Our Itinerary

8 Jan: Arrive Barbados. The infection rate is 250 per 100,000 and falling. 49.04% of the population are fully vaccinated. Evening dress code is casual.

The latest infection rate figure in the UK is given as 72.14 per 100,000 but is almost certainly higher than that. 86.9% of the population are fully vaccinated.

9 Jan: Kingstown, St Vincent. We’ve never been here before and if we want to get off the ship we’ll have to pay £18 for an antigen test and we can only then go on P&O excursions. The infection rate is 174 per 100,000 and falling. 22.77% of the population are fully vaccinated. The evening dress code is casual.

10 Jan: Sea day. Evening dress code is formal.

11 Jan: Basseterre, St Kitts and Nevis. We’ve never been here before and we may have to use a tender to go ashore.  We don’t need a test to go ashore, but can then only go on P&O excursions. The infection rate is 24 per 100,000 and rising. 46.67% of the population are fully vaccinated. The evening dress code is casual.

12 Jan: Phillipsburg, St Maarten. We don’t need a test to go ashore here and we’re free to do whatever we want. The infection rate is 98 per 100,000 and rising. 58.55% of the population are fully vaccinated. The evening dress code is casual.

13 Jan: Sea day: Evening dress code is formal.

14 Jan: Grand Turk, Turks & Caicos Islands. We’ve never been here before. The T&C islands have not yet stated their requirements with regard to testing on arrival and excursions. The infection rate is 74 per 100,000 and rising. 70.08% of the population are fully vaccinated. Evening dress code is casual.

15 Jan: Sea day. Evening dress code is formal.

16 Jan: Tortola, British Virgin Islands. If we want to go get off here, we’ll need to pay for an antigen test, but we’re then free to do whatever we want. The infection rate is 260 per 100,000 and rising sharply. 55.81% of the population are fully vaccinated. Evening dress code is casual.

17 Jan: St John, Antigua and Barbuda. We don’t need a test to go ashore here and we’re then free to do whatever we want. The infection rate is 56 per 100,000 and rising. 59.11% of the population are fully vaccinated. Evening dress code is casual.

18 Jan: Castries, St Lucia. We don’t need a test to go ashore here and we’re then free to do whatever we want. The infection rate is 208 and rising sharply. 26.26% of the population are fully vaccinated.. Evening dress code is casual.

19 Jan: Grenada. We don’t need a test to go ashore but we can only go on P&O excursions. The infection rate is 36 per 100,000 and rising. 31.16% of the population are fully vaccinated. Evening dress code is formal.

20 Jan: Sea Day. Evening dress code is casual.

21 Jan: Barbados. Our antigen test to be able to land on Barbados will also cover us as our pre-flight test to return home.

22 Jan: Disembark for our flight home.

23 Jan: Arrive back in the UK.

Our outbound flight

Details of our outbound flight are as follows - 

TUI flight number TOM176, departs Manchester Airport at 11.05am and arrives in Barbados at 1530 local time, (1930 UK time).

You should be able to track it here - Outbound Flight

Introduction

Against a background of the Omicron variant surging across the world, P&O seem determined to forge ahead with our cruise regardless, leaving us with the stark choice of either taking our cruise or losing what we've paid for it.

We're aware that Cunard's Queen Mary 2 has recently docked in New York after a transatlantic crossing from the UK with 10 people on board testing positive. They have been moved to a quarantine hotel in Brooklyn, apparently at their own expense. Reports say that Cunard told them to claim the cost of their hotel quarantine from their travel insurance.

Meanwhile Royal Caribbean's 'Odyssey of the Seas' approached Aruba with a lot of people with positive tests on board and was promptly refused permission to dock either there or in Curacao and was forced to return to where it started having docked nowhere.

Each day P&O emailed us with a list of their requirements for us to be able to board the ship and, every few days, either a further requirement was added or one of the existing ones was tightened up.

So, unwilling to forfeit what we've paid, but not totally happy at the prospect of jumping through the myriad hoops to get there and back and at what might happen to us if either of us tests positive on this cruise, it seems at this stage that we have no other option but to fly to Barbados and board P&O's Azura on Saturday 8 January 2022.

What would normally be something to look forward to with a degree of excitement has morphed from an obstacle course into something of an endurance event.

Here is the current list of requirements - 

1. Passport
2. Ship e-ticket downloaded from My P&O Cruises
3. Evidence of COVID-19 vaccination status
4. Negative PCR certificate
5. Evidence of negative antigen test result at the airport test centre (provided by Collinsons)
6. Evidence of valid travel insurance
7. Evidence of completed Barbados Customs and Immigration Form
8. Health Declaration confirmation email
9. Sufficient face masks for the flight duration

Normally we would need to arrive at the airport to  check-in around 2-3 hours before our flight, but we have to take a lateral flow test at the airport before we fly and those are only available from 5 hours to 3 hours before our flight and can take up to an hour to administer. As our flight leaves at 11.05am, that means parking up and being at the test centre (10 minutes' walk from the departure hall) between 6.05am and 8.05am.

Hey-ho!