What does standard travel insurance not include?

A standard travel insurance policy is designed to cover the typical risks of a typical trip: medical treatment abroad, cancellation, lost baggage, and personal liability. It is not designed to cover activities that carry materially higher risk, or trips where the nature of travel itself changes what the insurer is exposed to. If your trip involves a cruise, winter sports, or a hazardous activity, you will usually need to add specific cover. In some cases, the activity may not be insurable under a mainstream policy at all.

Cruise cover

Cruises sit outside standard travel cover because the risks differ from a land-based trip. If you fall ill on board, medical treatment is provided by the ship's medical facilities and billed privately, sometimes at rates comparable to private hospitals on land. If the ship cannot dock at a scheduled port (because of weather, mechanical issues, or local conditions), you may lose prepaid excursions and have no recourse without cover. Cruise cover typically includes:

• Missed port departures. If you arrive late at the embarkation port and miss the ship, the policy covers reasonable costs to catch up with the cruise at the next port.
• Missed port calls. A fixed payment per port the ship is unable to dock at, often £50 to £75 per missed port.
• Cabin confinement. A fixed daily payment if you are confined to your cabin on medical advice, for example during a norovirus outbreak.
• Medical treatment at sea. Cover for treatment provided by the ship's medical team, which can otherwise run to several hundred pounds for a single consultation.
• Unused excursions. Reimbursement for prepaid shore excursions you are unable to take due to illness or itinerary changes.

Most insurers require cruise cover to be added if any part of your trip is on a cruise ship, including river cruises in some cases. Buying a policy without declaring a cruise can mean a claim is rejected.

Winter sports cover

Skiing and snowboarding carry a higher injury rate than most holiday activities, and mountain rescue and repatriation costs can be substantial. A helicopter evacuation from a European resort can cost several thousand pounds, and treatment for a serious fracture followed by repatriation can run into tens of thousands. ABTA has noted that around a third of skiers and snowboarders travel without the specific cover they need, which leaves them exposed to these costs.

Winter sports cover typically includes:

• Medical treatment and mountain rescue. Cover for on-mountain rescue, treatment, and repatriation.
• Piste closure. A fixed payment per day if the resort is unable to open lifts due to lack of snow or adverse weather, usually after a waiting period.
• Equipment cover. Cover for owned or hired skis, snowboards, and related equipment if lost, stolen, or damaged. Hire cover pays for replacement hire if your own equipment is unavailable.
• Lift pass cover. Reimbursement for the unused portion of a lift pass if you are unable to ski due to injury or illness.
• Off-piste skiing within resort boundaries. Cover for off-piste skiing, usually conditional on being within marked resort boundaries and, in some policies, with a qualified guide. Off-piste outside resort boundaries is often excluded.

Activities such as ski touring, ski mountaineering, heli-skiing, and freestyle terrain park use may require a higher tier of cover or a specialist policy.

Hazardous activities

Many holiday activities are not covered by a standard policy because of the level of risk involved. Insurers vary considerably in what they will cover and at what price. Activities that commonly require an add-on, or a specialist policy, include:

• Scuba diving. Recreational diving to around 18 or 30 metres is often covered as standard or via a modest add-on, provided you hold an appropriate qualification (such as PADI Open Water) or dive with a qualified instructor. Deeper diving, technical diving, cave diving, and solo diving typically require specialist cover.
• Mountaineering and climbing. Hiking and trekking up to certain altitudes (commonly 2,000 to 4,000 metres depending on the insurer) is usually covered. Climbing requiring ropes, harnesses, or technical equipment, and trekking above the insurer's altitude limit, often requires an add-on or specialist policy.
• Bungee jumping. Often covered as a one-off activity at a recognised commercial operator, sometimes with a limit on the number of jumps.
• Other activities. Skydiving, paragliding, white-water rafting at higher grades, motorcycling above a certain engine size, and competitive sports may all sit outside standard cover.

Insurers usually publish a list of activities they cover, often split into tiers (for example, "leisure", "adventure", and "extreme"). It is worth checking the list before you travel, because cover for an activity you assume is included may turn out to require an add-on, or may not be available at all from your chosen insurer. If your trip involves activities that mainstream insurers exclude, specialist providers such as the British Mountaineering Council, Snowcard, or dive-specific insurers often offer more appropriate cover.

What this means in practice

If your trip involves anything beyond standard sightseeing and beach holidays, it is worth checking the policy wording carefully before you buy, and declaring all relevant activities. An undeclared activity that leads to a claim is one of the most common reasons travel insurance claims are rejected.

A note on getting help

This is general information about how travel insurance cover works, not a personal recommendation. If your trip involves activities or circumstances that mainstream insurers don't cover well, speaking with an FCA-authorised insurance broker who specialises in travel or adventure cover can help. The British Insurance Brokers' Association offers a free find-a-broker service on 0370 950 1790 or at biba.org.uk.