Host Jazzbeau

It's all fun and games until the thread gets shut down and GRs handed out.

At least they seem committed to AzAmazing Evenings.

Odd. I had gotten the 'save the date' email, but nothing today...

Did anyone get an email today announcing the big news? Or is it just the new itineraries on the website? That hardly seemed worth the build up.

OK, correcting yet again: Onward's cruises on the website are the already-announced segments of the World Cruise 2026. There are no cruises for Journey.

Go Petoonya!

I don't understand Oreos either – or rather, why I like them so much. If I describe them, it's two not-very-chocolately wafers mashed around some not-very-flavorful 'creme' filling. But popped in the mouth, the flavors blend and become nirvana. [Maybe it helps that I prefer milk chocolate to dark.]

I don't know if this is part of the 'big' announcement, but as of 11 pm Eastern there are now 24 cruises for Jan – June 2026 on the Azamara website. [Onward, Pursuit and Quest only; no cruises listed for Journey]

I don't know if this is part of the 'big' announcement, but as of 11 pm Eastern there are now 24 cruises for Jan – June 2026 on the Azamara website. [Onward, Pursuit and Quest only; no Journey cruises]

DW always went to La Terrazza for breakfast. I always went to The Restaurant [on Whisper]. Neither of us could understand why the other did this... [Which just proves Ogden Nash's observation that "marriage is a legal and religious alliance entered into by a man who can't sleep with the window shut and a woman who can't sleep with the window open." 😀]

Fabric: so for your next river cruise, I suggest the Rhône – and be sure to plan extra time in Lyon to visit the silk ateliers!

DW and I were not ship excursion people either – before we started river cruising. There are at least five reasons why you pretty much have to take the ship excursions on a river cruise: (1) docking times are not known beforehand, as there is often a wait at the locks or other reasons the ship gets in later than originally expected [and they don't tell you when that was]; (2) docking locations aren't known beforehand – they are assigned by the harbor master at the last minute – and sometimes the ship has to change docking locations during the day; (3) the ship may sail while you are on shore to get a head start to the next port – if you are DIY, you are also left behind; (4) on a positive note: the ship excursions [at least on the lines we have sailed, AMA and Scenic] are very good, with a range of options that lets you choose something that really floats your boat and local guides who really know the area [even better than Rick Steves – and I'm a big Rick Steves fan!]; (5) they're included, so you've already paid for them.

Have an Oreo, you'll feel better! [Actually that's good advice for any day 🤣]

So when the offer ends, will you give it back? You [and I – I'm in the same boat here] took a generous offer that Azamara didn't owe you. Now they have a better offer. As Aesop didn't say: "Sometimes he who hesitates isn't lost after all – but you never know."

This seems to have enhanced the value of suites. I assume suites still have served breakfast in Aqualina?

Mine from the 7% promotion did right away – it was in the new paid-in-full Booking Confirmation that my TA sent me immediately after processing the payment.

I would rather see Azamara take Oceania's R-class ships, one or two at a time. From a marine standpoint, they are nowhere near end-of-life. From an environmental standpoint, they could be updated with new engines that run on clean fuels (like Windstar did to the little sisters – and Azamara wouldn't need to splice in new cabins because they are already the right size). As others have said, it is important that Azamara have a uniform (and uniformly excellent) experience across its fleet – having identical ships is a good start for that.

Well, that was during the eclipse so maybe it was too dark to see it? 🤣

No, your comparison to Hurtigruten is probably about right. As to the Northern Lights, our friend recently did such a cruise on Fred Olsen and reported great success with the lights being out. And her pictures are lovely. But she did confirm that her eyes were unable to see any of the colors, the display looked like a milky film to the eye [apparently the cones, which see color, don't work in low light – so you only see with the rods, in shades of gray]. But she still had a great time.

You may have trouble hearing each other at a table that large.

This Surfing Olympics subthread started with speculation in post #17, and no one has provided any substantiation that Windstar is doing this. It may be true, but please keep in mind that so far it is not known to be true.

I was going to ignore it totally, but then this idea for lunch came up:

I don't know of a single line (except Crystal) that doesn't have major dissatisfaction among its hitherto fan base. Most cruise lines kept fares low for many years, because of the financial crisis and then Covid. Now they face such massive debt loads that they have to switch from long-term market-share thinking to short-term 'every cruise covers its cost' thinking – and that means major price hikes along with cost cuts. I don't know where it's going to stabilize.

Several earlier posts have mentioned itineraries. We book for itinerary first, food second, and the ship third. We are preparing for our first Windstar cruise in January, because they had a Southern Caribbean itinerary that really appealed (Windward Islands & Spanish New World, 14 nts from Barbados to Panama City). Our Viking Ocean cruise was also because they had a really attractive itinerary (British Isles Explorer from Bergen to Greenwich). We loved the Viking cruise [esp. the ship and the food], but not the included excursions [ended up not taking any – that really affected the value proposition] and haven't been enticed by any of their other itineraries. We will be on Star Pride, one of the old Seabourn 'sisters' now stretched from 212 to 312 passengers; the ship experience will not be as good as Viking [French balcony], but all reports say the food should be equal or better; my curated combination of ship excursions and private excursions looks far better than what Viking offered [and the combined cost still makes a good value]. So I agree that you're comparing apples to oranges. But it's a very good apple, and a very good orange.

Unlike Woody Allen, I'm not rich enough to attract even regular virgins at my age...