uktog

It is posted as the final section of the Almost Live from thread

The champagne was Jacquard Brut - ok not top drawer but fine The rose was either a French Grenache wine from Provence which blind taste to the angel I am not sure you would spot who was who or a Spanish rioja based rose Marquis di Rascale (sp) Both were very enjoyable I did hear onboard a guest had brought a medical letter explaining she could not drink and they did allow the husband to buy a single package. Not sure if this is the start of a move to single buyers being allowed

Well said, some of these workarounds could well be causing some of the issues. Like Phil I will leave it until just before I cruise with them again.

Nothing to do with any of that. Not morphing just struggling after recent experience. We are also trying other lines and types of sailing

The three are the two we’ve now done In Search of the Northern Lights (March 2022) This itinerary - Azamara is starting that in 2025 we booked in 2022 when they were still not offering it Our next one is LA-LA round trip via Hawaiian and Polynesian islands. Azamara only do a one way which doesn’t work for us

Oops forgot to mention the Spa - it is more extensive and open to all. It was bliss. Our cruise had a good mix of guests, I did not feel it was any different to Azamara. One effect of Vikings pricing (rare sales, most US guests have committed financially some time ago) was there were no "braggers" about the last minute price they had paid. On Board Credit was rarely discussed, it does not seem to feature much in the Viking model It would also be fair to highlight they have a very different, very low key approach to recognising loyalty. However we only met one set of guests who were first timers. The repeaters event is a relaxed event in an open area and in theory anyone could attend. The "top cruiser" is recognised by a round of applause only and no "parading out front or gift' Everyone gets the same repeater discount £100. There is almost no officers with guests dining. So if recognition of loyalty is important to you, Azamara is the line for you not Viking. 2FA9C4C6-146E-48DE-AA76-937A3388E482.heic

Yes I do know the terms are less attractive for UK guests which is why I prefaced that part. I did forget to mention Mamsens as another very good snack venue Waffles made to order for breakfast (with or without cream, berries and brown cheese) Beautiful open sandwiches and cakes at lunch together with excellent soup - always pea and one other and soup and snacks from 10pm if the munchies crept in - we never did the late session but loved having a soup and a sandwich on several lunch days

Thanks Goodness how could I forget Mamsens- the most beautiful open sandwiches at lunchtime and an apple cake my husband could eat as the chef had not used ground almonds in the pastry as he did elsewhere. We were lucky to enjoy very good waffles onboard as our bathroom scales can confirm today

Staff Service So where might Viking be less good – I would say that whilst there are a few employees who are really good at providing service and remembering guests and their preferences, many rely only on their hand held devices and will spend more time looking at them than you. The technology is great but at times it is limiting the service when it should be the opposite. The dining room staff are allocated on a section rather than table basis so you will get several people trying to look after you and very rarely do they communicated well. Our experience, the restaurant manager (Yuri) and head in Manfredi’s (Olivia) were really on top of their game and we could see them nudging staff to get things right. But it was inconsistent. Wine service in the main dining room was uncoordinated. Our preference is to order a change of wine for our main course which Azamara always copes beautifully with this. It was not a success on Viking. On several nights early in the cruise we had to chase the second wine, one night it appeared as we had our last bite of our main. We solved the issue, we asked them to bring both our wines at the start (on the pretence of breathing). Cracked the problem!! On the same note, the Captain was pretty invisible though, if I am to base my judgements on our previous Azamara cruise, the hotel director is more visible on Viking. However even he is not a Heike! I suppose to sum up if you want a cruise where the officers and staff are to become your best buddies, Viking is not for you. It is not a factor for us. Technology, Website and Shore Service The wifi worked very well – we experienced no significant outages even in Greenland. The website worked a treat, my booking as a travel agent reservation but all the time I saw accurate information on My Viking Journey. Our flights were included in the fare, we asked for a price to move up to Business Class and the cost was far less that the published economy to business class difference. All our flights were on British Airways. The connection times were good and I had the flight references 60 days before hand where I could manage seats using my airline loyalty. I also note I earned full loyalty points. This has never been my experience with Azamara. I had one occasion where I had to call Viking direct, their UK business is handled from an office in London and the call was answered promptly by an extremely knowledgeable well spoken agent – say no more!! Conclusion Will we sail again on Viking? - absolutely (bookings now in place) Will we sail again on Azamara – absolutely (bookings now in place) Who would we book with in the future? - All depends how our experience is on our next two Azamara cruises, will we book again with them, move away for a small percentage of our cruises or move away for a significant percentage? The ball is in Azamara’s court. they have a lot to prove, Viking now has very little to address for us – and with new itineraries coming on for them and the older Azamara ships getting more and more port restricted that is going to play another card into Vikings hand. Lets see – happy to clarify any points…..

Drinks A big difference is Viking only includes wines and beers at meal times and gives you six sodas restocked as required in your room fridge. We went for the additional Silver Package which costs $25 each per day, both have to have it and you cannot buy it for part of the cruise. So that is an expense you have to bear in mind though many agents do include it as a “perk”. It is however a far better package than on Azamara with a much more diverse range of wines all available (about 40 in total) and several spirits that would be beyond the package on Azamara. All were available though we did have some issues in the dining room re their service I will cover later. I found the staff mixed martinis and cocktails extremely well and have the spirits to mixer balance far better on Viking. They very much worked to measured amounts so if you are someone who likes your favourite bartender to be heavy handed on the spirits, you are better with Azamara however they had no issue serving doubles. As one with a much “lower capacity for spirits” these days the Viking approach worked far better for me. Entertainment Entertainment is more extensive and varied on Viking our cruise having a classical pianist, a classical duo (piano and violin), a guitarist, a four piece band (piano, guitar bass and drums) and a duo who would play in the nightclub with some or all of the band. On the singing front we had four singers (one of whom did her own show) a cruise director and an assistant cruise director who also both did shows. Apart from the male singer in the duo who was awful all the others were top notch and the cruise director Damien in particular was extremely talented an charming, All the shows they were involved in were excellent and above Azamara standard. Unfortunately the two guest entertainers (a guitarist and a ventriloquist) were of a very poor standard, below anything we have seen elsewhere so Azamara is well head in terms of the guest entertainers. One thing we loved on Viking was Dancing Under the Stars – which of course benefits from the pool deck having a roof so is an all weather guaranteed event – in our case it was probably about 4c outside that night. There is no buffet before it, everyone dines in other venues as usual and then comes for the dancing. Honestly if that meant the food budget was better used across the time I was onboard I would like Azamara to go that way! It was a fantastic night, it was as much fun as white night but we were not cold, worried about rain or sitting at tables that had the remnants of a meal setting. A far higher % of guests were dancing (they did play more slower numbers!!!) and the absence of pressure to pack an outfit just for one night was for me a bonus. Viking makes a thing about enrichment and here again they were streets ahead of Azamara with their resident historian and four speakers three of who were top notch. (The fourth only did one very simplistic how to use your iphone talk). Corey Sandler and Brigadier General Joe Shaeffer both really made our cruise with their talks which of course we could watch on catch up an hour after they were done and thanks to the technology onboard, these were broadcast quality replays. Whilst I accept Azamara does not have that technology, they could try and book speakers of this quality (though I understand Viking look after their speakers better, that’s what one onboard who had been on both indicated) and a simple thing – Viking requires their presentations to be in a standard format in terms of background colour, font type and size. It helps so much and would be a no cost improvement Azamara could make. We used the included Viking tours -all were walk arounds or short bus trips. They worked well for us given we have been in several of the ports before. But we know they do not work for some and some find the booking process stressful though it was clear if you did not get a space before boarding, you could usually get a space onboard. As an aside, we loved the Quiet boxes they worked so well, but our greater like is that shore excursions are handled via Guest Services so there is always someone you can talk to, and there were never lines to have a conversation other than the one morning when due to very late arrival into port everything had to be rescheduled (though amazingly the letter of changes was in our room 30 minutes after the problem was announced and all the ships digital displays reflected the changed hours, locations etc. Obviously the beauty of integrated electronics. Another difference is in relation to the Port Talk/Shore Excursion presentations. On Viking these are not “sales pitches” Each on happens late afternoon the day before the port. They are double headed by the Cruise Director (who bookends the presentation with an introduction to the port and concludes with top tips) and the Shore Excursion Manager who clearly knows the detail of everything they are offering. He covered logistics, number of steps, types of incline and surfaces you would be walking on, times to restroom stops and the likely content of any included meal. They also as we discovered automatically transfer to the operators all allergy information and require them to act on it accordingly. So DH had snacks in one included tour specially prepared for him – they were ready. Whilst the information transfer may currently be challenging for Azamara, the Shore Excursion Team having detailed knowledge of every excursion and sharing it should be readily achievable. So again Viking is well ahead here.

So in summary what did we feel about Viking and our overall experience onboard? I will break it up for ease. The ship When comparing it to Azamara in terms of the ship – well you should not. It is not like for like. However, if you were looking at identical itineraries and prices (payment terms are identical in the UK) then Viking would win in terms of the ship. It’s the little things in so many places, the fact that there is so much space indoors or outdoors to sit either with company or without is a huge bonus. Viking Saturn may have 300 more guests, but it felt much less crowded particularly in inclement weather. There was also other small (but significant) differences such as such a great number of spotless restrooms some of a really decent size – for example the one outside the restaurant has been designed to recognise that is a highuse area so had significant additional “capacity”. Our room was a Deluxe Veranda so the second lowest category although the difference between that and the lowest is in amenities provided rather than room size. It was a lot bigger than an Azamara Veranda and had much better storage and included a Nespresso machine. (They had also put a kettle and teabags in the room, kind of stereotyping UK guests, don’t mind that, we just had it taken away as we are coffee people in the morning). The room was kept immaculate by the two attendants (yes its two still on Viking) though as they do more rooms they are not as good at nipping in when you go out for a few hours for breakfast and a walk, they seem to service rooms in a sequence. However there were other nicer touches Azamara could adopt even in their current layout such as better bathroom products in colour coded tubes (no trying to work out from the tiny print is this the shampoo or the shower gel) and leaving lovely chocolate bars and two bags of snack nuts in the fridge each day for you to have when it suited you (or squirrel for the next day) rather than the small creamy square centimetres you get at night from Azamara. Other little touches included (OK clever ongoing marketing) we bring a lot of books and had them on the shelf. When we went to read the first one we found they all now had Viking bookmarks in them. Food In terms of food, we had previously sailed on Viking in March 2022 and our last Azamara cruise was December 2022. Viking food was far better than Azamara and seemed even more enjoyable than on our first Viking cruise. They appear to have a much higher budget per head (or alternatively spend it differently, there is no elaborate brunches, buffet or white night food – more on white night later…). There was always a dish involving beef, often served as steak in some form on the main dining room menu and whilst there were some spicier dishes, the focus on Viking was on herbs and flavouring rather than spice. Lobster featured twice along with cod, the duck was cooked to perfection and the pasta was to die for. Desserts were beautifully presented and very varied. There is also an everyday menu (including a standard steak, chicken and an excellent salmon dish) if you want and of course in the evening the world café reflects the restaurant food plus some special stations should you prefer that. A major difference is the way Viking serve food. A waiter does not take orders from several tables and head to the galley and come back with towers of plates to then distribute. Food is finished off and brought out on a table by table basis. We had a useful conversation with the Executive Chef who explained how they manage this on Viking. As a result in the main dining room it felt, also helped by its sectioned layout, that like you were in a restaurant not a banquet hall and unlike our last Azamara cruise nothing had to go back and everything was piping hot. We had two dinners in Manfredi and two Chefs tables (Scandanavian and Californian). All were lovely meals with the food cooked to perfection. The service on our first Manfredi visit was “off” but the Head Waiter identified this before we made the point, it was due to a galley malfunction, and insisted we came back a second time. Second time it was as she said it would be – spot on. These two venues are at no additional charge and deluxe veranda level guests are guaranteed one reservation in each. However if you can be flexible on time and do not want 6 or 6.30 tables you could pretty much go as often as you like. The chefs table is not the same “extravaganza and pomp” as on Azamara but then I am not spending almost $200 and I would say if the Azamara table is 5 star, this one is 4 star -its pretty enjoyable. The World café was very good as was the more extensive pool grill with much more varied salad bar. The Pool Grill however is not open in the evenings (but its onion rings are far less “processed”). There is also a dedicated Asian station with its own chef offering cooked to order dishes from that part of the world breakfast, lunch and dinner. The afternoon tea served daily in the Wintergarden with musical accompaniment (but no dress code) is so lovely – four pages of teas to choose from, three tiered serving stands and scones with proper clotted cream - even the special Aqualina afternoon tea comes nowhere near that experience.

Part Two Entertainment Entertainment is more extensive and varied on Viking our cruise having a classical pianist, a classical duo (piano and violin), a guitarist, a four piece band (piano, guitar bass and drums) and a duo who would play in the nightclub with some or all of the band. On the singing front we had four singers (one of whom did her own show) a cruise director and an assistant cruise director who also both did shows. Apart from the male singer in the duo who was awful all the others were top notch and the cruise director Damien in particular was extremely talented an charming, All the shows they were involved in were excellent and above Azamara standard. Unfortunately the two guest entertainers (a guitarist and a ventriloquist) were of a very poor standard, below anything we have seen elsewhere so Azamara is well head in terms of the guest entertainers. One thing we loved on Viking was Dancing Under the Stars – which of course benefits from the pool deck having a roof so is an all weather guaranteed event – in our case it was probably about 4c outside that night. There is no buffet before it, everyone dines in other venues as usual and then comes for the dancing. Honestly if that meant the food budget was better used across the time I was onboard I would like Azamara to go that way! It was a fantastic night, it was as much fun as white night but we were not cold, worried about rain or sitting at tables that had the remnants of a meal setting. A far higher % of guests were dancing (they did play more slower numbers!!!) and the absence of pressure to pack an outfit just for one night was for me a bonus. Viking makes a thing about enrichment and here again they were streets ahead of Azamara with their resident historian and four speakers three of who were top notch. (The fourth only did one very simplistic how to use your iphone talk). Corey Sandler and Brigadier General Joe Shaeffer both really made our cruise with their talks which of course we could watch on catch up an hour after they were done and thanks to the technology onboard, these were broadcast quality replays. Whilst I accept Azamara does not have that technology, they could try and book speakers of this quality (though I understand Viking look after their speakers better, that’s what one onboard who had been on both indicated) and a simple thing – Viking requires their presentations to be in a standard format in terms of background colour, font type and size. It helps so much and would be a no cost improvement Azamara could make. We used the included Viking tours -all were walk arounds or short bus trips. They worked well for us given we have been in several of the ports before. But we know they do not work for some and some find the booking process stressful though it was clear if you did not get a space before boarding, you could usually get a space onboard. As an aside, we loved the Quiet boxes they worked so well, but our greater like is that shore excursions are handled via Guest Services so there is always someone you can talk to, and there were never lines to have a conversation other than the one morning when due to very late arrival into port everything had to be rescheduled (though amazingly the letter of changes was in our room 30 minutes after the problem was announced and all the ships digital displays reflected the changed hours, locations etc. Obviously the beauty of integrated electronics. Another difference is in relation to the Port Talk/Shore Excursion presentations. On Viking these are not “sales pitches” Each on happens late afternoon the day before the port. They are double headed by the Cruise Director (who bookends the presentation with an introduction to the port and concludes with top tips) and the Shore Excursion Manager who clearly knows the detail of everything they are offering. He covered logistics, number of steps, types of incline and surfaces you would be walking on, times to restroom stops and the likely content of any included meal. They also as we discovered automatically transfer to the operators all allergy information and require them to act on it accordingly. So DH had snacks in one included tour specially prepared for him – they were ready. Whilst the information transfer may currently be challenging for Azamara, the Shore Excursion Team having detailed knowledge of every excursion and sharing it should be readily achievable. So again Viking is well ahead here. Staff Service So where might Viking be less good – I would say that whilst there are a few employees who are really good at providing service and remembering guests and their preferences, many rely only on their hand held devices and will spend more time looking at them than you. The technology is great but at times it is limiting the service when it should be the opposite. The dining room staff are allocated on a section rather than table basis so you will get several people trying to look after you and very rarely do they communicated well. Our experience, the restaurant manager (Yuri) and head in Manfredi’s (Olivia) were really on top of their game and we could see them nudging staff to get things right. But it was inconsistent. Wine service in the main dining room was uncoordinated. Our preference is to order a change of wine for our main course which Azamara always copes beautifully with this. It was not a success on Viking. On several nights early in the cruise we had to chase the second wine, one night it appeared as we had our last bite of our main. We solved the issue, we asked them to bring both our wines at the start (on the pretence of breathing). Cracked the problem!! On the same note, the Captain was pretty invisible though, if I am to base my judgements on our previous Azamara cruise, the hotel director is more visible on Viking. However even he is not a Heike! I suppose to sum up if you want a cruise where the officers and staff are to become your best buddies, Viking is not for you. It is not a factor for us. Technology, Website and Shore Service The wifi worked very well – we experienced no significant outages even in Greenland. The website worked a treat, my booking as a travel agent reservation but all the time I saw accurate information on My Viking Journey. Our flights were included in the fare, we asked for a price to move up to Business Class and the cost was far less that the published economy to business class difference. All our flights were on British Airways. The connection times were good and I had the flight references 60 days before hand where I could manage seats using my airline loyalty. I also note I earned full loyalty points. This has never been my experience with Azamara. I had one occasion where I had to call Viking direct, their UK business is handled from an office in London and the call was answered promptly by an extremely knowledgeable well spoken agent – say no more!! Conclusion Will we sail again on Viking? - absolutely (bookings now in place) Will we sail again on Azamara – absolutely (bookings now in place) Who would we book with in the future? - All depends how our experience is on our next two Azamara cruises, will we book again with them, move away for a small percentage of our cruises or move away for a significant percentage? The ball is in Azamara’s court. they have a lot to prove, Viking now has very little to address for us – and with new itineraries coming on for them and the older Azamara ships getting more and more port restricted that is going to play another card into Vikings hand. Lets see – happy to clarify any points…..

Part one I am posting this on both the `Azamara board and the Viking board as this post is relevant to both. If anyone on the Azamara board wants to know more about the itinerary, the ports of call or more detail about life onboard and the food, I did an “almost live from” and this post in two parts is my conclusion. So in summary what did we feel about Viking and our overall experience onboard? I will break it up for ease. The ship When comparing it to Azamara in terms of the ship – well you should not. It is not like for like. However, if you were looking at identical itineraries and prices (payment terms are identical in the UK) then Viking would win in terms of the ship. It’s the little things in so many places, the fact that there is so much space indoors or outdoors to sit either with company or without is a huge bonus. Viking Saturn may have 300 more guests, but it felt much less crowded particularly in inclement weather. There was also other small (but significant) differences such as such a great number of spotless restrooms some of a really decent size – for example the one outside the restaurant has been designed to recognise that is a highuse area so had significant additional “capacity”. Our room was a Deluxe Veranda so the second lowest category although the difference between that and the lowest is in amenities provided rather than room size. It was a lot bigger than an Azamara Veranda and had much better storage and included a Nespresso machine. (They had also put a kettle and teabags in the room, kind of stereotyping UK guests, don’t mind that, we just had it taken away as we are coffee people in the morning). The room was kept immaculate by the two attendants (yes its two still on Viking) though as they do more rooms they are not as good at nipping in when you go out for a few hours for breakfast and a walk, they seem to service rooms in a sequence. However there were other nicer touches Azamara could adopt even in their current layout such as better bathroom products in colour coded tubes (no trying to work out from the tiny print is this the shampoo or the shower gel) and leaving lovely chocolate bars and two bags of snack nuts in the fridge each day for you to have when it suited you (or squirrel for the next day) rather than the small creamy square centimetres you get at night from Azamara. Other little touches included (OK clever ongoing marketing) we bring a lot of books and had them on the shelf. When we went to read the first one we found they all now had Viking bookmarks in them. Food In terms of food, we had previously sailed on Viking in March 2022 and our last Azamara cruise was December 2022. Viking food was far better than Azamara and seemed even more enjoyable than on our first Viking cruise. They appear to have a much higher budget per head (or alternatively spend it differently, there is no elaborate brunches, buffet or white night food – more on white night later…). There was always a dish involving beef, often served as steak in some form on the main dining room menu and whilst there were some spicier dishes, the focus on Viking was on herbs and flavouring rather than spice. Lobster featured twice along with cod, the duck was cooked to perfection and the pasta was to die for. Desserts were beautifully presented and very varied. There is also an everyday menu (including a standard steak, chicken and an excellent salmon dish) if you want and of course in the evening the world café reflects the restaurant food plus some special stations should you prefer that. A major difference is the way Viking serve food. A waiter does not take orders from several tables and head to the galley and come back with towers of plates to then distribute. Food is finished off and brought out on a table by table basis. We had a useful conversation with the Executive Chef who explained how they manage this on Viking. As a result in the main dining room it felt, also helped by its sectioned layout, that like you were in a restaurant not a banquet hall and unlike our last Azamara cruise nothing had to go back and everything was piping hot. We had two dinners in Manfredi and two Chefs tables (Scandanavian and Californian). All were lovely meals with the food cooked to perfection. The service on our first Manfredi visit was “off” but the Head Waiter identified this before we made the point, it was due to a galley malfunction, and insisted we came back a second time. Second time it was as she said it would be – spot on. These two venues are at no additional charge and deluxe veranda level guests are guaranteed one reservation in each. However if you can be flexible on time and do not want 6 or 6.30 tables you could pretty much go as often as you like. The chefs table is not the same “extravaganza and pomp” as on Azamara but then I am not spending almost $200 and I would say if the Azamara table is 5 star, this one is 4 star -its pretty enjoyable. The World café was very good as was the more extensive pool grill with much more varied salad bar. The Pool Grill however is not open in the evenings (but its onion rings are far less “processed”). There is also a dedicated Asian station with its own chef offering cooked to order dishes from that part of the world breakfast, lunch and dinner. The afternoon tea served daily in the Wintergarden with musical accompaniment (but no dress code) is so lovely – four pages of teas to choose from, three tiered serving stands and scones with proper clotted cream - even the special Aqualina afternoon tea comes nowhere near that experience. Drinks A big difference is Viking only includes wines and beers at meal times and gives you six sodas restocked as required in your room fridge. We went for the additional Silver Package which costs $25 each per day, both have to have it and you cannot buy it for part of the cruise. So that is an expense you have to bear in mind though many agents do include it as a “perk”. It is however a far better package than on Azamara with a much more diverse range of wines all available (about 40 in total) and several spirits that would be beyond the package on Azamara. All were available though we did have some issues in the dining room re their service I will cover later. I found the staff mixed martinis and cocktails extremely well and have the spirits to mixer balance far better on Viking. They very much worked to measured amounts so if you are someone who likes your favourite bartender to be heavy handed on the spirits, you are better with Azamara however they had no issue serving doubles. As one with a much “lower capacity for spirits” these days the Viking approach worked far better for me.

Not a rebooking - we always had three cruises booked pre start. It was tempting to cancel the other two but the penalties were to high and we had transatlantic flights booked. Even that board is not as vicious as this influencer

And circumstances willing I will do a sort of live from in November

I agree, I made the mistake of standing my ground against a lady who seems to hold the sway on one FB forum. She rubbished CC so is probably not posting here. Today when I posted a comment thanking a guest who confirmed how easy it had been to get restaurant bookings given what had previously been posted the attack included being sworn at. She has had several posts removed for attacking me. However today my price for reporting the post is to be removed from the forum which purports in its title to be "sanctioned by or directly connected to' MSC - I did not even respond to her attack but I get thrown out....... I have never seen nastiness like that on all the cruise lines I have cruised on and in all the forums I have engaged in - even the most "challenging" ones So they won't stand up to the influencers, they punish the paying customers. They are bullies, but bullies with friends I just hope I do not come across any of these people on a cruise however I tend not to hang out in the more "instgramable places" onboard Meet me by the washing machines 🙂

I have just returned from that itinerary on Viking - EJ were on a winner with it and given how few lines do it I am sad `EJ did not continue with their plan to offer it next year as I would have happily done it again. It was stunning and a Viking/Explora sized ship is ideally suited for that type of sailing. I think @Nunagoras has it absolutely right about their assessment of the line. My ears feelings have inevitably been so influenced by the absolutely appalling way they handled the exceeding late cancellation of the Inaugural cruise with no regard to the impact on the non influencer paying passengers. Their refusal to pay refunds promptly in the UK insisting on using MSC Ts and Cs did them zero favours. Refunds only came last week. Refund of a new voucher for the voucher that was used in part payment is still not with us, nor is the voucher for this cancellation. (Just highlighting its still got a way to go to sort out its shore side efforts) I too was` frustrated at the way third rate influencers were given such space and how they continue in some forums to viciously attack, even swearing anyone who posts who has highlighted deficiencies in the model. However, I too am more positive about what I hear about the onboard experiences based on the feedback I am reading here and also the direct reports I am getting from people I know onboard who have cruised with other on other lines and are making informed comparisons ( both positive and negative) God willing, I too will have a first hand experience of the product.

Little chocolate bars this week. Far happier with them as we have a nut allergy person who was previously denied his chocolate fix

Or an insatiable desire to share life stories and full medical histories with all around. For me it was the tranquility of the spa that was shattered by this phenomenon one day. My approach in a restaurant if it happens is to turn and make eye contact with one of the offending parties and give them my very best Paddington Bear stare. Can work well (sometimes) 😀

On a related topic I’ve been trying to get my husband to use a coffee machine for years without success. However, he really took to the machine in a room on Saturn, but I can’t find online that exact model. I’m not sure he’s ready to be retrained on another model so can anybody point me in the direction of a nespresso model that is a simple pop the pod in and it makes the coffee I can always keep the water topped up for him!!!

I’d find a lifestyle cruise to the Antarctic sartorially challenging

Depends what country you are from. Better to check with TA than here as responses might not be valid for you unfortunately

They do on some. You can get cushion if you want but to be honest these loungers were extremely comfortable I was surprised because at first I thought I would not like them

Maybe they’ve acted on feedback- on Saturn there was clear delineation between loungers which were in rows of six chairs and side tables coming back from the aft rail to the point of the pool step in. The dining tables were behind that mostly undercover but for the sunlight lovers also tables going back port and starboard up the side. So anyone who wanted a sunset veranda experience like on Azamara could do so without sharing space with the pool users

Whilst I agree re southern Europe I have been on or am booked on 3 cruises with Viking. In every case excellent itineraries not offered by Azamara. You also need to remember that Viking due to its shore power capacity can go to places in Norway that Azamara is now no longer permitted to call. The old vessels may lose a lot of appeal if they get more limited in terms of their speed or other environmental issues. I believe there is room for both lines There are certainly some good features on Azamara and some areas they fall quite short when compared to Viking (none being price related). I believe they each could give each other some real competition which could drive up standards on both