P&O New Booster Policy Ventura 3rd Jan 2022

[annie, Glasgow]

Hi All

Shameless copied from you know where:

Dear Guest, we cannot wait to welcome you on board but first, we need to make you aware of an important

update to our vaccination policy which supersedes all previous policies.

As the guidance from the UK Government evolves and the entry requirements from countries across the world change on a regular basis, we continue to work with authorities across all the destinations we visit to ensure we comply with their local protocols.

Given the length and complexity of this itinerary, to continue to best protect the health and well-being of our guests, crew and the communities we visit, we have updated our vaccination policy for your voyage.

In order to travel on your voyage, all guests must be fully vaccinated with a booster vaccination at least seven days prior to travel. The definition of "fully vaccinated" being having completed an approved two dose Covid-19 vaccination course with a third booster vaccination (approved by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) or the World Health Organization's Emergency Use Listing (WHO EUL)), or the approved single-dose Janssen Covid-19 vaccine with a booster. A single or double dose of any other vaccine will not be accepted.

All guests will also require a negative Covid-19 test prior to boarding, further details on this will be communicated to you separately.

Should you, or any guests on your booking, not meet the requirements of the vaccine policy at the point of your sailing, you are entitled to a free-of-charge transfer to any other voyage currently on sale or a 100% cash refund on the monies paid to date on your booking. To transfer your booking or request a refund, please contact your travel agent or call us directly on 0344 338 8633 at your convenience. No immediate action is required but please do contact us before you are due to sail.

Alternatively, if you would like a 100% cash refund on the monies paid to date on your booking then please contact your

travel agent, or us if you booked direct.



For further information on our flexible transfer policy, the latest information on our protocols and all information to help

you plan for your holiday with us, please visit our Covid-19 Hub.

[Topdeck, London]

How many ports on the itinerary already require booster?

[annie, Glasgow]

How many ports on the itinerary already require booster?

Don't know but possibly Madeira?

Annie

[carol, welwyn garden city]

I wonder when this comes into effect? Anyone travelling within the next week or so, is not going to be done in time? .......................................Carol

[Topdeck, London]

I wonder when this comes into effect? Anyone travelling within the next week or so, is not going to be done in time? .......................................Carol

The clue is in the title Ventura 2nd Jan(35n Caribbean)

[mike, lanarkshire]

I’ve been looking at the new entry requirements for Cyprus for vaccinated arrivals. Due back there in March. It’s not getting any easier.

Vaccinated travellers aged 12 and above must take a PCR test on arrival at the airport in Cyprus (see ‘Demonstrating your COVID-19 status’). The cost of the test (€15 - €19) is borne by the passenger. Test results should be available within three hours through the online platform. You must self-isolate in your accommodation until the result is available. If your result is positive, you must remain self-isolated and await instructions from the Ministry of Health.

Upon arrival to Cyprus, all passengers from the UK will be given five (5) self-tests: you must use these daily from after you receive a negative result from your airport PCR test. If any of the subsequent self-tests are positive, you must contact your GP in Cyprus to refer you for a PCR test or, if you do not have a GP in Cyprus, you must contact coordination.iatreiadygeias@moh.gov.cy, sending your details (full name, phone number, ID number, date of birth, and the district you are in) together with a photo of the positive self-test.

72 hours after your arrival, provided you have negative self-test results from the previous days, you must undergo a rapid test at a mobile unit of the Ministry of Health and send the result to the email: monada2@mphs.moh.gov.cy. This is free of charge to those presenting a boarding pass at the testing site. More information is available on the PIO website.

[carol, welwyn garden city]

How many ports on the itinerary already require booster?

Whoops

There may be a few cancellations then .............................................Carol

[Cunardcruiser, at sea]

Cunard Line now have the same policy, introduced in the last few days .

[Topdeck, London]

RCI have suspended sales for some Jan cruises.

High capacity getting to risky

[annie, Glasgow]

Whoops

There may be a few cancellations then .............................................Carol

hi Carol

You use FB??

I understand a group of Iona Covid positive passengers were disembarked at Tenerife. They are posting on FB. Not the best quarantine hotel I understand?

Annie

[carol, welwyn garden city]

hi Carol

You use FB??

I understand a group of Iona Covid positive passengers were disembarked at Tenerife. They are posting on FB. Not the best quarantine hotel I understand?

Annie

Hi Annie,

I do, but I haven't seen that.

Such a shame for them, but I suppose in these times it's a risk you have to take. You can test negative one minute and positive the next!! ....................................Carol

[annie, Glasgow]

Hi Annie,

I do, but I haven't seen that.

Such a shame for them, but I suppose in these times it's a risk you have to take. You can test negative one minute and positive the next!! ....................................Carol

Reportedly 49 were disembarked. A report from one:

WHEN A LUXURY CRUISE BECOMES YOUR WORST NIGHTMARE
Going on any holiday during COVID was always going to be different and for many the risks associated with travelling during a pandemic are not worth the potential rewards. But the reality for myself and my husband who tested positive for COVID on Tuesday has surpassed our worst nightmares.
Travelling on P&O’s newest ship Iona for their Christmas and New Year cruise 18th December through to 3rd January we were assured that the necessary COVID protocols were in place and felt as loyal P&O customers that they would look after their guests should anything happen.
All passengers aboard, aged over 12 were given an antigen test regardless of symptoms during our 4th day aboard. We were tested deck by deck during the day and went to bed assuming that all was well.
We were woken in the middle of the night with a call from the medical team to say that my husband had tested positive and would need a follow up PCR to confirm, which they were on their way to complete. Once that confirmed his positive COVID status we were given about an hour to pack and were moved to an isolation cabin up on deck 15 in the early hours.
Life aboard in isolation was ok, if a bit frustrating as we were given little or no information about what was going to be happening next, other than that we would be removed from the ship and transferred to an isolation hotel in Tenerife on Thursday. But I do question the logic of both my husband and I being in the same cabin with no access to cleaning materials so that I could at least attempt to stay safe.
We spent the next day that the ship docked in Madeira watching the world go by from our balcony, chatting to the other guests also in quarantine following a positive COVID test and started the process of contacting our insurers. If only this could have been how we spent the rest of the cruise!
We were contacted by the medical team on arrival in Tenerife to say that they would start to transfer us by taxi to our quarantine hotel from 1pm, but still no details on the actual hotel. I think it was the lack of information that was frustrating and worried me the most.
We were told to order an early lunch so that we would be ready to leave at short notice. By the time lunch arrived, although I was concerned that this might be the last decent meal, I was too anxious to eat.
Still no detail on where we were going, but eventually some of the guests were asked to put their luggage outside and one of our fellow quarantiners who had said he wasn’t leaving the ship until he knew where he was being taken was told that the hotel would be the Occidental Santa Cruz Contempraneo – depending on where you room was in the hotel, potentially not too shabby from a quick Google.
Eventually we started to move, with the understandably humiliating accompanying crew in hazmat suits spraying us as we walked. Followed by the rather comical automated ‘Goodbye’ as they scanned our cruise card as we left the ship.
This is where the nightmare began, we obviously had low expectations, but we did hope that we would be able to have some decent ventilation, be treated like human beings and be provided with adequate food and something to drink.
But the quarantine hotel is more like a prison camp than a hotel. And again, we are both in the same room with no access to cleaning materials which makes the prospect of me contracting COVID inevitable and then enduring a further period of quarantine while I ‘serve’ my 10 days. Whilst the goody bag of sweets and crisps appeared a nice touch as we left the ship, perhaps basic COVID supplies like paracetamol, a thermometer, cough drops, edible soup, hot drinks, disinfectant spray, wipes and hand soap would have been more useful.
I understand that I don’t speak Spanish and our ‘captures’ speak little English, but we are already being constantly shouted at when we open our doors, which we are only doing to pick up our food left outside or put the trays back out.
We are fit and well, and I must admit we are finding this a bit of an ordeal, but for one elderly couple who left the ship at the same time as us, I genuinely believe their treatment could lead to something far more serious. The couple, both in their late 80s, were left to carry their own belongings and had to walk at speed half the length of the ship. As a group we are trying to look out for them while they are in our hotel, but that is so difficult because they don’t have a Smartphone and therefore haven’t been able to join our WhatsApp ‘support group’.
We were really pleased to hear that the two families with children had been taken to a fantastic hotel where at least they are comfortable in their room and can get some fresh air on a balcony and seem so far at least to have adequate food and drink supplied. Also, with a better approach of having two connecting rooms so that the person with COVID can be isolated from the rest of the family.
We have been in regular contact with P&O’s care team in Southampton to try to at least arrange some edible food and access to hot water so that we can make a cup of tea, doesn’t seem too much to ask. But today we face the very real prospect of Christmas here unless we stage a mass walk out. We wonder what P&O would do then

[Garfield, Waterlooville]

Must be mad going on a ship with kids at this time.
Almost guaranteed to cop a dose of covid.


Merry Xmas to them all.

Garf

[mike, lanarkshire]

Just horrific.

[carol, welwyn garden city]

Reportedly 49 were disembarked. A report from one:

WHEN A LUXURY CRUISE BECOMES YOUR WORST NIGHTMARE
Going on any holiday during COVID was always going to be different and for many the risks associated with travelling during a pandemic are not worth the potential rewards. But the reality for myself and my husband who tested positive for COVID on Tuesday has surpassed our worst nightmares.
Travelling on P&O’s newest ship Iona for their Christmas and New Year cruise 18th December through to 3rd January we were assured that the necessary COVID protocols were in place and felt as loyal P&O customers that they would look after their guests should anything happen.
All passengers aboard, aged over 12 were given an antigen test regardless of symptoms during our 4th day aboard. We were tested deck by deck during the day and went to bed assuming that all was well.
We were woken in the middle of the night with a call from the medical team to say that my husband had tested positive and would need a follow up PCR to confirm, which they were on their way to complete. Once that confirmed his positive COVID status we were given about an hour to pack and were moved to an isolation cabin up on deck 15 in the early hours.
Life aboard in isolation was ok, if a bit frustrating as we were given little or no information about what was going to be happening next, other than that we would be removed from the ship and transferred to an isolation hotel in Tenerife on Thursday. But I do question the logic of both my husband and I being in the same cabin with no access to cleaning materials so that I could at least attempt to stay safe.
We spent the next day that the ship docked in Madeira watching the world go by from our balcony, chatting to the other guests also in quarantine following a positive COVID test and started the process of contacting our insurers. If only this could have been how we spent the rest of the cruise!
We were contacted by the medical team on arrival in Tenerife to say that they would start to transfer us by taxi to our quarantine hotel from 1pm, but still no details on the actual hotel. I think it was the lack of information that was frustrating and worried me the most.
We were told to order an early lunch so that we would be ready to leave at short notice. By the time lunch arrived, although I was concerned that this might be the last decent meal, I was too anxious to eat.
Still no detail on where we were going, but eventually some of the guests were asked to put their luggage outside and one of our fellow quarantiners who had said he wasn’t leaving the ship until he knew where he was being taken was told that the hotel would be the Occidental Santa Cruz Contempraneo – depending on where you room was in the hotel, potentially not too shabby from a quick Google.
Eventually we started to move, with the understandably humiliating accompanying crew in hazmat suits spraying us as we walked. Followed by the rather comical automated ‘Goodbye’ as they scanned our cruise card as we left the ship.
This is where the nightmare began, we obviously had low expectations, but we did hope that we would be able to have some decent ventilation, be treated like human beings and be provided with adequate food and something to drink.
But the quarantine hotel is more like a prison camp than a hotel. And again, we are both in the same room with no access to cleaning materials which makes the prospect of me contracting COVID inevitable and then enduring a further period of quarantine while I ‘serve’ my 10 days. Whilst the goody bag of sweets and crisps appeared a nice touch as we left the ship, perhaps basic COVID supplies like paracetamol, a thermometer, cough drops, edible soup, hot drinks, disinfectant spray, wipes and hand soap would have been more useful.
I understand that I don’t speak Spanish and our ‘captures’ speak little English, but we are already being constantly shouted at when we open our doors, which we are only doing to pick up our food left outside or put the trays back out.
We are fit and well, and I must admit we are finding this a bit of an ordeal, but for one elderly couple who left the ship at the same time as us, I genuinely believe their treatment could lead to something far more serious. The couple, both in their late 80s, were left to carry their own belongings and had to walk at speed half the length of the ship. As a group we are trying to look out for them while they are in our hotel, but that is so difficult because they don’t have a Smartphone and therefore haven’t been able to join our WhatsApp ‘support group’.
We were really pleased to hear that the two families with children had been taken to a fantastic hotel where at least they are comfortable in their room and can get some fresh air on a balcony and seem so far at least to have adequate food and drink supplied. Also, with a better approach of having two connecting rooms so that the person with COVID can be isolated from the rest of the family.
We have been in regular contact with P&O’s care team in Southampton to try to at least arrange some edible food and access to hot water so that we can make a cup of tea, doesn’t seem too much to ask. But today we face the very real prospect of Christmas here unless we stage a mass walk out. We wonder what P&O would do then

That sounds horrendous. I felt awful when our cruise was cancelled, but is nothing compared to that ...............................................Car ol