luv2travel90266

I am not an insurance agent however I have read the coverages and use a chase sapphire reserve card for travel. The medical coverage is very small and if you had to have an operation while overseas Your primary medical insurance may not cover it so you also need to read that policy. As many on this board are seniors Medicare does not pay for overseas care. Personally I buy an annual policy which is relatively inexpensive that gives me coverage in the event of a medical emergency overseas. Hope the above info is of help.

Choices for transport below. There is a land route by taxi if you don't wish to hassle with luggage.

Journey on April 14, 2023 in Venice on my trip. Haven't received any notice from Azamara. Would prefer anything close as it is the end of my trip and we plan to spend a few days in a Venice hotel prior to my return home.

Also I have found it there bud more batteries are now sealed. I have also found in the hardware stores. Still a pain hunting for it on vacation. A wonderful benefit that Azamara provides.

I recall not completing a form but just providing an email with the request along with my cruise confirmation number. Finding distilled water in Europe is a pain and this was easy. I do pack a bottle I bought on Amazon which gets me through 3 to 4 days in my checked luggage.

Just completed a trip in August on the Pursuit. Had an extension cord and a 1/2 gallon of distilled water waiting for me in my room when I checked in. Just sent them an email to Special_Needs@AzamaraClubCruises.com with the request indicating I use a CPAP and for distilled water and an extension cord if there was no plug near the bed (which there is not in a veranda room). They have a form if other items might be needed that is the link https://www.azamara.com/life-onboard/accessible-cruising

I wish I didn't say this but the wines are being misrepresented. I couldn't do that in my business and that should be corrected as it excuse the pun, does leave a bad taste in one's mouth! This is the current program and discounts

I accept that Azamara is a for profit business. While I have also left a number of posts on board regarding wine which is a passion I did my first Azamara trip in August in Iceland on the Pursuit. I don't see myself going back on the larger ships you see in my signature. Their product is a reasonable price for a good value. Food was generally good, the chefs table was exceptional, love the easy on and off due to the smaller ship, staff bends over backwards to please and is very personable,. The result of the cruise was I booked a back to back in March from Lisbon to Venice (or wherever they will land????). For the Ultimate package of $23.95/day (discounted based upon your membership level) I could have a single malt scotch before dinner, a few glasses of ordinary but acceptable wine, a cognac to finish the evening. I wouldn't expect them to go into the red on the beverage package. As a note the chefs table wines are included with the meal so I did not get much benefit on those days. If you enjoy good wines I didn't find the Azamara labeled wines acceptable upon first taste but did give them a try. Others have remarked they were perfectly fine. Depends upon your palate and what you enjoy at home. Bottom line is I don't think they re taking advantage of me but are charging a price equivalent to the value provided. Noting the above I believe you will have a great experience.

I agree with Jazzbeau. As I mentioned earlier the wines in the Ultimate package retail for $10-$15. At home my average bottle cost is $35-$50. The only reason I did this on my last cruise is I was drinking VSOP Cognac after dinner so figured it was a break even. Buying bottles off the list or paying the corkage is the best way to get the level you wish. The corkage was a very reasonable $10 previously. Have heard that changed and just found this online showing now $25. Logo appears to be an old logo. http://media.azamaracruises.com/azamara/content/pdf/faq/Azamara_Guest_Alcohol_Policy.pdf Searched on the Azamara site and it still show $10 https://www.azamara.com/booked-guests/before-you-board/guest-conduct-policy I recall seeing others post $15 so might be how nice you are to the sommelier

There is a roll call for the Journey March 25th sailing. If you are interested in small group tours please join and share

No problem! When you first board go to the Windows dining room and they will handle the reservations.

I consider myself a foodie and also have a wine collection of 1000 + bottles. The chefs table was comparable to a Michelin star restaurant at a fraction of the cost. I have only completed 1 Azamara cruise but am booked for a back to back in March and will do it again on each leg. Yes it is a must do in my opinion!!

I booked last month for a back to back for March/April 2023 while on board the Pursuit. The current web sale is cheaper even with the onboard discount I got. Not significant enough to cancel and rebook but will be watching the prices in the future closely.

Bandwidth and speed on the ship internet won't improve under the current system. I found the best internet access was early morning when most cruisers were sleeping. Royal Carib https://www.royalcaribbeangroup.com/ is upgrading their ships to https://www.starlink.com/maritime but it is an investment that Azamara hasn't committed to yet.

Take a look at viator.com. They are a travel site that may have tours of interest from your ports. Good luck. 🍀

As a reminder many of us do tours off ship direct with the tour operators. I was able to put a group of 8 persons together recently on my Pursuit Cruise through the Cruise Critic Roll Call link. Fewer people and better pricing was a plus too. I suggest you see if a roll call has been created for your cruise. Link to Roll Calls

Agree! If you like the wine and it is less expensive you might like it even more. I love finding great values.

Unable to find the 2021 listed on any website but this appears to be the Rose made by this winery but an older label. It appears it might be a small production winery. I was unable to find info on number of cases produced by the winery. They do make box wines in a number of varieties too. https://www.wein-musketier.de/products/vignerons-de-cebazan-colombard-sauvignon-le-bel-olivier-2021

As said before the Ultimate Wine package is not a deal but fair price for what you get. Just saw the following from the Point's Guy $138/day wine package on Norwegian Cruise Line . Seeing that Azamara wine package definitely looks better

The private label cab is from France and the Merlot from Italy. Both tasted August 2022 on the Pursuit were flawed wines in my opinion. Here in California there is a wine sold called Charles Shaw aka “two buck chuck” ( now $3/bottle). They buy finished wine in bulk that is mostly marginal, blend it with other wine and bottle it under their label. That is the closest comparison to what was being served on the reds. On my most recent trip I quite often will buy a 0.5 litre carafe of local house wine that are very good and inexpensive. If Azamara wants to serve wine of that caliber I might save my $s and not upgrade. It would take a wine buyer who tastes the wine. I suspect that didn’t happen. Due to the quantity needed continuously Azamara might overwhelm a small winery’s production. One of the best cheap wines found in California is Bogle. that produces high quantiles is Bogle. Found at $7-$9/bottle on sale I would suggest they contact them about a purchase contract or find other like priced and quality wines to offer for their included wines.

The white is $11.99 at Wine.com. Rose is 11 GBP. 2020 le pas de la beaume $7. These are table wines and if found acceptable for your palate no reason to spend more. For those of us that made wine a hobby as we taste more we develop an appreciation for the complexities. Most important is to enjoy the wine your drinking.

That is correct. At the chefs table the wine pairings are part of the cost. The sommelier made suggestions of what he felt the best available options were that were available on the Ultimate Package when I was on the Pursuit several weeks ago. I didn't taste through the option as somewhat blindly took his suggestions. As with other crew members they try their best to keep the passengers happy. As mentioned before I didn't feel the Ultimate package was a deal but if you are getting a before or after dinner drink the cost was less than if you were at a hotel or restaurants at home. I am still hopeful they can get their wine purchases matching their lists. A special kudos to Jazzbeau for separating this out. I owe you a drink when we hopefully meet!!

"WIW the Matanzas Creek Merlot was one of the few wines from the list that they actually had. On the other hand the Oregon Pinot Noir was gone and they offered an Italian Pinot that I think cost about $10/bottle, and was pretty awful. I talked with the sommelier. Told him I understood the supply chain issues and that my problem was with their having a sheet showing wines on the ultimate drinks package on a table where they were advertising the package while knowing that many of the wines on that list were not really available. He told me the list came from the corporate office and they couldn't update it even though they know it's out of date. On the plus side they were also out of Couvoisier VSOP cognac but substituted Remy Martin VSOP. So that was a good swap." My point exactly. Matanzas Creek can be found at Total Wines, a big box liquor store for $23/bottle. Robert Parker gave the 2019 a 93 points, a pretty good score for the price.

As there seems to be a lot of interest I thought I would start a new topic. Wish I would’ve done this when I was on board. For those sailing shoot a photo of the bottle label and your comments. The published wine lists are completely out of date but hopefully in the future will become accurate. I’ll be posting my comments in March on my next cruise.