peajay

I have also used the Holiday Inn a couple of times and feel comfortable with the parking location and security. I paid less for parking and overnight stay with breakfast than the CPS price

Just returned from R307 Baltic 16 nights. MDR food was hit and miss. My biggest gripe is they should provide what they advertise. For instance the Bramley apple crumble definitely did not use Bramley apples, the desert apples used were also unfortunately half raw and not a hint of juice. I tried pheasant that was a disaster on Iona and again on Aurora it was too tough to cut, when I complained the waiter asked did I want a steak knife ? The late buffet on the night before our Kiel stop had curry wurst on the menu so we ate little early and looked forward to our curry wurst. The reality was the counter that was labelled curry wurst actually had a large pile of the usual breakfast pork sausages ? My wife asked where the curry was (obviously we were not getting any wurst) and he went looking for some but never found any. If you are not able to offer an acceptable portion of what you advertise, no problem don't try, offer something else. I do agree that cold deserts in MDR and buffet are tasteless. The cherry sponge cake had tiny red flecks in it with absolutely no taste of cherry. Looked like they only used one cherry for the complete batch. There was definitely some good food, although not much variety in the buffet, but attention to details and enhancement of flavours needs attention.

We had one on Iona deck 12 to the Fjords last year and found it extremely windy. Very difficult to open and close the door. We had a guaranteed cabin, but I would not chose one, especially to the Fjords.

We completed the cruise with no possibility of claiming a refund due to not being able to obtain a customs stamp. In seven ports visited we saw no immigration or customs people, we were able to walk on and off the ship with only boarding card checks by private security people. This was surprising because on our January cruise to Spain and Portugal we were checked at every port.

So far Helsinki and Tallinn have had no passport or customs officials at all, so we will look out for something in Stockholm. This will be the biggest port we will visit on our way back. Surprising there is not something similar to airports.

Anyone successfully received a VAT refund for EU purchases when cruising ? We apparently need to get a custom stamp for the items we have purchased, but the offices seem to be located at airports. We are about to visit Stockholm port so are wondering if there is anyway to get a stamp there ?

It looks like with all the issues with Celebrity cruises in Japan in 2024 our choice is limited to HA or possibly, but less likely Princess.

Thanks to everyone for the very helpful comments. I think I may go for the April Westerdam voyage from Tokyo to Seattle. This cruise satisfies three of our bucket list of Japan, transpacific (done transatlantic a few times) and Alaska. We would add a stay in Japan.

I am not particularly interested in the usual singing and dancing shows, I feel like I have seen that sort of thing hundreds of times already. I would appreciate some classical music, or light classical, which I have seen virtually none of in about 20 cruises on other lines. I am guessing HA will be similar to P&O and Celebrity similar to RCCL, both of which I have cruised on. I don't do formal dress up, so I am guessing that is still Old School on HA and not so much on Celebrity maybe ? That is where Azamara wins for me, absolutely none of that formal stuff, but expensive for what it is.

I am looking at cruise packages visiting Japan and have found a few, Celebrity and Holland America cruises that look like good candidates. I have cruised on seven different lines but not these two, and would be interested to have opinions on comparisons as they are currently.

We just booked that cruise today. We have sailed on Britannia and Iona, but this will be the first time on Aurora. I see there is allocated dining, but is it possible to change to Freedom dining as offered on Iona ?

We were on P&O Iona last week and saw Explorer dock in Cadiz, but not at a terminal. She is one of our favourite ships (did a Southampton to Miami on her in 2019) and assume she is there for a refit. Anyone know what is being done ?

I was also on this cruise with my wife (third time on Iona) and enjoyed the cruise. For us it was an inexpensive way to avoid two cold weeks at home and see some nice cities. Our previous cruise in December was a transatlantic to Rio on Azamara Pursuit, so I think it is a matter of expectations versus price. We found the MDRs hit and miss, we only used them for dinner, I agree the steaks are thin and overcooked. The buffet was busy but we always found a table for two within a minute or two. Even though it is factory level production, it could be improved at very little cost just by adding slight variation, such as a different filling in the breakfast pastries every few days. I like American pancakes but on P&O ships they are rubbish, tough dry little objects that are nothing like proper pancakes so they should drop those if they can't figure out the recipe. The Olive Grove and Beach House are good options for dinner, and the Quays and 360 are good alternatives for lunch. I think the glaring weakness on this cruise was the entertainment. The computerised animation and lighting of the shows does improve what is otherwise typical song and dance stuff that we have all seen many times. The other acts were poor, the usual too loud shouty pop songs. The violinist was a nice change, although he was overpowered by the band and it would have been good to hear him play a few classical pieces rather than even more pop songs, he was clearly a very good violinist. Incidentally the non existent Cruise Manger introduced him and got his name wrong. I was hoping for good traditional Irish music, but no, the Four Harps sung similar slightly Irish pop music and with not much harmony. The first comedian, from Liverpool, was very good, but the second, from Cornwall, was terrible, just not funny. This was a cruise visiting Spain and Portugal so why don't P&O offer some local music options? At a few ports, especially Cadiz we saw street performers that were excellent and were better, and probably much cheaper, than acts we saw onboard. Sea day entertainment could also be easily improved at not much cost, crew talent shows, chef demonstrations, officer presentations about the ship and operations, the ports visited etc. We have sailed on eight cruise lines and think P&O have a basically good product at very reasonable prices (especially if you don't take the Select fare option) and could be easily improved at little cost by attention to details, looking to see what other companies are doing, and aligning their products to the demographics of their customers.

We were on the December cruise to Rio and found the ship to be in very nice condition. Very tasteful decor. We had only the complementary drinks package which was OK. I do think it is extremely poor for this class of cruise not to include any liqueurs. Food was good but not significantly better than P&O, RCCL, Marella etc. The service was very good and entertainment staff very friendly. A very enjoyable ship that we would happy to cruise on again.

We recently returned from Pursuit 16 night cruise from Lisbon to Rio, this was our first Azamara cruise. We have done about 20 cruises over over thirty years on seven other companies, so we have a fairly broad experience. I think the extra cost on Azamara is largely for what you do not get. Loud unnecessary music is not played every where, it is easy to find quiet areas. No crowded bars with often loud groups and pretty heavy alcohol consumption, despite complimentary alcohol the atmosphere was very pleasant with people chatting and having a good time without having to shout. I did not see annoying wasted piled up plates of food in the buffet, particularly bad on RCCL ships in our experience. You will not be expected to dress up in pompous posh clothes twice a week and be made to feel like an outcast if you don't want to participate in this ridiculous outdated nonsense. There is no pressure to upsell other products once on the ship. So our cruise was very enjoyable and a welcome change from " main line" cruise companies. We enjoyed most of the culture and seemed to be with like-minded people of a very good mix of nationalities. They are quite expensive but we had a good deal on our repositioning cruise and will definitely be looking to cruise with Azamara again

Recently returned from the Pursuit transatlantic repositioning cruise from Lisbon to Rio. I was disappointed in the destination sea days daily talks. The elderly presenter has been employed by Azamara for years as he often confirmed. His speeches rambled and went into deep details about bananas one day. Sadly I think Azamara are out of date and not paying enough attention to what should be a key feature of their cruising ethos. I have experienced much more interesting talks on P&O cruises.

Surprising and disappointing to see that this level of cruise does not have at least a couple of liqueurs in the basic plan.

Another question on complimentary drinks. Some sites state that drinks are included but there is a 15 percent gratuity charged on all drinks. Other sites state that all gratuities are included. So what is the actual situation?