lisiamc

Great idea! I would love rainbow night. I don’t often wear white since it seems to attract disaster, and makes me look washed out. But rainbow, I could happily do!

@RW75, I like eating at Prime C precisely because everything isn’t all gussied up. Sometimes I’m in the mood for nicely cooked protein without sticky sauce, a honey glaze, a fruit reduction, a pastry crust, or any of the other fancy things I can’t eat and don’t want to. I could see scope for a special “dish of the week” or similar - something classic like Steak Diane, Beef Wellington, Prime Rib, or lobster - things I could enjoy and also things to please those after a fancier preparation. I do think that the Aqualina menu is a bit tired. The last overhaul wasn’t very popular, though. I’d like to see more seafood, done in a method that allows the seafood to be the star of the show. Broiled scallops, grilled sardines, seared tuna in sesame seeds, etc. and a bit less of sole, sea bream, and sea bass.

So are the transfers to the airport, or at least ours have always been. And on our Iceland cruise last week, they had some last minute alterations to the transfer plus excursion.

Am I correct in thinking that I’ve seen someone with a test kit, checking to see that everything is right, and nothing has gone wrong anywhere, though? (Ph, Bacteria, salt, purification chemical, or other things? I’m definitely not a chemist!) When they have Open Day on Azamara, and all the departments explain their things, I’m sure I’ve seen a kit with test strips with the explanations about how water is treated and tested for drinking water.

Yes, they normally do. Sometimes they also offer a mini excursion if your flight is in the late afternoon.

Yes, polymer notes are the particularly excitable ones that won’t stay folded, and come sproinging out of my purse in an exuberant flock as soon as I open it! On the plus side, they can survive a trip through the washing machine very well.

I think it’s very much related! Our local water tastes so bad I flat refuse to drink it, and is so ridiculously hard that we can’t use it to make coffee, as it will destroy the rather finicky machine. Instead I use a particular brand of spring water that has the right level of minerals, and I test with little strips to make sure it stays in the right range. (We buy refillable filter packs for the water we drink, which tastes nice, but doesn’t filter out enough of the calcium to be able to use it to make coffee with.) The water on the ship is also augmented and tested in a very similar fashion to what you do to yours, and what I aim for with mine. I have many days when I wish I’d paid more attention in Chemistry class!

I think this might be the key here. It sounds like maybe what they're saying is that a person who earned their points on Celebrity or Royal won’t have Azamara status until AFTER their first Azamara cruise. Then the points will transfer. So for the first Azamara cruise they’ll be total newbies in the Azamara Circle, but for subsequent ones they will be Discoverer, Discover Plus, whatever?

I haven’t seen gondola rides mentioned lately - it used to be a very popular topic. It is a much better idea to do this independently than as part of a tour. You will see lots of gondolas, and the price is fixed, with possibly a small variation if you want the gondolier to sing (although I’d personally pay extra for a quiet one!) There are a few different routes, as well. If you do it as part of a tour, you will most likely be joining others on the tour in the gondola and paying a premium for it, although that might have changed in light of Covid. If you arrange your own, their will only be the people in your own party. I think six is the maximum.

If you bring your own, the little fridge is not all that cold. Tablets might be better.

Having read Carole Cabezas’s rather nice letter, there may be hope for those of us on the no-email list, once Azamara has separated themselves from Royal Caribbean’s IT department. I live in hope, and give thanks to Cruise Critic in the meantime.

I never thought about ordering just the fish or meat without the sides as a starter. What a good idea! I have ordered a double portion of a starter as a main before, though.

Ah, ok. Sorry I misunderstood you!

Ours came with all the proper paperwork, manual, warranty (although we’re in the UK, so the warranty would likely be difficult). I would be appalled to think that a reputable cruise line was allowing a shop to sell counterfeit goods. There would be legal implications for the cruise line as well.

A few years ago, we had a tonne of OBC. We thought we’d be clever and buy a nice watch each, then sell them on to have a bit of that money back. Well, we bought nice watches we liked, so we kept them. Not quite the original plan. if you decide to do that, maybe buy ones that you don’t like! On Onward and Pursuit, (maybe all four ships now?) they have a line of beautiful beaded handbags. They are not cheap, but not outrageously expensive either. In two cruises, I’ve bought two.

You are much more reticent than I am! I am not going to leave a table on a cruise ship half satisfied unless I hated the food. Plus I’m not shy about rearranging the dish to suit the way I eat. “Could I have the lamb chops without the potatoes or the gravy, please, but with some extra asparagus? And some extra butter as well, please?” From our very first cruise, I think we knew that we could ask for a whole second dinner if we wanted one, and I’ve certainly seen people do it. I have never once heard a passenger say “The food on the ship was good, but I was just so hungry for the entire cruise!” 😁

They did on Pursuit last week, also.

I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised. The great service is still there. In my view, the food has even improved. The wines will eventually steady out. White Nights are happening again, and some Azamazing Evenings are slowly getting underway again. We had a sort of fluke Azamazing Evening in Civitavecchia in May on the Onward Inaugural, and it was lovely. We had a Destination Immersion Evening on Pursuit in Iceland last week, and that was great too.

Some of the replacements for the Ultimate package wines are very good indeed - an improvement on the ones that ran out, and others, not so much. I thought the replacement Sauvignon Blanc was too sweet, and not nearly as good, but the Penley’s Cabernet Sauvignon was delightful. Sadly for those of you on Pursuit in the near future, everyone else seemed to like it as well, and they were running out by the end of the cruise.

I seem to remember on Quest it was originally in the corner also. We chose our cabin on Deck 4 with that in mind, only to find that we were now positioned directly under the piano. I could recite the entire repertoire of the piano player as he played every night during the time we were getting ready for dinner!

You can have the same wines at the Patio that you can have at Prime C, Aqualina, Discoveries, or Windows if you want to. So if you find some that you like, you’re good everywhere. If you’re buying a special bottle, or brought one on board, and didn't finish it, it can follow you to your next meal, or trip to a bar.

I think it’s a bit like Civitavecchia for Rome. The port will be listed as Rome, but of course the ships must call at Civitavecchia. I think Ravenna is a better deal currently than Marghera or Fusina, since it’s not very industrial. Other options may open up in the future, but not for a while.

Oh, I hope you’re right! That WILL be something to see.

Well said!

It may be that you’re having a Destination Immersion event instead. Those can be very good! We just had one on the Pursuit Iceland cruise, and really enjoyed it. It wasn’t announced before the cruise started. I think it can be difficult to get the Azamazing Evenings in place again after being stopped for a long period, as performers and venues get booked up many months in advance. With a bit of luck things will become more normal as time goes on.