Ex2 Med Winter 21 cruises

[Guest Cruisewell01]

6 minutes ago, Cliffholl55 said:

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.

Yes it is a lateral flow test now but only recently changed so people would have ordered and paid for a PCR test on recent cruises and that is what we received. 

If you booked a test now it would be a lateral flow test. 

[Cliffholl55]

1 minute ago, Cruisewell01 said:

Yes it is a lateral flow test now but only recently changed so people would have ordered and paid for a PCR test on recent cruises and that is what we received. 

If you booked a test now it would be a lateral flow test. 

 

[Cliffholl55]

Thanks for that

[Guest Cruisewell01]

26 minutes ago, HalifaxYorksCruiser said:

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.

Agreed. Good value for money given the  numerous scare stories in the press about the cost of tests over the summer. 

[HalifaxYorksCruiser]

40 minutes ago, Cliffholl55 said:

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.

We ordered our packs before the Gov changes were announced

[Brummijam]

Something that I read this morning that would be relevant if you are planning another trip to the Euro/Schengen zone in the near future.

 

In the context of passports, UK visitors are urged to make sure they get stamped as they leave Spain.

This is to keep track of their date of departure from Spain and to demonstrate it was within the allowed timeframe of 90 out of 180 days that British tourists can spend in the Schengen area.

A 72-year-old British woman who lives in Gibraltar was turned away at the Spanish border in September after Spanish officials had not given her an "exit stamp" when she left the country during her last trip in June.

 

 

Edited November 5, 2021 by Brummijam
Zpeling

[Pensioncruiser]

On 11/2/2021 at 11:01 PM, Brummijam said:

 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

Hi BJ sorry to be a pain, but who pays for the hotel stay and is it the 10 days, presumably Tui rebook the return flights. 🤔

[Cliffholl55]

8 minutes ago, Pensioncruiser said:

Hi BJ sorry to be a pain, but who pays for the hotel stay and is it the 10 days, presumably Tui rebook the return flights. 🤔

Very interesting subject. Looking at PO Iona page there is a very long thread ( Covid on Iona ) it seems to be down to your travel insurance and many asking is it just the infected person gets cover and not the partner or others that have been off loaded at different ports. Seems to be a major issue.

[Pensioncruiser]

How I wished I could ignore what's going on and just book a cruise, which we have vouchers for, but we can't at the moment with all the what if’s. Total understand and respect cruisers that are booking. 

[Brummijam]

4 hours ago, Pensioncruiser said:

Hi BJ sorry to be a pain, but who pays for the hotel stay and is it the 10 days, presumably Tui rebook the return flights. 🤔

Hi PC.

You have raised a good point there.  As part of the booking process you need to have Covid cover included in your travel insurance and this is checked before boarding.

I was under the impression that we were covered on TUIs Holiday to home policy which is included free of charge when you book your trip, but upon checking apparently cruise customers are not.

WHAT IS NOT INSURED?

 

 

• Costs which are already covered by third parties.
• Journeys longer than 90 days.
• Journeys for which the departure is scheduled after 31 October 2021.
• Marella Cruises holidays. Cruises are excluded from this specific insurance cover. River cruises (cruises which take place exclusively on inland waterways and not on high seas) are not affected by this exclusion. In the event that the entire vessel must be quarantined, costs will be paid for those insured persons who have tested positive for the SARS-CoV-2 virus…………………….

 

 

 

I have checked my travel insurance and the covid cover is for medical treatment and any associated costs, hotel stay ,flight home etc on a pay and claim basis so we were covered but not with TUI.🤷🏻‍♂️
Keep well.😉

 

 

 

[Brummijam]

5 hours ago, Cliffholl55 said:

Very interesting subject. Looking at PO Iona page there is a very long thread ( Covid on Iona ) it seems to be down to your travel insurance and many asking is it just the infected person gets cover and not the partner or others that have been off loaded at different ports. Seems to be a major issue.

Hi Cliff.

This may be a timely reminder to us all to read the small print and all of the boring bits in our travel insurance policies. I have checked my own policy tonight and both myself and the better half are covered if one of us gets hospitalised or quarantined. But not all policies are the same. Also part of the Marella booking conditions is that you need covid cover specifically in your travel policy.

Keep well.

 

[Jim The Scot]

For anyone in the know whilst theres talk regarding Travel Insurance

 

We have Worldwide Travel Insurance with Nationwide through our flexplus account which includes basic cruise cover.Always been under the impression that was suffice for our cruising but notice Marella states comprehensive cruise cover is required.What does that actually mean?

 

Is it a sales pitch?

[Brummijam]

4 hours ago, Jim The Scot said:

For anyone in the know whilst theres talk regarding Travel Insurance

 

We have Worldwide Travel Insurance with Nationwide through our flexplus account which includes basic cruise cover.Always been under the impression that was suffice for our cruising but notice Marella states comprehensive cruise cover is required.What does that actually mean?

 

Is it a sales pitch?

We purchased an annual travel insurance policy a couple of days before our trip and the cruise cover cost an extra £22:00 for us both, When I was  on the comparison sites none of them were offering comprehensive cruise cover so I would assume it is TUI trying to point you towards the insurance that they are offering.

On boarding we had to show the insurance cover note with covid cover and cruise cover highlighted and we were waved on without problem.

[Cliffholl55]

1 minute ago, Brummijam said:

We purchased an annual travel insurance policy a couple of days before our trip and the cruise cover cost an extra £22:00 for us both, When I was  on the comparison sites none of them were offering comprehensive cruise cover so I would assume it is TUI trying to point you towards the insurance that they are offering.

On boarding we had to show the insurance cover note with covid cover and cruise cover highlighted and we were waved on without problem.

All I can say from reading many reviews across all reviews on here from different cruise boards don’t just except you have covid cover for cruise. Phone them to make sure you have the cover you need. You need cover for both , the one who catches covid and the partner that doesn’t as you both will be offloaded one to hospital one to hotel. When we went on last Marella cruise they just glanced at our insurance that mentioned covid. I think when they offload you your on your own.  I may be wrong but I know 1st hand PO are extremely helpful when falling ill on there ships.

[Guest Cruisewell01]

Now 5 days into my isolation in the UK following my positive Day 2 PCR test after our Marella Explorer 2 cruise i posted about earlier in the week. 

 

Not been contacted by NHS track and trace so i assume i won't be now. 

[Brummijam]

1 hour ago, Cruisewell01 said:

Now 5 days into my isolation in the UK following my positive Day 2 PCR test after our Marella Explorer 2 cruise i posted about earlier in the week. 

 

Not been contacted by NHS track and trace so i assume i won't be now. 

It’s small comfort I know but you are doing the right thing and I applaud you for it👏🏻
Track and trace is not one of our countries finest achievements so don’t expect anything and you won’t be disappointed.

Hope you are keeping well.👍

[howmuch!]

3 hours ago, Cruisewell01 said:

Now 5 days into my isolation in the UK following my positive Day 2 PCR test after our Marella Explorer 2 cruise i posted about earlier in the week. 

 

Not been contacted by NHS track and trace so i assume i won't be now. 

Hope you are not suffering badly from Covid, as many have. 

Sounds like the 'system' has let your contacts, and their subsequent contacts down, but its not your fault, you did everything required of you. Hopefully you will have a speedy recovery I hope.

[ROBYNARCHROY]

There seems to have been quite alot of infection on this particular trip. We saw the ambulances taking away infected passengers with blue lights flashing at Almeria. Unfortunately my wife and I have both tested positive on our return. Such a shame as we were really looking forward to returning to cruising with Marella after nearly 2 years away, and were swept along with booking fervour. I felt Marella staff couldn't really have done any more to keep people safe and the chinks in the armour were mostly out of their control, with good social distancing in place mostly.

My advice to anyone about to cruise is perhaps wait for the port shuttle bus numbers to subside, before you go ashore, also buy your own water as we still saw people filling their personal bottles from the water fountains. Some toilets ran out of soap , but many people are still not washing their hands after using the toilet. Avoid mixing with other bubbles as we saw quite a bit of infringement here. Not sure how you'd stop it though. Obviously there needs to be some personal responsibilty here and that ulimately is where the problem lies.

Otherwise thoroughly enjoyed the holiday. I've been in touch with Marella through the post holiday survey and twitter but have been met with a wall of silence. 

I'd be interested to hear how many people tested positive post trip. The Indigo bar last night test was cursory to say the least.

 

 

[Pensioncruiser]

59 minutes ago, ROBYNARCHROY said:

There seems to have been quite alot of infection on this particular trip.

Thanks for your post. Like you it's been two years since our last cruise and we are very twitchy about going again and it's refreshing to hear actual reports, hygiene has always been a problem on cruises but I would have expected this to have improved, obviously not, for us I think it's not worth the risk so our cruise vouchers will not be used. 😢Thanks again for your post. 

[howmuch!]

On 11/7/2021 at 3:24 PM, ROBYNARCHROY said:

Obviously there needs to be some personal responsibilty here and that ulimately is where the problem lies.

 

Unfortunately this is what can be seen in every public space at home. Since the Gov't relaxed the rules a month or two ago, the public, including double jabbed 70 and 80yr olds,  seem to think its all over, or that the vaccine is 'the full metal jacket' and you can do what you like without fear of catching it.

 

[Pensioncruiser]

18 minutes ago, howmuch! said:

 

Unfortunately this is what can be seen in every public space at home. Since the Gov't relaxed the rules a month or two ago, the public, including double jabbed 70 and 80yr olds,  seem to think its all over, or that the vaccine is 'the full metal jacket' and you can do what you like without fear of catching it.

 

You should qualify that as we fall into the over 70s and triple jabbed section, and we are not even considering using our cancelled cruise vouchers and still haven't seen our family for many months, think before you post. 

[howmuch!]

1 hour ago, Pensioncruiser said:

You should qualify that as we fall into the over 70s and triple jabbed section, and we are not even considering using our cancelled cruise vouchers and still haven't seen our family for many months, think before you post. 

 I am also over 70 and triple jabbed, but I apologise if it caused you offence. However, people do need to take some personal responsibility, and there's no getting away from the fact that many people of similar age to us aren't wearing masks, stand too close behind others in queues at shops, etc. You would think they would be more careful, but many aren't. Even when we had our Pfizer booster last week at the NHS clinic, it was happening. 

[ROBYNARCHROY]

I agree that people are now far too complacent. We are 55 and 57, double jabbed, and have been careful enough until this cruise to have remained covid free. I feel now that I was swept along with the Marella publicity that everything's safe on the cruises. As mentioned they are doing a lot to help, but they can't supervise every person washing their hands or filling their bottles from the water fountains.

We had planned to book a xmas break as soon as we returned but that now is off the cards for us.

Forgive me for gently nudging into this thread, I did consider starting a new thread on the subject but didn't want to create a full blown thread about Marella cruises failure to have a handwashing warden at every toilet🙂 

I will post a full review in due course, hopefully with a reply from TUI in hand 

The cruise was great especially with the added space on the boat. I think there were 800 on our cruise. I do wonder, though, how many others caught it on the cruise. I also sincerely hope that the problems are ironed out so cruising can continue. I'm trying to communicate things I saw to TUI, but as discussed a wall of silence. Shame.

[Cliffholl55]

1 hour ago, ROBYNARCHROY said:

I agree that people are now far too complacent. We are 55 and 57, double jabbed, and have been careful enough until this cruise to have remained covid free. I feel now that I was swept along with the Marella publicity that everything's safe on the cruises. As mentioned they are doing a lot to help, but they can't supervise every person washing their hands or filling their bottles from the water fountains.

We had planned to book a xmas break as soon as we returned but that now is off the cards for us.

Forgive me for gently nudging into this thread, I did consider starting a new thread on the subject but didn't want to create a full blown thread about Marella cruises failure to have a handwashing warden at every toilet🙂 

I will post a full review in due course, hopefully with a reply from TUI in hand 

The cruise was great especially with the added space on the boat. I think there were 800 on our cruise. I do wonder, though, how many others caught it on the cruise. I also sincerely hope that the problems are ironed out so cruising can continue. I'm trying to communicate things I saw to TUI, but as discussed a wall of silence. Shame.

We are all trying to stay safe and this can’t just be laid at Marella only, all cruise lines have now had outbreaks of covid. 
 Cruises wernt the cleanest of places in normal times and now with covid it  will show more. 
 No matter what precautions you take there will always be a chance of catching this virus or any other.

 If you are prepared to sit in a flying tube with 280 other people for 3/4 hours and 7 days with 800/1000 strangers you must know that you run a high chance of catching it. This virus ain’t going anywhere.

  We are double jabbed and the booster today both 65 and enjoyed our last cruise knowing the risks, also flying at the weekend for holiday knowing the risks.  
 Also going on New Year cruise on Ex2 if not in lockdown 

  

Edited November 8, 2021 by Cliffholl55

[2BACRUISER]

It would be useful to know from somebody first hand who has been "dumped"off the ship what actually happened and how it was managed by Marella. Might have a peruse of 'facecloth' to see if i can glean any info. We go 2wks on thursday and are both suffering with a heavy cold and cough (not covid we've tested numerous times) at the moment. Trying to prepare for all eventualities.