Megabear2

I can guarantee no form is required on any island except Barbados. The Barbados form is simple. Go to the link and P&O offer a step by step guide of what information to put in which box. You will have everything you need with passport, flight numbers etc. You will also need a photograph of your passport to upload, just take a nice clear picture on your phone and upload it when asked. Both family members can go on one form. I promise if you get the documents ready before you start itsx15 minutes or so work.

Thank you. Yes, I had looked at the possible problems. My husband has stated categorically he will not sail with P&O again as he was extremely upset about me being manhandled by the drunken football fan on Boxing Day - it was P&Os security response that caused him to be unhappy. To transfer the cruise I need to spend £7,300 or more and doing that on my own is very difficult. I've been looking at the US/Caribbean 28 and 35 night cruises but higher grade cabins which would allow me to meet the target money are not available. Basically I'm stuck in a hard place. When my husband says no go he means it, there won't be any change in his stance. Having thought about it overnight I'm inclined to write off the cash deposit of £373 but it rather sticks in the throat to lose the near £2,700 in compensation and gifts which were hard won. Apparently as they are attached to this booking they are affected by the transfer rules although I'm waiting to hear if they would come back as FCC if I cancel and then I could apply them to anything I wish. If it was any time other than Christmas I would have just changed to a single farexand paid tye extra tongo alone. To be honest if making a straightforward long cruise booking I'd not look any further than Cunard normally.

No form has been required for Aruba. You will have to complete the Barbados one. All other islands do not require anything.

As you say a very personal choice. I take necessary precautions and follow advice as given. Age isn't such a concern to me personally and I'm lucky in that I have no specific health conditions to take into effect. My main problem would appear to be I had hepatitis aged 11 very severely having caught it in Belgium of all places whilst on a school trip. Following a year in hospital and even today as a result anything blood related is examined extremely carefully by my doctors. My only other problem was a cancer from 28 years ago so I guess I'm lucky.

I've just followed Barbara's very helpful link and came up with this: https://nathnacyfzone.org.uk/factsheet/6/medical-letter-of-exemption I also followed CDC link on an American site and came up with an almost identical letter. Very luckily for me my own GP and local Boots who provide all my travel vaccinations are on the Yellow Fever Zone list: https://nathnacyfzone.org.uk/search-results?srch=Salisbury&search=Search I assume if they are listed I should ge able to go through all the health risks etc before booking a cruise - it looks like Brazil is the biggie on P&Os itineraries. If they say I'm not too much at risk I'll go for it anyway as it will be useful. Apparently first time use is more of a problem so hopefully if I did have one all those years back I won't be too much at risk.

I can get the jab locally no problem as I learned in 2019. However I was informed I could not have it due to health and age restrictions This was the link I used at the time: https://www.gov.uk/drug-safety-update/yellow-fever-vaccine-stamaril-and-fatal-adverse-reactions-extreme-caution-needed-in-people-who-may-be-immunosuppressed-and-those-60-years-and-older I note it has been updated in 2021. Regarding the insurance I had absolutely every jab listed on government website despite Cunard's recommended visa/immunisation agent saying unnecessary as only in port for a day. Better safe than sorry I always say.

Totally agree! I can't stand how everything is awesome if it's good!

Sorry for quoting myself but this thread is descending to be an excellent example!

Thank you. I cannot recall ever having one so will trawl my paper NHS records - I . If it's too difficult I'll forget it! My jabs in 2018 in preparation for my 2019 cruise cost me over £800 as I followed the recommendations to the letter. If the Yellow Fever thing is too complicated I'll just look elsewhere for a cruise as because of time lapse I'll have to renew them all again anyway and the Yellow Fever clinic involves using a different vaccination centre miles away. 27 years ago I went to Jamaica and I know my GP gave us loads of injections so that could well have been one, I'll check. Thanks for your help.

I assume the exemption comes from my GP or would it be from the vaccination centre - I did look at this in 2019 but thankfully none of my Destinations required one. Presumably it it also something certificated and available at a cost?

It ceased for cruises from 9 December.

On Britannia in the app you could apparently see availability for excursions. In our case the app didn't load on any of our devices - the IT department and reception gave up on day 3 - so we were told to go to Destination Services if we wanted to book anything. Luckily we had booked in advance as most times we passed there was always a queue during opening hours.

That's interesting to me. As a 67 year old live vaccinations such as Yellow Fever is disbarred for me as it's medically not recommended. Would that rule me out of the Aurora 65 night cruises - I have been considering one?

I doubt they have enough staff being UK based. Princess will I assume have the backing and resources down in Miami. US residents in my experience are far more pro active in discussing their cruises, likes and dislikes etc. People in the UK seem much happier to argue amongst themselves and thereby dilute the value of any points which are being made.

No longer required, thank goodness. You are asked questions at the port by people with tablets.

The bottle makes a good diffuser for scenting your room! Having "disposed" of the rum in an appropriate place I filled them with some nice John Lewis oils and sticks!

I believe not. On occasion I pointed and directed my contacts to certain areas of the boards, including comments on other non P&O forums for comparison. I'm aware that one contact does lurk in an unofficial capacity and also interestingly after I drew their attention to the boards existence, a reporter from the local Southampton newspaper and BBC Solent. P&O appear to rely on their own social media and it is of course full of happy cruisers. The CC boards are not unfortunately very well supported and new joiners tend to not stick around for too long once they've cruised so I guess it's not surprising they aren't considered so important in the pantheon of things.

That was fleet wide - we received that too. Last year it was Iona gin and Fevertree tonic plus a slate star. The cynic in me says it was a cheap way of looking generous by using their own product! As a gin drinker I always request Fevertree but on Britannia this was only available in the Crows Nest and everywhere else we were presented with a large can of Canada Dry tonic. I wasn't sure if it was a ploy to sell more gin as no one wanted to waste the large can contents!

You are correct in how Feefo works. I received my request 2 days after my return and you have a time limit of, if I recall correctly, 7 days. Sadly on this occasion I only scored 3* as my experience had deteriorated so much since my last one. I would add this was my 7th post pandemic cruise so I've only rated it based on my experiences since restart. Actually if you'd looked at Feefo earlier in the year around April/May the scores were even lower than now based on the onshore customer service offering. The actual cruises actually weren't scoring too badly but the ships were of course only half full.

https://travelweekly.co.uk/news/tour-operators/po-cruises-boss-insists-vast-majority-enjoyed-arvia-debut Apparently it's not all bad ....

We will most likely never know. However the shambles will hopefully be put right for those just boarded and suitable redress paid to those who put up with the mess. News of this fiasco coupled with my own disappointment leads me to believe a very dangerous line is close to being crossed for P&O and they must at least rectify the staffing and dining issues in haste before new and old say not again. Reading the comment from doog I find it sad his expectations are so low. I also find it sad my own husband states he'll not sail P&O again as he doesn't want to worry about getting into arguments with people spoiling for a fight and most of all I find it sad we're even having to have these conversations. Fingers crossed this all ends soon before it becomes irretrievable.

Leaving a cruise and leaving work are two very different matters - one costs thousands, one hopefully provides thousands for you to spend on the former so there's absolutely no comparison to be drawn. I’ve no idea why the OP remained onboard if he wanted to leave, but Christmas and full flights do spring to mind. I note the second passenger who commented also mentioned passengers wishing to leave in Madeira. Im certainly not prepared to get in petty squabbling over this I'm afraid. It's not my problem and I'm certainly not going to trawl back through my browsing history to satisfy you, I was away myself when my husband showed me the posts about the injured person. If you wish to call me incorrect, that's fine by me. Clearly you are very excited about your forthcoming Arvia cruise later this year and I wish you well.

He's glad to be rid of me as I've only taken two holidays without him since January 2020. Normally I spend most of February through April on a cruise or in the States visiting my friends but cvd put an end to that for a while. He's off to Austria in March for the first time in 3 years as well - skiing if there's any snow - so I very carefully booked myself on Iona for 2 weeks on the day he comes back. That's a good start for the year ... Because of work we've always had lengthy spells apart and when I retired we just slipped in to sending me off all over the place. Actually he gets quite a lot of flack from friends for letting me go away alone but he is excellent in telling them they're just jealous that he gets lots of peace and quiet several times a year. We are officially the odd couple but it must work as we’ve been together 45 years and married for 42.

The OP stated he wanted to leave and knows others did for certain, that's not hearsay: he was there. The injured person in the lift did make the national newspapers and also some cruise related websites. It's very easy to be defensive of P&O, I often do it myself. However as you say some had a very poor cruise and clearly that is not good enough. I hope you have a great cruise without mishap. Your expectations will hopefully be exceeded as according to our P&O mole your experience should be 4* plus as that's the aim for these ships. I note that all Britannia and Arvia remaining Caribbean cruises have been cut to a starting price of £999 with some specialist cruise agents undercutting that price. I really hope it doesn't mean more problems for people like the ones we faced with the difficult passengers and also that they actually put enough stock onboard to last the full cruise length.

Okay thanks. That fits with my understanding. My cruise is 22 December 2023 so anything before December 2024 is okay. I'm not too worried about the £353 "official deposit" because the remainder is as I say compensation and FCC. My main concern is that's a fair amount over the top of the £353 and I want to secure it to get ABTA protection. I did suggest to my OH that we took an upgraded cabin on something else but he is adamant he will not sail P&O again. Hence with the monies on account and the need to spend minimum £7300 I'm looking at these itineraries as substitute.