Tanny took out a travel insurance policy and paid extra to include cruise plus cover.
What happened
Tanny bought a travel insurance policy and paid an extra premium to include ‘Cruise Plus cover’. The policy provided certain benefits if the policyholder catches Covid-19, such as cancellation cover and emergency medical expenses abroad.
Tanny travelled on a cruise, which departed as planned, but the cruise ship was unable to dock at a number of ports due to government restrictions as a result of Covid-19.
Tanny made a claim under the ‘Change in Cruise Itinerary’ section of his ‘Cruise Plus’ cover, which provided payment of a fixed benefit in the event of a cruise missing ports. But, Tanny’s insurer said his claim wasn’t covered as ‘Cruise Plus’ Cover excluded claims arising from Covid-19 or other pandemics.
Tanny felt the cover he’d been provided with was confusing, so he complained. Unhappy with the insurer’s final response, he contacted us.
What we said
We considered Tanny’s policy documents, including the content of his Insurance Product Information Document (‘IPID’), which is a document for policyholders to have an ‘at a glance’ summary of their cover.
We thought the IPID, on page one, clearly stated there was no cover for Covid-19 unless cover was specified within the policy wording. The IPID, also at page one, said there was no cover for epidemics or pandemics as declared by the World Health Organisation.
The policy terms and conditions had the same wording.
We said, although Tanny had cover for Covid-19 in certain scenarios, such as cancellation and emergency medical expenses abroad, there was no cover for Covid-19 related claims under the section of the policy he was trying to claim.
Overall, we said we thought Tanny’s policy documents made it clear there were limitations on the cover available for Covid-19. So, we didn’t ask Tanny’s insurer to do anything more.