P&O Cruisers - What are things like where YOU are?

[grapau27]

2 hours ago, mrsgoggins said:

If I haven’t been on here and seen your postings, I would miss this.  Thank you Graham and where do find the info?  I’ve just taken a quick look in today’s Times and can’t find any mention of it!

It was mentioned on Good Morning Britain ITV this morning.

I googled also what time as even the TV listings don't show till close to the time.

[grapau27]

8 minutes ago, ann141 said:

Had a good day and pleased to find that the antibody test I did as part of Twins research shows clearly detectable antibodies.I was concerned because my immune system is compromised as a result of medication I am on so wasn't sure if the vaccines had worked.I hope Harry that you and others with immuno suppressed problems get the chance to have an antibody test too. 🙂 

Fantastic news Ann.

I'm delighted for you.

[grapau27]

49 minutes ago, Ardennais said:

Enjoying a coffee after getting my second jab.

 

Happy days 😀here in 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

Great news.

🤞 hopefully no side effects.

[grapau27]

31 minutes ago, grapau27 said:

It was mentioned on Good Morning Britain ITV this morning.

I googled also what time as even the TV listings don't show till close to the time.

So far nothing showing on the TV program guide.

Grant Shaps has made a statement on Sky saying Portugal go on Amber list next week and no other countries will go to Green list but 7 more on red list.

Looks like no Briefing until 7th June.

Edited June 3, 2021 by grapau27

[Eddie99]

This, from the Sky News website timed @ 14.10

 

 

“No new destinations will be added to the government's green travel list, Sky News understands, and Portugal will move to the amber list.

We haven't had an official statement from the Department of Transport yet, but an announcement from Grant Shapps is imminent. “
 

Who knows what imminent means in this instance?

[Adawn47]

20 minutes ago, Eddie99 said:

This, from the Sky News website timed @ 14.10

 

 

“No new destinations will be added to the government's green travel list, Sky News understands, and Portugal will move to the amber list.

We haven't had an official statement from the Department of Transport yet, but an announcement from Grant Shapps is imminent. “
 

Who knows what imminent means in this instance?

Portugal, Madeira and the Azores have been moved to Amber. I can't remember them all, but Egypt is now Red. 

Avril

[Bloodaxe]

13 minutes ago, Adawn47 said:

Portugal, Madeira and the Azores have been moved to Amber. I can't remember them all, but Egypt is now Red. 

Avril

Whatever the colour, travel abroad is a major gamble, look at the people scrambling to get home once again, not worth the risk in my opinion.

[Peanut006]

12 minutes ago, Bloodaxe said:

Whatever the colour, travel abroad is a major gamble, look at the people scrambling to get home once again, not worth the risk in my opinion.

Travel abroad for a holiday in 2021 is certainly off our agenda, to much stress. Are we going? Aren’t we going? Are we going? 
Having said that my son has just flown to Romania this afternoon(work related), he is back Sunday morning then has to self isolate for 10 days

Michelle

[zap99]

6 minutes ago, Peanut006 said:

Travel abroad for a holiday in 2021 is certainly off our agenda, to much stress. Are we going? Aren’t we going? Are we going? 
Having said that my son has just flown to Romania this afternoon(work related), he is back Sunday morning then has to self isolate for 10 days

Michelle

He is probably safer in Romania than he is in parts of Lancashire 🤔.

[yorkshirephil]

[kalos]

            

 

 

           

[Harry Peterson]

2 hours ago, ann141 said:

Had a good day and pleased to find that the antibody test I did as part of Twins research shows clearly detectable antibodies.I was concerned because my immune system is compromised as a result of medication I am on so wasn't sure if the vaccines had worked.I hope Harry that you and others with immuno suppressed problems get the chance to have an antibody test too. 🙂 

Excellent news, Ann! Really pleased to hear that. It will have been quite a relief to hear that.

 

Funnily enough, my excellent GP had agreed to include an antibody test with today’s other regular blood tests, and I’m awaiting the result. Have to say I know very little about these tests, or how they’re interpreted. Is it a yes/no, or is there some gradation?

[kalos]

5 minutes ago, Harry Peterson said:

Excellent news, Ann! Really pleased to hear that. It will have been quite a relief to hear that.

 

Funnily enough, my excellent GP had agreed to include an antibody test with today’s other regular blood tests, and I’m awaiting the result. Have to say I know very little about these tests, or how they’re interpreted. Is it a yes/no, or is there some gradation?

 

I hope your results are excellent news same as Anne's result Harry.

Fingers crossed .

[Peanut006]

1 hour ago, zap99 said:

He is probably safer in Romania than he is in parts of Lancashire 🤔.

Probably!!! 

[grapau27]

31 minutes ago, Harry Peterson said:

Excellent news, Ann! Really pleased to hear that. It will have been quite a relief to hear that.

 

Funnily enough, my excellent GP had agreed to include an antibody test with today’s other regular blood tests, and I’m awaiting the result. Have to say I know very little about these tests, or how they’re interpreted. Is it a yes/no, or is there some gradation?

Good luck Harry.

🤞 Hopefully you have antibodies for covid19.

[ann141]

34 minutes ago, Harry Peterson said:

Excellent news, Ann! Really pleased to hear that. It will have been quite a relief to hear that.

 

Funnily enough, my excellent GP had agreed to include an antibody test with today’s other regular blood tests, and I’m awaiting the result. Have to say I know very little about these tests, or how they’re interpreted. Is it a yes/no, or is there some gradation?

My test was done as part of research and states it is not a measure of vaccine effectiveness but just to test if the blood contained covid antibodies either as a result of previous infection or vaccine. The 3 categories were INVALID, CLEARLY DETECTABLE and NOT CLEARLY DETECTABLE.Invalid was if the blood test didnt work with the sample provided.(Hopefully Harry if a nurse or doctor took your blood it should be ok whereas I got my hubby to ***** my finger!)Clearly detectable states that antibodies were detected and not clear means the antibodies that they were looking for in the research test were not present but that you might have different antibodies that the  test was not designed for  or that you  might have been exposed to covid but at the time of blood collection your body was not mounting a clear antibody response or you had not been exposed to covid. There was nothing to state how many antibodies you had etc.I had to wait over 8 weeks for my results (I thought they may have got lost in the post!)but hopefully you should get yours soon Harry.I hope you get a positive result because although I will still be careful at least I know I have some protection whereas previously I felt I had to act as though I wasn't protected at all so its definatly helped reassure me.

[Harry Peterson]

3 minutes ago, ann141 said:

My test was done as part of research and states it is not a measure of vaccine effectiveness but just to test if the blood contained covid antibodies either as a result of previous infection or vaccine. The 3 categories were INVALID, CLEARLY DETECTABLE and NOT CLEARLY DETECTABLE.Invalid was if the blood test didnt work with the sample provided.(Hopefully Harry if a nurse or doctor took your blood it should be ok whereas I got my hubby to ***** my finger!)Clearly detectable states that antibodies were detected and not clear means the antibodies that they were looking for in the research test were not present but that you might have different antibodies that the  test was not designed for  or that you  might have been exposed to covid but at the time of blood collection your body was not mounting a clear antibody response or you had not been exposed to covid. There was nothing to state how many antibodies you had etc.I had to wait over 8 weeks for my results (I thought they may have got lost in the post!)but hopefully you should get yours soon Harry.I hope you get a positive result because although I will still be careful at least I know I have some protection whereas previously I felt I had to act as though I wasn't protected at all so its definatly helped reassure me.

Thanks for the further information, Ann - very much appreciated.  I shall sit back and wait!  You and I have both been playing it very carefully for very obvious reasons - it would be nice to feel a bit more relaxed about things. 

 

It's also going to influence my decision on cataract surgery, which at the moment is going to depend very much on the background Covid rate, and how far/quickly the Delta variant spreads across the country.  It's not dominant here yet, but it's just a matter of time. Risk analysis is my new hobby!

 

Harry

[ann141]

7 minutes ago, Harry Peterson said:

Thanks for the further information, Ann - very much appreciated.  I shall sit back and wait!  You and I have both been playing it very carefully for very obvious reasons - it would be nice to feel a bit more relaxed about things. 

 

It's also going to influence my decision on cataract surgery, which at the moment is going to depend very much on the background Covid rate, and how far/quickly the Delta variant spreads across the country.  It's not dominant here yet, but it's just a matter of time. Risk analysis is my new hobby!

 

Harry

It would have been helpful to know the level of antibodies but just pleased that at least I have some antibodies.At the beginning of the week we were supposed to see our daughter and grandsons but when my daughter phoned to say the youngest had a bad cough and runny nose, we decided to put it off.Now that I know I am protected to some degree I shall enjoy seeing them tomorrow even more!

[wowzz]

Cruising other than around the UK seems more unlikely than ever after today's travel announcement. 

Portugal has virtually the same incidence of cases as the UK ( and fewer than places like Blackburn), and there is no evidence that any new strains in Portugal are prevalent either. The decision is illogical, and Shapps blustered,  and huffed and puffed when trying to justify it. 

Plus, the decision to move from green to amber in just 5 days is contrary to previous government pronouncements that countries would be placed on a watch list, prior to any change in status.

I can't see how cruise lines can operate if they have only 5 days notice of a change in status of a country's rating. 

Anyone confident of European cruises in September?  I'm much more pessimistic about our Princess cruise in October than I was this time last week.

[ann141]

4 minutes ago, wowzz said:

Cruising other than around the UK seems more unlikely than ever after today's travel announcement. 

Portugal has virtually the same incidence of cases as the UK ( and fewer than places like Blackburn), and there is no evidence that any new strains in Portugal are prevalent either. The decision is illogical, and Shapps blustered,  and huffed and puffed when trying to justify it. 

Plus, the decision to move from green to amber in just 5 days is contrary to previous government pronouncements that countries would be placed on a watch list, prior to any change in status.

I can't see how cruise lines can operate if they have only 5 days notice of a change in status of a country's rating. 

Anyone confident of European cruises in September?  I'm much more pessimistic about our Princess cruise in October than I was this time last week.

I am feeling hopeful that if restrictions are put in place now to help control the Delta variant and help prevent new variants coming in then things might have settled down by October.One advantage of the Princess cruise that a few of us are sailing on is that it visits several countries so the Itinerary can be changed without too much difficulty. I am feeling less hopeful about my Tradewinds voyage which departs from Scotland in July.Not sure if Nicola will allow it. I do feel sorry for the many people who will have booked holidays to Portugal this summer.

[wowzz]

2 minutes ago, ann141 said:

I am feeling hopeful that if restrictions are put in place now to help control the Delta variant and help prevent new variants coming in then things might have settled down by October.One advantage of the Princess cruise that a few of us are sailing on is that it visits several countries so the Itinerary can be changed without too much difficulty. I am feeling less hopeful about my Tradewinds voyage which departs from Scotland in July.Not sure if Nicola will allow it. I do feel sorry for the many people who will have booked holidays to Portugal this summer.

I wouldn't disagree with any of that, but putting Portugal on the Amber list has no relevance with regard to the Delta variant. 

It's just a knee jerk illogical decision. How can any holiday company plan for the future when the government cannot substantiate its decisions with factual evidence.

[ann141]

2 minutes ago, wowzz said:

I wouldn't disagree with any of that, but putting Portugal on the Amber list has no relevance with regard to the Delta variant. 

It's just a knee jerk illogical decision. How can any holiday company plan for the future when the government cannot substantiate its decisions with factual evidence.

Personally I think it would have been better to wait a while before deciding to move Portugal to the Amber list but I think it is thought that the rise in cases last summer was largely due to people returning from holidays abroad so perhaps the government are trying to act sooner than later. Would have preferered that they had acted sooner than later with regard to some of the other covid decisions but as I don't want to get any further into politics I shall say no more on the matter!

[wowzz]

1 minute ago, ann141 said:

Personally I think it would have been better to wait a while before deciding to move Portugal to the Amber list but I think it is thought that the rise in cases last summer was largely due to people returning from holidays abroad so perhaps the government are trying to act sooner than later. Would have preferered that they had acted sooner than later with regard to some of the other covid decisions but as I don't want to get any further into politics I shall say no more on the matter!

Fair point, but as Portugal is as safe as the UK, why change the status?

The issue is really about transparency  - no one really knows why the status of Portugal has changed.

[Eglesbrech]

1 hour ago, ann141 said:

I am feeling hopeful that if restrictions are put in place now to help control the Delta variant and help prevent new variants coming in then things might have settled down by October.One advantage of the Princess cruise that a few of us are sailing on is that it visits several countries so the Itinerary can be changed without too much difficulty. I am feeling less hopeful about my Tradewinds voyage which departs from Scotland in July.Not sure if Nicola will allow it. I do feel sorry for the many people who will have booked holidays to Portugal this summer.

It’s ironic but she has less control over your movement as a visitor than she does over the locals. We still have the (hated) levels in place and if an area is in level 3 or 4 then no one should move into or out of it but can go through it without stopping to get to somewhere else. A local moving out of a level 3 or 4 area will be fined if caught as they are leaving their council boundary - visitors don’t have a council boundary so I imagine you would only be affected if the area the port is in is locked down.

 

While our covid numbers are rising a bit since the small freedoms have been allowed hopefully no one goes back up a level. As of Saturday coming no areas is in level 3 or 4 so there is freedom of movement across the country for now.

[kalos]

Good morning everyone I hope we are all well today and slept well .

Catching up on a few posts I read that has not been the case for some of you.

Insomnia is no joke.. it's so serious, that some people are losing sleep over it.

The good news is People with insomnia are pretty good natured, they’re up for anything

most of the time . How people can say this thread is boring is beyond me, it is so, so 

educational   Porridge in top drawers ,really ? It makes you wonder if that is where the 

saying " Yum ,yum this porridge is top drawer " comes from ? A few slice of it in your top 

drawers is better than down your drawers I suppose. There are many foods as well as

porridge that can be served sliced .My nan's gravy was like that and her custard also.

Not everyone likes custard , I was chatting to a red Indian once and asked him if he liked 

custard ?  "In general  no " was his reply. Thinking back to my Nan's era though ,I bet they 

were happy with a slice of porridge due to the war . She told me that for a long time folks 

had to make do with food stamps  I bet they tasted bloody awful  Anyhow whatever

you're doing /eating today ,enjoy it and keep safe