flyingron

I'm onboard now.    While missing Hobart is disappointing, I can see why.    We already got refunded our tickets for the museum/ferry/wine tour (not booked through Azamara).

I'm writing this on my phone.    The INTERNET has gone from slow to unusable on this voyage.    The thing only passes packets about 80% of the time (which is death to actually trying to get anything to happen).     In addition, Aza overcharged me quite a bit (they already billed the full $19.99 a day to my AmEx card even though I was supposed to get a small LCV discount).   

Purel is 70% ethyl alcohol and some glycerin (plus some stuff to make it taste bad so you won't be inclined to drink it and hence require it to be taxed as a spirit).    It's a good "last resort" after you wash your hands.   You don't know what you touch (the faucet, the bathroom door, the handrail on the stairs, the arm of your chair...) before you touch your face or food.

Azamara charges corkage if you open the bottle in the dining rooms.    You're free to bring and drink your wine for free in your own room.   They'll even provide glasses and a cork screw.

Except of course it is used by insurance companies to avoid pay outs. Or was.

I think that is consistent with what I said.

2 hours ago, That sinking feeling said:

You cant use god as an excuse only when it suits you.

In a legal sense "act of God" doesn't have much to do with a supreme being.   It just means an event that occurs because of an unforseeable event not attributed to any human action.   Alas, act of God usually excludes liability rather than creates it.    You being ill may be an act of God, but designating it eliminates the liability for the cruise line to refund you not mandating it.

We just boarded the Azamara Journey in Auckland yesterday.   We "failed" the prescreen because we have a pet bird at home (not that our little parrot has been out of the house, let alone gone near the CV areas).     Anyhow, a woman in a bunny suit came over and took our temperature (twice) and measured our O2 sats and then the cruise line decided we were safe to board.

Boarding the Jounrey in Auckland today, we had to fill out a CV screening (no issues when we arrived via the airlines three days ago).   We had to get secondary screening because the last question asks about handling birds (we have a pet parrot, who frankly hasn't been out of the house for years).    Woman in a bunny suit, mask, and face shield took our temperature twice and oxygen sats brefore we were allowed to board.

\\\\

In Auckland...boarding Azamara Journey

Azamara does

I’m sitting at the airport now.   Our cruise leaves in six days from Auckland 

Unless something happens.    There are some times the Australian esta system kicks out an error even though you meet their requirements.  Your only option at that point is to go with a regular visa which supposedly takes 21 days though they are beating that.    I’d not wait until the last minute.  

I've got about $100 of citibank travellers checks from 1990 or so.    I can't even cash them at a Citibank branch.   I might have to escalate with them.

Indeed, you save a whopping $3 on the $37 combined esta fee and tourism gouge if you use the app.    I have no idea why.   Does the app have ads in it or something?

Eh?   I did both the Aus and NZ applications on line.   All you need is to type in the data (Your name, passport number, country of citizenship, place of issue, issue and expiry dates) and it goes easy as pie.   NZ is technically cheaper but they give you some environmental surcharge which raises the total up over what Australia charges.   Both were issued within a few minutes of me putting in my credit card number.

As others have pointed out, they attach them in their system to your passport number.   You can go back and "verify" this later if you want.   Both countries have ways to do this.   I just printed out the confirmation number in case there was any problem.   Haven't been to NZ before this year, but I've done Australia before.    Passport control going in was a breeze.  Coming out the line at the Sydney airport was over an hour long.

Here is the Australia site:  https://www.eta.homeaffairs.gov.au/ETAS3/etas
New Zealand:  https://nzeta.immigration.govt.nz/

But not Africa because they are "not equatorial enough"

A while back photobucket disabled the ability to link photos from non-paying accounts.    It pretty much killed all the ones that were linked into BBS posts like this forum.    

You;re right.   I was confusing Quest with Journey.

It's scheduled for a retrofit some time in 2021 (getting rid of the casino, etc...).  Don't know if that's it or not.

exuberant?    Boy, that casino must be more fun than most!

I've got mixed feelings about travel agents.    I've had a few that have pulled out deals or suggestions I wouldn't have been able to do myself, but I've also had MASSIVE (near DISASTEROUS in one case) screwups that travel agents have CAUSED that I would never had done myself.    Right now, I'm in "trust but verify" mode.     I do my own independent research (or let my wife do it who could definitely be a TA in an alternate life) before I speak to the agent and then I go over everything they do to make sure there are no errors.

As with any other form of personal service, the best way to select these businesses is to get recommendations, most specifically, from people you trust.

I think my brain failed or the spell checker got me.   The like should say once you submit the certificate you'll get the FULL ten year term.

Itchy&Scratchy nails it.   A US citizen must enter with their US passport.    You technically do not need any passport to leave, but most carriers (be it an airline or a cruiseship) won't board you without one because they don't want to be stuck with you when you can't get off.

That loss of a box is going to be very expensive for you.   The replacement cost is $555. 

There is a special procedure for those in your situation though.   Once you apply for the replacement certificate and have the receipt from the INS, you can use that to obtain a "limited validity" passport that is good for reentry into the US for a year.   Once you submit the replacement certificate of naturalization, they'll expand that to the four year term.  

You may wish to look into a company that handles expedited passport processing to assist you.

We were on the AMAcello in 323, if I recall.   Wasn't a problem.   We ate at the Captain's Table once and had a wine tasting there (which is next to your room) and I didn't notice any untoward noise (of course, I wasn't trying to sleep there).

On a lot of the rivers, you get to chose between a smaller room or a balcony.   The locks are only 12m wide, so the boat can't practically be over 11.5.    The central corridor is already pretty narrow on most.

Approval for US citizens to go to Cuba was much curtailed last summer.  (And dual citizenship doesn't change the issue).

Both US Airlines (AA and JetBlue) and a lot of the cruise lines (certainly RCL and apparently Azamara) were caught by the the capricious change to the rules and it ended up with some cancellations before things got sorted out.