Ex2 Med Winter 21 cruises

[2BACRUISER]

Looking at going to Spain on Ex2 beginning Dec as prices are good and £100 off too but a bit worried about all the rigmarole to go thro to travel  the website is a bit confusing. Does anybody know if Theres an idiots step by step guide to travelling. We would be flying Birmingham to malaga. 

I know about day 2 LFT when you come back its more the prior to travel and experience on board. 

Anybody done one of these yet

Cheers 

[Cliffholl55]

As I understand you have a test at airport from Tui (free) before flight. When we was on Explorer few weeks ago you had to have your temperature taken everyday. There’s a scan that you stand in front of after flashing ur cabin card on it. You have to do it before 4pm everyday or you go on naughty step.  You will also have your temperature taken if you go ashore as you get back on board. It’s all very simple and I think Marella are doing things much safer than other cruise lines from what I’ve read.

have a good time, we’re looking at the new year day cruise out of malaga

[2BACRUISER]

We've done it 25th Nov off on Ex2 Med moments. Bargain week away b4 xmas. Looking forward to it. 

🎉🥂🍾💕🙂

[Brummijam]

10 hours ago, 2BACRUISER said:

We've done it 25th Nov off on Ex2 Med moments. Bargain week away b4 xmas. Looking forward to it. 

🎉🥂🍾💕🙂

We are on Ex2 now and they are doing a fantastic job of keeping everyone safe.

Today is our last day and we have been summoned to the lounge to have a pre departure lateral flow test carried out.

If you have any questions before you go just post on here and I will do my best to answer them.👍

[Pensioncruiser]

Hi BJ Good to hear from you. Fingers crossed that you are all clear, have a great last night and a safe journey home 😊

[colint17]

Hi All, I'm cruising on 09/12/2021 and also am confused about testing requirements.

 

In the Marella-Cruises-entry-requirements-for-our-holiday-destinations document it states:

We have partnered with Chronomics to provide easy and
affordable testing packages containing:
o Pre-Cruise Rapid Antigen (Lateral Flow)
o Day 2 Rapid Antigen (Lateral Flow) to be done back
in the UK

This seems to imply that the pre cruise test is done before the airport and is not free of charge, and their is no longer a pre cruise ship departure test, but this is done back at home with your purchased testing kit. 

 

Any recent advice would be appreciated before I order my testing kit ! 

 

Thanks, Colin

[2BACRUISER]

 

On 10/30/2021 at 3:46 PM, colint17 said:

the Marella-Cruises-entry-requirements-for-our-holiday-destinations document it states:

We have partnered with Chronomics to provide easy and
affordable testing packages containing:
o Pre-Cruise Rapid Antigen (Lateral Flow)
o Day 2 Rapid Antigen (Lateral Flow) to be done back
in the UK

This seems to imply that the pre cruise test is done before the airport and is not free of charge, and their is no longer a pre cruise ship departure test, but this is done back at home with your purchased testing kit. 

This confused me too so I hunted a bit further and found a pdf of Marellas requirements to cruise. I will try to post tomorrow when I can scan it and yes you do need to do the pre flight test the day b4 to get a fit to fly certificate you may also have a LFT at airport too reading the doc. I tried to log on the chromatic site but it would not accept Spain as my cruise destination kept putting up canary islands🤔🤔 all my docs confirm med moments destinations in Spain so gave up for now. 

[Cliffholl55]

https://www.tui.co.uk/holidays/where-can-i-go-on-holiday/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Marella-Cruises-entry-requirements-for-our-holiday-destinations-261021.pdf

 

it was the Greece cruises that did test at airports, can only think this is a Spanish rule 

Edited October 31, 2021 by Cliffholl55

[Brummijam]

Marella website’s “Travel with confidence web pages”explains step by step what is required when filling in the Spanish passenger location form.  When you order your Chronomics testing kit you will receive one lateral flow test per person a few days before departure ,this test needs to be carried out after 9pm on the day before you are due to travel.You have to record the barcode number on the test and also the test result with a photo that you upload (negative result hopefully) by email to the Chronomics site which is all explained in the test packaging, Within a few mins of sending your result you should get your fit to fly cert by return email. You will need this and your NHS covid travel pass ( make sure that the valid until date in the NHS pass covers the duration of your trip)

 

Fourty eight hours before you return home you have to fill in a UK passenger locator form and on this they require  your passport details, the locations that you have visited on your trip, your address/where you will be staying on your return home, your contact telephone number and your Chronomics registration number (Which you will have received when you completed your first lateral flow test.)   Information and help is on the onboard navigate app and reception will help if you run into problems.

On completion of this form you will receive a passenger locator form certificate by return email 

And you show this  at border force back in the UK

 

We were fortunate to be able to use two separate iPads so one was open on the instructions/ requirements page whilst the other one was used to fill in the corresponding forms.

On the night before embarking all passengers were summoned to the indigo lounge for a pre flight lateral flow test provided by Marella free of charge.

Any other questions  feel free to ask.

 

 

[Brummijam]

On 10/30/2021 at 11:28 AM, Pensioncruiser said:

Hi BJ Good to hear from you. Fingers crossed that you are all clear, have a great last night and a safe journey home 😊

Hi PC.

Thanks for your good wishes.

We are back home now, Delayed at Malaga for one hour but not a problem.👍

 

We did the pre flight lateral flow test in the indigo lounge and the instructon to everybody was to return to your cabin and wait for 30 mins if they didn’t contact you just carry on with your evening plans. 
We heard nothing so we went for dinner and then settled down in the sqid to watch the entertainment, At about nine thirty We were approached by a security officer and told to return to the cabin because one of us had tested positive, Back in the cabin I had a call from the medical facility telling me that someone would be coming to us to take another test swab.

By the time that the samples were taken and we were told that they were negative it was after midnight.

So the last night wasn’t too clever.😷🙄

Not really complaining though, better safe and all that and no bad head in the morning.🎉🤮😂

 

I did ask around and from other passengers were told that there were a few cases onboard but nothing was announced officially.🤷🏻‍♂️
During our time on the ship we never felt unsafe in any of the venues, social distancing was maintained rigorously by staff and cleaning was ongoing continuously.

We have a trip booked for next April and depending on the Covid situation may look at a Canaries trip after Christmas.

Keep well and stay safe both.😉

 

[Brummijam]

10 hours ago, Brummijam said:

Marella website’s “Travel with confidence web pages”explains step by step what is required when filling in the Spanish passenger location form.  When you order your Chronomics testing kit you will receive one lateral flow test per person a few days before departure ,this test needs to be carried out after 9pm on the day before you are due to travel.You have to record the barcode number on the test and also the test result with a photo that you upload (negative result hopefully) by email to the Chronomics site which is all explained in the test packaging, Within a few mins of sending your result you should get your fit to fly cert by return email. You will need this and your NHS covid travel pass ( make sure that the valid until date in the NHS pass covers the duration of your trip)

 

Fourty eight hours before you return home you have to fill in a UK passenger locator form and on this they require  your passport details, the locations that you have visited on your trip, your address/where you will be staying on your return home, your contact telephone number and your Chronomics registration number (Which you will have received when you completed your first lateral flow test.)   Information and help is on the onboard navigate app and reception will help if you run into problems.

On completion of this form you will receive a passenger locator form certificate by return email 

And you show this  at border force back in the UK

 

We were fortunate to be able to use two separate iPads so one was open on the instructions/ requirements page whilst the other one was used to fill in the corresponding forms.

On the night before embarking all passengers were summoned to the indigo lounge for a pre flight lateral flow test provided by Marella free of charge.

Any other questions  feel free to ask.

 

 

Something I forgot to mention in my previous post is the TUI Cruise control App which you need to access from their website , This is where you fill in a short medical questionnaire, download your luggage labels and boarding passes and you can also book excursions and onboard restaurants etc for your trip.

On our trip the surf and turf restaurant was fully booked every night so pre booking may be a good option.

[HalifaxYorksCruiser]

We got home yesterday from Explorer 2. We paid for the £20pp Chronomics package via the Tui website. Did the online testing 9pm the night before travel which is a bit of a faff when you have a 6 am flight the following morning. At Manchester airport check in just showed a screenshot of the Chronomics tests results plus the Spanish passenger locator form. Had to show the Spanish passenger locator form at Malaga airport but arrival at Malaga was straightforward. Our flight out of Manchester was on time and we were one of the first to get on the ship at about 11am . Cabin was immediately available and luggage arrived at cabin by 12 noon. You have to have your temperature tested daily which is very easy as there are a number of electronic testing machines. Takes all of 15 seconds to do. On penultimate night you get a slip of paper left in your cabin telling you the time of your departure Lateral Flow test which is carried out in Indigo lounge. Our time was 6pm but when we got there the queue was very long ( estimated 1 hour ). Decided not to wait so went back an hour later and the queue was down to about 5 mins. After test you have to go back to your cabin for 30 mins and if you test positive you will get a call. You do not get any proof of negative test and did not have to show anything at Malaga airport other than the U.K. PLF. Did not need to produce anything at Manchester airport. Be aware that there are long queues at passport control in Malaga airport before going to gate. Checking  in at Malaga was a breeze however with no queues  at the Tui desks. Flight was delayed by about 90 mins but made up about 30 mins on flight back.

Edited November 1, 2021 by HalifaxYorksCruiser
Typo

[HalifaxYorksCruiser]

Forgot to mention that the sailing on our last night was delayed by about 2 hours on last night due to some passengers having to be offloaded due to testing positive. We had about 1000 passengers on our sailing. If you tested positive you were taken by ambulance to a local hospital but your travel partner was taken elsewhere ( not sure where ). 

[howmuch!]

When we did a UK cruise in late August, drinks were all waiter service, and no-one was allowed to sit at the bar. Some seats were marked 'off limits' to allow social distancing, including being seated by crew in the Broadway show lounge.

 

Buffet was also served by crew.

 

Is this still the case on-board?

Edited November 2, 2021 by howmuch!

[Pensioncruiser]

On 10/31/2021 at 11:08 PM, Brummijam said:

We were approached by a security officer and told to return to the cabin because one of us had tested positive, Back in the cabin I had a call from the medical facility telling me that someone would be coming to us to take another test swab.

By the time that the samples were taken and we were told that they were negative it was after midnight.

So the last night wasn’t too clever.😷🙄

Hi BJ Thanks for reply sorry to hear about that but hopefully it didn't spoil your cruise, just one question how did security find you🤔. I did follow your delayed return flight, sad I known, but it looked like you only lost 30mins. Think you are very brave, for us it's still a little dangerous with all the numbers and the worry that we could not return together. 

Stay safe 👍 

[Brummijam]

4 hours ago, howmuch! said:

When we did a UK cruise in late August, drinks were all waiter service, and no-one was allowed to sit at the bar. Some seats were marked 'off limits' to allow social distancing, including being seated by crew in the Broadway show lounge.

 

Buffet was also served by crew.

 

Is this still the case on-board?

Yes exactly this. And rigorously enforced by the crew.

We felt really safe onboard, Well done Marella👏🏻👏🏻

[Brummijam]

4 hours ago, Pensioncruiser said:

Hi BJ Thanks for reply sorry to hear about that but hopefully it didn't spoil your cruise, just one question how did security find you🤔. I did follow your delayed return flight, sad I known, but it looked like you only lost 30mins. Think you are very brave, for us it's still a little dangerous with all the numbers and the worry that we could not return together. 

Stay safe 👍 

Hi PC.

After we had been to the restaurant and had dinner we moved into the squid and anchor and used our card to order drinks, before the security officer approached us he spoke to the waiter that had served us and the waiter told him which area of the room he was covering the security guy had the photo of me that was taken when we boarded and me being an ugly sod I wasn’t hard to find.They can work out where you are on the ship by where you use your cruise card. 🤷🏻‍♂️
While we were in the cabin waiting for the test results to come back the thought that we might be separated if one of us tested positive did cross our minds, but thankfully that didn’t materialise.  I heard that those that were positive were taken to a medical facility and their other half/partners were deployed to a hotel which is part of the Marella cruise with confidence promise.

Keep well.😉

[Pensioncruiser]

10 hours ago, Brummijam said:

They can work out where you are on the ship by where you use your cruise card. 🤷🏻‍♂️

👍Thanks for that, obvious I suppose 🙄

[howmuch!]

Hi Brummijam - thank you for confirming things are essentially the same as August - just booked B2B in Canaries for early January - fingers crossed we aren't in lockdown by then!

[Brummijam]

2 hours ago, howmuch! said:

Hi Brummijam - thank you for confirming things are essentially the same as August - just booked B2B in Canaries for early January - fingers crossed we aren't in lockdown by then!

Your welcome.👍

[Guest Cruisewell01]

We flew back on Sunday after two weeks on EX2. Only a few passengers had stayed on for 2 weeks (we were told only 50 did two weeks) . Flew back on the Birmingham flight. 

 

All temperature checks and lateral flow tests negative. Everyone had to do a lateral flow test to enter Gibraltar in the first week as well as the lateral flow test before flying home on Sunday. Both tests free. No one stayed on board on Sunday as far as i am aware. 

 

However... Day 2 PCR test has come back positive so 10 days isolation for me at home. No realistic way of knowing where i picked it up. 

 

Perhaps it was just the people doing the tests on board. I would say for us the lateral flow test for Gibraltar felt a lot more thorough than that for flying home. The fly home test was a very quick poke up the nose. Others may have had different experiences depending on who did the tests. 

 

We enjoyed the cruise and glad we did it. 

 

I expect the risks in percentage terms are low but just be aware some people are testing positive and either isolating in hotels in Spain or at home. The hotels in Spain are organised by the Spanish authorities, there will be a variety of people at the hotels, not just TUI. 

Edited November 4, 2021 by Cruisewell01

[Brummijam]

2 hours ago, Cruisewell01 said:

We flew back on Sunday after two weeks on EX2. Only a few passengers had stayed on for 2 weeks (we were told only 50 did two weeks) . Flew back on the Birmingham flight. 

 

All temperature checks and lateral flow tests negative. Everyone had to do a lateral flow test to enter Gibraltar in the first week as well as the lateral flow test before flying home on Sunday. Both tests free. No one stayed on board on Sunday as far as i am aware. 

 

However... Day 2 PCR test has come back positive so 10 days isolation for me at home. No realistic way of knowing where i picked it up. 

 

Perhaps it was just the people doing the tests on board. I would say for us the lateral flow test for Gibraltar felt a lot more thorough than that for flying home. The fly home test was a very quick poke up the nose. Others may have had different experiences depending on who did the tests. 

 

We enjoyed the cruise and glad we did it. 

 

I expect the risks in percentage terms are low but just be aware some people are testing positive and either isolating in hotels in Spain or at home. The hotels in Spain are organised by the Spanish authorities, there will be a variety of people at the hotels, not just TUI. 

Sorry to hear about your positive result, What a disappointing end to your trip.

I agree with you that the lateral flow test that was carried out in the indigo lounge was done rather quickly and it didn’t really seem to be as thorough as  I would like but they were going down that massive queue pretty swiftly. Apparently mine came back positive so I had to have another more thorough lateral flow test taken in the corridor outside the cabin.

Out of curiosity did just you test positive or was it other members of your party?

Stay well.👍

Edited November 4, 2021 by Brummijam
Spullink

[HalifaxYorksCruiser]

We also got back from Ex2 on Sunday. 2 day PCR test arrived from Chronomics on Monday morning. Wife and I did our tests and posted back same day. I got my negative result back on Wednesday and my Wife got hers back yesterday. Was impressed by the efficiency of the £20pp Chronomics service.

[Cliffholl55]

Isn’t the day 2 return test a lateral flow test now not a PCR?  We ordered ours and there £15 each from same company.

Edited November 4, 2021 by Cliffholl55

[Guest Cruisewell01]

1 hour ago, Brummijam said:

Sorry to hear about your positive result, What a disappointing end to your trip.

I agree with you that the lateral flow test that was carried out in the indigo lounge was done rather quickly and it didn’t really seem to be as thorough as  I would like but they were going down that massive queue pretty swiftly. Apparently mine came back positive so I had to have another more thorough lateral flow test taken in the corridor outside the cabin.

Out of curiosity did just you test positive or was it other members of your party?

Stay well.👍

It is not easy queuing into indigo. The logistics around the tests onboard is something TUI could improve. 

 

Only I tested positive and only with the Day 2 PCR when we got home. My partner tested negative for the Day 2 PCR. I am a bit more thorough with the swab than my partner but nothing to suggest she has it. She took another lateral flow test recently and will take them daily for a few days. Of course the PCR has now been replaced by a lateral flow. 

 

We knew there was a risk, perhaps slightly increased going for 2 weeks. We did a Rhodes land based holiday last October with no testing. I personally think the testing is critical at the moment, especially going into winter in the Med now when temperatures will start to drop. 

 

Am sure we will go on another cruise in the future.