Live Report B225

[Holidayfun141]

Looking forward to seeing how your cruise compares to our last 2.

On Ventura in September, very quick checks and questions as to our Health, seemed to not be enough. No Masks worn by most passengers, I arrived home with COVID.

Came off Brittania today, again the checks done before we boarded were not very good we had all the paperwork but nobody wanted to see any of it. No masks again even in queues and the Theatre, lots of coughing and we arrived home and my husband has Covid.
I feel that testing should come back for all cruises , the staff still all wore masks.

so I’m interested to see how your cruise is now all have been pre tested. I do hope you have a lovely cruise. 

[Bazrat]

26 minutes ago, walkingdude said:

No beer this side 🥳

Cheap side of the ship all teetotalers

[walkingdude]

1 minute ago, Bazrat said:

Cheap side of the ship all teetotalers

You’re right 

[Bazrat]

This is hell nothing to do just drink

Edited October 21, 2022 by Bazrat

[walkingdude]

It’s infuriating 🤣

[PhilE123]

The beer is flowing in the drizzle by the pool!

Didn't realise it was optional for pax, had noticed noone wearing masks though!

 

[walkingdude]

Okay, update on Specialty Restaurants. All appear to be open apart from Sindhu. 
We ate in the Horizon this evening and the food was very good. No complaints. 
There might be a few staff members short in the bars because it does seem to be taking a little longer than usual to get a drink. 
Weather is not so good so we’re expecting tonight’s passage to be a little bumpy.

More news tomorrow.

[Red Leicester]

I'm super jealous over this one having been on Britannia recently.  Beats work in Milton Keynes today...

 

Is it full passenger wise?  Sorry if already mentioned.

Edited October 21, 2022 by Red Leicester

[walkingdude]

6 hours ago, Red Leicester said:

I'm super jealous over this one having been on Britannia recently.  Beats work in Milton Keynes today...

 

Is it full passenger wise?  Sorry if already mentioned.

Will find out pax numbers from Reception today. Would guess 75-80% full.

[walkingdude]

See attached copy of Horizon newsletter. No mention of Sindhu under Speciality Restaurants. 
Forgot to mention a couple of surprises in our cabin - bottle of Champagne in an ice bucket, and a box of chocolates. Wasn’t expecting that. Unfortunately, we don’t drink Champagne ☹️

[walkingdude]

For those that are interested, the Retreat now costs £245 per person for the full cruise duration. Don’t know the “day cost” yet because they weren’t selling them. 
The Thermal Suite in the Spa is now selling at £40 per 2 hour session, or £99 for a week, which allows a 2 hour session each of the 7 days

[P&O SUE]

Looking forward to your reports Dude, have a great cruise!

[Megabear2]

2 hours ago, walkingdude said:

For those that are interested, the Retreat now costs £245 per person for the full cruise duration. Don’t know the “day cost” yet because they weren’t selling them. 
The Thermal Suite in the Spa is now selling at £40 per 2 hour session, or £99 for a week, which allows a 2 hour session each of the 7 days

A big mark up on the thermal suite sessions from last year - was £25 a session. Do y9u know if when you book The Retreat you still get a thermal pass included?   Are there any changes in the serenity pool area - there was talk earlier in the year that the "shaded" structures with four beds would become a type of cabana area with upgraded sunbeds as they are on some Princess ships and would be charged for.  The Caribbean cruises were mentioned as the introductory ones.

 

 

Edited October 22, 2022 by Megabear2

[walkingdude]

22 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

A big mark up on the thermal suite sessions from last year - was £25 a session. Do y9u know if when you book The Retreat you still get a thermal pass included?   Are there any changes in the serenity pool area - there was talk earlier in the year that the "shaded" structures with four beds would become a type of cabana area with upgraded sunbeds as they are on some Princess ships and would be charged for.  The Caribbean cruises were mentioned as the introductory ones.

 

 

Thermal Suite is definitely not included within your Retreat purchase.

Will be checking out the Serenity Pool area later today.

[Megabear2]

1 minute ago, walkingdude said:

Thermal Suite is definitely not included within your Retreat purchase.

Will be checking out the Serenity Pool area later today.

Thanks. Hope you're having a great time - excellent sleuthing!  The attached is from Regal in July and shows what I'm talking about in case I've confused you!

[Megabear2]

For those wondering why I've asked Walkingdude the question about Serenity this is from my personaliser:

Serenity

Additional cost

For a little extra

Additional cost

Spa and Wellbeing

 

I'm therefore trying to find out what this is and how much it costs.

 

[walkingdude]

Difficult to tell what they might have planned for the Serenity Pool - weather is a bit rough and nobody is using it……..see video .

I’m told there are approximately 3000 pax on board, so roughly 84% full

 

 

[walkingdude]

Sorry, video didn’t upload.

[walkingdude]

One major design/operating flaw with this ship…….especially when hot food is being served 

[Ardennais]

Which cruise is this?

 

edit - sorry, just seen the title!

Edited October 22, 2022 by Ardennais

[walkingdude]

Sindhu not open again tonight, nor listed in the Horizon newsletter. Looks like it will be closed for the duration.

Also, have heard a rumour that the “isolation” cabins are on Deck 8. Will be taking a walk on that deck tomorrow, looking for discarded room service trays and any red dots

[terrierjohn]

9 hours ago, walkingdude said:

One major design/operating flaw with this ship…….especially when hot food is being served 

It seems to be a problem with all cruise ships, they seem to need these pillars to stop the floors from collapsing onto each other. Iona also has these unfortunate obstructions not only in the buffet, but they crop up all the over the place, even in some cabins.

[walkingdude]

The design flaw, in my opinion, was having the ovens and hot food this side of the buffet, and no such impediment on the other side where the fridges and cold food is served. 

[Yorkypete]

2 hours ago, walkingdude said:

Sindhu not open again tonight, nor listed in the Horizon newsletter. Looks like it will be closed for the duration.

Also, have heard a rumour that the “isolation” cabins are on Deck 8. Will be taking a walk on that deck tomorrow, looking for discarded room service trays and any red dots

When we were on Britannia to the Baltic and caught covid we were isolated in our own cabin and the isolation cabins were scattered over the whole ship. You rested where you fell!. We asked and there were no cabins allocated for isolation. It does make it more difficult to check the number isolating although we counted dozens on our corridors  on our deck with trays outside...and I mean full- meal trays.

 

[Megabear2]

6 hours ago, Yorkypete said:

When we were on Britannia to the Baltic and caught covid we were isolated in our own cabin and the isolation cabins were scattered over the whole ship. You rested where you fell!. We asked and there were no cabins allocated for isolation. It does make it more difficult to check the number isolating although we counted dozens on our corridors  on our deck with trays outside...and I mean full- meal trays.

 

I assume there still has to be an isolation section for crew and certainly on my last Britannia cruises these were deck 8 rear - it was impossible to walk through as they were blocked off. Also don't forget people are still being bumped from cabins (although funnily enough checking my records I can't find any for Britannia) so if they aren't becoming quarantine cabins what are they? The two Britannia t/a voyages were also shown as sold out so at 84% there must be cabins allocated onboard.

 

Zap saw subtle red dots on doors on his Britannia cruise and if you know what you are looking for it's pretty easy to count - if you can be bothered!  As a passenger who wanders round ships in the dead of night - I'm something of an insomniac on occasions - I'm generally aware of strange signs and stickers that appear and often come across peculiar scenarios.   If P&O wanted to hide anything - which was the case early on - moving passengers with disease happened in the dead of night accompanied by a team in hazmat suits spraying all over the place.  Having accidentally bumped into a small chain of people being herded I was convinced big brother would have me locked away fairly soon but thankfully it never happened.