Traveling to France…vaccine questions.

[Hlitner]

On 5/16/2022 at 9:55 AM, mnpurple said:

@Hlitner Have you found a specific web site you go to that provides the best information or just go to each countries site as you travel? We fly from NYC to Madrid, but then go onto Naples, Italy the same day. We filled out a form for our family for Spain (sent by Iberia). I looked at doing a PLF just for our stop to Marseille during our cruise, but it said to use if you were arriving via air. 

 

We will be leaving from Rome back to Madrid after our cruise, so I think we will probably need to do the same form on a return, but not sure. From what I found, Spain doesn't require the PLF any longer.

 

We all have proof of vaccination, so I'm hoping that is sufficient. Mine is digital from my clinic, but the rest of the family just have the hard copy. 

We do not use any specific web site although we like reading hotel and restaurant reviews on Trupadvisor.  I think many of their rankings are somewhat phony but it is easy to find the legit reviews.  We did it need any plfs and the biggest hassle was needing to test before coming home (we used an online proctored test).

 

As to traveling in Europe, a lot of good Incan be found here on CC.  There are quite a few of us with extensive first hand experience.  Post specific questions on the Ports blogs and you will usually get some good answers.  The

Public forum tends to keep us all honest :).

The biggest hassles now seem

to be dealing with the airlines who routinely cancel flights

Hank

 

[mnpurple]

@Hlitner Thanks, i guess I meant specifically for Covid web sites. I've looked for each country specifically. I don't think there is much more I can do. We fly to Spain this Saturday.  I am also doing the online proctored test for going and then returning home.

 

I think I've "over-researched" if there is such a thing!  If I could go back, I probably wouldn't have scheduled a cruise in the Med and the way I've done it (too many flights to get deals), etc, especially with Covid still lurking about.  I'm just a bit burned out from it and worried about the things out of my hands. I guess that is why we have insurance, but planning for a group of 6, I don't want to disappoint anyone.

 

We're also flying new airlines - Iberia and Jet Blue, so hopefully it all falls into place.

 

Sorry - this is the wrong post for my concerns and I hope the OP doesn't mind my blabber. 

[Hlitner]

2 hours ago, mnpurple said:

@Hlitner Thanks, i guess I meant specifically for Covid web sites. I've looked for each country specifically. I don't think there is much more I can do. We fly to Spain this Saturday.  I am also doing the online proctored test for going and then returning home.

 

I think I've "over-researched" if there is such a thing!  If I could go back, I probably wouldn't have scheduled a cruise in the Med and the way I've done it (too many flights to get deals), etc, especially with Covid still lurking about.  I'm just a bit burned out from it and worried about the things out of my hands. I guess that is why we have insurance, but planning for a group of 6, I don't want to disappoint anyone.

 

We're also flying new airlines - Iberia and Jet Blue, so hopefully it all falls into place.

 

Sorry - this is the wrong post for my concerns and I hope the OP doesn't mind my blabber. 

We were somewhat anal in our constant search for COVID related information (in terms of Europe) prior to our departure (from the USA) back in March.  In fact, as the result of our online research we changed our original plan (for our 3 week post cruise independent travel) and decided to eliminate a few days in Vienna.  Why?  Because at the time we sensed that the Austrian government was still overreacting in terms of restrictions.    But times have been changing in Europe and most restrictions (and even concerns) have all but disappeared in the last month although we did hear that Italy is still treading lightly in terms of COVID.   For the most part, Europe is so over COVID (in terms of the people) and life has returned in a good way.  The larger cities that we visited (Nice, Prague, Dresden, and Krakow) were amazingly back to normal  Prague and Krakow were overloaded with tourists all enjoying the good weather, beer. and food.  You rarely saw a mask in the cities although some countries still had a mask requirement on public transit.

 

The one shocker (to us) was our flight home.  Lufthansa is one of the few European airlines still enforcing a mask requirement (on board) despite the European Aviation agencies recommendation that masks are no longer necessary as of May 16.  Airlines are still free to follow their own dictates and Lufthansa goes their own way.  When we boarded our A350 in Munich, there was no masking in the airport or even on the jetway.  The Lufthansa employees (we spoke to several in the airport) were not even aware of their latest policy.  So as we walked through the jetway there were few folks wearing masks.  But upon reaching the aircraft door the flight attendants told folks they needed to mask on the aircraft (unless eating or drinking).  When our plane arrived at Newark the masks quickly came off as folks exited into the jetway.   I have never been a fan of Lufthansa (we seldom book this airline) and nothing about our flight changed my mind :(.  Actually, we were booked on a United flight until a few hours before departure, but some United cancellations of our USA flights (United actually cancelled 3 of our domestic flights ....because they could) ended up having them reroute us onto the Lufthansa flight so we could make a different United connection at Newark...which was also cancelled!  

 

A warning to all cruisers!  The US airline industry is out of control when it comes to cancellations.  They simply do not have enough pilots to staff their scheduled flights and this has created havoc with our entire air system.  When we received a text message (from United) that they had cancelled our connecting flight we were in a lounge in Munich.  I immediately booked a Hertz rental car so we could simply drive the 2:45 min home rather than spend at least one night in Newark waiting for another future flight (which we just heard has been delayed and may be cancelled tonight).  By the time we reach Newark we heard that most of the rental car companies were out of cars (no problem for us since we had one reserved) because of cancelled flights.  One young lady told us she had been stuck at Newark for 2 days because of cancelled flights.  My advice is to avoid commuter airline flights (i.e. regional jets) like the plague since they have the biggest crew shortage problem.  United's various commuter jet partners apparently have over 150 aircraft grounded for lack of crews.  This problem also exists for other airlines and is expected to get worse over the next few years.  

 

Hank

[Hlitner]

6 minutes ago, cruisemom42 said:

 

Funny -- you sound more upset about Lufthansa making you wear masks than about United cancelling three flights on you. 🤨 

LOL.  I avoid getting into the mask debate out of respect to CC.  United sucks and they have sucked for years so no surprise that they cancel flights.  We have our favorite airlines around the world and both AA and United are very low on our list.  As to Lufthansa we could get into the "flyer talk" stuff.  We flew on one of their newer A350s in Business Class.  Their Bus Class layout, quality of seats, spacing, etc. were bush league.  Fly that same aircraft on Delta (Business) and you have 1-2-1 with plenty of storage.  Fly on Lufthansa and you have 2-2-2 with not even a storage space for glasses.  And folks in window seats must climb over the aisle seat person!  And we will not even get into the food on Lufthansa other than to say that they do hand out nice menus and then manage not to have the items on those menus.   Folks pay a lot of money to be in Business and deserve better.  Kind of sad when Turkish Air could easily give lessons to Lufthansa.  Besides being a cruise junkie and I am also an aviation junkie :).

 

The kicker about that United fiasco is that the airline changed the airline and routing without even trying to contact us to ask if this was acceptable.  No e-mail, no text, no phone call (they had all this info).  If they had bothered to ask we would have simply told them to keep the original flight to Washinton from where we could have driven home much faster than driving from Newark.

 

We are constantly hearing horror stories of folks missing their cruises because of airline hanky panky.  Like many others, we have long suggested that cruisers fly-in at least one day early but this is no longer an adequate safety margin for those that want to get to the ship on time.  Now, 3 days early is probably a reasonable minimum.  Folks need to understand that when airlines like United and AA cancel flights they often will not put you on another flight for 2 or even 3 days!  Why?  Because they cancel so many flights and do so much overbooking that they sometimes have no seats for days.

 

Hank

[mnpurple]

@Hlitner Any experience with Iberia? I will be business.  I am not used to it, so even if it isn't Delta One, I'm pretty sure I'll feel very special! Praying to the airline Gods no issues with flights.

 

Your other comments about the atmosphere in Europe make me feel a little better! I think we'll be extra cautious before getting our negative test to board the ship, then relax some.  We do need to get back to the states for our daughters HS graduation, so wouldn't want to have it delayed, but know that is a possibility.

[marazul]

1 hour ago, mnpurple said:

@Hlitner Any experience with Iberia? I will be business.  I am not used to it, so even if it isn't Delta One, I'm pretty sure I'll feel very special! Praying to the airline Gods no issues with flights.

 

Your other comments about the atmosphere in Europe make me feel a little better! I think we'll be extra cautious before getting our negative test to board the ship, then relax some.  We do need to get back to the states for our daughters HS graduation, so wouldn't want to have it delayed, but know that is a possibility.

Not Hank, but I  have flown with Iberia and it is a good mainstream airline.  It is in the same alliance as American and British Air. They serve outstanding wines in business class.

[marazul]

Our last flight in Lufthansa was years ago.  In the middle of the flight they had an exercise session for the passengers. As in "everybody tap your right foot twice, now your left foot...."and so on.  It was hilarious.  Eveyone got into it happpily since we were packed like sardines in coach.  😱

Edited May 18, 2022 by marazul