paulatsea

11 minutes ago, AlanCruise said:

From experience a couple of weeks ago.

You still need a lateral flow test taken after 9pm the evening before you fly from UK to the Canaries, this can be done at home (but not an NHS test) but we did ours at the airport on the morning of the flight due to a late booking. It is checked on arrival at the ship.

 

There is no need for a test prior to return to the UK and, as from Feb 11th, no need for a day 2 test in the UK after return. But you still need to do the UK locator form in the 48 hours before you return and this is checked at check in for return flight.

 

The ship has a system to do a daily temperature check.

Where at the airport Alan ? Drive through ?

do the flight checkin folks look at this at all ?

23 minutes ago, howmuch! said:

According to the website, the 9pm LFT is still a requirement for cruises

Such a pain ! Wish this could be done at the flight check in point.

13 minutes ago, NorbertsNiece said:

 

 

 

Yes!! Lol.

 

In memory of my uncle Norbert to whom my alter ego is dedicated. This pic from Ladurée Paris after a river cruise.

 

Great news NN - thanks 

Has anyone booked yet ? I’m interested to see how this line goes .

Way too late regardless of sail time . You want to get in an settled by the early afternoon - I would have a pick-up at 11 am - and have asked for an early pick up for our august cruise - I haven’t had this car service before so I don’t know how flexible they are ?

Are you continuing the blog into the northern lights ?

Just now, paulatsea said:

Previous cruises you could  cancel trips with no penalty at any time even up to 24 hours before the trip departs.
not sure if it’s changed - but I doubt it.

I think you can do it on the excursions website (- you can on Marella FYI )

54 minutes ago, Astrajet said:

Also had disappearing trips a couple of days ago for an Aurora cruise this June/July. They seem to be back now so I was thinking of booking a couple but I cannot find any relevant booking conditions. Can anyone please tell me if there is a penalty should we want to cancel or change a pre-booked & paid for excursion. Many thanks.

Previous cruises you could  cancel trips with no penalty at any time even up to 24 hours before the trip departs.
not sure if it’s changed - but I doubt it.

I have had this before several times - cannot access bookings - sometimes get webpage no longer available and other totally useless messages.

app often doesn’t work and the app cannot access cruise bookings.

usually works again after a few days.

the app and websites are very poor , often don’t work at all or do not show the correct information - and there is no support.

31 minutes ago, tring said:

 

We actually sound very similar in outlook, though we are not wildlife "experts".

 

When you were on Boudicca, we were in Sri Lanka for a two and a half weeks doing a private tour with our own car/driver and hotel stays in Colombo and a beach resort.  We then embarked Boudicca, presumably on the day you left the ship for two weeks up the coast of India and a then had a four night stay in Dubai before returning home.  There was a slight hiccup when we sailed a bit early from Mumbai as a crew member had been reported with flu like symptoms and whizzed into hospital by the authorities on arrival.  We were allowed off the ship that day and we had a great time going around on our own, seeing the train station and other busy locations, visiting the museum and a local bar recommended on TA forums for viewing of the sunset and popping into the Taj bar for a wonderful lunch, whilst walking between all venues.  Our trips always involve both the authentic (poorer) areas as well as the odd splash of luxury.  Anyway, Dehli got involved later in the day and stopped anyone else leaving the ship by 8pm that night, and Mikael Degerlund arrange with head office to leave the port early the next morning as he was fearful the ship could have been impounded.  The crew members who were ashore (some from the area of course), were contacted to return nippily and one just made it in time.

 

The crew member in hospital was diagnosed with a specific strain of flu the following sea day and we were allowed off the ship in Porbandar (Ghandi's birthplace), which was a very poor part of India and a big contrast to the other ports.  Our tuk tuk tour there was a real insight to the country as well as the temple and Ghandi's birthplace itself, (a museum). The smile on our tuk tuk driver’s face when we gave him a lot more than he had asked for was so memorable, yet we still only paid something like £15 - so different to the normal tourist venues (like Goa) when there were taxi cartels etc.  We were aware of what was going on and Mikael Degerlund did say he could forsee the day when the safest place you could be may be on a cruise ship and he did have a point when you consider the P&O world cruise which later returned from Australia with no port stops, nor any covid.

 

We greatly enjoyed that holiday as well as similar jaunts.  You will have visited Yangon on your cruise, we had a cruise cancelled to there, (Hong Kong to Sri Lanka) at about two week’s notice when All Leisure went bust.  We had a post cruise tour and stay booked with Kuoni in Sri Lanka and were able to add a beach resort and flights to that (originally All Leisure flights), so our visit to Sri Lanka in 2020 was a second visit, with a different area covered (again Kuoni for the tour, who are brilliant).  We wanted to arrange a private tour in Myanmar, but could not find a company to do it, so, with the great help of a poster on TA we were able to arrange an independent 2.5 tour of Myanmar, followed by a flight from Mandalay to Chang Mai where we had a fair bit of downtime, before flying home via Bangkok, where we spent another few days.  Myanmar is a great country and it was wonderful to be able to tour at leisure, rather than just have a couple of days in each base, whilst rushing around, but sadly another casualty of world events.

 

The tours we have done for those and other travels have been brilliant, with some top hotels in some places, though we did not use the top hotels in places like Dubai, Hong Kong and Colombo, where there are perfectly good alternatives.  It takes a lot of planning, which I enjoy, but prices overall are way down on the prices of the expensive cruises.  We would make sure now (covid times) that we have one package to cover everything for extra protection, but our disruption insurance gave good cover for previous jaunts.

 

On a cruise ship we only use a cabin for sleeping and showering so no need for us to pay silly prices, but depends on the cruise itinerary.  We greatly enjoyed our terrace balcony on Boudicca to Mauritius from Liverpool, but got that as a reduced-price upgrade.  We would never have an interest in a Fred balcony, because he allows smoking on them, so those prices have no relevance to us.  I agree the “Terrace Cabins” he has now are useless with no private space and not even any on sun on the prom decks of those ships, though I understand they were popular on HAL.  DH is a sun lover, so no matter what cabin we book he still wants on deck for full sun most days.  We very  much like the Renaissance ships, (which we have used at times since our first cruise on Minerva II), for the deck space, but liked our balcony on Azamara (an upgrade bid).  All Fred’s ships have a lot of space for the passengers, even if they get fully booked in the future, (because of the extensive deck space above the Crow’s nest where we have never seen more than a handful of people on recent cruises with reduced capacity).  The smaller P&O ships are also OK if you seek out the top decks, but balconies are dead cheap on P&O anyway.  We book all holidays (including cruises) because of the itinerary, but £300 pppn is way above what we would pay for any.  Enjoy your future holidays,

 

Barbara

 

Above both sound amazing cruises - 

For a proper private balcony Saga  is cheaper.

Freds  itineries are often very good but I would choose Saga over Fred now as it’s also a much better standard.
The ships are new, door to door car service is great, all inclusive, included excursions, price guarantee etc

i can’t see Fred being able to compete for much longer with current prices.

Also I hate having tips automatically added - even if they can be removed.

And another thing ! Fred does not do any adults only cruises any more - critical for me.

33 minutes ago, yorkshirephil said:

I like premium bonds, they are tax free too, I have averaged around 1/1.2% in the last few years so no complaints, always look forward to checking and there is the opportunity to win a good amount, its a bit like playing the lotto but putting your ticket back in if you loose. You've Got To Ask Yourself One Question: 'Do I Feel Lucky? ' Well, Do Ya, Punk?

Me too - next up is feb 2 - this could be it !! Premium all the way.

1 hour ago, kalos said:

 

I don't think it has to be more Paul 

 

https://www.pocruises.com/travel-health-advisories/flexible-cancellation-policy

 

If your holiday is unaffected by our latest pause but you would like to reschedule, you can take advantage of our free flexible transfer policy up to the date the balance for your holiday is due. This means that if you have a Select Price or Early Saver booking you can:

• Transfer your booking to any P&O Cruises holiday currently on sale (and not just to those within the next 12 months).

• Transfer your booking to a cruise of higher or lower value (and not just of a higher value, as is usually the case).

• Transfer your booking an unlimited number of times (and not just once).

• Transfer your booking free of charge.

 

Should you wish to transfer your booking you should call our Customer Contact Centre or your travel agent if you booked with them.

3 minutes ago, tring said:

We both transferred mini cash ISA's to staocks and shares ISA's (trackers) early last year and they have gained a lot. 

 

I have another cash ISA due to mature in a day or two and am at a loss what to do with it.  I am feeling inclined to just let it go into a rock bottom interest, easy access ISA as the difference in interest I can get in another fixed term one is negligible. 

Tring - rather than rock bottom why not buy premium bonds ? Instant access -  I get a return on mine - not a lot about 1.5% but I do have the max allowed - but may win big. If you are not that concerned about rate it’s worth a go.

5 minutes ago, thornegirl said:

I changed a cruise booked for July 2023 which was over £4K to a cruise in April 2023, for just over £2K on Tuesday.  No amendment fee at all.  That was through the Derbyshire travel agent.  The April 2023 cruise is an early saver fare

 

I think early saver is treated same as select price for changes. But not saver.
booking conditions say new one must be more - but it’s obviously discretionary. 
good for you. 

I have the max amount of premium bonds - over the last 2 years I have had 1.5% return. 
still waiting for the big one.

28 minutes ago, Cpt Pugwash said:

Yes it is Select Price i booked was for the Med in Oct 2023 but fancy the Baltics now. 

Reckon you will be ok to upgrade then - good luck . We have had some great Baltic cruises.

if you have a select price booking you have 

“Flexibility to change your booking” which I think means you can transfer without a charge if the new package is within 12 months (or 6 months for world cruise ) and more expensive. I think if you do not have a select price then it’s treated as cancellation and charges apply - but may depend which agent you get !

32 minutes ago, NorbertsNiece said:

Day 10 / 67

 

Good morning.  We have arrived in La Gomera. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Good morning NN.

3 hours ago, AlanCruise said:

Reply to PaulAtSea - you need to do the locator form for return to UK within 48 hours of your return (I think of the arrival time?). It doesn't matter if you are coming from the ship or a hotel. The only exception seems to be for cruises directly from a UK port where there is a longer deadline.
 

And regarding a test failure you can probably do it again at the airport. We only booked the day before for fly cruise to Canaries so no time for Chronomics package. We did a test at the airport (Bristol) before the flight. Costs more but got results in about 30mins.

Thanks Alan

So it is a fly cruise !

you test everyone who needs testing after 9pm the night before the flight.

Upload the photos etc.

laptop or phone will work if they can get onto the internet and use 4G if no WiFi available .

then wait for confirmation email with certificates.

Good luck .

I thought the after 9pm test was only if you were flying out overseas to meet a ship ? 

if from the UK the testing is done at the port ?

it was when I went from the UK ?

Just now, amajaa said:

Thanks all, so I was correct in what I thought. It was a bit confusing though.

Yes you are correct and it’s confusing.

10 minutes ago, DiLC said:

Should read phone and laptop

Assume you are on a fly cruise DiLC ? Have you already booked the chronomics package ?

UK EHIC is for EU nationals resident in the uk.

GHIC is for UK citizens and replaces EHIC

 But … in my case , I am a UK citizen and my wife is Finnish and we live in the UK  and she has right to remain.

Because of this she also gets a GHIC as she is married to me , and I also get an EHIC as I am married to her !!!

so we get both each !! And have got them.

so if you are a “dependant” (which includes being married) to an EU citizen who has right to remain and you live in the UK you both get reciprocal rights for both cards.

very little difference except the Norway Iceland bit.

paul

5 minutes ago, DiLC said:

Hi 

What happens if your 9pm chronomics test doesn’t work? Is there a back up system?

Thanks

Hi - this is my fear as well  - I’ve been looking at Gatwick airport testing - drive through or shuttle bus -- on the P&O forum - P&O fly cruise organise the Gatwick testing for you apparently.

I’d much rather do it that way. 
Marella don’t provide this -  but I would pay extra to have it done at a test site at the airport.

paul