Planning for worst case scenario - FAO Molecrochip

[Selbourne]

45 minutes ago, Interestedcruisefan said:

45 minutes ago, Interestedcruisefan said:

 

But IMO what's different now is if you fear overseas quarantine or even just being confined to cabins  on board (which clearly most of us do) 

 

 

And that, of course, is the issue. We certainly aren’t paranoid about catching Covid (being triple vaccinated) and are leading a normal life, going to pubs and restaurants etc. Obviously we would prefer not to catch it, but we are now feeling that life must go on and we have to learn to live with it if its going to be a permanent virus with constant mutations and seasonal flare ups. However, if we catch it we can isolate in our comfortable and spacious house and garden, with all mod cons, with whatever food and TV we want whenever we want it. Quite different to being cooped up in a small cabin or hotel room.  
 

The issue for us, as it relates to cruising, has always been the on board restrictions which, whilst understandable, I would find irritating and now the risk, albeit low, of quarantine and being kicked off mid cruise. Some people are happy to run that risk as they would consider these risks to be minimal and acceptable. That is, of course, their choice and I understand and respect their views. Frankly, these people are keeping the cruise lines in business which is good for all of us. For us, however, it’s a show stopper, partly because my wife’s disability means that we cannot fly and also because we would absolutely detest being confined to a cabin or a hotel room, whatever the weather or outlook.
 

The fact that we haven’t cruised for 2 years is a complete and utter irrelevance. We don’t need to have cruised during Covid to know that we wouldn’t want to take that risk, however small it might be and that we wouldn’t enjoy being quarantined in a cabin or hotel room. 

[wowzz]

59 minutes ago, Interestedcruisefan said:

Surely anyone not actually on a cruise right now is just an interested observer?

 

Which will be 99 per cent of the people using this forum at any stage

Speak for yourself. 

Although our cruise is not until March, if the ship sails, we will be on it.

[Ardennais]

11 minutes ago, wowzz said:

Speak for yourself. 

Although our cruise is not until March, if the ship sails, we will be on it.

Fair enough. People like you are keeping the cruiselines in business now for which we’re all grateful. But it’s people like me and Jean, Selbourne and  Dermotsgirl to name just a few that they need to persuade to return to cruising if they want to keep going in the longer term. 

[jake 26]

I don't understand the confusion about off loading pax who are confirmed with Covid.

One of the biggest problems the NHS has faced from the start is how quickly an infected person can go from poorly to critical and requiring major medical intervention.

Ships are simply not equipped to deal with such a scenario particularly if it is an outbreak affecting a number of people.

The safest solution is surely to transfer victims to a quarantine facility from where they can be transferred to hospital if their condition deteriorates.

Quarantine cabins, as I understand it, are to isolate positive tested persons until a transfer can take place, or to isolate close contacts of a positive case. 

[Ardennais]

2 minutes ago, jake 26 said:

I don't understand the confusion about off loading pax who are confirmed with Covid.

One of the biggest problems the NHS has faced from the start is how quickly an infected person can go from poorly to critical and requiring major medical intervention.

Ships are simply not equipped to deal with such a scenario particularly if it is an outbreak affecting a number of people.

The safest solution is surely to transfer victims to a quarantine facility from where they can be transferred to hospital if their condition deteriorates.

Quarantine cabins, as I understand it, are to isolate positive tested persons until a transfer can take place, or to isolate close contacts of a positive case. 

That is true enough. But the initial confusion here, several months ago, was based on the fact that we all heard about the quarantine cabins being established onboard and sort of assumed that they were for isolating and quarantining positive tested persons. No official announcements were made at the time. 
 

The confusion is down to lack of clear information being given out. 

[jeanlyon]

5 minutes ago, Ardennais said:

That is true enough. But the initial confusion here, several months ago, was based on the fact that we all heard about the quarantine cabins being established onboard and sort of assumed that they were for isolating and quarantining positive tested persons. No official announcements were made at the time. 
 

The confusion is down to lack of clear information being given out. 

Agree.

[wowzz]

22 minutes ago, Ardennais said:

Fair enough. People like you are keeping the cruiselines in business now for which we’re all grateful. But it’s people like me and Jean, Selbourne and  Dermotsgirl to name just a few that they need to persuade to return to cruising if they want to keep going in the longer term. 

We probably need a sense of perspective here. This forum has 50 or so active members, all with equally valid opinions, but in the scale of things, P&O will not care less about the thoughts of a dozen or so negative posters. They will be more concerned about ensuring safe cruises,  operating within the regulations laid down by the countries they are visiting. 

All this pontificating is a good  way to pass a miserable afternoon,  but thousands of people are still planning to cruise in the next few weeks, regardless of our individual opinions. 

For what it's worth, I think a 35 day cruise is problematic, but a 14 day European cruise falls within our comfort zone.

[jeanlyon]

Just now, wowzz said:

We probably need a sense of perspective here. This forum has 50 or so active members, all with equally valid opinions, but in the scale of things, P&O will not care less about the thoughts of a dozen or so negative posters. They will be more concerned about ensuring safe cruises,  operating within the regulations laid down by the countries they are visiting. 

All this pontificating is a good  way to pass a miserable afternoon,  but thousands of people are still planning to cruise in the next few weeks, regardless of our individual opinions. 

For what it's worth, I think a 35 day cruise is problematic, but a 14 day European cruise falls within our comfort zone.

Our problem is we only cruise on Aurora, or possibly Arcadia and the types of cruise we enjoy are 18/19 nights.  The others usually consist of the Canaries which apart from some good weather I find boring.  We don't want to do northern climes, so not really much left.

[Megabear2]

Good morning from the happy ship Britannia.  We are now in St Vincent where everyone going ashore on the necessary excursions has safely passed their covid tests and are now onshore enjoying themselves.  Those of us who have chosen not to go ashore are to be allowed into the port area only and can use the shops and restaurants there.  Everyone on board chilled and relaxed and enjoying very much the 83 degree sunshine.  We are all being spoilt rotten by our lovely crew and I do not think there is one person on board who is not delighted to be here.

 

Sorry to hear the news from Iona and Queen Mary 2 but very pleased to hear no bad news from Azura, Ventura or Queen Elizabeth.  Gives us a good ratio to date of 4 to 2 in favour of things going fine!

 

 

[Selbourne]

10 minutes ago, wowzz said:

We probably need a sense of perspective here. This forum has 50 or so active members, all with equally valid opinions, but in the scale of things, P&O will not care less about the thoughts of a dozen or so negative posters. They will be more concerned about ensuring safe cruises,  operating within the regulations laid down by the countries they are visiting. 

All this pontificating is a good  way to pass a miserable afternoon,  but thousands of people are still planning to cruise in the next few weeks, regardless of our individual opinions. 

For what it's worth, I think a 35 day cruise is problematic, but a 14 day European cruise falls within our comfort zone.

Sadly, I agree, although one persons ‘negative’ is another persons ‘realistic’ 😉 We certainly haven’t given up on cruising and look forward to returning. We have two cruises booked for 2023 and were considering booking something in 2022 but, for now, that’s sadly not a practical option for us for the reasons given earlier. No matter, we have several nice U.K. holidays booked for next year where, if the worst happens, we can just drive home. 
 

For what it’s worth, I have no doubt that for every person who turns away from cruising there will be several others in the wings who have yet to cruise at all, so will accept things as they are, not knowing how they used to be, especially given the new target market that P&O is pursuing. Added to those existing customers who are happy to cruise regardless, I’m sure that P&O will cope without some of us cruising temporarily or even permanently!

[Ardennais]

19 minutes ago, wowzz said:

We probably need a sense of perspective here. This forum has 50 or so active members, all with equally valid opinions, but in the scale of things, P&O will not care less about the thoughts of a dozen or so negative posters. They will be more concerned about ensuring safe cruises,  operating within the regulations laid down by the countries they are visiting. 

All this pontificating is a good  way to pass a miserable afternoon,  but thousands of people are still planning to cruise in the next few weeks, regardless of our individual opinions. 

For what it's worth, I think a 35 day cruise is problematic, but a 14 day European cruise falls within our comfort zone.

Yes Wozz, a sense of perspective. Not calling us ‘negative posters’ but acknowledging that some of us are more cautious where cruising is concerned and currently prefer to spend our hard-earned cash on other types of holidays. 
 

And I actually think that there are more of ‘our’ type than you might think. You might think that P&O will not care less. But I know that they’re trying their best to entice us back to cruising - with the endless stream of e-mails and mailings for a start. They do need their old timers too! 

[Interestedcruisefan]

8 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

Good morning from the happy ship Britannia.  We are now in St Vincent where everyone going ashore on the necessary excursions has safely passed their covid tests and are now onshore enjoying themselves.  Those of us who have chosen not to go ashore are to be allowed into the port area only and can use the shops and restaurants there.  Everyone on board chilled and relaxed and enjoying very much the 83 degree sunshine.  We are all being spoilt rotten by our lovely crew and I do not think there is one person on board who is not delighted to be here.

 

Sorry to hear the news from Iona and Queen Mary 2 but very pleased to hear no bad news from Azura, Ventura or Queen Elizabeth.  Gives us a good ratio to date of 4 to 2 in favour of things going fine!

 

 

Thanks for the update Megabear

 

So are you finding you are  generally allowed in the Port Areas only without need for testing?

 

Or this is just a nice exception

 

We would like that short escape from the boat as we've visited most of the Caribbean Islands a lot in the past

 

[Interestedcruisefan]

Very clearly there are FAR more "realistic" or "negative" (however they should be described) cruisers around than 50 or so on here 

 

The very small numbers actually cruising with P and O compared to normal tell that story very well

 

Most of whom love cruising when it's more normal

[wowzz]

23 minutes ago, Ardennais said:

But I know that they’re trying their best to entice us back to cruising - with the endless stream of e-mails and mailings for a start

We are receiving the same quantity as in the past.

[zap99]

1 hour ago, wowzz said:

Speak for yourself. 

Although our cruise is not until March, if the ship sails, we will be on it.

Our next Cruise is July, then August and then October. BA have just cancelled our Heathrow to Lanzarote flight, but rescheduled as Gatwick . Still Club so fine. We have 2 UK hols booked. Will they go as advertised, will we be asked to be flexible.?.If folk want everything to be as it was advertised at the time they booked it, it probably won't happen. If folk can't be flexible don't book.

[Ardennais]

7 minutes ago, wowzz said:

We are receiving the same quantity as in the past.

Well I seem to be bombarded! Or it could be the fact that they send 5 of everything to this house. That tells me that they still want their past customers to return, else why bother? They do have an awful lot of cabins to fill with their new mega ships and even if they’re not that fussed about the over 50s, they have 3 seasoned cruisers in their 20s in this house who wouldn’t dream of cruising at the moment. It’s hard enough for my children trying to organise weekend breaks to Chester and Manchester at the moment! 

[Ardennais]

4 minutes ago, zap99 said:

Our next Cruise is July, then August and then October. BA have just cancelled our Heathrow to Lanzarote flight, but rescheduled as Gatwick . Still Club so fine. We have 2 UK hols booked. Will they go as advertised, will we be asked to be flexible.?.If folk want everything to be as it was advertised at the time they booked it, it probably won't happen. If folk can't be flexible don't book.

Yes Zapp, that works for you because you’re retired and can be flexible. We have some flexibility but two of my children are being asked to book their annual leave already for next year. They have no flexibility hence why they’re trying to arrange fully refundable breaks in this country. 

[Interestedcruisefan]

Just now, Ardennais said:

Yes Zapp, that works for you because you’re retired and can be flexible. We have some flexibility but two of my children are being asked to book their annual leave already for next year. They have no flexibility hence why they’re trying to arrange fully refundable breaks in this country. 

Hard for us to be flexible about going to London next week when the things we have planned and booked are contacting us to say they unfortunately can't operate any more!

 

I'm prepared to be flexible to get some kind of holiday early New Year somewhere 

 

Maybe even on a cruise 

 

But so hard to plan anything with any confidence right now

 

 

[Selbourne]

2 minutes ago, Ardennais said:

Well I seem to be bombarded! Or it could be the fact that they send 5 of everything to this house. That tells me that they still want their past customers to return, else why bother? They do have an awful lot of cabins to fill with their new mega ships and even if they’re not that fussed about the over 50s, they have 3 seasoned cruisers in their 20s in this house who wouldn’t dream of cruising at the moment. It’s hard enough for my children trying to organise weekend breaks to Chester and Manchester at the moment! 

We are getting bombarded also. I had assumed that it was because we used to be regular cruisers but hadn’t booked any since Covid (and we had several cancelled due to the suspension), but we booked two 2023 cruises at launch recently and it hasn’t stopped. Perhaps they now think ‘ah, we’ve tempted them back, let’s try to get them to book even more’ 😂 

[JessicaB97]

9 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

We are getting bombarded also. I had assumed that it was because we used to be regular cruisers but hadn’t booked any since Covid (and we had several cancelled due to the suspension), but we booked two 2023 cruises at launch recently and it hasn’t stopped. Perhaps they now think ‘ah, we’ve tempted them back, let’s try to get them to book even more’ 😂 

I am also receiving weekly post from 0&o, or so it feels! I assumed it’s because I’m cruising this month 😂

[cruising.mark.uk]

1 hour ago, wowzz said:

We probably need a sense of perspective here. This forum has 50 or so active members, all with equally valid opinions, but in the scale of things, P&O will not care less about the thoughts of a dozen or so negative posters. They will be more concerned about ensuring safe cruises,  operating within the regulations laid down by the countries they are visiting. 

All this pontificating is a good  way to pass a miserable afternoon,  but thousands of people are still planning to cruise in the next few weeks, regardless of our individual opinions. 

For what it's worth, I think a 35 day cruise is problematic, but a 14 day European cruise falls within our comfort zone.

Thank you for this reality check.  This is so true.  I find the talk on these forums often adopts a predominantly negative view of circumstances and thrives on perpetuating unfounded speculation and rumour.  The reality of course is that only a tiny minority of those who cruise (a fraction of a percent) actually post on these boards, so they provide a very skewed insight into what is actually happening in the real world.

[jeanlyon]

I have said no to post, but being bombarded with emails daily.

[yorkshirephil]

10 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

We are getting bombarded also. I had assumed that it was because we used to be regular cruisers but hadn’t booked any since Covid (and we had several cancelled due to the suspension), but we booked two 2023 cruises at launch recently and it hasn’t stopped. Perhaps they now think ‘ah, we’ve tempted them back, let’s try to get them to book even more’ 😂 

We are being bombarded too, but in fairness if it was my business looking woeful I would be thinking how can we turn this around, sometimes I have a flick through the brochures sometimes I put them straight into the recycle unopened. Pretty much like I have always done.

[zap99]

25 minutes ago, Ardennais said:

Yes Zapp, that works for you because you’re retired and can be flexible. We have some flexibility but two of my children are being asked to book their annual leave already for next year. They have no flexibility hence why they’re trying to arrange fully refundable breaks in this country. 

Of course you are correct. The point I am making is that if folk can't be flexible, it's best not to book too far in advance. I appreciate that limits their choice, but if needs must.

[zap99]

20 minutes ago, jeanlyon said:

I have said no to post, but being bombarded with emails daily.

I'm being bombarded as well. 1 today, 1 on Monday. When will they give me some respite from this onslaught. I get about the same from Secret escapes, RCI, Celebrity, NCL, Haven , Alfresco TUI etc. If I didn't get this bombardment, I wouldn't get any emails at all.......Hello,..........Hello........🙈