PirateWife

I have a half dozen bags and lots of wallets and a cruise in a week. Maybe I will bring some with me and pass them out.

We got our FCC from an August cruise this week. Thank goodness I kept all of our documentation.

We received a letter saying we would be given FCC while on a cruise in August. No expiration date. We booked another cruise onboard and we know a notation was made on that booking that we had FCC. Sadly, Azamara doesn't seem to know anything about it although a copy of the letter has been sent to them. Our TA has been working on this for months.

In August, we quarantined in our veranda room as did others on our deck.

Interesting comments. The M & Ms I went to before Covid were fun and well-attended. Since then, not. People went to the site of the event, sat and talked to people that they already knew, and nothing was shared. No one introduced themselves except for the one I stood up and had everyone introduces themselves, give us their CC name, and, possibly, share something. For first time cruisers with Azamara, these get-togethers can be really helpful.

We have been able to book a future cruise using our free nights that we earned while on the cruise that moved us to the next tier.

Several years ago, I mentioned a problem in the half-way through the cruise guest questionnaire. That night the HD approached me by name and asked if he could talk to me. I was quaking, wondering what I had done now. He just wanted to let me know he appreciated my comment and would take care of the problem. Since then, I have always filled out the questionnaires with the good and the bad. Passengers see things from a different viewpoint than the managers. As a passenger, I have connected with several managers; we greet each other by name and share where we have been and what we have been doing since the last cruise.

Wonderful to hear they weren't doing the same show over and over again. New to b2b cruising which we like very much. We like to go to the shows at night but don't want to see the same one we saw pre-pandemic (which we have) or exactly the one from the previous week. Variety is the spice of life.

While not a medical evacuation exactly, on an Azamara trans-Atlantic cruise there was a medical emergency. The captain put the ship on full speed to get to our next port. As soon as the ship docked, the passenger was removed from the ship to a waiting ambulance.

There is a problem with the smoke from the smoking area wafting over to the pool bar on all the ships. I don't know if all of the ships have the canopy over the tables at the pool bar, but the canopy tends to trap the smoke for people at the pool bar to smell. Deck 12 may be a little harsh for the smoking area. Maybe in the casino.🙂

We've always had a choice of times except when the reservation times we wanted were already booked full. Did you make your reservations on the first day of your cruise? With the Onward having more suites than the other ships, there might be more demand to eat in the specialty restaurants.

No problem with the complimentary laundry. However, we did laugh when my husband's undershirts came back pressed and on a hanger.

I always bring my laundry bag from home. It takes no room and weighs nothing. When it is full, I take it to the laundry room. I've cruised enough that I know when washing machines are usually available. The regular washing machine cycle takes longer that the dryer cycle. I don't bring anything that needs to be ironed.

On our cruise several years ago from Athens to Dubei the captain kept warning passengers to not eat street food. Of course, a group did and they got sick which meant the self-serve buffets were served by crew members and everything on the ship was sanitized. The group, including some that had to have IVs, were confined until released by the medical staff. No one else got sick.

It is easier to find cruises with new ports to visit when your cruising experience has been one or two cruises a year and only 12 since 2014. We have booked a b2b that has 12 new ports for us. We start and stop in ports that we keep going back to because we enjoy them so much.

Must be luck.

Realistically, there is no waiting to get into the main dining room, Windows or the Patio. There are always seats available for the shows, but some people have their favorite viewing places. A line often forms about 15 minutes before the show just before the doors open. I haven't been on Onward yet but access to the various bars is easy on the other ships. I have only seen the Den crowded when there was afternoon trivia. But that only happens on cruises with lots of sea days. Even on cruises that have been booked full, you can always find your own space.

We were isolated in our veranda room on our cruise last month. Frankly, any room can start to feel small after a few days in mandated isolation. There were several rooms on our deck that had isolated passengers. If I had been really sick, I might have chosen to be on deck 4 closer to the medical facilities.

If your Azamazing Evening is on ship, eat before or after. Little nibbles are passed out before the show.

The showers are small, but I have so many other things to do, I don't spend a lot of time in that small space.

I was on the first Azamara sailing that negative tests were no longer required and 10% of the passengers got COVID. I don't want to be on another experiment with my December Caribbean cruise but I have already paid for it. Hopefully, passengers will be vaccinated to protect themselves and others. We had St. Thomas substituted for Bermuda on our November cruise. St. Thomas was a waste of time.

Oh, no. I hope it is fixed by my December cruise.

On the Quest, when the Patio opened for dinner, Swirl and Top was available in the evening.

On Quest for second leg of b2b it was open 8 am-10pm. On first leg, it was open earlier but not posted. I only found out because I tried the door handle one day.

I use the self-serve laundry regularly even though I can get free laundry. Maybe a control issue. Don't join the line at 8 am. Most washers take about 40 minutes so about 8:40 there should be some washing machines available. There are other times during the day when washing machines are always available.