A FAMILY were left devastated after they were forced to cancel their dream holiday due to new Covid rules being introduced.

In 2020, Dannie Sheppard and his wife Sharron booked a one-week P&O Cruises holiday for themselves and their two children, Niamh, 12, and Ewan, 10.

After that trip was cancelled during the pandemic, the family booked a new holiday two years down the line and were finally due to set sail on April 16, 2022, to visit France, Spain and Portugal.

However, their plans were dashed when the cruise company updated its policy on Covid jabs, which means that 12-year-old Niamh no longer adheres to their policy.

Orginially, P&O said all guests aged between five and 17 needed to either be fully vaccinated or show evidence of a negative PCR test taken within 120 hours prior to travelling.

However, that rule was changed on February 22, and now states all passengers aged 12 and over needed to be fully vaccinated a minimum of 14 days before travelling.

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Niamh only turned 12 on March 4, so she won't be able to get both of her jabs before the cruise departs on April 16 – just seven weeks after her birthday.

Despite rushing Niamh to the doctor on her 12th birthday to get her first jab, she was told she couldn't safely have her second before the holiday, so wouldn't meet the requirements of being fully vaccinated.

Sharron called P&O Cruises to explain their predicament, and was told Niamh wouldn't be allowed to board so the family would have to cancel their trip.

The family were left devastated and felt angry that the jab policy had been changed – despite Niamh not having to be vaccinated to visit France, Spain or Portugal.

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Dannie told the Birmingham Mail: "Niamh can meet the vaccination status required for all the countries the cruise visits and the requirements for re-entering the UK at the end.

"The policy wording has produced an absurd and unfair result, but P&O have been very strict to stick to its policy, even in the face of common-sense."

A spokesperson for P&O Cruises said: "We are so sorry for the disappointment this has caused.

"We have worked with public health, port and government authorities around the world to create a framework of protocols to protect the health and wellbeing of crew, guests and the communities we visit.

"We also need a vaccination policy which meets the entry requirements for all our ports of call around the world.

"We are very sorry that they will be unable to travel but would love to welcome them on board in the future."

Earlier this week, a boy was left "devastated and sobbing" after being forced to miss his school holiday abroad due to delays with passport renewals.

And a woman has issued a warning to all travellers after she was banned from boarding her flight because her passport was mouldy.

In other travel news, Brits are being warned against going to an island in Portugal after it was hit by more than 1,100 earthquakes in just 48 hours.

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The island of Sao Jorge, one of nine islands in the Azores, reported earthquakes as high as 3.3 on the Richter scale.

With more than 8,400 people on the island, the Foreign Office has since warned against all but essential travel to the island.

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