BBQ Lover

I have been told that they can't dock in American ports because their engines don't pass current air pollution laws. That's just what I've been told. I'm not sure how true it is.

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Nobody ever asked to see our sailcard when signing for bills. All they did was ask for our room number. However, you do need your sail card to get back into your room, so you do need to carry it around with you.

Make sure to review your room portfolio while on board. Somebody was signing beers to our room number and we would not have known if we didn't look at our portfolio.

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Do they also feed you dinner at the event?

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We are new to Azamara. Our upcoming Azamara cruise has an opera based Azamazing Evening in Livorno which features three tenors singer Italian opera favorites. We are really not opera people. In fact, I wouldn't go to an opera at home if somebody gave me free tickets.

My question- Is this Azamazing Evening something so special that it shouldn't be missed or would non opera fans be better off exploring Florence after dark.

Thanks in advance

Kevin

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We did a Princess cruise in 2008 that went to Barbados after visiting Devil's Island. A yellow fever card was mandatory to board the ship. We were told that Barbados was the country that was demanding the vaccination and that no shot meant no cruise. Barbados was requiring the shot because of the previous port call at Devil's Island. Also, the shot had to be administered at least ten days prior to the cruise.

We went to a local doctor that was a travel specialist and got the shots. He said that the shot was good for ten years. He also advised us of more vaccination concerns that pertained to our cruise.

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You could use a VPN to virtually change your location to the US.

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Post #2 said

Post #2 my have said that all suites were being renovated but post #3 implied that it was only the Neptune suites that were getting renovated.

"We had your same suite in January, 6-7 weeks before refurb. I pointed out some deficiencies in the suite, which HAL compensated us for, and they stated the suite was to be refurbished during dry dock along with all the other Neptunes."

There is no reason to get snarky. I was only looking for clarification, which is something that you failed to provide

.

Was it just the Neptune Suites that were renovated or were the Signature Suites also overhauled?

Monday is a sea day from Antigua to Tortola. Windsurf leaves Tortola at 6pm on Tuesday and arrives at Jost Van Dyke one hour later. It then does an overnight at JVD and leaves at 3pm on Wednesday. She spends twenty hours at JVD during the port stop.

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Once on board, your friends could have actually had the OBC applied towards their excursions and received the money back as a reimbursement to their credit card. How do I know this? I picked up the phone and called Windstar.

 

I am a big believer in being proactive rather than reactive. Proactive people are more likely to get what they want. Reactive people are more likely to end up on Cruise Critic and blame the cruise lines for everything that they feel went wrong during their cruise.

 

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I feel the need to clarify the process for having the OBC applied to your previously booked excursions. You technically have to cancel the excursion and rebook it with the OBC. This means that you must cancel the excursion before the cancellation period is over. I believe the cancellation period ends 48 hours prior to the beginning of the excursion; however, I'm not sure on that. It might be 24 hours prior to the excursion. Maybe somebody else might be able shed more light on this matter.

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We were busy before the cruise and neglected to prebook excursions. We did not prebook anything before we embarked. We used our OBC for excursions and laundry service. Our friends are great planners and prebooked all of their excursions. They actually took more excursions than us. By the time they became aware that they could not use oBC for tips, it was too late to buy anything. In our case, it was doubt luck that we spent our OBC. If I hadn't been so busy, I may have lost my OBC too.

Windstar should notify guests when they book the cruise that OBC cannot be used for tips. And, again, when guests embark. This was not my first Windstar cruise. I do not remember this policy on previous cruises.i don't have a problem with the policy. I just want guests to be aware before the end of their cruise.

Once on board, your friends could have actually had the OBC applied towards their excursions and received the money back as a reimbursement to their credit card. How do I know this? I picked up the phone and called Windstar.

I am a big believer in being proactive rather than reactive. Proactive people are more likely to get what they want. Reactive people are more likely to end up on Cruise Critic and blame the cruise lines for everything that they feel went wrong during their cruise.

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Windstar's policy is that OBC's can be used for anything except the casino and gratuities. By definition, OBC's must be used while on board the ship. How do I know this? I made a phone call to Windstar and asked them.

You can jump right off the back of the boat and swim. There was floating pads that you could lounge on and an inflatable trampoline/slide thing that you could play on. It was never crowded on our cruise. I enjoyed it.

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The new price reduction policy is only good for new bookings made after June 27, 2016. Even if you had gotten that email last week, you would still not have been eligible.

WiFi is available. It's very expensive and it's very slow.

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Both. And if you have a self adjusting voltage appliance pick up a 2 prong euro adapter so you can use that one too. There is also an outlet thats kind of hidden on the wall next to the bed. Perfect for newer CPAPs. Again you would need a euro two prong. You do not need a power converter, just the plug.

 

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CPAPs?

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Right you are, sir! Now if I had some cash laying around idle, I'd be all set!:):p

I know what you mean. We are not being rich people either. What started out as, "Hey, let's do something special for your 60th birthday," is turning into something that might break the coffers. If only I had an extra bag of cash lying around.[emoji383]

We are trying to rationalize the decision by saying that it would be our trip of a lifetime. We may as well do it while we can still walk.

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That sounds fantastic, BBQ Lover. What a concept. In the pantheon on outstanding B2B cruises, you may have selected the best possible combo out there. Well done! (Actually, you probably like your stuff medium rare, but you know what I mean.) :p:);)

I just looked and Breeze is doing the Italy and Dalmation Coast right before your Venetian Passageways. I'm just saying.. . [emoji634]

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We think we have found our happy medium. B2B Italy and Dalmation Coast along with Venetian Passageways on Legend next May. Three stops in Italy, four in Greece, and seven in Kotor and Croatia. Great itineraries, best time of the year, overnight in Venice, and only two repeated ports. Dubrovnik and Kotor are the repeated ports, and by all accounts they are worthy ports to be repeated.

The only drawback might be that it is on one of the power ships rather than a sailing ship. I guess it's time to try one of the power ships. I'm sure it will be nice to have a larger stateroom.

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I got really excited when I saw that Venice to Venice Croatian itinerary. I also like the twelve day Croatia repositioning from Athens to Venice at the start and end of the Croatia cruises. However, I don't want to go to the Mediterranean in July and August. Too hot, and too many crowds. Put that cruise in May or September and we would be all over it.

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I think what I was trying say was its all imperfect , I would have showered and washed my hands , but as you say and I said there are lots of other sources of contamination all along the way , now we are presuming as well that every piece of food and process to said food is perfect , and it's not !

 

Anyway was still a great cruise , more concerned my self about poor dress LOL .

 

I would be interested to have some ship tours with an engineering officer and a bridge tour with a nav officer .

Right on. I'm glad you had a good time. We are looking to try a very similar itinerary on Riviera next year and hope to have as equally of a good time.

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I think the best thing for you to do, IMO, would be to actually sail on Oceania and then decide for yourself whether there is a "class system" on Oceania or not.

It will be much more accurate for your purposes rather than relying on opinions of other - whether they are "pro or con" on this subject. Only you can decide for yourself how you feel about it after the cruise - obviously others have all sorts of opinions on this subject.

These are THEIR opinions and observations - they may not be the same as yours.

Happy sailing - on whichever cruise line you choose.

Sounds like a good idea. Right now we are looking at Venice to Barcelona on Riviera next May. We are also looking at a Rome to Rome Wind Surf itinerary near the same time called Sicilian Splendors. Both sailings have their pros and cons. We are currently leaning towards Riviera because we really want to try Oceania, and we will also get more exposure to different areas of the Mediterranean on the Riviera cruise. I really don't think can go wrong with either itinerary, and that why it is so difficult to choose between them.

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Agree with most of your post. However, I have learned on this thread that many people simply accept that they can't board with everyone else - are unable to have a hot breakfast, etc. IMO, that is sad. Yes - if you pay more you are entitled to more benefits (including a larger suite, butler, etc.), but those benefits should be invisible to other passengers and once you step outside of your stateroom/suite everyone should be treated the same. It is truly puzzling why people in the U.S. in particular (there is a true class system in many countries in the world) simply accept whatever is (or is not) offered to them.

Will said TC2. Perks should be invisible to other passengers once we step out of our staterooms. That was the whole point behind my question in the original post..

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The change of port really didn't bother us as we rarely take any excursions. We holiday on a cruise for different reasons.

 

 

palomos was really a very pleasant little town

 

 

The point is the gel may or may not be effective against virus type inflections but it's better than nowt and it is effective against bacteriological infections and god knows what is on door handles, hand rails,lift buttons etc etc , between your room and hand washing and the restaurant/bar where you are likely to handle food. It was other guests who I felt gave to odd looks not the staff.

I said that I wash my hands immediately before going to the dining room. That means that I use the wash room room right next to the dining room and open the door with a towel. My hands are just as clean or cleaner after that washing than yours are after using the gel station.

BTW- what happens when you touch anything between the time that you use the gel and the time that you are actually served your food? Your hands get dirty too. The argument that my hands are dirtier than yours has no logical basis. Neither does the argument that you use the hand gel because it is better than nothing. Using the gel is the equivalent of doing nothing when your hands are already clean.

The simple truth is that hand sanitizers are largely ineffective against stopping the spread of Norovirus. Washing your hands with soap and warm water is the best way to help prevent the disease. I properly wash my hands immediately before going to the dining room, and I refuse to put that sticky gel all over my nice clean hands.

The cruise lines know that the hand sanitizers don't protect against Noro, and that's probably why they don't police the use of the gel stations. All the hand sanitizers do is give people a false sense of security against Noro. That is why I believe that the gel stations actually do more harm than good. People often forgo washing their hands because they erroneously believe that the hand sanitizers will do a better job of cleaning their hands. Removing the gel stations would probably result in more people properly washing their hands before going to the dining room, and actually help to reduce the spread of the Norovirus.

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