mumcat

On 8/10/2023 at 6:54 AM, firsttimers68 said:

We did our trip in March, and had an absolutely brilliant time.

May I ask if you were on a cruise and if so, did you take the ship's tours or did you go onshore independently? I'm currently trying to decide what to do on our December O cruise from Dubai to S'pore. The ship's tours are quite expensive especially in Mumbai. 

2 minutes ago, calicakes said:

I bake with American butter an I buy Kerry Gold to use on toast/potatoes, etc.  I love butter and wanted to try some French Butter.  I've purchased Plugra' if I'm baking sable'.  

I like Kerry Gold. I'm sure that you'll find decent butter here. My taste buds have been dumbed down over the last 16 years or so as I find French food quite bland, but that's just me.

2 minutes ago, Psoque said:

I’ve had butter in a few different countries, and I have always found butter in most countries (maybe not in China???) to be far superior to the stuff we eat in the US.  Even the “cheap, ordinary” butter in Japan was much better than what we find in Kroger.  I distinctly remember butter we had in Nice was really delicious.  But I know that the amount of salt added to butter varies a lot, and we actually like lightly salted butter vs. the typical American “heavily salted” version.

That's really interesting. When we first moved to France 17 years ago we though the potatoes tasted fabulous. Now we wonder why we ever thought that lol.

22 minutes ago, calicakes said:

really?  Even the salted?  I wanted to bring some back from France when I'm there in December. 

The salted one is ok. Best try various varieties whilst there. I'm curious why you'd bring butter back home from France. What's wrong with American butter?  

On 6/12/2023 at 1:46 AM, calicakes said:

There is NO way they use butter in the cookies.  

I live in France and IMO, French butter is bland.

Thank you for your replies. As much as I would like to see Myanmar I am probably going  to book the cruise anyway as I like the rest of the itinerary.

7 hours ago, papaflamingo said:

Not to snarky, but it's pretty unlikely anyone here will know what port Regent will substitute on a cruise 7 months away. They should send an email so you'll know when they officially cancel the port. There is currently a travel advisory for Burma due to civil unrest.  A lot can happen in 7 months.

But it's very likely that another port or two will be substituted.   

 

The reason I asked here was because I thought that perhaps Regent had already contacted people booked on this cruise to tell them what was happening. My bad!

We are considering booking the December 2023 Dubai to Singapore cruise which has 3 nights in  Myanmar. I'm aware that at the moment Myanmar is not 'doable' and, although it's disappointing, I can live with that. However, I'd like to know what Regent intends to substitute - 3 days is a long time to just be floating around aimlessly!  I read on the Oceania website that O seemed very reluctant to admit that they  had to cancel Myanmar and I'm not sure what they eventually substituted. So , do any of you have any insight or knowledge what Regent intend? Thank you.

We have sailed with Azamara 5 times and with Regent just twice. Our first Regent cruise was on Explorer just after she was launched. We were blown away by the luxury onboard and the royal treatment. Unfortunately we had 4 cruises with Regent cancelled because of the pandemic. Our other Regent cruise was last year on the Navigator. Frankly I was disappointed . The ship was no better than the Azamara ships we have sailed on. The food and service were certainly not up to expectations. I like Azamara because it treats its guests like family and does not pretend to be luxury. Because we have sailed with them several times we are given enough free WiFi time for our needs. My main complaint is the size of the bathrooms and the shower curtain as has been mentioned by others. Unfortunately we can no longer afford Regent prices so we are sticking with Azamara and, we may try Celebrity.

On 4/22/2023 at 6:23 AM, DoulaAnn said:

We were on Marina in January doing the Antarctic and there were several specialists onboard to tell us about what we were going to see, some of the geology, the birds, and so forth.  The naturalist in the group was on the bridge doing commentary when there were things to see.  All four of the specialists were seen frequently on the decks and we asked plenty of questions of them.  Was a great experience, even with overcast weather the whole time.  The passengers on the cruise after ours, which went from Santiago to Buenos Aires had incredibly sunny days in Antartica.  And we missed the Falklands due to high winds, they got to dock there and see things.  Just luck of the draw on a lot of that.

We are considering that itinerary next year. During your cruise did you see much marine life - specifically whales ?

Thank you for your replies. I appreciate that the scenery in the Antarctic Sound will be wonderful but I'm a little concerned that 3 days sailing may be a bit boring?  Last year we sailed from Northern Ireland to Greenland which was a 3 day sail and saw absolutely nothing at all so by the end of the 3rd day we were ready to get off the ship. Unfortunately thanks to  fog and icebergs we could not get into port and had another sea day. - with nothing to see! 

Good morning, we are currently considering the 20 day cruise Antarctica Holiday Voyage in December. It begins in Buenos Aries and ends in Rio. I'd really appreciate hearing from anyone who has done this itinerary or something similar. The itinerary includes 3 days in the Antarctic Sound. From what I  have read, at the time of year, there should be a lot of marine life sightings, specifically whales which is my main interest. My previous attempts in whale watching have been disasters - specifically South Africa, Greenland , Canaries - each times for the best whale sighting opportunities but I have yet to spot anything but the far distant spout!  

I am looking at the 2025 World Cruise on MSC but I may be a solo traveller. I've never sailed with MSC before so I'd like to know if there are any special events on board for solo travellers to get to meet others. Thank you.

On 1/23/2023 at 10:29 PM, alfredo1 said:

I know that this thread has gone off subject to an extent, however the report highlights an issue that Azamara really has to address where it refers to the lack of any dress code. Over the years we have been cruising with Azamara the dress of passengers onboard has changed from "country club casual" to almost "Gardeners World" and there seems to be no management of any standard during the evening in Discoveries Restaurant and the speciality venues. This was particularly apparent on our last cruise on Pursuit where there seemed to be many passengers who made no effort and one group in particular who frequented the speciality restaurants dressed in shorts and T shirts  in none too clean condition. The casual environment on Azamara is very comfortable and a million miles from the stuffy and strict codes of the past, and in some cases current, but it is nice to make an effort during the evenings when it creates a pleasant environment for all. In the main the immediate competitors to Azamara such as Oceania and Seabourn manage this better, and it is generally disrespectful to the staff who are all immaculate and clean whilst serving, and if allowed to continue will lead to a decline in the public perception of Azamara standards.

We were on Oceania Sirena last month and I was really disappointed with the proliferation of passengers wearing 'Gardener's World' attire in the evenings. In fact they were more 'supermarket shopping' appropriate. 

We came back from this cruise last week. There were no tours offered by Oceania on the last day , just very expensive airport transfers. I asked Destination Services why they don't offer debarkation day tours to the airport and she muttered something about Barbados not being reliable to organise such things. So, I arranged to go back to the hotel where we stayed prior to the cruise and they kindly let us use a room and hotel facilities until it was time to go to the airport. We paid $50, plus lunch. At the airport, there were several Oceania guests who had been there since the morning. 

9 hours ago, jonthomas said:

 

with AC the rule is anything over 2 hours....they make sure they stick to that or a minute under it, so they dont have to give any comp.....also we did not lose any funds over this delay....they did give vouchers for lunch and dinner...

Sorry, I  thought that you were actually delayed by 5 hours.

Have you considered asking AC for compensation following the delay? Recently my husband's Air France was delayed and he missed his connection by 15 minutes making him 5 hours late getting to his destination.  We applied online on Air France website and he got 600euros in compensation. Its worth looking on AC website for the details.

2 hours ago, cruisingxpert said:

You haven't said where your disembarkation port is?

We will be leaving in Barbados.

I apologise if this has already been covered. We are sailing with O for the first time next month. On previous cruises with Regent and Azamara a sightseeing tour was offered on the day of disembarkation with the tour ending at the airport. I can see that it's possible to book a transfer to the airport but as our flight leaves in the late afternoon, I am hoping to be able to book a half-day tour before arriving at the airport. Does anyone know if Oceania does this?

I am new to Oceania and am considering booking a cruise which has a special offer of all 3 of the following - 

6 Shore excursions

Beverage package

US$ 600 obc

I have tried to find out exactly what is included in the beverage package as I believe that no alcoholic beverages are included in the basic fare. We are not big drinkers but I'd like to know what is covered in the package. Is it for one or both of us sharing the stateroom.

I also assume that the 6 excursions are shared between the two of us. 

I apologise if these are very basic questions but we normally sail on an all-inclusive basis so I need to understand exactly what we would get with Oceania. Thank you.

I'm trying to understand this a bit better. According to the AZ website 

Future Cruise Credit
We know things can change. For any voyage sailing before 31 December 2022, you have up to 48 hours before you sail to cancel and receive 100% of the amount paid in a Future Cruise Credit to be used for a new or existing Azamara booking made on or before 31 August 2022. The credit must be applied toward the cruise fare by 30 June 2023.

My take on it is that the FCC must be applied to another cruise by 30 June 2023 but, my TA spoke to AZ who said that the new cruise must sail by 30 June 2023 which is not the same thing at all.

To me the meaning is clear but AZ have thrown up an ambiguity. Does anyone have any better information?

3 hours ago, combine said:

Which ports are you visiting @mumcat?
We had shuttle into Dubrovnik whilst docked there, if tendered you’ll be dropped in the centre. You'll not need a shuttle in either Zadar or Kotor, both are very easily accessed. 

Thanks for that information. We are going to Opatija, Zadar, Split, Dubrovnik, Hvar and Sibenik. Our TA just spoke to AZ who said that they don't know at the moment, the situations is fluid. It sounds as though we would be ok even if they don't provide shuttles.

2 hours ago, beatnix said:

At our Spain intensive cruise in May shuttles where provieded when necessary. 

Thank you - that makes me a bit more optimistic.

We are provisionally booked on a cruise to Croatia later this year. At Christmas we cruised with AZ around the Canaries but they did not provide any shuttles from ship to town. This was a big problem for us as my OH has mobility issues but does not need a wheelchair - he just can't walk far. AZ cited covid as the reason for no shuttles although they didn't seem to have any such concerns with their tours. Most of the time we just want to explore the port/town rather than go on a tour but, we need to know if there will be shuttles. Has anyone any recent experiences or information please?

I spoke to my TA  again today and asked for clarification.  He said the there would be a transfers from Venice centre, Venice Airport and Bologna Airport. We would meet the rep in the airport arrival hall.