Cruise Lines

If you’re about to book a cruise and then plan on booking your travel insurance immediately with the first provider you can find, you need to slow down.

Don’t get me wrong – booking your insurance quickly is the right thing to do – but just diving in without properly considering it could lead you to some serious problems further down the line.

These tips will help you to make sure you get a policy that’s right for you – one that’s not too expensive, but also one that has you covered should anything go wrong while you’re on your cruise.

1. The day you book should be the day you buy insurance

The right thing to do when booking a cruise is to then pay for your cruise insurance on the same day, but you still need to do your research and check different policies.

But yes – once the cruise is booked, get the insurance booked. And there are two main reasons for that.

Firstly, you want your cancellation cover to be in place as quickly as possible, because you never know what might happen. You might book a cruise, but then the next day it gets cancelled and you’re out of pocket. Or something happens to you or someone you’re travelling with, and now you can’t go.

If you’ve booked your insurance already, you can make a claim. If you were waiting, then you’re out of luck – you can’t book it after the problem has come to light.

The second reason is related to pre-existing medical conditions. If you have any, then you need to make sure you book your insurance typically within 2-3 weeks of paying your deposit on your cruise (it’ll vary slightly by provider). 

If you don’t, then the insurance isn’t valid. That’s because, the further out you cancel a cruise, the more money the cruise line will give you back as a refund – and therefore, the less an insurer has to pay to top you up.

With pre-existing conditions, they want you to have your insurance as soon as possible, to mitigate some of the risk.

2. You have to be honest about pre-existing conditions

I know that cruise insurance can be expensive, but that doesn’t mean you can lie when you take out your policy to cover up any pre-existing conditions you or your travelling group might have.

Insurers are not the kind to just give you a payout without doing some investigation work, and so if you try to make a medical claim while you’re sailing, or you cancel before you travel because of a medical problem, they are going to then make sure you didn’t have any undeclared conditions that caused the issue.

And when (not if) they do find out, you’re not going to get a penny out of them.

So you might have saved a little bit by covering up your conditions, but then if you suffer something along the lines of the horror stories of people who didn’t have insurance, you might be thousands of pounds/dollars in debt.

Don’t take the risk. List everything, and at least then you’ll know you’re covered.

3. It’s your responsibility to update your policy if needed

The fact that cruise insurance companies want you to get your insurance as soon as possible, especially if you have pre-existing conditions, does not let you get away with it if your circumstances then change later.

By taking insurance out on the same day you book your cruise, you might be paying for the policy up to a years in advance. And a lot could happen in that year – including the unfortunate chance that you might develop a medical condition.

If that condition doesn’t stop you cruising, but there’s a chance it could have an impact on you while you sail, you do have to update your insurer, and potentially pay a top-up for your premium.

If it’s only something minor, you’ll probably just be told that your policy can remain the same (get it in writing, though – don’t call).

Your insurance covers you for your cruise in the future, based on your circumstances now. And if those circumstances change, the policy can still be invalidated.

4. You might save money with an annual plan

Even if you only have one cruise planned right now, it’s worth doing a search to see how much an annual cruise insurance plan would cost you, compared to a single-trip policy.

You might be surprised to see that the price difference isn’t huge, and so it could be worth taking out the annual plan anyway, just in case you love your cruise so much that you book another within the next few months.

Not only that, but specialist cruise insurance can actually cover you for other types of travel too. Depending on your policy, you might be protected for land holidays within the 12 month period as well.

Always check annual prices before committing to a single trip – because two single-trip policies will definitely cost a lot more.

5. Cancellation cover is not always comprehensive

Cruise insurance is designed primarily to cover your medical costs while you’re travelling, and to protect you if your cruise is cancelled for reasons outside of your control.

But you shouldn’t assume that you’ll get the full price of your cruise back – that depends on your policy. 

You’ll usually have a set amount that’s included, with the cheapest policies maybe only covering you for around £1,000 or $1,000 and the best offering you around five times that, unless you take out a specialist policy.

You also won’t get a double refund if your cruise line gives you some money back. Insurance exists to top you up if you don’t get all your fare back from the cruise line. 

Again, the closer you are to your sailing date, the less you’ll get back from the cruise line – but if they give you 50% back, your insurance policy will hopefully cover the other 50%.

Just make sure you check what you’re getting, and don’t think that claiming on your insurance guarantees a full refund.

6. There may be lots of extras to consider for your policy

There isn’t just a standard cruise insurance policy that you can take out – instead, policies will have different inclusions, including some extra packages that may come with the policy or that you can pay extra to add on.

One of the most common is missed port cover, where you’ll get money back if your ship has to miss a port on your itinerary – which can happen due to the weather.

There’s also cabin confinement cover, for those rare times you might get a vomiting bug and be asked to quarantine in your cabin for 24 hours until symptoms have died down. That’s not a fun way to cruise, so you can get money back for that.

Explore your options before you buy a policy, and make sure you get good coverage for the things that matter to you – it’s better to pay a small amount extra now, than risk missing ports or being stuck in your cabin without getting any refund.

7. Not every excursion might be covered

It’s also important to note that cruise insurance doesn’t cover absolutely everything about your cruise. In fact you might be surprised by the things your cruise insurance doesn’t cover.

One that often catches people off guard is the excursions on your cruise. Typically, most will be covered. If you trip on some steps while taking a walking tour of a city, and you need treatment for a sprained ankle, you’ll be able to get help with the costs.

But cruises often have exciting excursions involving a lot of thrills, such as water sports, off-road safaris, white-water rafting or shark diving. And there’s a good chance your standard insurance policy – even one designed for cruises – won’t cover you for those.

If you’re an adrenaline junkie, make sure you check what your policy covers before you buy, and ask insurers about specialist cover for the experiences you simply can’t miss.

How To Get The Best Price

Whatever you do, don’t pay for your cruise and then just pay for the first insurance policy you find. It might not be right for you, and you might also pay a lot more than you need to.

Use a price comparison site – it’s no more effort, since you’ll be putting in the same details as you would with a single insurer, but the site will then get you a list of different quotes to choose from, so you can see at-a-glance what you’ll get depending on how much you’re willing to pay.

I’d recommend Compare Your Cruise Insurance for anyone in the UK, and Aardy for any US cruise passengers. If you live elsewhere, search online for a price comparison site for cruise insurance specifically, and you should find one.

Don’t miss my Cruise Insurance Buyer’s Guide for more information on what to expect from a policy, the typical costs and more.

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Jenni Fielding is the founder of Cruise Mummy. She has worked in the cruise industry since 2015 and has taken over 30 cruises. Now, she helps over 1 million people per month to plan their perfect cruise holidays.

Read more about me

You should never travel on a cruise without buying insurance. Too much can go wrong, and leave you with some serious problems to face up to, financially and logistically.

And that’s what these stories show. Thankfully there aren’t hundreds of horror tales out there about cruise passengers who didn’t have insurance, because most people know how important it is.

But there are some nightmare stories to share, which highlight why insurance is so important – and in some of these cases, passengers had insurance but still weren’t covered!

So let’s take a look at real horror stories related to cruise insurance so that you can see it really isn’t worth taking the risk when you book your next cruise escape.

1. Stranded In The Bahamas

One of the most shared cruise insurance nightmare stories is that of Bruce Campbell, a US tourist who took a cruise to the Bahamas with his wife, sailing with Carnival.

During the cruise, Bruce showed signs of a stroke, and had to be evacuated to a hospital in Freeport, where he was told that the hospital couldn’t manage his worsening condition and they would need to transfer. But because they had declined to take out insurance, they couldn’t afford it.

The couple set up a GoFundMe page, but that takes time and so they couldn’t get the money. The government offered to loan them the money, but as the cruise was taking place over the Christmas holidays, they would’ve had to wait for the government offices to re-open.

Eventually, they did make it home, thanks to an anonymous donor who paid $20,000 of their own money to cover the cost of the flights back to the US. Sadly Bruce did not make a full recovery and passed away a couple of days later.

Carnival did help the couple by paying the medical bills for the three days they spent in the Freeport hospital, which the cruise line wasn’t obligated to do. The couple still complained that they felt the cruise line could’ve done more, though.

This definitively shows why insurance is a must – they could have transferred to another hotel quickly and without the financial stresses involved had they been covered.

After all, not everyone will be able to find an anonymous donor willing to pay a five-figure sum to fly you home.

2. Hefty Bills Following A Fall

Denise Hammond, a US cruise passenger onboard a Carnival ship, was enjoying a Pacific cruise in late 2023 when she had a fall and fractured her hip and her arm.

She was treated onboard for three days before the ship reached Manado in Indonesia, where was was transferred to a local hospital. However, it wasn’t equipped to treat her fully, which meant a transfer to a Singapore hospital, with a cost of $60,000 for the transfer and a $40,000 deposit needed.

Instead, Denise’s daughter Rachel was able to raise enough money via GoFundMe to get Denise airlifted to a hospital in Bangkok, where she was finally able to get the surgery she needed – 13 days after her original fall!

The Hammond family claimed that Denise had “great insurance” but that the company was refusing to pay out, which reinforces the need for everyone to make sure they get comprehensive cruise cover and are insured against anything that could go wrong. 

It’s reported that the insurance did at least help Denise to secure flights home after her treatment, but it’s not clear why the insurance company wasn’t helping with the massive medical bills.

3. The Gamble That Didn’t Pay Off

The Redman family took a cruise to Canada in 2022 to fulfil a dream, but it quickly became a nightmare as Chris, the mom of the family, suffered a heart attack while on the ship.

Thankfully she was able to be saved thanks to the amazing treatment of the crew on the ship, but she was transferred to a hospital in Canada which discovered more serious issues. Chris then had to be flown back to New Jersey for open heart surgery in order to save her life.

The cost of the medical care on the ship alone was $7,000 and the flight back to New Jersey, with the medical team involved, cost between $12,000 and $15,000. The total out-of-pocket expenses for the incident were well over $20,000, but the family had chosen not to get insurance.

According to the GoFundMe established by a family friend, “Deciding whether to get that insurance feels like a gamble no one wins – paying a lot of money for a week’s worth of insurance just about no one ever needs, or finding yourself with no coverage in an emergency.”

The GoFundMe page also stated that the cruise line refused to take insurance unless it had been purchased directly with the cruise line. 

That’s extremely unlikely – most major cruise lines will accept proper cruise insurance whether booked through the cruise line or independently. Some small cruise lines might have a policy like this in place, but I’ve never found evidence of it.

It’s unclear whether the statement in the GoFundMe simply meant that Chris didn’t have proper cruise insurance and was hoping their regular medical insurance would cover costs, which it typically won’t.

4. “Nobody Told Us We Should Have Insurance”

While the horror stories of huge medical bills while stranded in foreign countries are (thankfully) rare, there are plenty of nightmare tales of people who’ve had to cancel a cruise before they sailed and realised they weren’t about to get a refund since they weren’t insured.

This story was sent to John Heald, the Brand Ambassador for Carnival, and detailed a couple who had to cancel their cruise due to a workplace accident three days before they were due to sail.

As it was well past the final payment deadline, the cruise line is not bound to offer a refund as per the terms of the contract guests signed. And the guests claimed that this was unfair and that nobody had told them to take out insurance.

Cruise lines always recommend guests purchase insurance. Claiming ignorance will never work – it is the responsibility of the traveller to ensure they have the proper cover in place for incidents just like this one.

5. “We Were Healthy… Now, We Aren’t!”

Another person who admits that they took the gamble of cruising without insurance, and then lived to regret it.

This passenger booked a cruise with their partner, and because they felt healthy, they decided not to take out insurance.

Then, just a week before the cruise, the husband needed to have a heart procedure and would no longer be able to sail.

Again, the cruise line is in no obligation to give a refund, since selling the place onboard at that late stage would be extremely difficult. The contract you sign when you book your cruise states that you are liable for the fare once you get past a certain date.

Lesson learned, you would hope – don’t assume that, just because you’re healthy now, things won’t go wrong before you travel! You never know what’s around the corner for you.

6. “I Guess We Are Screwed. Thanks For Nothing.”

Sometimes it’s not a medical issue that can prevent you from joining your cruise, but the elements.

You can’t predict the weather, especially if you’re booking a cruise months out. And if there are storms which mean you can’t even get to the ship, you need to make sure you have travel insurance for cruises that will refund you.

Because guess what – it’s not Carnival’s fault that there are storms holding up your flights either. And nor is it Carnival’s fault that you didn’t make contingency plans for your travel, and what you would do if flights were grounded due to the stormy weather.

The attitude of this person shows that they feel Carnival should bear the responsibility of the lost money, whereas if the passenger had just taken out insurance as they should’ve done, they would at least have got most of their money back and could cruise again in future.

7. Close Family Emergency

This one didn’t end up being quite the horror story that it could’ve been, but it’s a great example of unnecessary stress caused by gambling.

This passenger revealed that they had a close family emergency within a month of their cruise, past the final payment deadline, and they had chosen not to get cruise insurance. They later revealed that the emergency was their dog being diagnosed with cancer.

Thankfully, as the diagnosis was further explored, it was revealed to be treatable, and it sounds like the passenger was still able to go on their cruise and leave their dog with family members during the treatment.

But take heed – it’s not just human medical emergencies that could stop you. If you have a beloved pet then something could happen with them to make you feel like you need to cancel.

Just make sure you’ve read your cruise insurance policy though, as they might only cover cancellation for human medical conditions.

Read more: X Things Your Cruise Insurance Won’t Cover You For!

Indeed, there’s another guest who wrote in to John Heald on Facebook about cruising, dogs and insurance:

This guest didn’t take out insurance, and then while on their cruise they felt too sad to continue their sailing as they were missing their dogs too much.

But without insurance, they were unable to get a flight home without paying for it themselves, and they were unhappy that Carnival would not help. Quite what they expected the cruise line to do is another thing – should a cruise line pay to fly you home if you decide not to continue with your cruise?

(OK, one British cruise line does offer this, but only if you’re unhappy within the first couple of days of your cruise).

Not all cruise insurance policies will cover you for cancellation just because you’ve changed your mind either, but some do offer the option of cancellation for any reason. Another reason to be careful when taking out a policy, so you know exactly what you’re covered for.

And then, if you do get dog-sick, you could at least fly home if you really needed to, and had the cover in place.

8. World Politics At Play

One more thing you can never predict when planning a cruise is what’s going to be happening in the world, and how that might impact your travel plans.

If your cruise is cancelled because of world events, the cruise line will refund you. But sometimes it isn’t quite that straightforward.

That’s a post from a cruise passenger in Israel, who had booked a cruise out of the US to the Caribbean.

Obviously, the cruise is unaffected by world events, but the passenger was unable to get a flight from Israel to the US to begin their cruise, due to the ongoing conflict in the country at the time. 

They were not past the final payment date, but they weren’t too far out from their cruise, so cancelling would’ve meant sacrificing 75% of their cruise fare. They couldn’t risk leaving it longer, as that might mean losing 100% of their fare.

If they had bought insurance, they could’ve recovered most of the costs of their cruise, but they hadn’t and they claimed that it’s common in Israel to only buy insurance a few days before you travel.

They didn’t blame the cruise line for their failure to buy a suitable insurance policy, but they were angry that the company hadn’t shown flexibility to help them in this situation.

But it goes to show, you should always make sure you’re insured from the moment you’ve booked, and not to put off the purchase.

Then there’s this scenario, also related to the Israel/Palestine conflict:

The cruise line has, understandably, refused to offer a refund on the river cruise because of world events taking place 200 miles from where the cruise is sailing. The cruises aren’t cancelled, and so the guest is not entitled to a refund.

The passenger is worried about travelling there and so has lost around $5,000 per person on the trip. But if they had comprehensive cruise cover, they may have been able to get more money back.

Again, it would depend on the policy, because it wouldn’t be automatic to get a refund on a cruise that is sailing. If you choose not to cruise, that’s different from having a reason that is outside your control and that’s stopping you from cruising.

Bonus – Loyalty Points Fairness?

This story doesn’t concern insurance directly, but I found it while researching this guide and wanted to put it to you.

The passenger had to cancel their cruise close to their sailing date. They did have insurance, so would’ve received an almost complete refund from their policy, barring their excess payment. The cruise line kept their money, as it was past the final payment date.

But the passenger felt it was unfair that they wouldn’t be getting their loyalty points for the cruise. After all, they paid for it, and the cruise line got to keep the money, but the policy is you have to sail to get the points.

Who’s right? Should the passenger get their loyalty points despite only being slightly out of pocket, due to their insurance refund?

The Bottom Line

Whether it’s avoiding medical emergencies abroad, or dealing with unexpected reasons to cancel your cruise before you travel, you always have to make sure you have cruise insurance in place.

And don’t dawdle over it. Buy your insurance on the same day you book your cruise. Then if anything happens that would stop you sailing, you know you’ll at least get most of the money back.

The good news is that, for every horror story I found when researching this guide, there were hundreds of success stories where people had used their travel insurance when on a cruise, either for a medical emergency, or to get a refund before they sailed.

Make sure you check out my Cruise Insurance Buyer’s Guide for more information on what to look out for when choosing a policy, and how to get the best prices for your cruise insurance.

Related Topics

Jenni Fielding is the founder of Cruise Mummy. She has worked in the cruise industry since 2015 and has taken over 30 cruises. Now, she helps over 1 million people per month to plan their perfect cruise holidays.

Read more about me