uktog

Datapoint. Yesterday a Sunday I did that trip at around 1530 and as I passed the dock gates at Rosyth my time from Ocean Terminal was 50 minutes

Extremely flexible. Advise them before cruising of your needs and they take it from there They send you a menu for the restaurants the day before and you have to write on them your selection based on where you plan to dine anf return it to the restaurant desk on deck 5 by 10 am. Chef cooks the amended menu or contacts you if adaptations aren’t possible eg recipe wont work. When you go to the restaurant in the evening the host has the menu you wrote on at the podium and hands it to the waiter. All VERY well handled At lunch time in the emporium if we were unsure what a dish included the restaurant managers were quick to go and find out. They started preparing a dessert each day for DH just in case (he has a nut allergy) and keeping it in the chiller We were very impressed with Explora’s approach to allergy handling. We heard they weren’t good at changing things before we went and that’s certainly true if the request is a fad/personal preference which given the range of choices and how they approach cooking with consistency and precision is valid but for medical allergies they go the extra mile and they’ve really got it nailed.

I think they’re waiting to decide how to handle their winter schedule in general and transitioning vessels between Europe and the East. They will probably wait until they see how well the current no long port stop plan has worked for Journey and Onward and what timings are realistic for the future. They are probably also having to reschedule some lucrative charters as well which from a business perspective will be something they also have to focus on. At least for October 2025 there is time and no one has air commitments confirmed yet

Which voyages are you talking about? Your original post was about May or are you talking about other redeployments? If you search Azamaras website all their currently available cruises are shown there

An alternative is you can withdraw the balance as cash on the last night. That’s a good option for non US guests who can use dollars in other situations. As we were disembarking in Miami that’s what we did

Not sure what you mean by fewer perks. All veranda plus cabins have the same benefits. If it was me, given the benefits are minimal anyway I’d go on Deck 7 every time. They created the plus category and designated Deck 8 cabins into it to try and sell these less popular locations. Only the aft veranda plus are worth the upsell in my view

It also causes issues in the kitchen focusing on getting 12 meals out to the pass simultaneously and this impacts on service for other guests. We saw two groups of 6 (yes the models the influencers and their camera folk) as to have 3 tables of 4 put together when they arrived at Fil Rouge one night. The General Manager was called and she said no. Unfortunately they then shouted across the place but at least the waiters were only taking orders from one table at a time

Sunday can have the day trippers out. Took me an hour last weekend to just up the road from the dockyard. Roadworks in Edinburgh and a breakdown just before the bridge. It’s quite unpredictable but I’ve rarely done it in 30 minutes

Could I suggest you aim to be at the car a little earlier. 30 minutes from Leith to Rosyth is optimistic during commute times which starts around 3 these days. It’s a route I do a lot and one I’d say is 45 minutes is the minimum during rush hour as you’ve got to get out from Leith as well. Even with its “hard shoulder” it just takes a little breakdown and everything really slows down on the bridge as well

Given that TA credit is refundable, you could book the excursions now and pay for them and then once your cruise is over your credit balance offsets your original spend (assuming you havent spent on board for other things that was not covered by other OBC)

OBC from your TA rarely appears until boarding. You can’t make speciality reservations before boarding. Speak to your TA about what they can do re your excursions

Azamara wisely opted to cancel that voyage on Journey. They are going from Singapore direct to round Africa which reduces lost revenue days and minimises risk. There have also been challenges with port authorities in India and Sri Lanka and Myanmar is right off the agenda so I would expect them to take some time to rework all the schedules involving moving ships out of the Mediterranean to Asia or Australia

Yes got an email about that event. Not sure the timings work for us but we will see. Might send in a question anyway

I remember our first time meeting him when he was on his first contract as an assistant waiter

This cancellation was made several weeks ago. Are you not aware of the situation in the Middle East? No cruiseship is doing that route for obvious reasons