beachseeker

Funny I was disappointed in the fish. They ruin the sle bu nit giving me the butter sauce abd using a tomato base something. I got it due to you. Also many meals lacked seasoning . The best food I had were special ordered soups.

Robin, I'm sorry I steered you wrong. I thought the Sole was really good. The lobster was good, I had it twice and Greg once. While I would have preferred butter, the pasta it was served with was tasty. The lemoncello soufflé was wonderful. I had the special the first night, trout, and it was my least favorite entree. I love trout but it didn't taste fresh and was over cooked, IMO.

Just off the Journey as well. We were in 8046 and heard more noise than we did on our first two cruises but nothing that interrupted our sleeping. We booked the same room again.

Just off the Journey where we ate many of our 16 nights in either Prime C or Aqualina. Both were excellent in quality and service. The Chateaubriand in Prime C is the best steak we have ever eaten on a cruise. The MDR was very good as well. Did not have a bad meal on the whole cruise. We rated the food as excellent on our post cruise survey.

Final sea day. Seems like the 16 days passed so quickly but they have been a delightful 16 days. Our first cruise with Azamara four years ago was exceptional but our second was a bit disappointing so we so pleased that this cruise has exceeded our expectations. It has been as close to perfect as you can get. We change tier levels on Le Club Voyage after this cruise and we were able to book a cruise using our earned Free Nights on board for October 2017. It connects to a cruise we already have booked so we will be experiencing our first b2b.

The seas after leaving Cartagena did not calm as expected but finally smooth seas mid afternoon yesterday. Seas are absolutely beautiful today. We were invited to dine with the Chief Engineer last night in Discoveries. DH and I joked that after 20 cruises we finally received an invitation to dine with an officer. Guess we just needed a cruise long enough that they ran out of important people in invite! Joking aside, it was an unexpected invite and we enjoyed the evening dinner very much.

Pam, I have tried posting a couples of times and the Internet has timed out on me. Hopefully, I will be successful this time.

Friday was the transit through the Canal. It was the first transit for us, so we were on our balcony or a deck all day. We entered the first lock around 8:30 am and exited the last lock around 5 pm. It was very interesting and still amazed at the engineering involved. Hard to imagine something designed around 1914 is still functioning. After leaving the last lock, the seas picked up and we were rocking and rolling until midmorning on Saturday.

We docked in Cartagena midday and first to debark left the ship around 1 pm. We had a private tour of 6 with Dora. We left the ship together and met up with Dora's representative at the pier and she took us to meet Dora. We had a tour that went to the monastery, fort, and old walled city. It lasted slightly less than 4 hours and was very informative. It was a good tour and I would recommend Dora.

Saturday night was the White Night Party. Please don't make comments, but we just don't enjoy the buffet or barbecues hosted by Azamara. And the menu in

Discoveries was one of the strongest of the14 menus. So, we ate in Discoveries and then joined the party on the pool deck. It was a beautiful night and the party was hopping. We left around 10 and had a nightcap in Spirits.

We enjoyed the old city so much that we booked a tour of the walled city by horse drawn carriage through the ship for Sunday morning. While we visited many of the same sites as yesterday, our guide told us a few things we did not hear yesterday and we enjoyed the carriage ride through the old city. All aboard was at 11:00 am and we sailed for Miami. The captain is promising calm seas as we head to Miami.

Have there been any post-refurb reports on how in-suite dining is working with the tables that look too small for all the plates/glasses for a full set-up?

We have eaten breakfast on our balcony (CC suite) almost every morning. The table and chairs are the same from two years ago and plenty of room for dining. In the suite the table is very small and no longer raises (hydrolic doesn't work). I would not want to dine on it. I'm not sure why this small table was not replaced in the dry dock.

No, if you are in a CC Suite then it's Discoveries Restaurant and not the Specialties. Your butler can get you a copy of the menu during the day.

 

Phil

And the menus are now available on the new interactive TV on the Journey.

We had two busy days in the ports of San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua and Puntarenas, Costa Rico. In Nicaragua we took a ship's excursion to Granada and a boat ride on Lake Nicaragua. Our guide was very good and the biggest complaint that I heard from several people was that not enough time was allowed for wandering the city on our own. Yesterday, we toured with Thumbs Up for their 10 in 1 excursion. We highly recommend this trip. We saw monkeys, crocodiles, and scarlet macaws all in their natural habitat. The boat ride on the Tarcoles River was very enjoyable and informative. Great day here.

We ate last night in Prime C and had the Chateaubriand for two. Without a doubt, the best steak ever on a cruise ship. It was excellent. The daily wine was a repeat of day 2 so we may have seen all the wine choices at this point. All have been good with a couple of really good ones.

On the Journey now and have successfully ordered both a lemon drop and a cosmopolitan.

I am enjoying your report so very much! I did have to chuckle when you got a phone call wanting you to give up your tub room because people with showers wanted tubs, after the debate raged on for pages over whether or not they should just eliminate all those terrible tubs. Wish you had a plug, though.

I thought the phone call was interesting as well. We did receive a generic stopper for the tub a couple of days after we sailed so all is good there, When I was looking at future cruises there appear to be more suites available with showers versus tubs.. Interesting after all the comments about showers vs tubs.

Today was a sea day. We were blessed with very calm seas and the wildlife put on a show for us. We were entertained by dolphins, sea turtles and what appeared to be sailfish for most of the day. Lunch was a pool side buffet served by the officers. Great day!

Hualtuco, what a sweet hidden gem. We were disappointed when the itinerary changed a couple of months ago from Ixtapa to Hualtuco but now so glad it did. Hualtuco is a quaint, noncommercialized port with beautiful beaches and scenery. DH went snorkeling and while it wasn't his best snorkeling spot, he enjoyed it and saw quite a bit of coral and fish. I went on the bird watching Eco tour. They divided us into three small groups, each with 10 or less. Our group identified 30 different birds, many of them new sightings for me. The guide was a naturalist and very helpful. DH and I met up after our tours and we had lunch at one of the beach bars by the pier. The bill was in pesos and their exchanged rate was robbery. We would have been better off to exchange for some pesos on the boat. Oh well, it wasn't that much money. Our biggest disappointment was that we left at 2:00. Would love to have stayed longer so we could have enjoyed some beach time. Hualtuco, hope to see you again!

We are on our 2nd sea day following Cabo. Seas are calm and weather is perfect. Yesterday was the Le Club Voyage Loyalty Bruch. OMG, the amount of food available. Needless to say, we didn't eat again until dinner. It was a very nice event. We have eaten in both speciality restaurants, MDR, and the Patio and the food everywhere is very good to excellent. The prime rib in Discoveries last night was so tender and great flavor. Much, much better than we have had on any other cruise. The shows in Cabaret have been very enjoyable so far and the production singers and dancers are very talented. Huatalco tomorrow!

Hi Beachseeker

If you get a chance, can you check the Mosaic menu to see if you can still buy a Nespresso coffee for an additional fee, thanks

I'm not a coffee drinker but DH said that Nepresso coffee is on the menu in Mosaics.

The unlimited internet packages if you want one for the whole cruise make the LCV and suite minutes worthless. I find it odd.

 

Phil

DH bought the unlimited for work. I use the minutes that we received from our suite benefits. The only benefit we receive from the suite perks is that we can both be online at the same time. Not really much of a benefit. We find the speed and connectivity to be as good as Celebrity and Princess which were our last two cruises.

We arrived in Cabo early and tendering for the Azamazing Evening began at 7:15. It was very organized but did take 2 hours to get everyone to the venue. The "Dance of the Dead" was held in a remote setting with a beautiful backdrop of mountains. The performance was good, plenty, plenty of drinks and food available and an extra special ending with a wonderful firework display. Overall, very well done. At the tender station champagne was available. It was a little after 11:30 when we returned to the ship and a late night buffet was available in Discoveries.

This morning we did a private 2 hour whale watching excursion and saw a breach and several whales showing us their tales. For a two hour trip we were very pleased with the number of whales spotted.

I have been told that the CC Meet & Greet used to be scheduled in the Looking Glass. Will the new Living Room configuration be suitable?

Living Room was where our Meet and Greet was held Monday on the Journey. When it started the room was very crowded and they had to ask several guests to move to make space for CC guests. Everyone was polite about moving but I didn't like the feel of displacing people. Tony made the comment that he preferred the Drawing Room. If the meet and greet had been held on the first sea day in the AM, the Living Room would had been a nice setting, but the Living Room now is too popular to hold events there between 5 and 8 pm. Last night we couldn't get a seat at 5:30. There was a special event on one side so it was overflowing with people.

DH bought the unlimited yesterday on the Journey. It had to be bought in the first two days of the cruise and was around $25 per day.

We enjoyed a wonderful meal in Prime C and saw the Welcoming Show in Cabaret. All nicely done. We have a bathtub but no stopper but I made a makeshift stopper. We did receive a phone call asking us if we would switch rooms. They had several requests for guests with only showers wanting a tub.

Today is a cloudy, cool day but Captain promises warmer weather tomorrow as we head to Cabo.

Wow, laundry still not working. Has anyone reported - is this new machines that were installed as part of the dry dock, or the old machines. Trying to figure out what might be the issues after all this time.....

 

(at least they gave you a letter about the laundry though, so you didn't have to figure it out yourself by going to guest services to ask...)

Room Steward said the free laundry is in addition to our 2 free bags via suite perks.

We are in CC suite 8046. Room is okay. Plenty of storage, much better than the photos showed. We have a tub and either the tub is the original tub or it is already chipped. The flooring as you come into the room is already showing wear and tear. The carpet, again, much better than the pictures showed and looks good. The laundry room is still not functional and we received a letter telling us that we would receive a free bag of laundry each week. There is a schedule depending on which floor your room is located. Don't know yet if we will get this in addition to our suite laundry benefit but I'm thinking not. We also have a notice in our room that the TV software is still not 100% and we will receive a 50% discount on Pay Per View movies on sea days. I'm not a movie watching person but a nice gesture. Overall, room is nice. The cabinets and storage don't look very sturdy and not sure how long it will hold up but right now it has a pleasing appearance.

We are onboard. Arrived at the pier at 11:00, checked in and on the ship quickly. Made our speciality reservations and lunch at Windows sitting outside. It is a beautiful day. The Journey looks lovely, new carpet much better in person. We moved to the pool bar and enjoying the great weather and are eagerly waiting to see our stateroom. CC meeting is tonight at 6:00. Great start to a much anticipated cruise.

We received an email about it right before leaving for the cruise. I went down to the excursion desk when we boarded and there was a sign on the Land Discoveries desk about it. I did not see anything about it in the excursion brochures. It was $79 per person.

Thanks. We sail on Monday and no email yet. Will look when we board. I'm not sure we would book it but I would like to see the offer. On our last Azamra cruise, the Azamazing Evening was not set up well. We thought we had good seats, but they let people stand in front of the chairs and we couldn't see anything.

The other suggestion is to take advantage of the premier package for the Azamazing evening. Usually it is priority transportation and priority seating at the event. It also includes other extras. We did the one in Cartagena and enjoyed it. Besides the transport and seating, there was a reception with the performer backstage afterwards with champagne, food, pictures, and gifts. We got the performers CD and a goodie bag of Colombian products (no emeralds though). We said that we would do it again if offered.

 

Just a couple of thoughts. Enjoy your trip!!

I have not heard about this before. How did you learn about this option, precruise or onboard?

Me too. We're sailing on a Princess ship in October and I have just begun to look at restaurants, etc.

I booked it because I couldn't find a California Coastal with a decent itinerary or that matched our time frame.

I wish Azamara would do that itinerary.

Azamara does have a San Diego to San Diego in February 2018.

When DH purchased the premium beverage package two years ago it included the beer package.