TerryDorset

I stand corrected. I must tell our Spanish friends who are still expecting no change.

Positive. EU countries aren't putting the clocks back this autumn but staying with summer time all year. That'll put them 2 hours ahead of us in winter, one hour in summer.

Hmm. I think it's only one evening meal, especially as the first night is 2300 departure. As for an early start, when we go in January Spain will be 2 hours ahead, so it'll be vacate the cabin at 0530 onboard time. I note our departure time in January is 45 minutes earlier than it is in October, with arrival being at the same time, presumably to help take account of the lost hour. Hopefully by then full service will have been resumed, but who can tell?

There was an item on BBC South news today about people arriving in Portsmouth on Sunday being visited by Track & Trace and told they had to isolate and would be phoned every day. It seems the powers that be got it wrong and thought the ruls change was 4am Monday, not Sunday. Co-incidentally we got 2 letters each today inviting us to do a questionnaire on out T&T experience. I did a suitably scathing one but unfortunately there was nowhere to add free-text comments!

I trump that with my ticket version 23 for last month's Ouistreham trip!

They say if you can remember the 60s then you weren't doing it properly!

At least ours had the decency to wait until 11am after we got home at midnight. He did check our passports though to make sure it was us. Didn't get a further visit but always had the excuse of having to post off our tests if we weren't there. Come to think of it, that was the only time we went out anyway.

Mine now expires 31/3/2022, so it looks like another 3 months

No, that was for a tonsil swab taken from the other end!

We picked 123test from the government list. Should have checked them on Trustpilot first. Don't touch them with a bargepole!

No, there's no separate lane for EU passport holders. Everyone is lumped in together.

Well, the return journey couldn't have been more different. Only 3 dozen cars on board so everything was virtually deserted. Bar service was excellent but the self-service restaurant was very disappointing. Food (gigot d'agneau) was full of sinew and tasted more like hearts than lamb. Wine in duty-free was a bargain (works out at £2.44 a bottle, same label in our local Tesco is £8.50) but, due to staff reductions, the service of helping to carry it to the car deck was not available. I'm sure there must have been a deck-hand somewhere who could have helped. Luckily our fellow passengers were very helpful and we got it home okay. With so few cars, disembarkation was a doddle. We were first off. Minimal delay at immigration (check for illicit passengers, passport and covid test checks but PLF not scanned). Home by 10.30 pm. Since then (3 days) we've had 6 phone calls and a visit from the quarantine patrol. Told to expect a phone call each every day. I'll be able to answer their questions before they ask them by the end of it!

Muppetdodger - I used dorset private GP. The antigen test was (from memory) £79 and the result emailed about 1 hour later. Very helpful folk, a search with your favourite search engine will find their details. Their drive-in test site is beside Bournemouth airport.

Due to sail home today. PLFs completed, PCR tests yesterday were negative (and free!). Results that evening, very impressed. Will let you know how we get on.

No, turned out of cabin usual 30 minutes before docking. Called to car deck by cabin and deck numbers, which seemed to have been co-ordinated.