Cancellation
Cruises need significantly increased cancellation insurance limits. We are aware of some schemes that provide cancellation cover up to £100,000.
A typical travel insurance policy will normally not provide cancellation periods more than 1 year in advance, whereas some specialist Cruise policies allow cover for bookings for departures.
This caters for the fact that cruise operators often now require full payment 180 days in advance of departure. Cruises are often booked 2 years in advance of departure and with the travel period added on, can easily mean a client requires cover for up to two and a half years in total.
Medical
Medical Evacuation – many standard travel insurance policies exclude cruises because in the event of a medical situation an on-board doctor may be able to provide treatment but in the event of a more serious emergency condition a medical air evacuation from the cruise liner may be required.
Medical Disembarkation – the cruise ship doctor has the right to deny boarding or to disembark a passenger they feel is too ill to continue the cruise. This could result in the insured having medical expenses not only on-board the cruise liner, but at the port hospital where they are disembarked as well as additional travel and accommodation costs.
Senior travel insurance – Cruise holidays is a fast growing sector of the travel market especially for the more mature with high levels of disposable income, and with medical conditions. A specialist Cruise Insurance will generally be able to cater for increased age limits and people with medical conditions (subject to the normal medical screening).
Other
Missed Departure – a standard travel insurance policy will typically cover the costs of missed departure travelling from the UK on holiday or return to the UK at the end of a holiday. Many cruises are arranged with cruise liner departures from foreign ports and cover may not operate in the event of a flight delay causing a missed departure connection with the cruise liner from a foreign port. A Cruise Insurance will normally be able to accommodate such cover but typically the insurer would want a minimum of a 6 hour difference between the arrival at the foreign airport and embarkation at the foreign port.
Actual travel period – a cruise policy may generally allow up to 180 days of travel – a round the world trip can last up to 145 days depending on the itinerary.
