Travel insurance for seniors

Whether it’s sailing away on a round-the-world cruise, or visiting family and friends on distant shores, senior travellers enjoy living their life to the fullest.

With our comprehensive travel insurance for seniors, you can live yours too. Finding the right travel insurance when you’re over 65 is a must-do. It’s vital you have cover in place for your holiday from unexpected events and includes cover for medical expenses, luggage, trip cancellation and more. Be sure to declare any pre-existing medical conditions as this could affect the cover you receive.

What we cover

Travel insurance is an important item for any holiday. But for older travellers, finding the right policy can be a confusing tangle of pre-existing conditions, age limits, cover restrictions and additional premiums.

Thankfully, our range of policies can give you the peace of mind knowing that we’re here to help if the unexpected occurs.

Holidaying overseas

Our International Comprehensive insurance offers cover for:

Unlimited medical and evacuation expenses that arise due to unexpected events while on your journey
Cancellation fees and lost deposits - with the option to increase your cover depending on the cost of your journey
Damaged or lost baggage
Personal items if they are stolen or damaged
Rental vehicle excess should you have an accident
Emergency dental treatment
Funeral costs

You can also select to pay an additional premium for cover for international cruises, skiing or snowboarding, travelling by mopeds or motorbikes, as well as for pre-existing medical conditions and higher value items.

Taking more than one overseas trip this year?

Sometimes one overseas trip per year just isn’t enough! Our Annual Multi-trip policy covers you for an unlimited number of return journeys for a year – which often works out cheaper than taking out individual policies for each trip.

When buying your policy, you will be asked to enter the destinations you’re planning to travel to. If you decide to add another destination to your annual itinerary that isn’t on your policy, get in touch so that we can consider adding it on to your policy. Depending on where you’re travelling, you may need to pay an additional premium.

Under our Annual Multi-trip policy, you can choose cover for trips that last up to 30, 60 or 90 days.

Benefits covered are similar to our single-trip policy, but be sure to check that this policy is right for you before making your decision.

Staying local?

Domestic travel insurance provides cover for when you’re visiting your own backyard, whether it’s a weekend city break or a month-long road trip.

Our Domestic insurance includes cover for:

Cancellation fees and lost deposits – with the option to increase your cover depending on the cost of your journey
Damaged or lost baggage
Personal items if they are stolen or damaged
Rental vehicle excess
Pet services
Childcare expenses
Funeral costs

You can also select to pay an additional premium for cover for domestic cruises.

Our travel insurance policies provide access to our worldwide emergency assistance team who are just a phone call away, and available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Travel insurance for seniors with pre-existing conditions

We consider a pre-existing medical condition to be any illness or injury of any person named on your Certificate of Insurance, which that person should be aware of. You can add your pre-existing medical conditions when getting a quote from us.

It is important to check the terms of your policy for information about our definition of pre-existing medical conditions, excesses, sub limits, exclusions, and other terms and conditions.

Do pre-existing medical conditions affect the price of my policy?

In a nutshell, yes. Seeking cover for pre-existing medical conditions will affect the price of your travel insurance policy. Any additional costs are displayed to you before you buy your policy, so you can choose whether or not you wish to pay the additional premium.

To find out more about pre-existing medical conditions, including when you must declare your conditions, you can read our policy documents for each policy here. 

Remember, overseas medical emergencies can be astronomically expensive for uninsured travellers, as some of our highest medical claims show. So, declare your pre-existing medical conditions so you know if you're covered.

Seniors’ travel insurance for overseas cruises

Cruises are a great way to explore exotic and exciting locations with premium comfort and convenience.

But whether it’s a misplaced bag or a bout of the flu, there’s still the risk of something spoiling your trip.

The good news for seniors is that you can add-on cover for overseas cruises to our International Comprehensive policy.

If you’re embarking on a cruise holiday, remember to:

Select cover for all of the destinations you’ll be visiting on your cruise.
Start your policy as soon as you’ve booked your cruise, so your cover is in place for unexpected cancellations and illnesses before you leave.
If you plan to enjoy any adventure sports or activities on your trip, read the policy wording to see if they’re covered.

Seniors’ travel insurance for domestic cruises

If you’re looking to take to the waters but would prefer to stay local, a domestic cruise could be the perfect alternative! Domestic cruises are often shorter in length, and you get to experience the beautiful New Zealand coastline and waterways.

You can select the option to cover your domestic cruise when purchasing your Domestic policy.

Our domestic cruise cover includes cover for:

Cancellation fees and lost deposits – with the option to increase your cover depending on the cost of your journey
Damaged or lost baggage
Personal items if they are stolen or damaged
Rental vehicle excess
Pet services
Childcare expenses
Funeral costs

Cover for seniors over 85

Some insurers don’t offer policies to people over 85. We believe that everyone should be free to experience the joy of travelling, no matter their age, which is why there is effectively no age limit for our International Comprehensive and Domestic travel insurance policies. In fact, our age limit is 118!

So, if you’re over 85 and travelling overseas, you can purchase either our International Comprehensive or Domestic policy as long as you meet our eligibility criteria. You can view the relevant eligibility criteria here: International Comprehensive, Domestic.

Travel insurance tips for seniors

We know that finding the right policy for your holiday can be confusing. But with the right research, you can find great value cover that is suitable for your needs. When researching your travel insurance, remember to:

Understand your pre-existing medical conditions and what they cost to cover.
Look out for any age limits.
Start your insurance as soon as you book your travel and accommodation, so your cover is in place for unexpected cancellations.
Research customer reviews to find great quality cover.
Check the coverage limits, as medical cover could be reduced for people over 70.
Read the policy wording before you buy, to make sure you understand exactly what you are and aren’t covered for.

If you suffer from any illness or injury (symptoms included) after starting your insurance but before you travel, remember to notify us.

The content of this article is general and provided for information purposes only. Southern Cross Travel Insurance (SCTI) doesn’t guarantee or warrant the accuracy, completeness or currency of any article.

This article may contain hyperlinks to other websites owned or operated by third parties, or references to third party products or services. SCTI isn’t responsible for, and makes no recommendation about, the content or accuracy of any third party website, or for the suitability or performance of any product or service. The inclusion of a link in this article doesn’t imply that SCTI endorses the website or third party product/service.

What you need to know

This page includes some information about our products but, as with all insurance policies, terms and conditions apply. For our terms and conditions (including information about exclusions, excesses and sub limits) we recommend you read the relevant policy documents to ensure our travel insurance products are right for you.

You can find the relevant documents for all our policies here: International Comprehensive, Annual Multi-trip, Domestic, Working Overseas, Visiting New Zealand, International Student