Embarkation on Costa Smeralda from Uk

[dritan]

We were having a chat on the recent Firenze thread about UK passengers embarking with children and I promised to report back. Thought I'd create a new thread in cases any others are curious. As a UK passenger,  I hadn't seen much on line about the process.

 I am travelling with 2 children aged 11 and 13. For the flight the guidance requires that we all need an antigen test up to 48 hours before the flight.  Not sure if I'm allowed to state the service I used but happy to recommend on a private message. As we would be using a Costa transfer from Malpensa airport which requires compliance with the Italian Green Pass, I timed our tests to ensure it covered my 13 year old for the bus.

At Luton airport we were only asked for our Covid tests and not our locator forms or my vaccine proof. Again at the gate we just had to show boarding passes and passports.  

At Milan airport, we had to through a police check and fill out a form in the queue. Again we just had to show this new form and passports.  The passport queue was more painful just because we were tired and it moved really slowly. But just needed to show passports .  The two stop process took an hour but this meant our luggage was sitting waiting for us.

We were staying at The Hotel Villa Malpensa who provided a shuttle car both directions. Would heartily recommend.

I would caveat the above with the usual mention that this is just my experience and rules can change.  And I'd much rather have all the forms and not need them, than need them and not have them.😀

 

 

[dritan]

This morning we left our lovely hotel via shuttle, arriving at Malpensa at 9.40 for our 10am transfer. We had instructions to meet at exit 7 and easily found our Costa rep.

She was able to scan my NHS Covid pass. Slightly worrying when it didn't recognise the first QR code but that's because she needed the second one, which was fine. Interestingly she took note of the date to ensure it was less than 6 months ago. I was sorted.

My daughter got through the check as she is 11 and the pass is only required for 12 years up.  Finally, I showed my 13 year old's negative antigen test and she  checked the time to ensure it had been taken within the past 48 hours.

We were all cleared for the bus. Was impressed by the Costa reps thoroughness, which I appreciated as I'd made a lot of effort to comply with all the guidance😀. She even carried cellotape so we could attach our luggage.

So we are now travelling to Savona with about 15 others. All social distanced on the bus. This is a Godsend as it stops my 2 from squabbling. 

So far, so good.

 

[lynyrd skynyrd]

Hi dritan 

Thanks for this very interesting am I correct in thinking your vacation cert can not be older than 6 months of last dose to get on costa ship even though sailing from barcelona please keep reviews coming 

 

[kremerlorraine]

Thanks for this helpful info, Dritan, including the Malpensa hotel. I'm slightly worried about your comment re. the date of last vaccination. I haven't seen a stipulation anywhere on the Costa website or in any e-mails from them that the vaccinations had to be within six months of embarkation. 

[dritan]

Just a short message as we are currently sailing away from Marseille. I agree that there is no stipulation from Costa regarding 6 months but there may be for the Italian green pass which you need to comply with in order to board a transfer to the ship.

[dritan]

I've just done a double check and there is no mention of a 6 month stipulation for either Costa or the green pass.

 

We arrived at 1.30 at Savona but would say we had a non standard experience. We got our first document check within 5 mins and our test straight after. 

Our third stop was checking boarding passes and passports again and we were directed to our waiting area in the main part of the terminal. By this stage it was 2pm and we were pretty hungry. I enquired about the brown bag lunch and was told that we would be on the ship within a few mins!! Apparently there had not been enough PCR tests to cover both the Smeralda and Diadema, so we had received antigen tests instead. 

Two mins later I was so elated that we ended up going in the wrong direction and would have ended up on the Diadema lol. They literally had to run after us.

But by 2.15pm we were in our cabin. I think we were very lucky. 

[kremerlorraine]

Enjoy the cruise, Dritan!

[lynyrd skynyrd]

Thanks for clearing that up dritan 

Enjoy your cruise look forward to your reviews 

[latin princess]

On 10/23/2021 at 10:40 AM, lynyrd skynyrd said:

Hi dritan 

Thanks for this very interesting am I correct in thinking your vacation cert can not be older than 6 months of last dose to get on costa ship even though sailing from barcelona please keep reviews coming 

 

Hi I emabrked in Barcelona and mine was 6 months and 1 week after 2nd vacc. I delayed my booster until back home and had no problem 

[Stefan_Varong]

I never heard that Costa and/or Italy would use a six months rule concerning fully vaccinated persons. Everybody needs a Green Pass (or comparable international documents) for international transport from or to Italy or transport over the border of Italian regions with very few exceptions and many, many other things, all of course regardless the stricter rules for entering from the UK and other countries. So Costa must check the Green Pass as well. At the airport in Rome my Green Pass was checked four times before a recent flight, it is taken very seriously. Validity of the Green Pass used to be nine months, but is extended to one year if fully vaccinated. After receiving a booster shot the 12 months start again. But fact is that there is such six-month term in Italy, it is the period after recovery. Testing is the third version for getting a Green Pass for very short time.

[dritan]

Hi all - Well we've just got home from Italy this evening all safe and well.  I thought I would give an update on our experiences regarding travelling with kids. To recap, I have the equivalent of a green pass with my NHS Covid pass and my daughter is under 12 so doesn't require a green pass.  The challenge is that my son is 13 and despite having received one dose of AZ, we don't get any proof of this in the UK ( and no word on whether a second dose will be offered).

Whilst on the ship we were tested on the Wednesday afternoon and received a paper version of the negative result ( with no QR code).  The only tour where we showed our negative result was getting off at Civitavecchia.  

On disembarkation, we caught the train to Turin and were asked for a green pass at a restaurant..  They were happy to accept the negative result for my son. However when we went to a museum, they refused us entry as it didn't have a QR code and they needed something to scan.  With little to do in Turin, we headed to the station to see if we could get an earlier train.  Noticed that FrecciaRossa trains required a green pass but regional trains didn't.  The lady at the desk said we could just explain about the ship test but I decided it was easier to just change to a local train.

We were again asked for evidence at all cafes.  As the 72 hours since the test was taken  elapsed this morning, I tried to get a free test for my son at Milan central station but the test facility was no where to be found.  

At the airport we had some discussion at the Easyjet counter as they asked for a test for my son but I was able to show them the Easyjet guidance and all was fine.  

I hope that 12-5 year olds will be offered a second dose and we can get some proof of this ( under 16s can't use the NHS app) and I think until something is resolved we will avoid travel to Italy as it's just a bit too much hassle right now. 

 

[kremerlorraine]

Thanks for all that info, Dritan. I believe the Italian Red Cross has now discontinued its free testing service at major railway stations.

[dritan]

5 hours ago, kremerlorraine said:

Thanks for all that info, Dritan. I believe the Italian Red Cross has now discontinued its free testing service at major railway stations.

That would definitely explain it then 😉  Someone needs to tell Google Maps.

I'm happy to answer any questions about the cruise - I know I've focussed on some of the travel challenges, but overall we had a great cruise and compared with the MSC Virtuosa earlier this summer, I'd say the overall package Costa provide suits us better than MSC.

[lynyrd skynyrd]

Hi Dritan

Thanks for all your info glad you enjoyed the cruise 

I would like to ask at what capacity did the cruise operate and if it was less did this make it better or worse ?

Was the casino operating as normal?

Thanks

[dritan]

HI

We were informed that the cruise was sailing at 50% capacity.  With that, the ship felt comfortable.  The main challenges were that restrictions such as 4 people to a lift were strictly adhered to, which resulted in a few long waits after coming on board from excursions.  The Colosseo area was very popular with excellent evening shows, so you needed to get there 15 mins before hand to get a socially distanced seat.  We didn't experience long lines in general but the buffet was frustrating ( usually at lunch time at each port as the new arrivals all wandered about with that lost look - I know we did on our first day!!)  But on the plus side there were always at least two MDR open for breakfast and lunch each offering an excellent menu.  Half way through the cruise we opted for a MDR over the buffet.

 

The casino was definitely open for business but I can't give any more detail, as I'm not a frequenter 😉

 

[lynyrd skynyrd]

Excellent information Dritan thank you 

[Wansbrough]

On 10/23/2021 at 9:29 AM, dritan said:

  And I'd much rather have all the forms and not need them, than need them and not have them.😀

 

 

Too true!!!