federalexpress

I am mixing and matching. I bought a few bottles onboard- a white and some dessert wine (my weakness and I didn't trust the ship to deliver). Tomorrow I go to Deicas winery in Uruguay and will pick up some bottles there, probably a couple of reds because that is their big claim to fame (one to take for curiosity value to the chef's table, the other probably on a verandah dinner when we depart Montevideo) and maybe another dessert wine or two. I've also bought the Ultimate package as you know. If you start in Buenos Aires, I can suggest the wine shop I bought from. And maybe the absolutely gorgeous Chardonnay I'm currently drinking (for those who like those buttery, oaky chardonnay, one of the best I've had). Incidentally I got the ultimate package because the 'wrap around' Indulgence package made sense for me and I had $1000 OBC to spend. If you don't need all the other bits included in the latter, I think other posters' suggestions of corkage is a fair call, if you mostly only drink wine.

Pursuit.

A partial update on Ultimate selection choice. On my first night I was given the wine list from which all by the glass options are included in the package. Very happy to note all the original wines promoted on the website. Ordered and got a glass of Whispering Angel rose- good start. Then ordered the Sokol Blosser Pinot Noir and the Matanzas Creek Merlot. Neither forthcoming. Actually the waiter(otherwise a lovely guy) was a bit naughty because he didn't actually draw my attention to the change of Pinot. It was Robert Mondavi Private Collection. So I checked the Merlot, and was told the replacement is Francis Ford Coppola Diamond Selection. Both are a bit of step down, the former especially so. The Coppola wine was OK. But it did make me wonder that if they run out, they really should be swapping it with something at a similar price from the main list. There were more than acceptable alternatives on it- assuming those listed are not also mythical. I then asked for a dessert wine (the one mentioned is the Errazuriz Late harvest SB). Waiter said there was none, he could only offer port at which point I asked for the sommelier to explain all this. He raised the supply issue, said they missed a shipment at the last post but were expecting to be re-supplied at the next port. So I'll update in a day or so. In the meantime he produced a couple of glasses of nice Sauternes. I am sympathetic to supply issues however I have my doubts the wines listed are suddenly going to appear tomorrow. I am less sympathetic to passing offer cheaper wine and especially not printing out a list of what you are actually getting, rather than presented with the myth of the current list. Sommelier reckoned keeping the wine listed and 'publicised' was part of the contract but that's no use without supply! Will update if there are any developments.

That segmentation would align with mine, except that I would have Costa and P and O to add in the mainstream/mass segment, Cunard in the premium segment and personally I'd have Celebrity in the super premium segment. Am currently on my first ever AZ cruise and only my second cruise ever (I did do other shorter trips, but they were work- my business was travel and tourism so I got some free trips). The other paid for cruise was with HAL which I enjoyed more than I expected. If my memory stretches that far back- it was 8 years ago- I can compare and contrast. Cruise service cutbacks have been discussed elsewhere, I suspect its unavoidable given the financial mess the cruise lines are currently in. I can't, as a first time cruiser, comment much on that with AZ but so far, the crew are indeed a big asset, very engaged, friendly and helpful.

This is actually my first cruise with AZ so I'm not best placed to answer.

I was notified a month before on my cruise (which I'm boarding imminently). I got an email and I think it had only just opened because I was able to get one of the first slots at 2pm.

It should say on the website, for each tour. The reason mine was deemed non cancellable was because it was for a private driver in a port. I can see why they might need that to be a firm commitment. I imagine some other tours may also be non cancellable- on my cruise, there is a highly ambitious one involving a return flight on the day into the mountains. That's another that I guess needs a firm booking. But I believe the vast majority of normal tours will be cancellable so the plan might work for you.

It's a bit more complicated than that. I want to use my OBC to buy the Indulgence package which it seems can only be done onboard. Then use the excursion credit provided for my tour. The tour I'm after in non cancellable so I can't book it then cancel and rebook onboard and other than this particular tour, I don't otherwise have use for the excursion credit. To be honest, I think this is all a bit of a tortuous way to do it and maybe new IT will make it easier in future....

Well I've not cruised on AZ but that's my plan. Wife to go to do restaurant reservations, me to buy the package and book the excursions with the credit provided. It might be different for me because I'm in a suite so don't pay for the speciality restaurants (but would for the chef's table, without the package) The way I see it, I'm onboard, I can use my OBC at that point and they can do the accounting in due course...

I'm on the cruise after you- different itinerary but some similarities. Have you been told when and where your white night is? If it's held outside, it can surely only be Puerto Madryn?

Nice vino! In fact apart from the start and end, pretty stellar. Hope this is on my cruise, I'm there in a shot...

Thanks, very helpful.

No problem, it may be that I misunderstood you. That being so, is your impression the same as mine, very roughly the same quality as AZ Ultimate, but with a lot more choice? Maybe I've been a bit hard on AZ- so long as they don't drop the quality level much if any further... PS how tight of Viking to be a buck short of a glass of champagne- $16 instead of $15. I hope they allow you to just pay the extra dollar.... PPS One thing I did note on ultimate is a couple of seriously expensive whiskies available, like £70-80 per bottle. Good package for the spirit connoisseurs...

How odd. I saw a list of wines from Viking showing a large range of bottles for $25 and by the glass for $6. It had the Nederburg Pinotage and Brazin Zinfandel along with for example CVNE Crianza, Penfolds Koonunga Hill. https://sandinmysuitcase.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Viking-OC-Wine-List-2021.pdf All the stuff on there is on a par with AZ Ultimate, albeit Viking offers a lot more choice. The one exception is the Caymus Mer Soleil which is a step above any white on AZ. Maybe the blog has got it wrong?

Sorry to ask something you may already have been asked, but did you have to submit a Covid test? It would be good to hear first hand because I've had emails saying not needed anymore, but my ticket still says it is.

Looks like your spoilt for choice with other posters' ideas, but I'm staying in the Palladio Hotel M Gallery. It seemed to have good expansive rooms and is recently built. That might be important because maintenance/redecoration is an issue because of the weakness of the peso. So far the concierge there, who is a Clef d'Or, has been extremely useful and helpful so I'm hoping for good service. Incidentally, be aware of the new and very welcome developments on the exchange rate now applying to Visa and Mastercard. It pretty much halves the cost of my room from £290 per night to around £150.

I've not sailed on Viking but I did research them as an option for my forthcoming cruise, including wine choice. If I recall, the Silver Spirits included any wine with an additional $6 per glass charge (correct me if I'm mistaken). I quite like the idea of a large range of wines by the glass priced at a level that level that reflects inclusion of a basic wine in your cruise price for those who just want to buy by the glass. I don't believe AZ do this, you have to get the package or just buy by the bottle or get a bottle package. Here's the link to drinks packages: https://www.azamara.co.uk/booked-guests/onboard-packages/beverage-packages One of the challenges of the Ultimate package is it seems you never know what you are going to get. There is an example selection on the AZ website but I think it's miles out of date. For example, I'd be surprised if they served Matanzas Creek Merlot as listed, which is quite a decent wine and arguably better than anything on Viking's $6 list. On the other hand they do include champagne, which I think Viking don't. Their rose is far better than anything on Viking- Whispering Angel-assuming they serve it. Overall, the quality is probably roughly similar for the two packages however the AZ choice is quite a lot narrower than Viking. There is a wine list also on the website for bottle prices and details of the packages by the bottle (I think there is one covering bottles between $50 and $75). The above link shows details and the ability to download the list. But again, that list looks totally out of date to me, the file name suggests around 2014! Which means it's not much use showing you the quality of bottle you might expect. Your best bet is probably to post on the 'Anyone onboard' thread and ask if someone would post the most recent list, if you need up to date details.

I think what Jazzbeau says is probably right. All cruise lines are in recovery mode post Covid, many with extreme levels of debt. Not a good recipe given monetary tightening. So they need to focus on margin which means revenue improvement, including onboard, and cost control. On largely inclusive ships like AZ, it has to be towards the latter, or raise your base cruise price. Some of this can I think be accommodated without too much harm on the core offering. For example some lines are cutting the stateroom servicing from twice a day to once a day. Frankly that is something I'd barely notice. For AZ, cutting from 12 wines to 8 implies the possibility of increasing order size by up to 50%, presumably with the expectation of bulk discounts. I don't believe they would have problems with supply, they are after all buying mass produced bulk wines. It might save a little, especially on labelling and bottle runs given the relatively small order quantities but I'd be surprised if it was more than 5-10%. Can't see it being possible to increase quality and margin at the same time. The same will apply on the Ultimate package. Unless they put the price of that up(which I suspect they will do in the next 6 months or so), they have to cut the quality of the offering, which seems to be what they are doing at present. In the end, the Ultimate package might be the real base if you want to have even remotely palatable wines. Maybe that is what they actually want people to do. Note to uktog, I would hope and assume they have bottle closures, if only a cheap vacuvin. That will keep even basic wines fresh enough overnight, especially chilled whites and rose. Sparkling wine- that's trickier. I'll bet that's where most of their wastage cost is...

This is a fair point. I got my ticket for my cruise in January out of Buenos Aires and the ticket says I need a Covid test before embarking, yet the website and others on the roll call say you don't. For now, I go with the latter. The attention to detail pre cruising is pretty poor to not alter ticket info for something as important as that. Hope it's a bit more together on the actual ship.

Too many cruises are leaving Buenos Aires in the coming months to raise this on a roll call but it appears the Argentine government has decided that as of now, all currency transactions using foreign Visa and Mastercard credit and debit cards will enjoy the much more advantageous 'blue rate' for the peso rather than the previous official government rate. Since the latter is roughly half the blue rate, many were using Western Union to get dollars to convert to pesos at the blue rate. Now it seems this is no longer necessary. For those who have booked hotels quoted in dollars or other western currencies, it is worth checking the position. All (or the vast majority) should also have a peso rate and that could well mean your hotel (and other costs in restaurants etc) may be around half of what you would otherwise have paid, if paying by card. I have queried this with the hotel I reserved via booking.com. The booking site says you pay in the local currency (pesos) but presumably their dollar/sterling price guide was based on the old official rate, not the new much more generous blue rate. It raises an interesting question as to what would be the case with excursions which are usually quoted in dollars. In theory they should now be a lot cheaper. The exception might be where you pay in dollars cash for a local guide in which case their price may already be reflecting the blue rate. I believe this applies across the whole country so to any other Argentine posts to visit, where you pay by card. Your holiday may just be a little cheaper....

Yes that is becoming a barrier. When I looked at my S America cruise, Viking's upgrade costs from economy were monumental running into well over £3000 each for not ideal flights. In the end I went with a cruise only with AZ and managed to get a couple of business class returns to Buenos Aires for £2500 each. Struck me as a lot at the time but maybe that will be as good as it ever gets for a 14 hour plus flight.

None to your specific issue other than to say I have found the website to be less than reliable and up to date. One suggestion I would make is to try a travel agent. I am used myself to booking direct, generally assuming this is how to get the best deal, but when I tried this with Azamara, they pushed me in the direction of a travel agent, even gave me a suggested contact. I can't do that here, against forum rules so you'll have to google a cruise specialist, ideally one that focusses on the higher end lines like Azamara. Not only did I get a slightly better price from the travel agent than I was being quoted direct, I also got a nice wedge of On board credit. Worth a try, if only to compare.

Yep, the latter was the deal breaker for me. Their upgrade costs for business class were crazy and while I could find a competitive business class fare, the cost reduction for cruise only was minimal and still made it way too expensive overall. I'd really only now consider Viking for short haul European cruises where I'm not bothered about business class.

While I haven't been on my first cruise with AZ, that's next month, I can maybe add a little insight because my options were between Viking(which I've also never sailed on) and AZ. My impression was that Viking is probably a bit more upscale than AZ, especially given the ships are so new but that is reflected by what I found were rather higher prices for Viking. My approach was to equalise that by a) booking a Club Continent Suite (which it appears you have done?), thus giving a cabin size that compares well to Viking's balcony cabins, and secondly I got a fair amount of On Board credit, $1000 to be precise. Apparently this is quite common to be offered with AZ- did you get it? If so, you might consider using it towards an Indulgence package. This costs $1500, so for me is an extra $500- that is for two people. This essentially brings the cruise broadly up to the standard of a Viking cruise in various ways. It gives you an upgraded drinks package that equates in quality to what you get included on Viking(the included drinks on AZ are not, it seems, all that great). You get unlimited wifi for both of you. You get $700 shore excursion credit. AZ excursions are pricey so I'm mostly doing my own thing but I liked what they offered in 2 ports and this covers those. You get a $250 spa credit which is more than enough to cover 2 spa passes to get access to the thalo pool for your trip. You also get 5 bags of free laundry plus a chef's table for two, which is apparently a nice experience. I should add this deal works out best if you are on a long cruise- mine is 17 days- because the price is fixed and so the per day value becomes exceptional. All this largely addresses the aspects that maybe Viking do better than AZ. On the wifi, I think this has historically been lousy, as is true with most ships. But I've very recently read posts indicating AZ have signed up to a new satellite system called Starlink and people have been reporting radically higher speeds, one person said over 200mbs which would be a very good land link, let alone on a ship. I'd be thrilled with a tenth of that speed. If you are not going till 2024, that should be on all ships by then. Hope this helps and enjoy your cruise.

Useful suggestion, I'm staying nearby before my cruise. Do you have any specific recommendations and do you happen to know if they sell dessert wines?