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zennor

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Posts posted by zennor

    Douro 2018 - different itineraries on different lines

    in River Cruising

    Posted

    We are looking at booking a Douro river cruise May/Jun 2018 - have never done a river cruise before. It seems that these get booked up pretty quickly as there is currently little availability for 2017 so I'm starting to do some research in advance of 2018 dates being released - does anyone know when this normally happens?

     

    We want to spend some time in Porto at the start or end of the cruise so are not necessarily interested on ones with Lisbon extensions but the key will be to start or end in Porto. When I first started looking I thought that the stops and itineraries with excursions looked pretty similar sop I was just looking at dates and lines but now I'm not sure. We were thinking about Emerald but having read a review on Viking and then had a closer look at the itineraries, Viking seems to cover a lot more e.g. as visit to "Figueira de Castelo Rodrigo" from Barca d'Alva which I can't see on Emerald at all.

     

    So I need to do a lot more research but I wondered if anyone else here had already looked at this & compared itineraries? I also liked the look of Ama Waterways but their Porto to Porto cruise (Enticing Douro) has no dates in May & only 1 in Jun.

    Re-imagining Food Glorious Food

    in Azamara

    Posted

    Having recently come back from a cruise on the Quest (will write a review shortly), we felt the food offering in the MDR was OK but not particularly good and not as good as on previous trips. The offerings quite often had very little flavour. We like to eat fish so tended to choose the 'light' option in order to get this but we weren't impressed.

     

    As we had been upgraded to a suite we tried Aqualina twice. The food itself was much better than the MDR but we were disappointed that the 2 menus that had been on the website and were still displayed on the stateroom TV had been amalgamated into 1 limited menu with only one fish option - Dover Sole - so we had this twice. That was very good.

     

    The other issue with Aqualina, which was a general complaint by many passengers, was that you had to choose between the early or late sitting - either eat around 6pm or 9pm. The only way to eat at 7:30 pm was to ask to sit at a 'sharing' table. We did this once but it was already full the second time we booked so we had to eat at 6pm.

     

    If we had not been in a suite, I would not have paid to eat there with those time limitations.

    Included Cocktails

    in Azamara

    Posted

    A little while ago I'm pretty sure that someone here produced a very useful listed of the Included (i.e. Free of Charge) cocktails and what they contained. Can anyone point me in the right direction?

     

    When we were last on Azamara, there was a list at the back of the Cocktail Menu - but unlike the Premium Cocktails there was no description so I could only choose the ones I knew.

     

    Does anyone have that useful list? Thanks.

    Experience with "Stateroom Upgrade Benefit"

    in Azamara

    Posted

    Just had our "upgrade call" from our TA for our cruise on Dec 2nd. We are only on the first level of the loyalty club so I expect they had already made a few calls. We were originally in a V3 (verandah) and were offered 3 different Club Continent Suites. I asked if I could get back to them but they couldn't guarantee holding them so I went ahead and I think we are now in an N1. Am not sure that we'll make use of all the extras but for £218 it would have been silly not to have gone ahead!

     

    I know that suites have a bathtub - but do they have a shower as well? I assume that we'll now get the extra internet, laundry etc. too. Re the complimentary seating in the speciality restaurants - do we have to book a specific time?

    Luggage tags

    in Azamara

    Posted

    I have requested ours twice but they haven't arrived. If they aren't sending them what's the point of having the form to fill in & saying that they will be sent?

     

    The response from our TA was:

     

    "I have checked Azamara will send your luggage labels on the reverse of your guest booklet, this will be sent approx 10 days before departure."

     

    So I'll have to print that and use those plastic holders I got from Amazon. :mad:

    Luggage tags

    in Azamara

    Posted

    Ours appeared about 6 weeks before cruise date (2 weeks ago) & I requested the labels but they haven't arrived yet. I've just requested them again.

     

    But I have bought the suggested plastic tags so I'll print my own if neccessry :mad:

    Embarkation in Hong Kong - Times etc.

    in Azamara

    Posted · Edited by zennor

    Do you mean the Salisbury YMCA? We will be staying there for three nights from Sunday 29th November.

     

    We last embarked on the Quest from Hong Kong in March 2012. There was a gate to the right of the Ocean Terminal and the bag-drop was at the far end, so you really need to get a taxi.

     

    On that trip we departed at 5pm so we just had lunch onboard and enjoyed the views of the harbour for the rest of the afternoon.

     

    We think we should be able to check-in soon after 12. A late check-in would cause the muster drill to clash with the start of dinner in Discoveries (which is one of the muster stations).

     

    Kampol and Lee.

     

    Yes we are at the Salisbury YMCA too from 28th. Thanks for advice re taxi - I thought that might be best. Booklet says "Check-in for this cruise will occur in the Ocean Terminal ‘Cruise Passenger Hall’ located on Level 2 of the Harbour City Shopping Center." and "Baggage Drop Off: All checked luggage will be collected before check-in at the drop off location/baggage room -*located on the ground floor of the Harbour City building" so maybe we can drop luggage off earlier?

     

    It also says check-in 15:00 - 19:00. Am not sure how this works out with dinner or muster drill. I think they sometimes repeat the muster drill for late arrivals.

     

    We'll probably just eat early in the buffet so that we can be on deck at 8pm!

    Luggage tags

    in Azamara

    Posted

    Our Luggage Label button appeared today for our Dec 2nd cruise but I think it appeared earlier for others. I had to chase our TA when the Express Passes didn't appear (but others on roll call had them) and they appeared this morning after getting the email from RCI telling us. A few hours later the link to Cruise E-Docs and 'Order Luggage Labels' appeared. Once I'd filled in the order form the button changed to 'Print' Labels.

     

    Think I will order those holders from Amazon anyway - look useful! Thank you.

    Embarkation in Hong Kong - Times etc.

    in Azamara

    Posted

    We are due to set sail on the Quest from Hong Kong on Dec 2nd at 8:30 pm - great timing for the light show at 8pm. Someone on our roll call has mentioned check-in is between 3 and 7 pm although we have no cruise booklet yet.

     

    I just wondered if we were able to check-in any earlier and leave our luggage and then get off again to carry on exploring Hong Kong? We'll be staying at the Salisbury near the terminal (but not sure if close enough to walk to ship with luggage) and check-out from the hotel is 12 noon. I assume that we could leave luggage at hotel if necessary but it's nice to get it on board and out of the way.

     

    When we embarked at Venice we could check in, leave luggage, even have early lunch & then get off but regulations were different in Istanbul (June '13) and we only found out just in time that we could not get off once we had been through passports so we left luggage at the terminal and did not check-in to the ship until later.

     

    So if anyone has embarked from Hong Kong, it would be good to know the procedure - Thanks!

    Hong Kong to vietnam

    in Azamara

    Posted

    Azamazing is probably in Bangkok..

     

    This itinerary doesn't include Thailand. It's a 10 day cruise from Hong to Singapore and only includes Vietnam (3 ports but overnight at each one) so the Azamazing evening is in HCMC hence the decision to go along or spend the evening in the city - we are visiting the Mekong Delta during the day.

     

    Thanks for all the feedback on experiences, I'm really looking forward to it. It hadn't occurred to me that that the 8:30 pm departure from Hong Kong would allow us to see the light show from the deck!

    Which Cruise Terminal in Singapore

    in Azamara

    Posted

    According to the Singapore Cruise Centre website (the other docking location)

    Quest is docking there

     

    http://www.singaporecruise.com.sg/index.php/?page_id=110&action=cruise

     

    Thank you for that. Once again the Azamara website is wrong! It was the same for Istanbul.

     

    We are actually disembarking in Singapore & staying there for a couple of nights. The hotel we are looking at includes a transfer from the airport to hotel so I'm hoping we can arrange to be picked up at the cruise terminal & taken to the hotel. Is that possible from this cruise terminal?

    Getting Vietnam visa on board

    in Asia

    Posted

    I'm not sure if this has already been reported elsewhere on this board but just in case, Visas are no longer required for Vietnam for certain nationals including those from the UK.

     

    According the to the Vietnam Embassy (& elsewhere in the press):

     

    "On 22 June 2015, the Embassy received the formal notification that the Government of Viet Nam decided to exempt visa for British, German, French, Spanish and Italian citizens travelling to Viet Nam (for all purposes) for a period of up to 15 days, and on the basis of meeting all conditions prescribed by Vietnamese laws.

     

    The visa exemption period will start from 1 July 2015 and end on 30 June 2016." see http://vietnamembassy.org.uk/index.php?action=p&ct=Notice2

    Anyone visited Vietnam this year? - Visa Query

    in Azamara

    Posted

    I'm not sure if this has already been reported elsewhere on this board but just in case, I am relieved to find out that we (from the UK) no longer need Visas for Vietnam.

     

    According the to the Vietnam Embassy (& elsewhere in the press):

     

    "On 22 June 2015, the Embassy received the formal notification that the Government of Viet Nam decided to exempt visa for British, German, French, Spanish and Italian citizens travelling to Viet Nam (for all purposes) for a period of up to 15 days, and on the basis of meeting all conditions prescribed by Vietnamese laws.

     

    The visa exemption period will start from 1 July 2015 and end on 30 June 2016." see http://vietnamembassy.org.uk/index.php?action=p&ct=Notice2

    Getting Vietnam visa on board

    in Asia

    Posted

    There's another very helpful post here http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=45939821&postcount=8 from someone who was on Celebrity recently. It does appear that all is taken care of by the ship and you are charged 6 USD or 50 USD depending on whether you are just on a day trip or staying overnight, regardless of who has organised the excorsion. It's helpful to have passport photos and photocopies of your passport but these can be obtained if necessary.

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