bbtablet

5 hours ago, ShelaghL said:

 We do have a back up of an LFT that we didn't use last year and I may buy another just to be on the safe side.  

Just be sure they are not the NHS one's that many people sent away for - they are not acceptable for this P&O requirement. Even if the unused one that you have is an acceptable one, check the use-by date on it.

(Just trying to cover all aspects for you).

100 Carnival shares are so cheap now - around £875 paid today -  that with the 4 cruises we have booked over the next 3 summers the shares will effectively become nearly free as a result of the £150 OBC they entitle us to on each one.

(We wouldn't normally have 4 in three years but they are concertinaed due to several COVID cancellations since 2019)

On our first cruise, 2 weeks way back in 2000, we ate more than we normally would in the first week (difficult not to!), and felt bloated and uncomfortable for the second week. Learned that lesson the hard way, so my advice wou;d be to be careful to pace yourselves!

If you are not sure of the reliability of the Randox system (some bad reviews), get Boots' ones (go onto their website) instead for about £15 a test - I have trialed that to make sure the certificate ws issued in good time etc and it worked fine.

I am nervous of the technology and not a natural smart phone user but I worked through the instructions without an issue (although incredibly slowly).

Even so I am buying more than the two tests we need for July as we have another cruise booked later this year. This gives us 4 tests to get 2 right in July, if you see what I mean. I don't mean positive or negative - I mean in case I mess up the technology somehow!

2 hours ago, Megabear2 said:

No test if full vaccinated 

Thanks - so the word YES should not be there - which is my point.

10 hours ago, MX-Drew said:

Sorry to hear this but don't forget you can claim from your travel insurance if you had cruise cover. This happened to me on a sailing on Iona, the itinerary was changed before we boarded then me had a missed port. All ports on the old itinerary where treated as missed ports, almost paid for the cruise.  

That is interesting.

So in respect of Baltic cruises which when booked, and the insurance cover was taken out to include missed ports, had included 2 days at St Petersburg in their itinerary, do you think a claim for missed ports might succeed, even though a substitute new port (Helsinki in our case) was added?

I would be interested in opinions on this.

from the P&O website:

DENMARK

Do I have to have an on-board COVID-19 test to visit this destination?
Yes, Antigen required for unvaccinated guests 12 years and above.

I must be really thick - I thought I understood plain English.

Would anyone care to explain in words of one syllable what this answer means? If I am a vaccinated adult do I or do I not need an onboard test?

On 5/12/2022 at 12:23 PM, DS_Dean said:

Looks like it is required. Very disappointing. 😞

 

 

The second sentence above under Lift Use seems to imply that no-one is ever to go in a lift!

8 hours ago, Windsurfboy said:

 

"33 P&O cruises , they should name a suite after you."

 

Or a ship? "The Denarius" has a nice ring about it, to coin a phrase (see what I did there?) - better than the now corny names they keep coming up with.

 

On 5/3/2022 at 3:06 PM, DamianG said:

 

I wish that I'd gone to schools where the food was of a similar standard to P&O MDRs. 

Ah! school dinners: pink custard anyone?

7 minutes ago, Vampiress88 said:

didn’t say anywhere on the website when we booked it at all. Plus it doesn’t say it on the first booking we had that was booked in April ‘21. 
 

It’s actually only cos I went on the order confirmation for the fjords one to find out what ports we were going to and it said shaded. 
 

 

I have only ever booked after looking at the ship plans and then only through a TA.

Does the website not show the deck by deck plans with all the codes explaining each cabin's characteristics? - that seems strange as there are all sorts of differences between cabins that only the plan can show - for example it has a key of 10 different features and a long note on the various features of the cabins on Iona decks in the brochure, apart from the different grades of cabin.

Looking in my printed brochure dated Sept 2022 - Oct 2024 at the deck plan for Iona, all the starboard group of cabins from the middle of the ship back, including yours, on Deck 15 are coded "Balcony is shaded" - I assume from the restaurants above.

Did you see a plan before you booked?

6 hours ago, Camberley said:

Link to Randox app  don’t worry, there are no tractors involved! Or “type certify app download Randox” into Google.

 

Also the tests were on the main Randox website (or search “Remote Lateral Flow Test Randox CertiFly” on Google)

Went there and immediately saw loads of very negative reviews from April - a bit worrying! I shall stick with Boots.

and your concern is?

I heard of a guy who was refusing to collect his brand new £30,000 Ford Puma car waiting for him in the showroom on the 20th of the month because if he waited another 10 days he would save one month's road tax - I costed this to be somewhere around £12 "saved".

Isn't all this passport stuff just as daft?

Simply renew your passport when it has one full year more to run - this "wastes" less than £10 and avoids all this nervous anxiety!

That's what I shall be doing with my early 2015 issued passport for my late 2024 cruise.

Life's too short - pragmatism rules!

23 hours ago, Kristal Blade said:

Thumbun,

Yes, we sail on 6 June. I got confused by your date format! We do day, month, year so I was thinking you had a month in New York! 

Yes, I still get caught out sometimes here in GB, even after 9/11.

My birthday just happens to be 9/11 (GB style) too.

16 hours ago, Victoria2 said:

For the little the Boots' kit costs, we are thinking of having a trial run to see if we're capable of managing to complete the process without mucking it up. Doing it a few hours prior to boarding and not getting it right would have a ''bit of an effect'' on our holiday plans!

Same here - I registered both of us last night with Boots as described here by others and then also ordered one test package as a trial run just for me to make sure I can handle the technology. It's worth it for me just for the reassurance I will get if I can get a certificate out of the process. Then do it for real the day before embarcation (and hope for negative results!).

cruises?

"So if you have problems don’t give up, another consultant may be better trained or more amenable."

This is unacceptable - you need to make the TA aware that you were lied to.

Re earlier posts, don't be concerned if your booking shows Table for 2 "requested - not confirmed" - this is automatic and standard wording.

P&O need to tell you they have heard your request and if you booked fairly soon after the cruise went on sale you will get your table for two, even before COVID, but they don't promise it to you ahead of the cruise because it limits their flexibility in case circumstances change. Having said that, we have always had our requested "not confrmed" table for two without any bother.

3 minutes ago, zap99 said:

Big ships use Southampton as the tidal range is favourable and it is near the sea. 🤣

Not Maldon then?

1 hour ago, Peppers mum said:

We are booked on J214 originally a Baltic cruise departing 2nd August for 16 nights with overnight in St Petersburg. Obviously this has now changed itinerary wise. Received an email from P & O today giving us a thank you £200 obc valid for this cruise only. Its a very nice gesture and much appreciated but I'm not sure what to make of it all? Any thoughts??

A few hours later we received the gentle reminder about the balance being due in a few weeks!!!!!! 

That's interesting. I wonder whether there is something special about your Baltic cruise because we also have lost 2 days at St Petersburg on a July 16 nights Baltic cruise sailing on Aurora but received no compensation, just another port instead.

Any thoughts anyone?

22 hours ago, D&N said:

I'll try to remember to phone them on Monday morning to confirm their opening times. I've told my wife to remind me, otherwise I'll forget all about it 🤣. Calls from French landlines to other landlines almost anywhere in the world are free and we're only an hour ahead of them.

I'd second other comments, Lloyds are a reputable chain, probably 2nd in UK market to Boots.

If by Monday you mean tomorrow - April 18th - it is Easter Monday and their qouted opening hours are:

Bank holiday opening times

Holiday Date Opening hours Easter Monday 18 April 10am to 4pm

but that is just one branch's times - don't know what address you are intending to contact.

52 minutes ago, indiana123 said:

We are on  the first longish cruise, 11 nights, round Britain.  IF the worst should happen and they went bust mid cruise....we would just jump on a train to London, and go home.

What is the name of the railway station in the middle of the North Sea?

1 hour ago, Mad4WDW said:

Hi

This was a test used to cruise on Azura last week. Accepted by P & O. The boots covid test website clearly states it’s a certificate, the button to download it is labelled “Get Certificate”

Thank you very much for humouring me, Mad4WDW!

This is very reassuring and looks much easier than the company you have to download an app for, with pages and pages of YouTube instruction videos to absorb!

Much appreciated.