uktog

As the cruise was not being sold from Lanzarote -and I doubt 300 islanders would go on a cruise at once, can I assume you are surrounded by a number of influences and travel agents?

I am curious, did this itinerary have issues all the way from Miami or did new (additional) guests board somewhere along the line?

I have just looked- you covered so much about the West and the photos are gorgeous. Your assessment of Glasgow was spot on!

Ask to speak to the General Manager that who you need

So how did everyone get in ahead of you? Mind we’ve often been left with that time on Celebrity You can ask to speak to the manager in overall charge of the restaurants and they can usually sort something Alternatively the Emporium is not a Celebrity buffet it’s far far better Or for one night room service whilst getting yourself set up for tomorrow

Except you don’t get food and service of the quality of these two restaurants on Celebrity. I’d suggest do as they ask or consider dining at night in Emporium which is a class well above anything Celebrity can offer on demand Ok sounds like they are trying to manage some internal problems- you can fight against and be miserable or do as they suggest

With the exception of two days we always had freshly squeezed juice. The two days it was missing was due to supply issues which were addressed. People need to remember Explora is a new line, they will need a year to gather sufficient data to provision efficiently based on guest demographics and itinerary. Every line had occasional drop offs on provisions. I do not recognise the description of breakfast offerings - the beautiful baked onboard bread products shone out though it is recognised the breads are a European type selection which is to be expected on a European line.

I hope the sun shines for you in Edinburgh - our weather has been constant rain for almost a month but the scenery and buildings take on a beauty in the rain. Same applies throughout Scotland - no parched look this year rather lush and green

I think sharing in advance with the appropriate caveats is absolutely the right thing to do to help with planning. Azamara cruisers are a realistic lot. They understand about the port authorities. Not announcing is a “we know but we don’t trust you to know” attitude if that is the cruise lines reasons. Id rather the cruise lines shared with caveats their actual expectations rather than rely on people’s guesses on forums

Very very marginal

I always thought it was brave channeling all emails to one mailbox. Maybe they’d underestimated how many folks were struggling still with issues. Let’s hope it sorts for you soon.

Thanks that’s great news - is this for Explora 2 or both ships?

Viking cancelled their equivalent trips yesterday

Thanks a lot. Sounds ideal. Were the boat tours included ones or did you branch out on your own/buy the added tour from Viking Packing is as planned which is great to get reassurance. We can do rain, we have webbed feet living here 😂

Excellent advice - I used Airolo on my Japan intensive. Because we were relatively near land most of the time it also provided very good WiFi on a lot of the evenings whilst moving between ports. Like @fruitmachine I paid a low price. I went for 50gb for 30 days for €25 as we were using it as a navigation system during our land based trip. However we could have had a lot less. Even allowing for uploading all our photos and videos we only used 15gb

The Emporium on Explora is unlike any “buffet” you have seen before. It’s wrong to call it a buffet. It’s more a la carte on demand in a casual setting

We too are doing this itinerary in January. Thank you for your informative post. Two quick questions- am I right in assuming I pack layers for all weather conditions and for non snorkelers what’s the one thing you would say “you must do”. Thanks

Yes that was certainly our experience (our discount was 25% as platinum so we paid $6 a day each)

Great balanced review thanks. For us Sakura tastes were great because we can only manage mild. I think next cruise we will ask them to go light on spices as they (rightly) may have turned the dial up on spices based on feedback. Glad you enjoyed your adventure

There are also two relatively new Captains Kresimir and Dario both trained by both Captains Johannes and Carl and also by Captain G and Captain Antonio. Their approach is also equally customer focused but with a modern twist. I’d say the captaincy of all Azamara ships is in great hands - not just Onward

And I found them much better mixed on both Quest and Journey albeit without the theatrical show that Onward had

We first stayed in an OT2 then a Premium Penthouse. Decided the Penthouse wasn’t worth the upcharge so our next two bookings are in an OT1 and OT2 based on availability at the time of booking and our preference re location.

Some of us were trying to use that pool when Mr Green Suit was posing and his minders were shooing us away. The problem is these people come with an extensive retinue, so easy to spot. They take over bars (inside and out) and are very noisy In restaurants. On the same cruise we’d a woman constantly having bar drinks remixed and poured whilst she filmed them or walking around filming and talking into her iPhone but unaware she was about to bump into guests etc

Not in Southampton but we had to move our bags ourselves “for security reasons”. I think the only people who can accurately answer are “on the ground” in other words guest relations once onboard

Journey is going to be in South Africa over winter 2025/6 according to the CEOs webinar when she highlighted a new cruise itinerary to the Vanilla Islands and mentioned it could be back to back with a South Africa cruise and/or safari.