Aqueous

 The incident on the Diamond Princess (Cruise Liner) that immunity was far more widespread than previously thought. Readers might recall that only 17% of the people on board tested Covid-positive, “despite an ideal environment for mass spread, implying 83% of the people were somehow protected from the new virus.”

Think about that for a minute. All of the passengers were 60 years old or older, but only 17% caught the virus. Why?

Immunity, that’s why. What else could it be? Cross immunity, natural immunity, or SARS-CoV-2 T-cell immunity. Whatever you want to call it.

We cancelled because of the CV which we explained to P&O due to my wife's underlying health issues in fact we asked if we could move our cruise to September/October rather than cancel but they would not let us do that. We had no other choice because we did not want to lose any more money than we had to which in fact was 50%.

Hi

As I posted back on the 4th March we cancelled our cruise with P&O in May to the Canaries due to my wife's health conditions. We had to accept 50% cancellation fee but we have just received a email this is the main part of it.

Mr --------- we were sorry that between 1 February and 11 March 2020 you had to cancel your holiday. As you incurred a cancellation fee we have turned this into a Future Cruise Credit given the current uncertainty surrounding travel, so you can look forward to travelling with us again in the future. Please note that in the event you have multiple bookings and more than one of them is cancelled, then you will receive a Future Cruise Credit for each of the cancelled holidays if you incurred a cancellation fee.

Whether you put it towards one holiday, or multiple, the credit will be applied against your record in the coming weeks. You won’t be able to see this on our website, but it will be automatically applied to any new booking made before the end of December 2021.

Just wondering if anyone else has received a email along these lines from P&O?

Hi All

This morning I rang P&O to find out if they would do the decent thing and allow us to move our first time cruise from May to later in the year to the Canary islands. Our reason for this difficult decision is that my wife has some serious health conditions which we had informed P&O prior to paying our final balance. We just could not take the risk of being on board a ship with the possiblity that a passenger could be carrying the virus and at the first port 3000 passengers quarantined for 14 days or more. The response from P&O was that as we 69 days from our departure they could not transfer our cruise to later in the year. I suggested that due to my wife's health could they be more flexible but the answer was no we could of course cancel our cruise which would at this point would cost us 50% of the total price paid. Unfortunately I had to do as we did not want to lose any more money. It's a pity that P&O could not show some good will towards older travellers given that the WHO have advised the over 60s particularly with health issues to avoid crowds. It would be a lot more helpful if P&O were more proactive like Viking as below to help with the stress and worry with the overall situation we all face.

(In view of this we are for the time being making a temporary exception to our cancellation policy so that you can be free to postpone your cruise at any time up until 24 hours before the planned departure, without incurring any cancellation fees. You will be issued a voucher for future travel valid for 24 months, which can be used on any Viking product (river, ocean or expedition).

Needless to say we will not be re-booking with P&O when we feel it's safer to do so.

People aged 60 years old and above have a higher risk of contracting Covid-19 coronavirus if they go to crowded areas and they should avoid anywhere they could pick up the virus, the World Health Organisation says. That puts us and many other cruisers in this category.

MSC Cruises added that the 4,580 guests onboard will 'receive a 100 percent refund of their cruise fare due to the disruptive nature of their vacation. This is from a article in the Daily Mail online today. The ship was not allowed to be to dock in Jamaica and the Cayman Islands due to the fear that some passengers were unwell also a couple of passengers turned on some of the crew. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8059197/Cruise-ship-crew-pepper-spray-brawling-passengers-feared-mutiny.html

We are fully paid up and due to sail on the 11th May on the Ventura (our first cruise) not sure where she is sailing at the moment. Anyway we are watching to see how this plays out as my wife has health issues.

We have looked at a few videos on youtube to get an outline of the Ventura and it's dance floors ballroom and latin are our thing with a bit of disco to remind us of our youth. I thought there might be some dance lessons as you say on sea days mind you on those days I think we will be getting our sea legs as we leave Southampton. My wife is also looking forward to the formal nights to have the opportunity to dress up.

Ray

It's interesting regarding the size of table when I booked with P&O they asked what table size we would want we opted for table for 6 as an opportunity to meet other people on the cruise. We have chosen as you say club dining at a set time so as to allow the rest of the evening to sample the entertainment onboard being it's our first cruise we have to see how it works out.

Ray

Hi

Thank you for the info we both are looking forward to the cruise in May. We are in the middle of our dance lessons for both ballroom and latin which we enjoy so should have a few dances under our belt by May. Hope you dont mind but have one other question regarding main dining we have chosen 6.30pm each evening and are not really sure whether to go for a table for 2 as we have read a number of times they seem to be in demand and you can end up waiting for some time or do they allocate a table from the first night of the cruise.

Hi

I wonder if anyone could give two new cruisers (myself and my wife) some info on dancing on the Ventura. We are going on our first ever cruise on the 11th May for 12 nights we both like dancing and wonder what range of dancing takes place.