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iloveglee

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About Me

  • Location
    sheffield england
  • Interests
    reading, travelling
  • Favorite Cruise Line(s)
    carnival
  • Favorite Cruise Destination Or Port of Call
    caribbean

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  1. Mark T. I'm not entirely sure what manner of trip this is. The cruise agent were selling a cruise, with a flight, which is a plane that is chartered by MSC and is a BA flight. They also include free parking at Gatwick. So I don't know how this will work, never having been on this type of trip before. Emmas Gran thanks for this. The cruise club did warn us that the details are subject to change. I'd have no problem if they changed us from gatwick to heathrow, as that is a slightly shorter journey from our home. I doubt this will happen though, although the times might be subject to change. We have booked a hotel for the night before so that wouldn't be a problem. This package also includes free car parking. We know where the car park is they have allocated as we have parked there before in the past, so if that doesn't change we'll be happy with that. They did tell me that on the date of departure, msc give you the departure time, probably the day before, but that they transport the whole plane load to the airport at the same time. So no wonder the bag check in is challenging. They're not able to tell us how long the cruise line will allow us to stay on board, as we dock at 7 am and don't fly until 8 pm. So that in itself could be challenging. We are considering booking the lounge at the airport, and will have to think of something so that myself and one of the others in the group won't have to stand in line for a long time to check in the bags. I have looked into assistance at the airport, but normally this is airside. We rarely travel with checked bags these days, last time we did it was on a package holiday, but the party being deposited at the airport consisted of only one coach of about 50 people. Not a whole planeload!! I am very open to any and all comments anyone wants to make about this. Very grateful for them actually. Knowledge is power as they say.
  2. I went back to the cruise agent, and indeed they had given me incorrect times for the return flight. plus i hadn't realised that barbados don't change their clocks, so by the time we go the time difference will only be 4 hours not 5. so that issue solved!! The issue about what the cruise line does with a plane load of passengers, after docking at 7 am, and the return flight being 13 hours later they don't seem to be able to tell me. From what has been said already on here, it seems they may keep passengers onboard for longer than usual. Then, apparently they transport them all, wholesale, to the airport. So the bag check being like a scrum seems very likely. I am given the impression that the staffing of a charter flight applies only to onboard, and not ground staff. So it won't be BA staff doing the check in. I think it's likely to be a 777, with a 3/4/3 configuration, rather than what we have experienced before on a scheduled flight, a 3/3/3, so a bit squashed. We are 4 travelling together so hopefully they'll put us together but 4 in a row is definitely a squeeze. We have no choice about that though, so will have to just suck it up. Booking a package longhaul is not something we have ever done, cyprus was the longest flight we ever did in this kind of situation. The deal with so good though, it seemed a shame to pass it up and go independently. Let's hope it hasn't turned out to be too good to be true.
  3. Mark T. Thanks for the info. It’s kind of what I thought but explained it clearly. Bgwest. This cruise we booked through a cruise travel agent. It’s an exceptional deal, cruise, flight, airport parking, transportation, for little more than cruise only on Msc’s website. It doesn’t explain why outbound takes an hour more than the scheduled flight, inbound 2 hours more. I think they may have given me incorrect flight times. I wanted to check for myself due to its being a charter so not showing in the regular schedule. I’m going to check back with the agent.
  4. Mark-T. Thanks for the response. I’m not sure what it means though. What is an ETOPS rating?
  5. Thanks Emma’s gran for the info. It’s really useful and much appreciated. I believe virgin is a better airline than BA generally. I think the plane may be a 777 which are quite old planes. I’m bemused still why it takes longer than the scheduled one, unless they have to go the polar route, which we have experienced travelling to florida. Something about never being too far from land. I was assuming the actual cruise would be pretty busy but we do at least have a balcony to get away from things. It’s definitely the flight aspect that seems challenging. We May certainly have to consider upgrading if we can do it at this stage.
  6. Emmas Gran - there's a bit more information I'd like if you can provide it and don't mind. Was the plane used a wide body jet with two aisles. What was the seat configuration 3/3/3 or 3/4/3. And how was the leg room. We have flown many times to Florida with BA, although scheduled not charter and the space was always very good, but this is quite a long time ago, and things have changed a lot, especially since covid. This is information I would have liked to have before we took the plunge and booked, I did put a query on Trip Advisor in the Cruises threads but didn't get a response. I should have thought to ask on here where there are more people likely to know. We did contemplate upgrading to premium economy, but it was an extra £600 per person, and I had no idea whether you'd get the same amount of space as you would on a scheduled flight. I do know for sure that no matter what type of place you fly on, they have the facility to get in extra rows and and extra seat across the width of the plane so as to squeeze in more people. I am really hoping we didn't make a mistake booking this before we were fully aware of all the snags there might be. When we were younger we'd have taken any kind of flight, in fact we have taken many flights where we were squeezed in like sardines, but when you're younger you don't have the creaky joints that you have as you get older. Last question, was the trip worth it.
  7. They don’t only kick you off in US ports. We were kicked off two ncl cruises, once in Athens and in Trieste. Way before we wanted to leave. And on a costa cruise in tarragona we hung around for ages as we had a late flight. When they realised we hadn’t got off they put an announcement out for us and sent people to find us
  8. We only just got our flight details. We’re under the impression it’s a direct flight. They could change though, it’s a while to end November. seems as though the airport experience is going to be challenging. Although lately when hasn’t it been. I think we might look into assistance at the airport. My friend is not able to walk quickly if it becomes necessary, along with us not being able to stand for long.
  9. It did occur to me that possibly they’d not enforce embarkation early on passengers who would have hours to wait at the airport. It also occurred that checking bags in might be a nightmare. This is something we’re going to have to think about as neither myself nor one of the friends I’m travelling with are able to stand for any length of time. We have just been given our flight times. The flight length is considerably longer than the equivalent scheduled flight. Why would this be does anyone know. It’s the same distance whether scheduled or charter.
  10. Thanks that’s useful to know. We’re sailing from Barbados but won’t have chance to see much of it as we go straight to the ship from the airport. A tour might be the answer, I’ll look into it.
  11. We’ve booked a cruise flight package on msc seaside to Caribbean. I’m interested to hear from anyone who has been on one of these. Flying on BA charter from Gatwick. particularly interested to know how long you have to spend at the airport for the flight home, considering that cruises tend to dock early and flight home is likely to be late afternoon.
  12. I have just upgrade to a club balcony suite from an inside cabin, there are four of us, all adults. Set aside the space issue 4 adults etc, this is not the issue for us, we have travelled in RV's before all together. In the UK. Where it rains and you have to be inside it much of the time. The inside has two single beds, and two pull down pullman beds. We've had this configuration before for four and found it OK. Manageable at least. I am beginning to panic now because of posts I have read elsewhere about the additional beds. Some say it's a sofa bed but is very uncomfortable. Some say it's a a sofa where the back cushion is removed to allow the width of a bed, and has a pullman also. On the photos, it looks like a decent size sofa, which I assumed pulled out into a sofa bed, but others say no it doesn't pull out and the cabin steward doesn't do it as they don't have evening service. I do hope I haven't made a mistake, and any insights from anyone who has a cabin of this type on this ship would be appreciated. Photos would be lovely if anyone has any.
  13. Has anyone experienced a BA charter flight on a MSC package to the Caribbean. We have booked a 2 week cruise from Barbados on a package holiday using a charter flight. We’re not too sure what to expect of the flight. Is this the same experience that we’d get on a scheduled BA flight.
  14. I wonder if anyone can provide me with the most up to date drink menu containing the prices, for the european market. I can find them online, but all of them in US dollars. I am wanting to look at the prices before I work out whether the free at sea offer is worth it. We hardly drink alcohol at all, and although the speciality restaurant looks nice, on a 5 day port intensive cruise, we could live without it. Speciality coffees are not included and these are what I like to drink mostly. Thanks in advance.
  15. Can anyone please clarify for me exactly how you go about getting denied boarding due to your having been in close contact with a person with covid. The terms and conditions on ncl are fuzzy to say the least. On the terms and conditions, if you have had close contact with a person with covid, you will be denied boarding. The person with covid, and cabin companion can cancel. But, what are the fellow travellers, who have had close contact with you supposed to do. Go to the port, possibly incubating covid, for them to say you cannot get on. It seems that situation is not covered by cancellation, which the person with covid is. I have been on live chat, spoken to a cruise consultant, and obviously all they can tell me is what I can read for myself. Further than that they have no clue. Fine, to tell you what your responsibilities are relating to covid, but no clue whatsoever as to how to go about this. We are travelling as a group of 4, in 2 cabins, one of whom has developed some symptoms which could be covid, may not be, but I am wanting to get myself prepared for him to get a positive test. We have all been in close contact with one another over the past week or so, in which case the terms and conditions suggest we will be denied boarding. We are all booked to fly to athens on the same flight booking, and travel to the airport on the same train booking. By the time we have our result, the phone line which is office hours will be closed. So then what. I'd really love to hear from anyone who has actually been in this situation, and how they dealt with it. I cannot believe that this has not happened to quite a few people. Should say we are sailing from Athens, who do still require testing to be done.
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