At first I had a cruise booked on the Rhapsody of the Seas from Venice to Barcelona which got postponed, and then cancelled. I then wanted to do the Harmony but I was lead to believe Italy did not want UK residents due to high Covid levels, so eventually settled for the Jewel out of Cyprus.

So we travelled by train from Nottingham to London and then on to Gatwick the day before and stayed at the Hilton which is a 15 min walk/shuttle to the terminal. We have stayed here before as you don't need taxis. We had to be up at 0330 for a 4am check-in and a 6am flight. This was a charter flight by TUI and included in the price. The plane was full and most people were wearing a face mask which was mandatory. The flight was OK and we had completed all the necessary paperwork and got printouts as well as screen shots on our phones as we did not want to take any chances.

The only issue was with the Greek authorities who made everyone get off the bus from the plane to the terminal and show them a copy of the Cyprus Flight Pass before getting onto another bus to go to the terminal. This caused great delay and frustration as people were trying to get their phones up and running to show their pass which I thought was silly as we needed to show these at Gatwick before you got your ticket so no-one could be at Cyprus without a pass in the first place. This was not Royals fault and I think the Greeks either made a mistake stopping us or were just trying to balls up a otherwise pleasant journey. Read more