okavango

6 hours ago, FuzzyDuckUK said:

Explorer has left the Canaries and is headed to Ceuta, due there on the 7th.

Heading for Gibralter to pick up Dream crew and then on to Southampton

On 3/21/2020 at 11:49 PM, davecttr said:

Marella planned to have no sailings from the UK in 2021, mainly because of tough new emission regulations in Norway which the ships could not meet?

Not just sure on that one Dave ,the next phase of the Norway regulations is not till 2022 (2021 is still the same as 2020) , the implementation of the zero emissions regs are not till 2026 , ships such as Arcadia are in exactly the same position as the Marella fleet so would be no reason for Marella to pull out in 2021 based on emissions

Thats Celebration screwed as well now ,presently heading for Britain (dont know port yet) to disembark.

59 minutes ago, Vitalsign said:

Nothing on the UAE website only refusing entry to travellers from the obvious countries

Yes Dronnygirl It must be worrying for the crew and entertainment staff but surely TUI are insured for this very situation and hopefully continue to pay the crew etc. Let's hope it's not from the Welfare fund!!

TUI website still offering cruises from Dubai and Aqaba but not from Cochin so keeping our fingers crossed 🤞🏻

The crews salary is the responsibility of the management co (appollo) and not TUI , their employment contract is with them not TUI , unless there is something in the t & c's of their contract they should get paid for the duration of their contract , i'll ask some of my crew friends if they know of any get out clause if they have to stop work before end of contract.

1 hour ago, howmuch! said:

The Dream appears to have diverted off its port schedule - according to cruisemapper, it appears to be leaving Valencia, whereas today it should have been in Palma, then heading towards Toulon?

I understand they have changed things due to adverse weather in the region

On 1/18/2020 at 4:59 PM, Vitalsign said:

I give up. 😏

Well we finally got the definitive answer 4 posts below.

1 hour ago, MrsPowsey said:

We had to change both the outgoing and return flights and there was no guarantee that we had leg room chairs for either flights so we have decided to just stick with the flights as booked.

Would also have been expensive, £72 pp for the other flight and probably £50 amendment fee on top , thick end of £200

1

46 minutes ago, MrsPowsey said:

Hi guys, I didn't expect my question to be quite so divisive!

 

We contacted Tui and they said that it would be considered an amendment and they would charge us for it and couldn't actually guarantee that there would be any extra leg room seats on the new flight so we are going to just stick with the original flights and bear the discomfort......noticed the flight times tho I though it was just two/three hours to Malaga from Manchester but the flight is at six and we don't get into Malaga until ten......that is four hours by my reckoning!  As the date is 22nd March do you think this is the time difference as I believe that the clocks go forward to British summer time whilst we are away?

 

Many thanks to you all for your replies

Are you looking at the landing time or flight duration time , Malaga is one hour ahead of us at the moment and still will be when you fly out so landing time would be 4 hours after leaving.

Were they going to let you change just the departure flight or would it have been the whole return flight.

5 hours ago, oxygenbanditnot said:

Hi all, flying from Newcastle this Friday 24th. B2B.

Leaving at 0705, arriving 1150.

Can anyone let me know :-

How long is the transfer to the ship?

Already checked in, we only drop our bags off and go through security; how late can we leave it to arrive at N/castle?

Do we collect our own cases and take them to the coach?

Do we take them with us when we depart the ship?

What time will we leave the ship?, flight back Is at 1250.

Is Metaxa still availabe?, love it as a nightcap.

Transfer around 45/50 minutes.

You still go to check in counter to drop your bags,get passport checked etc (unless newcastle has installed some of the self serve bag weigh/label stations) so still best to arrive around the two hour before mark.

Yes you do collect your bags at tenerife airport.

On departing ship you will collect your bags at the terminal and take them to your coach (only a few yards)

Probably depart ship about 9:30/9:45

Metaxa ? ,sorry aint got a clue.

Enjoy.

39 minutes ago, Family Geezer said:

Hi, 

I'm hearing about the Discovery 1 missing ports because of engine failure and passengers being offered £250 compensation. 

I'm booked to cruise the med in late June on D1 and I'm a bit worried so thinking of cancelling. I know I would lose 30% deposit but, was wondering if anyone knew if I'm within right for full refund as I don't trust the ship's reliability. Unless I've been told a bum steer.

 

Thx

Dont think id be worrying about problems in five months time ,dont think you would get very far with a full refund just because the ship has a problem at the moment.

1 hour ago, Vitalsign said:

If I read it right they just wanted to change their outgoing flight from Manchester which was 20 mins later and were quite happy with the return flight

But in your case its a single flight with three possible time options ,they were looking at splitting two different return flights ,and if you actually check it out the 6:20am flight option is actually £72 pp more than the 6:00am option so how would that get apportioned, i still think it would be a no no on tui's part.

11 hours ago, Vitalsign said:

Sorry NancyNeptune but have to disagree We have booked on Discovery this April a cruise from Dubai to Aqaba 14days and added Aqaba to Palma 7days as advertised in the brochure When looking at the brochure we were surprised that a 21day repositioning cruise wasn't available so instead of booking on line we went to the TUI TA and told them what we wanted without paying for 4 flights They had to ring HO but they did do it for us and discounted the 2 flights we wouldn't be taking (return from Aqaba and flight out to Aqaba Of course we were very pleased. 

However we were back there to pay our balance on Wednesday for the first cruise and asked if we could change our flight back from Palma to Manchester to the same one that our friends are on. They are flying out to Muscat for a 14 day cruise back to Palma a week after we fly to Dubai and cruising back to Palma with us - they rang HO and were able to do this if we paid £50 pp for the amendment, which we thought was over the top as there are 3 flights back to Manchester that day all with available seats - we turned it down but my point is that what you can't get on line you can often get by visiting the TUI TA

Have i read it right ,the Palma flight is only a one way job whereas the OP was talking about splitting a return flight in to two one way flights

1 hour ago, MrsPowsey said:

Thank you for your replies Okavango and Davecttr, I think I should have given my reasons for wanting the later flight, on the flight we are booked on there were no extra leg room seats left to book and we would prefer them due to both of us having health issues however, just happy enough to be going on holiday, it was just an afterthought that the later outgoing flight may have more options available for more leg room.

OK , you may have a chance of changing the complete flight but the split i would say is a definate no no , you may also find that the later flight could be a different price . At least Man/Mal is a pretty short flight

Why bother for the sake of twenty minutes ,cant imagine TUI accomadating you

59 minutes ago, Blossom3 said:

OK thank you, have all your cruises been with Marella? we have done 30+ but mostly with Celebrity, this is our 1st with Marella as it is the only ship doing Canary Islands in the winter

All Thomson/Marella , so they must be doing something right

2 hours ago, Blossom3 said:

Going on our 1st Marella cruise next week, I have checked in and printed our boarding passes, do I need to print off the cruise tickets too or is it sufficient to keep on my phone?

 I wouldn't bother printing anything more than the first page of your E ticket that shows your booking ref and date etc , never needed or been asked for it in 80+ cruises , once went with nothing more than a booking ref no ,no flight tickets, no nothing , simply gave the ref no at the airport check in.

10 hours ago, Littlelostelf said:

The Marella Dream is docking at Casablanca Friday 10th April. I really need to know the exact time as I want to book a tour starting at 9am in the city, but I cannot get an accurate time.

www.crewcenter.com states she is berthed there from 7am - 6pm

www.cruisetimetables.com states 8am - 7pm

Does anyone know the DEFINITIVE time as the earlier the better for us!

Casablanca is on GMT so perhaps the anomaly is due to GMT/BST

3 hours ago, Needlesandpins said:

Thank you so much. This is one less thing for us to worry about 

No probs ,the info ive given was relative to this year ,i see you dont go till august so you can recheck nearer to the time but i cant see any reason for changes to the arrangements

12 hours ago, Needlesandpins said:

I will be sailing from Newcastle in August. With the shuttle bus from the train station, do you need to book it in advance and who is it organised by TUI?

For going to the ship no booking involved ,at the station you have some reps just inside (to the left going out) the station main entrance who will take care of you, for going back to station there was two bus times available ,you can select your choice at check in.

3 hours ago, Southendweather said:

Looking at the cruisemapper.com site Marella Discover is travelling at 15 knots, usually her average speed is 24 knots, just over half speed ahead....

https://www.travelweekly.com/Cruise/Marella-Cruises/Marella-Discovery

 

Keith (Southend)

15 to 18 knots is about a normal economical service speed , no ship goes tearing round at 24 knots unless they are desperate to get somewhere , the fuel bill goes through the roof running near to maximum speed

3 hours ago, Mopsymillar said:

I’ve got another couple of questions.

Is the cruise port north or south of the river and is it the same building as the Amsterdam ferry uses?
We will be travelling from Ayrshire and are unsure whether to go by train the day before or drive that morning. Any advice would be appreciated.

I’d also like to say that we cruised on Explorer 2 this year and loved it - best shower ever😂.

 

Yes its the same place as the Holland /Scandanavia ferries

3 hours ago, dronnygirl said:

The cruise  port is north of the Tyne near the Coble Dene shopping  outlet and Premier Inn.  

Royal Quays Outlet centre , off Cobble Dene road

11 minutes ago, Pensioncruiser said:

Thanks for that, hope you don't mind me asking one more question? What time in your opinion is the earliest I could drop off luggage and park. I fully understand that checkin starts at 11am and passengers have to disembark by 9am. Thanks again promise I won't ask anything else. 😉

I would get there for 11.00am ,this year the embarkation window was officially something like 12.30 to 3.30 ,far too narrow for the number of passengers ,if people did not start arriving " early" they would be up the creek ,dont think they ever managed to sail on time this year , it was fine years ago when spirit/celebration did the newcastle run and there were only about 1200 pax but now with the bigger ships it can be a bit chaotic at times.

Did newcastle three times this year so any questions no probs.

2 hours ago, Pensioncruiser said:

Is it well signed, okavango, be it on foot or driving, thanks👍

If driving you turn in at the first roundabout for parking or carry on to the second roundabout if you are walking/getting dropped off ,there should be someone at the first roundabout/car park entrance that will keep people right . This is all presuming things will be the same next year.