Is Coronavirus keeping you from booking liveaboard/overseas trips this year?

[tridacna]

@BoundForElsewhere I just noticed you are from NY. I just realized people from NY cannot purchase CFAR coverage. It's your state insurance folks that you can blame for this. Doh! Sorry

Can't get Global Entry either. Tough to be a New Yorker these days.

 

[Clevelandguy]

IMO, it's quite a few weeks early to be booking a flight for June anyway under normal circumstances

Lol. I take at least 2 trips a year and book as soon as flights open up. I'll be in Honduras in May and while I'm there I'll book my trip to Bimini and Belize for next April.

 

[chillyinCanada]

Lol. I take at least 2 trips a year and book as soon as flights open up. I'll be in Honduras in May and while I'm there I'll book my trip to Bimini and Belize for next April.

Too each their own I guess (used to do 3-4 trips to BZE and RTN per year)

 

[Kimela]

I was just reading that if you bought your coverage before the coronavirus became a "known event" you may be covered - but if you buy it now that it is a "known event" you probably will NOT be covered. I went through our policy for a trip we have planned in May, and neither the words 'epidemic' or 'pandemic' are included or excluded - not mentioned at all. I'm wondering if they would be considered 'natural disasters'. We do have CFAR, at 75% - so at least we would get something back. We are going to Little Cayman in August and have not purchased coverage for that one. Crossing my fingers - we just hadn't gotten around to it yet.

 

[stepfen]

Going back to the original question please have a look here:
Announcement

Especially this part:
Any transit and/or transfer passenger who had been in one of 25 countries, mentioned above, in the last 14 days is not going to be allowed to enter the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

This announcement was made today. Indonesia although officially have no confirmed cases of covid yet, is in the list of the 25 "banned" countries, while for example Greece (which has 4 or so confirmed cases) is not in the list!! Go figure.

I have a 2 weeks-long trip to Indonesia (including a 6N LoB in Raja Ampat) starting on the 11th of March. We fly with Saudia (Athens, Jedah, Jakarta return). According to the announcement above it seems like we will be allowed to go to Indonesia, but are we going to be allowed to come back??? For now it looks like the ban refers only to people who want to enter Saudi Arabia and not just transit. But, I guess that 90% or more (that's a personal estimate) of the passengers between Jedah and Jakarta normally would be people visiting Mecca for religious reasons. This is now clearly banned. Without 90% of their passengers, which company will retain such flights and for how long??
And what if tomorrow, next week or the week after a new regulation is made?

So my advice is this: people do yourself the favor and postpone any plans until things have settled down.
Just my 2c...

 

[BoundForElsewhere]

It's flumageddon!!!!

 

[ThatDogDontHunt]

This is just one example with a quick Googling: AIG. Many other travel insurance providers include CFAR. Timing of purchase matters here and you will have to read the fine print of each specific provider/company and policy to determine conditions but the fact is, Coronavirus CAN be covered depending on when you buy/bought it.

My policy with another provider does not specify "potential closures" but the issues/warnings need to be geographically specific. I don't have CFAR, for the record.

Travel News - Coronavirus Advisory

This ^. Timing of purchase is important, not timing of travel.

As long as you purchased before Corona was a thing you are good. Since Corona is now known (it's a sure bet that it can screw with your plans) it is not covered. Being able to buy Corona coverage now would give you an unfair advantage over the insurance company. Kind of like being able to buy lottery tickets after the winning numbers were known.

Sidebar: think about the advantage of having full time annual insurance as opposed to purchasing trip by trip insurance...

 

[CWK]

Now let's say I were to plan a trip to Raja Ampat, or Papua New Guinea or the Solomon Islands. I figure I'd be flying through some different nations, nearer to China than the Caribbean by far, and some of those nations might not be as dependent on U.S.-based tourism, and for one of them to bar me because I changed flights in some country they consider sickly, well....

I believe that the Solomon Islands has banned travellers from the US. Matter of time before other countries follow .....

Edit. I stand corrected. Solomon Islands merely subject visitors from the US to quarantine. You can still go there...

 

[stepfen]

Going back to the original question please have a look here:
Announcement

For people who might be interested, that announcement has now been updated: Announcement

In short:
- No religious visits to Saudi Arabia.
- No tourist visa will be issued for people coming from 25 countries (including Indonesia).
- People who had been to China or Iran within the last 14 days won't be allowed to enter the country.
- Nothing mentioned about restricting transiting passengers (unless they've been to China or Iran within 14 days).

 

[nippurmagnum]

For people who might be interested, that announcement has now been updated: Announcement

In short:
- No religious visits to Saudi Arabia.
- No tourist visa will be issued for people coming from 25 countries (including Indonesia).
- People who had been to China or Iran within the last 14 days won't be allowed to enter the country.
- Nothing mentioned about restricting transiting passengers (unless they've been to China or Iran within 14 days).

I wonder whether “been to China” will be interpreted as “transited through China” ...