Enjoyacruise

I boarded the Arcadia on 27th April with my son and his wife who do not have loyalty status. We were on Deck D. They were given a boarding time of 1.30pm but travelling by train from London arrived a little  early and were on the ship just after 1pm.Cabins were not announced as being ready until 1.30pm.

I was given a boarding time of 12.30pm but was on a coach from Lancaster which arrived about 1.45pm. Plenty of time for the Portunus lunch!

As an aside last year I boarded the Iona with another son who did not have a loyalty status. The staff in the arrivals hall were happy for him to join the priority line with me.

I flew from Manchester to join the Arvia on November 10th. On joining the queue to drop off my luggage I was given 2 P&O vouchers for £30 to spend in the shop onboard. Yes, I thought there must be some small print about a minimum spend.

Anyway I kept them and there was no small print. But still not really believing matters asked at one of the onboard shops and was told that as long as I bought something costing £30 or more the vouchers would be honoured.

So I bought a box of the Caribbean cakes (for presents) and a P&O pencil which took me to £30.25 and thought "well done P&O". Although travelling on my own they honoured both vouchers. My second purchase came to £36.00

So if offered these vouchers when flying to meet a cruise don't throw them away!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thank you Selbourne and Gettingwarmer. It makes it a little more tempting for my forthcoming cruise.

Does anyone know if you also receive the Peninsular Club discount on top of the 15%? Thank you

I am joining the Arvia on Friday 10th November and flying with TUI. 

I was on the Azura 31st March to 14 April. On that one they changed Rovinj for Zadar. The captain eventually made an announcement "to correct rumours" that Rovinj would have been a tender port and they felt the tender landing stage was not satisfactory.

We were able to dock at Trieste and Dubrovnik. Although on the first week we did not dock at Livorno because they had a disagreement with the port authorities. Instead we went to Ajaccio which had been cancelled two days earlier due to bad weather.

In February I was booked on the Iona due to go to Zeebrugge, Rotterdam (overnight) and Hamburg. A few weeks before the cruise Hamburg was changed to Le Havre for operational reasons. Then two days before the cruise the itinerary was changed totally due to a bad weather forecast to Lisbon, Vigo and La Coruna. Then mid cruise La Coruna was cancelled so we could sail back quickly to avoid more bad weather.

On board we were told that some had cancelled due to the total change of destination.

The Azura library was open last week. The table to swap your old paperback books was not in use.

Yes so was mine for 31st March cruise

15 hours ago, steamboats said:

A German cruise line announced in their daily yesterday that now free shore tours in Italy are allowed. Their first stop in Italy is on March 26th.

 

steamboats

Yes I am going on a cruise which visits three Italian ports commencing with Livorno on 4th April. The cruise line (P&O) have in the last two days changed their advice to say you can now go ashore without having to be on one of their excursions.

Yes I have had to book for 31st March on Azura for the first week. Shows for the first 6 days became available about a week ago then the show for day 7 became available a couple of days ago.

I would keep checking for your cruise.

It was getting on the plane that concerned me! 

Having sorted out Vaccination certificate, Malta locator form, Italy locator form, lateral flow test, P&O Health Form etc I didn't fancy hassle at the airport because I had no proof that I was on the TUI flight. Plus the skill needed to make my own luggage labels.

They were on Iona 12 February

I had my cabin allocated today (early saver fare) and that  allowed me to print my e ticket and luggage labels. Flying to the Azura in Malta in 8 days

7 hours ago, fishnchips said:

Hi so we are just about to board sky princess next week and they have just dropped a $60pp charge on us 1 week out for testing .... or £30 online test 3 days before with a third party supplier?

I wonder if P&O will go down this route?I

 

For my flight to the Azura on 31st March P&O are requesting passengers arrange their own lateral flow tests and bring proof to the airport.

Whilst you have to pay for them they are adding £15 onboard credit to each passenger's account. On another thread some are using Boots and mention a cost of £14.99. I am using Biograd who are £18.95 but I have used them previously and sticking with them.

3 hours ago, joe grumble said:

Hi everyone,is anybody going on this cruise end of April for 7 nights.

would like to know about the procedure for pre cruise test.

apparently I have to book a lateral test and upload the results just before we set off .

flying on a p&o package from Manchester. 

Is this correct.

thanks

Yes that is correct. I am going 31st March. You organise your own lateral flow test and do it 72 hours maximum before embarkation and take the results with you to the airport.

They now show it on the P&O A-Z list

The P&O list hasn't been updated this week. I assume it will reflect any changes when the new one is posted. 

I found it very helpful for Belgium as it gives a sample form for you to complete. One for malta and Italy would not go amiss!

A-Z-destination-entry-requirements-guide-9-March-2022.pdf (pocruises.com)

I would keep checking the A_Z guide on the P&O Covid 19  page. That seems to be updated weekly.

I was on the 12th February Iona cruise which had the destinations changed on 10th February to avoid bad weather. The first port of call being Lisbon.

The Portugal PLF was straightforward apart from needing to know the post code of where we were to dock. On another thread someone was kind enough to quote a post code which I used. It turned out to be wrong but seeing that I was not asked to show my PLF at any stage it did not matter.

It is possible of course that the Portuguese Government somehow let the port know I was arriving and had filled in my form (nearly) correctly.

Lots of people on the ship had not done the form on the Friday before boarding but P&O left a template with all the answers in the cabins to make it easier plus organised sessions in the crows nest on the two sea days where their staff helped passengers complete the PLF. Obviously not everyone has a smart phone or tablet.

Alternatively you were given free WIFI on the ship's website to complete it. 

Hello I received the same e mail today and asked my TA.  They said a LFT that you carry out at home then is certified by the provider is satisfactory (rather than having to go to the provider's premises).

I also asked whether it is 72 hours to getting on the ship or showing the certificate at the airport. Their view was that it was 48 hours for Malta. They said to do nothing until they had clarified it with P&O. I expect they will let me know tomorrow. If my TA is correct then I imagine revised advice will need to be sent out. 

I was on the Iona in February. As well as traditional sockets they had conveniently put USB ports into the light fittings at the side of the beds.

Of course I didn't notice them until they were pointed out by my daughter in law who was in the adjoining cabin.

I would also suggest you take a power bank in case you need to recharge your phone when you are off the ship. 

I pre booked for the Iona cruise on 12th February. Then as the itinerary was changed on 10th February the bookings were no longer relevant. 

The booking system onboard  the "Myholiday" app worked very well. There were three shows each evening in the main theatre and we got a booking for each one. For some reason known only to P&O the Headliners only did one show which was repeated on two evenings. We asked if we could see it again on the second night (first house) and they let us in as there were only about 100 in the audience.

I think as the ship had about 3500 passengeers they thought with Covid spacing they would be too busy. Which was not the case..

Similar booking was for the speaker during the four sea days.

They did not do bookings for the Sky Dome although due to the weather the circus style performers only did one show. Replaced by singers.

On the 12 February Cruise (the one impacted by bad weather) we had a TV producer who ended up doing 4 very interesting talks in the mornings -instead of the 2 he was booked for. 

In the afternoons we had 2 presentations/demonstrations by a company who were doing entertainment for the children's clubs. Ball juggling, break dancing and something called beat box music. 

Wowzz thanks-much better than my reading of it

Thanks again for the update. If the FO advice is correct the Italian Government only approved this change on 22 February. You never know they may change it again before you depart.

My son lives in Florence and was to meet me in Livorno. I will have to trust that the Florence on your Own trip falls within their rules otherwise I will have a lot of UK tea bags to use up!

Thanks for posting this Lou 30.

I am on the 31st March sailing and haven't been told anything officially by my travel agent.

The P&O destination guide has now been updated to reflect this change which  I think is initially operative from 1st March at least to 31st March. No doubt the Italian authorities as with any Covid guidance will review regularly.

Wowzz if I read the Foreign Office advice correctly the Italian Government are insisting on PCR or least lateral flow tests before arrival even if you are fully vaccinated. The question for my 14 night cruise is do I need three to cover Livorno, Civitavecchia and Trieste. No doubt we will be advised onboard. 

I was going to "do my own thing" in the three Italian ports but will have to book excursions now.