Grandma Cruising

18 hours ago, laurieb said:

That is a TA thing then, not an Azamara issue, so you can't blame Azamara for that.  I'm very close to a TA that lost ALL  commissions for 2020 and most of 2021.  I understand why some would now have a cancellation clause, but the cruise lines don't.

Yes, my TA daughter was in the same position.

7 hours ago, Turangi! said:

Kiwi Andy,

 

Also check the Ports section on CC… Ravenna, if it is on your itinerary, you want  Cinzia… can’t say more specifically on this thread but she was written up in the NYT when we went in the mid 20teens!

 

First cruise on AZ, you will be spoiled! Enjoy!  Don’t miss the escargot at the French Night Buffet and the mussells at lunch whatever day it shows up in the Windows Cafe… I think I went for thirds…

 

 

Nunfa,

 

I thought the gelato on the ship was fabulous! But I have had some wonderful gelato in Italy!  Will note for future travels!

And the escargots is on Discoveries (MDR) menu every evening.

4 hours ago, Brian111 said:

I boarded in Capetown on Feb 8 and became very ill from Feb 16. I had a fever, shivering, queezy stomach and could not eat for 5 days. I collapsed when boarding the plane to fly home but my wife somehow got me on. At the same time she had GI issues and is still suffering. We will never sail with Aramara again.

Really don't think it's Azamara's fault, the ship is being cleaned continuously, anyone with GI issues who reports to the medical department is being quarantined, we are being urged to wash our hands, pool is closed, all food is served. Of course the unknown is how many people had issues and haven't seen the doctor, so continued to walk around the ship. Also how many were not careful about hand washing - I've seen people walk out of the toilets without washing their hands.

Yes the medical consultation and treatment is free and you get a days future cruise credit for every day quarantined.

5 hours ago, Benthayer Gonbak said:

Before the guest relation area was closed in there were indeed a few room on the 3rd deck: Before the Pursuit and onward.  I believe that those cabins are now crew, but I haven’t checked recently.  My last Azamara cruise was a year ago😇
 

 

We have been sailing on Azamara for over 10 years and have never known any passenger cabins on Deck 3.

I'm certain that it's much more than 3%, most people we have talked to have had it and I have been told by people who are on Deck 4 that there has been a long queue outside the medical centre most days. Most people seem to have been ill for a day or 2 but several have been ill for much longer (5/6 days) and people seem only to have had diarrhea, not other symptoms such as vomiting and/or fever.

Hotel Director on Pursuit will be Thomasz as Ngawhira is getting off in Gran Canaria.I think Emily is also going on vacation but don't know who's taking over

Pool still closed today and all food served, but at noon the Captain said the numbers affected are going down, so fingers crossed things will be better on the next cruise.

11 hours ago, FlossieC said:

Personally still feel uncomfortable with this. 

 

Our TA contacted Azamara on our behalf and was told there had been some cases but have been exaggerated on platforms and most likely caused from eating off ship so advise not do so.  There were not enough cases to report to authorities.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Definitely not caused by eating off the ship as people were still coming down with it after 4/5 sea days!

18 minutes ago, excitedofharpenden said:

 

 

Or gauging reaction and effect on bookings?  As I said before, my feedback is it's too much. $100 per couple is a lot. 

 

Phil 

 

 

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That's what I think too. I think it's likely what happens next will depend on the effect on revenues overall of the raised prices.

On the Pursuit it's $35, drinks packages are $18.95 for premium & $26.95 for Ultimate, so yes pricing certainly seems to be inconsistent.

1 hour ago, Dynacruiser said:

The unfortunate part of this is that they haven't been able to identify the bug that is causing these stomach issues.    I don't entirely blame Azamara for that, but I do blame them for not informing their upcoming passengers.

 

I don't think anybody here has the solution, but I am willing to pursue all possible ways to avoid getting infected.  While this may not be Norovirus, the US CDC recommendations here are worth following.   

 

I am also willing to follow other suggestions not explicitly stated in the CDC document, but some do make sense and I am willing to do anything to stay healthy, including avoiding the following:

 

1) ice

2) purified water from the ship

3) water bottles from the ship that may come from South Africa

4) using public bathrooms

5) raw foods

6) contact with travelers and crew members

 

The key term here is "avoid". 

 

I get it, water may not be the culprit, but if we can avoid drinking the ship's water, maybe that's a good idea.

 

As to why some folks didn't get sick but their partner did, I suppose it depends on what surfaces one person touch but the other didn't, what bathroom one person used but the other didn't, etc.

 

Stay safe and good luck to everybody.   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Impossible on our cruise to avoid both ships water and bottled water from SA as that's all that's available. We've drunk both, had raw food (I've had loads of salad and a couple of ceviches) & had drinks with lots of ice and we 're both fine so far (on Pursuit Cape Town to Gran Canaria)

10 hours ago, PirateWife said:

Our OBC was applied to the cost of the excursions as a line item on our final invoices before we paid for the cruises. We only paid for the difference in cost between the booked excursions and our OBC. The letter about the 10% came to us with confirmation of the booking of the excursions.

Same here except that our excursions in total cost less than the Azamara OBC we had so nothing to pay, but perhaps Trvlingal's OBC is from a TA so not available to use before the cruise?

13 hours ago, uktog said:

Dover Sole is not being offered as a chef’s special any night this cruise. The Speciality restaurant menus are ok but the special dishes have been disappointing. The special dessert every night is (add in your fruit) mousse and gelato. There is no longer a soufflé of the night so it’s Hazelnut in Aqualina and grain nut in Prime C. The new menus are much needed! 

We had Grand Marnier soufflé on Pursuit last tight as the chefs special dessert, so things still seem to vary from ship to ship!

The aft view cabins on 6 & 7 are great. The cabins are the same as all other veranda cabins, but the balcony is much bigger. We were in 6090 on Journey on our last cruise and it was our favourite cabin

10 hours ago, ECCruise said:

Pursuit is a different animal. 

 

No on demand movies, no interactive TV, etc that we were able to find in 40 days. 

That's what I thought!

2 hours ago, tgg said:

 

Only after 14 days of a 24 day cruise did I discover the many movies on demand. My husband and I both thought movies were limited to a few channels. If I could remember how we found the on-demand movies I would explain it.😕

 

Perhaps someone who is onboard now can describe how to find them.

Was that on Pursuit?

1 hour ago, Grandma Gilly said:

We had the same problem last year on Journey on a South Africa intensive trip. At least they are trying to sort the problem. On our sailing it was ignored, despite the long queues outside the medical centre and a trip to the cruise director asking him to stop the self service buffet.

Wow, that would have been concerning. The captain & crew are doing everything they can, medical consultation and treatment is free, pool closed, served food everywhere, no salt/pepper pots, reminders to wash our hands at every announcement.

1 hour ago, uktog said:

The pantomime gets worse. They want full payment including for the cruise to be able to process the payment. Trouble is, standard UK issue payment has been made to the agent but is not released to Azamara until sail date. 
So from what I’m being told basically in this situation I cannot buy excursions at 10% off. 
I’m trying to escalate matters 

 

Interesting, that's not how it has worked on Pursuit. We were told we could book the excursions using the OBC for the cruise and have been given an invoice that shows they were booked using OBC Coupons. The exchange rate used was 1.25. We were given the 10% discount letter and were told that if we took it to shore excursions on the relevant cruise the 10% would go back onto our OBC.

3 hours ago, blag said:

Did you get any OBC? 

Yes, we got both the book onboard OBC ($300) and the current offer ($750) plus all relevant discounts and our 6 free days.

3 hours ago, Alison2022 said:

I successfully upgraded last week. The email I received provided telephone numbers in USA, UK, Australia and New Zealand as well as the option to reply by email.   I called the UK number which connected to a very helpful man in USA.

Great that they have taken the action they promised.

Pursuit has Sky News, Sky Sports News, BBC News, BBC compilation channel which shows a number of popular BBC programmes, MSNBC, Fox News, TV G (food channel), a couple of movie chanbels

I'm on board too. We did have the pool open and self service food for a couple of days but then it was closed again because cases were rising. It seems to be quite a short lived illness, someone we know had it & was only ill for 24 hours or so so only confined to their cabin for 48 hours or so. You have to be symptom free for 24 hours to be allowed out.

You're right that there will be no Azamazing evening (or Destination Celebration - same thing but onboard), however you will have a White Night. Although it's often held on a late night in a port, it can and is sometimes held at sea. You won't know when it's planned until you get onboard and even then it can change depending on the weather.

You can't book a Chefs Table until you get onboard.

Its certainly a good idea to book at least a few nights in the speciality restaurants as soon as you get on board - guest relations will tell you where the reservations table is on embarkation day, or you can ask your butler to book for you. We always book our choices on the first day as we usually only eat there a few times, so I don't know how easy it is to get your choice of time etc on an on-going basis.

23 hours ago, tiggertom said:

Thanks @Grandma Cruisingthat sounds wonderful, a great choice of things to do. Were card payments accepted widely? Thanks

Yes they were fine in all the restaurants we used.

20 hours ago, zipcruise said:

Oh wow, I’m extremely disappointed. Azamara is trying hard to disappoint guests. I would like to hear some good news instead of increasing prices and still no information about Suez Canal situation. 

I have to say that our Destination Celebration in Walvis Bay was terrific - it didn't lose anything by being on board. The quality of the choir, dancers & acapella group were amazing. On the other hand the last Azamazing evening we had was not so good because all it consisted of was queuing to get on buses to go to a marquee in a hotel grounds to see a show that could easily have been provided on board with no eternal queuing.