molecrochip

It doesn’t matter from a numbers perspective. Sounds crass but always true. Restrictions were always about insuring that the medical centre was not overloaded with serious cases and could keep those onboard alive until outside assistance was available to look after them. We’ve now moved past the point where significant numbers of vaccinated people end up as serious cases on board ship.

You will be advised if your cruise has the new policy. You can use any valid lateral flow test, however strictly you should not use NHS or council provided ones as these are very specifically funded/provided for non-travel purposes. The £2 ones from Boots / Tescos are fine as are any in the approved list. You will not be asked for any proof as I understand it. Some cruises may still require a certified test.

Yes to both however, the bigger ships have to tender in to Monaco and there have been issues. Azura/Ventura can just fit depending upon what else is in port. One ship actually had to abandon its tender operation at Monaco due to bad weather. Passengers were taken to a sports hall and then bused to Villefranche the next day where the ship had managed to dock. Because of the way the weather suddenly appears from over the hills, the weather and sea state can change rapidly,

No different to RCI, Celebrity, Carnival, Princess, HAL, Unless you are offering only one ship in a region, generally, you stick to repetitive itineraries. Logistically its easier and visiting the same ports allows a better selection of excursions to be created.

@kruzseeka what were the other changes? I'm not aware of the reason for Stavanger,

There is at terminal testing for 5-11 year olds. The reason for the second test is that this category of guest is not required to be vaccinated. There is a small pool of testing capacity at the terminal but not significant hence why P&O aren't selling it. Princess are selling terminal testing at a premium therefore are happy to have additional staff/testing capacity available. Regarding observed tests, exactly the same LFT as the NHS but you are watched by a trained individual. You then get a certificate confirming the outcome and that the test was carried out correctly.

This is a lot to do with ship lead times. The first Princess ship to be built with Medallion was Majestic Princess, the fourth in class. However this was more of a retrofit pre-delivery than installed as default. Sky Princess was the first to have it wired as default. (You'll notice that Sky, Enchanted and Discovery have certain other subtle differences to the early Royal class ships). Royal and Regal were retrofitted along with the other ships in the Princess fleet. These were ships built by Fincantieri for Princess. Princess paid for the Medallion project. Now that the entire Princess fleet is running on Medallion, its available for other brands to install. However due to ship lead times, this was too late for the entire Excel class to be built with it - especially as they are being built by a different ship builder, Meyer Werft. I expect that if P&O is set to adopt it, we will see it arrive first on Britannia during its refit in 2024. Iona is then due her warranty refit in late 2024/25. That time scale also fits with my view that P&O may then get a medallion ready ship transferred from Princess in 2025 to replace Arcadia/Aurora. When it comes to refits, P&O have a pot of money and it depends upon what else is seen as a priority.

@Megabear2I'm so sorry to hear about your aunt. I hope she is comfortable and manages to improve over time. The service that you've received from Princess is awful and I'm so sorry you had to deal with that on top of your aunt's situation.

I think its well known that there is an agreed mission to refocus P&O towards the UK family market however that's not necessarily been the priority. When it is the priority, the Company is not arrogant enough to believe that old white American men know what the best Remember, the large capital spend is in the ships therefore agreed out of Miami. The cost of a ship to run is largely the same whichever brand it is. Its up to Southampton how they spend that money on P&O.

I can highly recommend it for staying, the spa and the food.

Yes, Royal, Regal and Britannia were built with no public midships stairs. They are there but for crew use, therefore within the secure area of the ship. Princess paid to convert the stairs and surrounding areas back to public use at their first dry dock. P&O decided to keep them as they were, instead prioritising the reworking of the ground floor in the atrium. Never say never, maybe it will happen in her next dry dock from 5 to 21 April 2024 - although I'd rather they spent the money on introducing medallion.

It wasn't a generator issue , it was an issue with the exhaust gas scrubber system. Due to be resolved by the end of July.

Restricted supply, restricted galley and waitstaff = restricted menus. Not ideal but will get better in the future.

Its an easy sell, and not somewhere people book a 7 day package holiday to.

Yes, regarding pilots. The tendering area's are next to the deck three gunport doors and are double height (deck2 & 3), marked with 'No Tug' as there is a void behind there needed for circulation when in use. I don't know what tender craft have been ordered for Arvia. I suspect, the same as Iona. I think a general point, is that the bigger the ship, the longer it takes to tender. Therefore it is by plan that these ships will be booked into dockside berths and won't tender as regularly.

I'm fairly minded to agree with you however the season so far has had fairly poor weather compared to usual. And then there is the Geiranger issue.

Done both. Always go for the one immediately before rather than the one immediately after. Sky Princess is due her 'warranty' refit. This is the first dry dock post delivery whereby anything that has gone wrong is sorted and the shipyard foot the bill. There is not normally any major internal work done, although on her sister ships Royal and Regal they upgraded the midship stairs to passenger use. Not a problem on Sky Princess as she's already built that way.

It really rather depends on what restrictions the Caribbean islands put in place. There are still one of two ships in the Corporation's fleet which could be used.

This is just wrong. The changes to the P&O brand are decided and led out of Southampton. That doesn't mean that Southampton aren't working to the same objective of 'maximising value for shareholders'. That is after all, the job of the Company.

Its not hidden, Iona has not docked at Geiranger. All of the 16 main lifeboats are capable of being used as tenders. By the forward and mid deck three gun-doors there are doors which cover deck 3 and deck 2 below. This is where the tender boarding is from. The higher feature tender craft are significantly more expensive, therefore where there is no expectation of regular tendering, there is no benefit purchasing those craft. If tendering was to become regular, it is possible to swap out lifecraft.

So the general rule is that any contractors travelling should not impact the cruise before. You may however see disruption on disembarkation morning. Some examples: Once the last theatre performance has finished, they start to derig the theatre but as its a muster station, the seating area cannot be touched until docked. When Britannia's atrium floor was re-dsigned, by 7am in the morning there was a designated pathway in each direction and the rest was empty of all usual table, chairs and piano. Shops have to offload by mid-morning hence the packing up in advance - but only if work is being done to the shops/change of supplier. Mini-bars are usually emptied one day before disembarkation. A main restaurant is usually turned into a contractor buffet restaurant. Deck chairs and sunbeds usually stowed overnight before arrival. Bars may run short of certain items as alcohol stores aren't loaded in the few days leading to dry dock. Additional stores are taken on board ahead of the first cruise back but some items can take a day or two to get to every bar. You may see shipping containers loaded onto the open decks - some will take rubbish, some will have fittings/equipment & materials. The onboard contractors are generally checking that the shoreside plans for work, relate to the actual ship. The also ensure that all the plans are in place for the work, H&S etc, liaise with ship crew. Contractors check in like guest and get their cabin pass but usually there is also a pass station set-up as often contractors have to change cabin if significant cabin works being undertaken. One job for crew is pass-running where contractors are escorted into cabins in use by contractors so work can be taken out. Another job for crew is fire watch. Even in dry dock, certain activities pose a higher risk onboard ship. Therefore crew will be designated to stand by said work with fire extinguishers, just in case. Ship docks often around midnight before the final disembarkation before dry dock. They wont be able to complete customs etc until 5am or 6am but it gives them a couple of hours over a usual 7am arrival. The plan is usually for all guests to be off by 10am. Staff will be more pushy at getting people off. Work is then planned hour by hour from that point through to about midday when the ship returns from dry dock. Certain work can't be carried out on the transit to/from the dry dock (such as welding) but demolition and removal of old cabin bedding etc can.

I'm sorry to hear about your aunt's situation. I didn't see your earlier posts otherwise I would have input. P&O aren't open on a Sunday but Princess are and whilst they cannot access your P&O booking, in the most serious of cases, they can send an email. As it is, when monies are due on a Sunday and they are closed, I believe you actually get Monday as well before the computer gets up set. The law would consider it an unfair contract term otherwise.

Iona is very much capable of tendering however the current itineraries do not require her too. Olden You sail in via Innvikfjorden and Nordfjord early in the morning. The time you leave normally gives you a great picturesque sail out the way you came. Hellesylt You sail in via Sunnylvsfjorden and Storfjorden early in the morning. After departing Hellesylt, you sail down about 2/3rds of Geirangerfjord, past the Seven Sisters waterfalls. You then sail back the way you came, past Hellesylt and back out through the two fjords.

Not the choice of the individuals. As I said, a number didn't like the new rules/scripts etc and left.

With respect, Iona which serves the same purpose as any of those on board ship. Britannia's has bars and shops on most sides, so Ventura's, so Azura. Its also worth noting that its not always been done in an atrium. On Oriana, I think it was Harlequins where it was held as the atrium is quite small. The lack of captains speech is a Covid change. I don't know whether in time, this will go back to the old way. I doubt it on Iona, but that's more to do with a lack of fixed dining (the speech used to be just ahead of the dining rooms opening). Last time I was on Iona, the captain's photo opportunity was held one morning on the dockside. One of my guests lamented that that they didn't understand the long queue as 'he never got a picture with the general manager of any land based hotel he stayed at'! The turndown service is missed and I still understand it will return in the future. Its funny because many passengers are quite happy not to see the steward as long as the job is done right. In comparison, you very rarely hear complaints of not seeing the housekeeping in land-based hotels (as long as the job is done). On a serious note, the lack of interaction is Covid related. Final comment relates to Entertainment Managers (cruise directors). You'll note you see and hear from them a lot less nowadays. This has come down, not from Southampton, but Miami as I understand it. Their role has been made a lot more functional using standardised scripts. This has lead to a number of 'favourites' leaving the company. This has impacted P&O and Princess.