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Oh Marietta, I'm so so sorry for your family, especially thoughts are with your daughter and the children. What an awful time for you all. So sudden and so young

We made a last minute booking on Silhouette 07 May, within 10 days of cruise. It was a Friday and the accounts department of the travel agent didn't send the money to celebrity until the following Tuesday. Our cruise docs and baggage labels were 'greyed' out and couldn't be printed. I did panic a bit, especially as the Celebrity rep said the day before the cruise my booking hadn't been updated as paid but that it would all be good at the port, and it was. At Southampton we park right next to the cruise ship and the porters come up to your car to get the bags as you park. They had extra blank tags, just filled in our names and cabin number No problem with check in, all good 👍

I was on Silhouette Fjords 07May and it was pretty full. The next cruise, 14th was a Baltic one I believe. Was it originally a St Petersburg cruise? Maybe its been affected by the war in Ukraine and tension in Finland, Estonia etc. We did hear the 14th cruise was only half full and there had been lots of cancellations

So my original flight was 0700 the day before, when protocols for Italy was released stating that testing was one day before I changed it to 1630 so we could test in UK. Then they changed it to two days before so I changed flights back to 0700. A few days later it was changed again to one day before. I left it for two weeks , but after worrying that now we would have to test in Italy, I THIS morning changed it back to 1630 !! Aaaag, this afternoon they've changed the testing to two days 😳 Happy for everyone but fed up with all the flip flopping and the added expense of multiple changing of flights. I'm just going to leave it now at 1630 flight and test in UK The crazy thing we forfill requirement to board with CoR (which we have, our NHS one) but I feel better getting the test done, but they don't make it easy

Throat lozenges and nasal spray. Didn't need the throat lozenges Used the nasal spray twice a day as a precaution. Coincidentally when we got back from cruise there was a letter from our Dr's surgery asking if we wanted to be part of a medical study in the effectiveness of nasal sprays to combat covid !

Excellent post , thank you. I'm glad our cruise next month is terminating in Spain

I can only tell you what I personally know. I said nearly everyone I knew had it then. Only one person I know had it in the previous 2 years. Your reality may be completely different. Fact: One in 12 had it in UK in March, now its one in 44. Govt stats

Looking forward to your blog. We wanted to book a last minute cruise on Wonder but the flights were really expensive so ended up doing a Southampton sailing instead. We did the Caves in Palma a few years ago and they are well worth doing. Have a great time

There is a strong recommendation to self isolate for five days, but no legal mandate. I self isolated for 10 days, but my infection straddled the period of rules changing in Feb. Personally I think the cases are dropping now because of the very high cases in January to March. Nearly everybody I knew got Omicron, even my 1 year old grandson. In the previous two years I only knew one person who got the other variants. From my personal experience I'm pretty sure people are infectious in the days leading up to a positive test

My DH loves them, has them most nights. Me, not so much 😏

There are no rules in uk now, just recommendation. This is since late Feb. Initially we had a spike but now rates are down to pre Omicron levels BBC News - Covid-19 in the UK: How many coronavirus cases are there in my area? https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-51768274

I use to work in T3 at LHR. They were finishing off building that hotel when I last worked there March 2020. It's great that there's now hotels in the T2/3 Central area. Before the only walkable LHR hotels were near T4 and 5, too far to walk for T2/3. Though I believe there's some kind of pod rooms next to T3 now. Bet you're happy to be finally on your way home after such an interesting holiday. Thank you for all your updates. I hope it hasn't put you off holidaying in the UK and we see you over here again soon

Sorry we came home last Saturday . I'm not on board now. Hopefully someone who is may respond

Same here (cruise on a Monday) @dani negreanuhas sourced some pharmacies in Rome that are open on a Sunday. Hopefully she will pop by and advise. We are going straight to Civataveccia on the Sunday and pharmacies will be shut by the time we are there. We are planning to test at the airport on arrival and have pre registered with the Rome airport website. The only problem is I'm not sure when to prebook our transfer for as don't know how long it will take. Our hotel has said that pharmacies are open from 0800 am on the Monday as an alternative Lots of into on the Italy ports pages of CC

Yeap, I was surprised too. Caught Omicron mid Feb, so over 90 days by next cruise in June, but thats OK out of Italy. The above screenshot BTW is from Celebrity and I notice they have added a sentence that the one day prior testing has been mandated by the Italian authorities, and not the cruise line

I was particularly looking ex Italy , I agree the wording doesn't make it clear if you can board with a CoR but have not had booster. But if you don't have the booster and your initial two jabs are more than 270 days old you are not considered 'up to date' and will have to have multiple tests at your expense during the cruise The info below is for Italian ports

Fingers crossed 🤞 it's negative for you Suzy

Last time we stayed over in Civitavecchia the night before we found a little corner store near the restaurants on the front that had a decent choice of wine .

To obtain a certificate of Recovery to board you need a PCR test initially. You can then use the CoR along with proof of being vaxxed and boostered to board

I would suggest you speak to the dinning room manager when you first board and be guided by him/her I hope it all goes well for you and your mum

Does anyone know how long it takes to test for arrival pax? We arrive the day before our cruise at 1040am and want to have the test at the Airport as its a Sunday and understand most pharmacies in Civitavecchia close at midday on a Sunday. Our problem is I'm not sure what time to book our transfer to Civitavecchia for as I have no idea how long the testing will take

It's only the third day, covid often incubates for 4 days or so, therefore you won't get a true picture until later in the cruise. We were on the previous sailing, ending last Saturday. I heard that this week's cruise was only half full. Our cruise seemed almost full. The captain announced a few days in that the covid count was at 1% on our cruise. I didn't hear any further announcement, though I may of just missed it.

Sorry to hear you've caught covid and are far from home. Hope you continue to have only mild symptoms. It is worrying that Celebrity are just leaving passengers on their own now. We were on the same sailing and there was no meaningful extra safety measures in place or any difference from a pre covid cruise, except the crew were all masked and there was a lot of cleaning in common areas. The only announcement I heard was on the 3rd or 4th day when the Captain said the cases were at 1% and all mild I don't know what the pax count was but think it was pretty high. I was told that the next cruise, a Baltic sailing, was much quieter, about half full as there had been a lot of cancellations Good luck with your plans to get home

Happy Birthday Greg, sending you best wishes for a super birthday 🎂 🍷

Walking down the steps is actually pretty easy if you have no mobility issues. We're in our 60s and not particularly fit but have done it twice. The steps are shallow and easy to walk. You have to dodge the donkeys but its very doable In Mykonos we booked tickets on the dock for the ferry to Delos . When we got back we still had plenty of time to wonder around the town, see the windmills and have lunch In Naples we also walked the short walk from the ship to the ferry to visit Capri where we had a wonderful day out