Surely Winter Cruise Staycations Are The Only Option For P and O now??

[Guest ccpm]

I am digging deep and girding my loins or whatever is needed. No worries re ports being cancelled for me as I didn't plan to get off, just like to enjoy an empty ship. Now may have a few more folks with me, not problem will just have to park up at the Glass House early.

[Guest ccpm]

3 minutes ago, jeanlyon said:

My goodness - loads of cabins available at verycheap prices.  I wonder why!

That is a great price, £699 is what I paid weeks ago (times 2 of course as I am a solo.) That cost has had a lot of bits eg car parking and hotel I would not normally do in order to avoid the bus fandango. I am taking a risk, I knew it but I am not prepared to stay indoors for ever. I follow every safety precaution  These latest changes have dimmed my excitement and I wonder if they will cancel. If not I am going. My only way out would be to cancel and loose the money as final payment has been made. That is not a major problem but I want to get back into life.

[jeanlyon]

couldn't agree more.  We have been taking holidays in the UK.  2 so far.  My idea of cruising is not to stay on the ship and even then there is the possibility of being offloaded if you test positive.  Just more than I am prepared to chance.

[Josy1953]

We finally decided to cancel the cruise that we had booked on Princess for my birthday in March because we don't feel that cruising will be anything like ( our ) normal by then and have taken an FCC.  We are now down to only one cruise booked and are hoping that by the time we need to pay that one in July things may have improved although without a crystal ball who knows whether we will manage to go on that one. 😓

[Bill Y]

3 hours ago, Cruisemeister2002 said:

A tad concerned as we have a cruise booked for February. I for one am not in the least bit interested in cruises that are staycation and are cruise only. Also even if cruises are allowed to go ahead whilst I do a few excursions put on by a cruise company should we not be allowed to go ashore on our own again I wouldn't be interested as many of the destinations we visit we have already done most of the tours available and I know that to do it yourself can be at least 50% cheaper. To me cruising is all about the freedom it allows. If you want to baste yourself in the sun all day you can, if you just want to wander around and shop you can. If, as an acquaintance  once said, you want to go and see a "pile of old stones" you can. If cruising turns into a military style situation where you spend most of your cruise filling in paperwork or on an i phone are marched to a coach and back, can't get in this club or that, have to worry about making sure you have booked this test or that then the whole thing becomes a chore instead of a pleasure.

Our sentiments too,

 

We are interested in the comments that people post on here following their cruise experiences and so judge if things are returning to level of enjoyment that is acceptable to us. We don't wish to pay for something that we feel we just have to endure.

 

As well as the points mentioned above, we are concerned that there is reports of dumbing down of entertainment in theatre etc, guest speakers and the dinning in the MDR, although its been said on here that the MDR experience is still acceptable. One appreciates that we are still in troubled times but hope that cruising returns to an experience that we have enjoyed in the past. We are not in a hurry as we have only got river cruises booked for 2022 and an ocean one for 2023 to use FCC. So hope there is positive reports in the spring

[Son of Anarchy]

1 hour ago, jeanlyon said:

My goodness - loads of cabins available at verycheap prices.  I wonder why!

Partly why we upped to a balcony.  We'd booked an Early Saver at what I think turned out to be the lowest the ES fares went.  With hindsight, might have got a lower price if we waited till the day before sailing, but it was only about £12pppd to upgrade at the time we did so just went for it. 

[Dermotsgirl]

A scenario seen ‘elsewhere’.

 

Someone is booked on the13th December QM2 crossing from Southampton to New York. They are flying into England on the  12th December. The new regulations state that they have to self isolate until they get a negative PCR result. They can’t see how they will have time to do the PCR, get the result and then be free to end self isolation within a 24 hour window.  The advice was to contact Cunard.

 

For me, it was an illustration of how a country’s new regulations could affect cruise travel. 
 

incidentally, friends of ours are on that 13th December sailing. They are on board for about a month, going from Southampton to New York, to the Caribbean, back to New York, then back to Southampton.

 

They booked this cruise 2 years ago. I was really surprised when they said they were going through with it. They haven’t been out and about very much at all since the lockdowns ended, so it seemed like a huge step to take, going on a month long cruise. It seems an even bigger step to take in the Omicron era.

[wowzz]

9 minutes ago, Dermotsgirl said:

They booked this cruise 2 years ago. I was really surprised when they said they were going through with it. They haven’t been out and about very much at all since the lockdowns ended, so it seemed like a huge step to take, going on a month long cruise. It seems an even bigger step to take in the Omicron era.

What do you suggest they do ? 

Unless the cruises are cancelled by Cubard they will loose a considerable amount of money if they decide not to go ahead.

[Eddie99]

Can pax change their bookings without penalty even up to sailing date?  
 

[jeanlyon]

No I don't think so, only before final balance is paid.

[Eddie99]

😕

 

So it’s back to determining how risk-averse you are versus how much disposable income you are ‘content’ to write off?   
I understand the dilemma and understand a “Sod it - we’ve waited all this time” attitude

 

Interesting times - as the Chinese curse is reputed to say 

[jeanlyon]

Yes, that's why we moved our April cruise.  Staying on board the ship for 19 days and/or being offloaded to quarantine is not an option.

[wowzz]

20 minutes ago, Eddie99 said:

Can pax change their bookings without penalty even up to sailing date?  
 

If you cancel in the 15 days prior to sailing,  you lose 90% of your fare!

So, if it was me, I would not be cancelling ! 

Life is too short to keep hiding under the kitchen table every time a new scare comes around !

[Dermotsgirl]

37 minutes ago, wowzz said:

What do you suggest they do ? 

Unless the cruises are cancelled by Cubard they will loose a considerable amount of money if they decide not to go ahead.

I have no suggestion. I was just reporting the dilemma, to illustrate that travel issues relating to cruises are likely to occur. 

[jeanlyon]

26 minutes ago, wowzz said:

If you cancel in the 15 days prior to sailing,  you lose 90% of your fare!

So, if it was me, I would not be cancelling ! 

Life is too short to keep hiding under the kitchen table every time a new scare comes around !

Only thing I'm scared of is being offloaded, quarantined and have to fly home!

[Eddie99]

I think that’s a much more probable scenario than dying!  It doesn’t sound a lot of fun or a great way to spend thousands of pounds - or precious leave time if still in employment 

[zap99]

36 minutes ago, wowzz said:

If you cancel in the 15 days prior to sailing,  you lose 90% of your fare!

So, if it was me, I would not be cancelling ! 

Life is too short to keep hiding under the kitchen table every time a new scare comes around !

At the end of the news on telly on Friday, I caught the end of a report. I said to DW ' The Lady just said the worst effect of the new strain would be strong wind.' I was ok with that, but it transpired it was the weather forecast.

[terrierjohn]

28 minutes ago, Dermotsgirl said:

I have no suggestion. I was just reporting the dilemma, to illustrate that travel issues relating to cruises are likely to occur. 

I think travel restrictions will be applying to many types of holiday, not just cruises, in fact for fully vaccinated Brits cruising will probably pose less concerns than most overseas holidays.

[wowzz]

27 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

I think travel restrictions will be applying to many types of holiday, not just cruises, in fact for fully vaccinated Brits cruising will probably pose less concerns than most overseas holidays.

Absolutely  - far less hassle compared to land holidays.  

[zap99]

1 hour ago, wowzz said:

Absolutely  - far less hassle compared to land holidays.  

I agree, less hassle,  our trip to Spain involved a bit of ' faff '. Sitting around the pool, or in the bar with a nice cocktail seemed to make it all worthwhile.

[Britboys]

9 hours ago, showingdiva said:

 

All seems to have gone quiet there, as you say perhaps because of covid.

 

Whilst converting may have been a relatively easy task, as this was being proposed outwith Forth Port's ownership, there were the questions of requirements for towage, pilotage and possibly more importantly, regular dredging, which would likely require done more or less every time a cruise ship departed given how much shallower the Lothian side of the river is and the amount of silt azipods could throw up.  When active, the power station had problems with the same issue.

 

You are correct that ultimately, Prestonpans isn't much further that Rosyth is to the capital , but the reality is that most passengers think they are going to "Edinburgh" (as per cruise line online / paper brochures), but in tiny print may say "South Queensferry" or "Rosyth" under it, and as the vast majority want to go to the Castle, walk down the "Golden Mile" (yes, really!) etc, that journey takes a bit out of their day traffic dependent.   I once had a passenger at Leith querying why the cruise terminal there was so far away from the Castle (it's about 3 miles ... and land locked).

Not as bad as some of the American lines in the past who advertised port calls to London, when it was either Southampton or Dover and also calls to Paris, which was actually Le Havre, a two to three hour drive away...

[majortom10]

26 minutes ago, Britboys said:

Not as bad as some of the American lines in the past who advertised port calls to London, when it was either Southampton or Dover and also calls to Paris, which was actually Le Havre, a two to three hour drive away...

Princess still do they state embarkation/disembarkation port as London(Southampton) on all their UK cruises.

 

[terrierjohn]

57 minutes ago, majortom10 said:

Princess still do they state embarkation/disembarkation port as London(Southampton) on all their UK cruises.

 

Since world geography is not a high requirement for US schools, then most potential passengers will have little idea where Dover, Southampton or Le Havre are, so it's necessary to show the nearest major tourist attraction, which tend to be capital cities.

[Dermotsgirl]

1 hour ago, Britboys said:

Not as bad as some of the American lines in the past who advertised port calls to London, when it was either Southampton or Dover and also calls to Paris, which was actually Le Havre, a two to three hour drive away...

I think it’s weird enough that Tilbury is referred to as London Tilbury 

[Megabear2]

Tilbury has always been London as the docks were part of the Port of London Authority.  The "cruisebport" is the old passenger terminal for liners.