kaymoz

Yes!! The first two places I wanted for lodging couldn't accommodate our late arrival, so I ended up booking this lovely spot by the river. (We did finally decide on Salisbury, for this time around!) https://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g186414-d192945-Reviews-Legacy_Rose_Crown_Hotel-Salisbury_Wiltshire_England.html

I neglected to mention that our flight is scheduled to arrive at Heathrow at 9 pm, so it's too late for trains or coaches! (It's one of the rare daytime flights from the US to Europe, which we prefer to avoid the airplane overnights that always wreck us for days.) Thanks for the enthusiasm about Salisbury; I've been intrigued by the water meadows just west of the Cathedral.

Looking for stopover decision feedback! We like to arrive a couple of days early before embarking and will be sailing from Southampton (which we've explored previously), so trying to decide between Salisbury and Winchester. Our flight from the US arrives at Heathrow late in the evening (assuming it operates as scheduled) so we would have two nights and one day for this stop. Both are cathedral cities with lots of history and on direct train routes to Southampton. We won't have a car and plan to take a taxi from the airport to the hotel and the train to the ship. Of course, if there is some other compelling location that also makes sense in terms of logistics, I'm open to other suggestions! (Note: I've visited Stonehenge already, so that would not be a factor in choosing Salisbury!)

About Azamara evenings....I just read this on the spreadsheet: 'After the Azamazing evening there is a huge buffet so don’t worry about missing dinner.' For our sailing, it appears there are two Azamazing shows, one at 6:30 and one at 8:30. We'd been wondering where there might be a dinner buffet for those desiring to dine before the first show?

I don't drink beer much but do like a dark beer now and then. Are you saying that the beer on tap used to be dark and now it has switched to some kind of light beer? I was hoping, with Azamara's local immersion thing and all, that Guinness would be on tap during our upcoming Ireland circumnavigation!

What about tendered ports? I have heard last tender would be one hour before departure.

We always back up the official all-aboard time with a 30 minute cushion, to be safe and generally reduce anxiety. But since we are new to Azamara, I just don't know what to expect the all-aboard time would be, given the listed departure time.

I'm trying to book some shore activities, excursions & tours now for a cruise in July, so it would be helpful to know the timing long before I'm on the ship. I suppose I could assume it would be a full hour prior to sailing, but that might mean forgoing some wonderful tour options that would be possible if it would only be 30 minutes prior!

All-aboard times -- I'm new to Azamara, so not sure how they handle this. I've heard it is one hour before the departure time but others think it's half an hour! How does this work for both docked and tendered locations?

If it's any consolation, I read the first post and couldn't tell the identity of the agent.

I went ahead and loaded it up. There was no charge but the system allowed me to choose between a 6:30 show and one at 8:30, so I selected the earlier one so maybe when it's over we could go ashore to hear some more music....this is one of only two late or overnight stops we have in Ireland!

I called a few times in the last week or so and reached an agent in short order. Today I was on hold for about 15-20 minutes, but I called in the middle of the day and at least one of my other calls was in the evening.

These numbers are crazy, so (now that there is no hold time anymore!) I picked up the phone and called Azamara again. This time the rep initially told me the ships were sailing at 50% capacity, but when I explained I'd been told 70%, etc., then he put me on hold and went off to check. He came back and corrected himself, telling me that the capacity was no longer being limited, but mentioned that he didn't know when the limitations were removed.

If you are new to Azamara, you might "qualify" for the referral program and a an $150 USD Onboard Credit. But heads-up, this must be done within 30 days of reserving the cruise! See this page for details: https://www.azamara.com/loyalty/azamara-circle/member-savings/refer-receive-program

I finally went to try on the Tree Breezer today. It was just as handsome as in the photos, maybe even a bit more charming, especially in the navy! But the shape of the toe was wrong for my foot/toes, sad to say. So I looked for alternatives and found what looks like Clarks' knockoff of it: https://www.clarksusa.com/c/Carly-Hope/p/26165109

OP here....I'm just reporting on what the woman told me about that 70%, which frankly surprised me. I'd already booked for late July so it seemed clear that it applied to our sailing, but I didn't ask her for specific dates. In my last few calls, the wait times were much more reasonable than, say, a month ago, so calling for more specifics related to individual situations might not be a big hassle if it matters. It wouldn't affect my decision! Wikipedia cites the max passenger capacity for Pursuit as 777 (maybe that is maxing out all the fold-out berths?). At 70%, I come up with 543. Onward is listed for 826 max, so that would be 578. I can't explain 600 mentioned earlier unless someone rounded up from five hundred something! Or maybe there is a totally different calculation that wraps in all the people aboard, passengers and crew? OR something else?!

The other day I had to call Azamara with a question, happily reaching a rep with minimal wait, and she told me that the ships this summer would only be booked at 70% of capacity, to allow for social distancing. In spite of this continuing precaution, she told me that indoor masking is not required.

We did this not too long ago but since we booked through a travel agent we went back that way for the rebooking, which in our case reduced the fare rather than increasing the OBC. The difference was credited back to the card we initially used for our booking, since we had already paid in full. It's a pretty impressive benefit!

After Newgrange, we'll stay in Dublin for one night and then head off on a 3 day tour to Dingle. Good thought about the airport tho -- it is right on the way! And if it turns out that the tour bus to Newgrange can't keep the luggage, it could be a decent option, tho it would delay us alot.

Oh, don't worry -- I'm wearing some serious hiking shoes on the plane and will probably use them most days when we are exploring. I'll take them (and wool socks!) even if the weather predictions are for warm weather because those shoes are the best great for solid footing on rocky places, etc., and weather is so changeable near the coast anyway.

Smart move!!! There are many times I wish I had done that.

Ooooh, I love Clarks. I have good luck with them, so well designed for good looks AND function, so many with wonderful shock absorbing soles. < Mary229, Which ones are you taking?

I confess I've become obsessed with the Tree Breezer suggested early on in this thread. It's something about the knitted texture that's intriguing to me, along with the idea that a shoe in that style could have good arch support, stay on my foot during vigorous movement, and maybe be totally comfortable! It will all be settled when I can stop in to the store to try it on, hopefully this week. The reviewers say it's high maintenance, but that seems like a reasonable tradeoff for the advantages of comfort and functionality (to include visual acceptability!).

Back to the dressing-up issue again....so often we've heard the dress code on a ship is something along the lines of 'smart casual' (I think Azamara uses the terms friendly & sophisticated 🙂). But then once we are on the ship, we've often been informed that a certain evening will be "Captain's Night" or the like, with the implication that passengers are to make more of an effort to dress up on those occasions, and it seems that many do. Does this happen on Azamara? Just want to make sure we are prepared!

UPDATE: In my investigations, I was unable to identify any bag storage near the Dublin port for that day (even phoned P&O since they have a location there). I even asked my TA to inquire with Az about it since she was going to call them anyway with another question. The answer was No Storage for Luggage at Dublin. I think we'll just have to carry the stuff with us on the tour vehicle, limiting the numbers accordingly. That is, assuming anyone else would be interested in going to Newgrange on disembarkation day!