uktog

Yes we are indeed doing the 11 day trip. Fingers crossed for a tasty batch

Well today we should have been boarding at Southampton. At the 11th hour we managed to be able to fly over the south coast of England en route for Bordeaux. Our agent worked tirelessly despite the incompetence of some other cruiselines and we managed on Saturday to get confirmed on a Scenic river cruise and find flights. It’s not been smooth today, the transfers never happened and we’ve paid a pretty penny for many parts because it’s last minute but this view from our hotel room is mesmerising. Never been on Scenic, hardly done much research, though we have river cruised before. We are trying to make lemonade leaving our agent to argue about the recompense in our absence. Good luck to everyone still in limbo re their plans. It’s definitely a case of how to lose goodwill before you even start.

Fruit machines response is one that so makes their situation worse. I’m going to borrow it for future training courses.

The gratuity is a set 18% and is in addition to any price on a leaflet On Azamara the spa is rarely busy. Azamara guests tend to be out in port for long periods so you often see the spa staff standing around with nothing to do. You can’t prebook but go to the spa on embarkation and you will discover all they are offering (sometimes they can’t do gel polish it depends on the technician onboard at the time). Spa raffle is usually embarkation day around 1745 where you could add even more to your OBC 😂

I think it may be uk prices that are all in air and gratuities, other places may get it offered from time to time.

I think there is also the challenge of flight times aligning to being transported from Choggia rather than central Venice which makes some itineraries less attractive.

They need to sort this call centre out and the relationship with travel agents. It’s adversely impacting on bookings and guest loyalty. Hope you have a fabulous time Phil, wish we could have pulled off being with you

You pay $6 for a non included gin. Gin is included just Gordon’s not Tanqueray or Bombay

Well I understand a ship will sail at 50% capacity today. Last minute ex UK flights to Athens return from Venice over £2000 economy for 2. Perhaps if Azamara recognised that in their cabin pricing and had a responsive service team a travel agent could engage with (the quote was £7k for a veranda) they might sail with a few more guests.

Fine if it happens- evolution in what direction? I will wait to see what transpires. As their back office has not helped our agent they lose on all counts right now.

Don’t disagree, my point is Azamara used to be that one (we are not after gourmet just well seasoned, which includes spice for those that can take it and lighter choices for others). Now for us and some others not so though we still want it to be. It’s very hard to get beyond what we experienced on Onward but maybe they pulled their socks up based on feedback and you benefitted. We were not alone in having issues in the MDR, every night all around items being sent back, invisible Senior managers leaving inadequately trained and supported staff to cope. It was a very expensive personal financial contribution to their service improvement analysis!

I think the issue is the food used to be 100% great, now it’s generally acceptable with some less good days. Trouble is there are instances of the service slightly dipping and I certainly don’t want to see that following the food trend (which I keep hoping is a temporary blip). I appreciate guests like variety but as @M109 highlighted they’ve let the predominantly Indian/Asian chefs go overboard so it’s curried or Asian everything. Azamara served far better balanced menus in the past (maybe the ingredients were more expensive) but I much preferred it when in addition to more highly spiced items, there were more delicate Mediterranean options on the main dining room menu. Even Mediterranean wasn’t so good recently, Aqualina isn’t as it was and for a specialty Prime C didn’t used to be my preference anyway. The Patio is ok (actually the MDR was so disappointing I craved for the Patio to open last cruise, I believe it is now fully operating) but when I’m cruising I want an experience more akin to the MDR than a buffet for starters and a very limited dessert offering. The Patio is a twice a cruise max on longer trips for us. If they’re going to differentiate themselves I’d rather they increased the food budget so I get a good full cruise experience and review the Azamazing Evening and proportion of the cruise food budget that goes on White Night where there is a shocking volume of waste

I have to agree - too much focus on ripping out the library to create a revenue venue and not enough attention on basics. Four months after sailing we had cabinet doors hanging off. That took most of the cruise to get fixed but it was even more annoying to then read here a guest had previously reported the issues in the same room two months previously

Glad for you that it’s happening though I can understand your exasperation

@KJB416 totally agree - it’s been so hard looking for a Plan B when we should have been packing and heading to the airport this weekend. My travel agent is handling this at a very senior level and as I understand it they are making no progress - there seems no recognition of the impact on people who might have become very loyal to the brand. However at least I know my cruise for Monday is cancelled, I hope you get an answer soon in yours and that it’s positive. Given how ineffective the issue of the cancellation message was if I was a news team looking to do a spicy piece I’d hang around Southampton port on Monday. I really hope I’m wrong but what’s the bet someone turns up not knowing the position. When I had a late cancellation once before each guest was communicated with and we had to click I button on the email to confirm receipt. I forgot to do my husbands separate email and he was followed up with a call the next day. That’s not happened here. Almost feels like an oh well let’s hope approach which isn’t what a high end line should be using in my view.

So does that mean they haven’t started replacing them? Big gamble possibly delaying the inevitable.

He told us about so many other things in the said container I wondered if it was an entire Evergeen charter

There were many days on our last transatlantic in a suite that the spa deck was full and very noisy. Cue everyone’s life stories and medical histories at top volume as they share them over the sound of the jets whilst in the T pool. Actually that turned out to be a blessing we discovered Deck 11. Observing the sun you can always tuck into a shadier spot (shade can also be a big issue on the spa deck). The superstructure really helps! If the Tpool isn’t important to you I highly recommend the relatively peaceful no cost setting of Deck 11

How are folks who were cancelled getting on with Explora. The more I hear from my agent about the assurances they were given at a senior level from senior MSC staff that the cruise was not cancelled AFTER the cancellation timeline per the subsequent communication the more annoyed I am. Never mind the undervalued feeling re the 30% Ive been trying to move on but it’s very hard when it’s proving pretty impossible to get sensibly priced flights so late on. We thought we had a solution last weekend but the provider had released back key elements to the airlines and hotels as it was within seven days and so far haven’t managed a fix. Let’s see what today brings.

Most people ask for it that way although the bar tender will ask you when you order if you are on the package and very soon they know to do things with the included drinks for you anyway

If I do not have the package, they still make a passable cosmopolitan and also I love the Blue Wave and the Appletini

There is a non branded still water on offer, at meal times they use carafes of still water, not sure if it is filtered

There is, the sparkling water that’s included is dire. Just like you can upgrade your wines some want to upgrade their water

For me it is the access to proper sparkling water. I have always thought it silly that you have to go to the Ultimate to get this. I never understood why they did away with the non alcoholic package

No beverage package is included in suites. If a suite has one it’s because it was a general booking benefit offered to everyone and will be the Premium package