Travel insurance for Antarctica

[alan.wilson]

Early in 2024, my wife and I are going on an expedition cruise to Antarctica, which will, weather permitting include onshore/offboat activities. This will be followed by some travel in Argentina and Chile. Naturally, we investigated travel insurance. After a bit of homework, I decided to go with InsureandGo, on the grounds of price, coverage, and previous good experience. So I went online and started the process. I selected a Cruise policy with Destination: Worldwide including North and South America and Antarctica. Seemed to meet our requirements perfectly. When I got to the end, I had to check a box indicating acceptance of several conditions, most of which were standard, but including the condition “I/we will not travel to or in Afghanistan, Antarctica……(insert dangerous country here)”. Understandably, I was a bit taken aback by this. So I rang InsureandGo, and was advised that, despite the wording, the PDS did include cruises to Antarctica. I waded through the PDS, found the bit referred to, and was a little more reassured. I finalised the process, checked the acceptance box, and paid the premium. When I printed out the insurance certificate that was issued, I was yet again alarmed to find that the Destination now said: Worldwide including USA, Canada, Mexico, Central & South America. Notice something missing? Furthermore, there was now a statement that said “This policy will not cover any loss, injury or illness, dental, damage or legal liability arising directly or indirectly from travel in, to or through: Afghanistan, Antarctica……(dangerous country)”.

By now, I was thoroughly confused and alarmed. I’d bought a policy that specifically included Antarctica, but also specifically excluded Antarctica, despite what the PDS said. I needed to know which version InsureandGo would rely on in court, if push came to shove. So I emailed them, asking them to give me a definitive answer, in writing, that would give me some certainty about coverage and something to use later in possible claims. The answer came back that we would be covered on the boat, but the minute we set foot on shore in Antarctica or left the boat we’d be on our own. This is obviously not consistent with our travel plans, and I cancelled the policy under the cool-off provisions. To InsureandGo’s credit, they quickly cancelled the policy and issued a refund.

If I hadn’t been so attentive to detail and awake to the inconsistencies, I’d have paid the premium, gone to Antarctica, and, if nothing happened onshore, would have been none the wiser. On the other hand, if one of us had broken a leg on the ice, we would have been in for a very rude shock and a lot of pain, both physical and financial. I have pointed out the inconsistencies we encountered to InsureandGo, and it remains to be seen whether they clean up their policy documentation. I should say that we have used InsureandGo for previous travel and have only had good experiences with them. It is also quite possible that other travel insurers will cover Antarctic cruises, but will not include onshore activities, and that that information is not immediately obvious, so that expedition travellers might believe they are covered when they are not, with potentially severe consequences.

The moral of the story is to make very sure that if you are taking an Antarctic expedition cruise, your travel insurance covers offboat/onshore activities in Antarctica.

[mark_m]

Good advice. Looking online there are some interesting options. The following (includes one link to an insurer) is an eye opener.

What Kind of Insurance Do You Need When Travelling to Antarctica?

Once one leaves the boat it appears as much of an adventure as climbing Everest? Add to that risks around weather, schedule changes and the complications of sailing remotely.

The suggestion of US$1M cover for emergency medical evacuation possibly assumes they can get to you if necessary!

[alan.wilson]

We went down there on a non-expedition cruise, in early 2020, just before Covid exploded. I don’t remember what our travel insurance cost then, but I’m absolutely certain that it was substantially less than we’re being quoted for this cruise. If you think about the risks that are involved, and the responses that might be required, having a heart attack on shore would be no different from having a heart attack onboard, and no more or less likely. Breaking a leg on shore would be no different to breaking a leg falling down the stairs on board. Many of the complications of travelling to such a remote location would apply whether or not the adverse event happened on or off the boat.

There would certainly be a few events off boat that would entail risks not encountered onboard, such as falling out of a kayak, or having your zodiac rammed by a rogue orca, but I’m not sure that such relatively unlikely events would justify the huge premium differences between non-expedition and expedition cruises to Antarctica. An emergency medical evacuation, even if it were possible, would cost a fortune, but non-expedition cruises still offer cheaper policies that cover such eventualities for people who never get off the boat.

[mark_m]

@alan.wilson

but I’m not sure that such relatively unlikely events would justify the huge premium differences between non-expedition and expedition cruises to Antarctica.

Expect the unexpected? As unlikely as certain events might be there is the possibility an event could involve a larger number than one off boat. Another thought is whether anyone can reliably identify all the possible events.

The actuaries will have a very limited amount of data/resources especially historical to refer to. How to price for something that has never happened? The White Island NZ tragedy is worth a thought. It added miscalculation, human factors into the mix.

I wonder how well prepared and equiped a cruise is for any off boat adventure emergency? Are there operators like the White Star Line which in hindsight had sold a false promise and sailed with too few life boats? What level of expertise and experience is shared by those holding your hand off boat? Can one rely on the chain of command - decision making procedures of the management to make the right decisions with the best information, or metaphorically sail off full steam ahead in the dead of night looking for an iceberg to run into?

The insurers have the option of pricing the risk against a global population of insured adventurers, hopeful Antarctica over time is no more costly in payouts.
Or to look in isolation to the relatively small numbers of sales of policies for travellers leaving the cruise boat in Antarctica and add a large margin just in case.

Hypothetically, why is the cruise operator not covering the costs of the risks in a surcharge for the off boat portion? Would they get a better premium for a group? Would they be better able to negotiate insurance based on the quality of their preparation and support for the off boat activities?

Did any of your insurance quotes rely on knowing which operator, vessel and off boat activities?

[stamp1]

I suppose when insurers are unable to evaluate a risk, they endeavour to make their customers bear the liabilty.

[porcheen]

So have you found a policy that covers what you need? Did you have to read all the PDS for each policy? I’m looking at Egypt and because it’s Reconsider rated by dfat, my usual policy doesn’t cover it. I’m wondering how much research this is going to take tho I’ve emailed a tour company to see if their policy covers it.

[JodiBird]

Thanks for bringing this up @alan.wilson . If it’s ok with you, I will send a link of this thread to our contact at Insure and Go and prompt them to address the issue.

[alan.wilson]

I haven’t yet found a policy that unequivocally meets my needs, although I’m still looking. Just about all companies will cover a cruise to Antarctica. The critical issue in my case is that on an expedition cruise you get off the boat and go onshore. After I cancelled my original InsureandGo policy, because it didn’t cover offboat activities, I went to my state automobile association to get a quote from them. The agent advised me that I’d need a Snow Sports cover option, for an additional $1300, and since I didn’t have the PDS in front of me, I couldn’t argue. At about the same time, some friends who are doing the same trip went to another office of the same automobile association, and also got a quote, which turned out to be considerably cheaper. When I compared the two quotes, I found that ours included the Snow Sports option, but theirs didn’t. After I read the PDS, it was abundantly clear that it was completely unnecessary, and when I pushed back, they quickly removed the Snow Sports requirement. So the moral of that story is to not believe everything that travel agents tell you, especially after you’ve read the PDS, because you might be paying a lot more for stuff you don’t actually need.

As for Egypt, we’re talking polar opposites - bad pun. I would think that Egypt would be a less complicated destination than Antarctica, and you should be able to get the info you need from the PDS, which is certainly a pain to read, unless you can find the relevant bit quickly. In my case, I’ve had to read a number of PDS and sometimes the answer still isn’t clear. In several cases I’ve had to email the companies directly for confirmation, and unfortunately all I’ve got back is snow - second bad pun! I almost get the impression that they don’t actually fully understand their own policies. Or at least, that on an expedition cruise to Antarctica, you get off the boat (subject to the weather, of course). Who knew? Not them, apparently, in some cases. So if you want a definitive answer, because if you get it wrong you could be up for a bomb, then unfortunately you have to do your homework, and don’t accept what people tell you unless it’s in writing.

[alan.wilson]

Further to my last post, things have now progressed to peak Pythonesque.

I emailed World2Cover, explaining that I had read their PDS, and that we were not going to be doing anything onshore in Antarctica that required coverage under their Ski and Winter Sports Cover option. I also explained that we were not going to be doing anything that could be classified as extreme activity, that all we were going to be doing was walking in the snow to visit penguin colonies and to view the scenery. I asked if we were therefore covered for these onshore activities without having to purchase Ski and Winter Sports cover .

This is what I got back:

"As General Advice; As you will be getting off the boat Antarctica has Glacier which comes under Glacier walking; under our policy; you will need to add on ski/winter sports option to be covered whilst doing any outdoor activities in Antarctica. This is on page 27 of our PDS;

Winter Sports means leisure bigfoot Skiing, cat Skiing, cross country Skiing (along a designated cross country Ski route only), glacier Skiing, ice hockey, ice skating, luging (on ice only), mono Skiing, Off-piste Skiing (with a professional guide only), recreational Ski racing, recreational Skiing, snowmobiling and tobogganing. In all cases “Skiing” also means snowboarding. It does not mean any of the above activities when they are undertaken for competition, including training or practising, purposes."

Yes, indeed, Antarctica has many glacier, and also has active volcano, although mentioning the latter might just be inviting further trouble. So now they’re just making stuff up. As you can see from the above, “glacier walking” is not mentioned. Glacier skiing is, but we’re not going to be doing that. I know from experience that we’ll see many glaciers, but walking on them would be asking for trouble, and I’m sure that no reputable company (and ours is) would ever contemplate that. In any case, in the extremely unlikely event that we did walk on a glacier, that, as written in their own PDS, does not require ski/winter sports cover.

To say that I’m getting a bit off-piste with travel insurance companies and their incompetence is somewhat of an understatement. To those who ask why we just don’t cough up for the ski/snow sport cover and stop the faffing around, we’re talking a considerable increase in premium, which, according to the companies’ own PDSs, is not warranted. They don’t seem to be able to comprehend their own PDSs.

[JodiBird]

@alan.wilson that sounds like a very frustrating experience to get travel insurance cover for Antarctcia. When I speak with the insurer’s customer service my feeling is that they will often default to either saying you need extra cover, or it’s just not covered at all. Which reflects what you’re saying.

Have you tried World Nomads? I notice that they allow you to choose ‘Glacier walking’ as a covered activity. At the risk of going down another rabbit hole, my limited knowledge of Antartica is that it is mostly ice sheet sitting on top of land, and that ice sheet may or may not be defined as an ice glacier itself.

I’ve forwarded this thread on to Insure and Go so they can look at more clearly defining the cover for Antartica. Although this increasingly looks like an industry wide issue.

[alan.wilson]

I just tried World Nomads, which brings up yet another hurdle in travel insurance. They told me to go away, because I’m too old for them. I’m not that old, relatively speaking, at least in my mind, and other insurance companies are happy to take (a lot of) my money at this age, even if I do go “glacier walking”. Speaking of which, I imagine that the insurance companies’ lawyers would have a field day defining when snow turns into ice, and the difference between walking on snow and walking on ice. I imagine that we’ll mostly be walking on what I would consider snow, because ice is too difficult and risky.

[Michelle24]

Hi Alan,

Did you have any luck with this? I am travelling at the same time to Antarctica and I am hitting all the same issues! I have had a look at Covermore which seems to be the best that I can find.

Would love to hear about any further investigation you’ve done.

[mark_m]

Welcome to the community, @Michelle24

For those setting foot on Antarctica, what ever the assessed hazards might be emergency support is limited and backup distant.

This topic has opened my eyes to some of the issues of booking a journey to Antarctica. Firstly one needs to find all the answers and costs associated with insurance. Noting the operator may take care to present a positive imagine of the promised experience, without alarming or discouraging prospective customers. IE are the risks down played while the operator avoids pointing to the probable high costs of personal cover?

The closer to home White Island NZ tragedy has demonstrated some of the complexities around responsibility, liability and insurance. More complex, Antarctica is not the legal territory of any one nation. For the Expedition - ship board and land components where is the jurisdiction applicable and by that choice are there limitations? Many vessels operate under “flags of convenience” for good reason. It’s left for us hapless consumers to come to an understanding, that some of the best legal experts may find difficulty clarifying. How any shore component is presented, bundled and if there are any added T&Cs may hold useful content.

P.S.
FAQs, one can also navigate to the home page. IAATO members have agreed to voluntary standards as well as any agreed international requirements when accessing Antarctica. There is little guidance on personal insurance, although members have agreed to meet a minimum for the expedition operators.

Frequently Asked Questions - IAATO

[alan.wilson]

Hi Michelle24,

Sorry about the delayed response, I’ve effectively been offline while travelling for the last month. Not to Antarctica, I should add. After being messed around by way too many insurance companies who couldn’t or wouldn’t give me a straight answer, or who would insist that because I’d be surrounded by ice and snow I needed snow sports cover, I eventually found what I wanted. I went with nib, who gave me straight answers, and whose premium was better than most others. It was still expensive, as all insurance seems to be these days, but you’d be mad to travel without it, and compared to the rest, it was lower.

I found nib after desperately googling “travel insurance Antarctica”. Up came an Antarctic expedition cruise site that recommended nib for Australian travellers. I didn’t really know much about nib, other than that I thought it was a health fund, but I checked it out and it seemed to be just what I needed. It’s a while since I went through the exercise, but I seem to recall that Covermore had some negatives, and I can’t remember what they were. Anyway, you should be able to do a comparison between Covermore and nib and work out what’s best for you.

Best of luck on your cruise. We may even be on the same boat.

[Michelle24]

Thank you so much Alan, you’re an absolute legend.

I was definitely in that phase of desperation too and couldn’t find anything and NIB hadn’t come up in my searches, so I am so thankful for your recommendation.

We may be on the same boat! Enjoy your trip and if I see your name ill be sure to come and say hello!

Thanks again.