doog442

Hi. We've just done our tests at Lloyds and all good. I took the advice offered on here and contacted them beforehand just to confirm we were booked in. The pharmacist did the procedure (although let us do the nose swirling 🙃) and printed out the certificate . It took 20 minutes each.....don't forget your passport ! We can start packing for Friday 😂

Excellent, we're on the Enchanted this Friday, can't wait.

Lloyds pharmacies do the tests for £29.99 as someone kindly pointed out to me for our cruise this Friday. You can book online. I see there are two in Southampton within a 20 minute walk of the terminal but probably best getting them done before travelling down - just in case !

Thanks. None of my bookings were saved so I've had to follow your method. In our first seven days we now have a choice of 1820hrs or nothing until 2020 and later, absolutely brilliant and just the thing I didn't want on my first cruise back in five years. I'm now having to explain to the better half how my complete ineptitude in apparently booking something weeks back that hasn't materialised has left us with a headache before we even get on the ship next week. 🙄.. So it isn't "Dine my way " its "play with an app" ( that overheats and uses up the battery on my phone) and hope for the best. Strangely there's plenty of availability in the speciality restaurants, well how convenient.

First time Princess and now I'm confused (not difficult). We cruise on Friday and I definitely booked Amalfi for the first night at 1900hrs. I decided to book the same time and dining room for 14 days. It was 'saved' but saved where ? Can anyone help as when I go back in I'm getting only 1820 or 2020hrs thrown at me. Is it simply a case of turning up at whatever time and hoping for the best or will they have a record that I saved these dining times ? Are we all going to have a massive bun fight, do they send you to the bar with a bleeper (that always worked well)

I won't jump on the bandwagon and have a go at you. We do far more AI land based holidays where a turn down service is fully appreciated (notwithstanding we like to feel just a little bit 'special')....we always leave the room tidy but sand, sailing, sun and drinks glasses, towels trying to desperately dry before the morning....Its lovely to find some of these things addressed. At our price point on a cruise I would expect it, although I fully accept I might not need it.

I'm sorry to hear that you have Covid,. However firstly you are not quarantined, this is disinformation. You can do what you like, jump on a tube and go and see Big Ben, the sites and everything else. There is no quarantine in the UK. Walk out the door, hail a cab wear a mask if you're worried about giving it to someone else. That aside I'm struggling slightly but why would anyone go on a cruise ship if they were vulnerable? To a country where we have no rules or regulations anymore regarding Covid, where its treated simply as an inconvenience and to a place that still has one of the highest Covid rates on the planet ?

I'm not sure many people will agree with you but this has been debated a million times before. A virus spreads through human contact either directly or indirectly of course we all know this. As a result the more people you put into indoor confined spaces the higher risk of spread. That's not speculative its simply a fact .A cruise ship has one of the highest population densities going and of course the majority are mixing with each other. The UK government states in its FCDO ADVICE The confined setting on board and combination of multiple households enables COVID-19 to spread faster than it is able to elsewhere. https://www.gov.uk/guidance/cruise-ship-travel#:~:text=of the UK.-,Cruise ships and COVID-19,it is able to elsewhere. As I said earlier, risk assess it and make your own mind up. I'm cruising in two weeks and am aware I'm potentially going into a much higher than normal risk environment, far riskier than any other setting I'd ordinarily encounter at home. Of course the cruise line can try and mitigate the risk to prevent your 'petri dish' scenario but as I indicated cruise companies are walking a tightrope.

We have a Soton cruise coming up. We're doing the formal evenings to the hilt but for the rest in the MDR and speciality restaurants I'll be wearing chinos / long trousers and a collared shirt (polo or otherwise) so smart casual. The better half will be nicely and probably better dressed than me. Imagine a decent UK restaurant. It's our first time on Princess, we at least hope people don't take the mick. I really don't want a chav cruise or it will be goodnight tokyo.

Apologies, I picked this up elsewhere and was pointed here. Can you explain the 7 bus loads 'more quarantine time post cruise' ? There's no quarantine requirements in the UK, you're free to get off the ship and do what you like if you test positive. Would I be correct in assuming these are passengers returning to the US /Canada who may need to test negative before returning. In which case if they're put in a hotel the guidance is basically not to mix for 5 days from the date of the test, although only guidance, unenforceable and mostly ignored. Its just that your post sounds slightly alarmist (although I accept for those wanting to return home its a pain having to delay) but they won't be 'in quarantine'.

Can you clarify? There's no quarantine in the UK, are these folk who've tested positive prior to return to US / Canada and are simply staying at hotels until they test negative so they can return home.

If you are overly worried about the consequences of catching Covid my advice would be to give a cruising a miss (as some people still are). We need to be honest here and admit that a cruise ship is probably the worst place to be for any kind of virus or bug that's surface or air transmittable. We're now in that grey area where catching the virus is considered part of life but cruise companies are stuck between a rock and a hard place.

Hi...does everyone just take hard copies of their vaccination records to check in? I'm trying to upload them to the app but have lost the will to live just trying. I've converted them from pdf to jpeg but they only take one record and I have three. Cheers.

We had an incredible price for our upcoming Med cruise in July. I wouldn't expect this going forward into 2023 and that's how it panning out, not just with Princess and Cruising as general but every land based holiday company as well. Three months out appears to be the sweet spot across the spectrum but of course your cabin choice may be slightly limited if it was to suddenly take off. My guess is regular cruisers are more resolute but most people I know still won't entertain a cruise.

Living in UK reality land, how many single drinks (off the wine package) cost more than $12 (£9.50). Do cocktails fall under $12. I get the wine thing of course. I've heard beer for example is served in small bottles rather than pints (draft). It sounds like a headache, I thought the plus package was to designed to take a headache away from this, yet we seemingly have them moving the goal posts.

The plus package is one of the reasons we've returned to cruising and Princess have nailed it with the cost of this package. We'd diverted to land based all inclusive but we can now get a comparable price with the package and a balcony / mini suite than some of the typical resorts we go to. I appreciate they're different types of holidays but the cost of drinks / drink packages and wifi had pushed us away. I appreciate drinks packages are nothing new but many cruise lines have been taking the mick - this actually appears decent value when combined with the cruise cost.

Well I just downloaded the app last night and hell its clunky.....it actually froze my phone twice with a white screen - its a decent phone btw. As a first time user / cruiser with Princess I trust it gets better onboard or I'm going old school😉

Can I just say that their recent prices have blown the competition out of the water on this side of the pond (UK). As a first time cruiser with Princess this July I'll be interested in how they compare with P&0 and Celebrity...I expect more P&0 reading reviews of late. Anyway the price was too good to ignore so we'll dip our toe in the water and take things from there.