NoFlyGuy

7 minutes ago, jake 26 said:

That could have a big impact on Azura's summer program fly cruises from Malta.

If it's to be EU wide then it will affect all travel in the EU.

At least the Maltese spelt it out as I agree it was not clear otherwise.

Important Notice:  Validity of vaccine certificate issued by the Maltese Authorities – effective 17th January 2022

A valid vaccine certificate issued by the Maltese Authorities is defined as follows: 
For Adults aged 18 years and over:

 - primary schedule with last dose administered not more than 3 months previously 

    OR

 - primary schedule and booster with last dose of booster administered not more than 9 months previously
 

For under 18 years:

 - primary schedule

Reading this for Malta it would imply that you would need to be boosted at least every 9 months.

Saw this on FB yesterday, seems like it's EU wide. Soon we wont be able to go anywhere since there are no plans to give 4th or subsequent jabs in the UK. Also I think it's 180 days for Italy.

We had our boosters in November and our May cruise goes to Italy! 

34 minutes ago, yorkshirephil said:

I thought that sounded odd, just looked on P&O and that is the price for a deluxe cabin for 2 people.

Deluxe midship  balcony cabin select price was £15406 just now - so £405 pppn. 

Looked at the Aurora 19 night Med cruise in May that we are on. Mid standard balcony select price showing as £12538. That's £330 pppn!

Luckily we didn't pat that much.

Is there a blackout on Ventura posts?

Plenty of posts from Iona on FB groups but nothing I can see from Ventura that's been in Madeira today.

28 minutes ago, Josy1953 said:

I just popped out to get a bottle of wine from our stash on the garage and was surprised to see that we had a good layer of snow, when I came in 2 hours ago it was cold but there was no sign of snow. I hope that we don't get too much snow over night because I am volunteering again tomorrow.  If too much comes down I will probably walk the 2 miles to the hub because I hate driving on snow.

I too hate driving in snow. 

No snow here in Silverstone but still very cold. None forecast for the next few days at least, so fingers crossed.

We cancelled our sailing on the current Ventura 35 night Caribbean cruise on 16th December.

We used half the money to book an October cruise this year. However P&O said they could not use the remaining monies to pay off our May cruise on Aurora, with the balance due on 4th Feb, because their systems weren't  able to do this.

Instead they say they have authorised a refund of the remaining funds. (Not received anything yet).

When it does (hopefully) come through our credit card will be well in credit and I will then pay the balance for the May cruise.

Following many of the FB P&O groups there doesn't seem to be any consistency in how passengers are being treated. Maybe it's just pot luck who you get to speak to.

A lot depends on pre-existing medical conditions assuming they are going to be declared by the insured.

We've had a few quotes where certain conditions that we declared were not covered - so rather pointless using those companies. Still others won't quote at all.

Using an annual Staysure policy at the moment - not cheap but at least we are covered.

As I posted earlier we were able to cancel our 35 night January Caribbean cruise on Ventura.

Is it just the fly cruises that can't be cancelled?

I can understand the rationale behind this change in policy but struggle to comprehend why positive cases have to quarantine shoreside.

For non flyers like me it means that we can't risk going on a cruise at this time.

Of course I don't want to potentially infect anyone else onboard if I tested positive and, as I've posted before, would happily quarantine onboard if necessary.

Balance due on next cruise early Feb so will just have to sit it out and see what occurs. 

Got ours today. Hardly the end of the world if we missed out for any reason, but still nice to receive.

Have sympathy with Jean - we still want to cruise but are getting paranoid about being offloaded as I've posted on other threads.

Next cruise isn't until May but have a total of 9 booked between now and Jan 24. Who knows how many will go ahead or whether we will be onboard.

Back in the summer I thought the whole Covid crises would be waning, if not over, by now, then along comes Omicron. No idea what the weeks and months ahead have in store for all of us but hope everyone stays well and have the best Christmas and new year they can given the circumstances.   

26 minutes ago, davecttr said:

My canaries cruise leaves on the 15th January. does anyone know the last day you can arrange a FCC or whatever?

Don't know for sure but we transferred our 3rd January cruise on 16th December - so 18 days out. No problems encountered re 'days to sail'.

Some posts on the FB Iona group say there is now mandatory onboard testing even if you don't intend to go ashore. Don't know if this has just come into force or not.

Even more reason to have moved our 3rd Jan Caribbean cruise if this will now be fleet wide.

Can see lots more transfers being requested now. 

1 minute ago, Interestedcruisefan said:

That 100 per cent falls into my definition of playing safe?

 

I feel exactly same as you tbh I consider myself and my wife young and healthy enough not to worry about the risk of covid itself

 

But like you I'm not expecting to holiday in New Year now due to the other risks we face like a terrible quarantine hotel etc

 

Either way thats still playing safe and will reduce the number of positive cases as many more take same choices as us

 

You don't have to be scared of covid to change your plans and automatically play safe and reduce your risks accordingly

If I knew 100% that I would not be off loaded if I tested positive instead quarantining onboard, then I would gladly gone ahead with the cruise. 

ICF - Not all cancellations are to 'play safe'.

I cancelled our January 3rd cruise because I couldn't risk testing positive onboard and they being off loaded on a Caribbean island.

As someone who doesn't fly how would I get home?  

Does seem they are not advertising the change. I phoned more in hope than expectation

I moved our January 3rd 35 night Caribbean cruise this morning. Booked one new cruise for next October the rest will be FCC. No problems at all.

Yesterday France had 65713 new cases. Not much lower than the UK.

11 minutes ago, picsa said:

 

Aside from the issue that it is just as easy to cheat with the currently required self-administered PCR test as it is with a self-administered LFT, do you really believe that someone from Border Control actually checks that everyone has done the 'Day 2' PCR test and sent it back and got their results.

 

If you do believe that then I have some shocking news for you!

No I don't believe Border Control or anyone else checks everyone has done their test, but they can check some.

My point was there's no point mandating any tests unless, some at least, are followed up.

As I understand it now, we have to have a booked reference number for a PCR test on return to England.

If the PCR test requirement goes what's the point of the Passenger Locator Form?

If a lateral flow test is still needed two days after return to England from 'late October', how much cheaper will that be?

Surely it will still need to be sent to a lab otherwise everyone can just say 'I administered the test at home and it was negative'.

3 minutes ago, NoFlyGuy said:

 

Yes it was 7 nights. Celebration night was Tuesday (night 3). Totally different - no Captain and senior officers appearing just a voucher for a free Prosecco from any bar and a brief talk from the captain 'from the bridge'. We laughed and decided it was a virtual cruise and the captain was really at Carnival offices in Southampton and everything was on auto pilot!

Oops , sorry it was 4 nights. Too many glasses of wine me thinks!

3 minutes ago, sandancer said:

“If you want to book the Limelight I wouldadvise doing it from the terminal - yes you can access the app, use the last 6 digits from your boarding pass. I believe all days got booked out within hours.”
 

Thanks for that tip. P&O newbies. We’ve only ever taken one cruise on Azura  and a P&O app was way into the future. Hoping to book some speciality restaurants. Was the Celebration Night on the second night of the cruise?  Would want to eat in MDR on that night. Was it a 7 night cruise?  

Yes it was 7 nights. Celebration night was Tuesday (night 3). Totally different - no Captain and senior officers appearing just a voucher for a free Prosecco from any bar and a brief talk from the captain 'from the bridge'. We laughed and decided it was a virtual cruise and the captain was really at Carnival offices in Southampton and everything was on auto pilot!

We also just got off Britannia today.

Was a bit different having to wear a mask indoors when walking around until we sat down.

We had a noon check in time and were using CPS - arrived at the testing centre via dock gate 20 at about 11:25. Some cars were being held back as they must have a later check in time and were not allowed through. We joined the line (there were 4 of them) and we were about 7 cars back, luckily we were the only ship departing on Sunday. The ushers said it was mayhem on the Saturday with so many departures!

Testing started just before noon and then it was on to the Ocean terminal to dump the car and await our results. If you want to book the Limelight I would advise doing it from the terminal - yes you can access the app, use the last 6 digits from your boarding pass. I believe all days got booked out within hours. We got on by 1.10pm and had our Loyalty lunch which was 3 courses rather the usual buffet.

We didn't use the main theatre at all so can't comment on that but there was no real social distancing that I could notice elsewhere - all sun loungers seemed to be out as was the indoor seating.

We enjoyed the 'silent disco' last night and my new right hip held out! 

Different but still enjoyable, glad we did it.

We registered last week for a May and July '22 cruise direct with P&O. Had to go for a midship balcony on both as you can only specify grade with P&O. Normally we go for 'mid aft' but could have been risky as we could have been allocated 'mid fwd'.

Not much difference on price though.

Got our invoices through this morning with cabin numbers - happy with both.