peteukmcr

16 hours ago, wowzz said:

Pete, I was reading  elsewhere that Eastern will be operating 11 services a week to Southampton from the end of July. Could that be of use to you?  

Thanks for the suggestion. This is the trouble with being furloughed, I'm not kept up to date with changes in schedules. I think I did look at these and the times of the return flights aren't that convenient, but I'll check again.

1 hour ago, AndyMichelle said:

Well, we have had an eventful morning.. 

Had to call an ambulance for Michelle as she was being sick, couldn't breathe and passed out... 

Tried 111 for advice first but after ten minutes of Covid instructions and we are busy, call back later messages, gave up and called 999...

Paramedics arrived just as I finished the call, how is that for service... 

She didn't want to go to hospital so the doctor reluctantly agreed she could stay home after prescribing different anti sickness medicine, as long as I stayed with her and monitored her breathing. 

She is settled now, snoring loudly😴

Hats off to the ambulance service and doctors/pharmacy for acting so quickly, just a shame 111 is clogged up with what should be common sense messages.. 

Andy 

Wow, sorry with work etc I haven't had the opportunity to welcome you back and now you have an awful morning. Hope Michelle is feeling better soon.

18 minutes ago, ann141 said:

On a slightly more positive note Formby (in the North West) was one of the areas to see a spike in the Indian variant.Subsequently there was surge testing and vaccinations opened to anyone over the age of 18 (My niece aged 20 was vaccinated)  and now numbers of cases have fallen 🙂 I am hoping that new areas where the Indian variant has been identified  will adopt similar testing/increased vaccines to help stop the spread.It seems likely that in places like Bolton and Blackburn it had already spread before there was the chance to try to prevent it spreading.

That's what we're involved in. Where we'll be tomorrow I don't know as yet (we get notified around 8pm the evening prior to deployment).

Another disappointment in the travel industry is the continuing downturn in demand. This is evident, despite cruises resuming from Southampton (MSC Virtuosa maiden voyage was on the 20th, Viking Venus was on 22nd from Portsmouth) because Blue Island (who took on the Manchester to Southampton route after the demise of Flybe) have cancelled our flights in mid August due to the lack of demand. So now we'll have to travel by train to Portsmouth for our Scarlet Lady Long Weekender at a higher cost and of course taking longer to get there.

So after a very disappointing Eurovision result for the UK, and the fact I cannot work today due the final league game being played at the Etihad (which is our testing and vaccination centre), I'm catching up on here. The reason we cannot work today is that Manchester City have reclaimed their car parks for today's match and that's where the Regional Testing and Vaccination centre is located. Meaning the mobile units cannot be restocked nor be accessed for us to get on the road.

In terms of testing and vaccinations, as I read the north west was mentioned, we are now being deployed to areas with a surge in cases and are operating longer hours (that's a strain on your legs and back I can tell you). We have been at an Academy this week ensuring all pupils and staff were tested (10 hours), then yesterday we were another town (9 hours) where there has been an increase in positive cases, together with 3 other mobile units within a 1 mile radius. The town had also been provided with additional vaccine, equivalent to 5,000 extra doses and people of all ages could just turn up, and if eligible, they would be vaccinated. There were queues of over an hour with hundreds turning up. So, work is taking place to try and limit the spread.

It is even more important that all teams (and their families) self test (lateral flow test) on a regular basis and ours were negative this morning.

4 hours ago, annieuk said:

I've been following this thread with interest.  Up until Autumn 2019 my husband and I had cruised with P&O on over 30 cruises with a couple on Fred Olsen and one on Cunard.  At that time we weren't sure that we would continue with P&O because they were obviously going the route of larger ships.  We were very happy with Oceana and Aurora and also Arcadia.  We probably cruised on Oceana more than any other ship, we loved the aft mini suites.  We had two cruises booked with Saga but unfortunately my husband became ill and then we had the Pandemic so both those cruises got cancelled.  Sadly my huband died just before Christmas last year, not Covid.  So the cruises we had already booked with P&O were cancelled as well.  Just to say P&O through my agent in Derbyshire were very good.  There was no question that I got my deposits back no questions asked.  

I think if things had been otherwise and we found we enjoyed a Saga cruise on one of their new ships we may well have stayed with them.  We might possibly have tried one of the new additions to Fred Olsen.  As people have been saying the smaller ships now are more expensive and I would think don't appeal to the mass market or to families.  I would have been interested in trying Oceania as some friends have had a couple of cruises with them and really enjoyed the ships.  If I do decide to try cruising on my own I'm not sure where I would look, maybe at Aurora although how much longer she'll be there I'm not sure.  As of now I'm not intending going out of the UK.  Maybe in a couple of years. Cruising with P&O would be easier because I'm so familiar with the brand but I couldn't face going on one of the large ones, too much walking for one thing!  I've always thought that there's no such thing as a bad ship, it's that people make wrong choices.  It always amazed me how little research some people do before parting with their money.  On one P&O cruise someone said - Oh I didn't realise there were formal nights, I don't want to dress up - well the smallest amount of research would have told them about that.  Just because I don't want to cruise on ships like Britannia or Iona doesn't mean they are bad ships, just not to my taste.  

So it's interesting for me to keep in touch with cruising by reading the postings on here and I will see how things develop over the next year.  Happy cruising to everyone.

Sincere condolences and I hope you find the willpower to cruise again and find a suitable cruise line to enjoy.

Good morning all, and for 1 day this week I think Manchester didn't have rain! nothing yesterday despite the forecasts and nothing overnight. So still having to water the new lawn turf! 

1 hour ago, grapau27 said:

They are the glass ships.

We have been on Brilliance a few times which is a sister ship to Jewel and it was nice to have outside views in the lifts and they are aesthetically the prettiest of the RC classes of ships.

We've sailed Brilliance twice and Serenade too. Only need to get on Radiance to complete the set!

1 hour ago, zap99 said:

Not all RC ships are all glitz and glamour. We were on Jewel of the seas from Rome in 2019. It is a smallish ship. About 40% of the guests were from the Amish community on a tour of Religious sites in Europe. They didn't party much, but seemed to have an enjoyable experience.

We're booked on Jewel in October. The Radiance class are smaller and cruisers really like this class as they are considered to have the most sea views of any ships in the fleet.

55 minutes ago, grapau27 said:

All of the Royal Caribbean ships have great features but the Oasis class is the best by far.

Great summary, but I believe RCI have severed their ties with Dreamworks so these no longer appear onboard.

1 hour ago, Josy1953 said:

Between your and Graham's photos I am starting to be tempted to try RCI, we have stuck with Princess, P&O and Celebrity in the past.

 we have loads more, and videos but doubt I can post the links to these on here a they are on our YouTube channel. RCI have been our most cruised line, but NCL are giving them a run for their money lately for us.

Other than listing our future cruises I'm on the 2nd of my 4 days off from Test & Trace on the mobile testing unit. The last 4 days were spent in Bolton at the request of the local council due to the rise of the Indian variant there, so we had a full on 4 days with extended opening hours. The whole town had extra testing units as well as vaccination centres which no doubt you have seen from the news channels. I suspect we will be deployed there again on our next 4 day rotation.

12 minutes ago, grapau27 said:

For the next 2 years we have booked.

Britannia

Azura 

Anthem 

Independence 

Oasis 

 

Up to May 2023 we have booked

MSC Virtuosa (June 2021)
Virgin Voyages Scarlet Lady (Aug 2021)

Jewel (Oct 2021)
Ovation (March 2022 - but we are likely to cancel that due to ongoing restrictions in entering Australia)

Marella Discovery 2 (old Legend of the Seas)

NCL Epic (June 2022)
Carnival Mardi Gras (October 2022)

NCL Prima (May 2023)

Need to fit Iona in somewhere!

17 minutes ago, brian1 said:

She was great last week,she lost her voice halfway thru.

Only 2 more episodes to go and that's it for Jane. Susan Calman is taking over. Just wondered if Jane made the decision to stop making these programs as her partner Ed (who died very recently) was ill?

1 minute ago, grapau27 said:

Nice picture of Central Park.

Great photo and it is a favourite spot for the cruise line photographers on formal night. 

1 hour ago, wowzz said:

Just shows we have similar tastes!

I just don't understand why people want to go on a cruise, and then want to pretend they are in a park, or a circus, or an amusement park. And as for having  a balcony overlooking a public space- just why?

Having said that, if that is what some people want to do, so be it. As is well known, the last cruise I booked is on Azura in March 23, because the price outweighed my reservations about the size of the ship. However, the next cruise I book, for summer 2023 will be on Saga. No gimmicks, and I will feel that I am actually at sea.       

Because maybe when it’s pitch black and you can’t see anything from your balcony cabin facing the sea at night but if you are facing ‘Central Park’ can enjoy listening to a string quartet from the comfort of your balcony, or watch an aquatic show in the Aqua Theatre. 

20 minutes ago, Windsurfboy said:

I think this is a general phenomenon,  all UK hotels are charging full rate this year, no offers or bargains. Demand outstripping supply,  until we can holiday abroad as normal.

 

We've booked 3 separate weeks in UK all top wack, just happy to get in. Not going abroad till September,  not cruising till May.

Not sure that’s the case across the board. Several chains are offering deals, such as Village Hotels (especially for their new hotel near Eastleigh),  Hotel Indigo (part of the IHG chain) has ‘The Great Escape’ throughout the year offering a room, cocktails, antipasti, 3 course dinner, breakfast, early and late check out for £139. 

43 minutes ago, Snow Hill said:

I see it is Grant Shapps/Michael Green doing the briefing, whatever he reveals only applies in England of course. 
 

I suspect the number of countries on green list will be limited, so for a 2 week stay in an amber listed country you would need to add on an extra 10 days in self isolation on return. Plus the added cost of a Covid test 2 days before you leave your destination for home, did see that TUI were offering to subsidise in resort testing for its customers. Would seem from that that taking LFT tests from home and using in resort, are not going to be enough to get you on a flight home. Will have to see what he says. 

TUI are offering a range of test 'packages' that should cater for the countries on the green and amber lists and have also stated that if at the time of booking you need to purchase a more expensive package (due to the type of tests required) for say an Amber destination and it consequently moves to Green, they will refund the difference.

Good morning all. such a lot to catch up on in a few days! Best wishes to all recovering from their injuries / falls. I know how long it can take to get back to normal. My mum (who is 85 next week) had a fall about a month ago, nothing broken but is still recovering, slowly but getting there.

So this week has been a bit busy. New lawn laid on Weds and I was told to water it every day, thankfully the weather has saved me a job! Yesterday, whilst working outdoors (Mobile Testing Unit) we think we experienced all 4 seasons. One minute sunshine, next freezing winds, then rain followed by hail!

Anyway, had my 2nd Pfizer jab and even fewer side effects than after the 1st. So celebrated by booking yet another cruise for April 2022! Muscat to Cyprus via the Suez Canal.

Off to hand out more PCR tests shortly. Hopefully drier today, but the forecast is not good for tomorrow, but won't have to water the new lawn!

14 hours ago, davecttr said:

I have just won Euromillions!

 

Actually it is MUCH better than that. I have just had confirmed that my MRI scan and all the other tests indicate that the cancer scare is either a low grade cancer or not cancer at all. Not even any need for a biopsy. The treatment? annual monitoring of my PSA level and if it goes above about 4.5 they will take another look, next blood test next year.

 

I have a bottle of Cava to stick in the fridge, or maybe not, second jab tomorrow.

 

😁🥳

Congrats on your 'win', you must be relieved.

47 minutes ago, sidari said:

Hi Pete ... From memory the Arena is a bit of a walk from the actual pier, if they are using the Arena I wonder is they will bus people to the pier because allowing them to walk would defeat the objective of the protected bubble idea.

Exactly, but I have seen it confirmed that Disney are using the Arena for check in, so no doubt there will be some sort of secure transfer needed.

Due to the limited space available in the Liverpool cruise (under normal circumstances probably perfectly adequate) for checking in guests, taking Covid tests and then waiting for the results, there are rumours circulating that MSC will be using an alternative venue such as the Arena for check in. 

Here’s a link to cruise Liverpool facility 

https://www.cruise-liverpool.com/quick-guide/

This would not surprise me as other cruise lines such as RCI who are testing passengers prior to embarkation from departure ports with limited terminal space (e.g. Nassau in the Bahamas which is to be a homeport this summer, they are using the British Colonial Hilton Hotel for check in).

Anyone heard this? Great for us if it is as we’re staying at the Staybridge Suites the night before and it’s a 2 minute walk to the Arena!

Good morning all. Just a bit of info if anyone needs to fly to Southampton in light of the demise of Flybe.

I was researching for flights from Manchester and found Loganair were now operating the route. However, the flights are operated by Blue Islands.

Now, many may have heard of Loganair over Blue Islands and would be tempted to book with them. However, booking direct with Blue Islands not only saved us £50, but the baggage allowance with Blue Islands is greater than with Loganair (even though you are on a Blue Islands aircraft). Blue Islands cheapest fare gives 23kgs checked baggage and 10kgs cabin baggage. Loganair only gives 15kgs checked baggage and 6kgs cabin baggage.

Oh, and Oscar now has a new safe place during the day in the main bathroom, until around 9:30 pm when he comes downstairs and roams around the place, disrupting any peace and quiet. There'll be none of that tonight thank you whilst Line of Duty is on!

3 hours ago, wowzz said:

I agree - what is the point of testing those who have been vaccinated ? At times officials just seem to be throwing money at problems that aren't there. 

Because although vaccinated, people can still be carrying the virus and therefore passing it onto others. Vaccination will only hopefully minimise the effects on those who contract the illness and therefore minimise the hospitalisation requirements. 

Good morning all. Just catching up having been in the Lakes last week and taking delivery of our new housemate from Cats Protection. Meet Oscar just over 4 years old. Very timid due to his previous home but is getting more confident as the week progresses.

Managed to finally book my 2 vaccination as just past 10 weeks since my first. Had to contact my GP and the invite was forced trough the system.

Wow, just checked a balcony cabin on Disney for the exact same dates (20th August) as we’re booked on Virgin Scarlet Lady (£998 total for 2 with $200 per cabin obc including grats). Disney Magic £2082 before gratuity for obstructed view!