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I think we’ve been a little unlucky with our room attendant. All the others we come across are lovely. The staff on the JR White Room are also great but not so the Front Porch where we were caught in the cross fire of two bitterly arguing. But we are happy with our cruise, love the HOho and the food is great. Talking about food, last nights excellent menu It was Vicksburg day so we turned from rock and pop to Civil War. We had to juggle our timings a bit so we could do both the town and our battlefield tour which left at 1230. The map is attached here we knew in the short time we could only do some of the steps so we choose to start at the old rail depot the Coca-Cola museum and the river museum but others who stopped at the church with the Tiffany windows said it was beautiful The Old Rail Depot the most amazing collection of models both working train layouts model ships model cars and a very useful model of the battlefield which helped for some of the context in the afternoon The Coca-Cola museum very much should have the time to fix both played such a part in Coca-Cola be coming our favourite global drink due to the fact that it could be bottled. As always it’s fun to see some of the bottles and souvenirs from the 50s 60s and 70s. You could also have a coke float there but we didn’t not as we knew we would be lunching early It was only one block to the river museum and rather than wait for the bus to take us to hundred yards we walked down unfortunately halfway down the rain storm open the clouds so we arrived at the river museum a little wet. I would say the river museum is an absolute must there was so much to learn about the management the flood defences and best of all getting to go on the full scale replica tug which gave an excellent perspective what the tugs we have seen on the river were doing and what it was like onboard- really good After a quick lunch we had it out on a Civil War tour. Good start to the to the tour, they showed us a very informative 20 minute film about the Battle featuring characters involved on the boat before we left - that saved the guides having to cover a lot of the background and enabled us to concentrate on what we were seeing on the battlefield. Our guide Harry was absolutely outstanding clearly very passionate in his research about Vicksburg and the battle. We drove around the site for nearly 2 hours getting off at a few points along the way and his explanations at all times without notes were so good We saw the iron ship and also had time at the Illinois Memorial and at the visitor centre where Harry gave to those of us who wanted to hear it such a good explanation of how the guns were fired and how many people and horses were needed for each gun. There are lots of guns just left all over the battlefield and also because of the route the bus took you really go to context of the ditches and hills and hold the two sides were engaged in the longest battle of the Civil War it certainly must’ve been so challenging. I have many photos and have selected a few here. This was an excellent tour and very very good value for the calibre of guide. In the evening we had a guest entertainer Dante a magician. We’ve seen all the tricks he did before with others but nevertheless very enjoyable. So a great day (and a beautiful sunset)

The grill is open as a bar only 11-7 or 8. Alternative evening catering is in the Front Porch which we have not eaten in other than a failed attempt to get lunch yesterday. What we are finding some staff great and engaging others jobsworths as we call them - my way or no way folks. Clearly the line has potential to be excellent with the right staff.

Never seen caviar at white night Disappointed no lobster either at our last one

There’s nothing at Terrene Landing though they plan to develop a park there. Our drive to the HOHO had a fascinating guide who was a farmers wife. The area is fertile and damp and they grow soya and a large proportion of the US rice production. Fields planted as far as you could see. We arrived at the Grammy Museum. Everyone agreed this was a brilliant place. So much interactive fun for lovers of all genres of music and very helpful enthusiasm from the volunteers Second stop was shopping we stayed on, we heard there were again enthusiastic local guides but little on offer and nowhere if you wanted to eat ashore. Third stop was fun much loved by the men, the Sue and Bob King railroad museum. A mix of memerobilia and a huge working layout with older enthusiasts “managing the lines”. A nice little stop especially for the men - buys us ladies rights for shopping stops later in the week 😀 Then it was the Delta Chinese Heritage Centre housed in the Delta University which bizarrely has a uni logo of a grumpy okra. Again enthusiastically welcomed by volunteers. That said the museum is still trying to find a permanent home and lay out so it is a little bit random. What it is trying to show is how Chinese immigrants to the delta were treated and the fight they had to allow their children to integrate and be educated. They won their battle for integration over 20 years before the first non white legislation was passed so they saw this as quite an important thing to recognise. We returned to the ship around one and found a glitch with the lines approach to lunchtime catering. The grill is not operating food service still because of Covid, the main dining room closed at 1 when most of the people were coming back and the front porch by around 130 had run out of most of the food being served and the servers were not able or prepared to find anything else. Okay no one ever dies of starvation on a river boat but it was just poor that we had to resort to using snacks we had still got from Memphis to tide us over to dinner. What we are finding at present is our love of this vessel blows hot and cold we can do a lot right with nice food but then shoot themselves in the foot with service issues and the couldn’t care less attitude of some staff. Last nights dinner was good, s nice choice again. And the evening sail down was pretty (though wet)

I’m having trouble with these boards the old cookie issue is back so lost yesterday’s review. I’m going to break it down a bit Here is how you order tickets for the early buses, later in the day it’s open And the map and shuttle timetable and hoho timetable for Terrene Landing (one bus was landing to the Grammy museum a 35 minute trip then you swapped to the hoho

The river levels are mid as our captain said so should give us no issues. It’s very wet again this morning there’s been a lot of rain this last week

Indeed another day a better experience Transfer to the boat was very efficient starting with those with commodore service at 1345 and the remainder from an hour later. Nice to find the luggage onboard and a little welcoming event of drinks and nibbles. Our room although a tricky layout has lots of storage and we unpacked. There were immediately some maintenance issues that should have been spotted before and it’s not easy to track down the room attendant. He’s been found and most things are now sorted. However it’s annoying we still can’t use the safe and they say they’re too busy to fix it - not quite what we hoped for! It also seems the room servicing is to his timetable and if we are still in the room eg getting ready for dinner we miss it that night. Not a huge deal but surprised at that. We went to the pre dinner show (we are late seating so our show is 6.15 dinner 8 nice time for a drink in between). A nice little variety intro of all the guests. The music style, songs from the shows and easy listening suits us. Dinner was a good choice quite nicely done though I find it strange to have to order everything at the same time. Tomorrow is our first day touring. Look forward to seeing how that works! We have gone to the simple little machine by the purser tapped our preferred time and got our two tickets. They’re strict on the bus times each bus will go at their advertised times to avoid delays building up. Only the first 8 buses of the day, which are leaving at 10 mins intervals are ticketed then it’s open seating. Im having issues loading images in the text! Our first picture is from the Cotton Museum in Memphis a block from the Peabody and well worth a visit. It’s really set a great context for what we will see along the way. Our second picture is “stacks down” as we leave Memphis under the brie. Whilst it’s fun to watch this unfortunately our deck 5 room also hears this manoeuvre very loudly after we’d gone to sleep. Let’s hope that was a one off!

Yes there was a big event At Memphis involving the local mayor yesterday to recognise this. They are very proud of their recognition

Thanks yes it was us and there was even an issue two weeks ago as it seemed the TA had sat on our money from two years ago and forgot to pay AQSC so we’d no joining instructions etc. Anyway all seems well this morning and we’ve had a lovely breakfast in the hotel meeting delightful fellow travellers. Let’s hope yesterday was our last drama Breakfast time

If you are back to back you don’t need to check in for the second cruise

The fairest way to reward good service on an Azamara ship is to make a donation to the crew welfare fund via guest relations. This ensures that everyone seen and unseen involved in making your cruise special are rewarded. The fund pays for so many things, crew parties, bingo prizes (a big thing with crew I hear) and crew excursions. These excursions are often used as reward trips. I saw photos yesterday from one in Greece and it was clear the crew involved were having a really lovely time.

I’ve done lives from other voyages, usually Azamara and one from Ama. Here we are, two Brits both able to have seniors rates wherever we go in the USA arrived at the day before embarkation. I’m calling this semi live as I hear wifi on AQ is rubbish, so bear with me if there’s a gap, I will catch up even if it’s when we disembark. We’ve got to Memphis via firstly Nashville a crazy place but we were able to enjoy seeing Don McLean at the Ryman, 50 years after American Pie was released. Ages you when you remember driving your first car listening to it. He’s aged quite well We then headed to Paducah just to break the journey- wow the quilt museum, that was something - for ocean cruise lovers, the quilt of Positano was my favourite unbelievable skill. We then ventured to Ste Genevieve which was a real gem. We’d heard Missouri wines were interesting and stumbled on the Main Street Inn as a place to stay. Ste Genevieve has been voted one of the 10 small towns in the USA you have to see. I would agree! History, a thriving community of artists and really genuine people. I’d recommend a trip there if you can Then onto Memphis, we’d 4 nights in the Indigo and did all the usual Elvis and music museum things plus the Civil Rights Museum (an absolute must) before moving for our night provided by AQSC in The Peabody. We were surprised our room was ready at 11, we’d just stopped by to drop our bags. We’d great plans for the afternoon after we’d registered and done the covid test. Oh dear forget that. Our first impressions of AQSC have been terrible. Covid testing and check in involved standing in four different lines, no seats available apart from in the area waiting for covid tests. No water, no one apologising, no one caring it took us just under TWO hours and that was discounting the extra time our “problem” took. Everyone was struggling. To cap it all, ok I doubt they get many Scots onboard but we were denied boarding as they deemed our covid vaccination documentation inadequate. What was worse, that happened at the desk for line 2, we were told the supervisor was too busy to speak to us (guess how we were feeling….) but we were still to go through line 3 to get a bus time, then join line 4 and when we got to the desk the supervisor would explain to us what was wrong with our documentation. Imagine how we felt in line for over an hour believing our dream holiday was gone because they couldn’t understand our certificates. Eventually after a lot of arguing and demanding a call be made to someone in authority at head office we have been permitted to board exceptionally. Actually there should be no exception about it, here’s their issue, our vaccination certificates only have our last two vaccinations on them. So ours clearly states vaccination 2/2 and 3/3 and details our second vaccination and our booster. We’ve travelled to several countries since covid with them and were even let in the USA last week but that’s not good enough for AQSC. They need proof you had your first vaccination……they won’t accept the Scottish Government certificate that works on the basis if you’ve had your second you previously had your first. No Scot who has had their booster will meet their rules, only those who haven’t and would therefore have a certificate showing 1/1 and 2/2. It was distressing the staff showed zero empathy and no listening skills and no willingness to listen to an explanation. They kept telling us to ring home and get someone photograph the card we got with our first dose (which actually no one got in Scotland!) oh and to cap it all, their system stopped reading credit cards so most of us have to get them authorised onboard. Well drama over but still feeling dreadfully shaken up, we watched the lovely Peabody ducks and enjoyed the comforts of the hotel - it is nice with a very spacious room. May tomorrow be a better day and AQSC start to redeem themselves……

So glad to see David is still coming onboard and performing for Azamara. He has a wonderful voice and is a lovely person.

Be careful it will be very expensive and I would expect them to say it has to be a full redo as they won’t be able to guarantee a match. I’ve heard and seen way too many horror stories with cuts and recolours onboard. Most people stick to wash and blow dries which is usually done reasonably well. The staff don’t often do much else so you are a practice model at high salon prices otherwise. As a benchmark a simple wash and blow in April was $69 plus a mandatory 18% gratuity I’d get the retouch done before you go

Live from threads are very helpful to those who are considering a similar voyage as they cover port details and related issues. They happen on most boards. The currently onboard thread emerged post covid when it was not the itinerary but the onboard experience and testing that bothered guests. I don’t want to see live from threads merged in to other ones they lose their value then and the anyone on board becomes disjointed and unwieldy As happened pre covid sometimes there was a lot more information coming from one ship than the others. Thank you Ivi for your posts it’s lovely to hear how the cruise is going and to pick up valuable information from you.

You will be invited to a meeting a day or so before turn around day. Everything will be explained saying because it slightly varies from Port to Port. However in essence you will be given a time to meet to go to the gangway and punch out your old key card and authenticate your new cruise card which was sent to your room earlier. You are free to go ashore and explore. If you want to leave earlier than the meeting time to swap cards you usually can. As you are in the same room you won’t have to attend muster drill on your second cruise.

Yes very much personal choice. You do as you want depending on the experience you have had. Additional small tips are not required or expected but if you feel the service was above and beyond they are very welcome. Most times the service hits that spot

2d means second eg Onwards seconds cruise. whether or not we test before we leave from home is irrelevant these days for many of us who travel a few days ahead so don’t expect everyone will. We will still need to test at the port or somewhere near embarkation

We are currently enjoying a lovely land tour ahead of joining the Queen on Monday. In Missouri we couldn’t use the car ferry because the river was too night and it’s suspended. Just wondering how they are getting on on AQ on the Memphis to New Orleans stretch. We have experience of river cruises and know things can change a lot due to river levels just curious for our trip.

I would prebook my cab with welcome pickups or equivalent

Very disappointing. Who is the Hotel Director. I’d be interested in their explanation as to the discrepancy

It is good Azamara stepped up to the plate. Well done! The trouble with the shake down trips they did was they used travel agents and press people. All their reports on social media were highlighting how wonderful it was. Some were Azamara regulars who are agents so I’m surprised they didn’t spot things weren’t right. Or is it that shake down cruises given as freebies only give very limited feedback on the functionality of each room. Id suggest a shakedown of say six days with everyone moving room every two days. Yes a little inconvenient but it would really test out each room. Everyone should have a detailed checklist for the room they are in and accurate completion should be a condition of getting the freebie

Can we move on from this interminable debate! My bottom line is that unlike other lines Azamara does not accept valid covid recovery certificates which potentially puts my next cruise at risk. But I have to accept that anomaly and have a plan B in place

Have a wonderful cruise look forward to hearing how it goes

Anything is better than RC 😂😂😂