winman14

Just now, AuroraCruiser08 said:

Who was the Captain? Onboard Ina few week time. Although they could change always nice to know who it maybe! 

Martin Allen presently

I was also on this cruise! A very enjoyable break to get back into the cruising world post covid. We travelled as a group of 6 as part of a family members birthday/showing the ropes to a couple of newbies who have longer voyages booked later in the summer.

Could not have hoped for better weather all weekend! I’ve gone a very high shade of red having taken a typical approach of “oh it will be fine” to not applying sun cream.

We arrived at CPS at 12:15 and was all on board by 2pm. The testing and subsequent wait for results had left us all quiet and nervous as a group, this is even after we had done LFT’s ourselves 30 mins prior to arriving at the port! 

Our cabin steward (deck F - mid aft) had on the morning of embarkation transferred from Arcadia to provide cover and assistance, we asked for champagne flutes etc so we could drink the champagne we had taken aboard but he said because he’d only been on for a couple of hours he was unsure where they was. No issue - a quick hike to the glasshouse resolved this after a quick chat about the Arcadia.

Love Britannia, the only issue being the lack of mid stairs! Especially when your cabin is only 2 from the isolation area and you need to pop up or down a deck so that is then a long trip around down to the fwd stairs rather than fighting your way into a lift for one deck.

The ship is evidentially struggling with staffing levels too currently, highlighted mostly within the MDR’s - this does not detract from the absolutely superb level of service still provided however - and deck bars where service was at times dragging slightly.

We got the train from Blankenburge into Brugge, €5 return proved a bargain and also left us 4 hours to amble around and have a few Belgian Blonde’s. We almost didn’t catch our intended train, one of the port side staff from Zeebrugge instructed that I couldn’t have my costa coffee from the ship on the dock and said I had to take it back on board for disposal (no real issue as I should have finished it anyway, just slightly annoying when several others then walk past the same individual with costa cups and nothing else is said).

We sat on our balcony on the final evening reflective of an excellent cruise and watched as we passed AidaPrima on the starboard side, below image taken at a 250mm focal range (and after several cocktails!)

All remaining November and December cruises are now disappearing from the site!

Apologies to hijack the thread. I stayed at Bowleaze cove last weekend to be able to see the ships, we should have been on Azura to the baltics at the time. There was 9 in the bay at its most populous. R-L is QE, QV, Aurora, Britannia, QM2, Carnival Valor and the 3 Marella’s. 

1 hour ago, Harry Peterson said:

I feel for you.  Hope it goes well, in a good safe environment. 

 

I'm also shielded but it's much more controllable when you've retired.

 

If things go the wrong way I imagine the new policy starting tomorrow for the shielded will have to be reversed.

Thank you Harry, I hope you are doing well too. 

20 minutes ago, Dermotsgirl said:

That must feel like a big step to take. Hopefully your employer will be understanding 

It is, but it also feels like the right step, I was working until the end of March right at the beginning of the pandemic when there was a high amount of daily cases so strangely going back now will largely be 'safer' with more understanding of how to put measures in place... or at least that is how I am viewing it! But I have to get back into a work setting soon, if the R rate goes up anymore though I feel in no doubt that the shielding will be re-started. 

Today signals the final day of my almost 5 months shielding. I am due straight back into work on Monday however feel very uneasy having been so confined for such a lengthy period, I am going to attempt to do as much as I feel safe to do however feel as a shielded person it won't be long before Boris throws me back into these conditions I have become familiar with. 

14 minutes ago, wowzz said:

Latest news from Cunard

"As a result of the continuing impact of Covid-19, Cunard has extended its pause in operations to sailings up to and including 1 November 2020 for Queen Mary 2 and Queen Victoria, and 23 November for Queen Elizabeth."

that was announced on the 9th June. 

Just driving the dock itself and seeing the ship again for the first time of the trip before handing my keys over and heading into the terminal. 

As mentioned by Molecrochip

3 minutes ago, Jack McGowan said:

I wouldn’t be surprised if we see a major shake up of where ships are deployed for certain cruise lines. Princess have already amended their Europe and Alaska seasons for 2021, surprisingly in favour of the UK with Regal coming to Southampton in place of Grand Princess

Maybe so they can run with more passengers on a reduced capacity Regal than they would have been able to with Grand? Especially only having one Princess ship run out of Southampton. 

1 minute ago, molecrochip said:

I wondered this last point myself. Carnvial UK have a team planning for re-start. I wonder if the are inspecting Azura and trying things such as perspex screens / different restaurant layouts.

Wouldn't this also seem viable looking towards Princess and there Grand class ships and how they would be able to adopt methods in order to restart too? 

Only sailed on Oceana once, March 2013 for a family wedding on board but still sad to see her leave! The cruise itself was the worst BoB crossings I've ever experienced, both ways at that too! Found the ship really charming however and absolutely loved both Le Club and Cafe Jardin. Unfortunately never got the opportunity to revisit Oceana, instead favouring the 'bigger' ones for various reasons such as Itinerary and the kids facilities on the newer ships being slightly more favourable. 

Image is taken in Gran Canaria. 

It was to be Azura to the Baltic's in August, however we moved that to the Iona at Christmas back in March as we are shielding at present and knew then it wasn't going to happen for us. 

When we depart on the 23rd May on Iona we have Brittania, Ventura & Anthem of the Seas all in port on change around days! All will be fine and it will be exciting to have a precession of ships leaving that day.

6 minutes ago, r60lt said:

This is weird, Britannia is still due to dock in Southampton at 0645hrs tomorrow morning.  Yet we can not get on board till 9pm at the earliest? Not great when i have a 3 year old and a 10month baby. Called P&O and was told tuff basically. I was advised the ship will not arrive until after lunchtime, which looking at several websites this is nonsense. Not a happy chappy and not even on the ship. 

Southampton VTS is showing live arrival time of Britannia as being 11:15am presently. 

http://www.southamptonvts.co.uk/Live_Information/Shipping_Movements_and_Cruise_Ship_Schedule/Cruise_Ship_Schedule/

1 hour ago, dallas16 said:

Looking at the timings I’ve on seen on the ***** website, the ship arrives at 10am on 31st and leaves on 1st at 8pm so they’ve got rid of the seaday, I wasn’t really sure why they needed a seaday from the UK to Holland anyway when a ferry can do it in less than twelve hours. I think you’ll have extra time on the evening of the second day 

 I am also on N924, we now have a sea day between Ijmuiden and Zeebrugge on the 2nd. Which website are the port timings on? We are wanting to book attractions such as Anne Franks House for our first day there. 

All P&O Amsterdam calls where changed and then announced yesterday at the same time, so all the cruises in question would have said Amsterdam until yesterday when they changed to IJmuiden 😊

Hi all, my first post on here!

Not the same cruise but I am booked onto N924 at the end of August. Here is the email received from P&O regarding the port change which has been sent to most passengers booked onto various cruises due to call into Amsterdam, without speculating it appears it is more to do with the recently applied port tax & the possibility that strong winds has previously prevented ships from passing through the locks into the canal that links Amsterdam to the North Sea. 

Our cruise has also seen the dates of our call into IJmuiden brought forward 24 hours leaving us now with a sea day between Ijmuiden and Bruges.