Maria63

We recently had 1100 on Jewel's Norwegian fjords. Balcony was absolutely fantastic for this itinerary (as was the size/class of ship, you don't feel that you are part of an invading tourist-army overwhelming small communities when the ship is not one of the newest mega-mammoths). The only noise we got was some early morning light scraping & thumping, but it was no major problem. Though I can well imagine that there might be some real issues on a more party-oriented itinerary with a younger crowd.

We're recently off a 14 day b2b. To answer your questions: 1. Deck 4 next to Studio B. 2. No issues worth mentioning - though we are early night / early morning people and didn't frequent the bars that much. 3. Yes, absolutely overall - though as a caveat, we had most of our dinners in CK and lunches just in Windjammer (cruise was port & excursion-heavy). CK-staff was excellent and those we talked with had a long experience on different RCI-ships. Everybody seemed happy and enthusiastic that things are getting back to something resembling normal. WJ was actually reasonably good as well, never had problems finding a seat or getting drinks, and food was perfectly okay there too.

We're recently off a b2b on RCI:s Wonder. On the first leg my impression was that masks were mandatory for the crew, though it was voluntary for guests and hardly anyone of the guests wore them. I def. dislike the idea of being served by someone who may be forced to wear a mask when at the same time it's voluntary for me. It doesn't feel right as far as I'm concernced. On the second leg it was made voluntary for the crew as well (confirmed by loyalty concierge). The first day many were still masked, but day after day the masks came off, and by the end of the cruise hardly any of the crew wore them either. One notable exception was the entire staff at guest relations - but I don't know if it was voluntary or not. However, I absolutely agree that the mask makes communication much more difficult, esp. if you are using a language that is not your first. The GR-desk on Wonder is in a very noisy area, and it was nigh impossible to communicate without repeated "excuse-me's". Also, I noticed that I myself instinctively tended to lean as close as possible towards the person addressing me to get some sense of what was being said - which ofcourse is not at all good if physical distancing is still recommended.

If the price is right I´d say why not go for it? Even though MSC gets mixed reviews at best, you can have a nice cruise if you have realistic expectations and avoid the peak school holidays - so Nov should be a good time for this company. We've done several cruises on MSC, both in the "exclusive" Yacht Club and in ordinary balcony and, even though it's far from our preferred cruise line, all our MSC-cruises have been quite enjoyable over all. Virtuosa is a brand new ship and the thermal spa seems very nice (there are videos on youtube), so esp. if your mum has mobility issues, you could for instance spend money on spa-access instead of pricey excursions, and generally enjoy the ship and its offerings on port days as well instead of going ashore if the port doesn't seem appealing.

We had booked romefiumicinotransfer for this morning from Civitavecchia to the centre of Rome, shared shuttle at 69e for two. We had an emailed voucher that said "confirmed" and "approved". However, yesterday evening we got an email that "unfortunately, due to lack of demand, only a private transfer for 130e is now available, is this ok for you?" No big deal, we opted for the private transfer and the driver was timely and brought us to our destination.

We got a similar email from Celebrity a couple of days ago. If you read the whole thing, I think the meaning of the paragraph you quoted above in your post #28 refers specifically to those guests who are required to test, ie those who are "fully vaccinated" as per EU-definition, but not "up to date". If you are required to test (= not "up to date") Greece does not accept self-tests. This is the point of the paragraph as I understand it when put into context: •Up-to-Date* Guests: For all sailings 9 nights or shorter, no pre-boarding testing is required. For all sailings 10 nights or longer, guests ages 12 and older must present a negative COVID-19 test result from a test taken within 3 days prior to boarding. Test results from any commercially available Rapid Antigen Test (RAT), including self-tests, will be accepted. Tests do not have to be supervised or proctored. Test results may be presented as a printout, screenshot or photo of the test result or the actual test. Antibody tests are not accepted. •Fully Vaccinated** and Unvaccinated Guests: All guests ages 12 and older must present a negative COVID-19 test result from a test taken within 3 days prior to boarding. Test results from any commercially available Rapid Antigen Test (RAT), including self-tests, will be accepted. Tests do not have to be supervised or proctored. Test results may be presented as a printout, screenshot or photo of the test result or the actual test. Antibody tests are not accepted. For all sailings visiting Greece, self-tests will not be accepted. Guests who are required to test must complete a supervised COVID-19 test from either an antigen test result taken within 2 days prior to boarding or a negative PCR test result taken within 3 days prior to boarding. The test must be supervised by a health professional, such as a doctor, pharmacy technician, public health worker, or telehealth representative. We are pleased to make supervised test kits available for order pre-cruise below. Fully-Vaccinated** Guests and Unvaccinated Guests may be subject to additional mid-cruise testing.

I agree that it's confusing and frustrating, and personally I wish this would end sooner rather than later... However, I'm inclined to give the cruise companies the benefit of a doubt, as I do have some understanding if they prefer to take the "better safe than sorry" approach to the situation. It's not unlikely that the regulations are open to interpretation for the cruise ships too, and the companies may want to make sure that they don't end up in a situation where the ship is denied entry to the scheduled Greek ports, or some guests are denied to go ashore and then accuse the cruise company for not making it clear enough that a test is required. My DH & I were on a b2b with Celebrity from Singapore when Covid hit in Feb 2020, and it turned into a complete circus when Celebrity didn't take the rule that "anyone who has visited Hong-Kong within the last 14 days will be denied entry" seriously enough. We ended up on a "mystery-of-the-day" cruise with constant changes due to being denied entry in port after port - and eventually the cruise was drastically cut short and Celebrity had to pay out hefty full refunds / FCC+50%.

Yes, we do have self tests with us (we are currently traveling). I had thought that you have to buy a specific telehealth test kit for online testing. But it looks like OnPoint might actually work with any pharmacy bought tests - thank you very much for this info!🙂

Having tried to look into the video / proctored online test situation, it still looks to me like these tests are only available in the US and UK (don't know about Canada). Even though the EU accepts these tests, for some reason these do not seem to be available for purchase for EU-residents - or at least I have so far been unable to find any distributor who would ship into the EU. Celebrity's partner only delivers to the US & UK, and Royal states specifically that the tests are not shipped internationally: https://www.projectscreen.co.uk/travel-tests/celebrity-cruises/ https://www.royalcaribbean.com/faq/questions/where-can-i-purchase-an-emed-kit These telehealth test kits cannot be shipped internationally

Thank you! We'll actually be on a Celebrity ship before embarking on our cruise that visits Greece, so I'll ask if they have these tests onboard for sale.

I asked about the video testing system at our local pharmacy in Finland before we left from home in late August, and they had never even heard about it and couldn't understand how it would work when I tried to explain it to them on the basis of what I had read about it on these forums. Do you know where in the EU one could buy this test, as it would be a good alternative for us?

It looks like some cruise companies are recently giving out advice that, if taken literally, would mean that proctored tests are required for "up to date" (= full vaxx series + booster if original vaxx more than 270 days old) guests only when embarking in / departing from Greece. Meaning that if your cruise starts in for instance Athens you need a test, but if it starts in Italy or Spain but then visits Greek ports, you don't need a test. I think NCL have also updated their info to this effect. For me personally it's no big deal either way, but it is a bit of a hassle to get tested in a foreign country, and waiting for the result is an additional stress factor esp. if you are already abroad. The supervised online testing system is also, to my knowledge, not available in the EU. My DH & I have an upcoming situation where we are doing S2S in Barcelona, and if the requirement remains for cruises visiting Greece, it would mean that we have to schedule in a test in Barcelona on the same day we disembark one ship and embark on an other ship with another company - so we can't expect the ship we disembark from to handle the testing for us.

For those who have already visited the major must-sees along Amalfi, or if you just feel like you need a really relaxing but also genuinely Italian experience, the thermal baths on the island of Ischia are worth a visit. The ferry to Ischia leaves next to the cruise port and takes about 1 hour. The best known and most liked baths are perhaps Poseidon, a day pass costs around 40 euros depending on the season, and you can take a taxi from the ferry port. It's a natural spring, and there are several outdoor pools with temperatures from 15 to 40 C, built into the hillside with beautiful landscaping and spectacular views. Ischia is less famous than Capri, but also much more budget friendly and very popular with the locals around Naples.

Below is a link to Indonesia's official info about the changes. If I get this right, an individual tourist cannot apply for an e-visa beforehand, it has to be done by a local sponsor. However, if you are for instance a US national arriving on a cruise ship, you would fall into the category "Visa on Arrival". This should mean that the ship handles the procedure but there might be an additional fee that the guests will be charged. https://kemlu.go.id/bern/en/news/17810/entering-indonesia-updated-on-2-august-2022

I've never cruised with a child myself, but my DH & I did b2b2b:s on RCIs Quantum (Spectrum's sister) out of Singapore just before covid hit. These short cruises seemed very popular with local families, and any itinerary that includes Penang, Phuket and / or Langkawi should offer plenty of excursions that children also would enjoy. Vietnam's Nha Trang and Kuching in Malaysia's Sarawak/Borneo should also be very good for families with young kids,

It seems that the requirement is due to the Greek port authority, despite it being dropped from the official Greece travel site. Viking Cruises offers the following explanation, as per their guest instructions updated in mid September: https://docs.vikingcruises.com/pdf/14-PreCruiseRequirement-All-US_CAN_UK_AU_NZ.pdf NOTE: The port authority in Greece requires pre-embarkation test results for travelers boarding a cruise ship, in accordance with EU cruise ship travel guidelines. The country of Greece does not list these requirements on their official travel site (listed below), as the pre-embarkation test requirement is separate from any requirements for entry to the country of Greece. Without proof of a laboratory-certified negative COVID-19 test, you may be unable to embark the ship and begin your journey.

FWIW, for those who are flying out of Amsterdam but have the option to rearrange their schedule: We had planned to fly from Amsterdam to Rome on the 15th to embark on a cruise from Civitavecchia the same day (yes, I know...). We couldn't risk missing our flight, so we opted to instead take an early morning direct train from Amsterdam to Brussels airport and fly out from there. It worked smoothly both with the train and the flight. Brussels was functioning normally with no exessive queing, and you can also buy fast-track through security for ca 10euros/pp for a day.

Greece seems to be a bit complicated. Viking Cruises says in their info that it's the Greek Port Authority that demands these pre-embarkation tests, even when Greece is not listing the requirement on its official travel site: https://docs.vikingcruises.com/pdf/14-PreCruiseRequirement-All-US_CAN_UK_AU_NZ.pdf NOTE: The port authority in Greece requires pre-embarkation test results for travelers boarding a cruise ship, in accordance with EU cruise ship travel guidelines. The country of Greece does not list these requirements on their official travel site (listed below), as the pre-embarkation test requirement is separate from any requirements for entry to the country of Greece. Without proof of a laboratory-certified negative COVID-19 test, you may be unable to embark the ship and begin your journey.

As a rule of thumb, the smaller ships can make it into the ports right next to the city centers in for instance Helsinki and Stockholm. This is a plus esp. if you like to DYI, which is generally easy to do in Scandinavia. Some smaller ships also include lesser visited ports like Turku, Bornholm and Visby. If you enjoyed Crystal, Regent has an interesting Baltic itinerary for 2023 and the general experience should be similar.

The Netherlands / EU-rules for non-EU visitors seems to be that you are considered unvaccinated if you had your second shot of a two-shot regime more than 270 days ago. However, if you've had a booster in addition to your original two shots (one shot for J & J), this booster currently has no expiration date, meaning that it's not subject to the 270-day rule. If you can show proof that you had a booster in addition to your original shots, you shouldn't have any issues regardless of how long ago you got it. Here's the official requirements, there's also info on what kind of documentation is required of your booster shot: https://www.government.nl/topics/coronavirus-covid-19/visiting-the-netherlands-from-abroad/requirements-for-proof-of-vaccination

Ditto! And if I get sick with influenza-like symptoms, I don't see why I need to know what it's called and if it happens to be Covid and what variant, or whether it's just plain old influenza-A or similar. Personally I also blankly refuse to be constantly afraid or even cautious of other people, and regard them as potential carriers of something dangerous or even deadly, even when they are not acting in any way threatening towards me. If the vaccines do indeed work, one shouldn´t have to worry about unwittingly making anyone else who is vaccinated seriously ill either. Those again who to this date remain unvaxxed, have very likely made a conscious decision on their part and are personally fine with the risk. 🙂

I don't know about the seating in WJ, but summer school holidays continue into the second week in September in Italy and also some regions in Spain.

The mid-to-late autumn is a very good time to do a Mediterranean cruise. There's much less crowds in the popular "must-see" locations, and the weather is more pleasant for city-sightseeing and touring historical sights. I would actually recommend avoiding the Med at least in August, as it can be very hot and it´s also the height of the holiday season in southern Europe. The Baltics and the Norwegian fjords are very nice from June through August/early September though.

I'm not sure, but might the confusion be due to what is meant by "fully vaccinated" and "booster"? If I get this right, the EU-regulations stipulate that an individual is considered fully vaccinated for a period of 270 days from the second dose of a two-shot vaccine (for J & J one shot is sufficient). A single booster-shot is required after 270 days to be "fully vaccinated", but currently no more shots are officially required after that. In other words, the second shot of a two-shot regime is not called a "booster" in the official language, it's the shot(s) you may need after 270 days have passed from the initial vax-regime. If you don't get this single booster-shot after 270 days, you are no longer fully vaccinated according to the EU-rules. https://ec.europa.eu/info/live-work-travel-eu/coronavirus-response/safe-covid-19-vaccines-europeans/eu-digital-covid-certificate_en

Even if your sail pass / cabin card has the wrong status, it's easily corrected once you are on board. My DH once had an issue with his C & A number being somehow wrong, and his card showed no status at all on embarkation though he was D at the time. All it took to correct it was a trip to the loyalty concierge, and it was fixed in no time and without any major hassle. They just printed a new card with the right status.