Mackdogmolly

I do not get the paper and pencil icon, either on my phone or on my laptop

I hope this is just another glitch!

When I have done mock bookings over the past couple of days, it has not shown cabins 😟

We left what remained of our bottle (along with a tip) to our cabin steward. He had never heard of it. I hope he enjoys it! We will definitely look at those itineraries!

It was great meeting you and Tem too, Cindi! I do hope that we will sail together again someday! Betsey

Right, the laundry is on the port side

Just a final recap. We flew home on Saturday: Lisbon to Boston, connecting in Barcelona. Our flight was late leaving Lisbon and we barely made our connection in Barcelona (we were literally sprinting through the airport - and were the last ones on board). Arrived in Boston late Saturday night without our luggage. Drove back to Vermont on Sunday and were just notified last night that all three bags have been located and are being shipped to us. Whew! Our thoughts on the cruise: this was our first time on the Pursuit (or any ship other than the Quest), but not sure if that is even relevant. Found the crew as lovely and anxious to please as ever. Food (with a few exceptions) as good as ever. We mostly dined in Discoveries, but did do the Italian Chef’s Table and ate in the Specialties a couple of time and once on the Patio for dinner. Had a couple of lunches on the Patio that weren’t great. The service in Discoveries was consistently very slow at dinner. Ordinarily, I don’t mind that much, but one night we arrived at 6:30 to a nearly empty dining room, hoping to make an 8:15 performance in the Lounge and barely made it with no one having coffee or dessert. That seems odd to me. I can’t comment too much on the entertainment because we don’t attend most of it, but I did enjoy Derek in the Den, who was talented and not so loud that you couldn’t converse! Also the Marvelous Funk (terrible name) were a talented band in the Living Room. They had a Canadian comedian, Andrew Gros, who performed on a couple of nights, who was very funny and well received. Shuttles and shore excursions: the lack of shuttles in most of the ports was a disappointment and the excursions (at least that we went on) were a little hit or miss. We did enjoy the paella making one though. I must say that we seemed to connect with more fellow cruisers on this trip than on any other! Some from my roll call (yay CC) and some that we just met on the ship. That in itself made for an overall highly enjoyable experience! Can’t wait to be back onboard in October. Betsey

It was! So glad we got to spend some time with you and Nick on our cruise.

Disembarked the ship yesterday with @luv2ski2 and our DH’s and were met by a Tours by Locals guide, Rafael, in his 7 passenger van, for our tour of Sintra and some other hidden (almost off road) treasures. We had a great time, with lots of walking and lunch at a little restaurant in his home village. He even gifted each couple with a bottle of local wine before dropping us at our hotel at the end of the day.

Small groups on the Pursuit in Rio a couple of weeks ago. Only took a few minutes.

Beautiful Funchal! Azamara provided a shuttle today, which dropped us at the Marina Shopping Center, right across the street from the Infante Roundabout, which was the meeting place for our private food and wine tour (just 8 people). We did a lot of walking and eating and drinking, led by a knowledgeable native guide. It was great fun and the weather was perfect.

Good to know!

Yes, but the Onward follows us in this port tomorrow.

There was an Azamara electronic survey passed around at the very end of the tour that I managed to complete so I made my thoughts known, but I don’t think many had a chance to do it. Hopefully, they spoke to the excursion desk. The Onward is going to be at La Palma tomorrow. Hope they don’t have the same experience.

La Palma today. Took the panoramic Island drive tour. It’s the 3rd smallest Canary Island and has a population of about 80,000. It also has plenty of water, so lots of vegetation and many banana plantations and avocado trees spotted. A marked difference in weather from the eastern side (port), where it was cloudy and cool, to the western side, where it was sunny and much warmer, with people sunbathing on the beach. There was a volcanic eruption in 2021 that is still smoking that destroyed many many homes. Fortunately, they had plenty of warning and were able to evacuate. You can see fields and fields of lava. A couple of disappointments: 1. While the scenery was beautiful, there weren’t a lot of photo opportunities, and I’m not great about capturing pics from a moving bus. 2. Azamara hyped a stop at a giant crater, but the bus driver said that parking had to be reserved in advance and Azamara hadn’t done that, so it wasn’t on his agenda. Photos upside down again. I tried a couple of different ways. Sorry!!

My sister is in Madeira now and she said that there was cheap transportation to town, so maybe she was talking about the pedicab.

Could be. Some people see Cruise “Critic” and think that implies that the group criticizes the brand, when for the most part, we are its biggest supporters. There is lots of complaining on the FB page, lol

I’m a little concerned about this too!

It was pretty tasty and done in about 20 minutes or so. The setting was really pretty too. A courtyard of a restaurant that was a former mansion. Should have gotten pictures!

I agree that would be a shame. Not sure Azamara is aware the value of all of this networking in the service of the brand.

Docked at Tenerife today. We went on a ship’s excursion traveling around the island and ending up at a restaurant where we sampled local cheeses, boiled potatoes, sauces, pork, wine, and then had a paella cooking class/demonstration of four different kinds of paella. Great fun!

And the onboard shop sells lanyards with a plastic sleeve to hold them

It was fascinating! And very well attended.

Right. It listed an Antarctic cruise as a Perry Golf Cruise 😂

Yes, we are “rocking and rolling” a bit today. Big St Patrick’s Day party in the Den this morning with a singalong, beer, snacks, etc. The captain gave a very interesting talk about a recreation of Columbus’s three ships and subsequent Atlantic crossings that he was a part of when he was a very young man. Relaxing this afternoon!