the english lady

Interesting reading. I sort of understand the going down hill with the larger ships. Their demographic now is families and young people that may not of considered cruising before. As regards cutbacks etc. Over on FB I am on a lot of of pages for other cruise lines, princess, celebrity etc. They are all sayoing the same thing ref cutbacks. I am guessing a lot of it will be down to the multi million £/$ loans they all had to take out. part of the deal for said loans was probably lower your base spending rate. They may all be getting bookings in, but not making profit, just servicing the above loans. 

On 6/10/2021 at 3:41 PM, 7th cruise said:

Guests in England and Wales can download the NHS app

 

No they cant as we don't have one in Wales yet

i have seen posted in Wales and Scotland you dial 119 and something is sent to you. However someone in Wales then posted you ring an 0300 number, but i cant remember the rest.

13 minutes ago, grapau27 said:

Unfortunately it is UK passengers not RCG to blame.

I have seen that type on RC and P&O from Southampton but rarely on Royal from Barcelona,Civitavecchia,Venice,Port Canaveral,New York or Malaga.

Our recent cruise have all been on pando from Southamptonwith no problem ,but equally they have all been on the smaller ships, so maybe not UK passengers (with a broad brush) as such, more a certain type of passenger.

On 4/30/2021 at 8:52 AM, Pink-belle said:

Someone posted on a Princess thread a link to the Port Everglades webcam earlier this week, claiming it showed Caribbean Princess coming into port to allow crew to receive vaccine jabs, utilising stock that was about to expire. 
 

I am still of the opinion all cruise lines would prefer their crew to be fully vaccinated, and it is their intention to facilitate this as soon as there is vaccine available. 

one has to ask why the vaccine was not given to the population before it got near to expiring. I cannot see how any company can claim to have its crew vaccinated before sailing. I am on one of the summer ones in the UK and the crew on that will not be vaccinated. I was under the impression that vaccines were only being sold to Countries, not companies, so I cannot see how a company can promise anything, or I would want to know where the vaccine has come from.

On 4/6/2021 at 12:11 PM, cockneyjock said:

Eavesway from Wshington Services or Scotch Corner. Intercruise Coaches do a service, but I don't know where the pick up points are.

I thought for the summer staycation cruises there were going to be no coach transfers (intercruise) Eavesway still doing them

19 hours ago, Pink-belle said:

Please could you point me in the direction of the information about cruise lines guaranteeing their crews would be vaccinated by the end of the year.  
 

I have only been following Princess and P&O as they are who I will be sailing with, but they both state crews will not be vaccinated, but will have been in quarantine.  I would be interested to read who is stating that they will be vaccinations all their crew by the end of the year.

 

my heart breaks for those in India, I can’t imagine the horror they are coping with right now. 

I know in their adverts on line for this summers staycation cruises RC stated their crew would be vaccinated. Wouldn't want to post a line for another line on here, have a look. Now whether it does still say that ofcourse is another matter.  Yes agree princess and pando both say their crew will not be vaccinated.

For my sins I follow a TV series that has a large American following , a lot of them want to come over to Scotland this summer. I think unless that once restrictions end countries can say unilaterally to come here you have to be jabbed, I cannot see any difference between pre pandemic and free for all now. Hence i cannot see the world really opening up. It will just lurch from one lockdown to another  (as in Europe) Let people have the choice as to whether they have the vaccine, but if you choose not to ,then you will not be travelling anywhere.

NCL have said they plan to vaccinate crew onboard that have not been able to get the vaccine in their home country.

Royal Caribbean have also stated their crew will be vaccinated.

As the vaccines were only sold to countries, not companies, any idea how they will be managing to do this.

As regards the US and cruising I was "discussing" with somebody from there on FB  ,who as the discussion continued I decided was just this side of being as nutty as a fruit cake. Anyway under no circumstances would they get any jabs and were saying they wanted to sue the state governer, CDC and basically everyone should be sued, so ships can sail from there ,everywhere, with unvaccinated passengers as They want to go on holiday and don't want a jab.

I do worry a lot about how many from there are the  don't want to be vaccinated, and whether they will be allowed to travel here there and everywhere.

On 4/23/2021 at 11:20 AM, majortom10 said:

They also made a lot of their staff redundant in Southampton which didnt help and they had no excuse for the awful delays and time taken to reimburse monies paid which was illegal under UK law. Sorry but they are quick to take your money and they wouldnt let you owe them money for months and months, unfortunately too many allow P&O to treat their customers like they do and still keep cruising with them and making excuses for them and that is why P&O still keep treating their loyal customers with the contempt they do. They expect loyalty to them but they are never loyal to customers.

Do you think they liked the delay ? Do you not think if they could have dealt with them quicker, they would have done? If you go on any of the other cruise line pages they were ALL caught out. Nothing in place to cope if the business suddenly stops dead. I just hope whatever line of business you are in, when the pandemic hit, you dealt with issues with the alacrity that you seem to think every other company should have done.

On 3/7/2021 at 2:19 PM, majortom10 said:

I hope P&O have learned from last years fiasco with regards to refunds and the very bad publicity they got from it and adhere to UK law. CMA have been very proactive recently in telling companies that if they dont refund customers quicker than what they were doing they would take action.

They did not have systems in place last year for wholesale cancellations, plus they suddenly had most of their staff off, working from home etc.

They have now got systems in place, so they can deal with things quicker. The working from home is sorted better to. The huge great Carnival building in Southampton is nearly empty. The only ones working there are those that cannot work from home.

Like a lot of businesses when covid exploded they were caught out. They are nearly there. I am constantly reading posts on FB from people who say how quick they have got refunds now.

42 minutes ago, davecttr said:

Sorry to here about Scotland etc, it looks like surgery print outs might be the norm.

 

I did not apply to my surgery to access my health file, in fact the surgery was not even mentioned in the NHS App loading procedure. What I did get was an automated email that said: 

 

Patient Online Services – new access to online account

 

Dear David Xxxxxxx,
You can now access your online account through NHS App.
Yours sincerely,
Xxxxxxx Xxxxxx Practice

 

Apparently my medical records for earlier than my mid 20's don't exist and must have been destroyed. That was several different doctors and locations ago.

 

I think ours go back at least until the late 90's, but all we really need I guess as a fallback is the one with your jabs on.

20 hours ago, davecttr said:

Despite being the largest practice in my area I get the impression it is somewhat lacking in the electronic side of administration and don't provide an electronic repeat prescription service or the NHS App apparently.

 

do you have the right to have a print out of your record or is it at the whim of the practice manager? I presume they will charge a fortune for it as well. Then will P&O accept it as proof of vaccination or will it need a practice validation stamp or whatever.

 

the whole thing is a can of worms and makes me feel sick sometimes.

Scotland does not use the NHS app, it is England only. Not sure about NI and Walews ,but I know Scotland doesn't. Not all places that are vaccinating are handing out cards. To use the NHS app on your phone you have to apply to your surgery to access your health files that will have that info on. Not all surgeries it appears are granting that access. So out of all of that if they manage to get something sorted I will be very impressed.

On 4/19/2021 at 7:39 PM, Snow Hill said:

Wonder what effect India being put on “Red List” will have on P&O plans for summer cruises round U.K., Indian Nationals are banned from coming in U.K. from 4:00 am on Friday. 

They are already here in quarantine.

On a Pando FB page I am on, the crew are already here. They posted a picture. So they will be doing their quarantine on the ship. They would have been tested before flying here, tested when they land and tested regularly while in quarantine.  I think RC have said all their crew will be vaccinated for the ship they are using for the summer cruises. Not sure how each line has got their crew vaccinated. Maybe gone somewhere else and one of the other vaccines (mind you we have no way of knowing how effective the chinese or russian vaccines are)

Well haven't heard anything yet about being able to wander ashore on our own, Saw something posted yesterday elsewhere, I will see if i can find and put here.  As the ones (except for one line)all require you to have had 2 jabs, I think we will be a safer bet. Royal Caribbean is advertising all of its crew have had jabs, does anyone know if this is correct, and if so, how have they managed it.

On 3/29/2021 at 5:32 PM, dwhe said:

Sorry to harp on but I just found this:

 

https://cruising.org/-/media/Files/Executive-Summary-Cruise-Framework-COVID-19

 

From the shore excursions section "For all guests and seafarers, both independently ashore and on excursions upon disembarking and re-embarking the ship, alcohol-based hand sanitiser should be made available at gangway exits, and all persons should be asked to use them."

 

This was issued by The UK Chamber of Shipping if you want to look them up.

 

Are there any guidelines for seeing the sights ashore?
For the time being, you will only be able to go ashore on shore excursions that are researched and organized by Princess Cruises. Port transfer and shore experience operators will be subject to new policies and procedures to reflect the latest approved guidance in line with our on-board protocols, and will comply with all local guidance relating to social distancing and face masks. 

his is from the princess staycation cruises.

 For the time being, you will only be able to go ashore through our new range of organised and vetted shore experiences. Port transfer and shore experience operators will be subject to new policies and procedures to reflect the latest approved guidance in line with our on-board protocols. 

This is from the pando website. Cunards (that go on sale today) will be the same as pando.  the others are not on sale yet, but certainly for these summer cruises you will not be allowed to roam free. As the world opens up, winter comes on, cases will rise again, so you may find it will not be until 2022 that you can wander ashore on your own.

On 3/29/2021 at 5:03 PM, dwhe said:

I think you are loosing sight of the fact that ALL social distancing is on track to be removed mid June 21 in the UK not 22. I have underlying health conditions but we have to get back to normal soon.

They have said about lifting restrictions, but I thnk that will be more along the lines of going on holiday, meeting up. I think we may find the mask thing will be around for a while. Last cruise we had ,we both caught the worst cold/virus we have ever had..when we boarded you could hear people coughing/sneezing etc all around. I think it will be fairy steps for this year, especially on cruises.

31 minutes ago, kevinyork said:

But it will have 1000 vaccinated and tested people. In a busy city full of visitors, how many of those will have subjected themselves to both.  Plus the destinations will still have Covid safe practices in all museums, transport, shops, pubs and cafes.

But if they are taking the cautious approach, (gov. and cruise lines) there is not a lot people can do. You accept the T and C and sail, or you don't.

On 3/27/2021 at 3:23 PM, kevinyork said:

If we are free to travel within the U.K. but the cruise line retain it must be on of their excursions only it’ll be seen for the money grabbing idea that it is. 

If you go somewhere on your own , you will be one person, and probably staying somewhere on your own. The cruise ship will have 1000 of you . One of the conditions of them sailing was probably that they did not just let people off the ship to wander. We don't know yet the effect of having over 1000 in confined spaces will be. You do not have to book the cruises, you do not have to get off the ship in a port, if you have. All the lines doing these summer cruises will have to abide by them. Cruising itself will not be back to normal for a while.

On 3/27/2021 at 11:18 PM, memoak said:

If I can fly into Hawaii or New York and go to a restaurant why can’t I cruise into those places and go to eat where I want ?

if we are talking about the UK cruises..which is what the poster stated..because we are a very small crowded island,  all of the governments are taking this virus very seriously, I know the US is not, from some of my discussions with Americans. The reason this is a GLOBAL pandemic is from the off, people were flying everywhere, taking the virus with them.

Nobody is forcing anyone to book these cruises. Its going to be bad enough in Southampton with thousands turning up from all over the UK , to meet in one place (i think you may find they will also be much stricter with arrival/boarding times, so you do not have hundreds in the terminal at one time), Equally at any of the port stops , would I want a ship arriving with over a 1000 people on it descending in one go, probably not, so they are trying to mimimize that. I noted one of the princess ones you went to an art gallery before its open to the general public. Yes on one of the italian cruises a family left the excursion. when they returned to the ship, they were denied boarding. 

if you want to visit these places and wander around free, you could go to them on your own, not on a ship. 

Cruising will not be back to normal for quite a while yet.

On 3/26/2021 at 2:37 PM, Tak8 said:

I understand the rationale.  Hopefully Princess will expand shore offerings since they are the only game in town.

They are not, we have pando, cunard, disney,princess, not sure who else. Hence organised excursions only.

14 hours ago, nomad098 said:

 

I agree no way they can advertise themselves as a family cruise line this year when they have set themselves up as selective adult only cruise line based on the science of facebook, tik tok, whatsapp and cruisecritic.

 

More worryingly this only applies to this new batch of UK only cruises according to Princess

" All other Princess Cruises holidays currently on sale do not require guests to be vaccinated."

 

As it stands it looks like because the UK have done well with it's vaccination program they can afford to discriminate based on age, comorbidities or profession, but in areas not doing well with the vaccination like Europe anyone is welcome 

 

Was looking at Princess UK cruise this year as we expect our RCL cruise in the Med to be cancelled.

Will be fully vaccinated by the end of May but with the rules they have in place they quite obviously do not want or need my families holiday £££'s. 

 

We have gone to a lot of time and effort and cost  in the UK, to be where we are now. It is possible the cruise line were informed that if they wanted to try and sell these cruises, these conditions had to be met. It is one holiday in one year. Nobody knows what will be the case later on in the year. With cases rising in Europe and further lockdowns there, it is possible more cruises in Europe will be cancelled, especially for non nationals. If the only way they can start up is with fairy steps and having fully vaccinated passengers onboard, then so be it.  Once the world opens up more I am sure cases will rise throughtout the world and more lockdowns will possibly happen.

On 3/17/2021 at 1:26 PM, Harry Peterson said:

The app isn’t linked to specific individuals, is it? So that wouldn’t be possible, surely?

Its on is the NHS app.  Not track and trace. It is linked to you personally as it has your medical details on there (either fingerprint or password protected) I think when you first use it, something is sent to the surgery you are registered with that activated your personal details being available. Its quite a while since I set mine up, so can't remember.

On 3/17/2021 at 12:54 PM, fragilek said:

We have a different system in Scotland called Patient Access the vaccine details are not on that.  

we have patient access as well..thing is I have a smart phone and I'm not smart. I think they are 2 separate things. Does patient access give you the ability to order repeat prescriptions?

On 3/17/2021 at 12:12 PM, fragilek said:

 is  this the same app as test and trace NHS app? If so there is no vaccine info on the Scottish version

 

No its not , In England it has your medication on it, you can do repeat prescriptions on it..Does Scotland have similar.