Silhouette around Britain staycruisecations

[American_in_York]

7 minutes ago, Spike11 said:

Yes, I don’t understand the logic either, particularly as the spread of the Delta variant seems to be predominantly among younger people. If PCR tests are required for vaccinated adults then they should be required for the under 18s as well.

Agree. I was fully prepared to pay for a PCR test for my 15 year old daughter when I booked the cruise. I just assumed this would be mandatory but let's see what Celebrity say nearer the time. 

[BigAl94]

5 hours ago, Belfastman said:

Yes it is confirmed by Belfast port that the MSC ship will Dock on 17th June and passengers will be allowed off.

Ship tours only I believe

[downsmead]

4 hours ago, American_in_York said:

Sorry am I reading this correctly. My husband and I are fully vaccinated but need to have a PCR test but my 15 year old daughter who hasn't been vaccinated just needs a rapid antigen test at the terminal. Surely it would be better the other way around?

I questioned this earlier in this thread (post 62). Perhaps those vaccinated have a lower viral load and hence the PCR test is required to detect any virus, whereas an unvaccinated person, if carrying COVID is likely to have a higher viral load which will be picked up by the antigen test. One issue is that the antigen test has false positives, I dread to think what would happen if it showed positive. I would think it made sense to test all family members with the same test.

[oxmatt]

I presume PCR vs Antigen is purely a question of numbers. They must be expecting a relatively low proportion of under 18s whereas if everyone else who has been vaccinated had to turn up on embarkation day and hang around somewhere before boarding whilst waiting 30 minutes for a result it would be chaos and then because of contact if anyone did test positive all of the people waiting in the same area presumably would also not be allowed to board.

[downsmead]

We have been in the situation where our daughter was refused boarding since she had declared on her health for that she had been sick within the last 24 hours - due to too much drinking at a party the night before the cruise. Even though we explained this, the ships doctor came on shore and denied boarding in case she had norovirus! Obviously we were not going to board without her, so we duly returned home. We were given the cost of the cruise as a cruise credit which we were grateful for. 

[Spike11]

8 hours ago, oxmatt said:

I presume PCR vs Antigen is purely a question of numbers. They must be expecting a relatively low proportion of under 18s whereas if everyone else who has been vaccinated had to turn up on embarkation day and hang around somewhere before boarding whilst waiting 30 minutes for a result it would be chaos and then because of contact if anyone did test positive all of the people waiting in the same area presumably would also not be allowed to board.

As I understand it, MSC has been giving everyone an antigen test before boarding on their cruises and it has gone very smoothly - so it is possible. That is of course with strictly staged embarkation times and a maximum of 1000 passengers - though that may well be the limit for the next few months anyway.

[upwarduk]

17 minutes ago, Spike11 said:

That is of course with strictly staged embarkation times and a maximum of 1000 passengers

There are half hour ‘appointment slots’ to choose when you check in( now open) and you are asked to strictly adhere to them.

I have chosen the first one 12-12.30, as we will have had to get out of our overnight hotel. Saves wandering around Southampton with cases! 😱

Traffic of course could be problematic for those travelling on embarkation day.

[downsmead]

I noticed last night that the first two sailings (3rd and 10th) are no longer on the website, I presume this is because they are at capacity.

[laslomas]

14 minutes ago, downsmead said:

I noticed last night that the first two sailings (3rd and 10th) are no longer on the website, I presume this is because they are at capacity.

Yes - sold out. I tried to get a further reduction on my fare for the current Captain's Club discount offer and was informed that as my cruise was now sold out there was no fare to price match it to.

[laslomas]

Was 12-12:30 the earliest check in time offered? I like to board good and early to get to the Concierge Embarkation day lunch in the MDR, a lovely relaxing start to the cruise. This usually closes entry at 1pm. I think that will be a bit of a rush. I wonder if the time for this will change? I hope so. It is one of the benefits I enjoy.

[downsmead]

35 minutes ago, laslomas said:

Yes - sold out. I tried to get a further reduction on my fare for the current Captain's Club discount offer and was informed that as my cruise was now sold out there was no fare to price match it to.

I came across the same - rooms were sold out in my category so didn’t even try 🤦‍♀️

[lovetoholiday]

45 minutes ago, laslomas said:

Was 12-12:30 the earliest check in time offered? I like to board good and early to get to the Concierge Embarkation day lunch in the MDR, a lovely relaxing start to the cruise. This usually closes entry at 1pm. I think that will be a bit of a rush. I wonder if the time for this will change? I hope so. It is one of the benefits I enjoy.

Just checked in for the 9th July and yes the 12 - 12.30 is the first time slot offered.

[BigAl94]

15 minutes ago, downsmead said:

I came across the same - rooms were sold out in my category so didn’t even try 🤦‍♀️

I suspect "withdrawn from sale" rather than sold out.

[Keddy72]

19 hours ago, American_in_York said:

Agree. I was fully prepared to pay for a PCR test for my 15 year old daughter when I booked the cruise. I just assumed this would be mandatory but let's see what Celebrity say nearer the time. 

Here are my thoughts, from my experience.  They wouldn’t be able to rapid tests all passengers.  The benefit of rapid testing at boarding is reducing the risk of unvaccinated having it.  The pcr for vaccinated is just ensuring people are unlikely to be asymptomatic when boarding, as an extra check to their vaccines.  If we all required a rapid test it would take about 20 hours before we would get going.  These are likely to be machine rapid tests rather than lateral flow testing.  

[SalisburyNick]

Does anyone have any views on the shore excursions for Inverness and Belfast? Some of them seem to require several hours on a coach - not a favourite thing for me, though I've always wanted to see the Giant's causeway.

 

Also, if you look at the Celebrity cruise planner, on the front page, an excursion to Berlin is shown Lol.

[BigAl94]

3 hours ago, downsmead said:

I noticed last night that the first two sailings (3rd and 10th) are no longer on the website, I presume this is because they are at capacity.

If, as seems inevitable, the date for fully opening up in England gets put back a month, will these cruises go ahead?

[Spike11]

26 minutes ago, BigAl94 said:

If, as seems inevitable, the date for fully opening up in England gets put back a month, will these cruises go ahead?

Well cruises are going ahead at the moment, so I don’t see why not!

[laslomas]

1 hour ago, BigAl94 said:

If, as seems inevitable, the date for fully opening up in England gets put back a month, will these cruises go ahead?

There is no reason why not as long as they meet the government guidelines for UK Domestic cruises. This is the link I posted earlier in the thread.

 

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/coronavirus-covid-19-cruise-ship-travel

 

Simply means no more than 1000 passengers and groups of more than 6 or two households cannot mix indoors. 

 

I expect the first cruises are no longer on sale due to the restrictions. 

[upwarduk]

1 hour ago, BigAl94 said:

If, as seems inevitable, the date for fully opening up in England gets put back a month, will these cruises go ahead?

I can see itinerary changes happening, especially in Scotland.

[madmedic]

6 hours ago, lovetoholiday said:

Just checked in for the 9th July and yes the 12 - 12.30 is the first time slot offered.

Hi we have checked in today for July 9th 😁. Just wondering how and when we can print the luggage tags. Has anyone figured this out? 🤔

[delondin]

2 hours ago, madmedic said:

Hi we have checked in today for July 9th 😁. Just wondering how and when we can print the luggage tags. Has anyone figured this out? 🤔

What time did you get?

[photabitha]

As for the luggage tags, we had these prior to check in with the Guest Booklet. If you log in to your Celebrity account, you will see your cruise and there is a heading for documents.  If you click on that, you should see ‘print e-docs’ and you can access your Guest Booklet which includes your luggage tags which you can then print. 
 

[lovetoholiday]

29 minutes ago, photabitha said:

As for the luggage tags, we had these prior to check in with the Guest Booklet. If you log in to your Celebrity account, you will see your cruise and there is a heading for documents.  If you click on that, you should see ‘print e-docs’ and you can access your Guest Booklet which includes your luggage tags which you can then print. 
 

The 'Print e-docs' is still greyed out for my 9th July sailing, so hopefully soon. 

[madmedic]

12 hours ago, delondin said:

What time did you get?

We got 12-12.30. Like everyone who is staying at Southampton the night before we don't want to be wandering around with our cases after we check out of our hotel. 

The print e docs is still greyed out for our booking too. 

[Nick&Simon]

I'm really unhappy about the latest email from Celebrity regarding the UK Summer cruises.

 

"UK Guests 18 years and older must be fully vaccinated".

 

That isn't what was stated when I purchased which was "all guests must be fully vaccinated". Which would not only have meant an adult only ship but a fully vaccinated ship.

 

The only slight positive for me is that all crew will be vaccinated.

 

On balance I will cancel my booking if Cunard have anything available and book another trip with them.