Marmaduke

Azura was due a refit last year after her Caribbean season, obviously that didn't happen.  When I was on her in 2018 the cabins furnishings were looking worn and by  February 2020 they were even worse and the whole ship had a tired run down feel. Does anyone know if that posponed refit is due before she re-enters service . My travel agent didn't seem to think so.  I am begining to regret booking for 2022.

Maybe this "Comfort Check In" is the reason why CPS cannot provide valet parking at Portsmouth.  If you have to adhere to a time slot for checking in at the port and you turn up early then you could wait in your parked car, only a thought.

6 hours ago, pcolmer said:

I've been giving some further thought to this and I don't think it is related to the size of the Portsmouth terminal as the CPS website seems to suggest that they support a number of cruise lines operating out of Portsmouth.

 

Since the change came at the request of Viking, I think it is more likely that this is to try and reduce the risk of spreading COVID. By eliminating the valet aspect, you don't have to interact with anyone from CPS and they don't interact with your car or car keys.

 

In which case bonus points for Viking for continuing to think about how to keep the risks down.

I doubt this can be the reason.  What about all those arriving by public transport, they will have interacted with many other people on their journey to the ship.

After reading the various posts about  the possible ending of reciprocal  status between Aazmara and  Celebrity I decided to check my past history with Azamara. 

Not having been cruising for 18 months it had been a while since I last checked.  I found that my number of points and my loyalty tier were correct but three of the cruises I took with Azamara in 2019 and one with Celebrity also in 2019   were not listed, but the cruise in 2020 which Azamara cancelled due to covid was showing as a past voyage, thus  my total number of cruises was incorrect .  Has any one else noticed any discrepancies in their history? I have details of the missing cruises so is it worth contacting anyone, and if so who, or shall  I just wait until  the independance of Azamara is finalised.  Prior to 2019 all cruises listed are correct including those with Celebrity.

The bathrooms on the R Class ships are small but there is no way that they can be enlarged, however when it comes to refurnishing the new ship perhaps they could consider replacing the shower curtain with glass doors.  Oceania have done this successfully when they upgraded their R Class ships.

2 hours ago, Bloodaxe said:

 

I  believe P and O have a Ventura, it's difficult to find a new one but Pursuit was quite a surprise to me.

P  & O do have a ship called Ventura which  has an unfortunate, derogatory nickname.

What will be interesting to see is whether  Celebrity's competitors e.g. Princess and Holland America move to a more "inclusive" product.  I only hope that Celebrity will be employing more bar staff.  I last cruised with them 2 years ago and along with  the majority of the other 2,000 passengers had a drinks package included as a booking perk.  Getting a drink on board at one of the bars was a complete bun fight.  Never had a problem obtaining a drink on Azamara, so I am in no rush to try the "new" Celebrity.

On 4/8/2020 at 3:51 PM, jo-b said:

Under current UK package travel laws a cruise is a package holiday and if it is cancelled or changed radically you are entitled to a full refund. Yours is a true package under ATOL protection. As far as I know the same entitlement applies. 
 

ABTA are asking the government to amend the package holiday directive  legislation o that you can get a future refund certificate valid for two years that if not used at then end of two years, or if the company goes bust ABTA will Refund in cash at that time. 
 

There is a lot of info online about this at the moment. 

After reading the above reply  I did some research  and as I understand it would appear that ABTA is lobbying  for legislation whereby voucher will be issued which will be valid for 2 years and if not used within that time frame a full refund will be made by ABTA, backed by the UK government.  This is not yet in force but maybe by the time Oceania officially cancels the cruise.

I have decided to not to cancel the cruise but to just wait and hope for a full refund to the credit card.  Worse case it seems that I will get a full refund in 2 years time.   I certainly intend to travel with Oceania again but in these uncertain times who know when or where.

I did have a cruise in April with Azamara, booked with different TA who also packaged it for me with flights and hotels for which I  received an ATOL certificate.  Azamara cancelled that cruise last month and that TA has assured me that I will get a full refund for all monies paid although it may take several weeks.

I am in the UK and have an Oceania Cruise booked for the end of June 2020.  My travel agent  has packaged this with flights of my choosing and transfers and provided me with an ATOL Certificate.  This package in total cost around £7000.  This cruise has yet to be officially cancelled by Oceania but it is highly likely that it will be (currently showing as waitlisted in all categories).  I have just recieved a call from the TA advising me that higher cancellation charges are due to kick in tomorrow and if I want to cancel now I can get a refund of £5200 plus a FFC of £1300 but I will lose £1800 for the flight and transfer costs as the flights have yet to be cancelled. 

Alternatively if I  wait for Oceania cancel the cruise, they (Oceania) will give me a future cruise credit of 125% but may not give the option of 100% cash refund.  In this instant I will be fully refunded the cost of my flights and transfers.  

Has anyone else in the UK  heard of this ?  All I want is a full refund to my credit card in event of Oceania cancelling the cruise.

This week I received an email from Azamara congratulating me on moving up to the Explorer Tier of the LCV.  I reached the Discover Plus tier over a year ago. Today I received an email wishing me a Happy Birthday.  A nice touch, but my birthday was over 2 months ago.  

I suppose I shouldn't complain as I do receive regular emails, when I know many of you do not,  but it does make me  wonder how accurate and secure Azamara's recording keeping is.

I had the pleasure of meeting Richard Twynam aboard Pusuit last year and have recieved help from him on several occasions. He always responded to emails and was able to put me in touch with someone who could help. Very sorry to see that the UK team is being disbanded. A retrograde step.

Getting back to the OP original questions - the differences between Azamara and Oceania.  We love the friendly relaxed atmosphere on board Azamara and agree that the crew will go the extra mile to help whatever the problem.  The quality of the food on Oceania is better  but I think there is more variety on Azamara.  On Oceania everyone gets to eat in each of the specialty restaurants at least once and there is no charge.  If you have the basic drinks package on Oceania (wine with lunch and dinner) you can have any of the wines on the list that they sell by the glass, and they are far better quality than the wine of the day on Azamara. Champagne is also included.  Oceania is in the process of refreshing their R Class ships and they are doing an excellent job.  They have taken all the dark wood units (desk, wardrobes etc.)  out of the cabins and replaced them with light grey units and it looks very smart.  They are unable to change the size of the bathrooms but have refitted them and the showers (small as they are) now have glass doors.    To sum up, I am happy to go on either cruise line, it comes down to price and itinerery.

We are also non golfers who have been on several Azamara cruises which have been designated Perry Golf cruises and have never had any problems and our overall enjoyment of the cruise has not been affected in any way.   

From November when the new loyalty benefits come into force it would appear that everyone who is Bronze and above will be recieving a tote bag and cap.  I aaume that this will be on every cruise.

Whilst on Sirena easlier this year I witnessed somebody hogging two chairs, one in the sun and one in the shade.  We prefer to use the chairs on deck 11 as we do not use the pool, but due to the wind the upper deck had been closed off. We fortunately mangaged to get two chairs in the sun by the pool but I noticed that the chair next to my husband remained vacant all morning apart from a laptop and ball cap!  After lunch the couple who had occupied the two chairs in the shade behind  us returned. The wife continued to sit in the shade but the gentleman proceed to occupy the bed next to my husband, having put on his ball cap and opened his laptop.  Mean while the bed in the shade next to the wife remained reserved with a bag. 

It might be worth going into your accounts (whilst you still can) and down loading your cruise history or printing off a hard copy. When Princess cruises re vamped their system a few years ago, many passengers  lost all or some of their cruise history and it took many months for it to be sorted and their lost cruises reinstated.

6 hours ago, hiccups said:

I got a phone call today from an unknown number in Miami, so I didn't answer.  When I listened to the voicemail it was from someone with the Azamara Shore Excursions department, asking if we needed any assistance booking excursions for our upcoming cruise.  I know it might not bother other people, but I didn't care for Azamara using the information I provided for my cruise to try to sell me something that is easily purchased online or onboard.

I got a similar call regarding my last Azamara Cruise a few months ago.  When I asked some detailed questions regarding specific ports of call, they were unable to answer them.

When is Journey due for a refit?

11 hours ago, LHT28 said:

hot breakfast

bottle of bubbly

3 free laundry bags @ 20 items per bag

4 free pressings

 

Value is  subjective

 

Not sure why people put prices per night  as you cannot book the cruise or cabin for a few nights  🙄

just saying

We always work out the cost of a cruise " per night" as it enables us to make a comparison 'like for like"

Do you have to book your O life excursions before the cruise or can you wait and book them onboard ?

I have just booked a cruise which includes all the O life amenities.  We don't normally do tours, prefering to explore on our own but since we have 6 included (3 each) we might as well use them.  I understand that tours with the prefix OS and OE cannot be booked  but is there are price limit on the rest of the tours?  If not it would make sense to go for the most expensive options (full day rather than 1/2 day)

When checking that the safe is empty,  I always run my fingers around the rim.  Some safes have a ledge inside at the front under which small items can become hidden.  I once found a ladies watch there.  I handed it in to reception and explained that it may have been left by the previous occupant of the cabin. A staff member took it from me but seemed disinterested, probably because it was the last day and they were busy.  I don't think the watch was of any great monetary value but it may have had great sentimental value to someone.

Oceania provide very simple, straightforward easy to operate (nothing digital) clocks in their staterooms.   The clock face is large easy to read and when you pick it up the face lights up so you can check the time during the night.

Glad to know that they are considering switching to large dispensers. This is a small step but one that is needed to help reduce the amount of plastic waste.  I like  Elemis toiletries but my favourite is the Bvlgari supplied on Oceania.

On 5/20/2019 at 7:01 PM, Lottie A said:

Yes you can put it on your account. Just go to Guest Relations and they will organise it for you. 

If you can  donate to the crew welfare via your on board account, can you donate any unused on board credit at the end of the cruise ?