oddjob16

On 5/26/2023 at 6:09 PM, uktog said:

We are coming to the end of a 10 night cruise on the Great Lakes if folks are interested  

Our room is tiny though ironically the bathroom and shower is bigger than on Azamara  

The pace is gentler, the entertainment simple and the food may not have the sophistication of Azamara presentation but it tastes good and is served at the right temperature so in that respect so much better than our previous cruise on Onward  

 

 

I didn't notice this until today. Thanks for a fantastic thread about cruising the great Lakes. 

We nearly got tempted :-)

Thanks for posting this. Very nice to watch.

I still have my nine digit number and loyalty account states the points I had before march 2023. I was able to get into my profile and clicked on "Base Points" and behold there was my missed points from my last cruise in march,- classified as RES STORED and probably getting added to my total sometime in the near future.

Would you lose much if you just cancelled and made a new booking? I would have thought your TA would have suggested this....

32 minutes ago, excitedofharpenden said:

Odd, pretty sure it's now on Quest.  Added recently. Like in the past couple of months. 

 

Phil 

Phil, that is probably right. My experience on our TA from Rio to Lisbon on the Pursuit was that coverage became more intermittent mid-cruise. This is probably because when you are in the middle of the ocean you don't have the land based augmentation to support you. All in all we had great coverage and strong signals, but then it would be completely gone for 30 minutes. No big deal.😁

3 hours ago, ECCruise said:

Quest this morning. Virtually unusable. No service big chunk of yesterday. 

 

I might be wrong,- please correct me,- but I think Quest has not installed Starlink yet.

On 4/24/2023 at 6:02 PM, Grandma Cruising said:

My cruise in November has free Wifi, premium drinks package & $300 OBC. it’s labelled as EXMO

EXMO was the early booking bonus, i.e Experience More Package

Ship  - Pursuit

Cabin No:  7104

Year:  March 2023

Standard Balcony Cabin  

Noise issue -No

Would choose this cabin again-YES

Some more winds today. 28 kts in the bow and partly cloudy. 23°C.Healthy ship and Whispering Angel is still in supply.☀️☀️☀️☀️☀️🍾🥂🥂

2 hours ago, Grandma Cruising said:

We were very disappointed yesterday. The ship docked in Mindelo, Cape Verde, alongside Fred Olsen’s Balmoral and Oceanis’s Insignia. We were the first there but got the berth furthest from the port gates.
We were here on Pursuit in 2019 doing the route the other way round. Then there was a shuttle to take us to the port gates, however this time there was no shuttle available. When we asked about this at Guest Relations we were told it was down to the port authorities. 
As the port gate was quite a long way and my DH can only walk a short distance at a time without having a sit down, we were unable to get off the ship.

 

We walked into the city and observed that both the other ships had shuttles. When we asked Azamara crew why they had no shuttles they said it was becsuse it was walking distance to town and no need for it.

The walk was about 1,5 km and obviously it would be natutral to have shuttles. It didn't bother us, but if this prevented people from getting ashore it is a bad move from Azamara.

24 minutes ago, excitedofharpenden said:

I really enjoyed Cape Verde.  Middle of nowhere, volcanic, a White Night under sail that turned very windy when the ship had to turn into the wind. And the crossing the equator ceremony. All good fun.  

 

Phil 

We are having White Night in Mindelo, too. Equator tomorrow. 

We were 12 hours late out of Salvador as the fuel barge never showed up. I guess the captain has the telegraph on full forward to be in Cape Verde by thursday morning. In the tropics now. Hot and humid, but no rain yet. 

We have been satisfied with the included wines. Some decent roses from Cafayate, Argentina and also a very drinkable Chardonnay from Mendoza. Tasted the standard syrah and was OK. Yet to taste the pinotage and merlot. 

They are well stocked with Whispering Angel and even have some Wairau River Sauvignon Blanc left. We are still on the fence for the Ultimate package. Wines are fine in the standard, but they haven't got decent tonics. Just Canada Dry, which is drinkable, but no favourite.

Havin a great cruise.

4 hours ago, Mackdogmolly said:

Well attended Meet and Mingle!

Nice to meet you all. I am sure we will have plenty of time to chat during the next two weeks.😁😎

1 hour ago, excitedofharpenden said:

I've learned over time that whatever your form of transport, when you travel you need to wear your patience hat, let it wash over you and look forward (in the case of Azamara) to being pampered. You and Synnøve have a wonderful cruise. Buzios is one of my favourites. 

 

Phil 

I know and we are experienced in this game. Problem is when the boarding is so random that half the people is litterally going to crash the gates when they realise they are suckers.

Take that away, - We are enjoying. ☺️😋

Anyway. Buzios today. Only half a day since last tender is 1:30 pm

Finished breakfast and ready.

5 minutes ago, Mackdogmolly said:

Yes, that was unfortunate. It was obvious that most people had arrived WELL ahead of their scheduled check in times.

Yes. We got there at 1 pm and more than 200 people were there earlier.

18 hours ago, Mackdogmolly said:

We got to the “holding pen” about 15 minutes in advance of or 2 pm check in and the place is already mobbed. Evidently assigning people in order of appearance, not assigned check in time 🤷‍♂️

We got there at 1 pm and we had the first slot at 2 pm. When they started boarding we realised people were given boarding groups by random and not by time of appearance. People with later slots that arrived after us actually boarded ahead of us. Nice way of Azamara to make half their passengers irritated and impatient even before getting on board.

Worst boarding chaos ever.

13 hours ago, Charlies Aunt said:

Anyone reading this for future travels I would just like to give a shout-out for a great tour guide Augusto Guimaraes in Rio de Janeiro. We have just spent the day with him in this wonderful city and much appreciated his knowledge of all things Brazilian. He is also extremely proficient in getting you through lines at breakneck speed making it possible to enjoy a delicious lunch and still get to see the major sights in a day without being totally frazzled at the end. 

 

Please consider him for any future visits. He is a great character and will make your visit to Rio very memorable.

 

gusguide@hotmail.com

 

Hear hear. Gus was a phenomenal guide. He was a walking express pass. No lines for us. Looking forward to seeing you on board. 23 hours to go. 

7 hours ago, asnaleah said:

 

For my fellow wine drinkers - after a discussion with the Sommelier, we decided to purchase a wine package rather than the Ultimate package. The Sommelier was very truthful that some of the listed wines by the glass were either in short supply or missing altogether. I really appreciate his candor and it’s good to know Azamara is not pushing the package. Now, if we were cocktail drinkers, the package would be a good choice.

Thanks for the info. We will stick to the included drinks and wine when we board next week. Bying the Ultimate Package when the wines are not in stock is a downer for us. 

7 hours ago, uktog said:

Ours is always sterling even if placed with Azamara and not a travel agent.  I did ask for a $ booking (ok a few years ago, it would have been advantageous in those good old days) and was told no unless I used a US travel agent (which I then went ahead and did) - also got far better cancellation terms

Thanks. We might do a booking in Norwegian Kroners on board if they allow it. Better conversion and then bring it back to our local TA. 

May I ask a relevant question to this thread? 
Can you choose currency for booking on board or will it always be US $?
 

Never managed to get the free nights to get better price. Last time we used four «free nights» on a 8 days cruise and ended up with same price as everybody else on the same cruise, except that we didn’t get the OBC that everybody else got. Waste of time and energy. Azamara could find better ways of giving loyalty benefits.

45 minutes ago, Oslo Dutch said:

We have booked a last-minute April 1st, 2023 Rome to Athens. Initially booked a Y guarantee however today we were confirmed in one of the outsides on deck 6.

 

This is a European booking that does not receive upgrade emails from Azamara. I tried to look for a paid upgrade on the Azamara website however we were unable to do this online. 

 

When will the next opportunity arise to be able to bid?  Last summer it wasn't until we were onboard. (however, being in a CC Suite we didn't need it.)

 

 

 

 

You are in a guarantee stateroom and hence not eligible for bidding for upgrade.

1 hour ago, Baynanno1 said:

In the past we have been able to have (well vetted) family members come on board for a visit and to explore our "home away from home" to see some of what has kept us coming back over the years.

I know this was suspended due to covid, but wondering whether it may have been re-introduced yet, as i have just found out one of my daughters who previously missed out, will be in one of the ports we visit next week on the same day.

Thanks in advance for any response.

It is all up to the ship, i.e the captain. Individual requests and answers. 

Just make a request.