Jennizor

We have cruised in the Caribbean several times and are due to go out on the 4th of December. On the list of must haves for the UK airport is a Barbados Immigration and Customs form. I can’t remember anything about this previously although I may just have forgotten about it. Where does this form come from? Do P& O provide one or do we have to obtain one ourselves? If so, where from? Any advice gratefully received.

Our recent Med cruise had 2 formal nights each week. It has always been that in the Caribbean as well. 

We are on the flight to the Caribbean on 4th December. We paid £35 per seat, each way. £140 in total.

Thanks Tring. I was assuming our hard copies would do but just needed some reassurance. 

Sorry to go over old ground. We are not hugely confident with technology but we have a go and with the help of a fellow passenger we completed our PLF forms on our recent Britannia cruise. We answered ‘no’ to the QR question and filled in the rest.. Nobody asked to see the forms in Southampton however. My slight concern is the reference to ‘expiry dates’ of the QR code. We have hard copies of our COVID passes but they don’t show an expiry date. Will this be an issue when we are at Barbados airport in December? Grateful for any help with this.

Our seat booking for the flight to the Caribbean for our Britannia cruise on 4th December were available to book yesterday. All done now. 

We have just returned from this Britannia cruise. Overall we enjoyed it, we expected some things to be different and we just accepted that. We were told that the ship was at 50% capacity and it certainly felt it at times. There were always seats to be had inside and out, no wandering around trying to find one. We always go Club Dining so Freedom dining was a new experience for us. The first night we went to the Peninsular restaurant around 7.30 and were given a pager and told it would be about an hour. This suited us as we always go for the second sitting. We went to the Glasshouse for a drink and had just received them when the pager beeped. We got a shared table which we like and had lovely company. We never had to wait any longer than 15 minutes each evening.  The menu was not as varied as previously but we always found something we liked and overall we enjoyed the food. Sindhu was excellent as always.

There wasn’t as much entertainment in the Atrium as previously but there was a wonderful pianist that we caught a few times.

We were disappointed that we didn’t get to Italy this time, but we got a couple of extra Spanish ports to compensate. 
 

The waiting, dining and cabin staff were all lovely. Some of the reception staff were a different kettle of fish entirely. The big problem was the completion of the PLFs and there were quite long queues at Reception asking for information on this issue. We were told that help would be provided in the Crows Nest and Live Lounge at set times on set days and there would be complementary WiFi. This never materialised until the day before departure. We were fortunate enough to have 4G and with the help of a fellow cruiser we completed we managed to get onto the site. Completing the forms was fine and we did this halfway through the cruise. We spoke to so many people who were stressed by the lack of support from P&O and some were saying they weren’t going to bother with forms!

Overall, it was great to be back on a cruise and can’t wait for the 4th of December when we will be back on Britannia again.

I’m with you BestGuessed. I have got my 4 formal dresses hanging on the wardrobe doors waiting to be packed on Friday. I will be very disappointed if formal nights are reduced to 2 on Britannia. We are booked on Iona next year and I know there will only be 2 and that’s fine, but looking forward to 4 this time.

I have just started to complete my PLF for our 25th Sept. cruise. I can’t get any further than the date of arrival. It accepts the date then asks for arrival time, which obviously I don’t know. I have tried putting in 9.00 am but it won’t accept it and I can’t get any further. Others on here have able to input more data, what am I doing wrong? Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Hi bee-es. We are going to the Caribbean on 4th December which Is 11 weeks away. I keep trying to book seats on the Flight Booker but it won’t let me. It just says ‘seats will be available to book 14 weeks before cruise’ !!!!

Can anyone settle the issue of when the need for the day 2 PCR test ends. My reading of the new rules is the end of October. Someone on the roll call for our 25th September cruise says it’s the 9th. I have already booked and paid for our test kits. If I have got it wrong I have wasted my money.

My understanding (which I apologise for if it is wrong) is that the Passenger Locator Form is used like track and trace to identify anyone who you may have come into contact with who has, or goes on to develop Covid. You need to submit one in the 48 hours before arriving back in the UK. I think you can start completing it beforehand. I’m going to look at this tomorrow.  My brain hurts too much at the moment.n

Like most of you, over the years we have seen this problem many times, not only on cruises . In Turkey there was a fight between two men. A French family would go down to the pool in the morning, put towels on four sun beds then go down to the beach for the morning. After a couple of days of this happening, an English family just removed the towels. They folded them neatly and put them on a wall. A fight between the men broke out and Security guards sorted it out. It didn’t happen again. On a Princess cruise there was a sign on deck saying any beds left vacant for more than an hour  would have their towels and belongings removed. We did see this enforced on one occasion, we guessed that some passengers had reported to security. 

Thanks for your reply Lindy.

We are on this cruise. I have managed to tick off most things on the list. I have printed the e-tickets and luggage labels but cannot print the boarding cards. Would we be able to pick them at the terminal?

Thanks all for your responses and suggestions re luggage labels, very much appreciated. I have just remembered I bought some clear plastic luggage label holders a couple of years ago. They are ideal and fit very securely. Nearly two years since we last cruised and I am out of practice!!!

Great news today the balance payment has been applied. Have now checked in just need to print off e-tickets and luggage labels. Disappointed that we have to print of the labels as paper ones are not very strong. May try to strengthen them cardboard, anyone any better ideas?

Thanks Megabear, I do feel happier now. Fingers crossed no hiccups.

Very strange this. The balance for our cruise is still showing as outstanding but I have been able to check in online. Very happy as it shows  the balcony cabin we booked. Can’t download tickets or luggage labels however. I’m just happy there is evidence we might get to go on our cruise.

Thanks Lindy, I will keep you posted. 

Barbara, thanks for your very positive response. Until tomorrow I am trusting the TA. I have dealt with Karen many times over the years and she has never let me down. She’s not in today but is going to ring P&O first thing tomorrow. I can’t get P&O to speak to me but Karen did on Wednesday so I’m hoping she has some positive news for me.

I did pay by credit card so I know I will get my money back. I really, really want the cruise more than the money though. What is more baffling is that I paid the balance for our December Caribbean cruise two weeks ago and that has been applied. 
 

Thanks again, Barbara. I am feeling very emotional about this issue and your support brought a tear to my eyes. 

What is interesting is that the balance I paid a couple of weeks later for our Caribbean cruise in December is shown. Same TA used.

No Lindy, we can access nothing at all, other than the original booking and the balance owing still showing. It’s not doing my mental health any good at all. I am normally a very organised person but at the moment I can’t seem to get my brain in gear. 

Thanks for this Megabear. Sorry for your bad experience but it does make me feel a little better. My TA is phoning me on Saturday with, hopefully, some good news. Usually by this time we are getting excited about our cruise. We just feel we can’t at the moment.

Moley, thanks for your response.  I have been checking my P&O account daily and the balance is still shown as unpaid. I have been in touch with our TA  3 or 4 times (I’ve lost count) over the last two weeks and they seem to lay the fault with P & O. It’s just over two weeks to our cruise. I have never experienced anything like this before and it’s very worrying. We have everything in place, insurance,  NHS Covid vaccination passes and coach travel confirmation . We paid select fare to be able to choose our preferred balcony cabin. Saver fare customers are now receiving details of their cabin. How do I know that our cabin has not been allocated to them? Sorry if I appear to be ranting but I have been trying to get this sorted for two weeks. My TA blames P & O, and it appears you may blame them. How am I supposed to know. Thanks for your advice about how to approach P & O. I will try that in the morning.