Dinglebert

Thats the one thing we don't need to do now thankfully. Have a good time.

That section is blanked at present. Presume it will become printable after I check in on Thursday

Its been a while since we flew and cruised and definately not since Covid. Our recent cruises have all been from Southampton. Therefore I feel I am forgetting something which I need to take to the airport/cruise terminal. This is what I think I need to take on Saturday I need to check in on Thursday to get my tickets I need my passport, tickets, covid status ( we have them both on the phone but also printed) My insurance cover certificate. I know I don't need to test so thats OK. My passports fit the needed times expiry etc

I could see it on the booking and then on the luggage label as you say.

I hadn't booked cabin but just checked and our tags are ready to download for our 8th October cruise. I did see a couple of days ago our cabin had been allocated

That is what I thought re the bottles. It was just that the previous poster had mentioned bottles.

After October the cruises depart way from Palma etc. I imagine the rules for the Canaries cruises will be up shortly.

Wanted to check about the wine bottle situation. I can't see on the list that you can have bottles, just glasses. Am I missing the obvious?

I am cruising from Palma on the 8th October and will not be testing. No need. They have sent me an email to say the rules are being changed. The new rules are on the website. TUI telephone staff not knowing their own rules is not unusal.

Correct which makes it even less likely that they won't know and understand their own rules.

Clearly you choice. However I won't be. I have had an email telling me I don't need to test. Their webpage tell me I don't need to test. It will be week two of not needing to test when I fly. I won't be spending money on what was a pretty pointless test in the first place.

I somewhat think the advisor was quoting the old "rules". I would go back and specifically state the date of your cruise and the details of their email and ask them to confirm if you have worries. They have also updated the website and it states If your itinerary departs from the 1st October up to and including the 28th of October then no pre-cruise test is required for cruises departing from Dubrovnik, Croatia.

Just had an email about our Oct cruise. Test requirements for Palma and Dubrovnik between 1st October and 31st October no need to test. Corfu still rquired

Nope, just been changed. Its corfu cruises only. Palma or Dubrovinik no longer have to test.

I would agree. Their current policy is out of step not only with the other cruise lines but also with all the other holidays they sell. The test is now pointless as you are then getting on a plane with untested people flying with the same company.

Its one of those odd things. I would pay £40 a day for Royal drink package as their drink prices are high and the package is easily worth it. On the other hand I would never pay £40 a day for the P+O one as their restrictions are complicated and their drink prices are far cheaper. I doubt I would come close on a port day of spending anything close to the £40. It is as if P+O really didn't want to do a drinks package but as all the others had they were forced to copy.

Think that would bother me. Does this mean that a cruise on RCI or P+O would not be covered?

Thanks (I think!)

Anybody had this for next year cruises?

The booster date does not matter at this time.

Not in Europe where the price has the gratuity included. You may be looking at Europe prices.

This I imagine will be briefish. Its a overview of our cruise, highs, lows and inbetweens. Background This was never the cruise we were going on. We had booked two weeks P+O from Southampton to the Canaries. However Covid, Cancer and children meant the change was made. Basically our two youngest adult children made mention of how much they were looking forward to their summer holiday with us. Problem with that was they weren't meant to be going. So I moved P+O to next year same time and booked the Anthem of the Seas for a week going from Southampton to La Rochelle, Bilboa, La Corona and of course Le Harve which they insist is Le Harve(Paris) I would never have chosen Anthem normally as I have this idea I don't like big ships. Our last biggish one was Navigator and I didn't really enjoy Navigator. Everyone congregating in what I knew as the shopping street. However Anthem was a pleasant surprise. Yes, its big but its also manageable most of the time. Lots of sitting places, lots of different bars etc. The ship was full and on sea days you could really tell. A 1000 children on board. There was on sea days the dreadful hogging of the sunbeds. However Royal were going around removing the things if they were not sat on for an hour. They didn't do it on port days only sea days. It did help. The Ship: Anthem has a number of "selling points", the North Star, the Dodgems, the bionic bar (although I know other ships also have this). None of them made much of an impression for us in reality. the North Star we did on a port day. It was average. The rest of the ship however I did enjoy. Staff: Staff were as per usual very outwardly friendly and helpful. I sure they really don't actually like us but they do put on a good act! The staff live and die by their ratings on the customer reviews. This time as before we got the whole need a 10 speel not once but on four different occasions. Twice by the main waiter (think he forgot he did it the night before, once by the head waiter and once as an speaker annoucemnet as the chefs paraded the restaurant. I had no issues with the waiting staff. Indeed the assistant waiter was replacing my Chandon before I finished the previous one by night three. Bar staff were excellent. Entertainment Entertainment was mostly good. We will rock you was OK, definately not theatre quality but watchable. There was in the 270 a thing called Spectres Caberet which linked all the electronic wizardy with singing and dancing. I didn't find anyone who knew what was going on. Remove the wizardy and it was a bit average. The big band were excellent. The visiting artists were very good in particular Jamie Allan the magician who we had seen before a few years ago. He is mainly sleight of hand and is outstanding at it. Port stops We did not do any of the tours. Just went off and into the towns. Bilbao was 44 degrees when we were there so a tad on the hot side. Worth visiting them all for different reasons but the locations were not our focus when booking. Food I think this was our biggest let down from previous cruises. The main dining room food was just not that great as compared to previous years. One of the party is veggie and there was only ever one choice on the menu. There is a separate vegan menu which he did choose from at points. Yes I know you can ask for anything but that does involve being proactive 24 hours before. Windjammer is imho the best buffet around compared to others. It was however jammed at points with staff searching for tables. If we sail with Royal again, which is likely then we would be buying the dining package. Cabin We were fortunate to get the Royal up from inside to balcony. Very cheap way of doing it. Kids had an inside, the vitual balony was a bit of a waste of time as far as they were concerned. My one change of opinion. I have always advocated up till now dressing for the formal evenings. Out comes the kilt. It did on day 2 as per normal. However I did feel very out of place. We had early sitting and I would estimate only 20% were in formal dress and around another 20% in long sleeves. Everyone else was in the same style of dress as per a normal evening. I think there were more for second sitting but I did feel with Royal that its thing of the past. We didn't do it second formal night. Overall for many different reasons we needed this holiday and enjoyed it (probably rereading it doesn't come over that I did)- For the same covid and cancer reasons we have another 3 cruises prebooked and moved over the next year. Countdown for October now in place. Second Last thought I am never ever driving to Southampton from the Borders again. Going down was OK, driving back yesterday for absolutely awful. From Southampton to the Lake District I worked out after we got home was an average speed of 33 miles an hour. After lakes it go going. Looking at flights now for next July. Last thought We were part of a FB group for this cruise. Since returning a rather large number have posted that they have tested postive and showing the tests for some reason. I would be very surprised if it happened to us as were are all just through it a month ago. However it is a big possiblity at present of it transmitting on the ships. There were 4000 plus people on a floating tin can with no distancing.

I understand agents cannot be named on this forum so won't. However how on earth do you know an agent is good or not? The one I used is well known. They are the ones who are imposing the charge not P+O. I am tempted and if it works financially dump the deposit and rebook.

I've had them since 2016! Have no plans at present to go to the states but on the other hand a weekend in New York may be a good idea.

I wish they had! I went to the customer service desk with my dollars and asked for them to be exchanged. The rate that day was around parity. RCI only offered me 1.13 therefore having a 12% charge for the exchange. I declined. I did have $200 room credit "earned" through myvegas so rather than spend it on things I didn't need for the sake of it I just did the casino exchange which worked perfectly. Now have another $200 which I don't know what to do with!