Travel insurance nightmare

[mevelandry]

Hi!

Last week, I had to cancel two trips to the USA that involved cruises because Canada's travel advisories says we should avoid all non-essential travel to the USA and we should avoid cruising: I have contacted three different travel insurance companies, none of them will cover trip cancellation if we test positive (right now, if I went on a cruise, I would have to take three different tests: one to get out of the country, one to board the ship and one more to board the plane to come back to Canada).

I have found 1 company that offered coverage for medical expenses if we caught COVID during the trip... But that's it.

I find the risk of losing our investment, or worse: testing positive and being stuck in the USA for a mandatory quarantine ($$$) a bit too much. That's why we cancelled all plans.

Has anyone found any solution other than staying in Canada this year?

Thanks in advance.

P.s.: If you know of any way to get low cost testing in the USA (I heard Canadian cannot test for free like Americans can, while in the USA) Please share... I would really appreciate it. Spending 500$+ on testing is ridiculous.

 

[ilovetotravel1977]

There are a few insurance companies who are insuring cruise travel now, but no insurance company will cover testing, cancellation due to covid, or quarantining for 14 days. They only cover the medical portion.

Manulife does cover quarantine, but your trip had to be for 31 days or longer.

You can also following this thread on these boards:
https://www.disboards.com/threads/where-in-in-fla-cali-can-canadians-get-a-covid-test.3842196/Lots of great info there.

Canadians are finding some of their local Shoppers Drug Marts are doing Antigen tests (entry into US) for $40.
Depending on your cruise line, Royal and NCL are doing PCR tests for those who require them to fly home. At least for now they are.

 

[Chrisizzle]

P.s.: If you know of any way to get low cost testing in the USA (I heard Canadian cannot test for free like Americans can, while in the USA) Please share... I would really appreciate it. Spending 500$+ on testing is ridiculous.

You can get Free Covid tests at Walgreens in the USA.... even as a Canadian. There are two catches.
1) It is drive through service only. So, you may need to rent a car or go in an UBER.
2) You need to make an advance reservation. That process asks for your address. You can enter your USA hotel address.

https://www.walgreens.com/findcare/covid19/testing#!

This process was suggested by my Dreams Unlimited agent for my upcoming trip. It was confirmed by some Canadian travelers sharing their story on the "DVC Canada" Facebook page.

 

[2Lunds]

Hi!

Last week, I had to cancel two trips to the USA that involved cruises because Canada's travel advisories says we should avoid all non-essential travel to the USA and we should avoid cruising: I have contacted three different travel insurance companies, none of them will cover trip cancellation if we test positive (right now, if I went on a cruise, I would have to take three different tests: one to get out of the country, one to board the ship and one more to board the plane to come back to Canada).

I have found 1 company that offered coverage for medical expenses if we caught COVID during the trip... But that's it.

I find the risk of losing our investment, or worse: testing positive and being stuck in the USA for a mandatory quarantine ($$$) a bit too much. That's why we cancelled all plans.

Has anyone found any solution other than staying in Canada this year?

Thanks in advance.

P.s.: If you know of any way to get low cost testing in the USA (I heard Canadian cannot test for free like Americans can, while in the USA) Please share... I would really appreciate it. Spending 500$+ on testing is ridiculous.

We actually stopped in to speak with a broker in person over the weekend about this. He is going to do some calling around for us, but as far as he knows, policies only cover Covid-19 related MEDICAL costs (so if you actually get sick and need care), no quarantine-related costs if you're asymptomatically positive and need to stay abroad for 14 days.

He said the insurance industry is pretty good at recognizing an opportunity and pivoting quickly - so there's a chance someone could sweep in and start offering a product that would cover those quarantine costs. However, he also said since international travel rules/regulations are so fluid right now, there is also a strong probability that they won't see it as being worthwhile to design a product that might only be useful for a few months to a year.

If he updates me with any new info, I'll post here as well.

 

[mevelandry]

We actually stopped in to speak with a broker in person over the weekend about this. He is going to do some calling around for us, but as far as he knows, policies only cover Covid-19 related MEDICAL costs (so if you actually get sick and need care), no quarantine-related costs if you're asymptomatically positive and need to stay abroad for 14 days.

He said the insurance industry is pretty good at recognizing an opportunity and pivoting quickly - so there's a chance someone could sweep in and start offering a product that would cover those quarantine costs. However, he also said since international travel rules/regulations are so fluid right now, there is also a strong probability that they won't see it as being worthwhile to design a product that might only be useful for a few months to a year.

If he updates me with any new info, I'll post here as well.

Thank you!

 

[Susan2771]

I haven’t researched it myself but what about the cruise line insurance?

 

[ilovetotravel1977]

I haven’t researched it myself but what about the cruise line insurance?

Blue Cross and RBC that I know for sure are selling it.

My work insurance is Blue Cross and they told me that cruises never came off their insurance policies. They just added the covid medical.

 

[thenicefamily]

I believe our WestJet flights include coverage for positive-test hotel stays Stateside. $150/day for 10 days. I didn't really pay a lot of attention because my main concern when travelling to the US is always medical coverage and, for that, we've bought a policy with TUGO who are, coincidentally, the company that covers that WestJet included insurance.

 

[Starwind]

Short answer: No other option.

Longer answer:

Tugo has a policy that is an add-on to their normal travel emergency medical policy that provides some coverage toward the 14 day quarantine if you test positive. HOWEVER (1) the policy as stated is only for those who are unvaccinated -- BUT in the other insurance thread for Canadians one of the posters said they contacted Tugo and Tugo said a vaccinated traveller could actually purchase it, so it may be worthwhile to contact Tugo and see (and get in writing that a vaccinated traveler would be fully covered by it); and (2) any travel where the Govt of Canada has a level 4 avoid all travel advisory in effect is NOT covered so cruises right now are NOT covered until that advisory is downgraded. https://www.tugo.com/

Likewise, their cancelation and interuption policies all have the "level 4" exclusion, which as far as I am aware all Canadian travel insurance has (and did even before covid). Some company's policies still have additional covid-specific exclusions. Many companies, including Tugo, have stopped selling CAFR insurance.

There may be other insurers getting creative and starting to come back with policies like Tugo but you will run into the Level 4 rule for all of them, which knocks out cruise travel.

The only option I am aware of right now is the cruise line's own insurance, but as you are likely aware the medical portion of those policies is generally way too low for comfort for Canadians traveling. For example DCL's Vacation Protection Plan covers only upto US$10,000 for "accident/sickness medical". Compare that to most Canadian travel emergency medical policies which cover upto CAD$5 or $10 MILLION. 10K may not even cover one day in a stateside ICU... In addition, the cruise line insurance will only cover what you purchase through the cruise line.

 

[ilovetotravel1977]

I believe we are at a level 3 for avoid non-essential travel and possibly for cruising?
A level 4 is avoid all travel according to the website:

https://travel.gc.ca/travelling/health-safety/travel-health-notices

 

[22Tink]

It's level 3 advisory that Tugo won't cover quarantine, which is where we're at right now. I've looked into it at great lengths and when my broker contacted them directly they said no coverage for quarantine expenses if Canada is at a travel advisory of 3 or higher. They'll cover medical expenses, but not quarantine if you test positive. I copied and pasted the portion of the policy that states the coverage exemption but I can't remember which thread it was in now. I'll try to find it again. Not sure if cruises are treated differently but she wouldn't sell me the policy for our trip to DL without confirming that I understood no quarantine coverage.

 

[mevelandry]

I haven’t researched it myself but what about the cruise line insurance?

Didn't take any at the time of booking as I already have travel insurance from work and credit card. Hindsight 20/20.

 

[mevelandry]

Blue Cross and RBC that I know for sure are selling it.

My work insurance is Blue Cross and they told me that cruises never came off their insurance policies. They just added the covid medical.

I've only checked Blue Cross for COVID. Other companies I called aren't covering cruises at this moment.

 

[lovethesun12]

I'm looking into the future and wondering will this change as restrictions are lifted? I was planning on a trip in 2022 and haven't even looked into the difference in insurance yet.

 

[2Lunds]

I'm looking into the future and wondering will this change as restrictions are lifted? I was planning on a trip in 2022 and haven't even looked into the difference in insurance yet.

JUST MY OPINION - but I suspect this will change after October when all Canadians are required to be vaccinated for air/train travel. I can see a scenario where Canada and the USA enter a travel bubble and no longer require testing and the resulting quarantine.

I won't be surprised if more airlines and other businesses start to make vaccinations mandatory with the recent FDA full approval. As it stands right now, flight crew who refuse shots are limited to the routes they can work, and I'm sure that's going to get tiring, and will obviously have a negative impact on those folk's income as well.

Within a few months, they'll have stats on the number of vaccinated travelers refused boarding due to breakthrough infections and that will likely be a factor in dropping testing as well.

ETA: I believe FDA/Health Canada approval for kids 5-11 is expected around October as well - another element in changing restrictions.

 

[Starwind]

Didn't take any at the time of booking as I already have travel insurance from work and credit card. Hindsight 20/20.

For future reference, at least for DCL you can add their insurance any time before PIF date, as it doesn't kick in until PIF. It cannot be added after PIF.

Basically, it kicks in once you have funds paid that are not fully refundable, which in most cases is PIF date. You would have to check if you have a rate (i.e concierge and some of the special rates) where the deposit or some part of the fare is not refundable from day one.

SW

 

[Starwind]

This is Canada's current advisory regarding cruise travel: https://travel.gc.ca/travel-covid/travel-restrictions/cruise

"Avoid all travel on cruise ships until further notice"

You can also see here: https://travel.gc.ca/travelling/advisories

Official Global Travel Advisories

• Avoid non-essential travel outside Canada until further notice
• Avoid all cruise ship travel outside Canada until further notice

This is why the difference in how some Canadian travel insurance handles cruise ship travel (which is "avoid all", the highest level, and therefore not covered at all) vs non-cruise ship travel (which is "avoid non-essential", the second-highest level, which some plans will cover, though others still will not - ALWAYS CHECK!).

 

[mevelandry]

For future reference, at least for DCL you can add their insurance any time before PIF date, as it doesn't kick in until PIF. It cannot be added after PIF.

Basically, it kicks in once you have funds paid that are not fully refundable, which in most cases is PIF date. You would have to check if you have a rate (i.e concierge and some of the special rates) where the deposit or some part of the fare is not refundable from day one.

SW

It was MSC and Royal Caribbean. (Both are now past PIF date.)

 

[mevelandry]

JUST MY OPINION - but I suspect this will change after October when all Canadians are required to be vaccinated for air/train travel. I can see a scenario where Canada and the USA enter a travel bubble and no longer require testing and the resulting quarantine.

I won't be surprised if more airlines and other businesses start to make vaccinations mandatory with the recent FDA full approval. As it stands right now, flight crew who refuse shots are limited to the routes they can work, and I'm sure that's going to get tiring, and will obviously have a negative impact on those folk's income as well.

Within a few months, they'll have stats on the number of vaccinated travelers refused boarding due to breakthrough infections and that will likely be a factor in dropping testing as well.

ETA: I believe FDA/Health Canada approval for kids 5-11 is expected around October as well - another element in changing restrictions.

Cruising can restart in Canada after November 1, 2021... Which makes me hope for good news later this fall.

 

[2Lunds]

I just spotted this on Delta's site while I was checking on our flights booked for the end of January. It looks like at the end of July they added a product similar to the one that (I believe) West Jet offers, which specifically covers cancellation/interruption due to C-19. It's not cheap at $306.00 per person, but it's something at least. (Also, I don't know if that's USD or CAD. When I'm logged in as a Canadian passenger, the flight prices are quoted in CAD, but I don't know about this).

https://azcontent.us/alert/2019-nov...ent=booking-path&utm_term=3158567461063644311