kruzseeka

What bugs me is that P&O can refuse boarding on the basis of such poor information. If you do tick that you have a cough should there not be a follow up question to at least be able to declare a medical condition which causes that? Not all coughs are viral infections and some are the result of a permanent medical condition. Of course they are making the Health Declaration a pointless exercise as anyone who is aware of this situation will of course tick 'No'. This is in addition to those who haven't bothered taking a Covid test or would lie about being positive if they have. But the most appalling aspect is that they say they will deny boarding to anyone without adequate insurance when it's impossible to get cover for this contingency. Including from their own recommended insurance partner! On that basis everyone should be denied boarding irrespective of their health. Talk about duplicitous! P&O are either totally incompetent in terms of foreseeing the problems they are creating, completely heartless in their treatment of their customers or cynically trying to cover their backs when in fact the loopholes are evident for all to see - at least to those who follow these boards and other social media which are highlighting the problem. Sadly many will be unaware. But I for one will not be booking any more cruises with them until some resolution to their one-sided approach is found - kick you off your cruise, no medical verification for the reason, no refund, almost certainly no insurance claim cannot be a sustainable trading position! I wish Megabear2 every success in highlighting this issue. And thank you for your efforts. The sooner it hits the press the better.

Well that's a fly in the ointment! Other options? The home tests through a firm which verifies the result? For security I'd go to one which does the video'd testing in case the insurers may say someone else did the test. (Could be a get-out for anyone who decided they didn't want to go for some reason and could find someone positive to do it for them!!!!)

Just checked that testing centres in our area are still doing certified testing and I could theoretically get an appointment today or tomorrow. It costs around £30 but if i tested +ve in the days before a cruise i might be tempted to get an externally verified test as proof - it would perhaps be worth it to be be more certain of an insurance pay out.

Sorry can't answer that one. We were on a 12 day cruise and developed symptoms on day 6 and 7 so certainly picked it up on board.

We had a letter from the ship detailing our date of testing positive (as determined by the ship's medics) and time in quarantine. It specifically stated that we may need it for insurance purposes.

And you too! Off on Sunday iirc. Have a wonderful time. 😉

Yes received FCC and insurance pay-out. We were very surprised and as we hadn't cruised since before the pandemic, hadn't realised that FCC were paid out at that time. Yes there was a daily set amount in the policy (additional cruise cover) and a maximum payment quoted. From your experience it seems we were very lucky. I must check the policy to see if changes have since been made but this was only in August so fairly recent though of course the FCC situation has now changed.

We were isolated on an Aurora cruise a couple of months ago. I tested positive and was told I must go to an isolation cabin immediately. My husband tested negative and was given a choice. He was told he could either accompany me or stay in our original cabin in which case he was free to wander around the ship, go ashore (though not on any excursions), not use the buffet and here, our recollections vary: he thought he could use the dining room but I was fairly sure he was required have to have room service for his meals. Anyway he elected to come with me. The next day he didn't feel well so the ship's medics came to test him and he too was +'ve. At that time they were still doing FCC but when calculating that they counted 6 days for me but only 5 for my husband i.e. didn't count the first day he was with me but testing negative. I wonder if this is muddying the waters inasmuch as in our case and possibily some of the examples we've seen reported, the negative person had a choice - go into isolation with their partner or potentially continue with their holiday. I can see how they would then not include the second (negative) passenger in the FCC as they weren't required to isolate (although whatever choice was made the nature of the holiday for a couple is ruined). Our insurers adopted the same approach for the pay-out for cabin confinement - 6 days for me and 5 for my husband although, like me, he was in isolation for 6 days - but day 1 was his choice and not enforced. (We had taken out cruise extension cover with our travel insurers.) We were lucky in this respect but I wonder how long insurers who do offer this as part of the Covid cover will continue to do so. It's certainly not low risk for them with the number of cases rising. I think the safest bet at the moment for cruise lines are 7 day cruises so they can off-road passengers before they run into too many problems with passengers needing isolating.

And what is even worse no refund for the difference paid for a Select Fare booking! That should be a given.

After all these years wouldn't that have been lovely? 🤗 Good planning to get your tickets ahead of time. The queue at the station can be quite long. Have a wonderful time - let us know how you get on.

We had a very wet day on one occasion in Stavanger and went to the Oil Museum just for something to do. It was surprisingly interesting - if you've not been before it may be worth a visit.

That's pretty much what we did on our first exploration. The first village is Riomaggiore. There is a well paved walk in the cliff side called the Via dell 'Amore which it says is just over 1Km long. If you can manage that it's lovely and worth doing and takes you to the second village Manarola. Oops! Just looked it up and it's closed until 2024! So the train it is to Manarola! But, I wanted to alert you to the access to Corniglia which could well be an issue wrt your knee problem. The train station is more or less at sea level - the village is perched on the top of the hill. It's quite a climb! There are steps, over 300! Although it's a pretty village it doesn't have quite the same 'feel' as the others which are clustered around harbours so you may want to miss that one out. https://www.italiarail.com/train-station/corniglia-train-station-cinque-terre-guide In which case you'd get the train again from Manarola to Vernazza perhaps the largest and prettiest village of them all with beautiful views and photo ops. We usually spend more time here. The cliff side nature of the villages runs out by the time you get to Monterosso which has a small beach, prom and cafes. But nice easy strolling. Using the Cinque Terre card you buy at the train station in La Spezia you use the train like a hop on hop off service. Last time we went you bought the Cinque Terre card at a separate booth from the ordinary ticket sales - just have a look around in the station entrance to see if there is a dedicated sales point. We got a taxi up to the station in La Spezia the first time we went (it is walkable - uphill though fairly gentle) to get a head start to make the most of the day. It's an easier walk from the station through the town downhill to the waterfront on the way back. This is a trip I'd looked at - wish we were going now. Have a great time.

Yes thanks we're fine. We did our first 'return to cruising' a couple of months ago on Aurora but ended up in quarantine for 6 days! We were well looked after though and enjoyed Norway until our activities were curtailed. Not put us off but we've nothing else booked until next year but I'm on the look out. Hope you're OK too - when's your trip? Have you done Cinque Terre before? Happy to pass on our thoughts to perhaps make the most of your time there if you're not familiar with the area. 🙂

Hi happy v 🙂 We're big fans of doing the Cinque Terre from La Spezia. Last time we even got the ferry from Vernazza to Porto Venere then the local bus back to La Spezia. Fabulous. Needs a bit of planning plus the local train/ferry/bus timetables but very doable (with safety margins built in! ). If you think you might want to do it or just the Cinque Terre, I can tell you more of our experiences. But a great stop. 👍

And much appreciated too. I was aware of another option at booking but never gave it much thought homing in on the 'Select your own cabin' as I knew this is what I wanted to do. But it's clearly a trap for the unwary - one which they may come to regret. Thanks for the clarification.

If it is something for which you have paid extra, surely at the least, there should be some expectation that the difference in cost between Saver v Select should be reimbursed. It is generally hundreds of pounds more and within a range that I would think would be significant for the customer. If they really wanted to be petty they could withdraw the free shuttle bus perk as far as I'm concerned! As has already been said though it's the spirit in which this is being handled and P&O should be able to recognise that being deprived of the cabin you have chosen (bought) for whatever reason is going to upset passengers especially if they end up in a cabin where you definitely wouldn't choose to be (under the gym, jacuzzi etc). This is in addition to the financial loss of paying for something which you don't get. I can understand the T&C's must cover various contingencies for the Company as cabins may be out of commission for any number of reasons - though I suspect they could have anticipated this situation and taken any cabins likely to be needed for isolation out of the picture from the get-go or at least acted much earlier to stop booking them and offering passengers who had already booked some choices w.r.t a change of cabin well in advance of sailing. (One week out seems disgraceful - unless now they are having much higher numbers to isolate than they had anticipated with the change in testing procedures?) It all comes down to good will and in this situation it is sadly lacking. P&O are really shooting themselves in the foot with this imo.

Yes I would have to settle for the smaller one too and would be adequate for us. When catering for more there's always the backstop of the oven! I'll just have to wait until stocks become available which I think may be a while! Thanks.

Thank you very much - yes it has been helpful. We went to JL today to do a bit of research and they had that model on display (though not in stock - I think there has been quite a run on them!) so I can visualise what you are describing. One lady was ordering one and her friend already had one and was waxing lyrical about it. I think that's the one I'm most interested in getting after hearing such positive comments but i think it may be a waiting game until new stock arrives! Thanks again for your reply.

Also been very interested in this topic. Like you there are only two of us and I have been wondering how it's possible to cook different items at the same time - but a friend tells me that you can get fryers with two compartments which I think may suit me better. She swears by air fryers too. (It's a Ninja) I'll be interested to hear comments on any advantages of separate trays/compartments from those who have experience of using fryers with or without this feature.

Sometimes I think limited availability may not be a result of lots of pre-bookings but perhaps a reflection of what the excursion is and if there is limit on numbers for the activity eg Rib Adventure so from the get-go there won't be a lot of capacity. We once did an Everglades trip on an Airboat. It was fully booked but we went on the waiting list then they notified us they had been able to book an extra boat (albeit at silly o'clock). However we were very pleased to accept and it was fabulous but the numbers were determined by the capacity of the boat and how many boats they could book.

Yes we came back off Aurora two weeks ago and all dining options were available. However we too had the e-mail prior to sailing and nothing was bookable in advance - it just said book on-board so hopefully it will be the same situation for you. I guess they are covering their backs as the situation may vary from ship to ship or even on the same ship from week to week. Hope you have a good trip and everything is open.

Don't know how big the safes are on Ventura and Iona but just got off Aurora and a guesstimate would be around 9" x 10" x 16" (H x D x W) internal dimensions. The door opening would be a little smaller. Hopefully someone can be more precise but my feeling is that the safes are very similar in size on the P&O ships we've been on.

Still begs the question about those who already have purchased appropriate insurance before booking their holiday which then turns out will not cover the changed destination. Passengers may not be aware their insurance does not cover the change, P&O have put passengers in that situation because of the change what are you supposed to do? Buy a new policy which does cover the new port?

That's interesting. I was told categorically on two occasions by Reception that it was in hand so I should have been reimbursed by now. I'll follow up again. Thanks.

That's quite a thought. What happens if you have bought the appropriate insurance for the ports you were expecting to visit but your policy doesn't cover the change of destination? Given P&O make such a point of insisting you have suitable cover how do they square making changes to a different country which may not be covered? I've just done a search and whilst some insurers would include Morocco with European cover the implication is some won't! I wonder if they will inform passengers of that possibility?