frantic36

Thanks Fletcher. I have a question for yourself or anyone else with knowledge of Cadiz. What is this statue called and why is it atop this building? I can see it directly from my balcony. Julie

Maybe I need to try that as well...you need us please let us come back 😄. @Tallante we should definitely have no problems meeting on the 25th. As you say I guess different ships. They're the owns in charge and they have been very good so we follow their rules. 🤞hoping for a negative tomorrow. We would like to see Gibraltar tomorrow. @SLSD thanks for your kind thoughts. I did get the photo of our main dishes. We asked and received our main dish about 40 minutes after our starters were brought. And also my photo of Cadiz from my balcony.

Still can't do photos because I can't upload. Will hopefully try again tomorrow if we can get wifi while in Cadiz. It was formal night tonight and we made an effort to dress nicer...hopefully photo to follow. We had a call from the Guest Services Manager for positive thoughts for a negative result.The room service team also hoped for a good result, I think they meant that in a positive way 🙂. We have joked throughout so I am fairly confident we are okay. Sorry about the scary photo, I tried to reduce the size. Our starters were Octopus A La Plancher (it was listed as a main but I asked for it as a starter) and Yellow Fin Tuna Carpaccio with Caviar with a side of Caramelised pear, blue cheese and oak leaf salad. The Octopus is there and very tasty it was it was just hidden by the salad leaves. Our mains were Butter Poached Maine Lobster on citrus risotto with green & white asparagus and Fillet of Fresh Flounder Meunière with potatoes, carrots and snow peas. I forgot to take the photo. This morning they came and tested us and even though we have no symptoms, apart from an occasional morning cough, we both tested positive. So no Cadiz for us. They will test again tomorrow morning. I spoke to the Guest Services Manager and apparently at worst we will be released at Day 10 which is the 24th as we could just be unfortunately a persistent positive. I hope we get negative before then as we have lots of plans for Tangier and Motril. Stay safe everyone, Julie

Sorry😔

We will be there for a couple of days late next February. I'm imagining it is similar to Perth at the time with temps 40C and above sometimes for a week. @lincsladyI hope you are okay and managing to stay cool somehow?

Thanks for the good wishes re test. I try to ignore and did so the first time you brought up this topic. I would suggest that is wise for all to not try to change others. I will ignore from now on.

Can we please all stop dissing people. I come here for a some kindness and a giggle not to slag other people we don't know at all off. I'm on Day 6 of quarantine and going a little cabin crazy. Thankfully my husband and I enjoy each other's company. Hoping for a negative result with our Covid test tomorrow.

I think it varies on time and itinerary. For example my current 35 day cruise on Sojourn capacity 450 pax: 1st 7 day segment low 300s, 2nd segment of 11 days around 350, 3rd segment of 10 days is low 400s and 4th segment of 7 days is back down to low 300s.

Enjoy your cruise Mr L. I must admit I prefer the penthouse on the larger ships rather than the Odyssey class. I found the large L shaped sofa and larger dining table made it feel more crowded on the Odyssey class. I am hoping they may have changed them for something smaller or will do so in the future. But first world problems. Based on what I have been experiencing on my current cruise I am sure the crew will bring you some padding if you need it, though I didn't find them that hard for me.

😅 That is so true. Keith managed to watch the Dockers game and couldn't watch to the end, then the Eagles were even worse 😟.

We don't need anything, I always overpack for just in case. The ship even gave us two bottles of a lovely Rose they bought when they were in Bandol to cheer us up.We enjoyed them over a couple of dinners.

It sounds wonderful. Which port is this out of so I can remember to try to co-ordinate port and date on a cruise.

Same. Though I know of friends who used tape around the door frame and that helped dampen noise issues.

We are allowed to use the balcony. In fact we are encouraged to keep the door open during the day and get out there for fresh air. If our neighbours are outside we either don't go out or sit well back within the confines. Today we are in Valencia so everyone seems to have gone out already so we will take the opportunity to spend more time there. No sun as yet on the balcony.

I also look forward to the day when we all feel safer and have less restrictions. However as I said at the beginning of my review I am wanting to focus on my experiences. Please do not use my review as a place to get on a soapbox and be negative about ship life and cruising. If you wish to do so please start your own topic. My husband and I are still feeling well though getting a little cabin crazy. The good news is I tried on a dress I bought in Rome and it fits even better. The exercise is working. Room service has been prompt and I have found ordering dinner around 6.30 if we want MDR menu they deliver between 7.15 and 7.30 and it is hot. Julie

Yes it was Domus Aurea and I would highly recommend. Bookings were needed in advance as it is getting popular. The tech enhancements with the short video at the start of the tour and then the virtual reality part towards the end really helped immerse you into the history and how the building was during Nero's reign.

As you say it was bad luck and maybe since we dodged it for 2.5 years it was time. My doctor told me prior to us leaving that I was one of her rare patients patients who hadn't had it, and the medical practice is a big one. I think there may be a couple of others. I have spoken to crew we interacted with prior to quarantine, for example our stewardesses when they dropped off things and they are all still fine. We aren't having long waits so I don't think things are bad at all. For all we know we could have picked it up in the hotel just before we left Rome. Friends of mine went to London in April to visit their son and then after a week went to Spain for business and tested positive on arrival there. Obviously picked it up in London, so it can happen anywhere.

Keith and I are so happy to cruise again and I think we need to be realistic like so many on Coolers have been. We try our best and try to laugh even with tough stuff. Is life perfect, No but we are blessed. Thankfully I have a wonderful husband and good friends I adore. A fun movie people may enjoy watching is "Looking For Figaro". It has some opera, romance and an acerbic Joanna Lumley as the Opera Diva teacher. It was a bit of entertainment we enjoyed watching yesterday.

JP I am not sure if you have done Nero's Palace but it was amazing to be walking in a place with so much history, whether good or bad and the virtual reality section was amazing. When you combine it with Trajan's market who used a lot of his his power to try to obliterate Nero., Trajans market was very interesting to me for the power of Civil Engineering even in the distant past.

Hi Everyone, I am not sure I am allowed to post this in the cooler but we are cruising on another line at the moment, here is the link; https://boards.cruisecritic.com.au/topic/2863810-we-are-cruising-again-hopefully-10-july-14-august/ If you get towards the end of Day 2 you will see we have unfortunately tested positive for Covid. This is a first time for us but thankfully so far our symptoms have been mild and the crew have been truly wonderful. Though when the Captain called an hour ago to see we were okay I did suggest there was a roster for someone to call every 1.5 hours to check we were in the room. Thankfully he is British and understood my Australian sense of humour and cracked up laughing. Cheers, Julie

Thanks Mr L. Don't laugh but we googled some youtube today for exercise with stretch bands which I did and now admit to having slightly tender Abs so we will aim get out with a three pack at least 😅.

Thank you everyone for your kind thoughts. @bonniegwe also enjoyed meeting you and your husband at TK. I am also glad to hear you are okay. Enjoy Barcelona and safe travels home. @marazul thank you for all your help with planning. We will return to the area and see what we didn't see this time. Next time for Sete we will aim to be here when they have their main jousting competitions. The two tour companies I had booked, Mallorca Private Tour Guides and Valencia Tours both were good about either refunding our money or not charging us a late cancellation fee when we told them we were in isolation. @SLSD stay safe in Dallas. Do I remember you saying you had a rural retreat, maybe a break there for a few weeks might be a good idea?

Thanks Lola, We had made the decision that if one tested positive and the other negative we would ask to stay together anyway. But in this case we didn't have to decide though Keith's positive line was very faint. I have started reading "The Widow Cliquot" by Tilar J. Mazzeo so I can learn something while here.

Apparently it was wonderful in the evening with the fireworks. Unfortunately we didn't see it. In Bandol when I had a mental health day and stayed in my room we did a test and we it was negative but the next day I woke with a cough so we tested again and were positive to Covid. We called the medical team straight away and they confirmed Covid. So we are now quarantined in our room till we hopefully test negative when we reach Cadiz. The crew have been truly wonderful. We have had calls from many senior people and we keep being told to ask for what we want. In fact I teased one recently they are call so often to check we are in the room. The food has been good though we are restricting ourselves to light meals since we can't get out to exercise. My husband walks up and back for 30 minutes twice a day and luckily I bought my exercise bands. They offered to send weights but I would prefer to just keep everything confined in our room. Just to be clear, when we checked in on the first day at 2.30pm we were one of the few passengers wearing a mask in the terminal and onboard. We wore a mask when on the tender and never went to any shows. Even on the tour of Nero's Palace the Saturday before we boarded we again wore masks even though it wasn't required. The only time we didn't was when outside or somewhere we were eating in restaurants or the Sky Bar the first afternoon. We could have got this in Rome from our hotel or just walking around. We have managed to avoid it until now so I take the attitude it must have been our time. We had our last booster a month before boarding so our symptoms are mild. I will repeat the crew have been wonderful and to be honest with an on call medical team and such caring crew we are very thankful. Julie

Yes to both questions. I am having a mental health day today as the time prior to the cruise for personal reasons and since arrival we have been busy. I just needed time. Room service I ordered from the main dining menu so it arrived at 7.25pm which was a tad earlier than expected. Keith was down at the Club enjoying the caviar we had ordered yesterday with people we had met the first night. Guest Services were very prompt passing on my message that dinner had arrived 🙂. I didn't order course by course, though you can. I did order wine with our meal and we enjoyed that and our first course on the balcony. Yes, our main course was cooler than some might like but in my mood tonight I was fine with that to just be able to relax together and enjoy our balcony and each other's company. This has been a stressful last few months and sometimes relaxation is the key. Room Service collected our trays within 15 minutes of me calling them so all is good and we continue to enjoy our wine on the balcony as the twilight settles and the sun sets. Julie