molecrochip

If you need a tray, ask. You’ll either get a rest or assistance.

Simple answer - folding wheelchair should be fine. Just check the door with if you need to good wheelchair after moving into cabin. Some can be folded side to side outside and pushed through standard doors, some need wider doors as they fold front to back.

See the above topic. Chickenpox is certainly on Britannia and was on Ventura from memory. Clearly an outbreak going around. Whilst its common to get Chickenpox as a child in the UK - its not so common in Asia.

I don’t believe they do convert.

They will tell you if security is being closed at any point. But usually it’s open constantly.

Could your new cruise gave required an extra £18 deposit? What was it billed as? Usually ship name now appears on statement if a ship charge.

Quality of wifi is location dependent. North Sea/Channel is good Caribbean is good Med is good. Canaries is ok. Fjords, Biscay and Atlantic coast is really poor.

You’re tossing up Friday say 10am - Saturday 2pm departure to airport v Friday 4pm arrival through to Saturday 8pm ship departure. Either way it’s similar. If you’re concerned about late arriving flights eating into port time then fly on Saturday as I wouldn’t recommend getting back off once you arrive (except for port shop). If you want to try Oistins, I prefer Saturday arrivals so you do it at the end if you’re cruise - that way you’re not fresh of the plane doing it. Excursions are basically the same I prefer Friday if you want to bag the retreat or remaining speciality dining. I also prefer Friday as that way I don’t spend the last Friday watching enthusiastic new comers arriving knowing I’m leaving the following day… Very much personal choice!

I agree the passport is not a problem. You need a passport issued after 20/08/13 and validity beyond 19/08/23 for that cruise. I wonder if checkin is using the 6 month rule for Amsterdam by mistake. Give P&O a call and ask them to assist, if not, resolve at terminal.

When was your passport issued, and where are you going?

Was that before or after they scrapped the e-ticket? My understanding was that the e-ticket was often wrong but the boarding pass generated at online check-in should be correct. That said…. Carnival IT….!

I believe that the boarding time correctly reflects your loyalty tier now.

Each deck has allocated times between 12&2 and 3&4. Coach parties typically get 2-3. Priority boarding typically up to 12.30

Also, I expect they will be removed in Southampton but will be quarantined in their cabin until they get there. P&O have quarantine procedures in place for when crew catch transmissible illness - way before Covid.

There is no NHS vaccine for chickenpox therefore the OP could easily have caught it at 33, from her son. There is a private vaccine but it’s about £200.

Not generally now - no. Agents can request for a group of cabins to be put on hold if they are booking a group and it can take 24/48 hrs to get all the details together. But availability should be the same.

Not great to here about issues in the first place but so pleased the response was delivered well. Issues and learnings really do get passed back to the ship. The captain gets copied along with head of department and relevant team members.

Yes, four with same layout. They aren’t as deep hence the need to double width them.

Broadly: priority boarding 11:30, 12:00 certain decks 12:30,13:00 coaches usually 13:30, 14:00 and 14:30 remaining decks 15:00, 15:30 and 16:00 There is a bit of flex, on busier cruises they also can use 15 min intervals. Final boarding is listed usually as 16:30/16:45 come what May so that safety announcement can be at 5pm. If you are there on time, you will get on even if checkin has to over run. If you are running late and pushing final boarding, ring ahead. If the ship is due to leave at 5pm then you may be unlucky. If ship is due alongside til 7pm but it’s just checkin that’s closing, there are possibilities although not guaranteed.

P&O are now trailing a number of check-in desks in the assistance area so you remain seated and get checked in then go straight to security bypassing the long line of desks. I would complete the form indicating you want assistance and can’t stand for long periods. If you don’t need it on the day then just let them know.

Sessions become bookable at 10:30 for the following day. They go fairly quickly.

Thank you - did not know this.

I fully accept that ditching the bunting and balloons and flags will generate a cost saving and be welcomed, as there is no direct replacements, however these are not the expensive items across a year. A lot of the sustainable alternatives are still more/equally expensive. Its wrong to say that cost reduction is the motivator. Give you an example, you replace a physical hand soap with a statistically more expensive pump action glass bottle which lasts a couple of years before the pump needs to be replaced. You also have the expense of the bracket to fix it to the wall, and the large bottles to refill it from. The total cost over the life of the reusable product is no less than the total reusable products. The only difference is that less rubbish ends up in landfill or the sea. Its the same in the buffet. Sauce sachets have gone but you now have large pump dispensers which, due to frequent use may get replaced or repair every couple of year. You also order several hundred reusable pots for passengers to decant their sauce into, and a few thousand recyclable paper pots. By the time you also consider the washing of the reusable pots, the end to end costs are not overly different to the sachets... but again, less waste.

If its a 300ml bottle then its one that a suite passenger has left behind as stewards and given enough to replace the gift box sets. If a sensible cabin steward notices that such items are left behind unused, they often come in useful later in their contract.

@majortom10 you're wrong I'm afraid. Balloons in MDR, flags and bunting at sailaways, sauce sachets and cocktail stirrers have all been removed. Straws and pens too have been replaced by sustainably sourced alternatives - and usually these are not cheaper. Below if the except out of the recently published Carnival Corporation sustainability report. Full report here: https://carnivalsustainability.com/