2irisheyes

The Wilkies - so does your cousin travel without insurance? Even with an EHIC (previously E111) your cousin would be entitled to the same treatment as Portuguese nationals. This would not be in private hospitals but hospitals like NHS ones.

TOMOGP - Try Able2travel. Good luck - let us know how you get on.

Is it a coincidence that we hear much of norovirus nowadays whereas we rarely hear of food poisoning. Of course someone other than passengers would be to blame for food poisoning. Hmm, compensation claims etc - what, me cynical.

Southern railways runs the slower cheaper trains but not direct on Sundays (not sure about Saturdays). We have done it on fast trains (Waterloo), slow trains (Victoria) and by National Express. VCS is not the sort of place you would want to hang about in. Busy and crowded. There are small eateries and seats. People moving around all the time. We have usually only spent 30 minutes there. For me I would go with the National Express coach rather than Cunard coach. When you get off the coach, after reclaiming your bags which the driver lifts off, it is only a short few steps to where taxis pull up and the possibility of a share makes it cheaper. If you are less mobile Cunard coach might be better option. Tickets bought in advance (online) are often cheaper. Good luck.

balf - One of my heart valves has been replaced twice but I have been able to get cover from Able2travel and some other companies. I am not on warfarin as it is a tissue valve (not mechanical) and therefore warfarin is not required. I have also used All Clear but Able2travel has proved a better option for me.

Just as a matter of interest I have today completed the Insure and Go medical questionnaire for myself and OH for a trip in April, worldwide but excluding USA, Canada and Caribbean. OH would be covered for his one condition but my conditions would be excluded and I was instructed to phone them for assistance which I have not done. So it seems there are occasions when the online questionnaire does not work. I do have a list as long as my arm some of which are more serious than others. The questions were the same as Able2travel and other companies use by phone so I fail to understand why they will not cover me unless they just do not cover more serious conditions like banks.

On Arcadia in September I got 4 glasses of fizz!

Did you have a big CC on your forehead;)

I find this case sad, if the male is not prepared to wear a jacket each evening , and 3 evenings with a tie for the sake of his wife. I can not understand why a lot of American males would sooner turn up in jeans and T Shirt for their meals, but most of the American males do like to look smart along with their ladies who always look good. At least it looks like they have made an effort. You can eat in the Restaurant or Kings Court in shorts if you want at breakfast or lunch or in the Red Lion for lunch or go for afternoon tea. You could cross the Atlantic on other ships, but I am sure you would feel the movement of the ship in bad weather. Crossing the Atlantic with Cunard I would say it is an experience, loads of Brits and Americans do it each year. If you do book a crossing I really hope you enjoy it.:D

I agree with this. Would it be such a great hardship to wear a tie etc for a few hours now and then. If I were a man I would rather suffer the tie than have to eat in the buffet or stateroom on a formal night. It is not always possible to have everything to suit our own preferences even when on holiday.

I think someone wrote that Premier inn might extend your room vacating time to 1pm if you ask nicely :)

Correct - it was me (also from the Garden of England). Don't know if it is the same for Premier Inn West Quay but for Premier Inn City Centre (New Road) they will extend for free to 1 pm but it is not possible to pay for an extension until 4 pm as is possible at some Premier Inns.

I have had this problem on laptop when using Internet Explorer. As previous poster said, it works ok on Google Chrome. The way I have got it to work on IE is to go on to tools (wrench symbol top right) and click on compatibility view settings. Enter the name of the website you are using if not already selected and click ADD. If that doesn't work use a different browser. I have also had a few other problems with IE but ok on Chrome.

We have looked at various things to do until our 3 pm embarkation time in December. On leaving our hotel (budget, no lounge) take taxi to port around 12, drop cases, back in taxi to town, have lunch and a wander, pick up some wine and taxi back to port 2.30 ish. Hopefully by dropping cases earlier they may be in cabin when we board. I also looked at location of cinemas but over a mile from terminal. The weather may well determine what we do.

The changes certainly won't detract from our enjoyment of the holiday. Not worth getting too excited about the changes in the grand scheme of things.

Of course if someone is really desperate to get an early boarding time they could arrange to get married on board but their guests would have to do like everyone else.;)

We usually travel the day before despite only being 2.5 hours away on a good day. We partly use the M25 - need I say more. If I were still working and really bothered about journey time I might think about travelling the evening before. It is possible to check in late to hotels as long as they know you will be arriving late. This time is a problem as many booked before the new system came into use. By next year more people will know what to expect but then may be it could have changed again by then. Happy days!

In my cynical way I have had a suspicion that some cases could be food poisoning. As has been said cases of nv are quoted as "suspected". How often are samples tested. My guess is almost never so how can cruiselines be sure. Of course if it were food poisoning there would be many claims for compensation so it is in the cruiselines' interest to declare it is nv. Is it a coincidence that we hear very little of food poisoning nowadays but we hear a great deal about nv. Keep washing those hands ..................

I was also unsure whether or not you (daiB) were on the cruise or were quoting someone else. Thanks for relaying the message as I am not on FB etc, etc. Let's hope that people get the message - turn up close to your slot and it should be plain sailing! It is good to hear how it is working in practice.

Before the earliest time for those not self disembarking?

Think of the chaos caused by someone with 3 cases trying to get of along with a few 100 people.....

Fortunately we only have one manageable pull along case each. My question was tongue in cheek so to speak but thank you for the comment.

If there is a cut off time for self disembarkation, what would happen if I/we missed the end time. Would they force me/us to remain on the ship for the next cruise;)

It would be uneconomical. Red Funnel operate 365 days with a sailing every hour, most of the year, from early morning to late at night and carry approx 2.8 million passengers a year.

Two buses, two drivers between the hours of, say, 11 - 3 with a charge being levied. The economics would depend on the take up. I wasn't advocating a service 365 day a year, only on cruise days. There are many non-cruise days in the winter when several ships are on world cruises. The parties who wish to solve the traffic problems could cough up something, that is if they genuinely do wish to improve the situation.

We have never used CPS. Have used a car park with shuttle bus - away from the port - and there was no wait in the approach to drop off and much cheaper. Have also used taxis (from hotel or train/coach stations) and never experienced a delay.

There would be less cars waiting to park for the American lines as there would be many more Americans boarding (my experience).

Southampton manages to run the City Link bus for ferries starting at Central Station and with a couple of stops in the town. Why not something on cruise days (to town centre only) but not starting until after passengers have disembarked otherwise the taxi companies would complain loudly.

Yes, John - that is a point that I don't think has been clearly addressed/communicated to all yet by P&O and it is what a lot of people on the FB pages have been asking. Comments 'in passing' are really not enough to reach everyone.

 

I also agree with you about communication via FB not being adequate. Not every one uses it for one thing and yes, it is always very difficult to find stuff.

 

I think an official statement and explanation issued to all is very much needed to clear up all the confusion that there clearly is. I would be putting a statement on FB, on these forums, on the website, on the Personalisers and also emailing it to passengers along with the booking/embarkation info.

 

But then I am a firm believer in communication! Yes, they do have to 'spell it out'. I was also schooled in that, Josy ie 'that when writing anything down for someone to work from then there should be no room for ambiguity and most people don't read things in the same way as I do.'

There is a statement on the eticket advising passengers to arrive no earlier or later than their given embarkation time and a phone number is given in case of significant delay. This statement was not on etickets previously. If passengers cannot read and understand this statement what makes anyone think they would bother to read/understand it if printed elsewhere. Some people can't be bothered to read the information they are given and some choose to ignore it believing that it applies to everyone but themselves. Those people may take notice if they are made to wait for some time.

Depending on the time you have in Vigo you could go to Santiago de Compostela by train. Uphill mainly to station so a taxi would be useful then a walk from the station at Santiago to reach Cathedral. For refreshments we went into the Parador just near the Cathedral and then had a drink in a side street away from tourists. Train journey is about one hour and reasonably priced. Last time in Vigo we walked uphill from the town for good views over the town and then when back in the town found an old bar to have a drink in. Very Spanish with no tourists. Vigo, once away from the port, is quite hilly.

We took a bus to Camara de Lobos and a taxi from there to Cabo Girao. The driver waited for us while we looked at the views etc.

kevinyork - so the earlier you book the better chance you stand of getting your preferred time slot. If many want to board between, say, 11.30 and 1.30 when all those slots are taken later bookers (or later check-in onliners) will have to accept a later boarding time. Do all passengers have to check-in online?

re the question about photo taking on Anthem (pete14) - would the cruiseline be able to access your passport photo if they have the number. I wouldn't have thought so. Some friends on Azamara mentioned something about photo ID when checking in online.

C ould you have self-disembarked? We did this on Oriana on October 1st. off the ship at 8.30 wheeling our suitcases. No having to find your bags. Perfect.

Indeed we could have self-disembarked but we never dreamt that we would have such a long wait for a taxi. We had never had such a long wait before. We have self-disembarked before on P&O when we had to catch an 8.30 National Express coach. Only problem was getting a lift which were very busy with umpteen porters with wheelchairs (empty). They did not seem very pleased that we were trying to use the lift with luggage at that time - too bad. To finish the story off - the coach had broken down on its way to Southampton so we had to get the 9.30 one and missed our connection in London, hey ho. Hopefully it will be a doddle this time.

On our latest cruise with P&O (Aurora May this year) we were given quite a late disembarkation time. We had a train booked at 10.33 am. I tried to get an earlier time and the result was not much use. We eventually left the ship at around 9.30 am and had to wait ages for a taxi. The taxis were very slow in arriving. There were other ships in that day (with plenty of American passengers) and I assumed the taxi drivers preferred to go to them in the hope of better tips. I may be totally wrong here. We caught our train by the skin of our teeth. All credit to the taxi driver who drove like a man possessed after we asked him to hurry. On our upcoming cruise in December we will self-disembark as that was just too much hassle. As others have said, if disembarkation took place earlier then boarding could start earlier. Also it seems to me that many ships now depart Southampton at 4.30 pm (scheduled time) whereas a few years ago it was more like 6 pm. I don't know why this is.

On another thread, RCI posting about boarding times on the Quantum class ships and I am hoping it's not rolled out on the other ships ?

Which thread is it on as I am interested to read what is being said.