More than 50% of cruise ship passengers and people who intend to take a cruise over the next two years wrongly believe the Government will pay for their care and evacuation if they fall ill, according to a new survey.

About one-third wrongly believe Medicare or their private health insurer will cover medical expenses while on board.

Insurance Council of Australia spokesman Campbell Fuller, who commissioned the survey with smartraveller.gov.au, says Australian consular officials in foreign ports “too often” must help ill or injured passengers who are uninsured or underinsured.

“Unfortunately, 53% of cruise ship passengers and cruise intenders in the next two years believe they can rely on medical care on board their ship, and that if they fall critically ill the Australian Government will pay for their care and their evacuation back home,” he said.

“That is not the case.”

Almost half of respondents are unsure if they were covered for a cruise, or for the countries they visited.

About 70% of respondents believe there is less chance of losing their luggage than on a flight, or that their voyage will be cancelled or delayed.

Some 61% of those aged 18-24 and 71% aged 25-29 believe they may have been underinsured on their last cruise.

All respondents aged 18-24 wrongly believe cruise cover is standard in travel insurance policies.

More than one-third of respondents believe travel insurance is less important for cruises than other overseas holidays, because ships have doctors to treat passengers.

About 38% aged 65 and over bought travel insurance policies that may not have adequately covered them.

The number of Australians taking cruises is predicted to double to more than 2 million a year by 2020.