Cruisers over 70 are struggling to find Covid travel insurance for their holidays, with some companies charging almost three times the normal price.

Readers have told Cruise Passenger they have sought advice from major insurance companies but found “price gouging” quotes as high as business class fares.

“Aussie cruisers are aged between 55 and 75 your example of two 45-year-old passenger is really pie in the sky stuff. We just tried to book a worldwide multi trip annual through all the insurers you mentioned and the prices for two people fully vaccinated aged 62 and 68 ranged from $3500 to $8500 ridiculous pricing aligning with business class airfares. Looking like nothing but price gouging by our insurance companies banking on peoples fear when Southern Cross Travel Insurance last November gave the same policy type for $1250,” wrote Vic.

“We also tried a month-long policy for international and multi night cruising and the cheapest was $1900 the worst was $3800.

“When you compare to the USA, Australians are well and truly being ripped off by insurance companies with regards to pricing and benefits.”

Another reader said they had ended up having to get cover through their health fund, rather than big insurance companies.

“We are both in our 70s and have some pre-existing medical conditions. We are going on a 16-day cruise to NZ in December and have paid roughly $900 for cover through our health fund which covers cruising and the pre-existing conditions and treatment for COVID onboard, but not cancellation due to COVID,” said reader Dena Jordan on Facebook.

“Covermore quoted around $1300; NIB was too complicated to navigate through the pre-existing conditions; and other insurers wouldn’t even quote for over 70s or wouldn’t cover the pre-existing conditions at all.”

According to Canstar more than 50 travel insurance providers on its database are currently selling new policies.

Most offer some form of cover for COIVD-19 related events but be sure to look at the detail.

For domestic and international cruising, 1Cover Travel Insurance, Allianz, Cover-More and NIB include COVID-19 diagnosis. Most include medical and hospital expenses, but Cover-More does not.

We compared a two-week cruise in the Mediterranean in July 2022 for two passengers aged 71 and here’s how the companies stacked up against each other. Bear in mind, this is a cruise only policy without any additional extra time spent onshore.

NIB

NIB will cover both passengers from $788 with a comprehensive travel insurance plan. The policy includes unlimited emergency travel arrangements and accommodation expenses, unlimited overseas medical expenses, $16,000 worth of hospital compensation, $1,000 of post-hospital accommodation, unlimited medical evacuation and repatriation and more.

Allianz

One of the world’s largest insurance companies offer a comprehensive as well as a multi-trip policy. Allianz’s comprehensive cruise policy covers unlimited medical cover while cruising, unlimited evacuation cover from ship to shore and up to $500 or $50 per day if you are confined to your cabin. Allianz’s comprehensive policy with the cruise pack costs $364.18 for two people or $1,170.98 for a multi-trip policy.

1Cover

1Cover’s comprehensive policy is priced at $675.71 for two people and offers unlimited overseas emergency medical assistance, unlimited emergency medical and hospital expenses and up to $1,500 if you are confined to your cabin. But the policy does not cover cancellation fees and lost deposits due to COVID-19. 1Cover are currently having a sale and the original price of this policy was $711.27.

Cover More

Cover More offers an International Comprehensive policy that costs $722 for two people. The policy includes unlimited overseas medical expenses and cancellation cover of up to $8000. It also covers up to $500 of Travel Services Provider Insolvency.