Tplusthree

14 years...

We are considering a croisi europe family cruise for summer 2023. has anyone done a family cruise with croisi? it seems like the family package is only offered for select trips in portugal, spain and italy. would love to hear anyone's experience.

20 hours ago, Host Hattie said:

Current guidance is -

 

Landside transit

Landside transit is when you pass through UK border control on arrival, but you leave the UK shortly after (usually within 24 hours). You may leave from the same airport, railway station or port where you arrived, or from a different one, so long as you travel directly to that port of departure.

 

You need to take a COVID-19 test before you travel to England.

 

You must complete a passenger locator form before you travel to England.

 

You need to do the following when you complete your passenger locator form.

 

select ‘Stay in the UK’ under the Your travel plans section

reply ‘I will be travelling for an exempt reason’ to the question about whether you are required to self-isolate on arrival

select the Exemption options, and then select ‘Transit Exemption’

This includes if you are transiting onto the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man. You may need to show evidence of onward travel and where you will be staying at the border.

 

When you are in England you do not need to quarantine or take any COVID-19 travel tests.

 

You must either:

 

remain within your port of entry until your departure from England

travel directly from your port of entry to another port of departure in England.

 

From

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/coronavirus-covid-19-safer-air-travel-guidance-for-passengers#transiting-through-england

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

we are in an odd situation in that we are arriving sunday morning to heathrow, taking a car directly to southampton hotel, then to the terminal monday morning. it's technically a bit more than 24 hours. hoping we will be ok.

2 hours ago, ClipperinSFO said:

 

I am actually much more concerned about the airports than the planes themselves.  We have connecting flights over so a 33% greater risk (3 airports vs 2) .  I won't be able to really relax until crossing into the Grand Lobby.  

 

Are we all just masochists, QM2 fanatics or both?

i read recently that airports are more dangerous than airplanes due to the heavy filtration of cabin air. we are doing everything to stay safe for our flight from jfk saturday.  and, totally agree, with so much uncertainty and so many hoops to jump through it will be so sweet to make in to that lobby!

11 hours ago, samarai27 said:

We are really excited to be travelling QM2 on 13 December - such a lovely ship! And on reaching New York we will be spending Christmas with our children and grandchildren who we haven't seen since 2019. 

But now the change in rules for return to the UK has made us rethink our plans. We are booked to return on BA on 27 December and will have to get a PCR test on 26 December. Does anyone have suggestions for testing in the New York area on a Sunday and the day after Christmas?

can you do the rapid test in advance of flying home? 

we will be on the first TA starting back up..hopefully.. 12/13

1 hour ago, Lesanne said:

Just had a call from our TA to tell us that this cruise has been extended by 2 days, we now leave Southampton on the 13th December arrive New York on the 20th. Leaving on the 22nd as scheduled, due to ship inspections for entry into North American waters. Do not know if we can get off for the 2 days in NYC.

this is my exact concern. i just spent twenty minutes on hold with cunard. will try again later or tomorrow. i would hate to be in NYC and not be free to explore. the email mentioned excursions but was vague and implied we will not know until November.

I like the added days at no charge but do not want to be hostage at the brooklyn terminal. not sure what to make of this.

To comply with the latest regulatory requirements, when ships first re-enter North American waters they will undergo inspections by authorities. As she comes back into service, Queen Mary 2's first Transatlantic Crossing is the one that you are booked on. To allow time for these inspections, the sailing will now depart two days earlier than scheduled on December 13, 2021. This means that your holiday now becomes two nights longer, at no additional cost to your booking. You will now have an extended time in New York, with the ship arriving on December 20, 2021, staying berthed overnight on December 20 and 21, with disembarkation on December 22 as planned. Whilst there, we'll be offering a full programme of organised and vetted shore experiences allowing you the opportunity to explore the city. In addition, we are hopeful that come November it will also be possible to go ashore independently.

16 hours ago, ace2542 said:

You get a FULL REFUND if THEY cancel as they have cancelled it.

 I did book today for the 12/15 TA and was told if they cancel we can opt for refund or 125% toward future sailing.

2 hours ago, ace2542 said:

You get a FULL REFUND if THEY cancel as they have cancelled it.

On 4/13/2021 at 4:41 PM, Devon Bloke said:

Have just seen the latest Cunard announcement at https://www.cunard.com/en-gb/contact-us/travel-health-advisories, and that "Queen Mary 2’s current programme of departures up to and including 12 November 2021 are cancelled."

 

I'm obviously hoping that things will be OK for the Southampton to New York crossing, departing 15 December.

 

A general thought has just occurred to me - I’ll be really interested to see how the future social distancing issue is going to be dealt with in relation to the relatively narrow corridors/hallways in the cabin areas.

 

And another issue that strikes me… is that of the laundry rooms. Always a centre for good chats and ship gossip…occasionally a place for heated arguments over “washing machine emptying etiquette”. I wonder how use of the laundry rooms is going to be managed.

 

Whatever; I note that Cunard states on it’s website at https://www.cunard.com/en-gb/frequently-asked-questions.sailing-with-confidence.faq624.summary in answer to the question “How will you ensure everyone follows the protocols on board?”, that they state “ Any guest failing to comply with these new procedures will be asked to disembark the ship, with the costs for their journey home at their own expense.”

 

Does that mean that such guests will be asked to leave the QM2 mid-Atlantic? Maybe to disembark onto a tender that is being towed behind the ship for such eventualities?🤣🤪

 

 

we are considering booking this same sailing and curious what happens if we book, pay and then Cunard cancels? 

4 hours ago, Pier290 said:

Presses juice??  Like fresh squeezed oj???

no, blends, like beets and pineapple....

5 hours ago, bhughey said:

I've re-read the OP's post a couple of times trying to make sense, and it *seems* that the issue was with the PMNA? The OP continued to reference "premium", but it seems the issue stemmed from the kids who had PMNA and not the adults with the premium ALCOHOL pkg???

Honestly, it was unclear to me about PMNA only not getting smoothies. Depending who was staffing the cafe you might get a different response. The Celebrity officer, Neno, indicated, no more smoothies for any package.  The staff working at the cafe seemed to exclude PNAL only. Clearly, there is a disconnect between corporate and the staff who are not informed and give the smoothies out without charge and the staff trying to enforce the new rules and have to deal with angry customers. I am one of many people in the same boat (pun intended) who have marched down to guest relations and most (maybe not all) had the "smoothies" stickers added to their card. So, celebrity knows people are confused and had these dumb stickers printed.  

I was the tour leader of our group and all the kids were nuts for smoothies, so I felt responsible that I gave them wrong info, even though I called celebrity ahead to make certain.  

we had the wifi included. it was sketchy and kept bouncing us out and had to re-sign in, a whole process, even though phone settings showed connected to celebrity wifi. to answer your question - I don;t believe one day is offered but thursday or friday when the daily came out they were offering a two day package - don't recall price.

In the grand scheme of life, this is not a big issue, but I have seen many people asking about smoothies at aqua spa cafe and if they are included in drink packages. I just returned from Summit/Bermuda Sunday and overall my experience as a first-time Celebrity cruiser was very good and I will do a review soon, but as to smoothies.....

It took me a few convos with celebrity guest relations and even an officer at the cruise critic meet up to get a straight answer. Basically, my group of 18 (ten adults and 8 kids) all had premium bev package. The sea pass card states PAL and PNAL for the kids. My kids and niece and nephews were denied smoothies at the aqua spa cafe. I'm guessing the pressed juices are in the same category. Long story short, I asked an officer at the cruise critic meet-up and he explained (rather arrogantly and condescendingly) that smoothies are no longer included in the premium package. I told him that others will be surprised by that. I then informally polled the group in front of him and the majority felt it was included and surprised it was not.  The officer, Neno?, gave a very corporate answer abut how Celebrity calculated the true cost to guests who get the premium bev package as a "free" perk at a value of about $20 dollars a day, the lowest in the industry, so we are getting a good deal already and therefore Celebrity decided the package (or any package?) will not be including smoothies.

I explained that I just wanted what I paid for. Another cruise critic guest stated they should be included as they are under $15. 

At guest relations, they were able to affix a "smoothies" sticker to my kids cards so that they could get them with their premium package. The next day we were doing a family pic near guest relations and the rep told my SIL there was no such thing. Thank goodness, the other rep overheard and put the elusive sticker on my nephews card. I guess we are among a group of people who booked when it was included and now it is no longer included, hence the multiple convos. 

Just trying to inform people so they can save some time and hassle during their vacation. Like I said, I did enjoy the trip, so many good memories for me and my extended family and hate to focus on tiny things, but I do like to get what I paid for and others might as well.

Happy sailing!

I heard from someone at celebrity that qsine is staying, no switch to LPC.

We moved to deck 7, just had a weird vibe about 9 and the overhang. Def planning to check out the persian gardens..

Maybe because we are a group, we had better luck.   Before final payment I got two perks.  Then got a $65 reduction per person. Then after final payment the price went down and was offered an upgrade. Started with oceanview room, two perks, classic beverage and grats, $350 obc. Now-  concierge (c3) all four perks and premium beverage. Pretty sure the celebrity group sales agent is sick of my emails by now. 

Hello- we are a group of 18 sailing early august Bayonne to Bermuda on Celebrity Summit. We had seven oceanview rooms/deck 2 but was able to get them all upgraded to concierge class deck 9 due to fare drop. Celebrity explained no discounts after final payment, so now we are in deck 9 and happy we were able to still have connecting rooms as we are all traveling with kids. Just wondering if anyone has had any issues on Deck 9 aft, under the oceanview cafe?

I figured there was probably a reason the rooms were open. My parents are early to bed and I worry about noise from above. our group sales rep says the rooms are “soundproof,” but not certain I believe that. 

Also, considering buying a week pass to persian gardens. Anyone who has done that, was it worth it? did you enjoy?

thanks for any insight.

Our family booked eight staterooms on the Summit July 2019 Bermuda sailing. The dining issue we discovered after booking is that different classes of rooms means different dining options. The bulk of us are in oceanview staterooms and one family in the royal suite. We’re celebrating my dad’s birthday with family traveling from around the country to be together. My dad’s requests were that our rooms be near each other and we dine together. Soo...one family is assigned to Luminae for meals and can slum it with us common folk in the MDR or we can TRY according to our group rep at celebrity, to get the suite concierge to allow us in to Luminae for $30 a person for dinner. I dont mind doing that at all, its the uncertainy that bothers me. 

I’ve sailed Disney and NCL from New York and had good experiences on both lines. I thought Celebrity would be a step up and we are a 40k booking,  but not thrilled with the lack of included restaurants (are there others?), the lack of specialty restaurants ($45 pp for Toscano?) are there other options? the class distinctions and the lackluster customer service experience. I guess there could be worse problems, right? I steered the group to Celebrity, so hope it all works out! Any non-snarky insights from seasoned celebrity cruisers, appreciated. Thanks!