ECCruise

There really is nothing to discuss until you see the Azamara invoice when it is forwarded to you by the TA.  As @crzrr said, "If the AZ invoice does not match the one from your TA, then it's the TA's fault.  If it does match the one from your TA, then it's Azamara's fault".

22 hours ago, copmom1384 said:

We are considering our first cruise on Azamara.  We are usually Celebrity people but are curious about this line.  One drink related question and it is about beer.  My hubby only drinks beer and prefers IPA's.  Does anyone know if they serve IPA's and would it be an upgrade?

Definitely no IPAs in the included beverages (Bud, Bud Light, Becks, a draft (sometimes varies, never IPA).

With the Premium package ($18.95 per person, per day), beers included may be (and they may bring on other local beers): 

 Coors Light, Miller Lite, Corona Extra, Amstel Light, Pilsner Urquell, Leffe, Carlsberg, Heineken, Stella Artois, Heineken Premium Light, Samuel Adams Boston Lager, Moretti, Estrella Damm, Guiness Draught Can, Boddingtons Pub Ale, Warsteiner, Grolsch, Murphy’s Irish Stout

The Azamazing Evening, if it is happening, will appear in the shore excursions on your cruise personalizer.  It will also appear there if it is an onboard Destination Celebration.  You can reserve your spot(s) there, although they also can usually be done on the ship. 

12 minutes ago, nucdrf said:

We have a certificate dated October 2023 issued by the Catalan heath authorities.  Would that fit SA’s requirements?

Should be no problem I would think. 

Just now, uktog said:

This was why I had to cancel this cruise in November. I was very disappointed to lose my deposit and free days as I am not allowed the vaccination and DH had a 10 year old cert and medical professionals refused to re vaccinate him 

Yes, I remember that you had to cancel. South Africa's position on this is a real problem. Our local health Department also refused to revaccinate us and we were forced to go private. 

13 minutes ago, oddjob16 said:

If South Africa is a member of WHO they have to abide by their rules for vaccinations.

This is what it says about yelow fever:

»The international vaccination certificate becomes valid 10 days after basic vaccination and is valid for life [18]. Previously, the validity period was 10 years, but the rules have been changed on the basis of new knowledge about the duration of the vaccine's effect [19]. The change is legally binding for all WHO member countries from 11 July 2016. No country can therefore require a refresher dose after 10 years [18]. The change has retroactive effect, and those who have an international yellow fever certificate marked with 10 years of validity can continue to use this even if the expiry date has expired.»

That's all sounds well and good but South Africa won't budge. And Azamara won't let you board.  

Just went through all this a couple of months ago.

If you want to fight the SA government, have at it. I tried, and have multiple emails from the Ministry of Health, but the fight wasn't worth it. And I wanted to be able to board. 

2 hours ago, Grandma Cruising said:

The 10 years issue is a bit of an issue as the yellow fever vaccination is now considered to be for life, but S. Africa doesn’t seem to have caught up with that.

As we’re doing it the other way round we’ll be going from one yellow fever area (The Gambia) to another (Senegal), so if we want to go ashore in Senegal we need a yellow fever vaccination.

Yes, and they are non-negotiable on it.

And Azamara followed the directive.  Either you had a YF vax within the last 10 years or a current exemption, you could not board the ship.

8 minutes ago, Keeria said:

Did you need a yellow fever vaccination? 

We did, but we were in the opposite direction.  Since we visited The Gambia and Senegal first, South Africa required YF vax if previous jab was over 10 years ago.  If you are headed north, that will not be an issue unless you enter South Africa from a country they consider a hot spot, and then you will need one. 

15 minutes ago, nucdrf said:

We are doing the northbound version: Capetown to Gran Canaria.  We are U.S. citizens resident in Barcelona, so don't know how that will complicate things.

The ports are the same.  US passport holders, we did not need to secure any visas prior to sailing.  

2 hours ago, billco said:

Actually, we are not on vacation. I have been retired for over 30 years and have sailed on over 50 cruises. Cruising is just an extension of our daily life and how we do it is our business.

I have to agree.  Old thread or not, it gets annoying people telling me "you are on vacation" when we absolutely are not.  There are 6-8 month periods when we are away far longer than we are at home, and that time would look very similar to when we are home. We don't eat any more, drink any more or have that many different daily routines, except in a different part of the world.  Which often include, BTW, television. 

On 1/14/2024 at 4:47 AM, Aussie Cruise Nuts said:

 

No Phil.    We each have the standard wifi package complimentary thanks to our suite benefit discount and loyalty tier discount.

 

We knew for this cruise our iPhone 4G data would be available to hotspot for most of the Australian part of the itinerary and in every NZ port or close by.     I preferred to spend our OBC on upgraded drinks  🤪

 

Looking forward to the future when all Azamara ships have the faster standard wifi.
 

Rod 

That definitely sounds like the Starlink speeds we were getting on both Quest and Pursuit in the last 6 months or so. 

The old antenna, which is what they used for the standard package on Pursuit (and on Quest when Starlink connectivity was spotty) was generally between 300-400kbs. 

And those 2-3mps speeds were enough to power Netflix, Hulu, Prime, Zoom, etc. Yes, there were spotty periods but were fine on those platforms for probably 70 days or so of the 80 days we were on those 2 ships.  

3 hours ago, TravelBluebird said:

Ushuaia is surrounded by snow covered mountains. It is fantastic—so stunning! Truly looks like the end of the world.

 

The Azamara Quest is in port with us today, as well as another ship.

 

Thanks for so many great pictures.  We will be on Oosterdam in Ushuaia February 27 and on Quest starting March 6.

~500 days with =X= over the last 20= years.

We started to migrate away (although we had 4 still booked) a couple of years ago when we felt that it no longer matched our cruising interests (E class left us ice cold). Since then we've done ~150 days on Azamara, a bit less on HAL, 1 sailing on Oceania (after 7 O cruises it will be our last) and 1 Princess down under for the itinerary and pricing (way less than =X= for a suite).  We feel the Retreat prices border on the insane (and we've sailed =X= suites a number of times before the price skyrocketed. 

But going forward, have a good many Azamara booked (our first choice) 3 HAL (which we have a new affinity for) a Princess because of a Northern Lights itinerary, and a Swan Hellenic Antarctica expedition).  We do have 1 Millennium B2B in early 2025 at a really good price (which has now more than doubled, taking it far out of what we would ever consider). 

We still have a very warm feeling for Celebrity after all these years, and rue that they will never be the same way again, unfortunately. 

9 minutes ago, pmjnh said:

Same. Our drinking habits on the ship are exactly the same at home. We are not on vacation..we just change location. But to each his own. 

I like that.  People always say "How was your vacation?"  and we think (but don't say) it's not a vacation, it's just a different place to explore. 

Since we don't drink any more alcohol on a cruise than we do at home, plus one cappuccino mid morning, we never get close.

39 minutes ago, bobcan said:

We were on a bus tour in the UK several years ago and the guide informed all passengers that the bus would be leaving to continue to our next stop at 10:25 and would not wait for stragglers. At 10:30 the bus left minus 2 people, at our next stop 2 more, then 2 more at the next. Guaranteed at our last stop everyone was back on the bus with 10 minutes to spare.

Honestly, that is really the only way to handle it. 

49 minutes ago, Btimmer said:

My issue was we couldn't get any speed or speeds way less than 5 download in our stateroom even though the WiFi indicator said I was connected and the router is just outside our door.  They swapped out the router and the issue seems to have been resolved.  We had great internet connections on our last 73 day cruise on the Zaandam after the first few days.

Good that it seems to be restored.

On 1/8/2024 at 11:43 PM, The-Inside-Cabin said:

Yikes - How can you say dial-up?  OK, not so bad, but that's not good anymore.  

5 MPS is fine for streaming and video at least in SD and probably in HD, actually.  We've done hundreds of hours of Netflix, Hulu, Prime, etc. on ships (obviously on StarLink) at speeds between 4 and 5 mps.  It is probably not enough for 4K, but that never was a big deal with us. 

48 minutes ago, susiesan said:

Any idea of what the cost of the transfer to Tronchetto is per person? I will have a lot of OBC to use.

It is on that form.  USD$26.95 with 2 departure times. 

18 hours ago, gtragitt said:

I am not confused. I know what the venue is called and why. It just seems odd that a band with 3 very good guitarists didn't get to play some good Rolling Stones guitar riffs.

Because the band there has a restricted and defined play list. They cannot play what they want. 

2 hours ago, Traveling Fools said:

 

 

 

Our Impressions of Azamara

 

While able to pay for an upgraded beverage package and bundle of Chef's tables on-line pre-cruise, actual dining reservations could not be made until after boarding.  Reservations were made at a single table in one of the specialty restaurants on a first come first served basis. Azamara needs to address this issue and implement a system that prioritizes the level of accommodations booked and loyalty status. 

Even though our loyalty status and usual cabin class would put us at the front, we definitely do not want the Oceania program that lots of things are based on cabin class.  We believe everyone should have the same shot at specialty dining.  

Here is our experience(s) this year with Starlink.

When it was first introduced, the $19.95 per day service was 2-3 MPS in May on Quest.  Fine for streaming.

When we sailed Pursuit last month, we found that they have throttled back the speed for the $19.95 per day (maybe 300-400 kbs) which is fine for normal email, browsing, etc. but not for streaming.  You'll need to add the faster speed at $7.95 per day to ramp up to the 2-3 MPS speeds.

With the Circle loyalty discounts (which only apply to the basic package, not the upgrade) we still think it's a pretty decent deal for acceptable access. 

1 hour ago, Dr H said:

. And speaking of changes, has anyone noticed that a new "Stateroom and Suite Upgrade" package is "coming soon"? No mention of what it is or might be, but something is brewing  in that department.

The upgrade process has been active for the last 6 weeks or so.  If there is availability, it will be offered to you via email shortly before your embarkation date.  It is a bid process, as before, with a minimum and recommended bid.

Not sure whether the $$$ was too rich for most people's blood, since there were lots of suites available on our November and December sailings.  And they got rid of those with bingo, spa and shops raffles. 

22 minutes ago, teddie2 said:

Oh sorry that's confusing because they don't show that as an option. Just the 19.95 per day unlimited

 Not see anything that said 7 95 faster service

You won't see it until you sign on the first time and it is offered as an option. 

8 minutes ago, Curlyjo said:

If you say that the B2B OBC is combined, can I purchase an experience more package good for both cruises? or just one cruise (the longer one)?

The OBC for shore excursions will likely roll over.  The other benefits of an Experience More package will not roll over (e.g. Premium Drink Package).