Speed 2 Cruise Control: A Hollywood Lesson In Cruise Travel Insurance

The main protagonists in Speed 2 (1997) are Annie, played by Sandra Bullock, and her policeman boyfriend Alex (Jason Patric). They take an ill-fated cruise trip to the Caribbean, on a boat called the Seabourn Legend. We first see Willem Dafoe’s character John Geiger when he complains that his golf clubs have not arrived. He is rightly upset by his lost luggage, but being an evil genius he’ll have been smart enough to ensure they were covered by his cruise travel insurance. It turns out the golf clubs are explosives that Giger uses to disable the ship’s communications.

Using his computer expertise, Giger plans to set the boat on a collision course with an oil tanker. The Seabourn Legend plays host to a diamond dealers’ association, so there are plenty of valuable goods on board for Giger to steal. The diamond dealers will have special cover for their possessions, but what of the other characters?

Cover for Theft on Board

Theft is as much a danger on a cruise as it is anywhere else, especially in this case when the passengers are forced to leave their valuables as they abandon ship. In real life, only the ones with proper cruise travel insurance will be covered for their losses.

The Speed 2 filmmakers even make a joke about cruise insurance for the innocent bystanders. When Alex commandeers a $150,000 boat from the hapless “Tune Man,” (the same guy that had his Jaguar smashed in the first Speed film) Tune Man looks disgruntled and mutters something about the insurance. With this character at least, the film acknowledges the costs and inconvenience involved in ‘saving the day’. It could serve as a rather unrealistic reminder that you should always take precautions with your valuables, and make sure your cruise travel insurance will cover the cost of damaged or stolen items.

What about a Medical Emergency?

Dragging yourself onto a plane using a fishing rod and escaping a room rigged with explosives are not the usual entertainments offered on a cruise holiday. As such, the risk from these extra activities would not have been covered by Alex and Annie’s cruise insurance.

At one point, to escape Giger, Annie falls into the sea with her hands bound. She is rescued in the nick of time, but it is worth bearing in mind that the medical facilities on most cruise ships are extremely limited. Annie might need to visit a hospital for a serious injury, so if she didn’t have cruise travel insurance, she’d be facing a bill for several thousand pounds for the helicopter.

Ending With a Bang

It‘s possible that you may even be forced cut your holiday short, or change your plans before you set off, perhaps from being injured in an accident (such as an oil tanker exploding nearby) so it’s good to remember that cruise travel insurance will compensate you if you have to cancel your holiday. In the case of Alex and Annie, despite being taken hostage and half-drowned, they were determined to finish their trip, and even got engaged before they reached shore. Showing such heroic composure, they must have known their cruise insurance would save the day.

By: Patrick Chong

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Patrick Chong is the Managing Director of Journey’s Travel. Their commercial travel insurance website, Insuremore, offers cruise travel insurance for families, couples and singles with a quick and easy online claims feature.