lisiamc

Ooh, great idea!

I love Viking as much as Azamara, but for different reasons. Viking is very smooth, and very good at getting the details right. Their ships are calm, cool, beautiful, and very, very uniform. Azamara ships are a bit more quirky in furnishings and artwork, and the service is a little bit more personal.The food on both can be extremely good, or sometimes less so. I like Viking’s inclusion of the speciality restaurants in the base price, but I like Azamara’s included drinks selection better. Azamara has more trivia - a very minor point, but it appeals to me. I adore Viking’s Torshavn late-night venue, but I’m also a big fan of Onward’s Atlas bar, for similar reasons, although there is no room for live music.

I’m seeing this:

Some of the testing companies will give you a credit if you need it for a future test. Maybe yours will do that, or if it’s a do-at-home, maybe you can hang on to it for the future? We sail on 7 August and have been putting off booking the tests as long as possible. This is a relief for us!

It’s not just an excursion organiser request, it’s a request from the site itself. If your shorts don’t cover your knees, you could take a large scarf with you and tie it around your waist like a sarong. Then you’re free to wear your shorts for the other things you’re doing that day. I think covering knees and shoulders is a very reasonable request in return for being allowed to visit such an amazing place.

Ah, ok. Thank you!

I’ve been an Azamara customer from 2007, but not quite a top tier cruiser, and not a suite dweller. What and where is the Retreat Lounge?

I wasn’t going to tip my hand! 😂

I think it’s a pondian thing! 😄 The auto-censor is probably American, and it apparently only knows one definition for that word.

There is quite a long thread about the Atlas Bar here, if you want the full story. It’s in the space on Onward where the Drawing Room would have been. I wasn’t sure I would like it, but I did, very much. If you have the Ultimate drinks package, there is no extra charge for the drinks. If you don’t have that, you can buy a drink for an extra charge, and see what you think. There is a menu of very creative drinks to try, and the atmosphere is intimate, clubby and cosy. There was food offered for a charge earlier in the evenings, but we never got there early enough to see what it was like. Onward has gone through a lot of renovation since being added to the fleet, and although everything was not completely ready on the maiden voyage, she is looking better and better as the outstanding bits are finished. We were onboard for that maiden voyage in May and had a great cruise. We are booked for three more Onward cruises this year, so you can see that we think she is a great addition to Azamara.

You can find pretty much everything you need in many supermarkets, although the brands may not be the same. One thing that is difficult to find is antiperspirant. Deodorant is easy, antiperspirant is much more difficult, although not completely impossible.

An intensive Italy cruise is not a bad time to be adventurous if you were tempted to try an independent tour. If the worst happened and you were so late back that you missed the ship, it would likely only be a minor problem to meet the ship at the next port, depending on where that port was. Most providers of independent tours are VERY careful to get everyone back on time, so they keep their good reputation.

We also were fortunate enough to do the tour in the Falklands with Patrick Watts. It was an amazing day!

We’ve done some Azamara tours that were very enjoyable, and some that were pretty much the only way or at least the most convenient way to do something we wanted to do. Overall, I can’t say that we’ve felt we were getting many bargains, though, and a few were just total duds. We have had many good experiences teaming up with others on a roll call and sharing a tour, too. Although sometimes the people with the strongest organisational drive to arrange a tour are the ones who want to do the marathon 9-hour tours, which is about 3 hours more than my lazy self is up for.😁

I should have added that if you want to buy a glass or a bottle of something a bit special that isn’t included, that’s possible too. We like the multi-night packages, they’re a good deal.

The usual included spirits, soft drinks, and Daily Pour wines are included. If you have a drinks package, those drinks are included as well.

Excellent idea! I know you are a fan of Fevertree, although I am not. Can you please also investigate if they have slimline Schweppes?

I’m hoping that Club Royal tonic is the remains of what was transferred over from Journey in Amsterdam, and when unsuspecting passengers finally drink it all up, it will be replaced with something better! We need a brave volunteer currently on Journey who will order a G&T and report back.

All four Azamara ships have the old desks and wardrobes in place, or certainly they look very similar. The bedside cabinets and headboards are new-ish, from the colour scheme change a few years ago. I believe the sinks on Journey, Quest, and Pursuit are the originals, but they have had any chips or cracks repaired. I also think that there are nice metal threshold covers between the shower and the main bathroom floor still to come on Onward. We were on one of the other ships when they were installing them.

We tend to cruise on lines that include the wine these days, so they don’t mind if we bring our own on board. but I still like to bring a bottle (or two or three) of “balcony wine”. Civitavecchia is a good place to get those. Franciacorta, Prosecco, a good Lazio red, there are many choices.

I had a similar situation. I was quarantined, but husband was not. It turned out to be just an upset stomach, not Noro, so I was feeling fine by dinner. I got him to order my room service meal so I was able to have exactly what I wanted. I sent him out to bring me back a cocktail, too!

I’m ok with testing, and would be happy to have routine testing at the dock for all, “free” again if possible, although I’m sure they would build that charge into the new fares if they went back to not charging. What I hate is the stress of counting backwards on my fingers to figure out where/when/which kind of test, how to arrange it and whether it covers all the requirements.

From your lips to God’s ears! Fingers crossed this is going to happen. I received an email yesterday from Azamara advising me to “register now” for pre-cruise testing, for our August cruise, which seemed like odd phrasing. I thought maybe it was an invitation to register for their tests at the pier, which I would happily do, but all the links just took me to pretty general information about Covid precautions.

I have bought several sets of Coeur de Lion jewellery on board Azamara (when they used to sell it - they don’t any more) and Viking. In each case, I checked the prices on the internet to make sure I wasn’t paying over the odds, and I wasn’t. I do suspect Coeur de Lion has a hefty markup in any shop, though. It’s not valuable jewellery, but I like it, and I think it’s pretty. I’m never short of temptations to spend on-board credit on, so I try to make sure I’m paying an acceptable price! 😁

It may also depend on the items. I bought a watch on board in May, and it cost a few dollars more than I would have had to pay for it ashore, but I would have had to look harder and drive around a bit, or order it online. The convenience and good service was worth the few extra dollars for me.