Travel - delayed baggage insurance

davidm_uk

I've booked a fly and cruise holiday up the coast of Norway for early next year and am now trying to sort some travel insurance. All the quotes I've looked at so far lead to one particular issue:

If my baggage gets delayed on the outgoing flight, the cruise ship leaves about 5 hours after the flight arrival, so we end up on board a ship with only the clothes etc we are wearing and in any hand baggage. All the policies I've looked at say they will only provide any "delayed baggage" compensation after x hours (x seems to vary between 6 and 24). Even if the bags turned out to be lost, we are stuck on a ship (in the North Sea in February!) with not a lot to wear.

Anyone else come across this and found an insurance solution? Fly cruise holidays are not uncommon after all.

Just as an aside, the wife wants to do a dog drawn sleigh excursion while we are there ( a commercially organised one) and none of the insurance companies I've phoned know whether or not this is classed as winter sports or hazardous and if it is covered or not (so probably means in the event of a claim they'd use it as an excuse not to pay out). Any thoughts, apart from telling the Mrs we can't do it!

David

pcg2001

I have never been in a similar situation, but I often take a few minutes to see if there is something I cannot buy at the destination, I pack it in the cabin bag and take it on the plane with me. The same rule applies if I need something for my first days (like conference clothes and some underwear) - just in case the hold bag gets lost. So in your case, regardless of the insurance, pack underwear, essential toiletries, and a change of clothes in a small bag and take it with you.

Caz3121

I have been on a cruise where someone's case got delayed, so many of the passengers rallied around and the ship gave her credit in the onboard shop whilst the bag was delivered to a later port stop so she got it after three days. Is the flight part of the package for the cruise or have you booked each independently?
We have cruise in Jan with independent flights but travel out 3 days before we leave to have a couple of days in Singapore first and not have the risk of being baggless!

davidm_uk

The flight is part of the package, and the cost of the same flight goes up quite a bit if I wanted to book it seperately, already investigated that. Other factors mean we can't travel out earlier anyway.

We will take some clothing etc in hand luggage, but space is a bit limited for the WARM stuff we will need, and the cruise ship doesn't have much, if anything in the way of shops - it's one of these that double up a cruise/passenger/mail/general delivery ship, calling at over 30 ports on the way up almost to the Russian border. I guess we'll find some sort of shops in a port somewhere, but the cost of stuff over there is very scary!

The cost of being a bit adventurous I guess :rolleyes2

dacouch

I wouldn't worry too much about the delayed baggage, they will typically cover you for between £150 and £250. The main problem is they will only provide cover for "Neccessary" items this would generally be toothbrush, basic toiletries and a change of clothes so you it's unusual for you to be able to claim the full amount.

Most Insurers will also deduct an excess of between £40 and £150 from what they pay you as the Policy Excess.

You should be more worried about missing the cruise departure which is excluded by most policies and could potentially cost far more

travellerboy

I had the exact same problem when looking for insurance for a Cruise holiday. Tried most, the best I found was Preferential Premier Cover. It offered up to £1000 after 6 hrs. delay, and the premium was about £105 for the trip.

I wrote an Email to them and the reply was ...... to say the least a total rip-off.
All they would give was underwear and toileties, to say the least very very expensive underwear.

Insurance is not the answer, cross pack tour belonging with wife and take a carry-on luggage with essentials and pray.

davidm_uk

Very interesting. Preferential was one of the companies I phoned. Pretty unhelpful and inflexible, both on the delayed luggage and dog sleighing issues, though they didn't mention underwear and toiletries limitation. Though the single trip cover for a couple was only about £20 (for their so called delux package), I might just give them a miss.

This shopping around for travel insurance is a right pita. You have to get into reading the detailed policy documents and even they don't seem to tell you everything. If it's not specifically stated as covered then assume it isn't! The prices vary enormously but some of the expensive ones don't seem any/much better on paper than the cheapest (under £10).

Praying seems like a good idea!