robsaw

Thanks for the replies. We typically do choose carefully, however in this case it would be a "guarantee" stateroom due to the particular circumstances of the promo booking we have access to, so no means to be careful in choosing. 

We are looking at booking a suite on the Noordam but concerned about possible noise from the public areas above the deck 8 suites.  Any experience?

Deck 9 Lido above has Lido Market, pools, bars and of course the associated chairs/loungers that could be strong noise generators.

Thanks

On 6/17/2022 at 6:32 AM, NC&KY said:

Are you working with a Travel Agent?

If you are asking me - yes? The TA consultant is my wife! For our own bookings I try to do my own research but since Azamara has yet to publish anything official and public, she'll be going through Azamara's local rep to see if they have a tentative plan for this cruise with respect to Mozambique visas.

On 4/16/2022 at 12:37 PM, Grand Cru said:

We are on the South African cruise end of November, still very confused after enquiring to Azamara  that we can get Visa onboard if we go on excursions,if anyone can give us advise would be appreciated.

Emailed Azamara on the question of on-board visas for Mozambique - received a non-answer with a reference to visacentral for visa requirements. Perhaps the situation is too unpredictable for them to say at the time but then I would prefer a statement to that effect and a straight-forward recommendation to get a visa in advance

On 5/18/2022 at 9:32 AM, Grandma Cruising said:

I don’t know, for some ports Azamara arranges visas but not for others. The best thing is to email them. I recently did so regarding visas for Middle East countries. I emailed them both via Customer Services and through Azamara Circle. It took them a couple of weeks or so to reply, but I did eventually get my answer (Azamara organises visas for Egypt, Oman, Jordan & UAE).

https://www.azamara.co.uk/email-us

I did email Azamara about on-ship visas for Mozambique - they simply referred me to Visa Central, which didn't really answer the question at all for our Feb 2023 South Africa cruise.

We too are going to Maputo, Mozambique in 2023 on Azamara.

The information on visa requirements for Mozambique - even from official sources - is varied and inconsistent and has conditions that don't make sense for cruises.

So, question remains - can we get visa onboard/on-arrival at port of Maputo?

We did a lift-and-shift of the Azamara South Africa Intensive cruise from Feb '22 to Feb '23.

What I'm researching now is visa requirements (we're Canadian citizens). What I gather is:

- South Africa - visa exempt, 90-day visa issued upon arrival.

- Mozambique - can't find non-contradictory advice for visitors arriving for day-stop on cruise only. Everything from no-visa, visa issued onboard, visa must be obtained in advance --- Any knowledgeable advice?

- We also want to do a side-trip to Victoria Falls (Zimbabwe) after the cruise and wonder about South Africa re-entry requirements (more confusing advice on leave/re-entry while already having a SA tourist visa in the passport).

Thanks

16 minutes ago, pcur said:

Perhaps there will be a lot of "cruises to nowhere". ...

Until the US gets its infection rate down substantially AND there is a vaccine - I can't see any cruises out of US ports, at least on any ship over a few hundred passengers or less.

24 minutes ago, latserrof said:

I think the industry knows exactly what it is doing: treading water and trying to put an optimistic face on what it knows is a dire situation. It's those who think they will be cruising in the not-too-distant future who are dreaming (and swallowing the Kool-Aid).

True to an extent. I do think the executives understand their own optimistic ideas because they are the type of people that generally look at all the risks and opportunities but the marketing people are the type that are the "sellers" of this world and only look at the potential upside.

8 hours ago, caribill said:

Princess (and the other Carnival Corp brands) do intend to start out at a reduced capacity while they implement all the new and necessary procedures.

 

But they plan to ramp up to full capacity as soon as it is practical.

I don't currently see ANY cruiseline implementing the necessary procedures. In fact, the industry in general is making regular PR releases objecting to the imposition of "land type" physical distancing and other protective measures on-board cruise ships. Given the false negative rates of the available tests, the increasing rate of infection in the US (the prime source of passengers), I an highly skeptical of any significant resumption of cruising until there is a highly effective vaccine or we've passed the overall infection state to provide herd immunity. The vaccine is at least several months away and herd immunity would take years without any even more disastrous increase in infection rates. Frankly, I think the industry is dreaming.

On 6/21/2020 at 8:10 AM, robsaw said:

Cruise booked on Royal departing July 4. Cancelled by Princess April 14.

 

Deposit refunded received Jun 18. Refund for excursions not received yet.

 

Excursion refund received Jun 22. All refunded after 69 days.

Cruise booked on Royal departing July 4. Cancelled by Princess April 14.

Deposit refunded received Jun 18. Refund for excursions not received yet.

16 hours ago, Coral said:

 

I have no doubt that Oceania and Azamara have already approached CCL with a price they are willing to pay for the Pacific Princess. If Princess wants to get rid of it, I am sure they already have offers.

Question is whether anyone is "willing to pay" significantly more than scrap value for a cruise ship?

24 minutes ago, caribill said:

 

Do you have any info how Ford or GM total sales were after the brands were eliminated?  Did Ford and GM keep there overall market shares?

 

They eliminated brands that were not selling well.

 

Carnival Corp brands are aimed at different markets. Eliminating a brand would mean fewer customers from that market.

GM lost market share to Ford (relative to each other) after the 2008-9 recession. Quite knowingly - market share without profit isn't worth keeping. GM made the decision to kill brands that were less profitable even though it would cost market-share, at least short-term. Too many brands chasing too few customers is exactly what the cruise industry (many industries actually) will face and some consolidation is likely - maybe forced by the bankruptcy of one or more big lines.

4 hours ago, TM said:

I personally don't have a clue as to whether they will combine brands.  Nor does anyone posting here on CruiseCritic.  But while each may have their own uniqueness and demographic, that may not be considered with corporate makes the decision.  A prime example would be General Motors.  Look at all the brands they used to have.  Now where are Pontiac and Oldsmobile?  

You've got the example I was going to quote. GM ditched a couple of brands. Ford got rid of Mercury. Chrysler eliminated Plymouth. Spreading out the market across internally competing brands is simply bad business sense. There will be a massive contraction in cruise demand for a few years and expect several new builds either partially constructed or not yet started to be cancelled or postponed.

IMHO, all the cruiselines are being unrealistic in their return to service dates but Princess is perhaps one of the more realistic. None of them want to admit that they will have to postpone or cancel cruises even longer than currently planned despite the certainty that major European, Canadian and even some US ports are closed to foreign ships and will remain so for quite some time. When it comes to Alaska cruises - the law prohibits foreign flagged ships (almost all of them) from sailing directly between US ports without a foreign port (i.e. Canada) stop, so right now, without a US Federal Gov't legislative change - there is no possibility of sailing to Alaska before July 1 when Canadian ports MAY re-open.

I'll take real world purchasers word over someone who says "Well, my sisters best friend read on the internet that..." any day of the week.

The stories regarding Park West are much more than just friend-of-a-friend tales; the law suits are real, the investigative journalism stories are real, the dubious "independent" appraisals are real. That said, some of the stories go back away and Park West MAY have cleaned-up their worst behaviors and not all buys on board are bad but it isn't the safe place to buy high-end art. Some nice mass-market Thomas Kinkaid or similar type stuff is fine simply because it is every where and prices are well established.

Lilycat - my husband has felony convictions and had no problem on the closed loop cruise. We won't chance a one way.

 

However, I am Canadian and they always let him in when he is traveling with me. We've never tried without me as we think it's because he is with a Canadian.

 

So this is definitely a YMMV situation.

 

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This is a typical don't ask/don't tell situation. If Canada Border Services doesn't ask about criminal convictions there isn't anything to tell. I don't specifically know how Border Services runs passport information through for cruise passengers visiting a Canadian port but what I do know is that late last year front-line CBSA officers now have direct access to the Canadian Police Information Centre (CPIC) database, which shares information with the United States National Crime Information Center. Previously, CPIC was only accessed if a person entering was referred for secondary inspection.

There are a whole host of factors that determine whether someone is or isn't admissible due to a conviction (nature of the crime, term of conviction, time since sentence completed) but if you haven't applied for an Application for Criminal Rehabilitation before entering Canada your ability to enter Canada is quite simply not assured.

If RCI handles their surveys like other companies, then they consider a 5 as passing, and everything else (even a 4) as failure. Seems like a ridiculous practice which will not lead to them getting back valid metrics...

Absolutely correct. The survey could be simplified to a simple YES/NO or PASS/FAIL response, which is completely useless for prioritizing areas or personnel that need the most attention.

Interesting stat's:

US Citizens holding passports: 35%

Canadian Citizens holding passports: 70%

UK Citizens holding passports: 78%

Comparing a military ship with multi-month crew rotations and cruise-ships that switch 3000+ passengers a week is simply meaningless.

Preventative measures are one thing but when the potential exposure level is completely different it really is irrelevant.

The ship knows where it is within 10 feet and is moving less than 5 kts and can't dock with a mile viz.

In the meantime ... aircraft can land a few miles away with 1/8 mile viz going 160kts :confused:

 

I was really hoping we would NOT have these sorts of non-expert statements on ship and aviation navigation like those that showed-up last year regarding Galveston port delays due to fog. There is MUCH more to transport safety than knowing one's current position and instantaneous local visibility. The length of a response to adequately address the issue is inappropriate for this forum but does illustrate the depth of ignorance expressed by some people in attempting to "blame" the regulators and ship/port authorities and operators for their necessary safety decisions.

There were no major changes to ANY facilities on the Golden. Mostly carpet and upholstery in public areas that wasn't already changed out a few years ago on her last major overhaul.

How would anyone know if you were convicted of a felony? I never have, but I have cruised to and drove into Canada and never asked anywhere or by anyone about felonies.

They might ask they might not (lying and being caught is worse than giving the honest answer) but they don't need to ask between Canada-USA as they have an agreement linking databases, which depending upon how well the various states/provinces and federal agencies keep the systems updated and linked, will pop-up things automagically when (and if) they scan your passport.

Later we did learn there there is an expiration period (10 years?) on DUIs and also a way to pay a fee for an entry permit after a lesser period of time with a clean record. Same might be true for other non-violent felonies. One of the people was three months short of the expiration.

Once Canada has the record, the are under no obligation to respect a foreign pardon or "expiry". It isn't a simple process once you've been denied entry.