Grandma Cruising

Thanks Tony, information added to the spreadsheet

We did the southerly Atlantic crossing from Lisbon to Rio and it was hot and sunny all the way to Brazil. The only rain we saw was in El Salvador in Brazil - and then it poured. I wore swimwear with a sun dress cover-up every day. No Azamazing evening but we did have a White Night.

Thanks, added to spreadsheet - don’t forget to tell us if you do decide to bid! https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1pEoojQ5-EPmD4cI3gw1dVcYfYTXfZePdDXxU09l0H3M/edit

Keukenhof is 40km from Amsterdam! I think if the email had said walk through the rolling hills of Keukenhof on a visit from Amsterdam, that would have been more accurate!

Thanks, added to spreadsheet.

Thanks, added to the spreadsheet

Just been informed that our upgrade bid was successful for our 29 October Athens to Dubai cruise on Quest. We’re Discoverer. The least we could bid was £340 to go from OV to Veranda. We made a weak bid of £360 & just heard today that we got it! I’ve added this to the spreadsheet https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1pEoojQ5-EPmD4cI3gw1dVcYfYTXfZePdDXxU09l0H3M/edit

Thanks for that, despite no bid made it’s still useful for the spreadsheet. People like to get an idea about what upgrade bids might be expected.

People who are doing the Petra excursion have written to Azamara about this & have been assured that Azamara will make sure the ‘Petra people’ can get there.

Not necessarily. Our 29 October cruise on Quest has a full Azamazing Evening in the grounds of a hotel in Aqaba on 5 November.

There is some noise in these cabins. We’ve had 6004 which is one of the two large OV cabins. The noise was mainly noticeable during the day when there were rehearsals. At night we didn’t tend to go to bed until after the show had finished, so it didn’t bother us then.

During the COVID crisis Azamara changed its Azamazing evening events into an onboard event. They plan to go back to the full Azamazing Evening event from November 22. Looks like they haven’t updated their information regarding cruises after that yet. Have you looked in the shore excursions information in your Voyage Planner, the Azamazing Evening will show as a zero cost event.

The same information is on our documents for our cruise starting in Athens next weekend, but the website says no testing and we’ve had an email from Azamara confirming this. They just haven’t updated that page of cruise documents, I think.

Absolutely agree with this. Azamara want you to be honest about issues so they can put them right. On a couple of occasions we’ve put minor niggles on the ‘half-way’ questionnaire and have had very quick responses and the issue was sorted out.

Trouble is there is limited seating in the two speciality restaurants, so if they didn’t take reservations and everyone wanted to eat at the same time one night, then a lot of people would be disappointed! You can eat anytime at all other venues on the ships - no reservations needed for Discoveries MDR, Windows buffet or the Patio.

Just a little warning, if it’s an overnight excursion, then the cancellation date will be more than 48 hours beforehand. It usually says where you book it.

Added this to the ‘Tips’ spreadsheet. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/15Deg-GaeZYLml8NN3PVwoh_jUkQ8QmYUe1wxnVAlODE/edit

The information about shore excursions cancellation is wrong. You can cancel most excursions up to 48 hours before the tour. Here’s a quote from their shore excursions brochure “What if I cancel my Shore Excursion?Guests enjoy the benefits of a hassle-free 48-hour cancellation period when reserving Shore Excursions. This flexible tour cancellation policy allows guests to cancel or modify tour reservations up to 48 hours prior to the scheduled tour departure without penalty. If changing or canceling a shore excursion within the appropriate non-penalty period, our valued guests will have two options: they can either contact the Shore Excursions team to reserve another tour, or if they choose to cancel, will have their onboard account credited in the full amount of the tour cost without penalty or fee.”

Not 24 hours, something like 7am to 8pm from memory

Wow, that’s brilliant - hope it applies to the one we’re interested in. Thanks for the info.

That works out at about the same as the current 15% on selected sailings plus the normal onboard booking discount.

The HOHO bus is good in Panama City. When we were there on Azamara the bus came to the cruise terminal. Stops included one at Miraflores locks, where there is a very nice museum about the canal. It also stops in the old town & we walked around the old town & had a look at the fish market.

I think not, there’s nothing mentioned on the Azamara Circle pages, only the discount for the Ultimate Package.

I think this is an extremely old document, looking at the logo on it. It’s not even the old logo, it’s the one before that I think. I think this should be disregarded.

Congratulations Dudeljo! Thanks for your very clear information. All added to the spreadsheet. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1pEoojQ5-EPmD4cI3gw1dVcYfYTXfZePdDXxU09l0H3M/edit Hooe you have a lovely cruise.