Grandma Cruising

Happy Christmas to you Mackdogmolly and to everyone

https://www.azamara.co.uk/sites/default/files/pdfs/aqualina_2019_april_2.0.pdf

My memory is that the ship went into Trollfjord the day after we were in Svolvaer, we didn’t do the ship’s RIB tour, we booked it privately.

The ship does sail into Trollfjord and turns around there, however I’d still recommend a tour we did from Svolvaer - it was a RIB tour which went into Trollfjord and then took us to see Sea Eagles https://www.visitnorway.com/listings/trollfjord-%26-sea-eagle-rib-safari-lofoten-explorer/212019/

Thanks, added to the spreadsheet.

Have you got travel insurance, if so check if they would refund you. In the UK travel insurers will refund you and would say if you did go you wouldn’t be insured if government advice is not to go.

Thanks, added to the spreadsheet

Added that point into the spreadsheet https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/15Deg-GaeZYLml8NN3PVwoh_jUkQ8QmYUe1wxnVAlODE/edit

Azamara is not so maybe Costa will change their policy as this can’t be a requirement from the country

It was a very calm day so very little bouncing at all. Trollfjord is enclosed water and a lot of the rest of it is too. I guess it depends on the weather. Here’s a couple of photos from it.

Depends if you normally take ships excursions. We only do so when we have lots of OBC so would always do our own research for ports.

The 4 large OVs have large round windows.

Bergen is very easily doable on your own. If you get the chance to do the Flam railway, do it through the ship as the queues can be enormous. In Geiranger we did an independent bus tour https://www.geirangerfjord.no/panoramic-bus-geiranger-2 At Honningsvag we did a super independent tour with Blue Puffin tours - 2 bus loads of passengers from the ship booked this https://www.blue-puffin.com/en/#north_cape_sightseeing_tour_english_wrapper. In Lofoten we did a brilliant RIB tour to Trollfjord & to see the sea eagles https://www.fjordtours.com/things-to-do-in-norway/fjord-cruises/sea-eagle-safari-to-trollfjord-rib/ From Molde we did an independent bus tour to see the Great Atlantic Road https://www.norwayexcursions.com/en/destinations-in-norway/molde/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI5aiG8LSL_AIVm-3tCh3p1AFVEAMYASAAEgKjuvD_BwE We just walked around on our own in Alesund which is a lovely little town. Bodo we walked around on our own. It has a great street art walking tour. You just call in to the tourist office and get a map of where the paintings are, then follow the trail.

You can certainly take them home.

The 4 large OV cabins are all forward.

Spirits are Gordon’s & Beefeater Gin, Smirnoff vodka, Famous Grouse Whisky, there’s a bourbon but I can’t remember which. There are two white, two red, a rose and a white sparkling wine - these seem to vary from ship to ship. There is still and sparkling water and sodas.

We go between balcony and Oceanview - it depends on price & availability. We do love the 4 large Oceanview cabins at the front of decks 6 & 7.

That’s our experience too.

Thanks for reminding me about that. I worked out how to do it!

Just tried both using Book Now and View Details on the UK site. No problem, went through the cabin list as usual so you coul see what spare cabins there are.

Maine lobster not the only good lobster - try a North Sea lobster from Scarborough or Bridlington - really good. I think the issue is cold water or warmer water lobster. The same applies to prawns (shrimp). There’s no comparison in taste between a North Sea prawn and a king prawn from warmer waters. I much prefer the smaller, but much tastier North Sea prawns and North Sea lobster.

One issue is that it can be really difficult to organise and be certain it will work. Our recent cruise ended in Dubai and BA moved our flight to be really early in the morning, which meant leaving the ship before the formal disembarkation time. We emailed beforehand and we’re told it should be OK, but to let customer relations know once we were onboard. We did so and were told it might or might not be possible - they would let us know a couple of days before the end of the cruise. In the end it was OK. We had to take our luggage off ourselves. What was really strange - we didn’t see any port officials - no immigration, no customs etc. Ship’s porters took our luggage from us at the top of the gangway & wheeled it straight through the terminal to the taxi rank with us following.

Thanks for the information. Added it to the spreadsheet.

Added your information to the spreadsheet. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1pEoojQ5-EPmD4cI3gw1dVcYfYTXfZePdDXxU09l0H3M/edit Please let me know if you can fill in any gaps on your entry.

You can get lots of information by looking at the topic ‘Tips for Azamara Newbies’ and it’s accompanying spreadsheet