Killin Time

That’s what we do.

Drinks delivered to your room are charged. Even if they are gratis at the bar. And I assume you can request preferred beers to be kept in your fridge but again you will be charged. Beer and wine are left in your room but there is a price listed for them. Maybe it’s different for suite passengers ….

It isn’t listed in the spa menu. https://www.azamara.com/static-assets/content/B2C-pdfs/the-sanctum-brochure.pdf

I did one time and they were good. But I don’t always feel like waiting especially if I want to get ashore. I’ve been on many, many cruises including about 15 on Azamara, and I’ve always found the buffet scrambled eggs to be fine. The ones on the journey were terrible. They looked awful and tasted worse.

Azamara is going through some challenges right now. I still love it but things are not what they used to be. On the Journey in July the food was lackluster. The buffet scrambled eggs were inedible. Very liquid and obviously made with dried eggs. No one could eat them. There used to always be a picture gallery by guest relations with the senior staff posted. Not on our Iceland trip. I’m concerned that Sycamore will just sell off Azamara and that the line as we know it will be gone….

We recently cruised on Celebrity Solstice and were successful in our bid to upgrade to Aqua class. The service in Blu was outstanding and it was a lovely intimate setting. It was great to be able to order from the Blu and MDR menu. It was also nice to be on the 11th floor. I didn’t expect to use Persian Garden as much as I did. On a week long cruise I went there 4 days. So relaxing which was just what I needed. The rooms are no bigger than regular balcony rooms but the private restaurant and the steam room really enhanced the cruise for me.

We loved Phillip. Such a nice man. And of course Heike is a superstar. I hope we run into them both again someday.

Heike is a very experienced and competent Hotel Director. We will miss her just like we missed Phillip who left to join the Ritz Carlton venture. I must admit I was a little puzzled when Cruise Director Tony Markey became a Hotel Director. I always enjoyed Tony in his previous role but the two jobs seem very dissimilar. Maybe he has previous hospitality experience?

That’s correct about Pursuit and the fridge. I didn’t like it.

We flew out of Barcelona on Level on our most recent Azamara cruise. They were terrible. This airline can’t even handle the boarding process properly. All the customers were upset.

We always use a travel agent for cruises and so we contact them and they handle the Azamara interface. I am sympathetic to cruise lines right now with the many challenges they have been facing over the last few years. It has not been easy. We were on a recent cruise on the Pursuit back in March. It was a Spanish intensive and the service was impeccable. Heike was the hotel director and she and her staff did an incredible job. I thought things were even better than before. I agree that wine was disappointing though.

I don’t remember his name but he is from Norway but now lives in Fairmont Hot Springs in British Columbia. Which is close to Cranbrook where I spent my grade school years.