malcliz

Are the upgrades still working? I keep getting the message ‘sorry looks like you’re not eligible for an upgrade at this time’ but we seem to fit the conditions. 

1 hour ago, Huntingdon1701 said:

Absolutely agree about the stress! Although being able to get back to cruising sooner rather than later will be worth it all. 

 

Can you provide any more detail on the antigen test? I wasn't able to find one that met the requirements on gov.uk, so if you've got more info on one that was accepted that would be really helpful. 

We used Medicspot who are on the BA list (with a discount code of BA) and on the whole it worked well but we needed to contact them and couldn't find any way of getting in touch and their 'Chat' was just a Bot which was frustrating. We got the Day 2 (and 8) from Randox who were the cheapest at the time and the tests had to be dropped in a mailbox outside the Roadchef. Quite random but it worked! Hoping we won't need the tests by September.

3 hours ago, excitedofharpenden said:

What a palava!

 

Phil 

Yes it really is Phil, not to mention the cost of the tests and the stress in case the results don’t come through on time!  Liz

We have booked one of the first cruises too. I believe the test to return to the UK can be an antigen test which can be bought in the UK and taken with us. Some of our family just did this on returning from Portugal. The completed test had to be taken within 48 hours of travel and laid on a paper showing the reference number with an open passport and a photo taken and uploaded. The fit to fly certificate is emailed through within 12 hours. The day 2 test has to be ordered in advance as the reference number is needed for the passenger locator form on return.  Waiting to see if the Government change their advice on international cruise travel though. 

We love Crystal too being all inclusive and very friendly with no set dining times so you can eat at a time you choose with the option to dine with others or at a table for 2 if you prefer.  The tours are great with many ‘special Crystal moments’. They have their own extremely spacious and comfortable tour buses that follow the ship. 

Does anyone know what the minutes are for a veranda (not veranda plus)?  The letter refers to other room types in the sentence at the foot of the first page but they don’t seem to be in the chart as it says they are?

On the Pursuit there were 2 in our room which are changed as necessary and it said there would be a charge if not returned.   We prefer to pick them up as we leave the ship and dump them in the bin on our return but the bins aren’t there now.

16 minutes ago, Host Grandma Cruising said:

I was told that using your LCV free nights doesn’t count as a special deal.

That’s possibly because when you book it, you book it at full price - you can’t combine using them with a promotional price. We used our 4 nights for our recent Norway cruise and were offered the chance to bid for an upgrade and were successful.

Oh yes, that’s true. Have to pay full price for the other days. 

This doesn’t make sense. We booked under a very special deal - a 7 night cruise with 6 free days - but we were still eligible to bid. 

11 hours ago, Werangels said:

 

Yes! Haha!  Lovely to put names to faces so to speak!

 

Did you go the following day?

Yes we did!  It was good. Missed the engine room one though. I knew it was you when you mentioned hiring the boat!  Loving your photos - we loved the cruise so much!

Lovely photos. We were on the same cruise and wonder if we met you.  Were you invited to a galley tour but you couldn’t go because you had hired the boat?  We went in the wrong day initially.  We loved Vishal as well!

Date of cruise - 29th June
Length - 7 days
LCV - Discoverer Plus
Bid submitted - 5th May
Amounts bid - £1,540 total from N2 to Club World Owners or £1,320 total to Club Ocean. Both weakest bids.
Success email - 30th May to Club World Owners for £1,540 total

We decided to bid as we used 6 free days for the cruise. We knew which deck we were bidding for as there were only 2 left. Upgrade came with full perks such as OBC and best of best dinner.

12 hours ago, Lottie A said:

Yes, I do understand the logistics problems Phil but my point stands for closing the MDR at breakfast in order to hold a LCV event for higher tier members. I think it should be a public space for all passengers to enjoy their breakfast and not just those of us in the higher LCV tiers. Maybe I'm a Communist! 😄

 

Of course I would be there now anyway, but when I was Adventurer level I would have been very annoyed had the MDR been off limits to me, even for one day. I much prefer breakfast in Discoveries rather than Windows. 

 

I wonder where the Discoverer and above brekkie will be held on Pursuit next week?  

Last week on the Pursuit it was in Prime C. 

Azamara Pursuit

8088 Club World Owners. Loved everything about it. 

Had read comments about scraping chairs noise from Windows open deck above and we did hear it but it didn’t bother us at all.

The balcony was huge with 2 sunbeds and 1 reclining chair too. Balcony slightly narrower than owners’ suites on lower decks. Loved having 2 toilets. What a treat, one each!

Thank you for your blogs and all your photos. We enjoyed them very much as we were also on this cruise and enjoyed it very much too. We are in some of your videos of the White Night Party.  We had our family with us who had never Cruised before and they loved the cruise too.  

We were disappointed on our recent cruise that the back deck didn’t open until 7.30 and sometimes later. This happened on the Quest too many years ago but not recently. Also why no umbrellas on the row of tables along the edge as on the other ships? That row of tables didn’t even seem to have holes for the umbrellas although the tables under cover did have holes but were covered with tablecloths?   Next week our room is directly under this open deck but we would still like it to open earlier.

Thank you Bonnie. That’s great news that San Basillio is still scheduled as we board the Pursuit next week too. We only disembarked the Pursuit last week and that was at Marittima and the damaged River Countess was still at San Basillio then. We took a water taxi from our hotel close to San Basillio to Marittima which actually was a great way to arrive but as our last day is in Venice this time, San Basillio will be much more convenient. 

Does anyone know if there will be a White Night party on this cruise?  Last time we were on a 3 day cruise a couple of years ago there was a lively white night. We are hoping there will be as we are cruising with our family this time and know they would enjoy it and we would like them to experience all the ways we love Azamara.

We loved the food, service and relaxed atmosphere at Earth and Ocean and cancelled our reservation at TK to eat there!

Has anyone else got a child’s haircut at midnight as an event on the daily planner?  Very odd 😂

Loved the way Captain Jose always said ‘It’s nothing for a ship of this size’ (sea conditions). We will miss him. 

I agree Richard and his team are brilliant. They are so helpful in sorting out any issues we have and very responsive to any queries.  What a great team they are!

I can’t open your pdf but yes there are a few padded loungers on deck 10 on the balcony that have some shade. 

8 minutes ago, Philandher said:

Can anybody confirm or otherwise if the sunbeds provided by Seabourn have mattresses or not.

Thanks.

No they don’t. It’s the one thing I don’t like about Seabourn and I find them uncomfortable. The only sunbeds wth mattresses are on the sun deck on deck 11 where there is no shade.  Hoping this might change!

2 hours ago, ssb1951 said:

Sailed on Mahler Oct.19-Nov 4. Ship is fantastic, crew is typical Crystal Crew, AMAZING!! Although the itinerary was not what we signed up for we found the itinerary very interesting.... primarily Netherlands, Belgium and Germany. Excursions were very good and groups were kept small. Crystal provided hearing equipment so guide could be heard by everyone in the group. This is a huge advantage for a photographer... allows one to go ahead or lag behind and still hear the guide.

 

Once you get past the air changes, I don't think anyone would be disappointed with an altered itinerary.

We agree completely.  We boarded on the 4th Nov and there were only 29 guests that week but even when numbers increased, the service was still fantastic.

We enjoyed the changed itinerary and the ports.   We learnt a lot about places we had never been, even though we live in the UK, not far away! We visited art galleries, museums, churches, castles and historic houses. We tasted cheese and beer and wine.   We enjoyed lots of Dutch apple pie!  We went on canal boat rides and climbed to the top of a windmill and learnt about all things Dutch!  We had lots of 'Crystal moments' including the Signature Event which was a wonderful concert in an Abbey. We thought the tours, all complimentary, were really good in Crystal’s own super comfortable coaches with small groups and accompanied by excellent guides and a member of Crystal's crew.  Although this wasn't our original chosen itinerary or our originally booked ship, we had a great time. There was such a friendly atmosphere on board too.