lisiamc

Azamara have been rolling out newer, heavier shower curtains which are less clingy than the old ones. They don’t stick to me at all, which is really nice.

It wasn’t Illy when I asked. I’d have remembered that, because I think it’s ok, and Lavazza isn’t bad either. It wasn’t a name that I’ve ever seen in an Italian bar.

I think the bags were fairly large - maybe two or more kilos of beans in each? Catering size, anyway.

I’m a coffee enthusiast (kind euphemism for horrible coffee snob 😄) and I asked to see one of the coffee bags earlier this year. It was not a brand I recognised or remember, unfortunately. It had a best before date more than 12 months in the future, and they load it on by the pallet. FWIW, it was 100% Arabica. In the hands of a good barista, it can be very nice. In the hands of someone just learning, it was pretty bad!

I’ve been on board when they split the White Night party in various ways, and there were A LOT of complaints. I don’t think Azamara can win that one.

If I were going to choose a cruise line to worry about their financial health, I’d worry more about companies RCCL or Carnival. They took on a HUGE amounts of debt during Covid to keep things ticking over. As in 2.2 billion USD for RCCL. (And yes I looked this up.) I wouldn’t worry so much about a canny venture capital company like Sycamore with a sturdy financial background and a history of backing the right horses (like Chateau St Michelle winery.) They fell into a pothole with the IT debacle, because there are not that many out-of-the-box software packages available for cruise lines the size of Azamara that don’t already belong to a huge parent corporation, and there was not enough time to develop a bespoke system. The system they chose is already in use for smaller companies, but of course it came with a load of sloppy legacy data (300,000+ records that Azamara had with RCCL) that had been patched, jigged and tweaked through the decades. Also, have a look at which ports are being cancelled. Are they everyone’s dream port? There might be a few, but the ones I’ve seen have been “interesting” choices like Côte D’Ivoire, where I think I would have happily paid a premium NOT to call there. Have they cancelled Seville for intensive Spain itineraries, where they sail up the river to dock in the town? No, not so far. In 2022, they had to cancel Bermuda on the Onward transatlantic because of weather, and substituted Nassau in the Bahamas (not a favourite port of mine, but at least a viable substitute.) This resulted in extra fees, extra fuel and all sorts of other costs. Azamara obviously didn’t ask the passengers to pick up the considerable extra costs of re-routing.

We’ve booked four new cruises since the IT debacle, and the IT thing really is getting better. You can phone up and get a helpful human with a minimal wait now. I wouldn’t wait, especially if you see a good offer. We do have some years of history with Azamara. They’ve done the right thing for us through a couple of episodes, (Onward Inaugural, for one) before and after the change of ownership. I highly prefer the Sycamore ownership to RCCI. Caveat: we have always used a travel agent and always will. Not just for Azamara, but for almost everyone else too. We occasionally book direct with Viking, but that can be a big variable.

I’m not sure they ever really did! I’ve always arrived at a time convenient for us (like when the hotel turfs us out) and they’ve let us board at a time convenient for them. As long as we’re prepared to wait, or to go exploring after dropping the bags, it’s been fine.

I believe that unfortunately this is one of the last few problems remaining from the IT mess. This is not typical of how things are proceeding for most passengers now, and I hope this can be straightened out quickly. It’s not a reason for TAs to avoid Azamara. I have several new bookings with Azamara for 2024 and 2025, and my TA is not having any problems at all.

That looks fabulous!

There is a Target in Athens GA, and Greece Ridge NY, but there are no Target stores in Europe. There are a couple of Euronics shops in Athens, and they will have hair appliances. Larger supermarkets will have them, too, and shops that sell other domestic appliances.

At least once you have joined the tender queue, the ship will keep sending tenders until everyone in the queue is back on board. The wait can be very tedious and hot if the queue is long, though. Coming back a bit early can be a good idea.

If you really applied yourself, you could spend 180 days in Italy, for example, and 180 days in France, which I think might have the same default tax requirement, and have to pay taxes in three countries! Three taxmen are two too many, in my view.😫

A US citizen is restricted to spending a maximum of 90 days in a rolling 180 days in the EU, unless they are resident in an EU country. As an EU citizen you can spend as long as you wish, although you will be regarded as tax resident after a certain number of days spent in one country. In Italy, it’s 180 days/year. In that case, you would be a taxpayer in two countries, since all US citizens must file a US tax return even if they live in another country.

I think your aunt might have been lucky. I never had any luck getting a loyalty discount applied for any packages until we are on board. And that is from the days when Azamara was part of RCCL. I stopped trying a few years ago, and now just purchase the booze upgrade on board.

I hope so! We have some Quest cruises coming up in 2025. I’d love to have an Atlas bar waiting for us.

I don’t think so, from what I’ve gleaned. Where are you seeing nickel and diming?

None at all, really. I think it was a case of saying. “Ohh, now that you mention it, we’ll have our procedural manuals back… ermm, today, thank you.

A lot of things about the change of ownership seem to have caught both sides on the hop. The difference is that RCCL just doesn’t give a damn. Azamara’s inconvenience is not a problem for them.

I agree!

I have been told that the procedure manuals were the property of RCCL, and were given back after the split. A team has been tasked with writing new ones. I suspect that could be a lengthy and complicated process!

Excursions offered by the cruise lines can be very expensive, but sometimes they’re worth every penny. We were on a cruise from Cape Town to Lisbon this spring, and one of the ports was Banjul, in The Gambia. The cruise line was offering a day trip to Senegal for a safari. Several people decided to do the same trip with a private company in a smaller van, for a fraction of the price. When we docked, there was a delay in getting clearance to get off the ship, so the safari excursions set off a bit late. The first part of the tour involved taking a ferry across the river to Senegal. By the time the coaches from the ship (and the private van) came back from their safari, one of the two ferries had broken, and the queue for the remaining ferry was miles long. The van was some distance behind the coaches, and wasn’t going to make it onto the same ferry as them. The ship was waiting for those coaches, and was going to set off as soon as they arrived, since they were already hours late for the scheduled departure. It looked certain that the people in the van were going to be spending the night in Banjul when they finally made it across the river on the next ferry, two hours after the one carrying the coaches, and they would be trying to arrange a flight to Gran Canaria in the morning. The van driver had a brain wave and ran up to one of the coaches, banging on the door, and asking if the driver could squeeze his passengers into the coach so they wouldn’t be left behind. The coach driver said yes, and everyone was back on the ship when it sailed, although the van driver and his now-empty van were still on the Senegal side of the river. The people in the van paid a lot less for their excursion than the people on the coach, everything was all right in the end, and they got a hair-raising story to tell. But how much would they have been willing to pay, when it looked like they would be left behind?

FWIW, passengers have never been able to make dinner reservations before boarding. And as Dr H says, it’s no problem to buy a beverage package when you’re ready to have your first drink on board. Very quick and easy (says someone who has bought many! 😁) I hope you have a great time on your cruise, and I’ll look forward to your review.

I know that they have zero-alcohol beer. I haven’t seen zero-alcohol wine, but I wasn’t looking for it, either.

I took this as my opportunity to stress how much I love the intensive and relocation itineraries, the overnights and the late evening departures from ports. The Work and Wander stuff is interesting, and certainly not perfect, but better IMO than the looping seven day itineraries that are often dangled as bait to attract working people.