david05

Insurers I believe require a doctor's certificate or similar for medical claims so perhaps the OP should ask P&O for a medical certificate signed by a doctor to show why they were refused boarding on medical grounds. In the (unlikely) event that P&O provide a doctor's certificate a complaint to the GMC would be in order as any reputable doctor would have investigated further and not just relied on a tick in a box. If no certificate is forthcoming this would seem to give further grounds to challenge this ridiculous decision.

Clause 22 may well be an unfair term and definitely open to challenge, especially when P&O make no attempt to investigate what sort of cough it is or what causes it. This smacks of being a very arbitrary decision.

11 minutes ago, Thejuggler said:

From ESTA site.

 

How does Cuba’s designation as a State Sponsor of Terrorism impact my travel to the United States using my approved ESTA? 

If a traveler is found to have visited a country designated as State Sponsor of Terrorism, the traveler is no longer eligible to participate in the Visa Wavier Program and must apply for a visa to enter the United States.

The US French Embassy https://fr.usembassy.gov/visas/visa-waiver-program/ says:

• Additionally, if you have traveled or resided in Cuba on or after January 12, 2021, please be advised that you will need a visa in order to travel to the U.S.

Confusion reigns. Thank goodness I have never travelled to Cuba!

There is some confusion because there are some reports to the effect that you are OK if you visited Cuba before 12 January 2021 (which is the date when Cuba was most recently designated a state sponsor of terrorism) eg https://e-visa.co.uk/usa/news/list-countries-sponsors-terrorism.

Once, I think it might have for the 2022 or 2023 cruises - my memory is not what is was 😃, the whole year was released in one go but it is usual for the release in 2 stages. I do wonder, however, if the current uncertainty makes it difficult to price 2024 cruises and if this might delay the release of at least the first stage.

I suspect Saga has badly truncated the main section and what they really mean us that if you are more than 250 miles from the port you can pay for the extra miles for either a shared car or a private car - not that you have to pay for a shared car below 250 miles. Hopefully it will be made clearer.

When we pre-registered we were given the two options namely January - March and April - December.

53 minutes ago, FatBoy20 said:

Are they still serving you in the Grill Buffet?

Yes at least on SoA (you can however help yourself to tea, coffee etc from the coffee stations in the Grill, waiters will also get coffee etc for you during meal times). 

25 minutes ago, JoJo1947 said:

I updated this a week ago 😀

I was updating for back to back cruisers as that policy only changed a few days ago 😀

Latest update. Following a review Saga has decided to no longer test back to back cruisers unless the following cruise is longer than 16 days. This is sensible and brings it in line with the policy for new arrivals.

11 minutes ago, JoJo1947 said:

We are on a back to back and earlier I stated our testing was 4 days. I don't know if this has been squashed as I'm off after 35 nights. This  topic is getting tiresome now with so much speculation. Swings and roundabouts and you cruise you take the risk. New format of cocktail parties have started. Crew will also stop being tested daily just monthly. I guess there will be moans about that ! 

Can't say I had noticed much speculation and I was and am grateful for the updates that have appeared here over the past few months.

What is interesting though is that, whilst those joining SOA on 10 September should not be tested, those doing a back to back are being tested on the 3 mornings up to and including 10th September. So this should minimise the chance of someone on board passing covid on to a new arrival but Saga don't mind someone new passing it on to those already on board! I guess there is some logic here?

3 hours ago, twotravellersLondon said:

 Are these at the bar or set to one side?

They are at the bars (although in the Britannia Lounge there is a gap in the middle, perhaps because of the dance floor?).

3 hours ago, Denarius said:

Are the bar stools back in use in the Living Room, North/South Cape bar and the Britannia lounge? On my 4/22 cruise on SofA they all had "do not use" stickers on, on my 8/22 cruise on SofD they had all been removed!

Bar stools in use in the Living Room, Britannia Lounge and Supper Club. Currently no bar stools in the North Cape Bar.

17 minutes ago, Glenndale said:

Thanks for that information David, we will be boarding SofA when you return.

Is the ice-cream freezer in the Living Room working and are there any books in the library ?

Don't know about the freezer in the Living Room but there are still no books in the Library.

On Adventure as from yesterday. Our cabin steward confirmed that there had been a lot of covid cases on board during the last cruise and encouraged us to take care as he didn't want us to have to isolate for 6 days - a feeling which is mutual. Very few wearing masks and, although masks are recommended when using the tender or on coaches, on the tender today I would say that less than 25% were wearing a mask.

Most things are back to normal. Staff are still serving you at the buffett in the Grill but you are allowed now to use the tea/coffee stations in the Grill yourself and to help yourself to ice cream from the machine in the pool area (neither of which we could do on our last cruise).

4 minutes ago, paulatsea said:

!! So he phoned you when he arrived ?

Did you ask if he had been tested ?

Assume they are still testing everyone in the car ?

Glad you made it onboard - I hope we do !

Yes he phoned to say he had arrived. We did wonder if he had tried knocking on someone else's door with no result! We didn't ask if he had tested and he was tested along with us on arrival. We noticed at the port that quite a few seemed to have travelled in shared cars but no sign of any failing the lateral flow test.

Hope you do indeed make it on board Discovery. Good luck.

5 hours ago, Lady Meer said:

In January our driver rang us the day before to arrange a time and give us his contact number but it seems this is not necessarily the norm.

Definitely not the norm. We are now on Adventure and our driver did not contact us beforehand but arrived 1 hour 15 minutes early yesterday. Needless to say we were not ready! He was also at the wrong address as we discovered when we took the luggage outside (fortunately he was only a couple of roads out!).

I don't think you have anything to worry about. Although we have not been close to the lifts I know others who have and they were not troubled at all. I would love an upgrade to a deluxe twin!

6 minutes ago, twotravellersLondon said:

 

SAGA's latest 2022 Financial report.

 

The £319 is their average per person per day. Some suites are at least twice the price of a standard cabin and so that raises the average price.

 

We've likewise just returned from a SAGA cruise, also had a higher grade standard cabin and likewise paid less that the £319 average. 

Thanks for the explanation.

13 hours ago, twotravellersLondon said:

(By comparison,  SAGA currently costs £319 per day per person... interestingly SAGA's current occupancy rate is higher.)

I don't know what your baseline is but we are booked on a Saga Christmas cruise in a standard balcony cabin (but not the lowest grade) at a cost of £223 per person per day.

30 minutes ago, LandC said:

If you were told that the brochure would be out September/October this year, I wonder if Saga have decided to release their 2024 itineraries earlier than usual? 

I think September/October would revert to the pre-pandemic timing. However Saga also used to release the January to March/April cruises first with the rest of the year following somewhat later.

11 hours ago, tring said:

 

I would love to do an around S America and is something we had considered pre covid, though one would be fine.  We have not been away for more than 45 nights at a time previously though, and that included land stays (35 nights is our longest cruise), so a big jump.  Whilst we would hope to be able to extend travel insurance, (if only with another company), the crunch we see is the house insurance, which currently only covers 60 days if not "occupied".  We do not have close relatives nearby, so could not really ask someone to move in for a few days during our travels, but are thinking it may be worth speaking to our house insurers to see if there may be a way around it.  The policy excludes, escape of water, theft and vandalism if the house is unoccupied for more than 60 days, so a risk we could never consider.  Did you have house insurance problems for a longer holiday?

We once did a cruise of over 100 nights and the insurance company was fine with this as a one-off, no additional premium. A neighbour was happy to keep an eye on the house.

12 hours ago, Windsurfboy said:

So why aren't  Saga asking people to test themselves in morning before getting in car.

 

Are Saga still discouraging /banning Public transport.

 

Given high prevalence of covid I'd drive myself now

Saga are still asking people to test beforehand.

Thank you for your review. You should have had slippers waiting in your room on arrival🙂