kaymoz
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The port is Dublin. According to What's In Port, our ship will be at: "Berth 18 – North Quay Extension Cruise ships will also dock at Berth 18 located on North Quay Extension, in front of the Thomas Clarke Bridge. Passengers will disembark/board at North Quay Extension and are permitted to exit the Port on foot via the blue gates on East Wall Road. The nearest Luas Red Line Tram stop is located at the Point village, approximately a 9 min walk (750m)." I looked on Google, and that location appears to be the area shown in the photo: It is close to a P&O ferry facility, so I phoned P&O to see if they had luggage storage -- No. I also checked Luggage Hero and the closest location was 1.2 km away. The challenge is that I am attempting to organize a private tour for that day, and the operator's vehicle can't likely accommodate everyone's luggage if the group is 6 or more. So, whatever storage solution I might identify would have to work for others, not just for me and my partner, and therefore the risk tolerance is reduced alot. Of course, we could cap the number of people on the tour in order to have more space for luggage but then that would raise the cost. (e.g., $450/10=$45 each; $450/5=$90 each). But at this point, I don't know if anyone would even want to join us -- I haven't announced it on the roll call yet since I wanted to have this worked out!
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Does Azamara offer luggage storage at port for disembarkation/embarkation day?
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I'm lining up a group tour for our disembarkation day in Dublin, but the vehicle doesn't have room for everyone's luggage, so I'm looking for luggage storage options at our port location. Our ship is one of the smaller ones (Azamara), so it will be docking at Berth 18 located on North Quay Extension, in front of the Thomas Clarke Bridge. TIA
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Oooh, these are good suggestions! Cute shoes, both of them. Trouble is my foot is narrow and typically if I buy a "regular" width shoe without any straps or laces to secure it, then I basically walk right out of it. But maybe I can go try them on to check -- I found there is an Allbirds store downtown! (I'm in a DC suburb.) Of course, the most pocketbook-friendly and time-efficient solution would be to simply use something I already have on hand.....photo below shows my candidates. The tan ones are probably the most minimal space-wise (and are also Chaco!) but don't feel as lightweight as the black shoes.
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It seems like people who can afford to cruise can afford $60 for a test to help reduce the risk for others on the ship. And those "others" include the shipboard employees! I recently learned that back when smoking was allowed on planes, the non-smoking restrictions were introduced because it had become such a health issue for the crew, ultimately leading to a complete smoking ban for US flights around 2000.
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This summer, we'll be circumnavigating Ireland, traveling more for a week afterwards. My packing dilemma is footwear, since I want to limit myself to a carryon bag, which will a first for me on a cruise. I'm struggling with the dress-for-dinner aspect of shipboard life. If I didn't have to "dress up" for dinner on the ship, I'd simply wear my hiking shoes on the plane and pack a pair of Chaco sandals, which are super comfortable and supportive -- enough for light hiking! (see the photo), plus some cheap, minimal flip-flops for the spa, etc. We like to have dinner in the formal dining room and I clearly can't wear the hiking shoes there. While I hate to devote precious suitcase space to dress-up shoes I won't use for anything else, I'm not sure my trail-worthy Chacos are gonna cut it at the MDR either, even if I try to color coordinate my outfits with them. The cruiseline is Azamara which describes its onboard environment as "friendly yet sophisticated, and encourages guests to "follow a 'resort casual' dress code." [Too bad we can't just rent dress-up footwear for the cruise, like we can rent ski boots at the slopes or men can rent tuxes on Cunard!] Anyway, I appreciate any practical thoughts to help me work through this situation. I know many of you have been there! TIA
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Thanks for directing me to that page. I see that Azamara has some reciprocity with Royal Caribbean as well as Celebrity. We sailed with RCI once also. The other day I went into my account profile and entered my Celebrity "Captain's Club" number. The system automatically transformed that into a Azamara Circle # so I am now at the Adventurer level. It looks like that could be most useful in terms of the wifi.
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One other factor I'd consider in the assessment of economy is how much extra it would cost for an oceanview or even a balcony cabin...for a TA (especially a long one) you might spend more time in your cabin than on a voyage where you are out touring every day, so the view might mean more. Personally, I love that fresh ocean air even if it's cold! We opted for a balcony when we did TA and were so glad!
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In the almost-luxury category, we *really* appreciated Windstar. But who knows what a ship that small would be like for a week of sea days!
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I just checked with Celebrity, since I learned here that their Captain's Club is reciprocal with Azamara for the time being. I only have 30 points! Does that do anything for us in terms of our first Azamara cruise coming up next month? (We are those people who itinerary-driven and despite 10+ cruises, so far we've only repeated a cruiseline once!)
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I just found out that the tour we want to do on our disembarkation day departs almost two hours earlier than we had anticipated, so I'm worried we won't be able to leave the ship in time. Specifically, the pick up time is 8 am at a location across town from the dock, so we'd need to disembark at about 7 am. Will Azamara allow this? This would be on a day following an overnight in port, FWIW. This will be our first experience with Azamara, and we know that on many ships passengers must often wait for disembarkation even if they keep their bags with them. TIA
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I'm uncertain about the likelihood that one of us will test positive the day before we fly home from Dublin after travelling around Ireland for a week following disembarkation. But I feel that between that risk AND the high cost of arranging quarantine lodging at the last minute in an expensive, heavily booked area, I should have some kind of contingency plan in place. I read of one woman who made a 'quarantine' reservation at an airport hotel, just in case. What have you done and what plans have you heard from others that sounded good?
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On the last cruise we did, I completed the form requesting low sodium AND low oxalate meals. (Oxalates contribute to kidney stones in some people.) The chef was very happy to accommodate me, even tho the oxalate thing was totally new to him. Sometimes the kitchen made special versions of menu items for me. (I should add this was last summer and the ship wasn't very full.) Not to sound ungrateful but many of those special versions tasted pretty bad because some dishes without salt can be pretty boring if other ingredients aren't added to compensate, which we would do at home. But on the ship they were simply eliminating salt from their regular recipe preparations and not adding anything. With this experience, I will be aware to make better choices next time! E.g., not choosing a dish that I used to like in its conventional preparation but something with components that are pleasing if 'unadorned.'
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What a great photo! -
I'm thinking about signing up for a travel-oriented credit card, since I'm contemplating enrollment in Global Entry. I'm considering two that have yearly fees of about $100 and some kind of credit for the GE fee -- the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card and the United Explorer card. My husband has the United card so I've seen firsthand how handy those mileage points are! What advice do you have for choosing between the two, given that there is already one United card "in the family"?! (I know this isn't just an insurance question but couldn't figure out where else to ask this question, and insurance features are one benefit of these cards!)
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No, I only tried that one called Activator. Because I was overwhelmed with how much merchandise was on the floor, I had asked the sales people to show me the ones that were water resistant and I think that's how the Vuori fell thru the cracks, since I think I had checked and they carried it. It's Ireland so it will rain often and I really need water resistant. I ended up deciding to get these from Eddie Bauer and ordered them yesterday: https://www.eddiebauer.com/p/23151378/womens-climatrail-pants?size=12&sizeType=Regular Not perfect in terms of pockets - I like the arrangement in the Vuori and Activator better. But at least they are WR and heavy enough.
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What's this about some benefit for first time Azamara cruisers who have sailed with Celebrity? Does one voyage with Celebrity in 1995 qualify? (please don't laugh 😉 you never know about these things?!)
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Here is the wonderfully designed REI pant, in case anyone is wondering: https://www.rei.com/product/176642/rei-co-op-activator-30-pants-womens
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I finally made it to the stores today! First, to REI, where I found something that felt great but had to reluctantly reject since REI doesn't carry it in black, the optimum color for travel. Then on to Eddie Bauer, where I tried their Climatrail pant, which might just be 'the one.' Very comfortable, and lots of flexiblity thanks to the seaming design and the stretchiness of the fabric. I do wonder how these lycra-laden polyester garments will hold up over the years; the material for these pants is listed as 91% polyester/9% spandex. (Who doesn't have a favorite old bathing suit that failed when the stretchy components embrittled in spite of careful hand-washing?!) https://www.eddiebauer.com/p/23151378/womens-climatrail-pants?color=Black&size=12&sizeType=Regular&sp=1.
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Thanks -- and I see that is the Majestic Princess leaving LA on 24 Sep, and then about 10 days later the Grand Princess departs on the same itinerary. Now I'm fantasizing if Princess would allow passengers disembarking from the Majestic at one of the South Pacific stops and then reboarding on the Grand, in order to do one of those sail around Tahiti cruises -- like the one with Windstar...which departs the same day the MP arrives! We can't do it this year now, but it's something to dream about for 2023!!!
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Great ideas! If it is raining tomorrow as predicted, I might head to my local REI and both Athleta & Eddie Bauer nearby; see what fits, what feels right. It's so hard to shop online when there is uncertainty about how the fabric will feel! I did find the article in T&L, which also had useful articles about rain jackets for women and travel pants for men.
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"I wonder if you had Gramici pants - they had the gusseted crotch. " Yes!!! I had forgotten the name but looked it up and that's it!! And amazingly, the product they are selling now looks very much like the ones I bought 30 years ago! (and they still have that funky logo!) But now the product for women that resembles my old one specifically says it doesn't include the gusset like the men's version does. Wha???? They gave an explanation that didn't make sense. And they are cotton, which made them super comfortable in the past year-round, but wouldn't really work for the upcoming trip to Ireland since I'll need something made to be water resistant. It's clearly time for a visit to my local REI. I checked the system and they do have the Vuori in stock. And in a few days, a Sierra store will open nearby so that's another shopper possibility. Fortunately we don't leave for this trip until late July so I have some time to work things out.
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Thanks to the two of you for the feedback -- I will check out Vuori. Today I recalled some fave pants from long, long ago that were totally comfortable for movement and felt like such a great fit -- and they had a crotch gusset. I think that feature enabled more freedom of movement than many pants (like jeans) without being baggy. That realization sent me on a search to see which pants might incorporate that feature, and happily it seems quite a few hiking pants do! But many of them are mid-rise (so the waistband is out of the way in order to not interfere with waist straps from a backpack). It's often hard to me to get a good fit with that kind of cut, so I may need to go into a store and try things on.....
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Looking for feedback about the "perfect" black pants for traveling with a carry-on only, so they work for everything, along with denim jeans. We'll be in Ireland, so the pants should be sturdy and water resistant but not so intensely synthetic that they would be uncomfortable should the weather warm up. I prefer a zipper closure to pull-on. I want them to be practical for hiking, so lots of generous, workable pockets would be great. And they should be generically plain enough that I can dress them up with a nice top when needed. Any suggestions?
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OP here -- to clarify, I do not want to offer an excursions myself! Instead, it is an operator of tour in a small town in Ireland near one of the portstops for that the ship that I'll be aboard this summer. She had asked me how they could make themselves available for passengers of our ship. And I think she would like to be on the schedule passengers can learn of ahead of time rather than hoping to catch the random passengers who do spontaneous activities on the day. This tour operator's clients are mostly local people on holiday. Our portstop is Warrenpoint, typically not visited by cruiseships, more by container ships, and it seems that our ship will be the only cruiseship visiting in the next year! So, cruiser travel isn't a local industry this tour operator can tap into administratively. While I could tell her to contact the cruiseline, I would like to be more helpful and give her a department or such. For all I know the cruiselines could be contracting out excursion management! Someone was thinking this is Oceania. It's Azamara (so close, similar kind of ship!), which changed ownership recently so I expect their admin and management structure could be evolving.
