Who has decided to take a summer staycation cruise?

[ann141]

20 minutes ago, tring said:

 

We stayed at The Holiday Inn Express a few years back now, but it was absolutely fine.  We had a meal at the Brewers Fayre attached to the Premier Inn - went about 5.15pm to get their meal offer but have never stayed there.  Hol Inn Express always have a free breakie for all residents, even those on points, but Allan has not got enough loyalty points to book that for Greenock, so decided to go with the Premier as a bit cheaper and we are happy with just buying something to eat in the room for breakie.  Premier Inn has got a good rate which allows cancellation up to three days prior to stay.

 

We do have some concern though as the trains are coming up very expensive as there are no advance fares and would not be refundable if need to cancel.  We have also discovered the ship has VERY few cabins booked by playing with the cruise line's website, so a are tad wary the cruise could be pulled.  So are we not booking the train at present, but hoping to book the free coach transfer along with another cancelable night pre cruise in Liverpool, to keep as a back up in case train becomes unavailable or a totally silly price.  Also considering a one way car hire for a day or two pre cruise, which may still be cheaper than the train, even if we booked the best train price by booking two different legs changing in Wigan or (I think Preston), rather than a through ticket.  We would need a taxi into Liverpool or a Birkenhead train station as well with luggage.

 

Getting very complicated, but am feeling my life has returned.  It is good to get back to making all these travel arrangements that had become a regular part of our lives, along with the traveling 🙂

 

 

 

Thank you.We can get an Advance train ticket from Chesterfield on tuesday 20 July for £23 though we are considering staying in Liverpool the night of 19 July so we can visit my Mum as well.There are train tickets available (with our senior railcards) for £17.95 on July 20 at 8 12 am from Liverpool to Greenock.The Premier Inn at Moorfields is only £37 on July 19th. If the cruise is cancelled we will just lose the £23 each or £17 each advance tickets as the cruise and hotels are refundable

[tring]

14 minutes ago, ann141 said:

Thank you.We can get an Advance train ticket from Chesterfield on tuesday 20 July for £23 though we are considering staying in Liverpool the night of 19 July so we can visit my Mum as well.There are train tickets available (with our senior railcards) for £17.95 on July 20 at 8 12 am from Liverpool to Greenock.The Premier Inn at Moorfields is only £37 on July 19th. If the cruise is cancelled we will just lose the £23 each or £17 each advance tickets as the cruise and hotels are refundable

 

Thanks a lot for that.  Allan looked at about 10.30am onwards as tickets were usually cheaper then and we do not do early, but prices way up on that.  Worth looking again tomorrow.  We let our railcards lapse as never used them much + covid, but could renew.

[Beckett]

To Ann and Tring. Because I'm nosey, and because I liked the sound of a ship with sails, I looked up Trade Winds to have a look. It looks gorgeous! How lovely that you're meeting up on the same trip too. I hope you all have a wonderful time. Jane.x

[MX-Drew]

I thought I was on the P&O board but I'm mistaken as it seems to be the Tradewind Voyages board.🤣

[grapau27]

12 hours ago, ann141 said:

We may stay in Greenock instead of Glasgow.Do you prefer the Premier Inn or Holiday Inn if the price was the same?We may use Tesco vouchers to stay at Holiday Inn but would prefer The Premier Inn if better.

I have stayed in the Tontine hotel  in Greenock several times before sales meetings and always had a great time.

[Elaine0138]

Just booked a 7 nighter on Iona really looking forward to it. We love sea days so plenty of time to explore a new ship.

[ann141]

4 hours ago, Beckett said:

To Ann and Tring. Because I'm nosey, and because I liked the sound of a ship with sails, I looked up Trade Winds to have a look. It looks gorgeous! How lovely that you're meeting up on the same trip too. I hope you all have a wonderful time. Jane.x

Thank you Jane.By chance we are both booked on the Princess cruise Oct 22nd as well

[ann141]

3 hours ago, MX-Drew said:

I thought I was on the P&O board but I'm mistaken as it seems to be the Tradewind Voyages board.🤣

There doesn't seem to be a Tradewind Voyages board. However i have found a board for Roll Calls for 'other cruise lines' so have set up a roll call there. Just excited and hoping more on the P and O board will join us!!

[ann141]

13 hours ago, tring said:

 

Thanks a lot for that.  Allan looked at about 10.30am onwards as tickets were usually cheaper then and we do not do early, but prices way up on that.  Worth looking again tomorrow.  We let our railcards lapse as never used them much + covid, but could renew.

I have set up a Roll Call for this voyage on the Roll Call listed 'Other Ocean Roll Calls' Hope you will join it so we can discuss further

[MX-Drew]

On 5/29/2021 at 2:19 PM, ann141 said:

There doesn't seem to be a Tradewind Voyages board. However i have found a board for Roll Calls for 'other cruise lines' so have set up a roll call there. Just excited and hoping more on the P and O board will join us!!

It was a joke, but you could post on the UK cruisers board meanwhile. 🙂

[Purdey16]

On 5/24/2021 at 9:46 PM, Purdey16 said:

Just a update Majortom , I took your advice and phoned princess about if they would apply the discount after booking and they said yes 👍 but I would have to contact my travel agent to tell them that they would honour it and they would have to phone princess which my agent did and we got a discount all took about 5 days so big thank you 😊 

Another update majortom 😔 after enquiries about applying the discount discount they realised we had a administration error on our account and we shouldn’t of got the $250 each on board spend it was a error so it’s gone , but hayho we got the blue light discount and military $50 on board spend which I don’t think we were supposed to get both , but they have messed up a few things on our booking so watch this space 🤔

[tring]

8 hours ago, MX-Drew said:

It was a joke, but you could post on the UK cruisers board meanwhile. 🙂

 

No worry, in fact I was thinking the day before you posted that I should start a roll call, but had not got around to it, though I should have done then as it was developing into a discussion between Ann and I regards our specific cruise and arrangements for it.

 

I was well aware of the "Other Roll Calls" board as well as the "Other Cruise Lines" forum since we have often used smaller cruise lines, though the UK board is something I had not seen until this last week or two.  There are threads about Tradewind Voyages on those boards already which have proved interesting.

 

 

[7th cruise]

Thinking of booking Britannia for 29th August for 7 days, it does say there is a stop in Liverpool are we able to get off there or would that depend on the restrictions at the time

[wowzz]

12 minutes ago, 7th cruise said:

Thinking of booking Britannia for 29th August for 7 days, it does say there is a stop in Liverpool are we able to get off there or would that depend on the restrictions at the time

Depends on the restrictions at the time. At present only those on official tours can get off.

[tring]

53 minutes ago, 7th cruise said:

Thinking of booking Britannia for 29th August for 7 days, it does say there is a stop in Liverpool are we able to get off there or would that depend on the restrictions at the time

 

The Government requirements for the short, newly introduced, summer cruises are that anyone going off the ship has to be on a shore excursion.  Hence that is the case for all cruise lines.  I have seen mention of certain excursions on P& O website, but no prices mentioned.  Could ask P&O.  It has been said P&O be intend to bring in some cheaper alternatives, so may be on the cards.

 

I have been told by two cruise lines that the criteria required beyond the summer cruises has not been decided yet, though the lady from one of those lines did point out that for international ports, they would have to obey local port requirements as well as our Government ones, which is obvious. 

 

There is another thread where discussions about this took place yesterday.  Molecrochip commented on that.

 

Edited June 2, 2021 by tring

[ann141]

51 minutes ago, wowzz said:

Depends on the restrictions at the time. At present only those on official tours can get off.

I think its as Barbara (Tring) said that there is an agreement that the summer seacations will only provide organised shore excursions.Although things will hopefully change soon regarding general freedom etc I think the cruise lines would find it difficult to cancel or re arrange excursions at short notice.Hopefully for the cruises that follow, we will be allowed to get off at each port and explore independantly.

[rumbalizw]

I read a report this week following Spain's decision to allow cruise ships to dock as from Monday 7th June. No mention of restrictions on independent exploring. Should be good for some of the later cruises there .

[Snow Hill]

23 hours ago, rumbalizw said:

I read a report this week following Spain's decision to allow cruise ships to dock as from Monday 7th June. No mention of restrictions on independent exploring. Should be good for some of the later cruises there .

Appears it will only be for those who are vaccinated if same rules apply to cruises as they do land & air based tourism

 

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/spain-welcome-back-international-cruises-june-7-2021-05-29/

[Pink-belle]

On 5/27/2021 at 7:12 PM, lindylooellalouise said:

Hi have you had your cabin allocated yet?

Just checked the personaliser and our stateroom has been allocated today, 24 days before sailing.

 

Booked an HA grade Balcony and that’s exactly what we got.  Cabins above and below so very happy 😀

[lindylooellalouise]

Just now, Pink-belle said:

Just checked the personaliser and our stateroom has been allocated today, 24 days before sailing.

 

Booked an HA grade Balcony and that’s exactly what we got.  Cabins above and below so very happy 😀

Hi that’s fab news we just paid our balance yesterday and our vp says our cabin can be allocated 21 days before starting to get excited now 😳👍

[MX-Drew]

2 hours ago, Pink-belle said:

Just checked the personaliser and our stateroom has been allocated today, 24 days before sailing.

 

Booked an HA grade Balcony and that’s exactly what we got.  Cabins above and below so very happy 😀

My suite isn’t allocated yet 😭

[lindylooellalouise]

2 hours ago, Pink-belle said:

Just checked the personaliser and our stateroom has been allocated today, 24 days before sailing.

 

Booked an HA grade Balcony and that’s exactly what we got.  Cabins above and below so very happy 😀

Hi does your vp say anything about a formal night and can you book speciality restaurants?😀

[Pink-belle]

1 hour ago, lindylooellalouise said:

Hi does your vp say anything about a formal night and can you book speciality restaurants?😀

No and No.  I am expecting a formal night though.

 

I have not received an email yet, and finding the cabin number was not straightforward, tickets etc available 3 weeks beforehand so May get more information then. 
 

 

[lindylooellalouise]

17 minutes ago, Pink-belle said:

No and No.  I am expecting a formal night though.

 

I have not received an email yet, and finding the cabin number was not straightforward, tickets etc available 3 weeks beforehand so May get more information then. 
 

 

Please keep us informed when you get more info, wish P&o would email about booking extras and what entertainment is available just to add to the anticipation it’s all part of looking forward to the cruise 😀

[MX-Drew]

14 hours ago, Pink-belle said:

No and No.  I am expecting a formal night though.

 

I have not received an email yet, and finding the cabin number was not straightforward, tickets etc available 3 weeks beforehand so May get more information then. 
 

 

I thought you had your cabin number in the cruise planner, I have had my cabin grade all the time.