St Petersburg private tours

[Giantfan13]

I was talking with a friend of mine about booking a private tour in St Petersburg. He asked me a question that I had no answer for, so I come to the place that knows everything.

 

Are you insured on the private tours. Say you trip or fall or get hurt and need medical assistence, are you covered by any insurance from these companies??> I would assume if you took a ship's excursion and you got hurt, you are covered under the ship's insurance or have a recourse in case of negligence. But what about the private tours??> If you needed any medical attention, or if some one gets hurt on the tour, what happens then??> Are these private companies insured, and can that help you if there is an accident???

[TLCOhio]

I was talking with a friend of mine about booking a private tour in St Petersburg. He asked me a question that I had no answer for, so I come to the place that knows everything. Are you insured on the private tours. Say you trip or fall or get hurt and need medical assistence, are you covered by any insurance from these companies??> I would assume if you took a ship's excursion and you got hurt, you are covered under the ship's insurance or have a recourse in case of negligence. But what about the private tours??> If you needed any medical attention, or if some one gets hurt on the tour, what happens then??> Are these private companies insured, and can that help you if there is an accident???

 

Good interesting question that has lots of potential twists and turns, regardless of whether you are on a private or ship tour. In theory, we'd all be "insured" under some part of this potential situation. Most have personal insurance and it would provide some "coverage". BUT, overseas that gets complication to get care and attention . . . and/or collect payment or reimbursement. If there's an "accident", much would depend on whether there was fault by the provider, whether the ship, private guide, hotel, dining place, etc., was the direct cause of the problem. That's why on both of our cruises, we did travel insurance, mainly to get coverage on any needed medical care, transportation out of the area if needed, etc. We made sure our coverage was PRIMARY in order to lessen any hassles if there was a problem while outside of the United States. A tour company, or even the ship, could tell you are covered, but who knows if you can really collect . . . and when, if ever. Most of the cruise ships hire local firms for these tours and might try to pass blame to them. Most cruise companies have the ships registered outside of the U.S. Try a law suit against them, right? It gets complicated based on what really happened, fault and where. Look forward to get a real-life legal eagle to offer more details and reactions.

THANKS! Terry in Ohio

[cherylakers]

I would most definitely take the ships insurance. A friend of mine fell on the ship, and they didn't even pay for the Dr. visit. It was the ship's fault as water was on the floor in the cafe and was not marked as wet floor. In another instance, a friend got sick and was confined to the ship in St. Petersburg. The travel insurance through Princess paid him back for 2 days of his cruise as "trip interruption" insurance.

 

I don't think if you get injured in a foreign country you are going to be able to collect from them for any medical expenses. But, you would be able to collect from your trip insurance through your cruise line.

 

This is just my opinion though.

 

Cheryl

[Giantfan13]

thanks for the info. I was under the assumption that if you were on a ship sponsered excursion, and you got hurt, the ship would be responsible, and that is what brought on my original question about a private tour company. But, it seems as if, if you don't buy the ship's insurance, even if you get hurt, you would have a hard time collecting anything.

 

Ny wife had a very similar experience as Cheryl's friend did. We were on a carnival cruise and when we went for the lifeboat drill, the floor was wet with NO sign, and my wife took a hard tumble. We filled out so many forms, saw the ship doctor several times, but when we wrote to Carnival about it, that's about what they said, we didn't buy the extra ship's insurance. They offered us $100 OBC. We were so furious, we told them what they could do with their OBC and we will never sail Carnival again. But we learned a lesson also.

[TLCOhio]

The travel insurance through Princess paid him back for 2 days of his cruise as "trip interruption" insurance. I don't think if you get injured in a foreign country you are going to be able to collect from them for any medical expenses. But, you would be able to collect from your trip insurance through your cruise line. Cheryl

 

Good points, Cheryl! Collecting overseas AND getting the right medical attention are both challenging. Communicating in another country, on either medical and financial aspects, can also be difficult. We encountered that challenge with my wife needing to visit a hospital while in SW France in 1998.

 

The downside and strong caution with the insurance through the cruise line is that it only covers the ship portion of your total, overall trip. If you get your air and transfers through the ship AND don't do any pre or post cruise stops on your own, you're OK. Before our Baltics 2008 cruise, we had five days in southern England and one added day in Stockholm. We used Amer. Air. Freq. Flyer miles for our air. If we can bought through the ship, a major part of our travel time would not have been covered.

 

We used http://www.insuremytrip.com to search our insurance options. You have lots of potential choices on how much to cover of your trip cost and to be able to beef up the health care portion, ratings of providers, etc.

 

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio