Host Hattie

Where are you sailing from ? If it's from Southampton it sounds as if your sailing is being treated as a more complex sailing. We're on a round trip to the Mediterranean.

What a horrible end to your trip, I hope it hasn't put you off sailing again.

Had this earlier for our Queen Victoria sailing next month - From 6 September 2022, there will be some changes to our vaccination policy, and in addition, self‑testing prior to travel will change from ‘mandatory’ to ‘highly recommended’ for vaccinated guests on the majority of Cunard holidays, including yours. Only guests sailing on longer, or more complex itineraries, will be required to have an observed or in-person lateral flow/antigen test and provide a fit‑to‑travel certificate before departure. Our new vaccination and testing policy comes into effect from 6 September 2022 onwards. Vaccination requirements for your voyage. For your voyage all guests aged 18 years and over need to be fully vaccinated* with an approved Covid‑19 vaccine a minimum of 14 days prior to travel. If more than 270 days (calculated from the last day of the cruise) have passed since the full completion of a vaccination course, a booster vaccine will also be needed and must be administered a minimum of seven days prior to travel. Guests who have had one booster vaccine, regardless of the date, are considered fully vaccinated. At this time, a second booster vaccination is not required, however, we strongly recommend all guests to have booster vaccinations at the earliest opportunity, should they be available to them, in order to comply with evolving vaccine policies from the countries we visit. Guests 17 years of age and under are not required to be vaccinated. *The definition of ‘fully vaccinated’ is having completed an approved (by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), European Medicines Agency (EMA) or the World Health Organization’s Emergency Use Listing (WHO EUL)) two‑dose Covid‑19 vaccination course, or the approved single‑dose Janssen Covid‑19 vaccine (plus a booster if applicable Testing requirements for your voyage. For your voyage, while testing is no longer mandatory, we highly recommend that all fully vaccinated guests aged five and over, take a Covid‑19 lateral flow/antigen test in the three days before, or on the day of your ship's departure. Guests aged 5‑17 years who are not fully vaccinated will still need to take a Covid‑19 lateral flow/antigen test in the three days before, or on the day of your ship's departure. You’ll no longer need to provide a test certificate for these guests, but you must be able to provide photo evidence of your negative test if asked. Guests will also be asked to confirm that a test has been taken, with a negative result, as part of the pre‑boarding health declaration at the cruise terminal.

Thanks again for taking us with you. Overall did you enjoy the experience?

There are some recent numbers from Southampton in this thread. Some passengers had their sailings on Queen Elizabeth cancelled earlier in the year due to lack of crew.

Thanks for writing a review, I look forward to reading it once it's published. Thanks also for the pictures of your outfits, they look great.

Thanks for letting us know the outcome. I've added it to the original thread so that original story and relatively successful outcome are together.

It's also a post Covid change, I suppose the possibility of having speakers cancel at short notice makes it easier not to publish the details at all. If you weren't expecting someone you can't complain when they aren't there.

It looks like it's going to be a stunning sunrise

Thanks for the cat information, we hear about dogs occasionally here so it's nice to hear about a cat.

Thanks for your first hand report, it's good to hear that gala nights were well observed.

Not yet, I have started getting some clothes together and trying things on. Highlight of the day was getting my new work laptop ! I remember the days when someone from the IT department would bring your new PC, transfer your files and set it up for you. Now you get to collect a set of boxes and told to get on with it 😂

@cruiselovingbears did you decide what to do? Love the user name btw ! If you do decide to go ahead please come back and let us know what you thought.

I'm not sure anyone here is going to be able to answer that. Is it something that all the other Carnival brands already do or is Princess the first ? I've used a similar system on planes and trains but as you say the Grills tend to sell out so I'm not sure how it would work. Bid to upgrade from inside to balcony perhaps?

We've had more rain but the ducks are still short of water and there is a hose pipe ban where our holiday let is. It's a month to our cruise today, is it time to start getting excited?!

I guess it's too late to ask now but how was the cat during the crossing? Was the owner happy with the kennels ?

Let's wait until we actually have some news before we start speculating. Thank you

Shorts at dinner ? That's not good

It's certainly possible and some people do travel that way, particularly on Queen Mary 2 if they want to cross the Atlantic without flying. You will be restricted to the casual areas of the ship on formal nights so you won't be able to eat in your main dining room or go to the theatre or the more formal bars. To get the best out of a Cunard cruise without any evening restrictions you would need at least a dark suit.

I'm impressed that the wifi was good enough for a Zoom call ....

I think we can count that as a team effort @sfred !

I think that's Queen Victoria sailing from Ísafjörður and the town is Hnífsdal

Current rules are that the test doesn't need to be supervised when sailing from Southampton. There is plenty of time for things to change again before December.

Iceland somewhere?

Have you got a kettle in your cabin? Can you use the steam from that ?