Bollette cruise curtailed

[terry2]

Bolette is unable to call at the remaining islands on the already much modified cruise, due to changes in the rules imposed by the Spanish government on cruise ships and Covid cases and self isolation. 

[tring]

Are you on the ship, I had mentioned it on the Borealis thread about the cruise returning, so some comments there?  I have seen someone post elsewhere that she is on the next cruise and that has been cancelled.  Also delays to Balmoral and Braemar return to service dates.

[Coravel]

We only booked the March 4th Canaries Bollette cruise on Tuesday but there is plenty of time for the problem to be sorted out.  I think the Spanish are being somewhat draconian considering the French are now allowing Brits back onto their ski slopes.  No doubt politics loom large in their decision.  

[terry2]

13 hours ago, tring said:

Are you on the ship, I had mentioned it on the Borealis thread about the cruise returning, so some comments there?  I have seen someone post elsewhere that she is on the next cruise and that has been cancelled.  Also delays to Balmoral and Braemar return to service dates.

Yes, we were due to go to gran Canaria and lanzarote but that was abandoned and we sailed from Tenerife heading for Southampton. 

[tring]

1 hour ago, terry2 said:

Yes, we were due to go to gran Canaria and lanzarote but that was abandoned and we sailed from Tenerife heading for Southampton. 

 

Sorry to hear about that and hope you can enjoy the return journey there is so much of it worldwide though that it is difficult for cruises to continue. It is a shame to have two long sea journies for such a short time there, we lost one day there in December when we spent our first night and morning still docked in Liverpool because of a really bad storm and weather was still bad when we did eventually sail south.

 

I assume the official reasons given are as the wording you have used on your first post.  There seems to be some confusion as there have been other ships call yesterday, but will presumably depend on the situation on board each ship.

[terry2]

30 minutes ago, tring said:

 

I assume the official reasons given are as the wording you have used on your first post.  There seems to be some confusion as there have been other ships call yesterday, but will presumably depend on the situation on board each ship.

Yes, it seems that the counts are important, but I haven't heard what they are.

My suspicion is that if any crew join the ship when abroad, then the ship will probably have to put them into self isolation but then that will increase the number and may push the ship over the threshold. 

If that is the case then I would expect all the self isolation to happen in the UK and there would be no crew joining abroad. But that is just guesswork. 

[terry2]

The latest tale is that the central Spanish government was forcing the islands to follow the same rules as the mainland where they will not allow covid patients to be isolated and treated on board, but the patients have to be off loaded, treated and isolated on shore and then flown home.   

Other people may have a better idea of the accuracy of this. 

[tring]

7 hours ago, terry2 said:

The latest tale is that the central Spanish government was forcing the islands to follow the same rules as the mainland where they will not allow covid patients to be isolated and treated on board, but the patients have to be off loaded, treated and isolated on shore and then flown home.   

Other people may have a better idea of the accuracy of this. 

 

Thanks for the comment.  Yes, I was wondering if it was to do with being made to leave the ship.  You quite likely know there has been much mention of that, particularly on the P&O boards re Iona.  It seems if someone taken off the ship is isolating as a contact, but tests negative, their insurance will likely not pay up.  Hence either bad press for Fred or he would poss need to stomp up quite a bit of cash to cover the total costs, which can apparently be quite high.

 

I think it is the right time for a break of cruising to get rid of the worst of the bug anyway, but hope you do not end up returning home ill.

 

I wish you a safe return and calm seas,

 

Barbara

 

Edited January 14, 2022 by tring

[terry2]

Bolette is having a largish crew changeover (including the captain and theatre group) so the next cruise has been cancelled. The ship will have a deep clean, take on the new crew and isolate them on board, so all should be well for the following cruise on the 30th. 

[Coravel]

That is the best news I will hear this weekend!  The current captain iss very personable and immensely amusing so I shall be sorry to see him go.  The theatre group were also very clever but having seen their acts several times recently it will be refreshing to see something different.  Many thanks for the information Terry.

[tring]

1 hour ago, Coravel said:

That is the best news I will hear this weekend!  The current captain iss very personable and immensely amusing so I shall be sorry to see him go.  The theatre group were also very clever but having seen their acts several times recently it will be refreshing to see something different.  Many thanks for the information Terry.

 

I assume you are referring to Mikael Degerlund, yes he is brilliant and keeps a good eye on what is happening around the ship as well, which is essential at present.  The captains do a two months on, two months off rota and he has been alternating with Joso Glavic, so far on Bolette.

 

Edited January 16, 2022 by tring

[tring]

2 hours ago, terry2 said:

Bolette is having a largish crew changeover (including the captain and theatre group) so the next cruise has been cancelled. The ship will have a deep clean, take on the new crew and isolate them on board, so all should be well for the following cruise on the 30th. 

 

Thanks a lot for.that update.  I agree it sounds a good plan.  Both ships seem to need that re set at present.  Let's hope the declining covid numbers will help to keep the ship clear for the future cruises.

 

I hope you have remained well and continue to do so, 

 

Barbara

[Coravel]

It was indeed Mikael Degerlund.  Our first ever cruise in 2004 was with a captain of very similar  nature to Mikael.  I'd have to look it up but his name was something like Arnold Soldheim but I do know he was Norwegian.  We've (perhaps foolishly) booked the March 4th Canaries/Madeira/La Coruna cruise with a chaser of the 8 night European city cruise to Antwerp, Amsterdam and Hamburg so the theatre company change suits us down to the ground.  To be fair, we have never seen a bad one yet.  

[tring]

6 minutes ago, Coravel said:

It was indeed Mikael Degerlund.  Our first ever cruise in 2004 was with a captain of very similar  nature to Mikael.  I'd have to look it up but his name was something like Arnold Soldheim but I do know he was Norwegian.  We've (perhaps foolishly) booked the March 4th Canaries/Madeira/La Coruna cruise with a chaser of the 8 night European city cruise to Antwerp, Amsterdam and Hamburg so the theatre company change suits us down to the ground.  To be fair, we have never seen a bad one yet.  

 

We have booked the eight nighter starting 16th and I started a roll call, but no one has joined me yet - perhaps you would like to be the first?  We did a two week Med on Bolette in Sept/Oct, and three on Borealis.  We are very local to Liverpool, so needs a very attractive itinerary to tempt us on Bolette, though that last journey to/from Dover was horrendous so doubt we will go there again.  We have booked three nights in a hotel near Portsmouth (the area DH was brought up and still has some friends), though a bit wary at present with so much covid around - we do not want to get infected before we board, so may change those plans.  We were looking forward to the overnights on that cruise as we always "go out on the town" at night if docked then, though we are somewhat past the wild party age group.

 

I do not remember the other Captain you mention - we did not start cruising until 2006, but remember the trumpet playing captain who was on Black Prince for our first Fred cruise.  There are different show companies contracted for the two ships Fred currently has sailing, but if, (as I suspect), the contract stays with the same company, the shows will be the same on that ship.  We rarely go to the shows or other theater entertainments, so not an issue for us. 

 

Would be good to meet you in March,

 

Barbara

 

[Coravel]

I will certainly join the roll call. We usually book the Holiday Inn at Winchester for the night before embarkation.  They look after the car and taxi us to the cruise terminal and pick us up at the end.  It's all very efficient and the room is spacious and well appointed.  Breakfast is good but we don't

usually bother with their evening meal as the menu is not that wonderful.  Breakfast in the morning is excellent.  It would definitely be good to put a face to a name!

[tring]

59 minutes ago, Coravel said:

I will certainly join the roll call. We usually book the Holiday Inn at Winchester for the night before embarkation.  They look after the car and taxi us to the cruise terminal and pick us up at the end.  It's all very efficient and the room is spacious and well appointed.  Breakfast is good but we don't

usually bother with their evening meal as the menu is not that wonderful.  Breakfast in the morning is excellent.  It would definitely be good to put a face to a name!

 

We have stayed there pre cruise in the past (in fact I think I may have seen your comments about it previously).  It is very good if we have enough loyalty points to pay for it that way as well 🙂

 

just looked at the covid map on the Zoe app which is now showing much lower numbers in Gosport, which is where our booked hotel is located, so hopefully will be a reasonable decision to go there.

 

 

[terry2]

Just for your information, one of the theatre show team tested positive for covid today so the show team are in isolation. 

[Coravel]

The theatre show team must be among the most vulnerable members of staff on the ship as they clearly have to rehearse their routines at very close quarters and also seem to get roped in for lots of other duties during the cruise.  

On 1/16/2022 at 6:18 PM, tring said:

 

 just looked at the covid map on the Zoe app which is now showing much lower numbers in Gosport, which is where our booked hotel is located, so hopefully will be a reasonable decision to go there.

 

 

 

My wife is a daily contributor to the Zoe App via Tim Spector's twin study.  The trend is definitely going in the right direction throughout most of the UK.  Wouldn't it be nice if the Passenger Locator Form is scrapped by the time we next sail?  But I have some good news because our son filled one in for his wife to return from Bangkok last week and it's now much shorter and easier.  Also, you can start it seven days before returning to the UK. 

]]

[ighten]

Just noticed this thread.. managed to snap Bollette in Tenerife from our balcony on QE.. 

 

Was not aware she was also having an issue. I think one problem with Fred during this time is there just isn't enough room for contingency on his ships. As I mentioned in the other Borealis thread we lost one or 2 families in gran canaria our first Canary Island. We also had to then isolate the crew  contacts for them but as pointed out earlier that isn't an issue if its not becoming a lge percentage and you have plenty of space for the new crew to join. Hoping it's sorted soon have my eye on another Borealis departure soon.

[tring]

3 hours ago, ighten said:

Just noticed this thread.. managed to snap Bollette in Tenerife from our balcony on QE.. 

 

Was not aware she was also having an issue. I think one problem with Fred during this time is there just isn't enough room for contingency on his ships. As I mentioned in the other Borealis thread we lost one or 2 families in gran canaria our first Canary Island. We also had to then isolate the crew  contacts for them but as pointed out earlier that isn't an issue if its not becoming a lge percentage and you have plenty of space for the new crew to join. Hoping it's sorted soon have my eye on another Borealis departure soon.

 

One main problem is that he will want to sell as many balcony cabins as possible, yet the quarantine facilities he has allocated is on Deck one, so outside cabins at best.  I know P&O and presumably other more modern ships have had mainly balcony cabins allocated for quarantine.  Although we will happily book insides or outsides, being quarantined in a cabin with no access to fresh air for days would drive me mad.  On a normal cruise the only time I would stay in a cabin during the day is if I was felling sea sick and I often sleep much of that off once I have taken the tablets.  DH rarely suffers in bad seas, so he is out and about anyway.

 

Thanks for the post, I hope you enjoyed your cruise,

 

Barbara 

 

Edited January 18, 2022 by tring