Riddoch

The olive tree seemed to book up really quickly, I was able to book via the app but that was on the Saturday pretty much straight after boarding. I never saw it appear as available again when I did searches for options.

we had a minor issue with the app that when logging back in it wouldn’t work unless you removed “landing” from the end of the web address. Think that is probably our android browser saving the page you get to after log in rather than the login page itself. As mentioned above adding a shortcut/widget would have resolved that.

There is one of the YouTubers that have been on Iona recently had an entire suitcase of cans to facilitate their diet coke addiction.

It's surprising how long you have connectivity even in the channel. It's really on the sea days that you'll have no phone signal and if you go down the Sonderfjord to flam.

The only irritation is that you have to be a bit more organised to meet up with people as you can't just ring someone to find them.

You missed Pandora, watches and technology (think small version of airport Dixsons).

Another thing was that each store had a sale at some point, 10-25%, so don't rush to buy.

 Given the onboard laundry I  expected to be able to buy detergent somewhere but couldn't find it.

There did seem to be people booking in on the Saturday who hadn't pre-registered.

Almost, we were on board last week and decided against the thermal suite. When we had been before you got much more access for the money. Even with the nice weather we had there didn't seem to be an issue finding space around the pools. Though they were much quieter first thing.

2 hours ago, terrierjohn said:

My last cruise the pending charge was £1.

I had that when I added the card to my booking at check in.

Oddly it's still showing as pending but all the others from last week have now disappeared.

Hi,

I had various pending amounts but the actual charge was the total on the final statement. There was still a pending amount showing but some that i had seen earlier have disappeared.

there is another thread about credit card charges but I get the impression they put a pending amount each day, not sure if it’s the total up to that point or just that days spend.

But seem to work this time

Reef timetable.pdf

We have just go yet off Iona so should be similar arrangements for your 7 year old but not sure for the 4 year old as our daughter is 10.

Her age group is split into two cohorts, on sea days you either got a morning or afternoon (3 hours) and on port days you either got an early or late afternoon slot (1.5 hours). Then in the evenings both groups could go between 6pm and 10:30 though suggested collection was 15 minutes earlier.

 They said this was to allow more children to actually use the reef and certainly our impression was that there were way more on  board than on our last cruise.

Our daughter really enjoyed it and much rathered going there than spending time with us (to be fair the first night in the theatre we had Monroe (musical act) to replace the expected theatre show and that may have coloured her opinion). 
There was also a kinds science show in the main theatre and in the clubhouse as well as a kid’s magician, if during the holidays I wonder if they’ll be running that too.

I tried to upload the timetable but it’s failing.

It's sounds like the declaration you do to get into the US, the moral turpitude one, which you will always respond no.

We've already paid for our proper cert to fly test so will use them up anyway.

I wonder if the restrictions are no longer about  covid but a shortage of staff (or cost) issue. Either they have not been been able  to hire enough or they have planned on doing the entire season with this policy in place.

 I had another look on the website on the main page about the kids club there is no mention of time restrictions, just a one line “Pre-registration is essential.” Which I had taken to mean was the normal register at the start of the cruise. Apparently you can do that 2 weeks before the cruise on the holiday planner webpage, I only found that out by accident when ring customer services about something else.

Our daughter is now 10 so we are less concerned but she loves the stage shows so it would be a pain if the allocated times aren’t inline with what we would want to do. 

Also was wondering if buying the retreat pass also got you access to the thermal suite or if that is a separate charge?

5 minutes ago, Fossie13 said:

We are booked for the 10th Dec on Azura from Barbados so it is looking good so far.

Regarding the PCR test at the terminal I believe this takes a couple of days to process so are you then allowed on board  and presumed free of covid until the results arrive back?

I suspect the terminal test will be a lateral flow. The PCR test is for under 17s and needs to be done before departure to get results. Sort of implies P&O will pick up the tab for that.

2 hours ago, Adawn47 said:

Probably because the ships they are using for the british waters cruises are advertised as 'Family Friendly' ships, so stating outright than they're only accepting adults could potentially open up a whole can of worms. Saying 'vaccinated passengers only' is safer I would assume.

Avril

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/mar/17/nhs-covid-vaccine-rollout-under-50s-delayed-major-shortage?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

It might be limited to over 50s at this rate. 🙂

I think that you right that they are trying to avoid being accused of age discrimination.

1 hour ago, davecttr said:

Agree and if anyone starts on seeking legal advice about kids forget it. Cruise lines can designate certain cruises as adults only and do

But why not come out and say that. The answers given is that it's open to all ages but realistically it's not. 

2 minutes ago, windsurferfirst said:

I thought that initially but it needs clarity. Is it P&O policy or UK government. who knows?

There is no (published) UK government policy or they would have been very clear to reference it.
By all questions referring to the “policy” it makes the page easier to update as they only have to make any updates in one place and the rest of the page stays the same.

16 minutes ago, Pink-belle said:

I wonder if in time details of the vaccine will be a question added to Travel Insurance policies,  that would make sense to me as potentially if fully vaccinated you would be a lower risk.  The information could then be added to your certificate of Insurance as proof. 

Lots of insurance policy’s now have COVID exceptions, at least in terms of cancellations. Given that insurance covers all medical incidents the chances of a  individual needing treatment for COVID as opposed to accidents or other medical incidents probably doesn’t effect the risk of them having to pay out enough to reduce the cost hugely.

Digging through those answers the crew won't be vancinated just quarantined and tested.

The faq on the website is very odd, the response to the query is can children sail is yes but they have to meet the vaccination policy. So that's a no then.

In a similar situation, can still access the cancelled cruise but can also access the new one too.