wjfan417

There is a roll call for this cruise that might answer your question or you might get a better response if you post there. There is a link at the top if the Azamara page for roll calls. Enter your ship and travel month.

I’ve brought a case from Oregon in the VinGardeValise and it was just under 50 pounds. I just bought an 8 bottle case during their recent sale to use for Europe.

10 hours ago, Turangi! said:

Azers,

 

In the old days, as a Loyalty perk you could bid to upgrade for a straight $400… we had a  Deck 6  Obstructed Oceanview… tiniest cabin (insides are bigger) with a view of the underbelly of the lifeboat… there are a few of the obstructed 6s that you can see ocean between the lifeboats…choose wisely… luckily the loyalty upgrade for us came through, but we knew what we were paying for and were amazed we got upgraded!  Now with the new system,    staight bidding and my unlucky karma, we book the cabin we want… waited for the Inside for Balcony annual offering deal which is a more expensive inside price (smoke and mirrors) as compared to the rest of the year price…  but a cheaper Balcony than usual promo for our next cruise to Norway…  so if you ever book a Oceanview make sure you get a full sized one and not the Obstructed ‘skinny’ cabins on Deck 6!

 

Study the AZ deck plans…  it makes a big difference in what you choose… Friends had an inside on an upper deck…it was lovely, but I am spoiled and like natural daylight  and not a Bat Cave!

 

Turangi!

On our first Azamara cruise in 2012, we took our adult children with us and booked an inside cabin for them and an outside cabin for us. The inside cabin was extremely dark! I’ll never book an inside cabin based on that experience.
 

6 minutes ago, lisiamc said:

I may be mistaken, but I think I’ve eaten more than one very late lunch at the Patio Grill, at 3.30 or 4 pm. Maybe someone on board has a daily sheet with food hours?

The dining schedule above shows the Patio open for lunch from noon until 5 p.m. which is what I remembered from our fall cruises. I’d go up in the late afternoon looking for the dinner menu and they were still serving lunch.

We never used our 2 free nights-booked a cruise with it but when there was a special offer that was much lower I gave up the “free nights” and rebooked at the lower fare. I am using my 4 nights on a 7 night Croatia  Intensive in the fall. I also booked on board so we received that discount as well as $150 per person OBC. I added the previous cruise too, so we also have the B2B discount. I keep monitoring the cost and so far the free nights are working out. On a previous thread on the free night topic, someone said it is best to use them on a 7 day cruise or a Norway Intensive which doesn’t get discounted often.

1 hour ago, maggie777 said:

We will embark in Chioggia in Oct. What is your plan to go from Venice airport to Chioggia?

You might want to check with your travel agent or Azamara to see if they are offering cruise only airport transfers. 

We were on 3 cruises in the late summer and they were offering shuttles then. Unfortunately, we didn’t go to Valencia on any of those cruises so can’t answer that question.

5 hours ago, Grandma Cruising said:

I noticed the inconsistencies in points - same route in the same type of cabin in different years gives 2 points and 51 points. However I do remember that at some time the points system changed altogether, tho’ I can’t remember how or exactly when.

I have 1 point for my first cruise in 2012!

I normally carry a spray bottle of wrinkle remover when I travel (well sealed in a couple plastic bags in case of leaks).

28 minutes ago, lisiamc said:

@federalexpress, I’ve been enjoying your wine posts very much. They are informative and thoughtful. My fear is that if Azamara get a graven-in-stone wine list, it will all be from big producers who have a reliable but boring product and can ship large quantities all year round. I’d love to see Azamara have a small core group of (possibly boring but dependable) wines, sort of like the Always Available food menu, and then some “guest wines” picked up locally from smaller producers, or as a remainder like the Tattinger. Some of them might be less than wonderful, but there might be some real stars, too.

We were on Quest last year in Bordeaux,  Spain and Portugal last year and I was very disappointed that they didn’t bring any wines on board from those countries!

2 hours ago, federalexpress said:

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.

We were on 4 cruises on Quest in 2022-none had Sokol Blosser PN. 

17 minutes ago, Ajbike said:

Thank you Everyone, after discussing this with DW, she agrees that to really experience Venice we need to be in Venice not constantly going back and forth. So the search continues, finding a hotel in my budget, that is very close to a airport water bus stop (DW does not pack light  LOL), and is rated highly. Wish me luck !!

We’ve stayed at Hotel Giorgione a few times-about a 10 minute walk from Fondamenta Nuove stop on the Blue Line from the airport. The last time we stayed we were with our daughter and son-in-law so took a water taxi from the airport and were dropped off very close to the hotel.

The US website also has the first quarter savings posted.

7 hours ago, Susancasteel said:

This is excellent as there were posts about this subject before and people had saiid they would not let you upgrade the beverage package once you had the essentials package and you’d have to pay the full $24.95 even though you already had upgraded to premium . I am very happy now !

We upgraded on our fall cruises and our loyalty discount was also applied so we saved 10-15% on the daily upgrade fees (did B2B2B2B and our status changed between cruises).

We’re on our first 7 day Azamara cruise in October. I don’t see an AzAmazing Evening in the shore excursions. Do they not have them on the shorter cruises?

Diana

We took this tour last April and were dropped off and picked up at Neptuno which had several bus stops (see circled area on the left of the map). After we were dropped off (people not going to the Alcazar-we had been there on our previous trip so wanted to go to the Royal Chapel and Cathedral), they dropped the people with Alcazar tickets off closer to the entrance but not sure where. I do know that some people with early admission missed their times because the “toilet stop” on the way was very long (driver was eating breakfast). I had taken a tour to the Alcazar with Spain Day Tours previously which worked well.

Read the daily activities list so you don’t miss anything going on the first day like Meet and Mingle (after you’ve scheduled specialty restaurants).

9 minutes ago, laurieb said:

We were on a Perry Golf cruise around Scotland in August, and it didn’t impact the usual experience at all.

Yes-we were on the same cruise.

We were on for 5 weeks this fall, so I took my laptop with me. Never had an issue leaving it on a desk. I also figure that iPads are so common now that I just stick it in a drawer. 

We’re on the Azamara Quest in July, and we’re docked in Santorini from 8 a.m. until 10 p.m.

Three booked in 2023-Quest Greek Intensive in July, Pursuit Best of the Med in September with a B2B Croatia Intensive. We’re planning to do more domestic travel this year.

18 minutes ago, KY Deb said:

I have to say, we have our first AZ cruise booked for October and I’m not getting the warm fuzzies reading this forum.   Old ships, CD unapproachable, poor wine, cold food, no music.   I’m being to wonder if we made a mistake by deciding to try AZ.   So far the only positive I’m reading is the port intensive itinerary with the small ship.   It’s not too late to cancel and book elsewhere.  Please tell me why I shouldn’t.   

This CD appears to be the exception to Azamara’s officers. The crew and officers on Azamara are normally the best we’ve ever encountered, and one of the reasons we keep going back to Azamara.  We’ve found the music in the den and Living Room fine.

We got them on 3 of our 4 Quest cruises this year.

Nothing booked until next July-ran through our bookings and no shore excursion discounts.

6 minutes ago, BuckGood said:

Are you allowed to use the OBC on your account to put towards purchasing the indulgence package?

Thanks in advance! 
🤔

Yes, but you can’t do it until you’re on board.