Originally Posted by
shefgab
Nice report. Interesting to see how it all worked out for you. Bette than staying in Penny Bay! Food looks nice, quite a bit of variety.
I always had the fear of being rounded up to Penny's Bay as during my stay, there were a few news reports of hotel transmission, including what turned out to be our first omicron case, and the government even dragged those who have finished quarantine and lived near the infected person back into isolation.
Originally Posted by
zip10001
Thanks for the report. You got 'lucky' having to quarantine only 14 days. I believe 21 days of quarantine are required now.
Yes, Canada was recently moved up to 21 days due to the new variant. As the case numbers ticked higher in Ontario in the lead-up to my trip, I was worried Canada would move up to Group A for the 21 days. Luckily, it didn't materialize, but the persistent flight cancellations cast a shadow as I was pretty much out of options for a plan B flight other than Finnair (no BA or US carriers).
Originally Posted by
350zrx330
How is the view from your hotel room? . I had a great view of the bund when I did my arrival quarantine in Shanghai.
I didn't get any view or a lot of sun shining into my room as it was on a low floor and facing an industrial building across the street. In retrospect, I should have asked for a high floor like I usually do on my business trips but it didn't cross my mind after so many changes to the original reservation due to flight cancellations.
Originally Posted by
hugolover
This is really fascinating. Thank you for posting.
I can't understand why every country doesn't do this to save lives. It boosts fledging hospitality and reduces community transmission whether you're vaccinated, booster(s) or not. I for one would support every UK arrival having a mandatory 14 days quarantine based on HK and no scam prices. The biggest issue is going to be the terrible food, but you have had a lovely time of it there .
We could really learn a lot from HK.
I still think 14 days for a fully-vaccinated passenger to be a bit excessive, and now many countries have moved up to the Group A tier (Canada was previously in the medium risk Group B tier) so even vaccinated persons need to do 21 days.
I was fairly lucky as the Penta's food turned out much better than expected, and the locale had a lot of decent restaurants for take-out delivery as well. I've seen a lot of horror stories from other hotels in this and even higher budget range. It's a hit and miss but at least the prices are fairly decent compared to the ones I've seen in Canada when they had the 3 day quarantine awaiting test results earlier in the year. Not sure how much the UK is charging now for their quarantine?