Nick&Simon

I am not a fan of the Grills Lounge on the Vista's. There are not enough bar stools for my taste and the ones that are there are fixed (if I recall correctly) and not at all comfortable.

I once got kicked out on QE as well as it was afternoon tea time and despite having sat there quietly for an hour playing backgammon with a friend I was told I had to leave unless I was having afternoon tea. Not at all impressed.

Although, we did have fun in the Grills Lounge on QM2 once, when we asked maintenance to put a door handle on the glass wall at the far end of the Lounge, and enjoyed watching people walking through trying to get to Melamine Alley.

43 minutes ago, CambsCruiser82 said:

Just to add, I've had my email too! The company they are using is called Eurofins and the site isn't very helpful. Maybe they're very busy but the booking button isn't even working :D.

 

I might just go for the book your own and get a refund option.

Same here I can't get it to work. However, I am quite please as there is an appointment at a hotel I happen to be staying in 72 hours before the cruise. Breakfast and Test 🙂

It just goes to show that you never stop learning, 75+ QG trips in hand and I never new coffee was free in the Grills Lounges.

Anyway, personally I would rather pay for coffee than sit in the Grills Lounge (most of the time), the atmosphere in the Lounge can be very dull in my opinion - refined maybe - but dull all the same. There are bubbles of activity and life through the day, but in general they make an average airport lounge look exotic.

14 hours ago, Wichenford Wolf said:

I don’t see why not, if there are no restrictions in place at that time. We are booked on the 14th August cruise and it’s being advertised everywhere. 
 

The cruise lines are in it to make money and like most hospitality businesses need to be as close to full capacity as they can.

I don't think they will run at full capacity any time soon. They need isolation areas for both passengers and crew in the event of covid infections. They need to be able to quarantine newly joining crew for 10-14 days. They are still in "shake down" mode.

Many of the ships are deliberately running at less that the government mandated limits.

13 minutes ago, Minnie29 said:

We too are hoping there will not be many children on our July 17th sailing. 
Most UK schools don’t break up until July 23rd so you would hope they would wait for school holidays. 
Also MSC and Royal Caribbean have so many more facilities on board for children and young families. 
never really thought of Celebrity as a family ship

Thanks for a helpful insight. Its ten years since I sailed on Celebrity, and that was a Christmas trip, so my recollection maybe unrepresentative.

7 minutes ago, American_in_York said:

@Nick&Simon - Just wondering what your thoughts are on the 2 VACCINATED people who tested positive on the recent Millennium cruise. Assume since they were asymptomatic, they were passing it around the ship. The vaccine doesn't stop you from getting COVID.

 

Might be best as you say to try another line. 

I don't think it can be helped. You can only take the reasonable precautions that are available. My preference is not to be on a ship with people who are not vaccinated, but of course vaccinated people get Covid as do people who have been PCR tested and prove negative.

I am waiting to hear from Celebrity how many children are on the 3rd July trip, I'll make a final decision then, but just in case I have  booked an additional trip with Cunard who currently have an 'all passengers must be vaccinated' policy.

It a disappointment as I was looking for a line other than Cunard and Princess as they have a no reboarding (any CCL vessel) policy within 7 days.

Another reference point, Celebrity have this morning stated that "all crew onboard will be vaccinated"  for their UK Summer sailings.

I'm really unhappy about the latest email from Celebrity regarding the UK Summer cruises.

"UK Guests 18 years and older must be fully vaccinated".

That isn't what was stated when I purchased which was "all guests must be fully vaccinated". Which would not only have meant an adult only ship but a fully vaccinated ship.

The only slight positive for me is that all crew will be vaccinated.

On balance I will cancel my booking if Cunard have anything available and book another trip with them.

8 hours ago, little britain said:

I’m on MSc now; everyone had to test negative before boarding g and temperature checks taken daily. Given the demographic on board I’d say everyone is probably vaccinated anyway and there are only 31 children on board. 

That's good to hear. I have two cruise friends on the ship with you (independently) they are telling me that see having a fantastic time.

 But I'm not going on a cruise anytime soon where unvaccinated passengers are allowed, tested it not. Irrational maybe, but tara were my mind is.

13 minutes ago, sfitz2000 said:

I’m wondering if the 3 July cruise will be cancelled .......

3rd July is showing as sailing but full on Celebrity's trade site. Not showing on their retail site.

 I'm looking forward to the novelty of maximum 1,000 passengers on the ship.

I know it's slightly off topic, but I don't want to be on a cruise with unvaccinated people, whether children or crew. For that reason I have stayed away from MSC UK Summer cruises.

 I'm hoping there will be no children on my upcoming Celebrity, Princess and Cunard trips in the next couple of months.

Oh the joy of meeting the QG regulars and comparing table numbers. 

2 minutes ago, ClipperinSFO said:

 

I would agree.

 

We have crossed a few times in QG (Q5/Q6) and find it underwhelming.  The cabin is by far the best part.  The QG food is good but not great, although the service is wonderful. I find the breakfasts especially disappointing. We dined in the Verandah a couple of times before it was turned into a steakhouse, and thought that was wonderful, and was more the caliber we were expecting in QG.  The butlers are hit and miss. We are trying PG this December to see f that might be a better balance. We look longingly at the BC dining room, as it so clubby and intimate and close to the water.  One day perhaps.  

 

To us, its all about the ship, QM2, and the route.  7 nights and 6 glorious days at sea.  No stops, no distractions.  Heaven.  

I think Verandah is horrendous. I don't even use the free option.  It's reminds me of the QM2 inaugural when in the QG the waiters would arrive with a platter with a big steak, grilled tomato and stack of chucky chips. That didn't last long.

I actually like the QG, but Osman knows my quirks by now (Chinese take away night midway thing a b2b,  paella on the second night, oysters on a port day). My only disappointment is that the cheese trolley is not as good as it used to be, too cold and poor selection. Christmas Pudding flavoured cheese did it for me! 

7 minutes ago, Windsurfboy said:

 

Are you implying Cunard is not luxury , some  regular  contributors believe QG is the ultimate venue for people with private jets .

I don't think the two are mutually exclusive. There are plenty of people who regularly travel on Cunard who are exceptionally wealthy, but that doesn't make it is a luxury cruise line.

I would describe it as niche. Or to be kind classic cruising, with the ability to upscale at cost.

After regular QE2 trips, I took my first QM2 crossing with some trepidation. I really didn't like it and couldn't understand what the Butler was there for, so on my third day I asked the Butler very politely "what's the difference between a Butler and a Steward ", the Butler clearly wasn't impressed and replied very abruptly "I don't clean the toilet" turned around and stomped off.

 To this day I find that to be the basic difference.

15 minutes ago, wowzz said:

 

 

So, if the first sailing is from Cyprus, will the crew be vaccinated there, and will they have to wait until they return to Cyprus for the second vaccination. 

 

I can't answer that. I don't know when or where the first sailing is. I only know the published sailings. 

32 minutes ago, wowzz said:

But when will Sky and Regal actually arrive in the UK.? And will the full crew join the ships before or after arrival in the UK? 

As we know, full immunity requires two vaccinations,  with a gap of 8 to 12 weeks between jabs, so unless the crew have their first vaccination in the next week or so, there will be insufficient time for a second jab prior to the start of the Seacations  

Your second paragraph is incorrect.  The UK government decided on a gap on 12 weeks between doses on Pfizer and AZ, but that isn't a requirement, if you remember that decision was controversial at the time. Indeed for people in the priority groups the gap is now 8 weeks. I believe the recommended gap is 2 weeks, but I could easily be wrong about that, someone with more knowledge on the subject than me, will hopefully correct me.

 There is also the option of a single dose vaccine, more that one has been approved in the UK.

 Having said all that, the vaccination process for the two UK bound Princess ships had already started (hence the picture of a Captain receiving his). 

Finally, all working crew will have to be onboard a minimum of 14 days before first sailing, which may not be a published sailing.

23 minutes ago, wowzz said:

But the crew are not vaccinated.

I'm not sure what your point is, sorry. Crew are being vaccinated on cruise ships in UK waters when they call into port. This is being done by the NHS. So by the point I board Regal Princess next month, all the crew will be vaccinated (Princess confirmed this in their webcast on Thursday?).

But you are correct that they are probably not vaccinated when they arrive in the UK. 

Edited to add: Princess confirmed that crew are being vaccinated on board, not that they would all be vaccinated in time for my upcoming trip, that would be a level of personalisation beyond them!

2 minutes ago, downsmead said:

The Sun (🤷‍♀️) reports today that the Government did not realise the loophole in the law allowing seafarers to enter the U.K. without the statutory 2 weeks quarantine and hence 600 crew were allowed in and then travelled directly to the ship. If this is true, then it was not flexibility but ignorance that allowed it. The crew movement in was shut down on May 19th once they realised the situation.

I must admit, I had a good laugh as it was popular knowledge on CC re the crew situation and seafarers clause. The ships were testing crew before and after the flights and transporting directly to the ships to be quarantined on board, thereby minimising any chance of of contact infection to others outside of the process. 

Interesting, thanks.

9 hours ago, wowzz said:

you cannot fly in 2000 crew members into the UK and expect them to be vaccinated - not going to happen. 

Happened.

 And until a couple of weeks ago, maritime crew were exempt from UK hotel quarantine if they came from a red list country. I say this to illustrate that there is flexibility on the part of the uk government.

2 hours ago, wowzz said:

As they won't be vaccinated in the UK, are Princess flying all the crew to Cyprus for 8 weeks (time for two vaccinations) before Sky leaves for Southampton?

I am not sure why 8 weeks.

10 minutes ago, wowzz said:

1345 to go!

Where will the all the other crew be vaccinated?

On the ship. But not sure exactly which room. 

2 minutes ago, wowzz said:

The UK have vaccinated over 75% with one vaccine, and around 50% have had both injections, and has one of the world's most successful vaccination programmes. But, no queue jumping , which is why the crew will not be vaccinated.

Factually incorrect. Crew are being vaccinated onboard when their ships call into port.

(check out the crew chat boards).

16 minutes ago, wowzz said:

So, as stated,  the crew will not be vaccinbated when Seacations start. 

To quote "How are Princess getting their crew vaccinated, and not P&O,  Saga, Celebrity  etc ?".

 Their crew on uk operating ships are being vaccinated.