Grandma Cruising

Azamara are not the only travel company that are difficult to talk to. We are flying to Greece in a June with Jet2 and I need to talk to them to organise support in the airport for my husband. So far I have rung them on 3 different days, at different times, holding on for up to 2 hours each time and have yet to get to speak to anyone. I can’t really book support online as I need to find out more about the options available - he is mobile, but can’t stand for any length of time, having had emergency spinal surgery last year. We are concerned about the potential wait to get through security (can be up to 3 hours in Manchester airport at present).

Sorry about the ‘shouting’ - that was not my intention (although I thought it was caps that was deemed to be shouting). It was a copy and paste from the NHS site, which, by the way still talks about 5 days if you look down the page here https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/self-isolation-and-treatment/when-to-self-isolate-and-what-to-do/ It says if you have symptoms and/or if you test positive you should try to stay at home & avoid contact with others for 5 days starting from the day after the positive test. I did say it was guidance, not law, but think it’s sensible advice. You were lucky not to have symptoms, when we had COVID we tested positive for 12 days and felt ill for longer than that - it took me six weeks to feel back to normal.

Try a different browser

It depends on the person, some show no symptoms so ‘recovered’ once showing a negative test, which could be after 3-5 days, but others take a long time. We had positive tests for 12 days and felt very tired for 5/6 weeks.

There is no app or at least the one there is does not work! One thing you could try is accessing your account on the website through a different browser.

I have to disagree, it is certainly not just a mild cold - we had it in March having had 3 vaccinations and both felt pretty poorly and were left with nasty coughs and fatigue for quite a few weeks afterward. In the UK the law does not say you have to isolate if tested positive but the NHS guidance is that “You should try to stay at home and avoid contact with other people for 5 days after the day you took the test.”.

My presumption was that knowing they had less than a full ship, they also planned to have fewer crew in areas affected by passenger numbers, so fewer kitchen staff, fewer stewards, fewer servers etc. Obviously you still need the same number of sailors as the ship itself runs in the same way however many or few folk onboard.

They are taking a long time to answer queries at present. I had a query about visas and sent an email to the Customer Service email address on 4 April and then on 18 April to Azamara Circle. Initially I got a standard ‘thanks for your email, someone will get back to you soon’ reply from Customer Service, but nothing from Azamara Circle. However on 28 April I got a reply from Customer Services and on 1 May I got a second more detailed reply from Customer Services which was actually in response to my Azamara Circle email.

The thing about the vaccine is that if you are vaccinated you may still get COVID (tho’ less likely to do so) but you will certainly be far less likely to be seriously ill, more like ordinary flu.

So sorry to hear this. I hope you both get your negative tests asap. Thanks for posting here, it’s a good warning to us all.

I think this may be in their imagination. I’m sure staff would do their best but if you turn up when they are full, there would be no hope of them ‘fitting you in’. Best to book as soon as possible on embarkation day!

Booking our nights in the speciality restaurants is the first thing we do once onboard. There’s a reservation table just inside the main entrance to Windows on Deck 9.

Certainly Azamara provided a free shuttle into Ravenna when we docked there before COVID. Maybe the best thing is to wait until you get onboard then ask about shuttles.

Shuttles are never mentioned in the shore excursions listing.

It will likely be a mixture. It depends on whether there are guest artists on board and how many cruises they are on board for. Certainly it’s likely that some shows will be repeated.

The ones I have don’t seem to be available now, but I found these two that are similar https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B097BLPH1S/ref=sspa_dk_detail_5?pd_rd_i=B097BLPH1S&pd_rd_w=mx7gw&pf_rd_p=828203ef-618e-4303-a028-460d6b615038&pd_rd_wg=nueXY&pf_rd_r=MS4ZFZW3AWWWE96ZTV7T&pd_rd_r=c37c6444-a989-48a5-bead-e1f1292e286b&s=kitchen&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUExTVpKNkFXSUVKUkVEJmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwMDc1MzQ0VkI1SVhRNTBNNzZEJmVuY3J5cHRlZEFkSWQ9QTA2ODQyNjgyMVE1NlBWOUxGNzBWJndpZGdldE5hbWU9c3BfZGV0YWlsJmFjdGlvbj1jbGlja1JlZGlyZWN0JmRvTm90TG9nQ2xpY2s9dHJ1ZQ&th=1 https://www.amazon.co.uk/MISSLO-Pockets-Organiser-Rotating-Bathroom/dp/B077M72G7X/ref=sr_1_73?crid=3M8KWY7IX2ST4&keywords=small%2Bhanging%2Borganiser&qid=1651301674&sprefix=Small%2Bhanging%2Caps%2C150&sr=8-73&th=1

Not sure any UK TA will add OBC. US TAs seem to do so, I wonder if they get more commission from Azamara (the only way they can give you perks is from their commission). Some large UK cruise specialist TAs sell cruises at discounted prices, but beware as some Cruise Critic folks seemed to have had real problems with them when COVID hit and they needed to get refunds.

No I haven’t yet been on it.

This deck plan shows them. Those with a triangle have a bath, the rest have a shower. https://www.azamara.co.uk/our-ships/azamara-onward/azamara-onward-deck-plans

A few more spring flower photos for you The tree peony is now in full flower. May (hawthorn) in full flower on our walk earlier in the week. The name of the woods we walked through - not sure of the derivation

In normal circumstances this is allowed. It should be OK proving that Ireland puts no restrictions on cruise ship passengers.

I think lots of people would agree with this. Bonnie was a brilliant resource for all of us and a terrific ambassador for Azamara.

That’s disappointing, they have always been hosted by the CD with at least a couple of other senior officers putting in an appearance. Without someone there to organise things, they are a bit pointless!

$30 pp, but you can buy a 3 meal package for $70 https://www.azamara.com/sites/default/files/pdfs/dining_package_onboard_flyer_jan2020_web.pdf