TRAVEL INSURANCE QUESTIONS

spkdar

WORLDWIDE ( INC USA, CARIBBEAN ) TRAVEL INSURANCE COVERING COVID-19 

If anyone can help to provide insight to below question will be much appreciated.

1.Have booked a Virgin holiday package to Caribbean mid 2022. Is it better for me to also take Virgin Travel insurance ( only single trip cover offered) to provide best cover or take travel insurance from different company?.

2.Reading Virgin travel ins details, seeking answer to question :Will I be covered if I have to cancel trip because I or my partner had to quarantine days before departure?. Virgins Holiday Travel ins states "Booking your travel insurance through Virgin Holidays gives you the reassurance that we have you covered from the start to finish of your holiday."

3. I pay my Bank (NatWest) travel ins cover but their policy states  :Quarantine: You will not be covered for cancelling a trip if you, a close relative or travelling companion need to quarantine or self-isolate in the UK or abroad. As a result i am having to take out extra cover.  Its costing me £216 per year to cover travel ins, breakdown cover, phone cover...package account benefits. Is this norm? any over have any insight ?

Thank you.

[Deleted User]

1. It depends on the relative cover to each policy.
2. You'll need to read the detail of the policy to find out if you're covered for that scenario.
3.Some people pay for packaged policies like yourself. They're not suitable for all but can be good value.

spkdar

Thank you ZX81, its seems there is still no easy way to make decisions ...

Worried_fool

As ZX81 points out, you need to read the wording of each policy (or at least the summary box) to know whether it gives the cover you need.

In your situation: obviously you have already paid for travel insurance packaged with your bank account, but have established that it does not protect you from the risk of cancellation due to a requirement to quarantine. First question: do you need this cover? Does you holiday booking allow you to change the date of travel (perhaps for a modest fee) in this situation?

Anyway, if you decide that you do need protection against the risk of cancellation due to a quarantine requirement, you should seek to buy this insurance as cheaply as possible. There is no particular reason to believe that Virgin holiday insurance would offer better value than any other provider.

spkdar

Thank you for your reply, I don't think risks can be taken in these times. I am looking at the virgin cover from Allianz Global who provides the service and am not too happy by their clauses and wording....so will need to explore others providers. Thank you for your input anyways/

Goldust

I'm interested in this too.  I'd like to book a 2022 trip to either the Caribbean or North America and have a packaged bank account with Nationwide.

They also have similar exclusions where essentially if anything COVID (or some other pandemic) related impacts you or your party you're not covered unless you have symptoms / are not fit to travel.

My concern would be that assuming testing is still mandatory to travel to most countries, someone in the group could present a positive test but feel fine so I don't know if I'm covered.  

I'd be more than happy to pay for a better policy but it's very difficult to know if something you had pre-pandemic that was fit for purpose still is or if you are leaving yourself open to risk and losing a considerable amount of money.

Here's what mine says about COVID but it's not that easy to match up what it says to real life examples of things that could happen.  Although I do suffer from ASD which sometimes means I don't see the bigger picture so happy to take any advice

https://www.nationwide.co.uk/-/assets/nationwidecouk/documents/current-accounts/insurances/flexplus/p3937-summary-of-changes-after-jan-21.pdf?rev=f184b470ca314ad98feb5287f547d7b3

TroubledCruiser

A cruise travel insurance question. Since the restart of international cruising there have been some instances of passengers testing positive while on board, mainly a few days after port calls. The authorities appear to be insisting passengers and companions are offloaded into quarantine hotels. This includes contacts with negative tests.  Apparently the people who test negative are not covered for this type of quarantine so the question of who pays the costs is arising.  I have spoken to 12 insurance companies in my search for a cruise insurance to cover this scenario and have been unsuccessful. Also 8 of the companies stated no curtailment cover would be available under these circumstances. The other four said on case by case basis only, not really much comfort at all.

Does anyone have experience of this or know whether it is actually possible to insure for this risk and if so with whom?

Thanks.

Caz3121

Which authorities are insisting passengers offloaded into quarantine hotels? (is this a specific country?) from recent cases I have seen reported passengers have been quarantined onboard
what does the cruise company policy state?
eg my preferred line

• If you test positive for COVID-19 during the cruise, you will be entitled to either a partial or full FCC or refund for the amount paid, depending on the situation. Azamara will also cover the costs of COVID-19 related medical treatment onboard, any required land-based quarantine, and travel home for you and your Traveling Party. Guests must comply with travel requirements, health and safety protocols in order to be eligible for this reassurance.

TroubledCruiser

Spain. P&O and Cunard. Reply from their offices states they've never been asked the question. 

TroubledCruiser

Caz3121 thanks for that. I've searched the terms and conditions and think this is my equivalent:

P&O terms and conditions, para 23:

 

 In addition, any Guest who, in the opinion of P&O Cruises and/or the Master and/or a member of ship’s medical staff, demonstrates the symptoms of a viral illness (including but not limited to Coronavirus (COVID-19)) may be disembarked by P&O Cruises without any further liability