NZ Sailor

Just in from Vacations to go, re Coronavirus  -

"We are writing to share some relevant information about the special protocols we activated because of the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak, which the World Health Organization (WHO) classified as a “global health emergency” last Thursday (30 January 2020).

The safety of our passengers and crew is always our first priority.

Thus, and according to the guidelines and procedures established by our Group and medical team, and until further notice, we must unfortunately cancel the cruise for anyone who has travelled “from”, “to” or “through” China and/or Hong Kong and/or Macau in the past 15 days.

This measure also applies to any individual who has come in contact with anyone that has travelled “from”, “to” or “through” mainland China, Hong Kong, or Macau in the past 15 days.

These days, –counted as full days– will be calculated based on the scheduled boarding date.

There will be mandatory specialized health screenings performed on:

1. All holders of China, Hong Kong and Macau passports, regardless of country of residency and when they were last in China, Hong Kong or Macau.
2. Guest who report feeling ill, unwell or demonstrate flu-like symptoms.
3. Guests who are uncertain about contact with individuals who have traveled “from”, “to” or “through” mainland China, Hong Kong, or Macau in the past 15 days.

Boarding access will be denied to passengers who have a fever or low blood oximetry during the specialized health screening.

These measures were taken after consulting with different organisations, including Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the World Health Organisation and other public health authorities.

Cancellation / boarding denial

We will reimburse passengers who cannot travel with us for any of the reasons listed above the amounts paid to Pullmantur Cruises. Refunds will be made through the normal procedures.

We sincerely apologize for this situation, which is regrettably outside our control, and ask you to help us achieve full cooperation from all our common customers to ensure that this procedure can be carried out smoothly.

Sincerely,
The Pullmantur Cruises Team"
 

There is a rollcall for this cruise at  https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2687136-transatlantic-pullmantur-monarch-april-17-2020/ 

We are going on it as well - coronavirus and flight schedules permitting!!!!!

Tapas bar has no surcharge, so no charge unless you order drinks from the premium menu or a specialty dish

Leave tomorrow, bags getting heavier by the day especially as we add extra warm clothing. In the Med at this time a few years back and recall a few icy cold evenings. Looking forward to meeting everyone.

Rod & Jill

Great, have sent details through, rushing round at present to tie up all the bits and pieces before we leave on thurs.

Jill and I would be keen to join you for the Petra and Wadi tour. We were looking just at the Petra tour but looks to be a large bus so prefer to go with a smaller group. Rod

Mostly packed, leave next thursday and hope that the warm weather persists in Western Europe

When packing don't forget your green gear for St Pats day!

Times are below the passenger coupon details (Names, cabin etc).

We arrive at crack of dawn the day before the cruise so presently are doing an afternoon tour that day and then seeing how we feel. The last time we used Pullmantur, the checkin took quite some time although the ship was full of Spanish students on Spring break. At checkin we were given a coloured pass and had to wait until our colour was called (in Spanish!).

8 minutes ago, aussie cruzer said:

NZ Sailor.

We board on the Sat 9th....are you boarding Sunday.

No we board on the 9th as well. The times were in the documentation we got a couple of days ago from VTG

7 hours ago, Northbay said:

 However no specific time indicated. 

My docs say that Check in opens at 0900 and continues through to 1900

Thanks Duncan, have sent the Email. Not sure how big the boats are but apparently only one other cruise ship in port that day ( MSC Lirica).

Thanks Duncan, it may be that your Dhow is now full and they're setting up another group but hopefully we can squeeze in. We did look at doing the Wadi as well but thought we would concentrate on Petra. Will leave Petra for another week or two in case others want to join us for a private tour. The Wonders tour gets good reviews but is a big coach and presumably does a run around all the hotels before leaving. They also do a private tour from ships for $135 very up to 16 people but as yet they aren't organising one for our ship.

Yes, also saw that the wifi link had been taken down, we don't usually bother relying on catching up at each stop over a drink.

Thanks for the links Duncan. Contacted both Horizons and Khasab tours. Khasab are now quoting 150 AED pp (~41 USD) for the Dhow cruise. We will need to find some others for the Petra trip as we thought we would just do Petra. First option if others are interested would be Horizons but otherwise we will just book on the Wonders Tours and Travel group tour.

Thanks for the greetings, Duncan, Liz and Peter.

Good to see a number of people on here all sharing their knowledge. New to Cruise critic but have done 4 other cruises before this through VTG around the Med (NCL - 2, Costa and Pullmantur)

Finally found this rollcall - We're on the ship for the trip from Dubai right through to Malaga. We will stay over at Torremolinos at an Airbnb for a week and then rejoin the ship for the Morocco and Portugal trip. Travelled on Pullmantur a couple of years back and thoroughly enjoyed it. Ship furnishings were a bit tired but the the food and entertainment was great (although we didn't stick around for the stand-up comedian as we don't speak Spanish). Basic beverage package was fine especially as it also includes barista coffees. They do have theme nights for dinner but probably only half the people participate.

Questions - It's not clear which Petra tour the people here are going on, we would prefer to go with a larger group as we are told that small groups often have their tour cancelled. We are also keen on the Dhow trip in Khasab if there is still room.

Rod & Jill