Jennizor

On 1/2/2022 at 1:14 PM, Son of Anarchy said:

That's interesting.  We're with Staysure and have put in a claim for a missed port last month.

 

I have found their claim system for missed ports a bit hit and miss.  As you say, no dedicated form for missed ports, though I managed to phone the company that manages their claims and was told which form to complete.  Filled out the form on their claim portal and attached electronic copies of requested documents, including the letter from the ship confirming the missed port call.  Only pinged it off about two weeks ago.  Will post how it goes....

We just got quite a surprise,  I was emailed by Staysure earlier saying that our claim for the two missed ports from our Sept/Oct cruise has been approved. Just one more to go now. 

We have used Staysure for the past few years. We won’t be using them again however. We paid quite a lot as my husband has health problems. Our issue with them is that they claim to pay out for missed ports. We are still battling wither over two missed ports on our September cruise and one on our recent Caribbean cruise. We have all the required information from P & O but they are still making things difficult for us. They twice sent us the wrong claim form and we have now to complete another one. My husband is going to write to the Ombudsman if they do not fulfil their obligations in the next week.

Having been on Britannia 4-18 December, the first thing we did when we got home was to cancel our May Eastern Med cruise on Azura. Whilst we loved being on Britannia it was spoilt by all the hoops we had to jump through before, during and after the cruise. It was all very stressful. We are also booked on Azura in September but for the moment we are not cancelling. We will wait until things get better but will cancel if we feel nothing has changed sufficiently. Iona in Feb 2023  may be our next cruise. Very sad though.

Got back from our Britannia cruise early this morning. With regard to the original topic, we received a message in the cabin about filling in the PLF. They were encouraging you to complete it independently and provided detailed guidance on the TV. They also gave us a time slot to go to the  Crows Nest on Friday morning where they would provide help. There were quite a lot of people there but the staff were helping everyone. Our main issue was my iPad kept crashing. They provided a more updated device and sat with us for a while. We managed to complete the form and under advice we took photos as we would be asked for evidence we had done this at the airport. We were very happy we got this done. Nobody asked for the evidence at the airport! We had a lovely cruise but are going to move our May Med cruise to later in 2022. Hopefully things will be less stressful then.

Hi Silkworms, it has been a stressful  few days but we are getting there.  My next door neighbour’s daughter was on Britannia two weeks ago. I rang her today and she was very helpful. She said that if flying from Manchester, like us and getting to the airport by taxi, you should be dropped off at the Manchester Airport railway station as the Antigen testing is done there. You can use the travelator to get you and your luggage from there to Terminal 2. She also said that the completion of the Barbados Immigration and Customs form on your iPad or phone was accepted at Manchester, nobody in Barbados asked to look at it. That seemed strange until I remembered that every time we had done a Caribbean cruise we got off the plane and straight on to a coach. Have a great cruise on Azura, she is our favourite ship, Britannia second. We are on Azura next May and September. Hopefully things will be more settled then. 

Megabear2, if I remember rightly you are going to the Caribbean like us but we go this weekend. We think we have got everything thing sorted except for the Barbados Immigration forms. I have completed them but do not understand what to do next. I received a receipt from my completion of the forms for both me and my husband. It also says we should download more stuff to help with process at the airport. It is more relevant to people who are staying in Barbados not cruising. I would appreciate any advice from anyone who knows what is required (or not, for us cruisers). It suggests printing the receipt, guess what our printer died today. I will go to my daughters tomorrow to hopefully get them printed off there. 

Zap99 - rum punch on a beach sound good to me. 

Glitterati, Silkworms - Interestedcruisefan is, as he says, entitled to his opinion. The thing is we don’t have to acknowledge his opinions. I am still looking forward to our Caribbean cruise next weekend. I know things are likely to be different due to the currently changing situation but I will be quite happy sitting on deck in the sunshine, being fed and watered, taking advantage of onboard activities and chatting with like-minded cruisers. I am not being flippant when I say this, we are all entitled to our opinions but we don’t need to try to inflict them on others. Smacks of bullying to me.

Sorry, we can’t remember. Made me think though, there will be people who don’t have an email address won’t there? What happens then?

When we were on Britannia in September P & O provided guest WiFi on the last two days and I think they had someone helping people complete their forms. We went ashore a couple of times but the WiFi kept cutting out. Over lunch we were chatting to the people on the next table and the husband literally completed their forms while he was eating. We met them on deck later and he guided Ian on to the connection and it was quite easy after that. There were an awful lot of people who were struggling with this as they didn’t have smartphones. Thank goodness that P&O provided support in those last two days. There were several people saying they were not bothering with the forms. Nobody checked that we had done them in Southampton!! We are not taking any chances in the Caribbean though.

When we cruised in September my husband completed the PL forms for us on his smartphone. I set them up before we sailed but he had to start from scratch but wasn’t too difficult. I think you need 4G though.

Hi Megabear2, I think you seem to have covered everything now. If anything else comes to mind I will let know. I hope you have a great problem free cruise (us too).

Hi Megabear2, if you go into My P&O cruises and look at the A-Z port requirements in the ‘Before you Sail’, ‘Important to Know’ section, it shows that for Barbados you need to complete a Barbados Immigration and Customs form. You can download it from the site 72 hours prior to travel. You need to show you have done this at your departing airport. We are going on the cruise before you so will be filling it in next week. Fingers crossed it will be easy to complete.

bbtablet, oops, sorry about that. Of course I meant negative. This whole issue is messing with my mind!!

That sounds great Glitterati. At least you can relax and know that they have got your back.

Are you saying that the A-Z list of port requirements is incorrect? Looking at it just now, for the ports we are visiting on our 4th of December cruise, it only shows Barbados as requiring a PCR positive test. Others show a requirement for positive Antigen test and some show no requirement at all. We have been to the Caribbean several times and have visited all the ports of call previously. For us personally, we may get off the ship at the 4 ports where no Antigen test is required, but equally we are happy to stay on board enjoying the sunshine and the facilities on board. I know P & O are not perfect but we have never had a bad cruise with them and most of them have been great. 

Didn’t manage to book for Toyah, but did get Cheryl Baker. Only the dates for first week were available so I will keep checking to see if Toyah is on again in the second.

We are flying to the Caribbean on 4th December for our Britannia cruise. As I understand it you can register and complete some of the PLF before you fly out and finish it in the 48 hours before you arrive back in the UK.  P&O say help will be available during this time. When we sailed in September it was very chaotic as lots of people were struggling to complete their forms but I think this has now been addressed. There is guest WiFi available on the last two days also.

We are travelling on the 4th of December (Sat). A previous discussion about this established that any time after 9am on the Wednesday was fine. We have booked ours for 10.45 at Boots as I am concerned that we get the result back in time. That would mean that for you it’s any time after 9am on Tuesday. 

I agree that the MDR has not been dumbed down. My only issue was the lack of choices at lunchtime, but we managed, even tried dishes we hadn’t had before and really enjoyed.  We love the Limelight Club. For us, it is another option and something different over the two week period. Have tried today to book Toyah Wilcox and Cheryl Baker for our upcoming Caribbean cruise but couldn’t complete for  some reason. Will try again tomorrow. 

It may be a little late but have you tried ringing P&O or your travel agent if you have one? If you can’t get through I would still go the airport and speak to the P & O staff there. They should have staff there to sort out the Antigen testing. Good luck, I hope everything turns out OK for you. 

In the mid to late sixties I saw the the Rolling Stones, in I think Wigan Casino. I also saw Herman’s Hemits in the Pink Elephant Club. I also went to Batley Variety Club on my ex-husband’s football club Christmas do. I can’t remember who was on though. Happy memories.

Sorry you didn’t enjoy your Limelight Club experience. We saw Gareth Gates on Britannia in Feb 20, he was amazing. Like Andy, we are not bothered about entertainment while we are eating. I think there was background music and that was fine for us. We thought it was a great evening and we will definitely be booking again on December cruise. 

Just as others have said, all you need is your Validation Certificate showing cruise cover. This was all that was required at Southampton in September and is what is required at the airport in the next couple of weeks.

Where is the ignore button? I didn’t know there was one.