Due to the uncertainty and impact of COVID-19, we can temporarily only cover certain travellers and trips. Please get a quote to check your eligibility.
If we are unable to currently offer you cover, please email info@fastcover.com.au with your trip details and we will contact you when you may be eligible for cover.
Australians love to cruise! And being the sixth largest country on the planet, and the world’s largest island, that’s a whole lot of coastline for you to explore!
Even if your cruise is along the Australian coastline, your domestic cruise plans may still hit a snag (figuratively speaking!). Buying Australian cruise ship travel insurance can help if sudden illness, injury or severe weather prevents you from starting or even continuing your cruise.
Domestic cruise insurance provides you with cover while you’re cruising along the Australian coastline and sleeping onboard the cruise ship.
If you’re simply taking a ferry ride for a few hours in the harbour or just going on a river cruise, you can purchase our Domestic Plus travel insurance.
Even if you’re simply taking cruises around the Australian coast, it’s a good idea to be covered just in case something unexpected happens: you may have to cancel your Australian cruise before you’re even able to leave your home due to sickness or injury, not be able to continue your domestic cruise trip because you’ve injured yourself while embarking or disembarking, or accidentally drop and damage your phone while taking photos of the stunning view.
Another reason to consider buying domestic cruise travel insurance is that you may be injured whilst visiting a remote location, and need to be evacuated to where the Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS) or ambulance is able to pick you up to take you to a medical facility for treatment.
Buying Australian domestic cruise travel insurance can reimburse you for your unexpected expenses or provide you with evacuation cover.
The cover that you can have for your domestic cruise will depend on the type of travel insurance you choose to buy. You can have cover for:
The Cancellation benefit can reimburse you for the payments or deposits you’ve already made towards your trip, not just for the cruise around Australia itself, but also any domestic flights, accommodation and excursions.
This benefit provides you with cover before you leave for your cruise, and also during your cruise if you have to cut your trip short due to a sickness or injury.
You have cover for many activities that may be offered on your cruise in Australia, including snorkelling, paddle boarding, diving up to 10 m and fishing.
Into adventure cruising? With the Adventure Pack add-on, you can be covered for more adventurous activities including scuba diving up to a maximum depth of 30m, water skiing and deep sea fishing.
The emergency evacuation benefit provides cover for you to be evacuated to where you can be picked up by air or land ambulance, or the Royal Flying Doctor Service in the event of a medical emergency.
Cameras, hearing aids, phones and the other personal belongings that you bring with you on your domestic cruise can be covered under the luggage and personal belongings benefit.
If your cruise around Australia is disrupted because you, your travelling companion or a family member back home is seriously sick or injured or a natural disaster prevents your cruise from continuing, you can claim for the additional transport and accommodation expenses that you incur.
If your planned transport is delayed for more than 6 hours from your scheduled departure time, you can claim for the travel delay expenses that you may incur as a result of the delay, including accommodation, food and taxi fares.
If your booked transport is delayed or cancelled, which means you’ll miss your domestic cruise, you can be reimbursed for the cost of another mode of transport to get you cruising on time.
You can claim to be reimbursed for cash up to $250, if this cash is stolen from you while you’re on-board your ship or from a secure locked compartment.
Cruises that take you along the Australian coastline, along rivers and estuaries can be covered by Australian cruise travel insurance.
Some of these cruises include:
If you’re not sure if Australian cruise travel insurance can provide cover you for your type of cruise, contact us now to confirm via email info@fastcover.com.au or phone 1300 409 322.
We are not able to cover the following:
As you can use your Medicare Card or private health insurance to cover your medical expenses or hospitalisation, there’s no medical cover for domestic cruises (including for out of pocket expenses).
If your luggage is delayed, misdirected or misplaced by your airline or cruise operator, you should contact your airline or the cruise line as soon as you can.
You should notify your bank immediately if your credit or debit cards are lost, stolen or damaged.
We can only provide cover for domestic cruises that follow the Australian coastline, along rivers and estuaries. Any domestic cruises which take you out into open waters away from the Australian mainland are not able to be covered under Australian cruise travel insurance, including cruises that cruise in the region of or stop at:
You do not need Australian cruise travel insurance if you are only taking a river cruise. For river cruises, you can purchase Domestic Travel Insurance.
For cruising in open waters away from the Australian mainland, you can purchase international cruise travel insurance.
If you’re unsure if your domestic cruise can be covered, contact us now via email info@fastcover.com.au or phone 1300 409 322 to confirm.
Cruises along the Australian coast give you the advantage over an overseas trip: if you’re sick or injured, you’ll be admitted to an Australian hospital and be treated by Australian doctors, and you can use your Medicare card and your private health insurance to cover the medical expenses.
The conditions around the Coronavirus epidemic will evolve and change over time.
If you or your travelling companion require medical care, you would have medical cover under Medicare and/or your private health insurance.
Small ship cruising has been able to kickstart the 2020/2021 Australian cruise season, as their smaller passenger capacity means they are able to operate relatively safely in the current environment with COVID-19 safe plans in place.
While the Australian cruise lines have introduced very rigorous COVID-19 screening processes, you should still keep an eye on developments surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic situation before and during your domestic cruise, as these developments may affect your Australian cruise travel insurance.
Useful resources to keep an eye on include:
Please note there is a General Exclusion for Pandemics and Epidemics, which means there is no cover for SARS-CoV-2 virus, the COVID-19 disease or any mutation of either.
When you’re on shore excursions on the mainland, travel insurance for domestic cruising can provide you with cover for:
If you’re seriously sick or injured in a remote location and need urgent medical assistance, you should contact our Emergency Assistance Team on 02 8320 7999 or the AMSA (Australian Maritime Safety Authority) on 1800 641 792 / +61 2 6230 6811 to arrange an evauation for you.
The repatriation and evacuation benefit provides for any necessary private transport (e.g. a helicopter or seaplane) to pick you up and transfer you to where an ambulance or the Royal Flying Doctor Service can take over.
As you’re travelling domestically, there’s no cover under your domestic cruise travel insurance for medical costs in Australia, including air ambulance (plane or helicopter), the Royal Flying Doctor Service or road ambulance. Once you’re transported to a location where an ambulance or Royal Flying Doctor Service are able to pick you up, your Medicare card or private health insurance can be used for any medical expenses that you incur.
Travel insurance for Australian cruises is available to: Australian cruising travel insurance can be purchased by:
The best travel insurance for domestic cruising is one that’s able to cover you for the type of cruise and other activities you're planning on doing.
When looking for a travel insurance policy for your domestic cruise, you should consider what you’re going to be doing and what you want to be covered for, such as:
These considerations should be taken into account when you compare cruise travel insurance policies, so you understand what you’re covered for before and during your cruise.
Everyone’s holidays are different. You may be travelling purely for your cruise, or you may choose to holiday a few days before and after the cruise to do some sightseeing, rent a car or visit family and friends, so the cost of travel insurance for your domestic cruise will be specific to you.
The cheapest domestic cruising travel insurance policy that you can find may not be the best cruising travel insurance for you.
The cost of travel insurance for your Australian cruise will take into account such things as:
As the cruise is in Australia, you should select the Domestic region, choose “Yes” to the Cruise option, and select the answers which best describe your cruise. This will ensure that you have cover while you’re on the mainland and also while on your cruise. If you do not select “Yes” when asked about going on a cruise, you won’t have cover if you go on a cruise in Australia.
You can get a quote online, send an email to info@fastcover.com.au or call our friendly and helpful team to put together a quote for you on 1300 409 322.
Yes you can! Domestic cruise insurance for Australian seniors is available for travellers up to the age of 89.
So if you’re keen on a holiday along Australian shores, you can buy domestic cruise travel insurance to cover you just in case things don’t go to plan.
It’s up to you when you purchase your cruise travel insurance cover. You can purchase it:
When considering when to buy travel insurance for your domestic cruise, you should keep in mind that the Cancellation benefit is activated when you purchase your cruise travel insurance policy (if it is included in the policy that you have chosen). This is particularly useful because many cruises can be booked up to 12 months in advance.
The cancellation benefit provides you with cover in the event that you have to unexpectedly cancel your cruise in Australia due to sickness, injury or a natural disaster like bushfires. If you have cancellation cover on your cruise travel insurance, and you can’t go on your cruise, you can be reimbursed for the prepayments that you’ve already made for your trip, including the domestic cruise itself, flights, accommodation and tours.
Buying travel insurance for your Australian cruise can give you the peace of mind to explore Australia’s unique coastline, and the out of the way areas that you wouldn’t normally be able to access on a larger cruise ship.
There are two type of cruises that you can take in Australia, and the key difference is in the size of the cruise ship itself:
Large ship cruises take you out into the sea or ocean from a couple of days to several weeks or even months and can accommodate more than 200 passengers.
Some companies who offer this type of cruising in Australia include P&O, Carnival, Princess and Royal Caribbean.
If you’re interested in finding out more about large ship or international cruising, check out our Cruise travel insurance page.
Small ship cruises take you along the Australian coastline and can explore rivers and estuaries and have a capacity up to 200 passengers.
The companies who offer this type of cruising include Kimberley Expeditions, Odyssey Expeditions, Coral Expeditions and Kimberley Quest.
With such a vast coastline such as Australia’s, the domestic cruising itineraries are as varied as they are interesting, and include:
A west coast cruise in the Kimberley region can go from Broome to Cockatoo Island, Exmouth, Wyndham, Mitchell Plateau, Darwin, Broome or reverse, and may include a trip to the Rowley Shoals.
As one of the natural wonders of the world, a Great Barrier Reef cruise should be on all our lists. Cruises depart Cairns to Cairns or Gold Coast.
Hobart to Hobart cruises and can be Tasmania circumnavigation cruise.
Explore Western Australia’s coastline from Freemantle to Broome or reverse and may include the Albrohos Islands.
Sydney to Sydney cruises operate for 3 to 4 days and some include exploration of the Sydney’s Hawkesbury River.
Cover currently unavailable for cruises departing Sydney.
The Rowley Shoals is three reefs located 190 nautical miles west of Broome off the Western Australia coast.
There are a variety of cruises that cruise across the top part of Australia visiting various ports. These top end cruises can go from Cairns to Broome (or reverse) and visit Cape York, Torres Strait and Arnhem Land.
Cruises offered include Adelaide to Ceduna.
The Sydney to Hobart race without the stress! Watch the start of the race and then leisurely trail the fleet in comfort.
Some companies which offer these domestic cruise options include:
Want action, relaxation, adventure, scenery and luxury? If you’ve already been on worldwide cruises, not keen on rubbing shoulders with a few thousand other happy travellers on a large cruise ship, and wary about a potential mass transmission of diseases and viruses including COVID-19, or you simply want to explore more of Australia, domestic cruising may be the Australian cruise holiday you’ve always dreamt of.
Some other benefits of taking a cruise along the Australian coastline include:
Yes, with Fast Cover you can take out cruise travel insurance, which can provide evacuation and repatriation cover while you’re on your cruise ship. Travel insurance for cruising can also cover you while you’re seeing the sights on the mainland.
Read more about cruising holidays:It depends on what you want to be covered for! You should compare travel insurance policies to find the best travel insurance that suits the type of trip that you want to do.
The benefits that are frequently looked for in cruise travel insurance include cover for:
You should also consider the type of trip you're taking, and your particular situation, including:Â
Please note: any advice is general advice only and has not taken into account your individual objectives, financial situation or needs.
Consider the PDS and TMD at Fastcover.com.au prior to deciding whether this policy is right for you, as policy terms, conditions, exclusions and limits apply.
Click Here to read the Cruise Travel Insurance Guide, find answers to your questions or get a Cruise Travel Insurance Quote.
^ Price as at 27/10/2024 compared to the price calculated today for this policy.
* See Product Disclosure Statement for full terms and conditions and exclusions and limits that apply.