Stevio

1 hour ago, Notts1964 said:

According to news reports, the government “a government source reported” are probably going to scrap plans for domestic use of COVID vaccine passports ie. to go to festivals, theatre etc.

No official announcements of plans yet, as far as I know though.

However a COVID vaccine “passport” for travel purposes (presumably in case required by other countries) is already included on our NHS Apps on mobile devices in England. I had my second shot yesterday and the record of it with a bar code is on my App today.

 

That is how I interpret the story.

With the addition that there will be no new legal requirement for large venues to require a "vaccine passport".

Of course if a venue or business decides it wants proof of vaccination such as a pub or cruise ship there is conversely nothing to prohibit that either.

Agree that the NHS app is super efficient at recording all the vaccine details by the following day.

3 hours ago, ace2542 said:

So that means I don't have to buy an I Phone then does it? 😲😀😀😀😀😀😀😀

No you will be OK with Android... But looks like the NHS QR code proof of vaccination will now become the preferred method of proving both vaccination and recent test results.

I note MSC added it to their list of acceptable "proof of vaccination" methods for their UK cruises Q&A page.

3 minutes ago, island lady said:

 

Is this recent?  Have never seen it before...maybe part of new Covid requirements?   I sure have never experienced it in the past on any of the ships.  I know they issue bands for the kids for tracing...but have not seen them do it for the adults yet.  

Yes it is part of the new Covid rules for a return to sailing. I believe MSC have a similar system in place on their current cruises from UK & Europe.

So I assume RCI cruisers in future may be carrying a seapass card while wearing both a Wowband & a Tracelet... We have never been so well tracked.

21 minutes ago, island lady said:

 

What ship was that quoted from?  Have not been on RCI ship that did that ...yet anyway.  

 

 

 

 

 

Its part of RCI's new contact tracing policy. Can be found in their FAQ pages.

"All guests and crew will be issued a wearable called a Tracelet™ at the terminal to be worn during the cruise. The Tracelet™ supports contact tracing in the unlikely case of an onboard health concern. If you lose track of your Tracelet™, please contact Guest Services immediately. We’ll collect your Tracelet™ at the conclusion of the cruise."

The 50% limit was probably referring to the UK start-ups... From May 17 Maximum limits are 50% or 1000 passengers whichever lowest.

Currently MSC Virtuosa is on its second UK cruise under these restrictions. (So there is a LOT of space on that one.)

If all goes to UK Gov plans June 21 will see lifting of all restrictions & cruise ships back to normal capacity if they wish, but still UK only residents around UK ports.

1 hour ago, KeithJenner said:

That would make sense to me.

 

I wonder why they never went for UK only cruises. I’d have jumped on one of them (if it wasn’t for the vaccination issue) but never even considered going to Greece.

 

I know loads of people who went abroad when things opened up last summer, but don’t know anyone planning to try travelling this year.

Agree… I think it was a big mistake for NCL to not do the UK only cruises this summer as most other cruise lines have.

Perhaps they were frightened off by the reputation of UK cruisers to try to drink back the cost of the cruise by the first couple of days on the free at sea.

Didn’t fancy MSC unvaccinated, so I am giving RCI a try this July, on which only the kids are unvaccinated so perhaps could have fitted your requirements.

Luckily I don’t think this RCI cruise will be chartered… Too expensive.

Cannot fathom how "American bacon" can be called bacon... One cut or bite and the stuff splinters like glass showering everywhere.

Now British bacon (sometimes called Canadian on some sailings) are thin slabs of floppy greasy & fatty gammon designed to stay put when cut into and of course much richer in essential artery clogging oils.

As to quantity, in service buffets, my Mrs has long ago perfected the art of just standing and staring at the carvery man until a huge heap of meat has accumulated.

You can always tell the Brit at the breakfast buffet as we are the ones with everything fried piled up and then covered in baked beans. And being British leaving a clean plate.

3 minutes ago, little britain said:

My friends are on July 11 4n cruise. The small print says the £45 “deal” applies to 5n and over.

 

Ahh. That will be it then... Mine is 7n.

38 minutes ago, metman12345 said:

hi guys i have a sailing on the 11th of july in the uk and if you look at the uk web site there is a offer of 45 pounds for the drinks but when go to the web site for my booking it says 79.80 i have tried to complain to rc but no one will talk to me in fact i have just spent 45 mins trying to get a manager to talk and i have been cut of conversation can anyone point or help me to deal with this thanks

photos from page and the first sailing is the ship i am on so it does show it 

 

 

Try delete all cookies, re sign in to your cruise and hit the plan my cruise button.

I am on the 25th July cruise and the £44.84 pp per day deluxe beverage package price is there for me.

My problem being, the refreshment package that I want is still full price so waiting for a sale on that one.

36 minutes ago, zap99 said:

In the UK there have been 127,000 adverse reactions to the virus. There won't be any long term studies on those folk as they are no longer with us.

The 127,000 death figure is not a reflection of adverse reactions, but the number of deaths recorded in the UK within 28 days of a vaccine administration. As this number is out of the first 30 million doses mainly given to the old and vulnerable it is in fact lower than the normal death rate expected under non pandemic conditions.

3 hours ago, sidari said:

The CDC clearly Refuse to learn from others such as MSC who now have two ships sailing out of Italy, the Buffet has worked well on Grandiosa with staff adding items you ask for to your plate so no customers handling the food. Costa have resumed sailing from Savona this week with Costa Smeralda and I am waiting on a reply from someone on the sailing as to whether the Buffet is being used.

I now wonder if MSC will base their ships elsewhere in the Caribbean in order for them to keep the Buffet's open.

Surely the current MSC system of staff serving buffet food from behind the counter will precisely fit the new CDC requirement of no self serve buffets.

18 hours ago, drpclarke said:

HUH??

 

So after seeing people comment on their changed itineraries, I decided just to look at mine and feel all good about how mine is the same..

 

BUT IT IS NOT!

 

I was leaving from Barcelona - now leaving from Genoa (geez, and I already got the plane tickets)..

and now one of the ports is MALTA? (Been there, done that, not a pleasant experience)..

 

and the ONLY REASON I know about these significant changes is because I happened to LOOK...

 

OMG

 

Is this NORMAL??

 

OH yeah..originally sailing from July 3-10; now it's July 4-11....so my flights are all screwed up.

 

Rachel

WOW.

I was just replying to your thread on how to get information from MSC when I saw this.

So sorry to hear what has happened and hope you can get something booked for later and you can get your flights sorted.

I just tried a test booking for MSC Seaside out of Genoa on 29th May which I do not think has any chance of going ahead for UK cruisers and found they would be happy to take my booking.

I am now relieved that I decided to take my around UK cruise this Summer with the more expensive Royal Caribbean. (Their larger looking casino swung it for me)

17 hours ago, drpclarke said:

Hello all!

 

I've seen several posts in which your cruises were cancelled or relocated....or you've seen information about how people from the UK can't get on the Italy cruises.....where is everyone getting this information? I feel like I am getting ALL of my information from you all and I can't find anything on the MSC website. I'm sure there is some "update" page or something. Help!

Thanks!

Rachel

Hi Rachel.

MSC certainly don't make it as easy to navigate their current relevant terms and conditions as they do to take bookings, but if you go to their health and safety measures page at...

https://www.msccruises.com/en-gl/MSC-Health-And-Safety-Measures.aspx

Scroll down to the FAQs, and their second FAQ is...Are their any travel restrictions for certain nationalities.. And the answer starts...For MSC Grandiosa and MSC Seaside sailings in the upcoming months, we will initially only welcome guests who are residents in the 26 European ‘Schengen’ countries.

Of course this could update at any time, but currently due to movement restrictions between the regions of Italy itself Grandiosa passengers cannot even disembark at other Italian ports.

You should also check the Italian government site about foreign travel as I believe tourism from UK  & US at the moment is not allowed.

Come to think of it, I have heard that the US Gov' is about to update their travel restrictions and I wouldn't be surprised to see Italy added to it.

I agree that it may be unlikely that Grandiosa sailings for folks from outside the Schengen area will be allowed or at best free from quarantines by this Summer.

   As to shore excursions, according to the "What its like cruising with Covid precautions" thread video  shows current April Grandiosa cruisers unable to disembark at all in Italian ports and a possible 5 day quarantine on return for anyone doing a ship excursion in Malta.

To try to sift out the more likely to sail of the original OP list...

Less of a bang but a fairly impressive whimper...

• Adventure of the Seas Sailings from Nassau, Bahamas beginning June 2021.

• Vision of the Seas Sailings from Bermuda beginning June 2021.

• Jewel of the Seas sailings from Limassol, Cyprus beginning June 2021.

• Odyssey of the Seas Inaugural season out of Haifa, Israel from June to October 2021. Available for residents of Israel only.

• Anthem of the Seas Ocean Getaways and British Isles itineraries from Southampton exclusively for UK residents.

All with about 60% capacity, (or as many rooms as they can sell whichever higher).

2 hours ago, IntrepidFromDC said:

Has anyone had success with the status match?  I submitted page grabs showing my CCL Platinum status and they said I need to send a "membership card", which I don't think we get (at least I haven't).  So I tried attaching a pic of a "sail and sign" card showing platinum color and now no response...  Thanks in advance.

I applied for status match with the online application form at the start of March with a  page grab of my platinum plus status with NCL.... And heard absolutely nothing from them.

So a few days ago I tried again to apply and the screen came up "match unsuccessful" with a small note saying that the match was already made.

I had to sign in for a new user account using the same details as used for the match to find out my Voyager club member number & to see that I am Gold, as expected & membership backdated to the day I applied.

So it seems that your "no response" could be a good thing.... They just haven't told you.

13 minutes ago, BirdTravels said:

The tease has been on the web site for a couple of weeks (it came out shortly after Royal announced their limited restart from the Bahamas and Bermuda). I think that they were preparing to make a restart announcement, but delayed due to the dynamic changes. This tease has been discussed on several threads. 

Oddly I think the "exciting news" announcement came to the UK & Europe sites a week after US....

 The difference now on UK site is that the "Take All" offer has now reduced to "Take Two". 😮

Perhaps they really are going to announce some UK only cruises for this Summer.

Hopefully they will as NCL are currently about the only major cruise line not to do so.

26 minutes ago, TSUmom said:

Praying along with you but apparently most of Europe is going back into lock downs with a "new strain" of covid.   So Far Italy, Germany and England.  

Hopefully England is about to come out of our lockdown from May... Though you are correct that the rest of Europe seems to be closing down again. Heard that France is also locking down so it looks like even if UK does come out of lockdown in June there may be nowhere for us to sail to.

Three cruises cancelled so far for us... Another two to go.

I would have thought that vaccination would be an obvious requirement as it is with all the major cruise lines that have announced a re start of cruises to nowhere around UK for this year... 

But then came MSC with a promise of "open to all" vaccinated or non-vaccinated, adults and children on the Magnifica based at Southampton for Summer.

True they will only take UK passengers around UK ports of call and the impositions of masking, distancing, trackers and repeated and increased testing for those not vaccinated will put many off.

https://www.cruisecritic.co.uk/news/5977/

But there is now talk of MSC adding another larger ship this summer.

At this rate NCL will miss out on dock space this year if they do not commit soon.

2 hours ago, landlockedTexan said:

I just received my cancellation notice on the Jade in September, which was the 3rd cruise cancelled this year.  Several ships are being cancelled per the letter I received today; Encore thru 10/28, Jewel thru 10/6 and Jade thru 11/4 due to fleet redeployment!!!!  I will wait before re-booking again.

 

Yes, those three ships Encore, Jewel and Jade redeployed to Southampton this Summer for 7+ day round UK "staycations" would do for me. They could even go all MSC and pick up more passengers at Liverpool.

No, ok its not going to happen... But if it did I bet they would fill their ships.

P.S LandlockedTexan, sorry to hear of your September cancellation. I am still holding out a very slim hope for 3rd Oct Star from Southampton.

46 minutes ago, rachiem said:

Thank you...wondering whether to book some excursions to get the 10% discount, just in case 

If you are currently Silver and qualify for the 10% discount, I see no reason not to book excursions with NCL.

Make sure you spend over £100 on a UK credit card for full protection (just in case they go bust) & if they or you cancel they should just refund back to your card (as they did with my previous cruise).

When booking online any 10% should appear just before the checkout page. 

14 minutes ago, Stevio said:

 

 

Personally I don't book a cruise for the itinerary, price or time of sailing.

I do it purely for the latitudes points.

On 3/20/2021 at 7:36 AM, rachiem said:

Mine have been removed too (cancelled March 2020 sailing) but I'm still showing as silver with only 21 points? Shouldn't I only have that at 25 points?

I believe silver is above 30 latitudes points and I don’t think they have changed the points system recently.

 However in the past when they have changed the minimum points level for a tier that you are already in, that would have dropped you to a lower one they have historically “Grandfathered” you into that higher level.

I would guess that it may just be a possibility that as you had achieved silver status before they removed your points they may have done the same and left you there.😄

Or...They just haven’t got around to knocking you back to Bronze yet.😥

3 hours ago, cabincop said:

The CDC doesn’t have any authority in Europe. The whole 7day cruises policy is only for ports in USA. 

Future 7 day cruises could be luxury for Europe this year.

Cunard, the round the world cruise line having already cancelled all its Summer season have said they will announce a series of short cruises in its place from Southampton for 2021 aboard the Queen Elizabeth.

Described as short "UK staycation voyages" they look likely to be no longer than 4 or 5 days out to sea and back.

Hardly worth getting the tuxedo & ball gowns out.

Panic over... They're plugged back in. All UK prices and cabins showing as before.

Perhaps no one noticed and the IT man got away with it.