Travel Insurance is a MUST!

We all like our yearly or twice yearly holiday, some of us have more holidays & cruises than others BUT however many you take you MUST have travel insurance.

I have heard so many horror stories about people who haven’t taken insurance or taken out the proper cover for their particular holiday.

It can be quite costly to receive treatment on board a cruise ship or even be airlifted off and if you haven’t got insurance to cover these costs you would probably have to re-mortgage to pay the bill.

In my job it is essential that I check my customers have full insurance and I always ask this at the time of booking.  Most customers say yes they are covered with their bank or they have a yearly policy.  Some customers have not got insurance but know they need to get it.

When do you get yours?

In everyday life accidents can happen through no fault of our own.  So my advice would be to take out your travel insurance the day you book your cruise/holiday if not before.

What would you do if you booked your holiday and hadn’t taken your insurance out thinking – ‘Oh I’ll do that next month’ then something happens and you have to cancel?   You would lose any money paid and not be able to get it back without full travel insurance.

I have had a few instances lately with my customers which has brought me to write about this important topic….

  1. One of my regular clients was due to travel a few weeks ago with her parents on the same cruise so had booked 2 cabins, her mum had a bad fall resulting in her being taken into hospital – this was 10 days before the cruise which had been booked for quite some time.  As a result all 4 passengers had to cancel with no refund as so close to departure date.  Luckily they had full insurance so will be able to claim their money back.
  2. One of my clients was ill on board the ship after their 1st night, he was fine when left home but had kidney stones which flared up whilst on his cruise so he spent 2 days in the medical center on board until he could be transferred to a proper hospital to receive treatment.  He was kept in hospital for 10 days until fit to fly home.  Again he had insurance so will be covered for this especially as the bill for the cruise medical center was in excess of £3.5K just for 2 days. I dread to think the cost of his time in hospital in Norway!
  3. Another customers had boarded her ship and one of her family members had a serious accident back home so she had to disembark at the next port and fly home.  Again they had insurance so all this will be covered.

This all happened in the space of one week, I have never had so many issues as I have this month but I always assist and advise my customers what they need to do as that is what I’m here for not to just book your cruise but to help with any issues that may arise, it’s all part of the one to one service you get from us here at Cruise.co.uk.

My Top Tips:-

  1. With insurance you need to check that you are covered for cruising as you visit more than one country so the basic insurance policies usually cover for one destination so please check you are fully covered for the trip you are taking.

2. Also the duration of the cruise, check your policy covers you as if over 30 days there is usually a supplement.

3. Another point is the value of the holiday as some insurance only cover up to 5K value so with a lot of cruise holidays it can be      more than this so again check your policy especially if through your bank account or an annual policy.

4. Please remember to declare any medical conditions to your insurance company as if you don’t and anything happens with         this condition you will not be covered.

So please ensure you have investigated all the above to ensure you are fully covered when you book your cruise holiday so you can relax and enjoy the trip without the worry.

I hope this helps to understand the importance of taking out the correct travel insurance for your cruise holiday.

 

 

 


About Me

My name is Barbara Hopley (my real surname is now Neale) but most people call me ‘Babs’ – doesn’t sound as old as I’m not really that old. I am passionate about Cruise and have over 30 years of experience of travel knowledge. After working for various travel companies I…

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