Carnevale

I’m curious about the menu. What do they serve? Is it all set or are there some choices (e.g., 2 or 3 main’s options, etc.). And, is the menu always the same?

Do they bring a bigger table? What’s on the balconies seem too tiny to enjoy dining there.

Earlier someone asked if the app was trying to get them to buy an accessory. It isn’t. We too are in Canada and as things stand we can’t get the medallion mailed to us so are stuck in the blue lane. We are purchasing accessories but this doesn’t change the status as it is all about whether you have your medallion in hand as you board or not. Fingers crossed they start shipping to Canada soon!

I’m not sure if you were referring to the dinner experience but I have the same question about the ultimate balcony breakfast. We did it a few years ago and it was terrific. Is it still offered? If so, is it available on all ships? How do I book it?

I got some fit bit holders that clipped onto my waistband as this was suggested in an earlier thread but while it was a great concept, they didn’t work. The medallion kept slipping out of the holder so was at risk of getting lost. I ended up throwing out those holders. I am going to try the wristband next and will only use things specifically designed for the medallions as I hate buying stuff that ends up as trash.

A big thank you! That is very helpful info and lets me know exactly what I have. What is confusing is that when I click on packages in the payment section of the app it says Premier for both while we should have one Plus and one Premier but the online cruise personalizer is correct although neither mention the arrangement for dining in places like Alfredo’s. The challenges of transitioning to the newer approach seem to be showing.

Thx Caribill and Steelers36 for the info on the Plus/premium pkgs. I have no idea which we level we have for our upcoming cruises. How/where can I check? Is there a date when Princess switched from purchases of the older plans $50 to the newer $60 ones? I know the implementation date was something like Aug 12 but I am asking about the purchase date as maybe I can figure out what we have based on when we purchased the cruises. Many thx!

Thx for the clarification. Does Plus 50 vs 60 make a difference onboard? Seems like it should not - that Plus should be Plus regardless of the price when you purchased it. Am I missing something? And is there the same kind of difference for Premier?

What is Plus 60?

That was our expectation but was one of many areas where our experience did not match up. The Journey staterooms are in serious need of updating (at least our’s was).

On Journey last month we had a “fridge” but I put that in quotation marks as it wasn’t a fridge as it didn’t cool at all. We thought it was broken but our steward said it was only a cooler, not a fridge, and indeed, it worked just like a cooler (it held cold things for about 12 hours and then it was all room temperature). I had a product with me that needed to be refrigerated and it was off after a couple of days. We asked for it to be fixed so it would cool but nothing happened.

It was surprisingly crowded in a number of places: - Getting food at the buffet was often hard as it frequently was packed especially at lunch time. In fact, one day my DH was waiting in the cue for sandwiches and someone trying to get through the crowd gave him a good poke! There were lots of frustrated people in that space. - We found it hard at times to get a place to sit to eat in the buffet area especially on the days it was too cold for anyone to sit outside or by The Patio. Several times we had to wait for a table and one day we had to give up and carry our food from the buffet back to our stateroom and eat there. - The Living Room was usually crowded during the before dinner drink and tapas time. We usually found a seat eventually but on one occasion friends we met on the ship had to stand with their drinks as there wasn’t a seat to be had. - One of the days we had to do immigration clearance on the ship in the Living Room and it was a gong show. There was only one officer and staff didn’t stagger the times people were told to go through the clearance so the cue went out the door and all the way around three sides of the pool. Thankfully, the next time immigration clearance was required it was held in the Cabaret Lounge, there were several officers, and there were announcements to delay people going to that area so the cue was managed appropriately. - White Night wasn’t fun as it had to be indoors and the Cabaret Lounge just isn’t big enough to accommodate so many so it was very crowded and uncomfortable. We’ve cruised a lot and have never experienced the crowding we had on the Journey on any other ship (even those with over 3000 guests). We had only cruised once before on Azamara (several years ago) and that ship was only about half full so that experience and what we’ve heard reported about Azamara didn’t prepare us for the level of crowding we experienced. We may just have lucked out with a stateroom that was in very poor shape (and had an awful sewer smell that couldn’t be fixed) and a cruise that due to weather was more crowded than usual but theses things added to the overall low quality of what we experienced means we can’t recommend Azamara to others and we won’t be back. We heard others (including someone who had sailed on Azamara in April) express the same thing along with their observations that overall quality seems to have declined recently.

Absolutely not. Our recent cruise on Journey was not the onboard experience I keep hearing about here. I haven’t had a chance yet to write review but the short story is that we won’t be on Azamara again unless things improve dramatically both in terms of the pre-cruise booking experience and the quality of the onboard experience (the staterooms, the food, the excursions, the entertainment, and the crowding onboard all need to be improved).

We had to request the cards as none were in our stateroom. Our experience with RM breakfast ordering via the TV was a failure. After waiting 50 minutes for our TV order we got a phone call saying they were behind and it would be another 30 minutes. That was too long and as the 50 minute wait meant we missed being able to go to the MDR we had to use the buffet (not a venue we enjoy). While ordering via the cards was more successful in terms of getting food, with one exception every order was wrong. They kept missing things sometimes to the extent that we only got about 50% of our order. One day the tray arrived 30 minutes early and, on closer examination, it wasn’t our order at all. We phoned and were told our order hadn’t left yet so they sent someone to pick it up. Turned out it was for the stateroom next door as that’s where they took it. We were shocked that they could redirect food once it had been delivered. We didn’t touch the food but they had no way of knowing that. We didn’t think it was a good example of proper food handling.

Iceland and Ireland on Journey earlier this month(July) had 589.

I never do things like this but might give it a try if there are classes that aren’t early AM. I am wondering… - what is a barré class? Is it doing stretches using a ballet barre? - what TRX? - what do you wear to these classes? Do I need special footwear?

Yes.

What I don’t understand is why Azamara can sort things out onboard while the land based staff continue to be so flummoxed. They’ve had well over three months working on the IT transition so the number of continuing problems giving rise to website errors and the non-functionality of online boarding, luggage tags availability and OBC statements is hard to comprehend. Yes, I understand that we can still get our luggage dealt with and check in at the pier and sort out our accounts onboard and I also understand that many enjoy the onboard experience but I have found that the shine has gone off our upcoming cruise due to the IT chaos we have experienced. The contrast between this pre-cruise experience and our February Princess pre-cruise experience is a night and day difference.

We have a cruise in less than three weeks on Azamara and one in February on Princess. I am SO grateful for the Princess website compared to the mess on Azamara. Azamara was sold and had to transition to its own website. They shut their site down in late March saying it would be back with their new site in two weeks. That was followed by many delays then they slowly started to piece things back together but it was full of errors (e.g., said we owed various amounts at different times when we were paid in full, changed one of our excursions, etc.). Today it still doesn’t work fully - OBC doesn’t appear anywhere and we can’t check in online in advance or print luggage tags. We just have to show up at the port and hope for the best (which thankfully does seem to be working). Three months of chaos. By comparison, the Princess site is great - not perfect but it works.

As far as I understand it, the weight a magnet can hold is if it is vertical (i.e., the magnet is stuck to the ceiling with the hook hanging down). Magnets used horizontally (i.e., stuck to the wall with the hook sticking out) only hold a fraction of what is stated. I've found I need to take strong ones (minimum hold of 110 lbs.) as we like to hang out our outfit for the next day before we go to bed or hang things that we've just pressed in anticipation of formal evenings (or whatever they are called now). We also use them at night to hang our bathrobes close to the bed. Two strong magnets back to back can keep the curtains together at night.

And the beat goes on….more erroneous correspondence from CEO. This, coupled with the fact this latest CEO email is filled with self congratulations for the quality of onboard service makes things more frustrating, IMHO. The problem never was with onboard service so the correspondence should stick to the issues which clearly are about the pre-cruise experience which has been filled with endless IT problems and customers who are unhappy, frustrated, or downright (and understandably) stressed. Azamara has not only failed to get the IT system completely fixed, they have done nothing by way of compensation for the amazingly horrible pre-cruise service experience. I was traveling so wasn’t around when this all started so I have lost track of how long this has been going on. Can someone please remind me of exactly how many weeks the IT system at Azamara has been in meltdown?

Thanks to everyone posting on this thread - great suggestions! Here are a few I'll add to the list: - EarPlanes: If you get a stuffed up head or are sensitive to air pressure changes and have to fly, these are a must have. They are small plastic ear plugs you use during take off and descent to equalize the pressure in your head. I never fly without a pair and while I have rarely had to use them, when I did need them they worked very well. www.earplanes.com - Betadine: During COVID I discovered this nasal spray and use it whenever I'm going to be with a lot of people. One spray in each nostril apparently helps block the entry of viruses through the nose (a main but not the only point of entry so it doesn't cover everything). Since using it we've travelled a fair amount and been in many very crowded indoor spaces and haven't had a single sniffle (so the EarPlanes aren't getting used). - Plastic trays: My green grocer sells mini cucumbers on plastic trays that are about 4X6" and about 0.5" deep. I wash and save them and use them to hold cosmetics, bed-side items, and other small things when I travel and then toss them before heading home. This way stuff can't roll around on a counter (good for rough seas) and it is easy for the room steward to wipe counters without having to move/touch every item. Shallow plastic trays from a dollar store would work well (but I like repurposing these plastic ones). - Tide Pens: These are great for removing stains on clothing (especially food stains). One is in my handbag at all times. - Kleenex: Not needed on the ship, but when staying in hotels before or after a cruise in Europe I've found that many places have very rough tissues (I have yet to buy a box of tissues in Italy that aren't really rough). Guess I just have a sensitive nose, but I like to have my own supply with me. - Ben's Insect repellent wipes: Easy to carry with me and to have a couple in my pocket or handbag when on excursions to rural settings. No need to carry a large bottle that might leak as each wipe is in its own package.https://bens30.com/bens-30-wipes.html Other than that all the other special things have been noted in this thread. Nice to see we aren't the only ones travelling with a little of a lot of stuff. But we haven't taken any dental items and so will be adding this one - thanks for the suggestion.

What about Iceland? Any shuttles?

We are so disappointed in what will be offered on our July sailing. At first AZ said there’d be an Azamazing Evening in Reykjavik at the Harpa Concert Hall (a very interesting site that we want to see). We were very excited about this. Then, we were notified of a change and now all we get is a Destination Celebration which is only a 1.5h concert on the ship. That’s a very significant downgrade. I expect entertainment on the ship so I fail to see how this is special.

I have yet to get today’s email. My husband did and clearly many others did as well. I received the last two (sent on the same day) so it is not a matter of them not having my email address. What value is there in an update and apology that is sent out to some but not all. This email is intended to make people feel better about AZ but I am now more annoyed than ever.