Starr Cruise to Nowhere Travel Insurance Review: Customisable, Budget-Friendly Cruise Insurance With COVID-19 Benefits

A flexible, purpose-built travel insurance plan for cruise trips that offers high sums assured and COVID-19 protection at attractive premiums. 

Note: This plan has been discontinued with effect from 4 April 2023. You may look to Starr TraveLead travel insurance as an alternative for your travel planning.  

As a purpose-built policy for travellers going on cruises, Starr Cruise to Nowhere Travel Insurance has a lot to offer. 

It comes bundled with COVID-19 benefits, has high sums assured for medical expenses and personal accident coverage, has a high degree of customisability, and is easy on your bank account, to boot. 

In this article, we’ll be taking an in-depth look at this travel insurance plan, covering:

• Product summary
• Pros and cons
• List of exclusions
• Plan types
• Pricing
• How to make a claim

Product summary

COVID-19 coverage

Comes bundled with COVID-19 coverage for overseas medical expenses (up to S$100,000), as well as for COVID-19 related trip cancellation or curtailment (up to S$1,000, Silver and Gold only). 

Customisable 

Option to add trip coverage and/or baggage coverage on top of medical coverage, which is included by default. Can also choose from three tiers of plans to better suit budget and sums assured preferred. Also, add-ons are available for scuba diving and golf.

High overseas medical benefits and personal accident cover 

Offers up to S$1 million for overseas medical expenses, and up to S$500,000 in personal accident cover. Also covers follow-up outpatient visits, as well as a variety of treatment options, such as chiropractic, physiotherapy and Traditional Chinese Medicine.

Comprehensive trip and baggage benefits

Covers against multiple common travel risks, including but not limited to trip delays, cancellations and postponements, loss, damage or delays to personal baggage, loss of personal documents and money, and more.

24/7 worldwide emergency assistance

All policyholders are provided with round-the-clock global emergency assistance in case of mishaps or unforeseen events during your cruise.

Pros and cons

Policy exclusions

Before signing up, take note of the following exclusions. This policy does not cover: 

• Pre-existing medical conditions
• Acts of war
• Suicide
• Pregnancy & childbirth
• Professional sports

For the full list of exclusions, please refer to the sample policy. 

Types of plans

In the following table, we’ve listed the three plans available, and a brief summary of the benefits offered. For the full list of benefits, please refer to the policy document.

Starr Cruise to Nowhere Travel Insurance comes in three tiers — Gold, Silver and Bronze — and all three offer largely the same range of benefits. 

However, there are two main differences to take note of. One, each plan offers a different claims limit for the items they cover, with Gold having the highest limits (and thus offering the most protection), followed by Silver, and then Bronze. 

Two, while all three plans have COVID-19 extensions built in, the Bronze plan does not cover trip cancellation or curtailment for pandemic-related reasons, only overseas medical expenses. 

The Gold and Silver plans, however, offer benefits for overseas medical expenses as well as travel cancellation or curtailment due COVID-19.

Hence, travellers seeking more well-rounded coverage against COVID-19 should consider the Silver and Gold plans instead. 

Just take note that sums assured for COVID-19 related claims are lower than those stipulated for regular claims — this is detailed in the table above.

Pricing

The table above displays the premiums quoted for a single-trip cruise to nowhere policy. 

The duration is from Friday to Monday, and includes medical coverage, trip coverage and baggage coverage. 

Optional riders for scuba diving and golf were not included. 

As you can see, this plan is quite affordable, starting from S$25 for individuals. If you’re embarking on the cruise as a family, the plan becomes even more affordable — premiums for a family of four are only doubled from the rate charged for a single adult. 

If you’re looking to reduce the cost of your travel insurance even further, know that Starr Cruise to Nowhere Travel Insurance actually comprises three parts: medical coverage, trip coverage and baggage coverage. 

Medical coverage is the base layer of the plan, and is included by default. Depending on your needs, you can also choose to add trip coverage and/or baggage coverage to your policy. 

This creates a dimension of customisability that you may find useful. 

How to make a claim 

You may submit your claims directly to Starr Insurance, either via online or mail-in channels. 

Submitting claims online

• Go to https://www.starrinsurance.com.sg/claim/entrance?_curcid=16382
• Follow the on-screen prompts
• You will know your claims have been submitted successfully upon receiving an acknowledgement message
• You will be contacted with the results of your claims

Submitting claims via mail-in

• Download and fill in the Starr Insurance claims form
• Submit your form via email (sgp.travelclaims@starrcompanies.com)
• Alternatively, you may mail in your claims form to:
  • 138 Market Street, #16-04, CapitaGreen, Singapore 048946
• You will be contacted with the results of your claims

Refer to this document for supporting documents you should include when submitting your claims.

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