Hi Bill,

I think that if I was planning a foreign holiday and needed insurance, I think that I would ask my Surgery for a complete copy of my medical record and make sure that items listed were declared. That way, when/if there was a claim the insurance company would not be able to find some undeclared health problem.

John

Reading the full travel insurance documents will give you an unpleasant time. We were due to take up a covid delayed flight and holiday this year, my wife became ill after rebooking the flight. I generally book the rest of the holiday once I had the exact flight dates, so in this case hadn’t booked anything else or bothered with insurance at this time. Read through various travel insurance policies and deduced we wouldn’t be able to fly for some time. Basically there is a long list of the usual medical things of which you can only have one without informing them. Then if you have had or are in need of surgery you have to be signed off from the hospital for some time. It goes on and on, I think we will stick with the UK and avoid the hassle.

Bill sorry your cruise is postponed, hope you get better soon.
I suspect everyone is very quick to blame the cruise ship owners if they get food poisoning or Covid whilst on the ship and certainly I would be displeased if my cruise was ruined by someone who lied and subsequently infected their table by coughing all over them.

So well done for being straight in your responses.

One of my clients thought she had a bad cold, did 4 home tests on consecutive days all negative then went and got a proper one and that was positive, guess they are just playing safe. I think it was her that I got Covid from.

A vaccination will only mitigate the disease, it can't stop it

The west has done well to manage the issue as best it can, first by trying not to let the medical system be overwhelmed, and then by letting it spread freely throughout the general population

We were lucky that the Delta variant became far less potent

Mother nature is always testing her little critters and thinning the herd

I once wanted to do a gentle bit of SCUBA diving on holiday in Australia, and answered truthfully about having had bronchitis, aged 5, (about 40 years previously at the time). I had done a SCUBA diving course in the UK, but did not have any paperwork with me. The fact that I had been perfectly fit in the many years since the bronchitis; with no medical issues whatsoever relating to my lungs, and the fact I am very fit and run 10km every week, did not sway them.

So I just snorkelled instead, and actually, I noticed the SCUBA class were all kneeling on the bottom doing mask-off, mask-on, and mask clearing drills, which is SCUBA diving basics. I would have wanted to actually look at the wildlife down there, not do basic drills, so a lucky escape for me I suppose.

It was P&O who just sacked 800 staff and hired cheaper staff from elsewhere, so I wouldn't give them my money in principle – even if I had it.

.

Edited By John Doe 2 on 08/10/2022 15:53:37

Bill a cruise would only have lasted a few days. Now you can spend the money on another shed and tools which you can enjoy every day for years

Ah, thank you for the clarification. I stand corrected.

Hi Bill!

Sorry to hear of Your holiday woes.

We sailed to Norway on Iona at the end of April this Year, took Covid tests just before going,and both had to get an Antigen test within 24 hours of sailing, but of a rush to be honest!

Joined the ship and caught covid on last day – onboard!

We wondered if they we're testing the crew to the same standard as the as the passengers??

Good luck with sorting things out and I hope You get to go on Your cruise soon!

Cheers, Pete

Hi Bill!

I agree with Your friend, and it answers a question for Us too!

We have been fortunate to go on four cruise previous to the Iona one, ( two on Azura, the maiden cruise of Britannia,

And one on Ventura), all good, but the experience on Iona was not good.

The Ship seemed 'faceless' in as much as You could walk from one end to the other without knowing You were on a P&O ship.

There was one cabin steward doing a lot of cabins on His Own, and He had no cleaner to help Him.

Resteraunt food was good, but the staff numbers were reduced which put them under excessive pressure.

The Buffet,always usually a highlght…… was awful!!!! Went once when We boarded, never went back,food very variable, slow refilling and temperature hit and miss, very disappointing.

Never went to a show,as We were led to believe We had to book on the 'App'' but found out on the last day We could have just turned up! (My Wife tried to use the app once and it took Her phone down)

Reception Staff did not seem interested at all ,not Our experience on previous cruises.

It put us off going with P&O again, if We did it would be on Azura/Ventura or one of the smaller ships, but We did not know if the standards had dropped on the whole fleet.I

Which ship did Your friend sail on Bill?

It would be interesting to know if they have messed one of Our favourites up!

All the best, Pete

A colleague of mine, who I shoot with on Sundays, has just returned from a cruise which was around the Northern Canadian coast and was meant to call in at a number of small harbours, unfortunately the cruise coincided with the two recent hurricanes reaching Canadian waters, he said the ship was subjected to prolonged periods of 5 metre swells which meant that navigating into the small harbours was not possible. The icing on the cake was that he and his wife both contracted Covid whilst onboard, this meant that they were virtually locked in their cabin for 10 days with meals brought to them, he said that the Covid was pretty vicious and affected them both very badly. He has thoughts about how stringent the company were about Covid screening both passengers and crew before they embarked. I question, because Covid cases are rising rapidly, how safe from infection can you be if you and 2,000 others are confined in a steel box and all breathing the same air, not my idea of a holiday but perhaps Covid will at some point be eradicated and circumstances change. Dave W