watsonbeau

Re passengers quarantining in own cabin - are the isolation cabins perhaps for those with inside cabins ?

What about mixers ? Say for a Bombay sapphire gin with a fevertree tonic ? Exc any service charge - The gin looks to be $10.60 and 1.90 for the tonic - together over $12 but are billed individually? Doubt I’d drink enough for the full package though but interested to know. Thank you.

If you are only there a day and not staying in port overnight I’d stick with ships tour. KSC was well worth the visit.

I stayed in 8013 glass balcony - no problem with stability or seasickness at all. Even if no great view in some of the cabins, nice just to step outside !

Funinhounslow and walkingdude Thank you. At the rate they are going, with the insurance issue they will end up with no passengers at all. The insurance to me seems to be misleading on the website since nobody will insure as Megabear2 has found. At this rate much as I love cruises I would be very wary of now booking another. but they need to treat paying customers better or we will be having a mass exodus from the cruise market to land holidays with less aggravation! thank you

Megabear2 - good luck and let us know how it goes. Will be interested to know what’s said as I am booked on a Cunard and they are basically same as P&O with the FCC removal/health questionnaire/testing etc thank you

Just a thought, and a play on words really -but according to their website blurb, if the cruise line cancels the cruise you should get FCC. Now I assume their wording is intended to mean the cancellation of entire cruise for all pax -but in the case of the health questionnaire being completed with a Yes so boarding denied - then in effect it’s the cruise line cancelling your cruise, as it’s definitely not yourself ? Could that be argued ? Also since they say suitable insurance is a pre requisite to board, yet no such policy is known to exist (Inc their own supplier) for the denied boarding etc, as Megabear2 has found, then surely by allowing anybody on board they are in effect breaking their own rules ! Sorry if I’ve not explained very well as bit late ! Our guarantee In the unlikely event that P&O Cruises needs to cancel your cruise, we guarantee you an enhanced Future Cruise Credit (FCC).

Avomine or Stugeron for me - always take one before even boarding ! Tried the wristbands but didn’t do anything for me and was still sick with them on. So the pills for me at least.

Hattie do you mean it was only charged in Spanish ports/waters so not throughout the cruise - since Southampton is not an EU port? Sorry if not reading correctly. Thank you

Great info thank you. In that case I will likely look at something else as the one I was looking at visits Spain, France and Italy so no non EU ports unfortunately!

Am aware from past cruises that in Spanish waters/ports additional tax is charged onboard. Asking as the book of visages has a post on there which implies that it will apply on every day of a cruise that starts and ends in Barcelona - not just when the ship is in Spanish waters/ports. This would add a huge amount to any onboard spending over 14 days if that is indeed the case. I was looking at a Barcelona-Barcelona trip but if that’s really the situation with Spanish tax I will look at a different itinerary. Thank you

Yes Mary Pickford for me too.

Absolutely agree. Either treat everything as normal, so treat as if a common cold, so no tests or quarantine or denied boarding - in which case nobody would expect FCC for a cold, or if they must persist with treating Covid as if it’s the plague, then they should continue with FCC - after all its their ruling about catching it before you travel within 10 days means the system automatically cancelling and it’s generally their requirement to quarantine onboard. I do appreciate different countries may complicate things and also COVID’s severity can vary a lot, many of us who have had it may have had just a mild dose whereas others have obviously been far worse. But either it’s treated like a cold or it’s treated like the plague ! As it stands with insurance - or rather lack of it, people are just going to lie on the health questionnaire to avoid being cancelled by Cunard and will doubtless do same onboard - if they get symptoms but are not unwell enough to require the medics they aren’t going to say anything. Not saying that’s the right thing to do but it will happen. I suspect this is because they are losing money by giving FCC since it’s not new money, just recycling existing £££ to another cruise if cancelled before departure. And by no FCC if you are confined to cabin, they lose out on nothing really. They are certainly not encouraging honesty or encouraging people to cruise - so now every cruise you have the Sword of Damocles hanging over you. From what I see I think P&O are doing same. I think megabear2 has spelt out the situation well.

It does seem rather unfair that UK rules differ from US.

Looking on the Cunard website after spotting a post on the book of faces it looks to be there is now no FCC for quarantine days in cabin during a voyage or if you have to cancel because you have/had Covid in the 10 days prior to sailing so fail the pre cruise health questionnaire automatically if you put Yes. Has anyone else picked up on this ? Or am I reading it all wrong ? Looks like 5 Sept was when updated on the website.

God save our Gracious Queen. Much love and kindest thoughts.

As now retired from a job where I spent years on computer systems I do have a smartphone- however when out of UK it goes in airplane mode ! Partly because I’m free of hassle of calls, texts and emails but also because I don’t want to end up with a large bill for roaming charges which easily be incurred accidentally. Appreciate however some do need to remain in contact whereas I don’t have the need generally. So my phone in fact just functions as a camera and I might download maps to use offline and possibly some films to watch also before I leave UK. However I wouldn’t want to fill in an online form using it - too difficult to see in some cases, and sometimes unable to complete on certain browsers eg Safari might have issues so you’d have to use Firefox or other. I am well aware wifi can be used instead of data and many a time have seen how people dash off to get into the terminal to use free wifi. However you should know that some caution should be exercised if you use public or other insecure networks - especially if you do online banking - if you must do so then use a VPN. I attended a conference with head of cyber fraud from NatWest as a speaker - he did suggest using VPN and log out of social media when not using as it can track you and be very cautious about sending photos home etc as most will have your location embedded in them !

Not worried about losing a day so long as not my birthday ! Though if it loses a year off my age I maybe wouldn’t grumble 😁

Many thanks all. Would be interesting to cross the equator at the 180 meridian and become a Golden Shellback according to Wiki. Fingers crossed for that.

It all sounds very interesting - yes it looks like we lose a day - just so long as nothing happens on 14 Feb - my birthday !

Looking at maybe booking V406 and crossing the line which has always been on my bucket list. On the itinerary QV departs Honolulu on 13 Feb then sea days to cross the date line etc. What day would she likely cross the Equator do you think or where could I look to find out ? TIA

If you have access to an online HL account, send them a secure messsge - give dates of cruise/booking ref etc. That’s how I did mine - just bsck from Southampton to San Francisco on QE and had $250 as long cruise. You should get confirmation from them they have done it. I don’t have the HL app o just login via web browser but guess app also has secure message facility.