Megabear2

A good point. Goodwill gestures affect all claims not just missed port ones. Missed port claims are generally paid out immediately but you still need to ensure you have all the paperwork.

If yours is in date yes. Otherwise apply for a GHIC - it isn't so inclusive but is the replacement. Point to note for everyone- it will be a term of your travel insurance you have one of these and failure to have one will affect any claim.

Unfortunately this year insurers are heavily loading their policies so many are finding costs excessive and as a result going for the less than ideal policies on offer through comparison sites. That's okay until you need to claim as we found with Good to Go not offering any form of companion insurance when I needed to stay in Italy. With added flights and hotels over the period my aunt was in hospital that added over £3,000 to our loss.

Totally agree and they also hindered access for vehicles coming in to pick up.

You'd have got £300 as it's per person not cabin. I must confess I've never claimed as on the occasions I've missed a port I too thought like AlphaWhiskey and when we did buy the missed port cover we never missed a port on that year's cruises!

Never mind the crew I can confirm Deck 2 Queen Mary 2 single cabins can often seem to be below the water line in bad weather on a Winter Atlantic crossing!

My aunt's annual AllClear policy underwritten by Zurich paid out within 5 days on her claim in January. This included £100 for a missed port and £100 X 4 for cabin confinement when she had a chest infection whilst onboard. The missed port cover under AllClear is not the highest on offer but their claims procedure was easy. Her policy at 83 for annual European cover alone with absolutely everything including companion insurance was £1,100 - obviously she is rated for her heart and her tribulations in Italy last year. Bear in mind all the policies with missed port cover have a limit on how much you can claim (AllClear limits it to £500 for instance). For an ordinary bog standard cruise the chances of missing 5 ports are remote but on a long cruise not impossible. Most "regular" policies it is £100 per port, a few give £150. I had a policy with the Post Office with cruise cover and that offered £150 for each port, again limited to £750 and my husband's Avanti one offered £100 per port. However we chose not to renew these policies as the cost of the Avanti one rose by 30% at renewal and we reverted back to Allianz which comes with our bank account. No specific cruise cover the same as your current one but a far more reasonable premium. My husband's health conditions are very expensive to cover even on a non cruise specific policy. He is 66 with a myocardial bridge, fibromyalga, IBS and depression covered for worldwide travel including cruise and winter sports. The Avanti policy renewal was £1,300 for him alone - Staysure being the same company was quoting £1,100 but the cover level was much lower at £5,000. Reverting back to non specific policy we have full worldwide cover including winter sports for £298 so a no brainer cost wise. As a much healthier individual I declare every year breast cancer more than 20 years ago, depression and in my 5 year history covid, removal of a benign mole and a broken rib. My Post Office platinum policy renewal for worldwide travel was quote at £329 in June but again I decided to use Allianz to keep it under one umbrella. The claims process for the major issues was far more important to me at renewal than the cost and add ons. After the hell my family had with medical claims last year with Good to Go, Staysure and the Holiday Extras I wouldn’t hesitate to say AllClear was head and shoulders above them for claim handling.

I think it's because they have charters for Caribbean and all seats are taken. Cunard use scheduled flights so it's easy.

Cunard have always let me change flight dates and destinations I've just paid the difference, ie flew to Dallas rather than NY and paid an extra £40 and stayed with my friend for 6 days. I then did train up to NY for transatlantic. Very much cheaper. I tried to do same with P&O in Barbados ie fly out 3 days before but they wouldn't allow it.

I have a friend looking at one of these and she asked if they're real windows or portholes. Never having managed to cruise on her I've no idea! Any help on this and best ones to look at much appreciated. Thanks

I think I already am!

I've just been approached to do a Watchdog piece on travel and cruise companies approach to sickness and keeping passengers informed!

Whilst it might be new to P&O the muster on the Oasis class of RCI has never included a life jacket drill. Yes, you did go to your muster station and get your card scanned which was mainly a familiarisation. There are no life jackets in any cabins on these ships as they are issued from a direct store if you are called to muster in an emergency. All the drill involves is the familiarisation and watching a video in much the same way as happens now on P&O.

I'm sure it will be okay. I note you like to eat early. You will hopefully be able to book your MDR meals on your personaliser before you go. The times between 5.30 and 6.30 should be released exactly 14 days before your cruise. They will open at midnight - mot suggesting you definitely need to stay up though it helps! We have another recent new joiner to CC doing an Iona cruise and he booked early in the morning and had his first choice for everything. If you are happy to share there is a button you can click to indicate this when you reserve your times. I cannot envisage you'll have a problem if you act as the reservations open. The entertainment again will open one day before your restaurant reservations. There are 3 shows a night in the theatre so dining early you can choose 8.30pm or 10.30pm. The 8.30pm is most popular, again go in as soon as bookings open and you should be fine. For breakfast and lunch you can use the app - I found on Arvia it is super fast at breakfast. 33 in the queue means 5 minutes I was still dressing when I was called. Lunch, again if you want MDR use the app about 15-20 minutes before you want to eat. You'll also have the Quays which is walk up. Iona does have 4 dining rooms plus other eateries for free like the Quays and buffet. I'm sure it will be fine. Personally I would not put any liquids even water in the luggage hole and would carry it in my hand luggage. However I note you are thinking of taking a big plastic of 6 or so if I'm reading it right? I'm sure someone else will advise on that. Just relax and you will be fine. A lot of the discussion on here is about one specific cruise experience and us old timers comparing it with how it used to be. I'm sure you'll have a wonderful time and at least you won't be battling yhe heat and fires. Just a word of warning ... cruising is addictive so you'd better start saving for the next one! Enjoy and let us know how you get on. Any help you need, just ask someone on here will most likely have the answer,.

Wishing you both well very quickly.

If I wrote a book and listed every one of my holiday escapades they'd put it in the Horror section of the library and bookshop! Believe me the ones I mention here are just a sample. My first adventure started at 5 years of age with a boil outbreak and blood poisoning while on a caravan holiday in Essex and here I am 63 years later carrying on - a lesser dedicated traveller would have called it a day by now! We try to choose very carefully nowadays to avoid dramas and we have been to this hotel four times with absolutely no problems. My OH is a creature of habit with his holidays and it's my desire to go different places that encouraged me to go solo a lot. I'm a wee bit worried about my next adventure to Canada and US in September as Nova Scotia has apparently been literally drowned over the weekend with bridges washed away and a disaster declared! I guess the gods knew I was on my way ...

Morning Live is going to do a piece on norovirus with Dr Ranj this morning. I understand it's due to a rise in cases on cruise ships. Seems a bit unfair on cruise ships to single them out. Ironically my OH has been seriously ill since the day we flew home from Kefalonia and it has been confirmed as an enteritus caught on our final day and developing in the early hours of the day we flew home. The hotel has now been shut down and an enquiry is ongoing. Needless to say I'm having yet more battles with tour companies, airlines and ABTA!!

Am I to take it you were restricted from the MDR etc?

You are correct it's a web page. You can connect by logging into the wifi with your phone in flight mode. The required 6 digits are the same as the ones on your boarding pass. I always have paid wifi onboard and my app connects automatically when I'm near the ship and doesn't log out. It is apparently using the ship's wifi but those who don't have paid wifi do some "piggy back" into a section of the wifi. It's a bit cumbersome which is why many have problems. If you have the paid wifi it seems to behave a little better for some reason.

Not dumb at all. P&O call it an app but actually it isn't one so you can't access it from the app store. You will be able to access it at Southampton before boarding. The attached screenshot shows you what it looks like. I believe TigerB gave you information on downloading it, if not let us know.

I'm afraid the app has no communication service between cabins.

ICF is very well known for his enthusiasm!

I'm glad you got sorted with what you wanted. Regarding not being able to book today this is most likely as a result of the overnight/Saturday reservations being made and availability no longer being available. We weren't kidding you when we said book early or risk missing out - they really do fill up that fast!

The trips are well supervised and members of the crew go in the water. Everyone, crew included, wears a life vest and as I say they'll give anyone who needs or wants once noodle. Being islands the water based trips are definitely the best. The visits to forts, historic sites etc are good but your girls are quite young so the fun based ones will appeal more I'd think. St Maarten you can walk to the beach but a trip to the French side might appeal or the beach where the aeroplanes zoom over. Have a look at the submarine in Martinique, its glass bottomed and takes you down to see the turtles. They take you to the beach after. Perhaps with the summer holidays starting you could get them on some improver swimming classes at your local baths. Obviously not all councils offer it but our local pools do a very cheap 3 times a week offering. It would definitely make sense to take some extra swimming lessons so that the girls get the most out of their great holiday and also you'll be more relaxed as well. Incidentally they aren't that young when it comes to swimming, Swim England allow kids to compete in races from the age of 9! Bit of a win, win for everyone.

There appears to be some technical problems this morning. When trying to select a cabin on several cruises I get the message there is a technical problem at present. You can download another browser by typing into your browser the name of the one you want to install or if you have an app store - most computers do - selecting it from there. P&O seem to work best with Chrome which you will find in Google. Edge is preloaded on computers as it's part of Microsoft Office which most people purchase their computer with. You can choose to install others as you wish.