junglejane

@Tiki_Koro As someone on the cruise now, who is flying out of Heathrow on disembarkation day 8/1, I’m nervously waiting to hear about your “harrowing experience.”

I confirmed that Crown Grill is closed on the nights that Sabatini’s is open. The manager who runs both said that there is a shortage of staff, especially cooks, needed to run both simultaneously. He said the problem is getting the staff through UK immigration.

Onboard now. Sabatini’s is only open for dinner on two nights on our cruise: the nights we’re in Liverpool and Glasgow.

We'll be boarding on July 20. Sorry to hear the WiFi is awful. Interested to know how full the ship is. Hope you have a great cruise and can manage to post.

Well said @HappiestWhenCruising. I hope @Yehootu feels better soon.

That's interesting to know. It's true that I always book through a TA. Always happy to learn new info from CC posters.

There's no place online to book the Princess "ship direct to airport" transfer.

Regarding the question of using OBC for the airport transfer, I think the answer may depend on whether it is a simple "ship to airport" transfer versus the ones that include a sightseeing excursion such as Stonehenge or Windsor Castle on the way to LHR or LGW. When I look on my personalizer at the shore excursions from Southampton, the only ones that are listed are the latter kind. So if you book the sightseeing transfer, you can do it on the personalizer and use OBC. But if you book a simple "ship to airport" transfer, I don't think you can do those on the personalizer. We have a 2:40 pm flight and would've liked to go to Windsor Castle but realized we didn't have enough time. So we added the regular airport transfer through our TA. I don't know what happens if you wait until you're onboard to book that kind of transfer. We paid $59 pp.

I'm guessing she means that she got tested the morning of the last full day (LeHavre) in order to fly to the US on disembarkation day; she tested positive so had to miss her excursion to Normandy and go into hotel quarantine instead of flying home as planned. Of course now that the test-to-fly requirement has been eliminated by the US, more people will fly home not realizing they're positive.

Thanks. Good to know. Sounds like it's not the best option on days when we want to be first off the ship.

What time does the suite breakfast at Sabatini's usually open? Wondering about ports where we need to get off the ship first thing.

Thanks very much @insidecabin for all the photos and helpful information. How did the tender boarding process work for elite priority? I have an early private tour in Guernsey so that's the one port tender port where I would be in a hurry to get off the ship.

Can you expand on that? Any additional information about the tender service? I assume they'll prioritize people on ship excursions, which is unfortunate for me since I generally don't do ship tours. Crowded tenders have been mentioned frequently as a possible source of spread of Covid. My upcoming cruise will have 3 tender ports.

Thanks @insidecabin and I hope you'll post more when you have a chance and as the cruise progresses. Is Sabatini's open for dinner? Do you know how many passengers onboard?

Thank you very much and I hope you can post more updates. Do you know if they are quarantining some people in their rooms, or is everyone being moved? Have you had any experience with room service, and how slow or timely is it? How crowded is the seating in the dining rooms and buffet? Thanks again for any further details you have time to post.

As someone who is going on a cruise on the Emerald Princess in a little over a month, I'd like this thread to stay open and on topic. I'm hoping for more updates on what's happening on the Emerald Princess.

Removing the testing to fly requirement relieves a lot of stress, and this is the next step I'd like to see happen. No matter how careful you are with masking, you can't eliminate the risk of getting Covid, especially on a cruise with 3 tender ports as we will have on the 7/20 Emerald sailing. We're planning to avoid the ship excursions in order to avoid the big tour buses, but there's no getting around the need to use the tenders and (at least occasionally) the elevators, and the need to take your mask off to eat and drink. If despite my best efforts I still get Covid, I'd rather quarantine in the stateroom I carefully selected and paid for.

How much are people adhering to the new mask requirement? Any enforcement?

With a 2:40 pm flight she won't have to kill too much time. We wanted to do the Princess transfer that stops at Windsor Castle on the way to Heathrow, but there wasn't enough time to reliably make it to a 2:40 pm flight.

Yes I'm flying BA LHR-PHX on 8/1. I'll post about my experience afterward. I keep hoping that the US drops the re-entry testing requirement. We'll be on the Emerald Princess and the recent sailings have reported that Princess offers testing onboard on the day before disembarkation to those with same day flights. Of course things constantly seem to change. But whatever happens I'll post about it.

I'm flying out of LHR on a 2:40 pm flight on a Monday which I booked with EZ Air. We booked the Princess transfer separately (through our TA) and there was no option at this stage to pick what time. I'm assuming that onboard they will collect disembarkation information and make sure people get on early enough transfer buses.

OK I just tried this and it worked. Right now the Emerald Princess is only showing the Crown Grill as available for specialty dining reservations. I've been following the recent posts about the Emerald and it sounds like the availability of Sabatini's is uncertain and dependent on staffing issues. So I made us a reservation at Crown Grill on the Medallion app and it zeroed out just as you said.

If staying in a suite, do you need to make a reservation on the app if you want to take advantage of the complimentary specialty dining on embarkation day? Or do you just show up?

We're on the July 20 sailing and enjoying your review. In addition to everything else, I'm paying attention to the apparent weather and how you're dressing in port. Obviously layers are important but it also looks like maybe it's cooler than I imagined.

Legitimate N95's never have earloops. We wear KN95's because they have earloops, which are more comfortable but often don't keep the mask as tight against your face as an N95. We get our KN95's from Armbrust American. They are made in the USA to KN95 standards. https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/blog/12-signs-you-have-a-fake-n95-kn95-or-kf94-mask/