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!