paulatsea

Not turn down on Iona last summer.

Marella still have it.

We missed it.

https://www.cruiseparking.co.uk/

18 hours ago, weylady said:

hi to all apologies to drag this up again, is this a viable place to park for a 10 night cruise we go December 2022. do you pay on arrival or when you leave. Anybody experience any damage to their vehicle. TIA

I always use the cruise parking option

Why not use the cruise parking ? £70 last time for a week roughly ? It’s secure there.

I use “holiday extras” which is the P&O recommended one - the annual cruise cover (which includes non cruise holidays as well) was good value and the same price as a single trip cruise cover.
For us it was about £180 for a couple for 12 months.

customer service is available by online chat and is  excellent.

Easy to set up via website or the App and declare any previous conditions.

sorry if this one has already been mentioned.

paul

Difficult - if you got a good price as you said I would stay with it - by April I think things will be much clearer about what is likely to happen and how we will have to live with things.

(if it had been very expensive I would probably ditch)

if it’s cancelled you get the FCC or a refund I assume ?

if it’s not I would go anyway and hope for the best - it’s not ideal but it’s nice being at sea on a ship and hopefully you get some stops.

one of my friends said yesterday “we are in snipers alley mate - live life to the max” !!

especially as in our case we are nearer the end than the beginning !

good luck - once decided don’t look back.

paul

Wish I was there ! Hopefully next Christmas on Arcadia . Best wishes .

paul

Ferretktf - thanks for taking the time to share this - that’s really useful - 
 

Paul

Not right at all . Hope you have a great cruise and a great honeymoon !

On 12/10/2021 at 12:24 PM, wowzz said:

Not any more - they give you additional benefits, such as an improved cabin grade, but not a cash refund.

However, the Saga pricing model is pretty straightforward,  with prices increasing in 5% increments as the cruise sells through, so it is very rare for prices to decrease.  

Thanks wowzz I didn’t read the small print - the difference is given back as an upgrade or other things as you said - that’s useful to know - but still a good benefit.

I don’t think it’s right to have massive variations in price - it’s just not fair on people who have already booked  - saga do a price guarantee so that if the price drops you get refunded but you don’t pay more if it goes up ! 
 

if it was me I would cancel - if I could if only the deposit is lost - and either rebook or go to another line.

I know that prices for almost everything vary  but when it’s that significant a difference on an expensive holiday -  it’s not right.

15 minutes ago, zap99 said:

That is what I do. But I am not as cleverer as some on here. K.I.S.S and keep my long socks on with me flip-flops.

K.I.S.S !! Haven’t heard that since my computer programming days !!!

Turn airplane mode ON (which will turn everything OFF) - then just turn WiFi ON to use ships WiFi or any free one ashore.

that way mobile data will be OFF and no unknown charges and it’s easier than turning everything off one by one.

paul

We love it - Adults only , great staff and crew  onboard , civilised and relaxed - really nice ship.
Good choice .

paul

23 minutes ago, Son of Anarchy said:

A cruise to Scotland for New Year would appeal.  Overnight stay at Glasgow or Edinburgh on NYE.

Yep - that would be great 👍 

3 minutes ago, Interestedcruisefan said:

 If there was an option I would consider a cruise staycation for 7 nights on a ship that never even leaves Southampton tbh

 

Food, drink, cinema  and theatre. And should be a great price. 

I prefer going somewhere and stopping off if possible - we went on Marella Uk one that stopped in Dundee - cold and raining and really grim - but a piper turned up at 0730 to welcome us - which was brilliant - and we did have a good tour to scone castle - and we got piped away as well - the welcome to Dundee sign was hilarious -

7 minutes ago, zap99 said:

A tour of UK docks in January doesn't appeal.

Does to me ! Seriously . 

16 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

The whole raison d'etre for winter cruise holidays is to sail off to somewhere with warm/hot winter sunshine. Disembarking at Liverpool when its wet and windy does not offer the same attraction.

Yes - ideally and preferable - but given the constant changes etc it’s better than nothing and I would still go regardless of weather.

at lease perhaps have one or two ships going around the uk.

Standard balcony on Arcadia was good for us - no issues at all - same with Aurora.

We prefer Aurora as the balconies are very private - being totally enclosed in a wrap around type of shell.

paul

I hope they bring back uk only cruises - easy and safe. 

It’s a shame they are not using Arcadia and Aurora for these as they are not doing anything at the moment - nice adults only ships.

should be no problem to leave the ship at each stop in the uk.

paul 

Horrible for you - it makes no sense to kick you off your cruise if another one has the problem -  it just makes more people unhappy.

chaotic. 
 

Sorry to hear about this and all the hassle .

Marella customer service is disorganised - some are very good but others are hopeless - it depends who you get on the phone - I wish they were as good as they are on board.

something else separate to this  which annoys me is the massive variation in prices over time -  I booked a week ago for Croatia Italy explorer 2 and the price had gone down £300 - I know lots of companies vary prices and they can go up and down but it’s not right that it’s such a big variation.

I wish I hadn’t booked it - I would rather save and go with saga who do a price guarantee- but they are expensive.

best of luck with refunds and changes.

paul

Thanks Brummijam. 👌

On 11/9/2021 at 9:29 PM, 2BACRUISER said:

We're going to Ex2 in Malaga and have purchased the chromatic package which I believe is the same for the canaries. You so the first test they send you at 9pm the night before you fly, photo it send it by email and they send you a fit to fly cert by return to present at the airport check in. Once port side you may or may not have to do another LFT as it is random.

On return home your day 2 test will be waiting for you to do. You will also be tested prior to leaving the ship on your last day and have your temp took every day. Hth 

Ps it's taken me a week to discover all of this info. 

Hi - do you know if you have to do a test prior to the flight home if you are staying in a hotel post cruise ? We come off the ship and stay 3 nights in a hotel.

I find the Marella site instructions very difficult to follow - do they tell you before the cruise what you need to do ? Sounds as if you had to do all this yourself.

thanks

paul

Hi LLOM - Marella mention this requirement - I’m not sure what others do -   It’s the after 9pm test before the flight that I’m worried about as well - I’m not going until next may so hope it’s simplified by then - but it sounds stressful to have to do this pre flight - what if it goes wrong ? Are there any testing sites at Gatwick airport ? I Might buy a tiny printer to take to the airport hotel to print results from phone.

good luck - hope it goes well for you - be interested to know how it goes .

Paul