home of
The Confident portExplorer
The Confident Cruiser blog
and all the other portExplore books, planners downloads and guidebooks.
Whatever you want to know about cruises, destinations, cruise companies, ships, excursions and ports you’ve come to the right place!
You’ll find links to all my Social accounts below or so please keep in touch with me there.
And of course you can always email me…
Cathy@portExplore.me
All in Covid 19
Cruise is Back in the UK!
May 29
MSC Cruises, UK Cruising, Wellness on board, New to Cruise, Cruise Basics, Covid 19
We were welcomed aboard by this Union Flag blowing in the breeze!
I’ve just come back from the first UK Cruise to sail in 15 months!
I sailed from Southampton aboard MSC Virtuosa on a short 4 night itinerary and had a fantastic time!
I knew that things would be different but there were six things that particularly surprised me that I wanted to share with you…
Saga’s 2021 season is scheduled to begin on 27th June when Spirit of Discovery will set off from Tilbury a six day trip Scottish Highlands and Islands Cruise visiting the Shetland Islands and Scotland ports.
All guests will be UK passport holders, in the over 50 age group and must have completed a full vaccination cycle. Pre-departure testing will take place in the London Cruise terminal before boarding, and include a full medical screening.
Sailaway - safely back onboard ship and the perfect time to reflect on an awesome day spent ashore!
But the perfect day isn't something that just happens is it? It needs planning!
And it's difficult to plan ahead at the moment because the rules on cruising are changing all the time.
So we have thought about the best way to move forward in the current uncertainty.
Read our Blog post GOING ASHORE and see if you agree...
If you’re booking a cruise for 2021 there are some things that YOU can do that will reduce the chances of it being cancelled… here are our FIVE Top Tips…
Pre Covid we are used to being free to go ashore when and how we wanted when a ship arrived in port. However the new post Covid Cruise Protocols being published by the cruise line and organisations all seem to be suggesting that organised shore excursions may be compulsory if you want to leave the ship.
After eight weeks of uneventful cruising on their Italy/ Malta route for Schengen Zone passenger only, the crew aboard MSC Grandiosa had their first real test of their responses to a positive COVID test today.
On the very day that their season should have begun, Hurtigruten have made the decision to cancel the entire 2020-2021 Antarctic Expedition season for its ships - Fram, Roald Amundsen and Fidtjof Nansen. The hotly anticipated winter season included the once in a lifetime chance to view a southern hemisphere solar eclipse from the South Orkney islands at the beginning of December.
The Singapore Tourism Board has announced that the pilot scheme will begin with itineraries offered by two lines that are based there − Genting Cruise Lines and Royal Caribbean - beginning with a short itinerary for Gentings newest ship, World Dream, leaving Singapore on November 6th
As MSC Grandiosa leaves Genoa, on the fourth of its ‘post COVID 19’ itineraries, it really does begin to feel as if MSC may be providing a blueprint that the rest of Cruising can follow. Their enhanced Health and Safety precautions seem to be working and it almost feels normal to see pictures of the ship leaving port and heading off on its Genoa, Civitavecchia, Naples, Palermo, Malta circuit.
Its reassuring to see that MSC Cruises are definitely taking a zero tolerance approach to rule breaking their first post-Covid Cruise which left Genoa two days ago. Following its first port call to Naples, MSC have denied boarding to a family who left the ‘bubble’ of
So after a disappointing summer, where Cruising seems to have been made the scapegoat for the COVID 19 woes of the entire travel industry, the hopes of Cruising in Europe are now resting on the large independent Italian company MSC Cruises.
