johnnylikely

15 minutes ago, Stokie33 said:

Roll on Storm Agnes, I’ll be the one going up and down in the outside lifts if it’s really rough.

we didn’t make it to Portland last year on this cruise due to bad weather which wasn’t really rough, expecting a cruise to nowhere anything else is a bonus🤣🤣

In a word crap lol and this is my best friends first cruise lol

Gosh! Do u think we’ll have troubles with Portland? I was looking forward to Ireland! I’ve done Zebrugge a million times lol

I’m surprised we only got a text and no email!

Hi, I'm doing a 4x night MSC cruise (Southampton, Cork, Portland) and my friend is here visiting from Malaysia

What insurance should he/can he get?

Is there anything he can buy in the UK or does he get something from Malaysia?

Thanks!!!!

21 minutes ago, molecrochip said:

Current estimate is Ventura departing at 23:00 Saturday and Iona at 01:00 Sunday

Thanks! If this goes like this- is Stavanger still likely?

9 minutes ago, molecrochip said:

We are due some really bad weather this weekend between Saturday lunchtime and Sunday lunchtime.

 

I understand that Iona is due in doc as planned for 0630 on Saturday but will not leave until Sunday morning - time as yet to be announced. Passengers will disembark and embark on Saturday as planned but the ship will remain docked at Ocean terminal.

Wow, thx. Do they typically let you get on and off in Southampton?

There have been some rumblings (given the southampton port schedule) that Iona is looking as though she will be in port until Sunday (leaving a day late).

If anyone has an updates or confirmations that would be great to hear!

Fingers crossed- weather sounds choppy! x

7 minutes ago, Grumpella said:

It was Generali Global and the address is ny, ny, so American. I only remembered the name because my daughter just went on MSC, and they use the same company.

Thx for ur quick response as always!

Emma cruises has pointed me in the right direction- life saver! x

On 6/9/2023 at 5:37 AM, Grumpella said:

I bought the insurance from our TA, who said it would satisfy P and O. Since she is authorized to sell P and O cruises to Americans, I took her word for it.

 

When doing online check in, we were asked to give the name of our insurance company, address, phone number.

 

No questions were asked at embarkation. I did have my policy on my phone if needed.

Heya again!! Lol, do you know if it was an American insurance co.

My friend said he spoke to P&O american office and they said something about a british travel insurance?? But that doesn't make sense....

On 7/2/2023 at 12:55 PM, little britain said:

Harmony did 2 short revenue cruises before leaving for Barcelona, and Ovation did a few before going to the Far East. 

Talk about dangling a sparkling sweet in front of you then taking it away!!!  This is what you could have won…. But here is Independence back again instead!! 😿 
 

 

I was on the Harmony then! And the press were savage with it as a few areas were not ready and still being worked on!

9 hours ago, TigerB said:

 

I would have thought the deck 5 cabins would provide a barrier, at least for the dinner act, which may not be that loud anyway, and the moving of chairs during the afternoon seminars.  There have been reports from others of hearing the loud music from the Club House when two decks away, so you may get the same late at night, when the Limelights or Pulse play.

Oh gosh, thanks. Fingers xd lol

Not a huge concern, but a little concern lol.

I'm on Deck 4 under Limelight club (Deck 6)

Was wondering if there'd be any disturbance from the noise (or is having Deck 5 between us enough for the sound to not hit my room?) and what times do they usually have music?

Can't wait for it- love Iona, P&O have outdone themselves in my opinion.

1 hour ago, Grumpella said:

The name was General something.  Sorry I delete all my stuff after a cruise.  I would definitely get.  And I would be surprised if your friend did not need, out TA told us we did need.  Who knows.

Thanks, I booked it through the international P&O line direct and at least two agents said not mandatory for non uk people, but you'd be a fool not to get insurance lol

Thx

7 minutes ago, Grumpella said:

I bought the insurance from our TA, who said it would satisfy P and O. Since she is authorized to sell P and O cruises to Americans, I took her word for it.

 

When doing online check in, we were asked to give the name of our insurance company, address, phone number.

 

No questions were asked at embarkation. I did have my policy on my phone if needed.

Thx- do you happen to know the name of the company.

The P&O agents said for non uk, insurance isn't mandatory. Although obvs defo getting it!

On 5/26/2023 at 11:45 PM, Grumpella said:

No extra documentation or visa needed.

 

I just think as an American your friend might be a little disappointed with the food. Just very different options than I have had on other cruises.

 

 

What cruise insurance did you get? He's not sure which one to get as an American

44 minutes ago, Grumpella said:

No extra documentation or visa needed.

 

I just think as an American your friend might be a little disappointed with the food. Just very different options than I have had on other cruises.

 

 

Thanks for your quick reply, much appreciated!

On 4/26/2023 at 9:30 PM, Grumpella said:

I will be doing a review of this experience, as I appreciate everything I have learned on cruisecritic.

 

This will be our 17th cruise:  5 on Carnival, 7 on Norwegian, 2 on Celebrity, 1 on Holland America and 1 on Royal Caribbean.

 

We are a married couple, 59 and 63.  

 

We are flying out tomorrow from Boston to Heathrow.  We booked tickets on the National Express bus to get to and from Southampton and will be staying at the Holiday Inn.

 

That's all I can report at this time.  lol

Hiya! I have an American friend doing this cruise in July with me!

Did you need any visa or extra documentation to do this cruise?

Any tips for an American experiencing this as his first cruise ever?! Thanks so much!

I've never seen fares like that before from Southampton, esp with No single supplement- at the very least 125-150%

There are some AMAZING deals from Southampton with MSC and Virtuosa- anyone know the official reason?

Most cruiselines seem to be raising their prices these days.

Desperation?

£180 solo traveller - 4x nights

£374 7x nights

That's mad cheap lol

20 hours ago, matt1 said:

Thanks again for all of the great input. Since Anthem of the Seas was the last ship I sailed, I can’t help but keep comparing the entertainment and dining options against that of Valiant Lady. 
 

One of my biggest hesitations on booking this cruise is the dining - I’m definitely a dress-down casual diner using the buffet for practically every meal, with the occasional Italian or other specialty restaurant to break up my routine. Going in and surveying the options, grabbing what I want, and my eat-and-run kind of mentality (I thank all those years in the military for that) all weight significantly on the ships I choose. Sitting down and ordering from a menu for multi-course meals sort of kills it for me. And The Galley on Valiant Lady appears to leave a lot to be desired.

 

Having watched quite a few videos on the dining options, ships with a full buffet (like what was on Anthem of the Seas) win every time over the sit down venues on Virgin. 
 

And as the last post indicated, I don’t consider myself a prude either. But the risqué entertainment is way out of my comfort range, as are late nights (I’m usually in bed well before 11pm even on a cruise) and LOUD anything - and being on the ship for 14-nts I don’t want to resort to in-cabin movies as my sole method of leisure. On Anthem I loved the Music Hall and two70, and truly enjoyed just simple daily events like Trivia or stage shows (sort of like The Beatle's music celebration or We Will Rock You). 
 

With all of that said, I think that I’m talking myself out of this. ☹️

The food in VV is exquisite- the 'speciality' restaurants are really great and included. BUT the fact that the buffet/galley is pretty much exactly the same every day is a no no. I would much prefer a lesser quality buffet that changes every day.

Also, the ents is lacking- I would be bored AF on a VV cruise that long. RC really have entertainment down and I love theirs.

Defo try a shorter cruise on VV before commiting to something that long!

My 8 year old nephew LOVED kids club on the southampton Enchanted we just came off. They had computer games, skee ball, fuseball and he made some great friends. The family fun day fair was great too. Really well done!

Just got off Enchanted. For vaxxed adults, you just had to verbally say you had taken a test and was neg

Is 5 Skies playing on Enchanted. I was looking at the day planner for my 4 night cruise tomo and no sign of it sob sob. I was looking forward to that most!

5 hours ago, CineGraphic said:

 

We were not comfortable paying full price for the sub-par product Princess is currently struggling to provide, so we cancelled our 2 week sailing in October.

We've seen/heard nothing great things about Virgin Voyages, so we're sailing with them instead.

 

Let us know what you think of VV

Whilst their food is exquisite and staff are perkier, they don't come close to the more established lines in many respects

1 hour ago, Camgirl said:

Hi, we are also on enchanted this Friday. We rang Princess in the end and they (eventually) repeated what it says in the faq - that you do not need a negative test certicate to board. You just need to atest that you have done a negative test within 3 days of boarding.

Have just cancelled our tests booked for this evening.

Thx! Have called and they said the same

portion of video tests refunded

 Gonna still send nephew in for his PCR as theres no refund and he’s unvax so better to be safe in case the check in staff aren’t you to date!

37 minutes ago, Musky Ike said:

Up to you. If you can't cancel the video test with a refund or just want the added peace of mind, you could just complete the video tests as planned. They are not saying it can't be proctored. You could still fill out the attestation. 

Thx! Everything is refundable in part.

just wondering the official word on testing as it’s a bit confusing at mo