Megabear2

You might have a bit of competition this time ...

This has been the situation since the introduction in 2016 of the "new" dental contract. NHS dentistry simply doesn't pay the dentists well and as a result huge numbers no longer do NHS dentistry. They didn’t so much dump patients as simply close down completely and restart as private practices. A large number of dentists have also left the UK for various reasons including emigration for better livelihoods and return to home countries after the pandemic and Brexit. A few dentists, my own included, offer a sort of halfway house where they do checkups, fillings etc but not things like root canals or complex work. My friend is currently paying £3,000 to have all her teeth removed and dentures fitted due to an illness having caused serious issues.

Sending best wishes for a speedy recovery Snow Jill.

With Virgin you can reserve a seat at the time of booking. I assume the passengers wiyj children had selected their seats in advance and those that hadn't done so were allocated the ones left at the end. As an aside the lady who you jumped on for her Martin Lewis thread wasn't running a bash Maleth tirade. She actually was posting information on where people could fill out and claim their compensation and asked of anyone had received an acknowledgement from Maleth. No rant, no bashing of anyone simply asking a legitimate question of others who may have been affected.

No child free flights as far as I know. Virgin generally use the bulkhead for babies. Sitting further away should help. There were babies on my flight bit I was so drugged up I fell asleep so no idea if they screamed!

Yes the amounts are set BUT eligibility is another thing altogether. The airline has to respond, they haven't it appears. All over the web people are asking if it's acknowledged,/paid to anyone. Answer seems to be no. I agree on Virgin, they flew me home from Barbados on Saturday after my extended stay in hospital/hotel waiting to be well. Very comfortable. It was an hour late departing but made it up and into Heathrow early. Perhaps you can request adults only areas on planes going forward! I hope your right on Maleth. They were on time on Saturday from Barbados.

Doubt she would need one. December 2022 delayed 4 hours 10 minutes, form provided by reception of Britannia on arrival, completed whilst onboard and forwarded to TUI. Compensation in my bank account before I returned home. The thread the lady started is quite specific to her flight and is simply asking if anyone has had an acknowledgement to the form being completed - as per P&O's guidance - and also offering the link and address to try to claim from. It's quite a reasonable thread although needless to say others are jumping in with their two pennath. Rather worryingly looking at the various threads on other sites discussing Maleth no one seems to be saying they've had an acknowledgement let alone any compensation under the regulations. There was a lot of discussion in this thread about how much compensation people could expect from Maleth for the long delays with people suggesting very large sums would be paid out. It seems the wait is to see if this is actually the case or whether the reality is somewhat different.

Sorry to hear this Selbourne. Take care of yourself and if necessary seek medical advice. Having just arrived back home yesterday after a very unexpected extra week stay in Barbados after being refused permission to fly due to the fluid build up in my lungs I can certainly sympathise. So far three lots of antibiotics have only reduced the symptoms enough to get me home, but thankfully I'm here now and later this morning will be back in the care of my own local health team. I hope the old fashioned remedies work but if not don't hesitate to seek professional help. Both onboard Britannia and ashore I was told this year's virus infections seem to be very strong and take a lot of fighting. Presto2 sorry to hear of you both catching covid. I hope you both feel better soon.

El Nino is dropping off with hopes of El Nina taking over. Unfortunately the cruise lines never tell the customers that anything on the Atlantic and Gulf are very much affected by these two events. Ironically last year the Canaries passengers were the ones being disappointed. Not sure where you're checking your weather updates but Accuweather and Weather.com tend to be reliable. Presently they are predicting El Nino waning. Most Caribbean rain will be short sharp outbreaks, often early morning or late afternoon. From other CC threads there have been a few rougher swells around with some winds which have led to one or two ports being missed by several lines, St Kitts and Antigua get some mentions but my experience is this is not unusual in December or January but improves in February. The whole Caribbean has been unusually wet through December/January, we had lots of it over Christmas but it won't be the stuff in New Orleans. The islands to watch out for with rain will be places with high mountain interiors as the afternoon rains come from there, not sure if you go there but places like Dominica is an example. You would be extremely unlucky to get the sorts of downpours you've had recently on any island in February.

Interesting news on the horizon for the Saga stalwarts. https://news.sky.com/story/amp/saga-floats-idea-of-selling-stake-in-ocean-cruises-arm-13056351

Virgin (or more importantly Richard Branson) have a very long relationship formed in the early 1980's with Southern Florida. Key West was an important part of building the Virgin holidays brand along with Sunny Beach area in Miami. At the time the areas were trying to recover from the Medallin drugs wars and consequently anything Virgin is welcomed with open arms. It's still considered a "special" relationship between Virgin and southern Florida as a main founder of the UK/Florida tourist industry.

Good for him, hope it goes well for him. Out of interest I just looked at Royal Mail careers group to see if the pay and conditions varied by region. It appears not, but they are advertising 292 postie vacancies countrywide! https://jobs.royalmailgroup.com/go/Posties-and-Sorting/4480301/

In the run up to Christmas our postman delivered an advertisement with our mail asking us to consider becoming a postie. Apparently RM hoped to grab people's ' interest by direct approach. It made interesting reading. A 30 hour contract with Saturday and Sunday obligatory working, hours between 8.00 and 14.00 and 12.00 to 18.00. It stated the pay was 10% above market average in their sector and was £12.20 or so an hour, overtime at 1.25% of this rate. If you stayed three months you'd get a uniform and 22 days annual holiday pro rata. This job apparently was a driving delivery postman, not your average walking/biking delivery guy who according to our lovely man gets less pay. So basically the postmen are now contract workers on low pay and pretty rubbish terms it would appear, yet a pretty easy target for the media etc to put in the line of fire.

You were perhaps just unfortunate as your schedule wouldn't allow time for you to return to another Florida port. My experience on long cruises with set schedules has to date been to idle in an area with clement weather and sea conditions to allow passengers to at least enjoy the outside spaces and I assume this to be fairly standard - others may know better. Although not helpful to you I note that Nieuw Amsterdam berthed in Miami at 11.00Est this morning instead of Key West where she was scheduled for an early morning arrival and late departure. Considering her current cruise set sail from Fort Lauderdale that's probably a bit of a shock to the Country fans who are on this themed cruise! Key West is a difficult port, research shows at least 30% of 2023 scheduled cruises didn't make it, I'm sorry you were unlucky on this occasion. I'm sure you will find the oil and gas platforms along the way later today. You really are being unfortunate with the weather and as Mollag said New Orleans may be challenging tomorrow although the second day is forecast to be better. Once you're into the Caribbean after these somewhat volatile ports your weather at least should massively improve. As for preferring to be at home, nah ... total pants I'm told. Even moping around here on Britannia spluttering and coughing I've no desire for that yet. Put it all behind you and think of the better days ahead, you've got very many miles to go yet all filled with wonderful adventures and memories.

Love Chris Wells. Remember being on QM2 transatlantic searching for and rescuing a lone yachtsman and bringing him safely onboard. A few days later the yachtsman did a Q&A with Captain Wells in the theatre. Full on about how great he was. Any questions he asked the audience at the end. Yes piped up Captain Wells, don't you think it might have been nice to thank my wonderful crew who've just saved your life? Exit stage left one shame faced yachtsman...

That's my interpretation. I do not have cruise cover as missed ports etc dont worry me. I, or rather my husband, has a medical upgrade which cost £1,213 at renewal in February last year and I had ironically been speaking to Nationwide in the week before I left on this cruise based on the over 70 extension as my 70th is rapidly approaching in September. Aviva seem a good choice by Nationwide as my experience with their claims department last year for my aunt was superb, unlike the other claims company her previous insurer used. However I didn't take any action before leaving and so still have my Allianz cover at this time - I have no medical declarations personally. They are being absolutely superb while I'm ill here on Britannia and I'll be sorry to lose them.

Here is your new travel insurance policy. As you will be buying cruise cover extension for every cruise you have booked - ie 10 policies for 10 cruises - one of the things they will do when you purchase the first one is direct you to the medical website. Although your conditions are paid and declared for you will be working with Aviva not UK Insurance. If anything it makes the first year confusing - I had claims with two different insurers as a result of the crossover. If your policy is renewable at the end of April it makes sense if you aren't too far off to speak to Aviva, for instance your cover apart from the extensions ends on 25 April you can be covered under "normal" terms until 1 May and then with Aviva. Basically you have a new cruise policy you buy as an add on for every cruise. Every Nationwide customer won't have an April/May renewal date but clearly as so many have mass bookings you will be dealing with two companies in the event of claiming. Other banks are also having to move their customers as the number of underwriters is shrinking. p4197-upcoming-flexplus-travel-insurance-policy.pdf p4132-aviva-upcoming-travel-insurance-ipid.pdf

No, honestly just trying to make sure all you guys realise you have to redeclare your medical conditions on 1 May. Never forget I've been there got the t-shirt when it becomes a problem. Your other stuff will roll over until it expires and you will get presumably a notification to renew with Aviva. And to those querying it, yes you will have to notify Aviva every time you book a new cruise although no doubt most of us do that now anyway .... well hopefully!

Medical is not an upgrade, its an underwriters decision. The other things are add ons and thereby yes will continue under UK Insurance.The document indicates that medical will need to be redeclared on 1 May with Aviva. If your renewal is very close to 1 May you should discuss it with Nationwide nearer your renewal date. I assume your medical cover is the most expensive of what you perceive as "add ons" so seeking the proper information from the correct party as early as possible should be helpful. When our policy changed provider in November 2021 I was able to speak to them a month before my renewal due in mid October.

You will have to do all your upgrades/pre-existing conditions with Aviva on 1 May, they will not roll over. We had this a couple of years back when AXA parted ways with Lloyd's/Halifax and Allianz took over. UK Insurance are leaving certain sectors of the travel insurance market. Nationwide is not the only couple which will be affected as quite a few companies use them to underwrite. Although cruise cover is automatically included you should clarify the full details with Nationwide by asking for sight of the full policy as soon as it's available. Things like missed port pay outs etc may well have different rates of payment for instance. Your medical upgrades will be subject to different ratings too dependent on Aviva ratings.

Nieuw Amsterdam was scheduled for Key West today but is currently en route to Miami.

The "sunset" balconies at the back of the ship are traditional style with a very large balcony - we had two full size sun loungers and two chairs with a table comfortably spaced on ours.

Lovely picture. I love Dominica as the people are so welcoming and the interior so beautiful. One of my best memories here on Britannia at a very rainy sailaway with a handful of guests. A sudden unexpected lightning flash and thunderous downpour caused our poor waitress to dive under the table taking our drinks with her. Cheryl Baker didn't turn a hair and soaked to the skin danced on the stage between the two pools belting out Makin Your Mind Up with an audience of around ten left including the staff. Certainly a case of the show must go on considering she wasn't even meant to be performing until that evening in the Limelight Club!

Unfortunately it's been an unusually very wet and windy time for the southern US and the Caribbean islands the past two months. With Florida in particular this really isn't that unusual. During the period from 1989 until 2000 I used to spend at least a month in the Florida Keys and Miami areas, generally in late December and January. Average day time temperatures never rose much above 73 degrees in that period, were never stable for long periods and on average at least one day a week with strong winds and rain. The winds come in off the North Atlantic and as a result they do affect the mainland US in the same way as they affect Ireland and the UK if they travel that direction. The good news is that once you move away from the US the weather is very much on the up. Yes there are still a few windy spells and showers but the heavy rains are subsiding, we've seen little other than sprinkles since 13 January. All is not lost.

Thanks to everyone for the kind good wishes which are much appreciated. Not wanting to block Selbourne's excellent thread with my woes I'll just say if anything changes or gets drastic I'll let you all know on a new thread. Thanks again.