newbie cruissy

5 minutes ago, thornegirl said:

I'm relieved its not a tender port but my problem now is how to get to Geiranger for the rib safari!  Geiranger was one of the two highlights of this cruise

Maybe the local, independent operators will move their events down to Hellesylt? 

1 hour ago, monsterl said:

Stavanger today was also canceled due to "strong winds“.

 

Now we can look forward to a day at sea.

Looks like she made a decent effort to get alongside on the Marine Traffic site. Almost touching distance! 

5 hours ago, Bobblehat71 said:

 

I don't have missed port cover on my policy. IMO its just not worth the extra cost. I've only ever missed one port in 15+ cruises and even then I didn't think it was that big a deal.

I've been looking for insurance for our upcoming trip, and haven't seen a policy without missed port cover! 

There's also some entertaining arguments going on about the pros vs cons of claiming on travel insurance for a missed port. Some of the participants don't have missed port cover on their insurance, which makes me wonder if they had cruise specific insurance at all! 

4 hours ago, davecttr said:

If Iona ends up in Alesund expect a lot of unhappy cruisers who's fjord cruise did not have any fjords in it.

If they carry on at this rate, no Fjords, but possibly an Arctic Circle crossing 🙂

8 minutes ago, wowzz said:

no compensation was given if the reasons were outside of the cruise line's control.

Compensation is one thing, goodwill is another thing altogether. 

1.15pm plus 3 hours is 4.15pm return to Stavanger. Iona departed 5.30pm (assuming all times local?) 

If the excursion is on Rygerelektra, it's the 3.15pm departure that's currently heading back to Stavanger. 

I called them to book, really simple, no issues. ‪0345 071 3939‬

11 minutes ago, Josy1953 said:

We have booked an overnight stay in Winchester before our July cruise because the prices in Southampton are so high that particular night.  We have done this in the past and found that it was good choice because it was a nice easy drive to Southampton on the morning even though there as some sort of problem on the M27 and the satnav offered a pleasant alternative along quiet roads.

That's a good idea, as long as your within half an hour or so it removes the stress of travelling from home Embarkation day

12 hours ago, AndyMichelle said:

The Boathouse at Hythe gets good reports, just bear in mind, although it is 5 minutes away from the port as the crow flies, it is the wrong side of the water, so takes a while to get to as only one road out and can get busy. 

Andy

Thanks Andy, I've booked the Boathouse, looks nice, decent reviews. Will leave plenty of time to drive round (unless there's a water taxi service across?) 

13 minutes ago, Fionboard said:

It is popular. When are you going? No parking available during boat show period.

Looking at the night of 15 July. Is that the boat show? Will probably book the one in Hythe. 

On 5/4/2022 at 2:08 PM, Fionboard said:

Holiday Inn at the port.

Looks like no availability for the date required, not coming up on their website. 

Hello, thinking of booking a local hotel for the night before our holiday. I've seen the usual suspects, Premier Inn, Travelodge etc, but wondered if others have used other options. I've found some deals in the Area at similar cost to the chains, that look more "interesting". Any thoughts on The Boathouse at Hythe? Also saw the Royal Southern Yacht Club in Hamble? 

8 hours ago, zap99 said:

We are off to Cornwall in a few weeks. Butter first , then jam followed by clotted cream and coffee please. 🤣

Butter??!! 😳🙃🤯

Our July cruise has recently been updated in the P&O site to say that Marco Pierre White will be on board. What can we expect to be different? I'm a keen cook / foodie, so this is exciting! 

On our July Iona cruise its the second (Sunday) night 

On 4/15/2022 at 7:06 AM, Gimpfacemctavish said:

The price when you book it onboard is £28 per person but it is well worth it .

Does that include wine? And if not, do they serve "drinks package wine"? 

Does the test kit have to be supplied specifically for the pre cruise test? We have a plentyful supply at home supplied free of charge by work. Could we use one of those? And if so, how would the certificate work? I can tell if its a +ve or -ve result, why would I need to send it to someone else to look at, and then pay them to tell me what I already know? 

Or is it a case that the test supplied by an official provided will have a serial number / QR code to identify it, so the organisation knows we've used and returned the same test that they sent us? 

38 minutes ago, Yorkypete said:

The utter stupidity of these new 'rules' is obvious.  At present the rate of increase in covid is higher than it has ever been and you can catch it two or three times. Given this, you can test negative on the Thursday or Friday and be positive on the first day of the cruise. With the rapid infections it is a certainty that a number of people will be.  I cannot see why the NHS test is not sufficient given you will have a certificate...unless it is a money making ploy.

 

 

I think the NHS have enough to do without providing freebie Covid tests to holiday makers, don't you? 

6 minutes ago, molecrochip said:

P&O only require a self administered LFT with proof presented.

Ah, but what is the proof? We have a supply of antigen tests (aka LFT) at home (work related) so can complete easily. But where does one get a valid negative antigen test certificate?

I wonder how strict the 24 hours prior to embarkation will be. If we tested at 3pm Friday before travelling to Southampton, and embarked at 4pm Saturday, will the clipboard brigade be wagging their pencils? Also, with only 24 hours to complete, I imagine many of the chemist's in Southampton will he very busy on Saturday mornings! 

1 hour ago, Selbourne said:

When we fancy a drink we like to order what we want, not what we are ‘allowed’!

Exactly my thinking ⬆️

2 hours ago, LoveGlasto said:

 I think we will likely check out the bar prices on our first evening and then decide whether to take the package from Day 2. 

We are also debating the package, or just spending on higher cost / better quality drinks and seeing how that goes. Agree a good idea to wait until day 2 to see how the first night compares 

Can we go back to talking about the little dishes of dusty sweets now please? 

On 4/7/2022 at 12:05 PM, Cruisemeister2002 said:

Also I noted on the last couple of cruises there was no little sweets in a dish

Well I was going to pay my remaining balance tomorrow. Not so sure now 😡