lancylass

Hello, we used Vital Clinic and booked onsite testing for a very reasonable £9.99 each when we returned from our Regal Princess cruise 10 days ago. The service was good and the site easy to find in Burnley. Not a million miles from you. We had the results in 48 hours and more importantly the reference number was accepted on the PLF. Found them on the government recommended list but with a higher price, so was very happy when at checkout the cost was reduced. 😃

Hope you find something to suit you. 

This is what happened for us as we embarked on our seacation last Tuesday. We arrived at the Mayflower dock and were directed to a huge marquee back on the West Bay Road. We were early and waited in line for the testing to begin. Our COVID vaccine status and our passports were checked as we joined the lines. There were 4 lines of cars waiting to enter the marquee. When the testers were ready for us, we were waived forward, our passports checked again and a check message was sent to our phones. Then we were given a wristband each and several barcode stickers and sent on to the testers themselves. They took the stickers from us and proceeded with the nasal swab up both nostrils. There was a tester at each side of the car so this was quite quick. We were then able to go round to the Mayflower terminal. We were directed to park in another line and wait for CPS staff to arrive. This took about 45 mins as CPS had been told by Princess not to arrive until noon!! Meanwhile we had received our results text messages. Once we had handed the car over we handed our luggage over and entered the building. Our text messages were checked to ensure we were both tested negative and we were directed to a check in desk to collect our medallions. Thankfully we had been able to input all required information onto the app so we were green to go. We were then directed to sit ans wait for boarding to begin but only waited a minute or so. Then we went through security and onto the ship. From entering the terminal to being greeted by the crew was less than twenty minutes! Apart from the lack of signage for the testing marquee it was all very efficient. 

Thank you for your review. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. We have disembarked Regal Princess today after the second seacation and we feel that some of the “kinks” you experienced have been ironed out. We have never done anytime dining before always preferring traditional dining, but it was a revelation. The wait staff from the head waiter down were so attentive and nothing was too much trouble. I do have dietary issues and when I had explained these the staff went out of their way to ensure we had excellent meals. Many staff addressed us by name as we arrived at a venue as the medallion had connected to their device and told them who we were. This was a nice touch. 
We did however have problems getting drinks in several venues due to the app. Either it wasn’t working or the bar staff were so busy fulfilling those orders, anyone wanting to order in person was ignored. Also many drinks we like are not available on the app. The QR codes that you are supposed to scan with your phone to read the bar menu often didn’t work either. We did take this up with F&B manager. We saw several people leave a venue when their order “took too long to arrive” leaving bar staff wandering around trying to find them.
It certainly hasn’t put us off cruising. We were so thrilled to be back on board even with the current protocols. We are planning on taking another cruise this autumn so will be able to see if there is any improvement by then. Hopefully things will be better embedded.