Travel Insurance for Seniors

Find out all you need to know about holiday insurance for seniors below or call us on 1300 409 322 to get a quote for your seniors holiday.

Whether you’re 60, 75 or up to 89 years of age, travelling is all about seeing, doing, and making the memories that will stay with you forever. At Fast Cover, we can help to make those precious memories by providing seniors travel insurance with cover for unexpected medical and hospital expenses, cancellation, evacuation, repatriation and more.

We also know those memories will be different to other travellers: you may be taking a cruise trip to Alaska, exploring the Canadian Rockies, taking a European tour or just visiting family. So that’s why we’ve made sure that our travel insurance for pensioners allows you to customise your policy to the type of holiday you’re taking.

Male and female seniors waving

5 Things you need to know about Australian seniors travel insurance with Fast Cover

The price of travel insurance is calculated on the age you are when you purchase travel insurance, not the age you’ll be on your departure date or during your holiday.

Senior travellers up to the age of 89 are eligible for a seniors travel insurance policy. Further limits may apply to some policy types and adventurous activities.

Cancellation cover can be included with your travel insurance and can protect the deposits that you’ve already paid for your holiday.

Depending on whether you’re cruising in Australian waters or overseas, you may have cover for the land and sea portions of your trip.

Medical screening available for your medical conditions.

What can travel insurance for seniors provide cover for?

Fast Cover’s seniors travel insurance policies can provide you with cover for:

Emergency medical and hospital expenses

Be covered for the costs of treatment for an eligible unexpected illness or injuries on your holiday.

Medical evacuation and repatriation expenses

In case of an emergency, such as sickness or injury, you can be covered for the flight home or to get to the nearest hospital.

Sports and leisure activities

Cover for a huge list of sports and activities are included. The more adventurous can also choose to add on the Adventure Pack to cover an extra list of adrenaline-pumping activities.

Cover against theft and loss of belongings

Ensure your possessions are protected while you travel.

Travel Delays

If your scheduled transport is delayed for more than 6 hours, you’ll have cover for additional costs like food and accommodation.

Special Event Transport Expenses

Your booked transport to get to your tour or cruise is delayed or cancelled? You’ll have cover to get to there on time.

 

Unexpected cancellation of your seniors trip

You can take out a seniors travel insurance policy with cancellation cover up to 12 months before you travel. This can come in handy if you want to protect the deposits you’ve already paid, like flights, accommodation, cruises and tours, if you’re not able to travel due to an unexpected emergency.

24 hour emergency assistance

Your seniors travel insurance comes with a 24-hour emergency assistance hotline to experienced medical advisors you can call wherever you are in the world, at any time, for whatever reason or situation you find yourself in and need assistance.

Optional Extras

Our travel insurance policies include the benefits you may need on your seniors holiday. However, we also know that every trip is different, so that’s why we offer optional add-ons that allow you to customise your travel insurance policy – that way, you’re not paying for something you don’t need!

The optional extras include:
Standard Excess

We hope you have a holiday without having to make a claim! However, if something does happen, you’ll need to pay an excess for every claim you make. You can reduce the Standard excess on your policy to $100 or $0 by paying an additional premium.

Specified High Value Items

If you would like to cover your valuable items for more than what they’re currently covered for, you can specify the item and we won’t apply depreciation to it.

Adventure Pack

This is for the senior traveller looking to do more adventurous activities like scuba diving to 30m or water skiing. Check out the activities we can cover for, and what you need to take out the Adventure Pack

Motorcycle Pack

If you want to ride or be a passenger on a scooter, moped or motorcycle, you’ll need to add the Motorcycle Pack to your seniors policy. Conditions apply, make sure you have the relevant licences for the country that you’re riding in.

Rental Vehicle Insurance Excess

Hiring a car to drive around and want to save from having to pay the rental car company to reduce the excess? You can add on cover for the rental vehicle insurance excess in your rental vehicle insurance with your car hire company.

Can senior travel insurance cover me for my trip?

Due to the uncertainty of future developments in COVID-19 and associated health impacts, age restrictions are constantly subject to review. 

Our policies can provide cover for all sorts of seniors trips. Below are just some of the types of seniors holidays our travel insurance policies provide cover for. If your trip or holiday type isn’t on the list, call us now on 1300 409 322 to talk to our travel insurance specialists.

  • Ocean cruises
  • River cruises (no need for a cruise travel insurance policy)
  • Bus tours
  • Rail tours
  • Overseas trip
  • Around Australia
  • Driving holiday
  • Campervan holidays
  • Sightseeing
  • Resorts
  • Visiting family or friends
  • Volunteering
  • Work trips
  • Hiking trip (age limit applies for altitudes 3000 m to 6000 m)
  • Golfing trip
  • Skiing (up to 69 years of age)
Senior female pointing

Fast Cover travel insurance for seniors includes unlimited access to an experienced Emergency Assistance team available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and 365 days a year. If you run into trouble or need advice while on your seniors holiday, help is just a phone call away from anywhere in the world.

If you have an existing medical condition, we may be able to help - we can provide cover for many existing medical conditions, just in case the unexpected happens on your trip.

Check out our Medical Conditions page for more information about medical screening for your existing medical conditions including information about the General Exclusions that may apply*.

Our seniors travel insurance is designed to meet the needs of many different types of travellers. So whether you’re a pensioner or not, we can provide you with a travel insurance quote if:

  • You’re 89 years of age or younger
  • Your journey starts in Australia and end in Australia
  • You purchase your policy before you commence your journey
  • You’re an Australian citizen or permanent resident of Australia, and hold a valid Australian Medicare card (if you are a temporary visitor, then you must be covered in Australia by a private health insurance policy that satisfies the Australian government health insurance requirements for your visa type);

Get an instant quote for your upcoming trip or if you prefer to talk to us, give us a call on 1300 409 322  and we would be happy to help put together a quote for you.

You can purchase up to the day you leave for your holiday. However, if you do this, you might be missing out on the benefit of cancellation cover.

The cancellation benefit starts from the time your policy is issued, and provides cover for the deposits that you’ve already made for your holiday, including flights, accommodation, tours and cruises.

So if you purchase travel insurance for your seniors holiday with cancellation cover, you may be able to claim for what you’ve already paid out if you, your travelling companion, or a relative gets unexpectedly sick or injured before your trip and you can no longer travel.

Did you know that you can purchase travel insurance with cancellation cover up to 12 months before your holiday departure date?  This is especially important for cruise holidays, as you're usually required to pay upfront for a holiday up to 12 months or more in advance. You certainly wouldn't want to lose all the prepayments you've already made if you get sick and can't go on your cruise trip.

So consider purchasing seniors travel insurance for your trip as soon as you’ve paid your deposits to cover yourself for the unexpected.

How does my age affect my seniors travel insurance?

Age

Medical, Cancellation, and Trip Disruption and Resumption claims have a combined limit of:

For claims arising from, related to or associated with an injury or sickness and excess applies of:

Snow Cover

Adventure Pack

60 – 69 years of age

Unlimited

$200 (can be reduced for additional fee)

Optional

Optional

70 – 74 years of age

Unlimited

$200 (can be reduced for additional fee)

X

Optional

75 – 89 years of age

Unlimited

$200 (can be reduced for additional fee)

X

X

Travel insurance up to 89 years of age

We know that many other insurers don’t provide insurance for senior travellers over a certain age. We think differently. We know you can still be fit to travel in your 60’s and right through to your 80’s. So that’s why our travel insurance for elderly travellers can cover you for your holidays up until you’re 89!

Senior couple at beach

Can I get cover for existing medical conditions on my seniors insurance?

Our travel insurance can provide cover for many medical conditions.

You can complete a medical screening for:

  1. Your existing medical conditions that you have or have had, for the 3 years prior to your policy purchase date,

  2. Any changes to your existing medical conditions which we have agreed to cover, after you buy your policy and before you leave for your trip,

  3. New medical conditions you develop after you buy your policy and before you leave for your trip.

If we agree to provide you with cover for your medical conditions following your medical screening, you may need to pay an additional premium.

IMPORTANT: If you have had a medical condition within the 3 years prior to your policy purchase date, and you have not completed a medical screening for those conditions, or you have not notified us of a change in health or new medical condition as mentioned above, there is no cover for any claims under the policy arising from any of those medical conditions. You should also be aware of the General Exclusions that apply to all benefits, in particular General Exclusion 20 and 22 of the PDS.

What is a medical condition?

We consider a medical condition to be any bodily or physical injury, physical defect, illness, disease or other medical or dental condition or sign or symptom of these things, which you and anyone listed on your policy (including dependants travelling with you):

  • required prescription medication for or has been prescribed medication from a medical practitioner in writing for,
  • sought or received medical advice from a medical practitioner or other health care professional for,
  • had tests, investigations, care, treatment or medical attention including surgery for,
  • been admitted to hospital for (including emergency department or day surgery procedure), or
  • became aware of or which a reasonable person in the circumstances would have been aware of.

It includes but is not limited to:

  • the suffering or treatment of mental illness,
  • brain, heart (such as any cardiovascular or coronary heart disease or any condition related to a heart or blood vessels), kidney, liver, respiratory, circulatory (such as high blood pressure, stroke, or transient ischaemic attack), cancer or cancerous condition,
  • reduced or deficient immune system,
  • a sign or symptom of the above matters, or
  • a persistent and lasting health condition such as constant pain or long-suffering pain or pain with a pattern of relapse and remission. 

If any of the above applies to you, you will need to complete a medical screening so that we can assess whether or not we can provide you with cover for your medical condition.

Check out our Medical Conditions page for more information about medical screening for your medical conditions including information about the General Exclusions that may apply.

Please refer to our Product Disclosure Statement for eligibility criteria, and policy terms, conditions, exclusions and limits that apply.

 

What if my existing medical condition is not covered?

As a senior traveller, we understand that you may have some existing medical conditions, so call our travel insurance specialists on 1300 409 322 and we can explain the options below:

Option 1

We may be able to help - our travel insurance can provide cover for many existing medical conditions, just in case the unexpected happens on your trip.

Check out our Medical Conditions page for more information about medical screening for your existing medical conditions including information about the General Exclusions that may apply*.

 

Option 2

The Insurance Council of Australia may be able to give you a list of travel insurers who may be able to provide you with cover for your pre-existing medical condition.

Seniors sitting on bench

Can I buy travel insurance for pensioners?

Our holiday insurance for seniors is available to seniors and pensioners aged 89 and younger.

If you’re looking for cheap travel insurance for seniors because you’re on the pension or on a budget, our Basics policy may be what you’re looking for. The Basics policy provides cover for emergency medical and hospital expenses, evacuation, repatriation and personal liability, with an option to add on cover for your luggage.

For those seniors holidays where you need more than just cover for the basics, our Comprehensive policy provides our highest level of cover for your peace of mind on your overseas seniors trip. The Comprehensive policy provides you with overseas emergency medical cover (including repatriation back home if required), and there’s cover for the payments that you’ve already paid in advance, travel delays, special event transport expenses, luggage and disruptions to your trip.

Our Standard Saver policy is our mid-range policy which offers more cover than the Basics policy and includes cover for cancellation, luggage and trip disruptions.

Compare pensioner travel insurance

While most travel insurance companies offer holiday insurance for seniors, the benefits that they offer will usually differ.

Fast Cover’s overseas travel insurance for seniors offers 3 levels of cover: Comprehensive, Standard Saver and Basics, and are available to travellers aged 89 and younger.

Before you decide on your seniors insurance, you should read the Product Disclosure Statement (PDS) to check what the policy will and won’t cover you for, the exclusions and whether the policy provides the cover that you’re looking for.

Cruise ship

Cruise travel insurance for seniors

Cruises are a popular holiday for all Australians and in particular for senior travellers. However, whether it’s with your spouse, a friend or the extended family, on-board medical treatment and medical evacuations off the cruise ship can be costly.

If you’re cruising on a sea or ocean, even if you’re simply cruising for a few days in Australian waters, you should select “Cruise” when purchasing cruise travel insurance for seniors. Unless there’s a Medicare registered doctor on-board, you won’t be able to use your Medicare card. So if there is an emergency, you’ll be responsible for the cost of any medical treatment and the cost of evacuation by boat or helicopter back to the mainland.

River cruises are also a popular option, especially in Europe, and you won’t require a policy that covers cruise for this type of trip.

All our cruise policies include the usual benefits you get with our Comprehensive, Standard Saver and Basics policies, so you’re covered if you’re on a shore excursion, a tour or on the cruise ship.

Whether you take a cruise from Australia to the USA or simply an around Australia cruise, we know that the unexpected can happen, so that’s why we offer seniors cruise insurance.

What is the best cruise travel insurance for seniors?

A cruise travel insurance policy that’s best for you is a policy that’s able to cover you for the type of cruise (or any) holiday that you’re taking. Think about where you’re going, what activities you’re going to be doing and what you want to be covered for: do you need cancellation cover in case you can’t take the cruise trip due to an unexpected illness or injury? Will you need to take a flight to get to your cruise, and you’re concerned about flight delays? Have you paid for shore excursions and want to have cover in case something out of your control happens and you can’t make it?

Knowing what you want to be covered for can help you to find the best travel insurance policy for your seniors cruise trip.

Senior Cruise Couple
Orange map of Australia

Domestic travel insurance for seniors

Seniors insurance travel options extends to domestic trips too!

While there’s no medical cover on our domestic policies because you’re covered by Medicare and/or your private health insurance, you still have cover if you have to cancel your trip due to an unexpected family emergency, or if you’re in an accident and your doctor advises against travel. Cover is also provided for travel delays, special event transport expenses, protecting your luggage against loss or theft and rental vehicle insurance excess if you’re hiring a car.

Cheap travel insurance for seniors

The cheapest seniors travel insurance policy may save you money today, but it may not be the best policy for your type of trip. You should consider the benefits included with the price: think about what you want to be covered for, what the travel insurance policy will actually cover you for and also how much you will be covered for.

Some things to consider when looking for cheap travel insurance:

  • Does the policy offer unlimited medical cover?
  • Do you have an existing medical condition?
  • If you’re taking your grandchildren with you, are they covered?
  • And do you need cancellation cover in case you can’t go on the trip?

So even if you’re looking for a cheap travel insurance policy for seniors, make sure you compare the travel insurance policies not just on the price, but also whether it provides the appropriate type of cover for your type of holiday.

Did you know that if you buy your policy before your next birthday, you may save on your premium, even though you’ll be a year older when you travel? Find out 20 other ways to save money on your travel insurance.

Orange Piggy Bank
Man with magnifying glass

Senior Travel Insurance FAQs

The following is general advice only and does not take into account your individual needs, objectives or financial situation. Consider the PDS prior to deciding whether this policy is appropriate for you and your trip. 


To find the best travel insurance for seniors you should look for a policy that suits the type of holiday that you're taking. You should not only consider what the travel insurance policy is able to cover you for, but also what it doesn't cover.

Always check the Product Disclosure Statement (PDS) to make an informed decision about the best seniors travel insurance policy for you.

Claims are assessed on a case by case basis. Therefore, you should submit a claim and our claims team will assess your claim. Cover is subject to the policy terms, conditions, limits and exclusions in the Product Disclosure Statement (PDS).

The following is general advice only and does not take into account your individual needs, objectives or financial situation. Consider the PDS prior to deciding whether this policy is appropriate for you and your trip.

The following information applies to policies purchased from 30th October 2023 onwards. For policies purchased prior to 30th October 2023: you can find the PDS relevant to you in your policy confirmation email, by logging into MyPolicy, or you can contact us for assistance.


We can offer travel insurance to travellers who were aged 89 at the time the policy was purchased, but will be 90 years of age at the time of travel. We're not able to offer travel insurance to travellers aged 90 and over at the time of policy purchase.

If you're aged 90 and over at the time of policy purchase, the Insurance Council of Australia may be able to suggest other companies who may be able to provide you with cover for your travel.

Cover is subject to the policy terms, conditions, limits and exclusions in the Product Disclosure Statement (PDS).

The following is general advice only and does not take into account your individual needs, objectives or financial situation. Consider the PDS prior to deciding whether this policy is appropriate for you and your trip.

The following information applies to policies purchased from 30th October 2023 onwards. For policies purchased prior to 30th October 2023: you can find the PDS relevant to you in your policy confirmation email, by logging into MyPolicy, or you can contact us for assistance.


We're able to cover travellers up to the age of 89. Even if you'll be 90 years of age when you travel, you may still be eligible for cover if you purchased your policy while you're still 89!

Unfortunately we're not able to offer travel insurance to travellers aged 90 and over (unless they were 89 at the time the policy was purchased).

If you are aged 90 and over at the time of policy purchase, the Insurance Council of Australia may be able to suggest other companies who may be able to provide you with cover for your travel.

Cover is subject to the policy terms, conditions, limits and exclusions in the Product Disclosure Statement (PDS).

The following is general advice only and does not take into account your individual needs, objectives or financial situation. Consider the PDS prior to deciding whether this policy is appropriate for you and your trip. 

The following information applies to policies purchased from 30th October 2023 onwards. For policies purchased prior to 30th October 2023: you can find the PDS relevant to you in your policy confirmation email, by logging into MyPolicy, or you can contact us for assistance.


We offer travel insurance policies for travellers over the age of 70 and up to the age of 89 who love to travel, whether it be cruising, sightseeing or just visiting family overseas. Depending on what you want to be covered for, you can have unlimited emergency medical and cancellation cover, luggage if they're lost or stolen, travel delays and special event transport expenses to get you to your cruise or tour on time.

Check out our Medical Conditions page for more information about medical screening for your existing medical conditions including information about the General Exclusions that may apply*.

Get a quick quote for your seniors holiday now or give us a call on 1300 409 322. 

Claims are assessed on a case by case basis. Therefore, you should submit a claim and our claims team will assess your claim.

Cover is subject to the policy terms, conditions, limits and exclusions in the Product Disclosure Statement (PDS).

The following is general advice only and does not take into account your individual needs, objectives or financial situation. Consider the PDS prior to deciding whether this policy is appropriate for you and your trip. 

No one wants to pay more than they need to for travel insurance, especially if you're on the pension or just want to keep your travel costs down. However, when you're comparing travel insurance for your seniors trip, the cheapest seniors travel insurance quote may not be the most suitable policy for your trip, as it may not provide the cover that you want!

You should consider what you want to be covered for and what the seniors travel insurance policy covers and what it doesn't cover. A policy that doesn't cover you for the things you want may end up not being the cheapest if you have to make a claim.

Claims are assessed on a case by case basis. Therefore, you should submit a claim and our claims team will assess your claim.

Cover is subject to the policy terms, conditions, limits and exclusions in the Product Disclosure Statement (PDS). 

The following advice is general advice only and has not taken into account your individual objectives, financial situation or needs. Consider the PDS prior to deciding whether this policy is right for you.

If cancellation cover is included with your policy, and you're unable to go on your trip as a direct result of circumstances neither reasonably expected nor intended by you prior to the issue of your certificate of insurance, you can put in a claim for the payments that you've already made for your trip, including flights, tours, cruises and accommodation.

As each individual’s circumstances are different, in the event of a claim, our claims team will assess each claim on a case by case basis.

Cover is subject to the policy terms, conditions, limits and exclusions in the Product Disclosure Statement (PDS).

The following is general advice only and does not take into account your individual needs, objectives or financial situation. Consider the PDS prior to deciding whether this policy is appropriate for you and your trip.

The following information applies to policies purchased from 30th October 2023 onwards. For policies purchased prior to 30th October 2023: you can find the PDS relevant to you in your policy confirmation email, by logging into MyPolicy, or you can contact us for assistance.

You may be eligible to purchase a Frequent Traveller Saver policy if you're aged 75 years and under.

Cover is subject to the policy terms, conditions, limits and exclusions in the Product Disclosure Statement (PDS).

Things you need to know

* See Product Disclosure Statement for full terms and conditions and exclusions and limits that apply.