uktog

The fee and set up for the chefs table is still to be announced. That and Anthology are currently the only two indicating charges. The others are included but for some reservations may be required to control numbers a little like Viking specialities

Yep found that out the hard way.

Certainly not what journey offered! But we did have a granola table 🙂

My only concern for your plans would be unlike arrival times at “ocean” venues, Seville needs a river transit, a lock operation and a tricky final manoeuvre which requires the closure of an arterial road route to enable a bridge to be raised. All of these add to the charm of the arrival but requires the marine team to need to be flexible to local conditions. As a result, we have now done this transit three times and we have never arrived at the published time, indeed one time we were six hours different with the change only being announced a few days beforehand. It’s a real tide and winds dependent arrival. We’ve never had our time in Seville curtailed but we’ve always had it moved. That’s why we use ships excursions for our out of town trips there.

You always fill it one at the port as part of the boarding process You fill one out for your insurance company when buying insurance ( the questions in each are different of course)

Yes, I have that in writing

Thanks, I’ve read the offer in the trade press and agree it’s a very impressive one. Part of me wants to still say maybe the UK agents were later being contacted and part says oh no, am I being let down by the agent I’d moved to after a previous let down when I’d just got my confidence in agents back.

Given the cost of flights and impact of cancellations etc we have insurance straight from booking. It’s too risky a money save for little saving imho. Medical conditions can arise between booking and sailing. You might still be able to take your cruise but you’re then loaded with a pre existing condition cost or restrictions. I will give a first hand example. We booked cruises for late 2023 and early 2024 last year. They are all long distance. We currently intend taking them but since booking our grandchild has been diagnosed with a life limiting condition. Cruise interruption insurance element is now very important and flying back from South America or the Far East would be expensive. However we are insured because we covered the cruises from booking. We made another recent booking post her diagnosis and initially the answer was we could not have interruption cover. Actually we do now have it but with a higher premium and excess and had we been trying to add Japan at that stage it would have been an eye watering excess so being insured when you book saved us. (We actually have annual cover and by staying with the same provider they automatically roll over cover for existing declarations). I appreciate the OP might not be worried about risks arising and wants to keep costs down but Im just highlighting that can be a very false economy

I don’t think it matters on little things but on bigger issues like buffet vs served meals that’s an important one for some guests and if their expectations based on the other ships are dashed it will spoil their hard earned holiday. Inconsistent can either be individualism, in which case make guests aware that it will be four different experiences as that is a change from their previous philosophy or it’s a lack of oversight at head office. I noticed a big difference between the buffets, brunches and extras (food treats brought onboard etc) on Journey with what photos and reports from the other three showed the same week. Even down to entertainers brought on board in Koper, Onward served drinks and snacks, Journey had the same show an hour later but nothing. That same night the other two ships also had special food events. Don’t get me wrong, the food on Journey was good, but they seemed to have a lower budget and that showed especially at the Brunches and White Night

There has been a change in the agency - my contact has been headhunted to a senior position elsewhere and he is handcuffed for a while so we cannot change just yet. Unfortunately the person who has assumed his role is struggling. I am currently cutting him slack which is why I was checking whether the letters had actually gone out or not. I have read in the trade press what they are doing for us, I am ok with it.

Thanks for the update. It’s interesting you just cannot now believe what senior officers tell you onboard. We were assured the a la carte approach in Windows in the evening was a permanent change! (To be honest we preferred it as we prefer to be served of an evening) I wish they’d make their minds up and be consistent across all four ships!!!

The buffets are very casual, though for now most times they are plated a la carte from a choice of three starters, one sometimes two soups, three mains and two desserts. The food is very good and you can see example servings in a display chiller before making your selection. The only nights that were serve yourself on both our cruises in September and October were the first night and Indian night. The other themes (Italian, French, Mexican, Greek, Indonesian, Thai, Chinese and British - the latter surprisingly good) were all plated. You can still eat outside IF they have set up serving stations there (did not happen every night) or indoors with tables set with white cloths. Your other casual option in the Patio which may be open apart from the first evening. The evening menu there is very good, although the desserts can be hit or miss. Its perfectly ok if you are sitting in the Patio to ask for starters and desserts from the Windows Buffet which gives a good mix and match. My favourite patio meal is the lamb tournedos

Thanks for your detailed review. Interesting in Koper we had the same group as you onboard after you (but no wine rough or otherwise Journeys budgets didn’t stretch that far😀). The drones were being run from Journey. We saw the team and part of the top deck was roped off for them but I think all guests still could get the shots they wanted no problem. I think it was a shame Azamara didn’t give all the guests a postcard photo of one of the drone shots to recognise their involvement in the day. It was so lovely as you say seeing the crew interact but the four ships meet was primarily a marketing activity unlike previous meets (yes realise mass event mixing wasn’t probably an option but to completely ignore it for guests other than pastries at dawn was a little disappointing)

Even after the date they start offering evenings ashore there will be some that will be held on the ship. This happens when the ship has issues with the venues available ashore but have identified a really good performer they wish to use. That happened on our South Caribbean cruise in 2019.

I know the cruise is not happening, I read what is being offered in the trade press and Explora say all agents have been notified with letters for booked guests. I cannot get a hold of my agent but I have also heard nothing from them. Before I express disappointment at the agent for not passing information over promptly, has anyone actually been contacted by their agent or might it be the case the communications are still in the pipeline (trying to be kind to my agent)

Such a shame only 3 talks, there is so much that could be covered relating to Italy - it really should be one per port and should cover history as well as key suggestions for that port. You may appreciate why I find the content of these talks by non experts so painful when I tell you I watched on TV a port lecturer (again an older man) advise guests to start at Holyrood House and work their way down the Royal Mile. His one hour talk covered more about buying jumpers and pictures of shop windows than valuable practical information like there are more coffee shops in one part than another etc. I agree the maps are poor and on our Greece intensive were only suitable for folks with the 20:20 vision of a 20 year old. And for some ports, the street names were only in Greek lettering even though when you actually got to the port, they were also available in abc format.

Given what we have been told, the cruise line is not going to resource this event so we need to look for a different model unless cruise critic can confirm they have come to another arrangement with Azamara. I have had experience of smaller unhosted get togethers when the number of enrolled guests did not meet the cruise line minimum (which was set at 25 if I recall, although quickly Azamara realised that number was unrealistic and they worked to a lower number). One I was at had 14 guests (so not untypical of an Azamara roll call turn out the event) and was the best I was ever at. To be honest, it did not need an organised process, it was a typical get together, like happens say at a small training event, where people clustered, circulated and introduced themselves then moved to meet others. Some who wanted to meet many swapped around groups quicker than others who were happy with an overall chat with a smaller number. Those who had organised "tours were proactive in identifying tour members as they circulated. Most of us are very used to that kind of group socialising anyway so its no big deal. Unfortunately the structured events with microphones have not been as good lately indeed two immediately pre pandemic were painful to say the least - you either had a cruise directors speech and we were left with very little time to do any introductions (and were evicted from the Cabaret lounge after the allotted 30 minutes as the CD had to leave and of course you could not be left there "unattended") or you had a cruiser who liked the sound of their own voice and wanted to tell you how many cruises they had done etc etc etc and go on and on and on so the next person did the same and in fact the whole group were not able to do introductions because time had passed. I think informal circulating with a set time and venue used for all cruises will be better and if it is less structured its less of an issue being at sail away so if that happens people can drop out for a few minutes if there is something they want to see. If they said pool deck unless the weather is inclement in which case living room port side (where the side sofas are) that would work well and would be an ideal compromise. Both these venues are very externally visual so those interested in sail out are not so removed from what is going on than say the library, which of course would not work anyway on Onward. Maybe name badges, maybe not - the cruise line is probably not going to organised them - and again in other walks of life we are no longer using badges but focussing on verbal introductions at smaller events

Bang on 1400 everything came back - suspect it was an IT refresh given that time of update

It’s a number of specific rooms (aft and on Deck 8 if you look at the ship floor plan they are coloured orange and designated P1 The additional benefits are 1 complimentary speciality meal for every 7 days 120 minutes internet or $130 towards an unlimited package 1 bag laundry per 7 nights Spirits in the room (the same bottle selection and size that suites get The odds of getting an aft are slim. More likely to get a noisy deck 8 under the restaurant.

All mine for the next two years have now disappeared. They have obviously got issues

Its got to be a systems issue - my 1 Dec cruise has disappeared though my ones next year are still there. I suspect someone hit the wrong button when releasing the some documents related to the upcoming batch of cruises

Can someone confirm - on Onward, can you reach the changing rooms, showers and toilets from the gym?

Pack layers! I found a long cardigan and a lightweight fleece invaluable. The issue isn’t only temperature but wind but I could wear lightweight “sunny day” items and pop one of those on. Once I’d found a space out of the wind, the cardigan/fleece was discarded but I’d have been pretty chilly getting to it without them (and data point it all depends on what you’re used to, our average summer temperatures are around 17c so we tolerate cool and wet pretty well. Others we saw did not)

We winter in Lanzarote. It’s a fabulous place lovely people and so accessible. The new cruise terminal is just opening together with new harbour front shopping so the experience for cruisers will be even better soon.

I agree. Lower profile and please somewhere where we can circulate eg the Living Room or Pool Bar. The library with everyone strung out sitting or the Cabaret which is even worse as you get blocked in rows was never ideal. On Celebrity having it more organised enabled drinks to be served in an otherwise pay to drink environment. Luckily we don’t have that issue on Azamara