howmuch!

To encourage 'lurkers' to contribute, and widen any knowledge base, differences of opinion, need to be accepted as that, and discussed with tolerance, otherwise lurkers will not become contributors.

It benefits everyone to have a wide range of views in my opinion, and with more contributors, it  becomes easier to work out what the general consensus is.

11 minutes ago, jeanlyon said:

Having said that, just read that they won't cover you for quarantining if you are negative but been in contact with Covid and put off the ship.  Sigh, that won't work.

Those insurance companies that declare they do offer cover, must be in a very small minority. We are with LV, and I thought from reading the policy we would be covered, but talking to them confirmed otherwise. It seems to be a gap, that no one wants to fill, but if pushed, they may cover 'on a case by case basis based on particular circumstances'  

But cruising in many cases has associated air travel and day-to-day life immediately before it. Testing and vaccines aren't a cast iron guarantee. Its all down to whether you think the risk is less than the reward

This couples experience, is similar to the lady who was disembarked and quarantined on the day they joined the ship ( 20th Dec ). She isolated until 29th and then flew home.

2 minutes ago, cinnamon said:

Interesting info 'howmuch'

One thing i checked with the insurance company was about travelling companions.  I am surprised her partner was allowed to travel after presumably sharing a cabin with her partner.

So was I. Unless I misunderstood, they were never in separate cabins, before disembarking 

The lady I saw reporting on the Marella Explorer page of a well known social media site, was on her own, as their insurance did not cover her negative partner's costs, so he flew home (quarantine costs are 160 euro/day + 80 euro day for food, all of which needs to be paid upfront and claimed back from insurance).

She was placed in self catering accommodation in Gran Canaria, with no balcony, and has not been allowed out of the room for 10 days. Support from Tui has been lacking according to her posts, and the food supplied was even more lacking from the photos posted.

Luckily, she appears to be very able, and has had plenty of support from other contributors on the site. She failed a PCR test at 7 days, which was expected, but passed the LFT yesterday, so should be flying home today

LLOM - If you are desperate to go, then Tui are still selling the B2B (14n) cruise with Doncaster flights, which may be a better option than Manchester (much quieter airport, and afternoon flight times)

9 hours ago, davecttr said:

They also had a dog that can smell out COVID so get all your doggies  and dashies retrained quickly. Apparently one dog can check hundreds of people, all you need is the dog and a good supply of biccies.

That's the answer then David -  one trained dog at the boarding terminal, and one dog per cruise ship. Forget testing!

33 minutes ago, kalos said:

What is the biggest lie ever?

"I have read and agree to the terms of use"....

 

Right ? 

Very True. If we read them all, we would probably have little time or inclination to do anything

My guess would be, in the current situation with Omicron, its too early to know which ports of call will be possible and what tests will be needed for them in 6 weeks time. The Tui website will have the current position but as I say, things change almost daily.

For the 2 holidays, I would book 1 week somewhere that suits you, and then for the second booking, another week at the same hotel for the following week (wasting the un-needed flights as with your cruise). This fulfills what they want.

While doing this, remind them that they asked you to ring THEM from Jamaica, so that they could resell your Caribbean flights.

They are taking the proverbial!

This is the Tui website -

1 hour ago, JessicaB97 said:

One of our family friends has recently been to Florida and tested positive before his flight so has to self isolate in USA whilst the rest of his family were made to travel home as the insurance only covered for him to isolate and not the rest of the family.  

Can't imagine they were 'made' to fly home. They may have 'chosen' to fly home to avoid the cost implications, but I'm sure neither you nor your future partner would make that choice.

Just to confirm. On Monday I changed our Jan 4th cruise to hotel holiday in April. Just checked Barclaycard and cash refund has arrived. 

I was thinking £1000 hotel hol, £8000 refund. 

I would ring them as it's usually quicker than Chat (although chat has the benefit of having something in writing - if you copy and paste, as they never send the transcript)

A few things spring to mind, but check first - 

It may not go ahead due to Covid/Omicron, if they cancel receive full refund.

If the start date is after the 5th January, you can change 'fee free' - see website. This could allow you change to another cruise, cruise and stay or land based hotel holiday, and get the difference back as a refund (just done this with our January Canaries cruise)

Looking at your new itinerary looks like a 'significant change' in my view, so may be reason for refund. Did the email give a reason for the changes

I think that is more or less what everyone is concerned about, and the main reason we changed while we had the option. There's lots of discussion regarding being debarked on P&O threads.

I was tempted to wait for Tui to cancel as I think either Spain will stop us coming, or we will eventually be in some sort of lockdown situation before 4th Jan, but I didn't want to take the risk.

Today was our last day to cancel our Jan 4th cruise free, so as OH has type 1 diabetes, we decided to cancel and move to an All Inc hotel holiday for late April. We are hoping the Covid situation will have improved by then.

Hopefully, Tui lady will have done it all correctly, as it was changed via phone call. We have the email for cruise cancellation, and the new booking confirmation, but £1370 refund not shown on either!

We sail 4th Jan but have similar thoughts. If Spain don't let us in, it would have the advantage that we could have a refund or possibly some 'added benefit' from Tui to change to a later cruise.

Moving the cruise before Tues for us means paying a few hundred pounds more for one later in the year.

We have 3 days to mull it over, unfortunately you are past the 14 day deadline. Chances are we'll move it, then it will get cancelled!

May have been posted already, but only just seen this myself on the Tui website - 

• You can make a change fee-free from now up until 14 days before your departure date if:
-You’re due to travel between 1 January and 31 January 2022

5 hours ago, zap99 said:

Nobody will be going to France, or it's territories any time soon. Get your smelly French cheese in soon as it's not clear about transport.

Smelly French cheese - an additional test to be used in conjunction with LF and PCR test 😁

Presumably reflects the high Covid/Omicron rates in UK.

BIL and his OH were in Benidorm when this happened at the end of November. Similar story, They ordered new PCRs whilst abroad from Expert Medical. Only one PCR was there when they arrived home.

The previously ordered LFT from Chronomics that should also have been there haven't arrived either.

3 days after arriving home, the 2nd PCR arrived after chasing Expert Medicals. Still no results after several days. No contact from Track and Trace.

25 minutes ago, wowzz said:

My password is "incorrect".

If I ever forget it, the computer tells  me what it is, as in "Your password in incorrect" 

Why is your computer telling you my password? I've been hacked! 😁

Close contacts could include - 

people you share a cabin with

people you share a table with at dinner

people on the same shore excursion coach seated near you.

Regarding Covid 19 outbreaks and offloading passengers, the rules are contained in section 7 of the  'framework document' attached - as far as I can see.

Although the document appears to be 12 months old, I can't find anything more up to date

OPERATORS_Framework_for_UK_Cruise_Operations_during_COVID-19_20201002 (2).pdf