cruisemuse13

i am short but way too wide. i do stand sideways in the shower since it fits better. my better half is average height and lower than average weight and neither of us has experienced the clinging the shower curtain. we did not use any weights or clips, just kept the door shut. and yes, it is a small shower, but if i want a large shower i just enjoy the one at home.

much ado about nothing.

thank you for taking the time to blog. It is a distraction from the freezing rain, snow , and wind outside. we are still waiting for Spring to arrive in Ontario.

I think you might get more replies if you post on the OTHER MEDITERRANEAN PORTS forum. There are more postings there regarding Lisbon.

Lisbon is a great city. Enjoy!

There was a man wearing sweatpants at dinner in Discoveries during our Baltic cruise. Ridiculous.

We enjoyed our stay at 71 Nyhavn in Copenhagen. We were able to walk almost everywhere we wanted to go.

I wish they would go back to the no jeans policy in the dining room at dinner time.

I think the problem arises with the interpretation of the policy. Not all jeans are created equal. Nor are the jeans wearers. It also depends on the whole ensemble, as the OP noted.

When my husband wears jeans, they never look smart because he buys them too baggy. However, my sons wear expensive, well fitting dark jeans, with leather dress shoes, crisp collared shirts and maybe a blazer or sweater. And they look very sharp in my opinion. They are dressed appropriately for all but the most formal restaurants these days, and I live in a major metropolitan area.

I think the baggage restrictions on airlines has impacted the variety of clothing people pack these days. So choose wisely what you decide to bring and what is best left at home.

I am glad you enjoyed your cruise and thank you for sharing your thoughts.

https://www.pousadas.pt/pt/hotel/pousada-lisboa?gclid=Cj0KEQjw3MPNBRDj0Yztg4LGvOcBEiQA5hTrHyK70Zr2h8i_dgVkRODJwiC82mZOCxOwOYCpBRTVfp4aAgYr8P8HAQ

 

If you want a unique stay. Pousada (Palace) de Lisboa. You would be staying in a former palace. What a nice way to start your Azamara Cruise!

we had a delightful stay at this Pousada. Excellent breakfast, great location, nice bar for a gin and tonic, comfortable beds, helpful concierge for restaurant reservations. I will stay there again the next time I am in Lisbon.

I am so glad that it worked out for you. Enjoy!!!

I used "share a shore excursion dot com" to arrange a tour to Florence. just leave out the spaces when entering the website. You can check your dates and see if anyone has posted a trip that you can join. I booked a trip and several people joined for a group of six. You probably do not have time to start a new group but hopefully there is one you can join.

In the past, Azamara would have a local tourist office representative come on board each morning in port. they would have a desk by the pursers counter, and would have local maps and information about transportation.

Good luck with your planning.

Once you have spoken with AHS, could you please let me know what they have to say. If you were to receive INR testing and a doctor's attendance in a US medical facility, a portion or all of it would be billed to and covered by AHS. A ship has a medical facilty with the exception that you pay for the services upfront then seek reimbursement from AHS on your return to Alberta. I will be interested to hear what AHS has to say about this.

 

Thank you for asking about my health. I did manage to squeeze a cruise in last fall between chemo treatments and the chemo was finished in November, 2016. I am once again in remission and I hope to cruise again this fall.

Liz :cool:

I know it is not polite to hijack threads, but in my desperation I am going to do it anyway.

Tink, it is great to hear you are in remission and i wish you continued good health.

I was supposed to start a cruise tomorrow, but had to cancel because we could not sort out travel health insurance for my husband, who finished chemo in October. Our existing insurance was no longer valid because he has a pre existing condition that is not stable in the last 6 months. Were you able to find insurance that would still cover you with your recent chemo?

We are in Ontario and looking outside at 3 feet of snow. I sure would like to figure out a way to still take a trip south. Thank you for any advice and really is good to hear about someone still travelling despite the cancer.

What's a Jain group?

From Google ::

Jainism is an ancient religion from India that teaches that the way to liberation and bliss is to live a life of harmlessness and renunciation. The aim of Jain life is to achieve liberation of the soul.

I looked at the original posters previous posts, and it seems there was a large Jain group on board, with their own buffet.

That sounds good to me. thank you BlueHerons for your reply. it is much appreciated.

We are thinking of staying at the Pestana South Beach hotel next winter for 2 nights pre cruise. we have stayed in downtown Miami before and are looking for somewhere different.

Has anyone stayed here? Would you stay there again??

One advantage of a smaller ship, is that you are never too far away from someplace, like the laundry. On our last cruise, we were on deck 8 by the stairwell and it was a quick trip to the laundry.

I was lucky in that I never had to wait for a machine, so tossed in the laundry, went back to my cabin to relax. So I did not have to hang around the laundry room . Very convenient.

We also used the coupon for a bag of laundry for our less delicate items.

Miami has some really bad, high crime areas.

And what would those "really bad, high crime areas" be??

I am looking for a Miami hotel and would appreciate knowing which areas to avoid. I know all areas can be unsafe, especially at night, but ruling out the worst areas would be helpful.

I see bios for each of the officers but not a schedule? What am I doing wrong? LuAnn

Just keep scrolling down the page to find the schedule, after the bio section.

Hi Everyone,

 

Here's a list of onboard concerns listed by others (not my concerns). I've reached out to Senior Officers, to obtain their status.

 

New Tables (Windows Café) : Tables are onboard, and should be available tomorrow.

 

Missing toilet seats : From all accounts, this appears to be untrue. Housekeeping had ONE, (yes one) report of a BROKEN toilet seat, which was immediately replaced.

 

Bathtub Stoppers : New ones were purchased yesterday. Unfortunately, they did not fit perfectly (but they should offer some functionality), so another batch was expected to be purchased today. I will try to follow up on this.

 

Self Service Laundry : 6 New machines installed. Should be working today or tomorrow. They also dispense soap, like the older machines have. As a sidenote, I was advised that complimentary laundry has been made available during the absence of working machines - but that will end once the new machines are operational.

 

T-Pool : Now working and available

 

Jaccuzzis : 1 fully functional, the other should be ready tomorrow.

 

Suites : Club Ocean Suites should be complete within the next couple of days. Club World owners suites expected to be ready by the end of this cruise. Will continue to keep checking on this, as the cruise progresses.

 

As mentioned in my last post, a fair amount of the concerns are overblown, and much of what has been mentioned above, has since been resolved. We are having an absolutely wonderful cruise.

 

Hope this is helpful, and we can get back on topic now. Thank You !

Thank you for all your time and effort to quell the alarmists. I am sorry that CC had to distract you from enjoying your cruise. Hopefully you can go back to "just having too much fun to post". :D

I was uncomfortable with the use of the word "toadying" by canny cruiser. I found the officers on Azamara to be sincerely friendly and welcoming. Simple things, such as acknowledging your presence when you step on an elevator with them, or officers serving at the buffet during a deck party, made you feel more like a guest and not just a customer.

I am an introvert and do not seek out attention, but appreciate the feeling of being included in the general community onboard. At no time did I feel we were subject to "toadying"by the officers or the crew.

:) Hallelujah! that is great news, I just wish I was at the Sunset bar right now.

I have used Choice Air when booking mult-city trips to Europe and found they had the best price.

However last year, I was booking a direct roundtrip flight to Miami, and used the airline websites. I searched flights using several search engines and the airline websites. I found out that the price of the flights changed regularly, day to day, even within hours the price would change.

I also found that the price for one person would be lower, but when I tried to buy for 2 people, the price would increase by over $100 each ! I finally ended up buying one ticket for one person, and then went back to try to buy another single ticket, and the price was up!! I tried different computers, and could still not get back to the first price. I ended up getting the second, single, ticket , from a code share partner. The second ticket was even cheaper than the ticket from the airline operating the flight.!!

Why am I sharing this? Just to show that the airline prices can be very flexible and subject to variables that may not be obvious. I did not think that trying to buy tickets for 2 people, instead of one, would change the price. Live and learn.

Maybe meant as a bit joking, but I will give a serious answer.

It's hard to say in which Oceania restaurant dinner is best. For a part a matter of tast. But where ever you go it beats Azamara easily.

For me, the Asian restaurant is a pleasant extra: it's fabulous and ofcourse completely different.

 

Fresh berries as was mentioned on this forum: Indeed the berries were always fresh, but the fruit selection was better in every way. Much more variation, so no more the 3 different types of melon which you see on other cruise ships, not only Azamara. If I would sail Azamara in the future (but I will not) I think I would start hating chicken, the most served meat on board.

In fact comparing the quality of the food is useless: Oceania is just a level higher.

 

When it's about the prize: just add up all what you have to pay for a cruise, including gratuities, drinks and maybe specialty restaurants. Then make your choice not forgetting about the quality. Should not be too difficult.

If you will not sail on Azamara again, why are you continuing to follow the Azamara forum? I think you have expressed your concerns enough and seem to have nothing new to offer since you have not cruised with them for 2 years.

And on my last Amamara cruise, I did not have chicken for dinner even once.

On the Regent forum, there is a similar thread to this one, titled "the butler did it..." or something similar. DRIB posted the following reply:

Your butler can unpack for you when you arrive and re-pack for you when you go.

Your butler can arrange to have your pants let out, five days into the cruise, when they are too tight. You can also request that they follow you around the ship and slap the food from your hands when they think you've had enough.

Your butler can balance your checkbook within a few dollars, notarize documents for you, and give you wonderful, albeit unorthodox, legal advice.

Your butler can let you into your neighbor's cabin when they are not there, and help you to TP (toilet paper) their cabin. I know because I've done that. You can request a specific brand of TP - they will go out of their way to get you that brand, because this is Regent!

I heard of a butler that helped to slip a whoopee cushion under the captain's chair during the farewell dinner. And one time, in Monaco, the butler helped me call the Royal Palace and ask if Prince Albert was still in the can. We both had a good snicker from that one!

In short, your butler will do just about anything to make sure you enjoy your cruise. I highly recommend that you take full advantage of your butler if you have one.

Personally, we enjoyed the afternoon shrimp cocktail plate that our butler brought to our cabin, Largest shrimp I have ever eaten. Enjoy!

Tony, wishing you, and your wife, a speedy, painfree recovery!

Thank you for taking the time to post a photo review so I can travel along vicariously.:)