up to age 80 and longer trips as standard.  I have not done this as I have only just paid Nationwide for a year but it may be worth reading up!