For all other nationalities, we strongly recommend you check to see if you are eligible for this program by visiting the US Embassy website
www.usembassy.
org.uk. If you are not eligible for this program, you should contact the US consulate or embassy to confi rm your individual visa requirements. British Subject* passport holders are required to obtain a full US visa prior to travel.
* These are mostly people who were born in British India before 01/01/49 and did not become citizens of India, or who were citizens of Eire and British subjects before 01/01/49 and have made a claim to retain British Subject status.
Canada All British Citizen passport holders will be able to enter Canada without a visa. If you are not in possession of a British Citizen passport, please ensure you check your entry requirements for Canada at
www.canadainternational.gc.ca. This will provide you with an up-to-date list of passport holders that requires a Temporary Resident Visa (TRV) for Canada. British Subject passport holders will require a Temporary Resident Visa (TRV).
Egypt & Jordan Transit Visa stamps for Egypt and Jordan are compulsory for British Citizen passport holders and will be issued upon the ship’s arrival, whether you are staying on board or going ashore. You do not need to obtain the visas in advance of the voyage. If you are joining your cruise in Egypt or Jordan you may need to purchase a visa on arrival at the airport.
Schengen Visa requirements Non-European passport holders may require a Schengen visa for entry into Continental Europe. Please ensure you check your entry requirements for Europe prior to embarkation. The United Kingdom is not a Schengen State member. British Citizen passport holders will not need to obtain a Schengen visa.
Vaccinations
At the time of writing, there are no compulsory vaccinations for any holiday in this brochure. We recommend that all passengers seek advice from their doctor or travel medicine clinic, at least six weeks before their cruise, to discuss their personal travel plans and obtain appropriate advice and any recommended vaccinations prior to travel. Alternatively you can obtain the Department of Health’s ‘Health Advice for Travellers’ leafl et from your local Post Offi ce or travel agent. You will also fi nd further travel health advice on the NaTHNaC UK government funded website at
www.nathnac.org.
Disabilities & mobility
This section relates to all matters involving mobility disabilities and wheelchair and mobility scooter use; sensory and auditory disabilities including blind and/ or deaf persons; and any other disability which may affect your enjoyment of a holiday with us.
Before making a booking, please familiarise yourself with clauses 18-24 of the Booking Conditions in this brochure (see page 187). All passengers requiring specifi c assistance, facilities or equipment on board or wishing to bring such equipment on board must advise P&O Cruises at the time of booking and are required to complete a questionnaire after booking, to ensure we have all the information we need to cater adequately for your requirements. P&O Cruises welcomes assistance dogs on board each of its ships. In line with DEFRA regulations, assistance dogs may be unable to disembark in ports of call. For further information on the carriage of assistance dogs, please contact us.
You will be pleased to know that all our ships cater for passengers bringing wheelchairs or mobility scooters. With lifts and wheelchair accessible routes to all public rooms and the vast majority of deck areas, as well as a number of cabins adapted for wheelchair users, we aim to make your stay as relaxing and comfortable as possible. It is strongly recommended that mobility scooter users reserve a wheelchair accessible cabin, as space limitations in most non-adapted cabins make storage and access to scooters problematic. Please note that our wheelchair accessible cabins are strictly reserved for passengers who are bringing mobility scooters which cannot fi t safely into standard cabins, or who have a requirement for the adapted facilities offered by these cabins. P&O Cruises reserves the right to require passengers who have booked this accommodation without due reason, to move, at their own expense if necessary, to make room for other passengers who require these facilities. Our wheelchair accessible cabins are built to ADA standards and it is not possible to make any temporary additions or structural changes to these cabins for specifi c passengers.
If you are planning to bring a wheelchair or mobility scooter on board with you, it is essential that you let us know at the time of booking so we can advise you of restrictions on the size and type of wheelchair we accept on board. Any passengers requiring the use of a wheelchair, mobility scooter or walking aid must provide their own. For the safety of all our passengers P&O Cruises has introduced size restrictions for all wheelchairs and mobility scooters (these restrictions do not apply to passengers booked in fully accessible cabins). Mobility scooters must meet the following specifi cations: width – no more than 20 inches (51cm); weight – no more than 45kg total with no component piece weighing more than 23kg when disassembled; and acid batteries are not permitted on board. Please note that for the safety of the ship and everyone on board, all wheelchairs, scooters and other aids to mobility must be stored inside your cabin when you are not using them. Failure to comply with this important safety rule may mean you are disembarked and refused future travel. We also recommend that part-time wheelchair users, who travel in non-adapted cabins, bring a collapsible wheelchair to ensure it can safely fi t through their cabin door and be accommodated in their cabin. P&O Cruises reserves the right to change its policy in relation to any such matters without notice and in such circumstances we will contact affected
passengers to make suitable arrangements.
A ship is not always the easiest environment for using a wheelchair or mobility scooter. Although our crew are always very helpful, they are unable to assist you in moving around the ship, or in any personal day- to-day tasks. For this reason, and in order to ensure the safety of the passenger, the ship and all others on board, we require passengers with disabilities, who require personal assistance in the activities of daily living, including pushing a wheelchair, or communication support, to be accompanied by a personal assistant/travelling companion to provide these services.
For further information about travelling with disabilities, please contact our specialist Disability team on 0845 355 0045 (Monday-Friday 9am- 5.30pm), visit
www.pocruises.com/mobility or email us at
disability@pocruises.com
Mobility ashore When choosing your cruise please bear in mind that it may not be possible for wheelchair or mobility scooter users to get ashore at ports of call. At the majority of ports visited by our ships, we deploy a short ramped low-level gangway, commonly referred to as the ship’s brow, to give all wheelchair or mobility scooter users easy access to shore. We do our very best to make sure that all passengers get ashore in as many ports as possible, although there will be times when it is not possible to deploy the ship’s brow. This is normally due to ports with a large tidal range. Some examples of ports with a large tidal range (but not an exhaustive list) are Bilbao, Brest, La Coruna, Le Havre, La Rochelle, Lisbon, Vigo, Zeebrugge, Canary Island ports, Hamburg, Boston, Halifax, Portland, Quebec, Darwin, Lisbon, Mumbai and San Francisco. At ports where it is not possible to use the ship’s brow, all access to shore will be by a narrow stepped gangway that pivots to take account of the tide, known as the accommodation ladder. When the accommodation ladder is in use, you will need some independent mobility in order to walk down the gangway. Each of our ships carries a wheelchair ‘stair climbing’ machine which where appropriate may be used to allow wheelchair users to go ashore provided they transfer between their own wheelchair and the wheelchair that is fi tted to the stair climber at the top and bottom of the accommodation ladder. The stair climber cannot be used with electric wheelchairs – these will need to be taken ashore separately.
When the ship is anchored away from the quayside, indicated by the symbol, and where conditions permit, passengers are taken ashore by the ship’s launches (or ‘tenders’). There is a possibility, in exceptional circumstances, that launches will also be
used to get passengers ashore at ports featuring the symbol. Every effort will be made to offer access ashore via the tenders but you must have some independent mobility in order to step into and out of the tenders. Please note that for health & safety reasons, the crew are unable to lift passengers. We will transfer wheelchairs or mobility scooters into the tender or onto the quayside as appropriate, provided no individual part of the wheelchair or mobility
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