NoFlyGuy

25 minutes ago, Harry Peterson said:

And that's one of the key problems.  Those advised not to go out for health/age reasons have no real option but to shop online, but it's almost impossible to get a slot,  and if you do chances are half the stuff won't turn up because the shelves were stripped before the pickers got to them.

 

One solution would be to give priority to those who really have no other option, but that would involve quite an outcry from the ones pushed to the bottom of the queue. 

Very true Harry but would be difficult to administer in the short term when it's needed. A letter from the local surgery, upload it to the supermarket site (changes needed to their systems and tested) etc, it all takes time.   

Bottom line is, as we start to run short of supplies, one of us will need to head out and top up, whatever the advise. 

Hopefully once all the chest freezers in the country are totally full the situation may well improve at least for goods that can be frozen. Who knows with tinned goods. 

1 hour ago, majortom10 said:

We live in Stone, Staffordshire and we have visited Aldi, Morrisons locally and ASDA in Stafford this last couple of weeks and what we have seen has been very upsetting. ASDA was particularly upsetting it really looked as if a bomb had dropped on the shop and bought the situation home to us how serious this is. We havent stockpiled thinking it wouldnt be this bad in supermarkets but now we are now beginning to worry. Do not think we will starve but will probably eat some unusual meals and might have to get to like drinking tea without milk. My only real worry is that we havent seen a toilet roll in a shop for over a fortnight so that is my greatest concern. Always said I wouldnt wipe my backside on The Sun but might have to start doing it 😁.

We are in South Northants.

Didn't go out today as we are both supposed to be 'at risk' with COPD. My wife trawled around the 3 supermarkets in Towcester yesterday early on, managed to get most of what we think we need food wise to last maybe a week - perhaps a few strange concoctions though, like something out of Ready, Steady Cook.

Thursday was different when we went later in the day, not a lot to buy food wise. Empty shelves and anything in a tin, no chance!

We only have a standard 60/40 fridge freezer in the kitchen so can hardly stockpile.

Tried online ordering, again no chance, we did get one order through on Waitrose on Thursday for 21st April delivery! Now no slots available from any of the supermarkets.

We've cancelled our May and June cruises, unlikely to have gone ahead anyway.

Next booked one is the Christmas and new year Aurora cruise. Who knows?

More importantly try to keep safe and well everyone.

1 minute ago, Harry Peterson said:

And with no effectively coordinated healthcare system the consequences will be far worse. 

Too true Harry. At least we do have a healthcare system even if it's not perfect.

34 minutes ago, Harry Peterson said:

Sorry, Andy.  I'm a realist, not a fantasist, and I've always been a firm believer in facing facts, rather than trying to swerve them.  And I try to get my information from reliable sources (as distinct from certain social media sites).

 

I know facing facts isn't always popular, but facing them earlier rather than too late is a sensible policy - and we can see the outcome of facing facts too late around us now.  I don't think any of my earlier posts (seen by some as doom mongering at the time) have proved wildly out, but some of the more 'optimistic' posters who tried to argue that Coronavirus was no worse than flu, or that it was just a Chinese problem, are looking pretty silly now.  I only wish they'd been proved right.  I'd have been very happy to apologise for getting it wrong.

I don't disagree with you entirely Harry but there are no absolute facts at this time.

Why are so called first world countries like Italy, Spain and France getting hit so badly whilst Japan, who doesn't seem to have any major 'social distancing' policies recorded so few cases and deaths relative to their population?

The link below is very good to track the progress of the virus.

Towards the bottom of the link it states that the estimate for deaths each year relating to complication brought on by ordinary flu run at 290,000 - 650,000.

Will we get there with Coronavirus? - I hope not. Time will tell. 

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/#countries

9 minutes ago, Bazrat said:

To reduce the chance of spreading the virus some doctors are only doing phone consultations, and only if they really need to see a doctor will they be allowed to go to the surgery.

Does seem to be a bit mixed around the country.

My wife and I have our annual COPD test on Tuesday - not cancelled as yet.

It's such a fluid situation that it's difficult to know what to do. I'm sure many cancelled when they could have got better terms by holding fire and that must be annoying.

We will have to cancel our 15th May and 28th June cruises as, although only 66 and 59 years old, we both ostensibly suffer from COPD. We have already paid for travel insurance for the May cruise but would be unlikely to get cover for the June one once we declare COPD.

We were always going to cancel as we don't fancy a 'cruise to nowhere'. Some sea days are nice having to done a few fair transatlantic, but a whole mystery cruise doesn't appeal.

Will now have to get an appointment at the surgery and a letter from the doc before we cancel.

22 minutes ago, Captain_Morgan said:

 

Is the return to Southampton official?  Not doubting your source, but it seems a little worrying that information about onward plans are being shared through unofficial channels.  Add to the fact the next scheduled cruise is meant to be the repositioning to Malta for the fly Med season so is that now in jeopardy too?  I can only imagine the glass windows in Carnival House are well and truly fogged over due to the steam pouring out of everyone's ears in there trying to figure this out 

That's what she said.

I expect there will be posts on the Facebook Oceana group from passengers coming up soon as well.

She's coming back to Southampton as well after Gib - wonder if her next cruise will be cancelled as well.

With Ventura due back soon there will be 3 European based ships with nowhere to go.

The PM has said she will get off there but has to now go home for 2 weeks before joining Iona. They are obviously taking no chances of transmission between ships.

We advised her to bring back plenty of bog roll and hand sanitiser from the stores! 

15 minutes ago, jeanlyon said:

following you on AIS, can see you are turning in for Gibraltar.  Aurora has turned south after being refused entry to Norway.

Looks like it.

We know the Production Manager was due to get off in Malaga from speaking to her last week. She was then going to join Iona.

We'll message her and see what's happening.

1 minute ago, PRINCESSTHE BEST said:

It's nothing personal, but at the moment cruise ships are described as massive incubators for coronavirus. If a ship enters a port and has just one infected passenger, the cost to that port is massive. Plus the danger of infecting the locals.

Much the same if a plane lands with an infected passenger, they can infect the locals just as much as a cruise ship passenger.

I don't fly but, say 8 planes landing in a tourist area on a given day, they could have the same number of infected people onboard as a medium sized cruise ship. Ships get banned but planes still arrive.  

What's going on! Just heard that Spain are restricting cruise ship access. Not sure of the details yet.

Oceana is due to dock in Malaga tomorrow?

Not sure why cruise ships are getting targeted if flights in are not being cancelled.

Are we cruisers all filthy and disease ridden?

Sorry, that should have been Aurora rather than Ventura. She's coming back but can't dock in Ponta Delgada. 

Looks like Ventura is stuck out in the North sea with nowhere to dock. Surely P&O will have to go into lock down 'a la' Princess and Viking with less and less ports to dock in..

We've 2 booked due to sail relatively soon - Mid May and late June.

Due to health issues we've been taking out single trip insurance for all our cruises.

Haven't had a look at the cost for the June trip but it may be prohibitive should it go ahead.

For the moment we will sit tight and see if both get cancelled by P&O.

Seems like we will be moving to stage 2 (delay) tomorrow.

Everyone, rightly,  has their own views on the seriousness of this outbreak.

For myself, as a 66 year old smoker who, ostensibly, suffers from COPD, I'm not worried.

456 known cases out of a population of over 60 million hardly seems to be something to panic over even though that is likely to rise over the weeks ahead.

Of course there are people who will die from this virus and, that's very sad, but thousands die every year from seasonable flu and other viruses and infections. Overaction seems to be the order of the day these days. 

As far as cruising goes, we have 2 cruises booked soon - mid May and late June. We will monitor the situation and make any final decision at a later date. It maybe taken out of our hands if governments ban cruising or P&O decide it's uneconomic to run a half empty cruise.

18 minutes ago, Josy1953 said:

I know what you mean about the bathroom size, I am  5ft 2in size 12 and found myself wondering how some of the larger passengers managed to fit in the bathroom.

 

 We were on deck 9 and decided that they prepared onions every morning because every day when we left the cabin on the way to breakfast we could commented on the smell of onions.

Too true! We often wondered how the more rotund passengers were coping with the bathrooms in the standard cabins.

Quite often I heard expletives from the bathroom when wifey was getting ready - She's 5ft 3in and weighs 52 kilos (not sure what size that is ). Got additional ear ache by the second week because nothing she brought on board fitted apparently - hey ho, I usually switch off then.

She thinks I need a hearing aid. I call it selective hearing loss!

Will still book an Oceana cruise in the future if the price/destinations appeal though.

22 minutes ago, Josy1953 said:

Pleased that you got a good resolution.

 

We got back from Oceana on Sunday and I will never travel on her again.  I have written to Paul Ludlow about our appalling experience when we boarded and I have also sent him the photograph of the bathroom bin complete with the dirty baby's nappy in it.

 

My complaint has been passed to guest relations to be investigated but given the attitude "It is only a small mistake by one person" on board I don't hold out much hope of getting an apology after the 28 days that they have said it will take to investigate despite having the photograph.

 

We were given a bottle of house wine as a gesture of goodwill on board.

We also got back on Oceana on Sunday and I have to say she's not my favourite ship.

No major gripes but just little things.

The bathroom in our balcony cabin was tiny - I'm 5'11 and weigh only 62 kilos but it was a squash.

Couldn't seem to get a waiter to come over on the welcome onboard lunch for the 6 of us on our table. Had half a glass of wine each and then gave up and left.

Also our corridor on deck 10 smelt of food almost all of the time.

Still enjoyed the cruise  though.

37 minutes ago, Bazrat said:

To be honest it’s not a pleasant thought being trapped in a cabin for two weeks but I refuse to live my life in fear of what might happen.

My thoughts entirely - wont be cancelling any cruise we have booked.

11 minutes ago, Josy1953 said:

We also got off Oceana this morning and the only place we saw anyone with a mask was one lady in Cadiz.  We are also waiting to see how things go because we are booked on Azura 28th June to the Mediterranean.  I hope that if they do decide to change some of the ports due to Coronavirus they will let us cancel with no loss of we don't like the substituted ports.

Looks like we are on the same cruise as you again!

As you say, if  the final cruise destinations are so different to what we booked, hopefully we will be able to change with no loss.

We've a fair few booked going forward and are just going to sit it out and watch developments - certainly don't want to cancel anything at this stage.

We just got off Oceana this morning. Didn't notice anyone wearing a mask or rubber gloves either on the ship or ashore, including Tenerife. We were advised not to travel to Costa Adege though and the transfer to Playa de las Americas was cancelled.

Due on Arcadia on 15th May and Azura in late June. The latter one may be problematic with a couple of calls in Italy - will see how things go in next few months.

We don't a set budget - after all we are on holiday. However on our last few P&O cruises we've been pretty consistant and have spent about £55 a day between us overall on drinks. Obviously that's a mixture of good and bad days.

So with P&O the drinks package is not for us especially as the spirits are singles only, sometimes we like to order a large spiced rum with a splash of coke.

When we've been on RCI we NEED the drinks package else we would probably have to sell the house.

11 hours ago, AndyMichelle said:

NoFlyGuy, you might have mixed up the posts..

It wasn't Josy, who will be onboard with you tomorrow that mentioned your tier, so no need to push past her on the airbridge.😊

You won't be able to nudge Wowzz anymore, he has absconded to Saga for his 100th birthday..😊

I hope you both have a fantastic time.

Andy 

Not unusual for me. Occasional senior moments coupled with too much plonk and I completely lose the plot!

42 minutes ago, wowzz said:

Obviously the situation will be different on Sunday, but three weeks ago we were on board by 12:10, and we are just common or garden cruisers.  We did, however,  meet a lot of cruisers who went out of their way to tell us exactly  about their Ligurian status! 

Great you got on by 12:10 and I'm sure we all wish to get onboard as quickly and easily as possible.

Maybe you will beat us onboard on Sunday, your peninsular status or ours. Without knowing it we may be pushing past each other on the airbridge!

I may not be a prolific poster on this site but I think my earlier post was the first time I made any mention of our Peninsular Club status and it was simply to point out we will just turn up as usual and go with the flow.

We may let meet onboard and I think it's unlikely that Ligurian or other oceans/seas will pass my lips!

1 hour ago, grapau27 said:

I hope your cruise is uneventful and you have a great time.

Thanks . Only been cruising for the last 8 years but have realised it's a bit of a lottery! Some go smoothly and others are a bit of a shambles! Got a fair few booked going forward so will take the chance.

55 minutes ago, Josy1953 said:

I have had an email from P&O telling us that everyone's boarding pass has the same boarding time for Oceana on Sunday and telling us the time that we should book by deck.  I am envisioning chaos in the terminal when lots of people turning up at 13:00 because they will have the incorrect time on their boarding pass and will choose to ignore the email.

 

We have priority boarding which is 12:30 according to the schedule that we have been given so hopefully we won't have a problem.

Interesting,we've not had an email although on the same cruise.

As Ligurian we'll turn up at noon(ish) and, like you, hopefully wont have any problems boarding early.

We'll both find out on Sunday!