Azura cruise disappointment

[Fionboard]

My neighbours just back from Fred cruise. They knew weeks ago that Italian ports were scrapped due to testing requirements there. 

[Megabear2]

The protocols in Italy are apparently to be reviewed for after 31 March 2021.  Most of the US lines will not have ships back in Europe until mid to late April so I'm led to understand this is to coincide with this.  They are a long way out of step with most other European countries but obviously it is a fluid situation.  

[purplesea]

1 hour ago, bee-ess said:

Where are you flying in from - ours is Gatwick and arriving into Malta quite late.

We're flying in from Bristol and our flight time is 6 am. 

[bee-ess]

49 minutes ago, purplesea said:

We're flying in from Bristol and our flight time is 6 am. 

We don't land in Malta until 6PM on P&O charter from Gatwick

[purplesea]

W

1 hour ago, bee-ess said:

We don't land in Malta until 6PM on P&O charter from Gatwick

We fly at the end of April and are due to land at 10.15 am, which is why I was hoping to have a wander in the afternoon.  Will just have to wait and see!

[Gaja]

We're booked on Azura 28 April. Malta and Croatia no restrictions but as Italy has now changed testing requirement we will dock at Trieste but have booked a walking tour followed by independent exploration just in case but will cancel if not needed. We sailed on Britannia last September and was supposed to visit 2 Italian ports but these were scrapped whilst were halfway through the cruise. I believe that if testing is still required at any port they just change the port. (We ended up in 2 further Spain destinations). We were able to leave the ship independently without problems. Disappointing but it's Italian restrictions not P & O. Fingers crossed all Italian ports will be open without testing for these cruises. 

[Denarius]

I must admit that I am puzzled. I am cruising around Italy with another line in June so have been monitoring Italy's entry requirements on the UK Foreign Office site. This is the latest guidance.

https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/italy/entry-requirements

As far as I can see, there is no requirement to be tested (other than possibly a random test on arrival) or to isolate if you are fully vacinated with booster. So why the difference for P&O cruises? Is it because P&O do not require boosters, or is it because the ship has previously called at a port in another country whch is on some sort of Italian amber or red list? Or do different rules apply to cruise ships? Does anyone have a definative answer?

[terrierjohn]

8 minutes ago, Denarius said:

I must admit that I am puzzled. I am cruising around Italy with another line in June so have been monitoring Italy's entry requirements on the UK Foreign Office site. This is the latest guidance.

https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/italy/entry-requirements

As far as I can see, there is no requirement to be tested (other than possibly a random test on arrival) or to isolate if you are fully vacinated with booster. So why the difference for P&O cruises? Is it because P&O do not require boosters, or is it because the ship has previously called at a port in another country whch is on some sort of Italian amber or red list? Or do different rules apply to cruise ships? Does anyone have a definative answer?

Be careful Denarius, I asked a similar question about why cruise ports would want to disembark covid positive cases to local quarantine facilities, and it was deleted.

[purplesea]

47 minutes ago, Gaja said:

We're booked on Azura 28 April. Malta and Croatia no restrictions but as Italy has now changed testing requirement we will dock at Trieste but have booked a walking tour followed by independent exploration just in case but will cancel if not needed. We sailed on Britannia last September and was supposed to visit 2 Italian ports but these were scrapped whilst were halfway through the cruise. I believe that if testing is still required at any port they just change the port. (We ended up in 2 further Spain destinations). We were able to leave the ship independently without problems. Disappointing but it's Italian restrictions not P & O. Fingers crossed all Italian ports will be open without testing for these cruises. 

Hi, Welcome to the forum.

We are on this cruise too.

[wowzz]

11 minutes ago, Denarius said:

I must admit that I am puzzled. I am cruising around Italy with another line in June so have been monitoring Italy's entry requirements on the UK Foreign Office site. This is the latest guidance.

https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/italy/entry-requirements

As far as I can see, there is no requirement to be tested (other than possibly a random test on arrival) or to isolate if you are fully vacinated with booster. So why the difference for P&O cruises? Is it because P&O do not require boosters, or is it because the ship has previously called at a port in another country whch is on some sort of Italian amber or red list? Or do different rules apply to cruise ships? Does anyone have a definative answer?

I don't think it is just P&O. Our Princess cruise in November also changed itinerary to avoid Italian ports.

[Megabear2]

Cunard have same information on Italy. I am chasing information from Celebrity as I'm actually joining the ship in Civitavecchia.  Understand from Cunard the current Italian rules are in force until 31 March 2022.

[Amyracecar]

On 3/5/2022 at 11:50 AM, Denarius said:

I must admit that I am puzzled. I am cruising around Italy with another line in June so have been monitoring Italy's entry requirements on the UK Foreign Office site. This is the latest guidance.

https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/italy/entry-requirements

As far as I can see, there is no requirement to be tested (other than possibly a random test on arrival) or to isolate if you are fully vacinated with booster. So why the difference for P&O cruises? Is it because P&O do not require boosters, or is it because the ship has previously called at a port in another country whch is on some sort of Italian amber or red list? Or do different rules apply to cruise ships? Does anyone have a definative answer?

 

Cruise ship rules are generally a little different to standard entry rules, although historically this has made life easier rather than harder. (for example not having to go through full customs and passport checks whenever you get on/off the ship)  

 

At the moment some countries who have opened up to air travel haven't yet allowed cruise ships to commence sailings at their ports, so it's not a one-size-fits-all rule when it comes to entry unfortunately. Always best to check the cruise lines' websites rather than the general government ones, just in case. 

[Denarius]

5 hours ago, Amyracecar said:

 

Cruise ship rules are generally a little different to standard entry rules, although historically this has made life easier rather than harder. (for example not having to go through full customs and passport checks whenever you get on/off the ship)  

 

At the moment some countries who have opened up to air travel haven't yet allowed cruise ships to commence sailings at their ports, so it's not a one-size-fits-all rule when it comes to entry unfortunately. Always best to check the cruise lines' websites rather than the general government ones, just in case. 

Thanks. I'm going on a cruise which starts and finishes in Civitavecchia with all the intervening ports being Italian. I had assumed that having satified the requirments for entry into Italy to join the cruise the rest would be plain sailing. Apparently not. But I do not sail until June and a lot of water can pass under the bridge before then.

[wowzz]

4 hours ago, Denarius said:

Thanks. I'm going on a cruise which starts and finishes in Civitavecchia with all the intervening ports being Italian. I had assumed that having satified the requirments for entry into Italy to join the cruise the rest would be plain sailing. Apparently not. But I do not sail until June and a lot of water can pass under the bridge before then.

If the Italian authorities do not change their policy towards cruise ships at the end of March, the entire cruising industry is going to have a major problem with their Mediterranean itineraries this summer.

[snaefell]

The situation is so fluid still that rules anywhere could change either way anytime.

[Megabear2]

10 hours ago, wowzz said:

If the Italian authorities do not change their policy towards cruise ships at the end of March, the entire cruising industry is going to have a major problem with their Mediterranean itineraries this summer.

Is this because the lines won't want to test passengers or because passengers won't want to go on excursions? The cruise lines such as Denarius describes and my own from Civitavecchia presumably are in discussions now I would think as they are home porting from there.  I would think they are in pretty in depth conversations at this stage as the American ships start arriving in less than a month.  I would guess if the ships sail to Europe as planned they must be pretty certain all will go ahead?

[wowzz]

2 hours ago, Megabear2 said:

I would guess if the ships sail to Europe as planned they must be pretty certain all will go ahead?

The European cruise season is baked in at this stage, so the cruise lines have no option but to sail to Europe over the next few weeks, otherwise they would have to cancel all their cruises for the next six months.

If the situation persists, I woukd think that the number of Italian ports visited will be dramatically reduced, although that obviously doesn't help Denarius with his totally Italian itinerary.  

[terrierjohn]

10 hours ago, wowzz said:

The European cruise season is baked in at this stage, so the cruise lines have no option but to sail to Europe over the next few weeks, otherwise they would have to cancel all their cruises for the next six months.

If the situation persists, I woukd think that the number of Italian ports visited will be dramatically reduced, although that obviously doesn't help Denarius with his totally Italian itinerary.  

And of course many of the itineraries use an Italian port as the changeover port.

[wowzz]

20 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

And of course many of the itineraries use an Italian port as the changeover port.

Exactly. So you have the situation that you can fly into Rome, untested, get on a cruise ship, but cannot get off the next day in, say Naples,  without being tested. 

I sort of understand the rationale, as covid could become prevalent within the ship, and therefore passengers could be a source of infection to the local population,  but I do think that it is overly draconian, given the relatively benign nature of the current variant  (and, yes, I know that is a broad generalisation!)

[Megabear2]

Just had the latest destination guide sent to me in respect to my Aurora cruise 1 April.

 

The new details are dated today. I took the opportunity to look at Italy. It says a form has to be completed but NO TESTS and you have to have an excursion.

 

Hopefully better news for those who were told test in every port.

 

 

[Britboys]

Interesting. Saga have a Med cruise departing the UK on Sunday and they have replaced all three Italian ports with Spanish ones...