1st cruise since before lockdown and covid found me.

[florence11]

This was our 1st cruise since before the covid lockdown we were really looking forward to it. We arrived in sunny Malta for a week around Corsica, Florence, Pisa, Rome and Sicily. We booked an inside cabin so we could spend more on excursions and other stuff and it was fine. I did miss the turn down and the chocolate on the pillow but we did find out that the stewards were being used else where on the ship. We did struggle with the App for a while but soon got that sorted. The muster drill was strange we had our paper scanned and the following day we had a warning letter to go back again as apparently we had not been done.

 

The evening entertainment was hit and miss, 1 night cancelled due to the weather and another due to technical issues we left after 3 attempts. We spent most evenings in Brodies doing the quiz.

 

The meals in the main restaurant were good but not like before Covid there wasn't as much choice. I didn't like the idea of ordering the whole 3 courses as I didn't know if I wanted a dessert and the meals were smaller than they used to be, we never saw a wine waiter either. I was dissapointed with the buffet there was plenty of choice but such a small area and no egg station for omlettes or eggs benedict.

We did go to Sindhu and the food was very good but the was empty and according to the staff they were only allowed to book out a certain number of tables such a waste, we also did the Epicurean restaurant which was ok but too much fuss and not enough food.

 

I found all the staff on board were extremely helpful and we never found any problem at all getting sunbeds when we wanted one.

We returned to our cabin 1 evening to find staff placing masks on the cabin doors just as a precaution we were told but on the evening of the 20th Sept I was physically exhausted we had been on 2 long trips so I thought it was that, but I didnt feel 100% so I did a LFT test it was positive. I could not believe it I work for the NHS and have had all my vaccines and have avoided Covid for over 2 years then it finds me on a cruise ship. My husband was fine and we were moved to a balcony cabin on C deck which was fine. We were very well looked after and we had very nice neighbours.

My husband tested positive later so we were to isolate on the ship for the next 7 days. We cruised up around Croatia and Dubrovnik we saw it all from the ship and were hoping to fly home the following Thursday. We were tested that day and still positive we were then told by Frazer that we were to be transfered to a hotel in Malta. This is where things did not go to plan. We were being tested everyday on the ship (after day 7) and Frazer informed us on the mini bus that we would continue to be tested everyday at the hotel and once negative we would fly home and we had a point of contact in the hotel that we could could speak too. We were taken to a lovely hotel and then informed there was no more testing we were there until day 10 and our point of contact was in the UK at the end of the phone or email. I think P&O staff should tell passengers the truth not just what they want to hear.

We had everything we needed in the hotel and the staff were great we were out on day 10 negative or not and flew home on the Monday 3rd Oct to Gatwick and were driven to Bristol to get out car.

Bristol airport were not interested in why our car had been there for extra 10 days and charged us for overstay but I have to say P&O paid for everything including the carparking I cannot fault them for anything.

Would I sail with them again! yes I would they looked after us from start to finish and have been looking already. 

[indiana123]

Very sorry to hear that.  I hope you are both feeling a lot better now.

 

Good to know you were looked after.

[florence11]

7 minutes ago, indiana123 said:

Very sorry to hear that.  I hope you are both feeling a lot better now.

 

Good to know you were looked after.

We are both ok now just a little breathless at times.

Thanks

[Snow Hill]

1 hour ago, florence11 said:

This was our 1st cruise since before the covid lockdown we were really looking forward to it. We arrived in sunny Malta for a week around Corsica, Florence, Pisa, Rome and Sicily. We booked an inside cabin so we could spend more on excursions and other stuff and it was fine. I did miss the turn down and the chocolate on the pillow but we did find out that the stewards were being used else where on the ship. We did struggle with the App for a while but soon got that sorted. The muster drill was strange we had our paper scanned and the following day we had a warning letter to go back again as apparently we had not been done.

 

The evening entertainment was hit and miss, 1 night cancelled due to the weather and another due to technical issues we left after 3 attempts. We spent most evenings in Brodies doing the quiz.

 

The meals in the main restaurant were good but not like before Covid there wasn't as much choice. I didn't like the idea of ordering the whole 3 courses as I didn't know if I wanted a dessert and the meals were smaller than they used to be, we never saw a wine waiter either. I was dissapointed with the buffet there was plenty of choice but such a small area and no egg station for omlettes or eggs benedict.

We did go to Sindhu and the food was very good but the was empty and according to the staff they were only allowed to book out a certain number of tables such a waste, we also did the Epicurean restaurant which was ok but too much fuss and not enough food.

 

I found all the staff on board were extremely helpful and we never found any problem at all getting sunbeds when we wanted one.

We returned to our cabin 1 evening to find staff placing masks on the cabin doors just as a precaution we were told but on the evening of the 20th Sept I was physically exhausted we had been on 2 long trips so I thought it was that, but I didnt feel 100% so I did a LFT test it was positive. I could not believe it I work for the NHS and have had all my vaccines and have avoided Covid for over 2 years then it finds me on a cruise ship. My husband was fine and we were moved to a balcony cabin on C deck which was fine. We were very well looked after and we had very nice neighbours.

My husband tested positive later so we were to isolate on the ship for the next 7 days. We cruised up around Croatia and Dubrovnik we saw it all from the ship and were hoping to fly home the following Thursday. We were tested that day and still positive we were then told by Frazer that we were to be transfered to a hotel in Malta. This is where things did not go to plan. We were being tested everyday on the ship (after day 7) and Frazer informed us on the mini bus that we would continue to be tested everyday at the hotel and once negative we would fly home and we had a point of contact in the hotel that we could could speak too. We were taken to a lovely hotel and then informed there was no more testing we were there until day 10 and our point of contact was in the UK at the end of the phone or email. I think P&O staff should tell passengers the truth not just what they want to hear.

We had everything we needed in the hotel and the staff were great we were out on day 10 negative or not and flew home on the Monday 3rd Oct to Gatwick and were driven to Bristol to get out car.

Bristol airport were not interested in why our car had been there for extra 10 days and charged us for overstay but I have to say P&O paid for everything including the carparking I cannot fault them for anything.

Would I sail with them again! yes I would they looked after us from start to finish and have been looking already. 

Sorry to hear it caught up with you whilst you were on holiday after you had avoided it for 2 years, glad they looked after you even with a few hiccups along the way. 

[bbtablet]

On 10/26/2022 at 10:24 PM, florence11 said:

We are both ok now just a little breathless at times.

Thanks

Too much information!