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The Big “O” was a terrible place to watch baseball but yes, the bittereness of the Expos being spirited away by MLB still remains. Fortunately, Montreal has other attractions.

Add Sydney N.S, and that would be amazing. Not certain about navigating the St. Lawrence Seaway to Toronto. And without Ohtani who wants to go to Toronto anyway. 😀

It would be outstanding if ports included Sydney Nova Scotia allowing access to Louisburg and Cape Breton, especially in the autumn, and St. John’s Newfoundland.

Thanks for posting this. With Geert Wilders attempting to form a government in The Netherlands, the first suggested tour in Amsterdam would be very interesting and topical. Overall the tours look like a good addition for “Destination Immersion.” Well done!

I very much appreciated your suggestion re: Air Transat as that airline is not offered through my CC points system. Unfortunately its flights are somewhat limited in May/June and don’t match our needs. I created a separate thread to reply because I was in concerned about hijaking the original. Thanks again. Maybe Air Transat will fit into our future plans.

See my separate post

Not the OP, but thanks so much for your suggestion. Finding suitable flights out of Bordeaux next June has been a bit of a hassle. Never thought of a train to CDG.

According to the Azamara website there will be help provided if your flight is delayed providing you reserved through Azamara Air. This help could include delaying departure of the ship. Recently I tried to use the Air programme by calling the reservation number. Unfortunately, the agent I talked to was rather unhelpful. If I was more determined I would have called back to get a different agent. That agent also suggested that I could use the website to access Azamara Air. I have yet to discover how to do so. I would utilize the phone number. Best of luck! I hope you let us know if your questions are answered. And have a great cruise!

Thanks for helping me out. Your praise speaks well for the quality of the tour and its options.

Not really! I appreciate the special time of year when you are “boiling down” the sap. Always a significant event!

Many thanks! I am researching it now! I gather that the Guggenheim visit was part of a wider itinerary. The company, from their website, appears very professional.

Apologies for missing the Quest itinerary. Portimao would be interesting because I can’t recall any itinerary where it was included. I am certain that flying to Lisbon would offer more choices than to Bordeaux and thus some savings as well. A “little pricey” is a kind euphemism but I hope you see some sales and booking on board should provide some relief. I look forward to your choice. A small disagreement. I respect your point, but I maintain that it is never the wrong time for a maple syrup festival. 😀

I checked the listings and wonder if that cruise is on Onward, or am I looking at the wrong cruise? The Onward itinerary is equally exciting. A highlight for us would be Gehry’s Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao. Gehry’s architecture has had little impact on his hometown, Toronto, so we must travel to see it. We have also enjoyed the overnight in Seville on another itinerary and it is a marvellous experience. All the other ports we would love to return to, well maybe excepting Gibraltar, i don’t think you will regret this cruise! As for our health, our issues are minor compared to others. But I do have thoughts about signing up for a maple syrup festival while sailing Montreal to Iceland. I believe you are on that cruise.

It is the thirteen night Spain Intensive on Quest that leaves Barcelona on May 28th 2024 and arrives in Bordeaux on June 10th. We took a similar cruise but it ended in Greenwich. We absolutely loved that itinerary and this schedule is somewhat similar. I believe uktog may have been on that earlier cruise. Unfortunately health issues have limited our cruising, but we are optimistic about this opportunity. Fingers crossed.

Off topic, but we have plans to be on Scenic on the Seine next autumn.

Thanks!

I called AZ yesterday about flights. Once I got through the instructions the call was answered within seconds.

Thanks. That looks promising!

Thanks so much for that information.! We are in port for two days but realize that leaving the ship on the first day might be problematic. As I understand it the ship docks downtown so a tent makes sense and seems rather haphazard in terms of services. Your suggestion of staying in the city is valuable. Unfortunately neither of us are wine connoisseurs and visiting estates is not a huge priority. But we can do some research. i will look into booking The Intercontinental. As usual your response is hugely helpful. I had forgotten that river cruises also docked there. I may post on that forum.

I realize that Azamara only visits Bordeaux several times a season, but I would appreciate any descriptions of the process of debarking there, especially times of leaving the ship. Our flight has been moved to 10:30 am and that is one half hour earlier than Azamara recommends The alternatives are some arduous flights that day or staying in the city to depart the next day. Thanks for considering this.

I was always impressed with the presentation and performance skills of Mary the Harpist, but she was from Montreal and seemed to always include examples of Canadian works when we were nearby. She was very personable and we miss her. The other harpists tended not to share her rather magnetic personality and are not a huge loss in our view.

Impressive! And your words helped me envisage the changes in the appearance of the bridge. Thanks!

Coincidentally, I was organizing a closet and found two Azamara baseball-style caps. The earliest brandishes the title “Azamara Club Cruises”, the latter, bought five or six years ago, omits the “Club”. Perhaps the former will accrue some value as a limited edition. 😀 I always thought the “Club” appellation served two purposes. One was to distinguish Azamara from its ill fated relationship with mass- market Celebrity. The other was to reflect the indoor design of the ships which, no doubt incorrectly, I thought to represent the atmosphere of an Edwardian men’s club. Those with a better background in interior design will probably find this risible,

Your fourth paragraph is spot on! Good to see this important point reinforced.

As you probably know, Viking has an “expedition” ship on the Great Lakes. “Expedition” because it must be smaller than their regular ships in order to navigate the Welland Canal. Despite the fact that we have visited many of the ports and sights on the itinerary, we thought it would be interesting. Checking the prices put an end to that interest. i appreciate your comments on the Edge class as some other posters are quite critical.