Britannia now (9th October cruise) ask me anything

[crusingdan]

We’re on Britannia now for the second international cruise.

 

Ask me anything you want to know.

[wowzz]

7 hours ago, crusingdan said:

We’re on Britannia now for the second international cruise.

 

Ask me anything you want to know.

Thanks, I'll take you up on your offer.

Are you still scheduled to visit Italy ?

Have you been advised of the need to complete documentation (eg Passenger Location forms) for any of the ports ? 

[crusingdan]

9 minutes ago, wowzz said:

Thanks, I'll take you up on your offer.

Are you still scheduled to visit Italy ?

Have you been advised of the need to complete documentation (eg Passenger Location forms) for any of the ports ? 

So we received notification on Friday (8th) that there was an itinerary change and Livorno was cancelled. We are at sea that day now and they’ve added Alicante in the day after.

 

No PLF or equivalent for any foreign ports although you do need to take a lateral flow test for £18pp onboard to be able to get off in Gibraltar. That’s for both organised excursions or getting off independently.

[wowzz]

7 minutes ago, crusingdan said:

So we received notification on Friday (8th) that there was an itinerary change and Livorno was cancelled. We are at sea that day now and they’ve added Alicante in the day after.

 

No PLF or equivalent for any foreign ports although you do need to take a lateral flow test for £18pp onboard to be able to get off in Gibraltar. That’s for both organised excursions or getting off independently.

Thank you for the update. 

[kevboy]

what are the practicalities of taking LFT prior to getting off for the day ? when and how are they done? is there a great queue? does it spoil any aspect of your cruise?

[wowzz]

11 minutes ago, kevboy said:

what are the practicalities of taking LFT prior to getting off for the day ? when and how are they done? is there a great queue? does it spoil any aspect of your cruise?

To be fair, Dan can't answer that question yet - Gib is the last port of call. You'll need to wait until next week for an answer !

[crusingdan]

13 minutes ago, kevboy said:

what are the practicalities of taking LFT prior to getting off for the day ? when and how are they done? is there a great queue? does it spoil any aspect of your cruise?

We don’t have to for any of the Spanish ports or Toulon as far as I’m aware.

 

Given that Gibraltar is only a half day stop in the morning and we’ve been before we’re going to stay onboard so we won’t know about LFTs or how they’re done. The only thing I can say is that in the Horizon daily planner anyone who wants to go ashore in Gibraltar needs to let Guest Services know by tomorrow and then details of how, when and where the LFTs are taking place will be notified to those guests. It has to be done within 72 hours prior to arrival in Gibraltar so will be taking place between Saturday and Monday I guess.

[Interestedcruisefan]

Are you at all concerned about taking any tests for shore excursions in case you fail and have to end the cruise early?

 

 

[Yorkshirewanderers]

56 minutes ago, crusingdan said:

So we received notification on Friday (8th) that there was an itinerary change and Livorno was cancelled. We are at sea that day now and they’ve added Alicante in the day after.

 

No PLF or equivalent for any foreign ports although you do need to take a lateral flow test for £18pp onboard to be able to get off in Gibraltar. That’s for both organised excursions or getting off independently.

Was a reason given for not docking in Livorno given that other ships are going into Italy from France, Spain and others?

[GOQ]

37 minutes ago, crusingdan said:

We don’t have to for any of the Spanish ports or Toulon as far as I’m aware.

 

Given that Gibraltar is only a half day stop in the morning and we’ve been before we’re going to stay onboard so we won’t know about LFTs or how they’re done. The only thing I can say is that in the Horizon daily planner anyone who wants to go ashore in Gibraltar needs to let Guest Services know by tomorrow and then details of how, when and where the LFTs are taking place will be notified to those guests. It has to be done within 72 hours prior to arrival in Gibraltar so will be taking place between Saturday and Monday I guess.

 

+

"No PLF or equivalent for any foreign ports although you do need to take a lateral flow test for £18pp onboard to be able to get off in Gibraltar. That’s for both organised excursions or getting off independently."

 

Thanks for the information you are providing us with. I am cruising on Ventura next month so it's reassuring to know how P&O are doing things. I cruised with Marella last month where we had to pre purchase our Gibraltar LFT before the cruise and take it with us, but it seems P&O  are providing them "over the counter" as needed at cost. I assume they will just charge the £18 to your account.

[Interestedcruisefan]

Anyone thought about taking their own covid tests on board?

 

The day we were cruising from Southampton we got up early and tested ourselves to make sure we were negative before driving 4 hrs to Southampton 

 

You could do the same on a cruise and if the worst happened practise your own form of self isolation in your cabin

 

Only take tests to go on shore if your own tests were negative first?

 

Just brainstorming some ideas before anybody has a go at me

 

The home Covid tests you can order are FOC

 

Thinking about it though it's not fair on the crew of the ship who have to handle your laundry or food trays etc

 

You can tell them you don't need your cabin cleaning but it will stil need cleaning at the end and they have to take things away from the cabin at the end

 

It's a non starter I think? 

 

Also not fair on next couple using your cabin

 

 

 

 

Edited October 12, 2021 by Interestedcruisefan

[Yorkshirewanderers]

That is absolutely what we do on every trip abroad now. It is only sensible, you owe it to yourself and your fellow passengers in the current situation.  Not only do we do it to make sure that we are well but also as a back up to double check because there are more false results from LTFs than PCRs

[Yorkshirewanderers]

4 minutes ago, Interestedcruisefan said:

Anyone thought about taking their own covid tests on board?

 

The day we were cruising from Southampton we got up early and tested ourselves to make sure we were negative before driving 4 hrs to Southampton 

 

You could do the same on a cruise and if the worst happened practise your own form of self isolation in your cabin

 

Only take tests to go on shore if your own tests were negative first?

 

Just brainstorming some ideas before anybody has a go at me

 

The home Covid tests you can order are FOC

 

Thinking about it though it's not fair on the crew if the ship who have to handle your laundry or food trays etc

 

 

 

 

Sorry, meant to add this quote to my post above

[OHHnoo10]

1 hour ago, crusingdan said:

So we received notification on Friday (8th) that there was an itinerary change and Livorno was cancelled. We are at sea that day now and they’ve added Alicante in the day after.

 

No PLF or equivalent for any foreign ports although you do need to take a lateral flow test for £18pp onboard to be able to get off in Gibraltar. That’s for both organised excursions or getting off independently.

We were on the cruse the 2 weeks previous where Livorno and Rome were cancelled on the 2nd day, we were very disappointed as we had great trips booked for both ports. I'm not sure what's going on with Italy but they are a bureaucratic  country so I doubt letting a cruise ship dock was ever on the cards on the 25th Sept cruise or this one. Therefore I must ask why have them on the itinerary when they are so doubtful. The 2 replacement ports were ok but no replacement for Rome or Cinque Terra.

[Tracyjj0]

30 minutes ago, Yorkshirewanderers said:

Was a reason given for not docking in Livorno given that other ships are going into Italy from France, Spain and others?

I’m onboard too, it didn’t state a specific reason in the letter, but I’ve heard that Italy will only accept ships with 100% vaccinated passengers. As we have kids onboard they are, presumably, mostly not vaccinated. 

[Interestedcruisefan]

5 minutes ago, Yorkshirewanderers said:

That is absolutely what we do on every trip abroad now. It is only sensible, you owe it to yourself and your fellow passengers in the current situation.  Not only do we do it to make sure that we are well but also as a back up to double check because there are more false results from LTFs than PCRs

So if you got a positive 

 

You would inform the ship knowing you would be disembarked next port?

 

Having had the idea I'm now thinking I would rather not know like everybody else 

 

 

Edited October 12, 2021 by Interestedcruisefan

[Shipsareus]

Hi there

others have reported that there is now a £2-50 charge for breakfast delivered by room service, although I can’t see that change on the website. Is that the case now?

Does the buffet flow well now that it is all served by crew?

Hope you are having a great time.

[Yorkshirewanderers]

3 minutes ago, Interestedcruisefan said:

So if you got a positive 

 

You would inform the ship knowing you would be disembarked next port?

 

Having had the idea I'm now thinking I would rather not know like everybody else 

 

 

Well, it is not clear if all passengers get disembarked or whether just those that might need hospital treatment.  I would not suggest that you don’t tell the crew at all … my experience has been more about return flights to the UK.  We have taken our own LTFs and tested ourselves the day before doing the required test to travel home (which is no longer required).  That way, you know if you have a problem early and have some time to kick off some planning before you are whisked away to god knows where.  It also gives you time to contact your insurance company early.

 

As I said, you owe it not just to yourselves but also your fellow passengers (which in my view also includes the crew)

[GOQ]

11 minutes ago, Yorkshirewanderers said:

That is absolutely what we do on every trip abroad now. It is only sensible, you owe it to yourself and your fellow passengers in the current situation.  Not only do we do it to make sure that we are well but also as a back up to double check because there are more false results from LTFs than PCRs

A weird thing happened with my onboard "return to home LFT" on my cruise last month. We were required to logon to the Chronomics website to register our test where it recorded the time of the test, then do the test, wait 15 minutes and upload a photo of the test cassette to the website. It then confirmed the result and issued a certificate.

 

All went well, the result was negative and I threw the used cassette in my luggage. However on arriving home, after I had received the same negative test result from my day 2 PCR test, I was about to throw the used “onboard return to home LFT” cassette away when I noticed a faint line against the positive marker.

 

Now the faint positive line wasn’t on the cassette 30 minutes after doing the test and my PCR tests at home were also negative. How reliable are these LF tests for false positives?

 

[Yorkshirewanderers]

5 minutes ago, GOQ said:

A weird thing happened with my onboard "return to home LFT" on my cruise last month. We were required to logon to the Chronomics website to register our test where it recorded the time of the test, then do the test, wait 15 minutes and upload a photo of the test cassette to the website. It then confirmed the result and issued a certificate.

 

All went well, the result was negative and I threw the used cassette in my luggage. However on arriving home, after I had received the same negative test result from my day 2 PCR test, I was about to throw the used “onboard return to home LFT” cassette away when I noticed a faint line against the positive marker.

 

Now the faint positive line wasn’t on the cassette 30 minutes after doing the test and my PCR tests at home were also negative. How reliable are these LF tests for false positives?

 

Yes, that is not surprising.  The instructions do say though that the test must be used within 30 minutes of opening so there is presumably a reason for that … perhaps you have found that reason!

 

Regarding false LTF results, I have a tenant who had symptoms in a flat that I own that tested negative with LTFs for 3 consecutive days before he showed positive on a PCR test.  However, you also get false positives which is a pain because UK government guidelines do not allow a negative PCR test to override a positive LTF test ( or at least that used to be the case).

[Malcolm142]

1 hour ago, Interestedcruisefan said:

Anyone thought about taking their own covid tests on board?

 

The day we were cruising from Southampton we got up early and tested ourselves to make sure we were negative before driving 4 hrs to Southampton 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So you take your own test at home before you depart to Southampton.

What would you do if the test is positive, immediately ring P&O and say you are not coming and effectively it is you that has cancelled the cruise and thereby forfeit all the monies paid for the cruise as it would be treated as a cancellation. Or would you travel down to Southampton knowing you were positive?

If you turn up at the Mayflower testing station and take the free LFT test and it's positive you get a second chance as they give a PCR test. If both are positive you denied your cruise but get a FCC for use in the future. If the PCR is negative you get on board. It is always possible the first LFT gave a false positive 

[Yorkshirewanderers]

I would take at least a second LTF - I have dozens of LTFs at home so would take a second one as a minimum.  I would probably talk to my insurer then contact Princess and ask what they want me to do … force one or both of them to make the decision and confirm that decision in writing.

 

I would not be taking the FCC so would want to make sure that I had an insurable claim (my insurance does cover COVID).  The FCC is pretty useless to me because the cruise was such a bargain and I wouldn’t want to be forced to book another one at a much higher price and then pay more as it is not my cruise line of choice … however, these are strange times so we make decisions as we go along.  
 

Our cruise was a steal and it was always just a contingency option for other holidays being cancelled (and they haven’t been recently so it remains an extra bonus holiday).

 

We wouldn’t travel with COVID or likely COVID if we could avoid so we would probably sort a local rapid, private PCR test.

Edited October 12, 2021 by Yorkshirewanderers

[Interestedcruisefan]

6 minutes ago, Malcolm142 said:

 

So you take your own test at home before you depart to Southampton.

What would you do if the test is positive, immediately ring P&O and say you are not coming and effectively it is you that has cancelled the cruise and thereby forfeit all the monies paid for the cruise as it would be treated as a cancellation. Or would you travel down to Southampton knowing you were positive?

If you turn up at the Mayflower testing station and take the free LFT test and it's positive you get a second chance as they give a PCR test. If both are positive you denied your cruise but get a FCC for use in the future. If the PCR is negative you get on board. It is always possible the first LFT gave a false positive 

I'm pretty sure you contact them to say you have a positive test on the day you would get a FCC?

 

They wouldn't want you telling their staff that face to face in Southampton would they? 

 

We were due to travel on an earlier staycation and had to postpone 48 hrs before when our son got a positive Covid test and we had to self isolate 

 

We called P and O and they just moved us onto another staycation. Very smooth and easy

 

I really don't think they would tell you that you need to drive down to Southampton to fail another test with them in order to get your FCC

 

That would be irresponsible 

 

You would be travelling down knowing you have to say yes when they ask you if either you or a close contact has tested positive for covid in the last 14 days?

 

That stops you getting on regardless of their test doesn't it?

[Yorkshirewanderers]

5 minutes ago, Interestedcruisefan said:

I'm pretty sure you contact them to say you have a positive test on the day you would get a FCC?

 

They wouldn't want you telling their staff that face to face in Southampton would they? 

 

We were due to travel on an earlier staycation and had to postpone 48 hrs before when our son got a positive Covid test and we had to self isolate 

 

We called P and O and they just moved us onto another staycation. Very smooth and easy

 

I really don't think they would tell you that you need to drive down to Southampton to fail another test with them in order to get your FCC

 

That would be irresponsible 

 

You would be travelling down knowing you have to say yes when they ask you if either you or a close contact has tested positive for covid in the last 14 days?

 

That stops you getting on regardless of their test doesn't it?

Responses crossed … trust that I have addressed that.  Would be worth a rapid local private PCR test to get confirmation before travel.  This would enable us to get a refund rather than FCC.  Too many other things booked to fit in another cruise at the moment especially if the FCC needs a lot adding to it.  So in reality, probably private PCR test before calling either insurer or cruise line.

[wowzz]

29 minutes ago, Yorkshirewanderers said:

I would probably talk to my insurer then contact Princess and ask what they want me to do … force one or both of them to make the decision and confirm that decision in writing.

Good luck with that in a time sensitive scenario.