Megabear2

All very good, but what about those of us who are mandated to test before sailing and also anyone dumped ashore - there's a couple reporting on another thread they've been in quarantine 8 days on Azura and 9 days in Malta. Frankly its appalling that P&O are unofficially advocating lying and possibly risking some unsuspecting person's life, never mind my peace of mind as an honest person. I'm very happy to sail as you suggest, what I'm not happy with is my potential financial loss if the worst occurs and I certainly don't want another fight with an insurance company as I'm learning the hard way they are totally recalcitrant and difficult to deal with. Currently my family are £19,000 down on an insurance technicality and now we face this as well. If we are being advised to ignore everything why can't P&O scrap quarantine and more importantly the testing on longer voyages and Caribbean fly cruises along with a health questionnaire so ridiculous not one sensible person would answer yes to a question?

I'm not aware of any recommendations fleet wide. However there is a proviso that P&O can change the requirements at any time, whether before departure or onboard. The "blurb" you mention has been in place since the restart of cruising and is pretty widely accepted as affecting any cruise at any time. You mention you have used FCC which you were being pushed to spend. I assume this was approaching its expiration date which would be why they were encouraging its use. I also assume you have already attempted to move the cruise and been told no, unfortunately if it is a recent booking on a saver fare that would be correct. It really might not be as bad as you believe and every cruise is differently affected. The next sailing may well not require a mask mandate as the passengers will be totally different. I appreciate you are very nervous but do think about it carefully before cancelling as you indicate you were looking forward to the cruise very much.

Re the Caribbean we are with EE and pay £5.00 a day to use phone and data if we wait till we get there. We have an option to add a package before travel and is £11.00 for a month. We have to have full phone and internet use for business purposes so unfortunately have to purchase P&O's wifi. We find the basic package okay for our uses.

I'm waiting for Adam Edinburgh to expand his explanation (he's usually very prompt). Basically I've asked him for ex UK departures if an LFT is taken would it suffice for a photograph and date as proof followed by the person uploading their result into their GP records - I'm not sure if you can do this but am looking into it. For fly cruises to Caribbean and longer ex UK itineraries an observed LFT is required by P&O and consequently I have asked if this certificate would suffice for his company's needs if it is passed to.the GP. I'm unsure of P&O's testing requirements for the Azura fly cruises not knowing anyone on them, so if someone can let me know we can then see if they are covered under these two scenarios or if I need another question answered. Having now thought about all this, I truthfully think that the policy is a charter for dishonesty and as we move into the winter months with the inevitable rise in infections numbers of passengers affected will increase accordingly. Not everyone will encounter a problem, some insurers may well be more flexible, but those caught will face a long, difficult and expensive battle. My aunt's GP surgery charges £75pp to complete an insurance form as we found out in our Princess fiasco. I'm assured that's pretty common so even assuming you do get the claim accepted the costs with excess etc will be quite high. I am doing more research on this with other companies next week and at the moment rather than tackle P&O intend to collate "proof" their policy is not workable. As it happens on 3 October I have an ABTA call on my other matter and I may well speak to them to see if I can open a complaint on this insurance situation. I do of course have my last correspondence from P&O from April which says their legal team will be in touch so I'm going to treat that as them failing to deal with my query.

In fairness I don’t think they are alone. Previous rearch shows it is incredibly difficult to get an insurer to accept responsibility no matter when or if a person contracts covid.

Don't they always .....

I have an Allianz policy through Halifax. I carried out an online chat a week or so ago and was told I'd need a PCR. I have queried this and await a reply. I've been a very busy bee for my family who unfortunately all use different insurers. This news from HE is the most positive but the first paragraph is worrying in cases such a the lady who told the truth about her cough.

Through your insurer I'm afraid. FCC stopped at the beginning of September.

Does this mean no onboard test as well? I wanted to do a trip there but wasn't too keen on the testing.

I have no idea. I'm just a messenger who asked others to have a look at the 29 September list update to see if they though there were more tests listed. I'm neither a soothsayer or wizard on the machinations of P&O and their website I'm afraid!

See my amended post above. I took it to read the same as you but not everyone in a travelling party may necessarily be on one policy. Certainly my husband and I aren't although we do have a third policy where we are jointly named but it doesn't cover covid before boarding at this time.

I've asked him for further clarification on that very point. He appears to say a couple are covered if one tests positive which is promising. I have asked if an observed LFT such as I'm required to take would suffice and whether to need to get my GP to add it to my records. Assumedly he expects your doctor to have some sort of proof you've tested positive and I wondered if he wants maybe your doctor to do a zoom observed test or something given doctors won't see patients with covid symptoms. Certainly this information is far better than other insurers such as Staysure and Avanti indicate in their policies, ie PCR test.

I have just had my email reply from Justin Edinburgh following my enquiry to him as to whether P&O have entered conversations with his company on their new policy of passengers relying solely on their insurer. It makes interesting reading! There are a couple of good news points but overall Mr Edinburgh, who I've found to be very truthful and helpful previously, seems to indicate not much change at his end. Quote Thank you for getting back in touch with me and updating me on your experience. I am sorry to hear you had to cancel and move your cruise after all! Although it is of course helpful that P&O issued you future cruise credit. I’ll try to address your questions and concerns below. On your first point regarding this paragraph from P&O: “We’re unable to accept guests who, within 10 days prior to the cruise, have been unwell with confirmed or suspected COVID-19 or have been in close contact with someone with confirmed or suspected COVID-19. If you’re impacted by this, you would need to call our Customer Contact Centre on 0344 338 8003 (local call charges apply) and not travel to the terminal/airport” This is a rule put in place and enforced by P&O, and is not in line with any current government guidance or advice, and therefore any denial of boarding or cancellation would not be classed as an insurable event and is therefore not covered under our policies. In terms of what would be accepted as a reason for cancellation, a medically verified test can be a lateral flow test verified by your doctor. We would need this same verification for a cancellation claim for any other medical condition or issue. Regarding non-positive travellers and close contacts of a positive result, this is again a rule put in place by P&O and is not in line with current government guidelines, which do not require you to isolate yourself if you come into contact with somebody who has tested positive. Our policies will cover you for cancellation if one of the following people tests positive for COVID: you, your relative, a member of your household, travelling companion, or person that were due to stay with. And finally, I can confirm that our underwriter’s stance on passengers being forced to disembark against the advice of the insurer’s medical assistance teams has not changed since our discussions earlier this year. I hope this has been helpful in clarifying your questions. Please don’t hesitate to contact me again if you have any more questions or want further clarification. Kind regards

As requested elsewhere this thread refers to the link on P&O's website under Destinations. Looking at the ports requiring testing onboard the list seems to have expanded on 29 September as follows: 12 and over test required: Denmark, Estonia, Greece, Honduras, Lithuania, Poland, St Vincent and Turkey. A couple of others are now showing to be advised as under discussion. Is my memory playing tricks or has it indeed expanded?

I think the plan on reverting to "normal" terms may have been a deliberate move to lock as many people in as possible, particularly those who are paid in full, while the financial and disease situation was looking good. P&O will now be able to balance their books a little better and see how the income stream looks going forward. Lots on various boards, not just P&O, are booked on multiple cruises through to mid 2024 and that is effectively money in the bank as any changes have to be to a cruise of equivalent or higher cost. Clever accounting, but ultimately one which couid backfire if those deposits lead to cancellations rather than final payments. A lot of the American lines made the moved in April/May as their ships arrived in Europe but of course Americans have better cancellation rights than UK passengers.

Thank you for the clarification on how you view the situation. Clearly that is more reasonable than how you worded it previously. Sadly it's not quite so black and white as following the current rules as this thread and the Britannia one also show that the rules can change in a heartbeat, however I assume from your current post you support and would comply with any new ones introduced including any future reintroduction of compulsory testing and masking if P&O decide they become necessary. Thank you.

Have a great cruise.

Oh goodness, so your total quarantine will have been 19 days until you board your flight. Are you alone or is your travelling companion sharing your room ashore, I know in Italy they split families so hopefully Malta is a little more accommodating, particularly as you are a long way into your illness. I do wish you better and hope all goes well with you getting home. I appreciate it's not the main thing on your mind at the moment but perhaps further along you might feel able to give us an update on how your insurer handles your case and what they required from you.

I'm so sorry to hear this. I hope you get home soon. Unfortunately your experience is not unique I know of a great number of people this is happening to, not just on P&O. I'm glad they are looking after you well. Assumedly your insurer will now be treating you under the medical section of your policy rather than the confinement section. Not much comfort I know but at least if you are ashore with a positive test in hotel quarantine it should make your claim far easier. May I ask how many days did you quarantine on the ship before disembarkation?

I'm not supporting the suggestion I'm merely stating the facts that the cruise lines are being draconian in following rules they are making up on the hoof. Their rules have stated categorically through the mask regime no exemptions. I saw a lady with a visor barred from her cruise earlier late last year because it didn't meet the rules set by P&O. She was very tearful but eventually accepted she would need to wear her mask. We did see her about the ship and she was masked. Whether she was happy or uncomfortable I have no idea.

I was one of the unfortunates who stayed positive for close on three weeks. I became very unwell and at the point I was coughing blood was sent to a so called "hot clinic" where a PCR test was carried out. Astonishingly at 16 days it was still positive so my records recorded it and the cruise company accepted it. Interestingly my Aurora cruise was cancelled at the same time early in my illness and they automatically cancelled on the health declaration and the FCC appeared in 48 hours. Obviously the PCR result being a freak made my life easier as Celebrity had just stopped their FCC regime at the point I was ill.

You can get certified testing but if you go to book all companies state if you have symptoms they will not book a test for you. These are apparently tests for fit to fly certificates. I tried to use one of these for proof I had covid at the end of March to ensure I had it recorded on my medical records and was refused a test.

Your insurer treated you well, particularly if you also received FCC, as most policies seem to say if you receive remuneration of any kind from your tour ope4ator, airline, hotel etc you are not paid out from them. Reading this, please correct me if I'm wrong, you received both a confinement payout and FCC? Was there a daily set amount in your policy and a maximum claimable? Some insurers appear to have not been paid out under the confinement section stating it specifically does not cover covid confinement.

When did this happen? Presumably just down to bad weather not a a shortage.

Thank you for your insight from someone affected. I find it sad so many don't understand or just couldn't care less. Figures here are announced via the local paper each week. We have 23 hospitalised at last Friday. I think I.might retire from this topic now it's wandering. If I have any useful information for people be it from insurers, the FCA or P&O I will post then if it seems relevant.