jayne hoffman

Ok, I am not seeing the post I thought I wrote on departure from Chioggia. We took the transfer from central Venice. It was a long wait with little or no shade or seating available. First two buses went out on time, but we had to wait an hour for more buses. There were some vendors selling water and food as you enter. I recommend picking up some water! Once on the bus it was a pleasant ride through the countryside. We walked off the bus next to the ship, received our room key, walked onto the ship, provided our credit info and within 10 minutes we were in our room. They delivered our luggage from the bus to our room.

I described the pick up process earlier. Are you looking for other specific info? We are docked in Nice this morning with beautiful weather. We’re doing laundry this morning - love that Azamara offers free self-service laundry. In general, there is a lot to love about Azamara. There are no art auctions, no casino, drinks are included and they will always keep you glass filled regardless of what you are drinking. No hairy chest contests, aggressive sales pitches or long waits for anything. The ports have been great, excursions have been well-run.

We had a transfer from the city to Chioggia. The pick up spot is about 10-15 minutes walk from the St. Lucia train station. It is not a level walk - there are bridges to navigate. We understand now, that you can take public transit there, but we don’t know those details, Best to ask at your hotel. I’ve learned the hard way - I will never fly in the day of embarkation. Stay somewhere the night before in case there is a snafu with your flights. You’ll appreciate a night’s rest, but you also will have less stress.

We took the Azamara transfer from Venice to Chioggia. We were there at 11:35, and stood in the sun waiting with our luggage in hand until 1 p.m.. Two buses were filled ahead of us, and a third finally rolled in. A fourth was needed, and I am not sure how long that wait was. We arrived at Chioggia after a 45-minute bus trip through farmland and small towns. Upon arrival, they took care of our luggage from there. Check in was quick and efficient - probably five minutes total. Our room was available, and we went to lunch. The cafe is noticeably smaller than the larger ships we’ve been on in the past. Buffet food was good, but not amazing. It was a joy not to sign receipts for a coke! After muster, (15 minutes and we were sitting the whole time.) We went to The Living Room on Deck 10 for sail away and discovered that our premium drink package wasn’t showing on our account. This was resolved (and we weren’t the only ones with this problem) fairly quickly, and we had our premium martini shortly thereafter. There are tapas at this bar, but they were either flavorless, stale or overcooked. We’ll try it again to see if it improves. The expansive forward view is very impressive and this lounge is lovely. Dinner was fabulous. We had a large international table of folks that was lively and talkative. Servers kept everyone’s wine glasses full, food was flavorful, and the service was great. Today is Zadar, Croatia, and we just plan to wander the city. White night is tomorrow in Kotor, Montenegro where we are berthed until 10 p.m.. Getting onto the ship internet has been troublesome. It keeps asking if we want to buy a package and has only alloed us to use the QR code issued for our package once. We shall try to work this out today with guest services. In the meantime, our T-Mobile account (our plan includes international) is providing us service while we are berthed in Zadar. Off to explore Zadar…..

I’ll try to post about our experience embarking from Chioggia on May 12. We sail from there to Barcelona. We embark again from Barcelona on May 28. If the wifi is good, I will post.

We are due to set sale out of Chioggia on May 12. There is an option of getting a transfer to the port. Check to see if this is available for your cruise. My understanding is that we go to the train station and the transfer bus will be there. But, I will definitely know more in a couple of weeks!