Saturday, March 30, 2019

Cruise Travel Insurance - 1Travel, Cover-More, Medicare, RACV, Bupa, Woolworths Insurance

When travelling overseas I consider it always to be a good idea to get travel insurance. The main reason is you hear horror stories with medical costs. Travel insurance provides peace of mind, and in some cases, is necessary to visit some locations.

If you purchase travel insurance through a travel agency or your cruise company, you may end paying hundreds of dollars more. It really is a case of checking around which can be easily done online.

Recently I checked the following. There's others I don't have confidence in and there's companies I'd never heard of. Perhaps there's an even better deal but whilst you may not get the absolute minimum shopping around, at least you can make some good savings.

1Travel
Cover-More
Medicare
RACV
Bupa
Woolworths Insurance

Make sure you get the cover you need. For example read the PDS (Product Disclosure Statement). Use the search function Control+F and search for "cruise" to help find the sections relating to cruises.

It's not really difficult work, but it is tedious, but it can also save hundreds of dollars.

Medicare travel insurance was the most expensive costing up to three times more than others. 1Travel had a huge $3,000 for one quote and not great prices. Cover-More the one listed by P &O Cruises is hundreds of dollars more expensive. Looks good until you add the price for your cruise fare which adds hundreds. Cancellation of the cruise fare is probably one of things you'd expect in the Cover-More policy by default, but it's not there.

What did surprise me was Bupa's travel insurance was quite reasonable. RACV travel insurance was quite reasonable and both Bupa and RACV give members a 15% discount. Not a member though.

The cheapest was Woolworths insurance. I've used them before. However there don't cover people over 80.

In the end the RACV insurance was clear and specifically had an option for cruises. Medical evacuation was included. For $30 more went for the highest cover. Usually I'm prudent, but I've heard of friends and contacts getting hurt travelling so peace of mind is important.

Really I'd recommend shopping around. For a two week cruise the savings from shopping around could easily be as much as $300-$400.

Kelvin Eldridge

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