Experience with DiveAssure’s liveaboard rider?

[KeithG]

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They are also the only insurance company that I have found that covers liveaboards and diving for certain issues that wouldn’t be covered under other policies in standard trip interruption and cancellations. Think lost diving days due to medical inability to dive, someone getting DCS and having to change or abort dive schedule (lost dives/cancelled trip), broken air compressors, etc. You could argue that the Liveaboard operator may refund or whatever but it is not always guaranteed....i have seen some liveaboards caution to buy insurance because they may not/won’t depending on circumstances....

There are other insurance products available that cover LOBs. My eastern Canada Blue Cross product provides coverage.

BUT: Partial non delivery of an All Inclusive experience is an issue with any insurance product.

If you remove your scuba brain and use your insurance brain you will realize that a LOB is just a very small All Inclusive Cruise Ship that offers diving as one of the available past times. So from an insurance perspective they think Cruise Ship when you describe an LOB. Nothing special here - just a small cruise ship. We cover cruise ships.

A cruise ship not sailing (or you missing it) is the same as a LOB not sailing (or you missing it). Total non delivery of the AI experience is easy to assess when making a claim. Most insurance products do not care WHY the travel supplier did not deliver. Non-delivery is non-delivery.

AI's introduce a wrinkle when attempting to make an insurance claim: how do you place a value on the "undelivered portion" of an AI experience. The insurance company needs to know the exact $ cost of the missing part. Included Nitrox not available for the week? Hot tub not working? I missed 2 dives because I had a cold? We missed a day of diving due to a storm (but we got fed and had a place to sleep and watched free movies all day)? The kitchen had no GF food so I did not eat all week? The specific costs of these things are not broken out in an AI experience.

The insurance company wants to see receipts detailing the actual amount of money you spent on the "thing that was not delivered". AI makes that very hard to do if part of the AI experience was not delivered.

 

[outofofficebrb]

There are other insurance products available that cover LOBs. My eastern Canada Blue Cross product provides coverage.

BUT: Partial non delivery of an All Inclusive experience is an issue with any insurance product.

If you remove your scuba brain and use your insurance brain you will realize that a LOB is just a very small All Inclusive Cruise Ship that offers diving as one of the available past times. So from an insurance perspective they think Cruise Ship when you describe an LOB. Nothing special here - just a small cruise ship. We cover cruise ships.

A cruise ship not sailing (or you missing it) is the same as a LOB not sailing (or you missing it). Total non delivery of the AI experience is easy to assess when making a claim. Most insurance products do not care WHY the travel supplier did not deliver. Non-delivery is non-delivery.

AI's introduce a wrinkle when attempting to make an insurance claim: how do you place a value on the "undelivered portion" of an AI experience. The insurance company needs to know the exact $ cost of the missing part. Included Nitrox not available for the week? Hot tub not working? I missed 2 dives because I had a cold? We missed a day of diving due to a storm (but we got fed and had a place to sleep and watched free movies all day)? The kitchen had no GF food so I did not eat all week? The specific costs of these things are not broken out in an AI experience.

The insurance company wants to see receipts detailing the actual amount of money you spent on the "thing that was not delivered". AI makes that very hard to do if part of the AI experience was not delivered.

That may be the case for your policy, but if you read the fine print on my policy, those things are quantifiable and measurable. Yes, a LOB is just like a cruise and interruption/cancellation is no different. If the liveaboard does not depart due to weather, it's the same as a cruise ship not departing. Catching up to it, etc. is also the same. However, the rider specifically includes medical inability to dive where most travel coverage defines illness or accidents as something so serious that it actually causes you to cancel your trip and discontinue and that is what would be required for cancellation or interruption to kick in. While I wouldn't have to be evacuated from the boat or immediately leave, I would not be able to dive my pre-paid dives and that is included. I'll still be dorking out on the liveaboard while everyone else dives. Weather conditions not enabling diving and sailing is also covered. If I can't dive because it isn't safe to dive on day 3 of my 7 day liveaboard due to weather, I can be reimbursed for those costs up to a max per day and max per trip. Weather is usually used for cancellation and interruption but in most policies, you won't get reimbursed for losing out on that day's diving because your trip was not canceled or interrupted in that you needed to pay additional money to catch up or re-connect to your original itinerary. Many policies state that illness or accidents that happen are covered for trip interruption and cancelation - if they happen to you. If someone on the boat has DCS, etc., and it alters our plans or we have to return to port, that is also covered. If their air compressor broke, that would be covered. I would hope that the operator would step up and refund or price accordingly. I'm not sure if you have read some operator fine print in that they say no refunds no matter what - because I have and some of it has me uneasy. Again, most policies state that the event that causes interruption or cancellation be because it directly affects you - accident or illness, etc., and not others. These are examples of what makes the liveaboard rider slightly different and advantageous for me.

In reading many general travel insurance policies, there are many instances that are unique to diving that would fall between the cracks of their fine print.

 

[JBFG]

@giffenk thanx for the Canadian specific info!

 

[Sideways]

Didn't want to start a new thread when this one seems appropriate. I'm looking at Dive assure for travel and Liveaboard insurance. Must say though... the quote I got was pretty crazy. Me and my wife, covering our air and LOB, no dive coverage, we have DAN for that. Quote was $804. Cost of air and LOB was $8600. Man that seems expensive for one trip. Anyone have any experience with Dive Assure?

 

[Saniflush]

Try IMG. That is who I used on our last liveaboard back in September. $250 to cover about $7000 trip for Mrs Flush and myself. Also search the threads concerning trip insurance. There are a number of folks on here that have really delved into the study of insurance. @outofofficebrb certainly pointed me in the right direction in regards to knowing what to look for and ask.

 

[Sideways]

Try IMG. That is who I used on our last liveaboard back in September. $250 to cover about $7000 trip for Mrs Flush and myself. Also search the threads concerning trip insurance. There are a number of folks on here that have really delved into the study of insurance. @outofofficebrb certainly pointed me in the right direction in regards to knowing what to look for and ask.

Thanks for the referral! I called them, theirs is $489 for $8600 coverage. That's quite a bit cheeper than DiveAssure. Thanks!