Whether you’re going on a short cruise in Australian waters, a Pacific cruise, an around-the-world ocean cruise or a river cruise in Europe or Asia, we’ve got wide range of travel insurance for you to choose from.
This cover includes overseas emergency medical and hospital expenses which, once your ship leaves Australian shores, are not covered by either Medicare or your private health insurer.
What’s covered?
Depending on the type of travel insurance you choose, your cover can include:
Terms, conditions, limits and exclusions apply.
For full details, please read the Product Disclosure Statement.
Choose your cover
You can select from four types of travel insurance for your international or Australian-waters cruise; the following two are popular among cruise-holidayers:
(When deciding what type of cover might suit you, you’ll need to consider your own particular circumstances.)
Comprehensive Travel Insurance
Going on a no-expenses-spared cruise? You may wish to consider our most comprehensive cover, which includes our full list of benefits and entitles you to claim up to our highest benefit amounts.
Read more
Essential Travel Insurance
If you want a critical level of protection at a lower price, this policy – which is cheaper but still includes the essential benefits – might be the one for you.
Read more
Compare all insurance
Compare all Budget Direct travel insurance before you buy and get the cover you want.
Compare all benefits and features
Upgrade your cover
For an additional premium, you can customise your travel insurance policy by adding one or more of the following optional extras to your policy:
How do I add these optional extras to my policy?
You can add one or more of these optional extras when you get a quote and buy a policy.
If you’ve already purchased a policy, you can add Snow Sports and/or Additional Specified Items cover only. To do this, call us on 1800 444 424 or log into your online account and edit your policy – before you depart on your trip and within 14 days of the purchase date.
Get a quote
Whether you want cover for just the basics or a policy with lots of bells and whistles, we’ve got a big selection of travel insurance for you to pick from.
Get a quote online in 30 seconds or call us on 1800 444 424.
Find out more
The information on this page is a summary only. For more details about Budget Direct travel insurance, including the terms, conditions, limits and exclusions that apply, please read the Product Disclosure Statement (PDS).
How to make a claim
If your trip didn’t go entirely to plan and you need to make a claim, we’re here to help. Make a claim on your travel insurance policy.
Award-winning travel insurance
After comparing all the policies in their database, Australia’s largest comparison site, finder, awarded us their Best Travel Insurance (Comprehensive) title in 2018.
We also won Mozo Experts Choice 2018 Exceptional Value travel insurance awards in the 'Basic' category (for our Last Minute policy) and the 'Annual' category (for our Annual Multi-Trip policy).
Frequently asked questions
Which overseas destinations does Budget Direct travel insurance cover?
The following table shows the regions and countries covered by Budget Direct travel insurance:
| Pacific |
|---|
Includes American Samoa, Cook Islands, Fiji Islands, French Polynesia (including Tahiti), Kiribati, New Caledonia, Niue, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea; and domestic cruises within Australian territorial waters. |
Asia |
| Bangladesh, Brunei, Cambodia, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Malaysia, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam only. |
| Europe/Africa |
| Includes countries in Africa, Europe, Scandinavia, the Middle East, the Caribbean, and Russia. |
| Americas |
| Includes United States of America, Canada, Mexico, Central and South America and Antarctica (Antarctic cruises only). |
| Not covered |
We do not cover travel to countries:
|
Can’t I get insurance through my cruise line?
Yes – many cruise operators encourage you to buy travel insurance at the same time you buy your cruise tickets; often, all you need to do is tick a travel-insurance check box.
However, you can end up paying hundreds of dollars more (described by consumer advocacy group Choice as a “tick-box tax”) for the policy compared to one purchased through a direct insurer.
Also, the cover provided by a cruise company may be less comprehensive than that offered by a direct insurer (like Budget Direct).
In short, it can pay to shop around.
Am I covered for the time I spend on land during my cruise trip?
Yes – shore excursions of up to 48 hours are automatically covered; any longer, and the stopover destination must be listed on your policy.
Just in case, we recommend you list all destinations your cruise is scheduled to dock at.
I’m going on a cruise within Australian waters – what do I need to do?
If you’re going on a cruise within Australian territorial waters, follow these steps:
- Select ‘Australian Waters’ under ‘Pacific’ as your destination, and
- If you want covered for on-board medical expenses and evacuation, buy one of our international travel insurance policies: Comprehensive, Essential, Last Minute, or Annual Multi-Trip (our Domestic policy does not include these benefits).
Can I increase the level of cover for my valuables?
If you buy a Comprehensive or Annual Multi-Trip policy you can, for an additional premium, insure an item (or pair or set of items) for more than the standard benefit limit of $750 – by adding Additional Specified Items Cover to your policy.
This optional cover allows you to specify the item/s on your policy, with an individual description and value, up to a maximum of $4,000 per item and $6,000 in total.
You can add Additional Specified Items Cover when you get a quote and buy a policy.
If you’ve already purchased a policy, you can add this cover by calling us on 1800 444 424 or logging into your online account and editing your policy – before you depart on your trip and within 14 days of the purchase date.
Note that, if you have an Annual Multi-Trip policy, you must specify an item/s for each individual trip that you require the additional cover.
Our other policies – Essential, Last Minute, and Domestic – also provide cover for your luggage and personal effects, which is limited to $500 per item (or pair or set of items).
Travel Insurance Knowledge Base
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§ Our Domestic policy does not cover medical and hospital expenses, as these are claimable in Australia from Medicare and/or your private health fund.
