picsa

Not on my iPhone it hasn’t.

That’s not the case with iPhones, as turning on flight mode only turns off the cellular signal, leaving WiFi and Bluetooth on.

Even when your life might depend on it? Personally I would want such things in writing and I would ask them to either post it to me or tell me where I could find it on the website so I could read and understand it, rather than just assume and hope for the best.

I have used a number of agents over the years, as well as booking direct with P&O both by phone and on the web, and all have asked health questions, so I do struggle to believe that there was not an opportunity raise the issue of the medical conditions that has resulted in them both being immune suppressed. Seems to be pretty detailed to me - Vaccination & Testing Policy | P&O Cruises (pocruises.com) Absolutely - if I was making a booking by phone and I had a medical condition where I was immune suppressed then the first questions I would be asking (and not waiting to be told about) would be about the protocols that I would need to keep me safe. And if booking by web then I would be searching out and reading everything available.

Câmara de Lobos which you can do easily by bus from Funchal and try the cafe in the market rather than the tourist trap cafes with 'barkers' trying to pull you in- the market cafe isn't fancy but it's good, particularly the tuna sandwich, which isn't tinned tuna but whole slices of marinated tuna. Then there are the standard tourist visiting tours which are nevertheless interesting and can be done by car or inexpensively by one of the many mini-bus trips that run there from Funchal. A trip to Curral das Freiras (nun's valley) is a good 1/2 day trip. Along the south of the island to the Cabo Girão Skywalk, Ponta do Sol, then up over the centre of the island, and down the Porto Moniz and back via Praia da Ribeira da Janela. The north-east of the island tend to take in Pico do Arieiro, Santa and Alagoa. Obviously the cable cars and gardens in Funchal - although the cable cars are rather highly priced. If travelling by bus which you can do to the gardens or Monte, then get one of the reloadable cards. If you are fit then the Levada walks are good, and an easy one the trips tend to stop at is the 'trout farm' at Levada do Furado. Others are much more spectacular with crazy high drops to one side or needing to navigate unlit tunnels. For restaurants, be aware that all those down the street with the painted doors (Rua Dom Carlos 1) are tourist trap places that I would personally avoid (as are many in the 'restaurant street' in town - Rua da Carrreia), but the bar at the top of the hill overlooking the Barreirinha Lido is a pleasant place to while away a morning (and their goat's cheese toasted sandwiches are fabulous). And obviously stop at the coffee shops and have a Pastel De Nata (and nice coffee is a 'garoto' an espresso with an equal shot of hot milk and specific to Portugal). March is a good time in Madeira, but like last few years I will be spending a month this December and January there enjoying the fabulous Christmas and new year celebrations.

When I made a telephone booking through a travel agent a few weeks ago for a cruise in late October the agent clearly stated what the current COVID protocols for boarding were (vaccination and recommended day before LFT) and specifically checked I understood and could meet them. As well there was a question from the agent about any health issues which might cause problems, and I would have expected that if someone mentioned that both people on the booking had medical conditions that caused them to be immune suppressed and that contracting COVID would cause them serious problems then that would have resulted in further questioning about their ability to travel. I would find it hard to believe that direct phone bookings with P&O don't currently follow a similar script (when I booked direct with P&O some years ago by phone they certainly had the health question), but if the person who is complaining doesn't believe they were asked the questions and it wasn't simply a case of them assuming something to be the case when it is not, then as P&O record booking calls (or certainly did in the past as I had cause to make use of this due to a dispute about what was said) then they should ask P&O to check the recording.

Zero.

Of course I would comply with the rules - even when they make no sense whatsoever. I have travelled many many times since the start of the pandemic, both on cruises and flights to other countries and throughout I have followed what the rules actually are - and on some occasions needing to change as the rules changed - the changes last December from an LFT to a PCR to a pre-arrival test, etc. When I cruised last year did I wear a mask in the theatre and walking around indoors - yes I did, even though when sat in the restaurant or show bars I was sat closer than I was to the people in the theatre and corridor and in the restaurant or show bars none of had to wear masks. I understood the 'security theatre' of the rules, but followed them nonetheless. However what I do not support is people demanding what they wished the rules said trumping what the rules actually do say.

It wasn't P&O's policy to impose mandatory mask wearing with no exemptions mid-cruise before, so you may be giving her false despair.

Are they? P&O don't seem to be since they don't mention it on their website. Why would you have prepared for that eventuality when P&O give no indication it might be imposed. Of course they can deny people who don't pass the health check, their T&Cs allow it. But denying boarding because of something not mentioned before... And yet P&O don't. And P&O make clear who they do not accept onboard for medical reasons, and being unable to wear a mask for health reasons isn't one of them. But you could see from P&O's website that they would impose no such restriction before you booked, so if you have such strong views then why book with P&O rather than with a cruise line that does impose such requirements.

It is wrong. My view, to make clear, is that if a company has set out rules for you to use its services then people should follow those rules and if those rules provide for exceptions then those should be respected. P&O is quite clear with its revised COVID policy that vaccinations are mandatory, pre-boarding COVID tests are optional (for most cruises), and mask wearing is only required in the medical bay. Now if people want to travel then they need to take into account those facts and should not criticise people who are following them because they perceive it does not provide them the reassurance that they personally desire.

But not if you are sailing in the next 90 days. Flexible Cancellation Policy (pocruises.com) Holidays booked from 3 August 2022 onwards: For any bookings made after 3 August 2022, if you wish to reschedule your holiday, you can take advantage of our fee-free flexible transfer policy if you’ve booked on a Select Price holiday. This means you can: Transfer your booking once Transfer your booking to a P&O Cruises holiday of equal or higher value Transfer your booking up to the date that the balance for your holiday is due (90 days prior to departure of your existing booking) Transfer your booking to a P&O Cruises holiday sailing within 6 months of the original sailing date for full World Cruises, Classic Southern Hemisphere Journeys, Grand Tours or Exotic fly-cruises or 12 months of the original departure date for all other cruises.

But I am not the one advocating imprisoning those with serious health conditions. You seemed to advocate "quarantine" for those unable to wear masks for health reasons. If you don't and agree that they are exempt from wearing them if a mask requirement is introduced mid-cruise then I apologise. Not sure where you get that mistaken idea from. If people want to travel then they travel, and everyone needs to make their own assessment for their own circumstances. I was offering support and reassurance pointing out that if she had a serious health issue that prevented her wearing a mask (as she indicated) that she would likely be exempt from wearing one. And it was that point that some people suggested that people like her with serious health issues should be imprisoned onboard - so perhaps those are the people that you should be calling out and suggesting that they offer her support and reassurance.

So those with serious medical conditions should be imprisoned because of the potential for some to not tell the truth - what a lovely attitude. But those rules were set out when booking so people had a choice. The imprisonment regime that you are suggesting is imposed mid-cruise was not.

That isn’t my recollection from when I took one of the first international cruises last September and when masks were required, as exemptions were permitted. in addition now you have the issue if you introduce the requirement mid-cruise of passengers who can’t wear masks who are already aboard - what do you do with them? Lock them in their cabins? Then there is the issue of introducing it before the cruise started then that would be a significant change to the T&Cs for someone to be required to wear a mask for someone who it is impossible to do as they would have to forfeit their cruise unless P&O allowed the exemption.

With virtually no UK testing then the ONS and ZOE reports are going to be very ‘broad brush’ and certainly wouldn’t be helpful in telling anyone about the actual rates in their local area - the Zoe study places my area in the red but I am not aware of anyone infected. And percentage increases are meaningless - did the 50% increase mean there are now three patients up from two last week.

But would it have helped knowing there were x cases on board when you don’t know whether that is good or bad compared to the local area. Not entirely sure how someone calculates a personal risk when the figures are not being collected because they were no longer useful. A person’s personal risk is most likely going to be dependent on their own individual health, irrespective of COVID rates.

Even if mandatory then the requirement to wear a mask will still have the full range of exemptions from wearing one that it did before - so if you can’t then you don’t.

Or because it no longer helps. There is no detail on COVID cases in the UK because it was no longer found to be helpful, so would it help knowing the number of infected people in a cruise ship restaurant but not a land based restaurant, or in a cruise ship cinema but not not a land based cinema, or even how many other people wandering around local supermarket are infected.

Going to be fun for the cruise companies running European cruises when ETIAS and EES comes on line and all this information will need to be provided in advance.

I am astonished that any organisation such as a coach company still has compulsory mask rules, and has not moved to a ‘recommended but not required’ position. Even my GP’s surgery has now moved to that with no patients, myself included, wearing a mask (or the receptionists). And as for being quarantined onboard, only those who test themselves or report to the medical bay for a test will end up being quarantined. You might strongly disagree with that, but that will be the reality.

And that’s assuming a passenger isn’t exempt from wearing a mask from one the multitude of reasons.

And enjoy yours as well.

I don’t share tables, and on none of the P&O cruises I have been on in the last 12 months (including the full ‘COVID protocol’ cruises to the Med last September) has there been any tracking of people on shuttle buses.

The proof is stated in the policy document - ‘we will send a medical certificate for completion by the patient’s doctor to confirm the reason for your claim’ - to which the response from the GP would be, ‘patient self-tested and identified they were positive for COVID-19 and in-line with NHS COVID protocols was not examined by me to confirm and they did not require subsequent treatment’. Now if the insurer wanted anything more than that then they need to make that clear, otherwise the FCA is going to be having strong words with them.