Bgees

On 6/29/2022 at 4:53 AM, Mike45LC said:

Mom, I’m glad to read your review.  I was tempted by the prices MSC was offering, but my vacation time is limited and the dining reviews for “steerage” were pretty bad.  Food is important!!

I would agree that the food in the mdrs is not as good as Princess, but, having sailed on many different cruise lines, I am not sure that you are correct when you describe the non Yacht club passengers as 'steerage'. I take it you understand the connotations of that word when describing other passengers?

Did our video tests yesterday afternoon for tomorrow's Enchanted cruise. Seems a really silly thing to insist upon as there are so many ways that a video test could be manipulated. We have had two recent cruises where the testing was done at the port and that seems a much more sensible way of ensuring no-one is covid positive (as much as that is possible with testing) 

We went through Prenetics and the certificate was emailed to us within n a couple of hours.

One advantage of doing them before you leave is that you don't have the disappointment of receiving the bad news while sitting looking at the ship...

Anyway, now they are done then we are free to board. Woohoo!

3 hours ago, wowzz said:

Who would want to eat dinner in the Mediterranean in the summer at that sort of time  ! 

The US passengers who book every evening at 5.30. They enjoy eating early.

According to My Princess for our upcoming Enchanted Princess cruise it is $40 per day, $139 for 7 day pass, and then other permutations of days/prices.

Where are you cruising from? I ask because we found that Princess cruises from UK saw the majority of us men wear dinner suits on formal nights. Admittedly this was re-covid but our last two P&O cruises were also dominated by dinner suits for men on the formal nights. 

I believe that if cruising from US then things tend to be more casual. I am travelling on Enchanted |Princess from Southampton in July and intend taking my dinner suit. 

7 hours ago, jwattle said:

On our March Majestic, they still weren't doing UBD due to COVID precautions.

I would have thought that a private balcony was the ultimate way to eat safely on a cruise ship!

6 hours ago, soccermommy said:

I think if Princess wants to accommodate the set time diners as well as people like me who prefer to wing it, they might try using one dining room for traditional dining, and the other one for anytime dining. 

Our Sapphire Princess cruise to Norway July 2019 had that set up. The four mdrs were divided into one for set times and the remaining three for AT. I thought it worked very well. We are now all set for a 14 nt med cruise on Enchanted and it will be interesting to see how that works. Our last two cruises on P&O Iona in October and April saw the ship wit all freedom dining and no set times and it seemed to work well with very little wait times recorded on the app.

On 4/9/2022 at 6:58 PM, Eddie99 said:

Thanks so much

I’ve been sent an offer of free drinks package but I was wondering if we would enjoy the offerings - gin & “gun” tonic not Fevertree or even Schweppes, only cheaper wine etc

I was on the drinks package for G208 and you did get Schweppes tonic with the package, just not Fevertree. It came in the can so you could add  as much or as little as you wished. (I have Slimline tonic though so that could make a difference to whether it is a can or dispenser?)

As for the wines, there are many, many different wines available on the package so there is no real incentive to spend extra to get 'better' wines (IMHO of course). The only real issue I have with the drinks package oiis the relatively poor selection of cocktails available. It didn't stop us enjoying quite a few different ones though as long as you go to the bars that serve the different types. The pool bar (Sky Dome) for example has several available that aren't on inside bar menus.

Thanks for all the info and taking timeout of you hols to update us.

We are looking at Enchanted Princess for two weeks in July and I was wondering if you know if Camp Discovery is fully open? We are hoping that the children can do the usual thing of heading off when they wish to have some fun as they did on our last Princess cruise on the Sapphire.

On Iona for the last two times we were on they only worked in bubbles with set times each day that our children could attend. Times were random and meant that we never used the kids club despite this being a favourite activity for our children pre-covid.

Totally agree with you Britboys - a little recognition of departing makes the start of the journey seem a little more special. I'm also not one for artificial singing and flag-waving (we're not leaving for a foreign war) but like the feeling of being with others who are also taking the same journey aboard the ship. A glass of something while watching the coast moving past is nice to do.

On the Iona again 2nd April and have received the 5 days to go email. One thing I noticed was the section about the 'Sail away, your way'.

I don't remember this being mentioned in October. In fact. I don't remember there being any sail away events on board. Possible change due to relaxation of Covid rules or did I just miss it last time? (A real possibility...)

As we set sail, we like to mark the moment with Sail away, your way… your chance to take in the lovely views and celebrate your holiday, your way. Whatever your musical tastes we’ve got something to suit your mood with four unique Sail aways: Serene, Stylish, Spirit and Spontaneous. From chilled spaces and acoustic sounds, to a music list curated to suit the backdrop on deck, you’ll find these offered in different venues across the ship. Or perhaps you prefer a quiet moment of reflection from the comfort of your cabin? Whatever you choose, our new options are created especially for the well-being of all on board, so you can find your perfect Sail away.

We went to the Limelight club quite late (11ish) and, as BornLucky has said, the band were playing a set. Very good and a great way to enjoy the smaller venue. It turns into a 'normal' lounge bar after the dinner show has finished.

While we were disappointed with the range of cocktails available on the drinks package, we are still going to get it again for our upcoming Iona cruise in April. For us, the tipping point is that the children are included for free, which makes the cost £20 each per day, a figure that we would easily exceed if purchasing drinks separately. Without the children included we would not bother with the package as P&O drink prices are reasonable.

I was on that cruise and yes, the captain headed to Southampton early to avoid strong overnight winds upsetting the ship and the passengers!. Real issue for me was early closure of shops and casino as we were in Southampton early.

If it is the P&O test then they will refund in the form of FCC. P&O website states this but I can't find the exact section at the moment.

Thank you for all the replies. E ticket time it is. We are arriving by car and are booked with CPS.

On 10/5/2021 at 11:04 AM, zap99 said:

Not as much as a bow tie that spins around with little lights on.🤣

 Amazon order cancelled!

Quick question. As per thread title, Our e tickets show boarding at 1300 hrs but the boarding passes show 1400 hrs. Is this usual? If so, do I go with e ticket time or boarding pass time?

Thank you.

Lovely email from P&O received today changing itinerary, dates/ports, etc and explaining about the Belgian plfs that have to be completed for each passenger separately, and of course us having to change to UK plfs as well. More form filling, saving, printing, ensuring copy on mobile devices (as paper copies not accepted is says.).

Interesting info from them:

Le Havre

• Unfortunately, we’ve received guidance that unvaccinated children aged 12-17 won’t be able to disembark Iona. This is a requirement of the local port authority, not the country, and so this is why your cruise has been affected. We’re so sorry to bring you this news.

• Unvaccinated guests aged 12-17 can stay on board Iona with one parent/guardian and make the most of our brand-new ship and, as a goodwill gesture, we’ll give you £50 per cabin to spend on board.

It appears that in France local ports can override national laws.

Joy.

4 hours ago, Megabear2 said:

Also, as an aside, I heard on Rip Off Britain this morning they're going to have live travel questions with Simon Calder later this week. I'm toying with sending a question on this issue if no reply arrives. Perhaps they could rattle the insurance companies' cages ...

Funnily enough I got contacted by a researcher for Rip Off Britain about the cancellation of people's holidays if they were travelling with children. I didn't go on the show because our children are double vaccinated and they wanted people whose holiday had been cancelled by P&O. I wonder if it will be mentioned

So does mine, RBS Black Account.

4 minutes ago, Sir Cumference said:

Thank you 🙂

 

The information on the above site says:

 

 

To complete the form you’ll need:

your passport details or the travel document you’ll use when you arrive at the UK border

Fine - no problem

 

your travel details, including times and dates

Will I need to give details of each country visited -along with arrival/departure times and dates?

 

the address where you will stay in the UK (if applicable)

I presume this is my home address?

 

booking reference numbers for any COVID-19 tests you must take after arriving in the UK

What is this and  how do I get it?

 

the invoice number for your quarantine hotel booking if you need one

I presume this does not apply

 

to prove your vaccination status, and say where you were vaccinated

How do I do this? I don't have an "app" thingy on my phone but do have a NHS letter giving details of both jabs - I have no idea how to get that from the sheet of paper on my desk onto the PLF on my computer - and words like "upload" or "scan" mean nothing to me.

 

Also, the site is speaking of emailing me numbers and also sending me numbers to my mobile phone. Is there any ways I can just leave my mobile phone out of this? The assumption that everyone has (and is willing to use) a mobile phone does tend to annoy me.

 

Many thanks for your anticipated help from a technological wimp!

Travel details are as you say, dates you are in the country (or docked). Don't need arrival/departure times.

Address is home address.

Booking reference number is the number supplied by your chosen day 2 testing company. I went with Testing For All but there are many different companies. They supply the code as soon as the tests are ordered.

Quarantine hotel does not apply if fully vaccinated.

For proof of vaccination I just said 'No' to the QR code. This allows you to continue without having to upload anything. As you say, paper proof is all that is required if asked about it when returning to the UK.

I downloaded the proof of test ordered and printed out a paper copy so I don't have to worry about phone signal, etc if asked for proof of plf completion at the port. I also downloaded and printed out a copy of the PLF for the same reason.

I hope this helps.

I have been wondering this as well. If you go ashore on an excursion for example, do they test you to get back on board? Also, if people are being refused boarding because their coach transfer has a single positive case on it, what about shore excursion coaches? If someone subsequently becomes symptomatic and then is tested positive on board, does everyone on the coach excursion have to isolate and then be kindly led away to the nearest port?

7 minutes ago, niccynoo66 said:

Hi,

Please may I ask you 

Did you order more than one LFt test in the order ? If I order the four that I need will it send me four codes needed for the PLF ? 

many thanks

Nicky

I ordered three together (for me and our two children) with a single code for the plf (me and two children) and a single one for my wife and put the code onto her plf.

It only sent one code for the three ordered together and one for the single order. However, I don't know if you could use the same code for two different plf's. I hope this makes some kind of sense!

Thanks to the handy info on the thread we have now completed our PLFs with LFT tests ordered through Testing for all. Thanks for the heads up. The test cost £19 each so not bad I suppose. We travel on G135 23 - 30 Oct.