HalifaxYorksCruiser

Looks like Azamara are following Royal Caribbean who introduced the same protocols for European cruises by way of an e mail to customers on Monday. If cruise companies want to introduce new protocols they should at least pay for them in the case of existing bookings. Testing 72 hours before cruising seems pretty pointless. 

Anyone got a current AB Parking promo code ?

15 minutes ago, FamilyCruiserUK said:

We have just booked lloyds for aug even though no teating is required to enter italy. 

 

Just seems RCL want people to test before boarding. 

 

Hopefully by aug there will be a change or removal of the testing requirement.

 

My only concern is what the day before means......ie bording at 3 pm do we need testing after 3pm the day before?

Does this help :

https://www.royalcaribbean.com/faq/questions/how-do-i-figure-out-when-to-get-pre-cruise-covid-19-test

4 minutes ago, TheBFG said:

maybe look at the local Lloyds option

 

https://lloydspharmacy.com/pages/covid-19-lateral-flow-test

Thanks that looks good as Lloyds have a pharmacy inside our local Sainsburys.

My mother is cruising on Enchanted Princess from Southampton at beginning of May - here is a link to the medically observed tests that Princess recommends:

Princess recommends an option for an FDA-authorized, medically supervised at-home antigen test kit through our testing partner Prenetics™ (£30). Order your Lateral Flow Antigen test kit online^.

Would be helpful if RC had a link to a U.K. provider. I will see how my mother gets on. I’m in two minds as to whether I will cancel my Anthem of Seas cruise to Fiords at the  end of May  but will definitely keep Brilliance of the Seas in August.

Just received the same type of e mail in the last hour for our Norwegian Fiords cruise out of Southampton on 29th May. E mail says:

Testing 
Pre-Cruise 
Guests who are up-to-date with their vaccines will be required to present a negative test result for a COVID-19 test taken no more than 2 days before our sailing. 

However  the link to the testing seems to be aimed at US testing providers and not U.K. providers. Final payment due in next 10 days. Tempted to use cruise with confidence and transfer our deposit to the cruise we have in August from Ravenna in the hope that testing is done away with by then. I am prepared if necessary to do and pay for pre departure for our August cruise out of Ravenna but not sure I can be bothered with the hassle of pre testing for a Southampton cruise that has 3 out of 7 days at sea.

Quest currently tendering in Saint Tropez. Weather looks very pleasant.

https://www.sainte-maxime.com/en/home-page/webcam/port-panoramic-view/?lang=fr

Thanks for posting yesterdays MDR menu. Looking forward to boarding Quest on Saturday.

9 minutes ago, Xanthe said:

You will need to leave ship at 5 am .

9 minutes ago, Xanthe said:

You will need to leave ship at 5 am .

I would have thought that 6am would be ok as arriving at 8.30 at Marco Polo would still leave 3 hours to check in and clear security.

If I e mail Royal Caribbean I can be pretty sure I will get a full response from customer services within 48 hours but with Azamara just a deafening silence. 

Definitely worth a try at the airport. Seems very naughty for Azamara to be quoting you £300 each when you could book new flights for €150 each.

2 hours ago, Mrs Miggins said:

We tried to move our flight from Venice to Heathrow back from 17.05 to the 14.45.  The online price for our preferred flight is lower by more than 100 Euros each.  However because it is already ticketed Azamara said that they could only do this as a new flight at at cost of over £300 each.

We will try at the airport if we arrive early enough from Ravenna but the BA desk is staffed by a Handling Agent so they are likely to be less accommodating.

We have usually arranged our own flights but let Azamara take the strain this time because of the uncertainty of docking at Venice/Trieste/Ravenna.

You could book new flights with BA for the 2.45pm flight to Heathrow from Venice for a total of €301ie €150.50 each  ( that’s for both of you and includes 23kg checked luggage for each passenger). 

1 hour ago, margo2011 said:

To be honest my husband wanted to book the low cost options from Liverpool,but I was hoping if anything went wrong we would have more cover as a package holiday with Azamara. Looks like my mistake .Liverpool airport seem to be operating a much better service than Manchester I appreciate they are not like for like but Liverpool starting recruiting for the Easter rush in January.

 

I let Azamara arrange the outbound flights so as to have the comfort that if anything went wrong it was Azamara problem. Took the view that not much risk on the return ( unless the coach breaks down !). 

We are booked to fly out to Rome on 23rd April from Manchester . 6.00 am flight with Lufthansa via Frankfurt. Not looking forward to the experience but hoping that queues may have eased after Easter. Although our flights out were arranged with a Azamara I arranged my own direct return flights from Venice to Manchester with Jet2. Will report back as to how we get on.

5 minutes ago, travelberlin said:

 

Hi dear cruisers from European countries or from the Uk, in your recent cruise touching Italian, French or Spanish ports, did you have to fill a Passenger Locator Form for any of those countries? 
Have you received those forms from Azamara or did you fill them online before the whole cruise?

Ivi

Just done our  PLFs today for our U.K. flights to Rome via Frankfurt

link here:

https://app.euplf.eu/#/

2 minutes ago, Riocca said:

We had the same email, a bit worried that they requested the same information I gave last time although the survey form was less glitchy this time.

Bigger worry was that they wished us a pleasant cruise on Pursuit, we’re supposed to be on Onward!

Yes I filled in the Survey again to be on the safe side. Shame you don’t get some sort of e mail confirmation thanking you for completing the survey. My e mail letter also referred to Pursuit when we are on Quest ( clearly someone doesn’t proof read draft letters).

1 hour ago, audobon_tx said:

In Civitavecchia just off Pursuit after 7 nts from Barcelona.  Best food we have ever had on Azamara.  Entertainment very good.  Service was great.  Wifi was abysmal. 

 

We had 236 pax.  We heard that the next leg to Ravenna will have 480 +/- pax.

 

No restrictions on shore activities in Spain, France, Monaco, Italy.

 

But it has been COLD and windy most places.

Good to hear that there are no restrictions on shore activities in Italy.

I got the 2nd letter from Azamara in the early hours of this morning. Fortunately our flight is after 12 noon ( 12.20) and so Azamara are saying they will get us to Airport on time. Hope the coach doesn’t break down !

1 hour ago, Mrs Miggins said:

Viking are using Fusina/Marghera.  Azamara were showing on Cruisemapper for our cruise at Marghera.  Certainly not ideal, but for those that booked cruises because they wanted to see or revisit Venice it must be a huge disappointment.  Sitting on a coach for 5 hours + to visit this wonderful place for a few hours must be a very sad option for many.

I have not been to Ravenna, so not so bad for me but nevertheless a 2.5 hour coach to Marco Polo airport for an Azamara booked BA flight to Heathrow at 17.15 is not appealing.  I would guess we will be dumped at the airport for many hours.  The airport does not typically open European flights until 2 hours before flight.

I suspect that for those of us with lunchtime flights it will be a 7am or earlier disembarkation and for later flights suspect it will be 9am to 10am latest. If Ravenna is going to be used by cruise lines long term then they really need to have flights packaged to Bologna rather than Marco Polo and yet the likes of Royal Caribbean are still packaging Ravenna cruises with flights to Marco Polo.

14 hours ago, little britain said:

I’ve heard $45 … trying to confirm this too! 
No idea if that’s one way or round trip. 

I called RC this morning and was told that the transfers are £69pp each way. 

We originally booked a Venice to Greek Islands cruise on Rhapsody which got changed to Ravenna and RCI announced free return transfers from airport to Ravenna . The cruise was cancelled due to COVID and we lifted and shifted to the same cruise this August on Brilliance including Flights arranged by Royal Caribbean. I have asked for confirmation that the transfers are still complimentary but meeting some resistance. Has anyone been given an answer as to whether transfers will still been complimentary or have charges been applied - if so how much ?

Hi Les. Yes the complimentary transfer from Ravenna to Marco Polo airport has been sorted but not looking forward to the early disembarkation and 2.5 hour coach trip. £250 FCC and a free transfer doesn’t really compensate for the loss of an over nighter in Venice and the lengthy transfer.

3 hours ago, suttonrunner said:

Hi Mark,  It is such a shame about Venice,  I have debarked from Venice a couple of times and it is a wonderful port to sail into and  have  an overnighter.

As I went alone on my Quest  cruise I did eat most nights in Prime C, as it  a small restaurant and was included in my fare.  The food was more than excellent for me. I  never had a bad meal there and the service was wonderful.  On the second leg of the cruise I noticed that Aqualina was open - still sharing the same menu (half Aqualina and half Prime C  food on the  same menu, you could mix and match).  I am sure things might alter as numbers increase, by having separate menu's for each restaurant. The menu did not change at all for the 18 nights I was there so did have repeats but did have my favourites so was never disappointed.  I had the ultimate drinks package  and did only drink the wine from this package so cannot comment on the daily pours.  A must is the Chef's table - the food  and wines were outstanding.   I chose the French Menu and will do it again when I return in May  - it was set in Aqualina which I think as a restaurant is vey pretty. The Chefs table layout in the restaurant consisted of many tables small and large - not the long table as in Prime C.  At lunchtime I enjoyed sitting on deck at the patio on the tables beyond the serving station (more on deck than undercover).  It was a pleasant place to sit and chat with other guests and I enjoyed the food there, being waiter service plus a salad bar where you could choose your own salad. I am not sure you have cruised on the Quest  but If you haven't been before I am sure you will have a wonderful time, the crew and staff were all so lovely and they get to know you really quickly - I cannot wait to return in 8 weeks.

 Yes I was shocked this morning when I opened the curtain's to a blanket of snow - I don't normally wish for rain - but I did this morning. Take care. Jacqueline

Hi Jacqueline. Thanks for the info . I think I will book the 3 night speciality restaurant package although to be fair the main dining room food was pretty good the last time I was on Quest in 2019. I will let you know how we get on and might even post some live updates whilst on board.

Enjoy the snow. Mark.

23 minutes ago, mappyuk said:

Got the email too. Actually quite pleased  with the outcome. 
 

M

I got the e mail last night but can’t say I’m thrilled with the 2.5 hour coach transfer and a much earlier departure from the ship. 

7 hours ago, suttonrunner said:

Hello Halifax Yorks Cruiser,  Thank you, I had a great time, loved it so much that I have booked a further cruise in May this year back on the Quest.   Yes the weather was mostly hot and dry but did experience some very wet unexpected downpours.   But nothing like the storms  you were experiencing in the UK though, it has been truly awful for such a long time.  The weather has been splendid since my return home with not a spot of rain until yesterday here in North Yorkshire.  Jacqueline 

Hi Jacqueline. Great to hear that you had a wonderful time. I was wondering how you were getting on.  How was the food and wine ?
I can’t believe that last Saturday was 20c here last Saturday and last night 0c and snowing.
I am on Quest on the 23rd April but Azamara notified yesterday that the last overnight departure port has been changed from Venice to Ravenna which I am not particularly thrilled about ( particularly the 2.5 hour coach transfer to the airport). 
Mark