Sujormik

Hiya Norway Lady, how nice of you to be so helpful! We arrive in Oslo on July 1 2023 and are staying a few days before heading back to Uas.  We want to do at least a day trip to some fjords, can you suggest don’t-miss options? 
 

We are also hoping to find some tickets to the Springsteen concert on July 2.  I understand reselling for profit is illegal in Norway, but if you know of a legal source for tix I’d be extremely grateful and try to do something nice for you in return! We just don’t want to spend all day in lines out at the stadium.

I appreciate whatever guidance you send my way, thanks!

We are staying with friends in London June 23. We are willing to pay the cost of the transfer from the O-selected hotel (Bailey’s Millenium I believe) to the port in Southampton. I was told we could not add that and can only purchase the transfer if we STAY at the Bailey hotel. This just seems really weird to me.  I could stay at the Bailey for less than the O price and use the service, but can’t walk across the street from another location for that same service?

Anyone have experience with this? Seems ridiculous to me. Thanks.

Thanks all.  Our first O cruise, keep reading things that make me worry!

We are on Marina in June ‘23.  How badly does it “need” refurbishing? The online photos look nice…are they accurate depictions?

Hi there, new to Oceania but kind of excited to be giving it a shot!

We are splurging on a PH1 next summer on Marina.  I don’t want to be under the pool or terrace grill because we prefer to sleep in whenever possible. How noisy are the rooms under the art loft? I’d prefer to be high and midship since my hub has motion issues and the other available suites on D11 were further aft. 
 

Does being port or starbird make much difference when traveling from London to Sweden?  Hope I got my terms correct, we are relatively inexperienced cruisers.

Thanks in advance!

We loved the sheets on the Quest, anyone know what brand they are?

Totally agree the price was fair, just wish we could’ve made the most of it. Genuinely never crossed my mind to ask if some included item wasn’t listed.

8 minutes ago, Fighterone said:

Thank you for posting this interesting information Sujormik! Now that we know these lists are not readily available, we will be sure to ask, something we SHOULD NOT have to do. We are newbies to Azamara so not familiar with any of these “secrets” ...”faux-pas”. 

Disappointing!!!

 

We were newbies too.  Other than the land package snafu and this unexpected after-the-fact drinks thing, we genuinely LOVED Azamara. And the people we met truly changed the vacation for us (in a good way lol). We set up a google docs page so all our pictures can be shared! I hope you have a wonderful trip wherever you’re headed.

I just posted about George Inlet! It was fantastic, the crab was amazing and the staff delightful. Atmosphere not so much. 

King crab is not in season now so you won’t be getting fresh. I had one king leg over 3 weeks and it was over cooked but others enjoyed the King crab in Juneau a lot.  Personally would recommend George Inlet, best crab I’ve ever had.

Just wanted to give a shout out to this excursion, we did float plane and then crab feast. Float plane wasn’t necessary but the crab was phenomenal, all you could eat dungeness caught just off the shores. Staff was delightful. I assume they do a just crab thing, whatever just go. Best crab I’ve ever had.

Posting this link because I never saw anything about the Indulgence package before our trip.

49 minutes ago, BBMacLaird said:

I’m sorry you are upset. I will share your post with our Hotel Management. And If you’ll tell me the ship and sail date I will share this with the appropriate F&B Manager as well. 

Thank you Bonnie. We were on Quest Alaska July 20-30 with full Indulgence package. IS this something I should’ve known to keep track of? You may have seen that our land package bus was among the last to arrive to board at Seward and maybe this info was covered in the newbie session that we missed?  That might just add insult to injury.

Don’t think I’ve seen this in prior threads, if I missed it I apologize. 

Random thought about Indulgence package: was I supposed to keep a personal copy of the entire package listing from the website (I.e., the terms and inclusions I contracted for)? 

Just now, as I was looking for the name of the scotch I enjoyed on board, (Balvenie triple cask, wow who knew scotch could taste good?!) I rediscovered the whole list of drinks that were NOT mentioned on the menu sheets in the bars. For example, the Port options listed in the bar menu all had prices attached without the “u” indicating they were included in our package. Did I have to ask for the specific Port named on the Azamara website? I love Port and would’ve had one every night but for the fact I felt like I’d paid for Indulgence and didn’t want to pay more.  Never saw Evian listed as a menu option anywhere, yet was supposedly included. Would’ve loved one bottle in our cabin each night. There were some wines listed on the website we were never made aware of, we only ever had the wine of the night, yet I happen to really like viognier and would've preferred that to many of the nightly options offered. I know I saw this when we decided to enroll in this ultimate package but did not remember the specifics, just kinda figured there would be a list. A disclosure if you will.

I feel taken advantage of. Yes, i feel like this is another of those things you have to “search” for instead of them simply telling you. I feel really sucker punched in fact.  Stupid for some liquor, maybe, but I paid for that and then didn’t get what I paid for.  

Is this his typical of all cruise lines? My fault for not researching better? Should my TA have been aware of this?

I can tell you we drank a LOT more than usual after buying the indulgence package! And the laundry bags are teensy.

There was a first-timer’s meeting, yes before we got to the port. We were on a land package FROM AZAMARA, how could they not be aware of us? The whole process was a a cluster. Really lowered my esteem for the company.

and you shouldn’t have to mine for info....paying customers (full price from the looks of all the last minute guests) should be treated with respect, not challenged!

2 hours ago, SoBaycruiser said:

 

That is exactly my concern when I saw that we had lunch scheduled in Anchorage.  We will get the left over slots... e.g. nights after long days in port.  Luckily we have a lot of days at sea  on our way to Japan so I’m hoping for more choice.

 

I’d love to hear about your lessons learned.  Azamara seems to depend on people researching their website for info rather than sharing it with them through emails,etc.  if it weren’t for CC, I wouldn’t even know about the Chef’s table or a White Night.

 

We booked a Disney cruise with our grandkids next Spring and I’ve already had more direct contact from Disney cruises about what to expect than I have from Azamara.

 

Rita

ps... looks like we may get a lot of rain during our precruise land tour... disappointing.  Nothing we can do but make the best of it.

We were INCREDIBLY lucky with weather, I believe my dad may have pulled some strings up there because it couldn’t have been better.😉 I’m amazed at what a huge difference it makes in the experience, wishing you clear skies! We did a Disney Cruise maybe 10 years ago, the experiences couldn’t have been more different.

Right now in Vancouver, will try to jot down my thoughts sooner than later. Suffice to say for now that I learned way more about the trip from CruiseCritic than I did from Azamara.  Safe travels.

6 hours ago, Glaciers said:

 

Some of the appeal with the excursion was the increased potential for wildlife sightings as described. Not reading much about that.

@Sujormik  Did you see much wildlife?

 

We did see some wildlife, seals and sea otters if I recall as well as golden eagles. Overall wildlife sightings were mostly disappointing for us, though some friends had amazing experiences off Icy Strait Point with bears and multiple types of whales.

On 7/29/2019 at 4:03 AM, uktog said:

Fine if you board early but these guests have booked an expensive land based option through Azamara as others might do in the future so they do need to review the system.  If you read their post, there was nothing set up when they arrived so the standard response isn't appropriate for late arrivals.  

It shouldn't be difficult to transmit information on evenings to the tour and gather provisional requests for bookings.  

I know in South America the Azamara pre cruise tour from Machu Picchu arrived in very late on embarkation day and had quite a rush around as a result.  They are packing in the pre cruise experience (fair enough) but haven't adjusted how this links to the ships.

Thank you for understanding, it was incredibly disappointing and an awful way to start a cruise vacation.

I was under the impression (restated in the comments above) that “you can always book reservations” at Windows or similar.  I’m saying that arriving FROM an Azamara land package and being among the last to board, with NOBODY from Azamara to acknowledge our arrival, was simply wrong.  And poor business practice. And I would STRONGLY rethink taking a land package in the future for precisely this reason.

There was nowhere to register for anything when we boarded at 4:30 pm and if there was, we had no way of finding it without anyone getting these buses. We ultimately got dinner reservations though NOT at the times we would have preferred...first world problems but enough to cause some serious consideration in the future.

Rita, there was a French chef’s table available for us, and it was very nicely done. The we didn’t even realize that there were different types of chef’s table options. Newbies...there were a few other things I didn’t ever get explained and only found out after a week on board. I may start a thread for those.😉

Just off the Azamara Quest where we did the Hubbard Glacier excursion with Allen Marine. They were very nice but it was NOT worth $500/couple.  We got very close (200 yards maybe) which was awesome. And the calving was great too. But our ship got almost as close and saw the exact same thing we did.  I’d thought it was something for a no-excursion day and I regret spending that much money.

14 hours ago, SoBaycruiser said:

 

What time did you arrive?  I have been worried about that based on the itinerary.  

Re: Fairbanks...Were you met at the airport by the rep or did you make your way to the hotel yourself?  Did you receive more information at the hotel?

 

 

We had already been in Fairbanks when to group convened at Pike’s Waterfront Lodge so I do not know about airport procedure, however all the cruise lines had people at the baggage claim so I suspect you’ll see someone with a sign.

We did receive more info at the hotel, our itinerary packet for the week, restaurant menu selection sheets for the included lunch days, etc. There’s some free time that first evening then you begin early the next day. We enjoyed the Riverboat much more than expected and the coach was comfy. Not a lot to see in downtown Fairbanks so no real recommendation for lunch.

So about the final day on land, it wasn’t great. We drove from Talkeetna to Anchorage, stopped a5 a sort of flea market then had lunch before moving on toward Seward. Unfortunately, they really f’ed up.  We arrived at the boat after 4 pm. Other than a young man with glasses of champagne and mimosas there was nobody to meet us or the other people coming from the land tours. None of the reservation tables were set up, there were no directions, it was genuinely a disaster and a very VERY unpleasant way to start the week.  I did speak to several people about it incl Phillip the hotel manager and someone from guest relations. They took all the info but have no idea what they will do for your group. Be aware of this, and if it’s your first time on azamara don’t let it get you down as it did our group. I can’t see them changing the itinerary so no idea how they remedy the problem.  

Weve spoken to to many people who were on the AZAMARA land package and the opinion has been pretty universal that they got this (boarding procedure and timing) wrong. Just be prepared and don’t let it put a damper on the rest of the trip

On 7/15/2019 at 4:00 PM, SoBaycruiser said:

 

And THAT is the difference a captain make... for those asking in another thread.😉

Just wanted to let you know we are having a great time.  We had a WONDERFUL pre-cruise land group and it has made all the difference for us. Hopefully they’ve changed the schedule so you arrive at the ship at a reasonable time as we did NOT and have shared our negative experience with everyone.  Off to Chef’s Table! 

Checkin for Quest today has been totally unimpressive. Couldn't find any of the things y'all talk about on this board. Dinner reservations and packages, obc stuff  etc. Sure hope this isn't a portent.

Is there a doctor on board the Quest? I may have a UTI requiring antibiotics (trying urgent care here in Fairbanks, but curious in case something doesn’t work.  Sorry for TMI!😣

Thanks for this thread. We board for the 10 day intensive on Saturday and hope to enjoy it as much as you obviously enjoyed yours!

Thank you. We previously booked the Hubbard excursion despite the high cost. So glad to hear the entire cruise was nice!