Bobblehat71

4 minutes ago, LynnForestgate said:

 

 

There are several parts of the world where they would only be too happy to receive them

 

 

 

I know what you mean , Have you tried getting a Booster or flu vaccine in Wales..

Ordered some for a friend of mine last week from Chronomics. £18.99 each . Got the email confirmation and code within a couple of minutes. 

I would hope not.  I'm off in a couple of weeks and I would imagine the terminal will be full of the usual coughs and colds in mid November. 

Best price I've been given is £78,000 pp. for a balcony with drinks , tips and laundry included . Doesn't seem too bad .

Not sure what my wife is going to do for 10 months though ? 😅

Saw that yesterday . Looks incredible but sadly wont be able to get 10 months off work . 

There's also the small issue of the price.😂

Happened to me back in July. I was given a full refund (not FCC) .

This may have just been an oversite as it was early days and I'm sure they were 100% what they were doing. 

Would be interested to know if passengers are being told that they will taken off the ship if they test positive. I suspect the ports requiring these test will become redundant pretty quickly.

5 minutes ago, Interestedcruisefan said:

Me personally I think if getting off involved a test we would stay on board

 

But if it didn't need a test and you can get off and do stuff privately then we would get off

 

I would also ensure we didn't do anything on the cruise that allowed us to be linked as close contacts of anybody else

 

 

Me to, We are off to the Canaries at the end of November and should these protocols still be in place , we wont be getting off anywhere that requires a test or doing any excursions that could potentially link us to anyone else.   

43 minutes ago, Baggy178 said:

My word I hope the missus and I don't become jaundiced fussy cruise regulars ...🤣

Fortunately we still have the innocence of being cruise virgins so really the fact that we may or may not being able to book something on the app or face some confusion over dining times etc is totally out of our area of concern.

So long as there's a bar nearby serving decent alcohol we'll toddle off and wait out turn because luckily we're in the enviable position of being just retired and without a care in the world.No 'phone to answer, people to meet, journeys to make, idiots to put up with etc.

We also have huge sympathy for cruise lines trying to get their businesses back up and running while the pandemic still rages in much of the world.

Chill out folks ...

Well said 

Baggy, I'm sure you'll love it.

I would take the comments and criticism's on these boards with a very large pinch of salt. If P&O can take me around the med for 2 weeks for less than £70/night I'm not going to complain about the lack of a wine waiter or having to book a dining slot.😉

I tested positive at the port back in July. They had to go and get our cases back off the ship 😆

Fortunately I was driving so could just jump back in the Car and drive home.  

P&O and CPS were fantastic . We had a full refund on the holiday and a full refund from CPS within a few days.

13 minutes ago, Interestedcruisefan said:

The cruise lines really done want to have to deal with the results they would get and the problems the results would cause in my honest opinion 

 

The resulting fallout would damage them too much in too many ways if they went looking for positives

 

I feel cruise lines are doing the minimum they have to do just to get by and avoid any bad publicity

 

And getting away with it so far

 

With the longer overseas cruises they will come unstuck though and sooner or later mainstream media will pick up on it

 

 

 

To be fair the the cruise lines I think its more a case of doing as much as they can without making Cruises completely unpalatable or unviable. 

If it was just about keeping passengers safe and ships covid free then there would regular onboard testing, compulsory  face mask wearing everywhere, 2m social distancing , no independent disembarking at ports, no buffet, no theatre entertainment etc etc.  No one is going to be booking that.   

Covid is not going way and ultimately it will be down to the customer to choose if they are willing to take the risk of catching Covid .. If you cant take that risk because of an underlying health condition, then it maybe that you will have to stop cruising. 

I appreciate that sounds pretty harsh but even if Cruise lines could totally eliminate the risk of catching Covid , would they do it at the expense of the 99% of passengers who are unlikely to be effected by it? I don't think so.

27 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

With people thinking like this maybe P&O should follow other companies and test everyone on board every few days. It is surely irresponsible to get off at some ports but avoid those where you have to take a test even though you may have been exposed and carrying the virus?

Thats a nice idea , but how many of us would book a cruise knowing that at anytime it throw off the ship. Getting tested at the Southampton is stressful enough without having to worry about getting tested every couple of days on board.

These longer cruises are a gamble for passengers and cruise lines. 

How many of us would volunteer to be tested if we woke up with the sniffles on Day 2 of a 14 night cruise?  Not many I suspect 😶

If Portugal/ Lisbon continue to insist on passenger testing before disembarking then most are going to to stay on board. Why would you take the risk of ruining a 2 week holiday for the sake of one day in port. Other than staying in your cabin for two weeks there's no way of avoiding an infected passenger on board. Its also likely that if are infected you may not even know it and would just be taking a gamble every time you took an onboard test.  I've got a cruise coming up which calls at Lisbon in November and unless this situation changes I wont be getting off. I suspect most of my fellow passengers will do the same if they know what the consequences could be . 

Maybe P&O should avoid these ports until they remove the test requirements. 

19 hours ago, Britboys said:

Many of her potential customers are probably trying out the new kid on the P&O block too...

We're off to the Canaries on Ventura in November, but would have booked Iona if the timings had worked out for us  as its doing the same itinerary more or less.

Just managed to get through after an hour on hold to change a booking . Far from ideal but the service when I did get through was great .

Also booked on Iona for January. Will probably move it if there's any doubts about getting off the ship independently. 

Also booked for the Canary's in November but not so bothered about that one as I will just be happy to have a holiday  😁

17 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

Isn't that what RCL have done with Anthem due to the uncertainty? It does seem to make commercial sense to have a backup plan.  With all the rumours about what might go red from our government based on numbers coming back with Covid rather than cases in the destinations I presumed that's what he may have been referring to, especially with the comment about not booking until after this week's update.

Yes, they are being quite heavily discounted at the minute. Probably because a UK Seacation is not massively appealing in late September and October.

38 minutes ago, wowzz said:

We have a Med cruise booked for next May that visits 6 different countries over three weeks. 

We booked it a few weeks ago, knowing full well that the itinerary may change, but our view is that Princess will sort it out - we will just sit on our balcony, going wherever we are taken !

Seems like lots of others have the same idea - over the last few weeks prices have gone up and cabin availability has come down. No aft  cabins left at all now.

Having said that, I've booked refundable BA tickets ! I'm not a 100% optimist!

I'm very much of the same opinion. We have booked 2 cruises in the last couple of weeks. One for the Canaries in November and one to Spain and Portugal in January. Its not the we are being overly optimistic it just that we've resigned ourselves to the fact that they may not happen. Therefore we wont be massively disappointed if they get cancelled or itineraries changed. If they go ahead then we've bagged a couple of bargains .We've already had 3 cruises cancelled in the last year so another two wont make much difference 😄

11 minutes ago, wowzz said:

My understanding is that you cannot use self administered tests for the purposes of entry to the UK.  Princess have alreasy stated that they will be administering the appropriate test on board. P&O will have to do the same.   

I would be more concerned about thousands of passengers trying to log on and complete the Passenger Location forms! 

Not sure if they have worked out how you are supposed to submit the Passenger Locator form with no internet out in the Bay of Biscay?  Maybe P&O are planning on giving away free internet for 48 hours 🤣Lots of questions still unanswered .I appreciate they want to wait and see what develops but I can see there being quite a few cancellations over the next few weeks if they don't sort it out. 

6 minutes ago, Harry Peterson said:

For us the position of the cabin or suite is critical to the full enjoyment of the cruise. So much so that there are only 4 suites on Azura or Ventura that we’d go for, and the agent we use has found them for us every time - whereas P&O refuse to do so.

 

And 5% off several thousand pounds is quite a lot of money!

Fair point. If I was paying for a suite I'd want to know where it was to. 😁

No Simple answer to this relatively simple question  I'm afraid so its going to be down to everyones individual experiences and preference.

Personally I always book direct when I can. Not fussy about booking specific rooms and I've always had good service when needed direct from the cruise operator. I've always found any additional agent discounts / perks to be fairly insignificant and they can just add another layer of complexity the booking process.

However if I'm booking a fly cruise (non P&O) then I will use an agent as it massively simplifies the process and good hotel/flight package deals can be had.

I also had a positive PCR test at the terminal on the 15th July.

Don't think it was ever reported to the NHS as I never had any follow from them or track and trace etc.

Whatever the price is on your booking confirmation. If its significantly lower you could move your deposit to a future cruise or could just cancel and rebook at the lower price.

If you driving and parking at the port g. CPS Parking etc. Then I would aim to get to the drive through test centre around 12:30.  If you getting a taxi from the Hotel then get to the terminal around 12:45pm.

As Graham said disembarking is usually around 8am at the latest. If you've not got huge suitcases then I would just keep hold of them and carry them off the ship yourself. Saves you hanging around, trying to find your cases. 

 Have a great trip and start saving for your next one.

(There will be a next one 🤣)