ECCruise

The Grand Voyages allow you to book the package of multiple cruises with one deposit, but really steep (anywhere from $3500 to $5000 for the first deposit + $2500 to $4000 for the second deposit) for non-suites and basically double the first deposit for suites.

Fair complaint. Obviously big variance ship to ship. We've had nothing even remotely like that in almost 3 weeks on Pursuit. Different offerings every day for lunch, all creative and tasty. Today's was a spicy fish cake, African spices and fried to order where the carvery would be. Virtually all the destination lunch specials were largely prepared a la minute so no way that and a carvery could exist in the same real estate. And not a Christmas decoration to be seen which is not an issue since still 3+ weeks to go, but again another variance between ships.

Price, probably. Quality? Not so. And way more interesting.

No surprise there. In the 15+ years we've been sailing O and 12+ years with Azamara, food has always been better on Oceania. It is largely their strongest point and one of the only things we find is superior there to Azamara. Otherwise, for us, pretty meh.

With these comments on the lack of a "carvery" we are on day 17 of our 37 on Pursuit and happy not to see the repetitive carvery options. Every day of the 17 a different local food offering where a boring roast used to sit. Spanish specials, West African dishes and other creative uses of that space, all prepared largely on the spot. Looking forward to Namibian and South African specials going forward. Also a local breakfast dish every morning.

We also got the upgrade letter for 9 December Pursuit. If the bids needed to secure an upgrade are even remotely what they wanted for the Pursuit sailing we are on now, (prior to the bidding process which virtually always means higher pricing) we will not even consider bidding.

That's my guess here. Quest was originally scheduled for dry-dock 1 April for 14 days. That was canceled and 2 7 day Cruises substituted--at very cheap prices. Now they need to axe a longer sailing at significantly higher per diems to achieve what is obviously a necessary dry-dock.

Have had 5 interactions with shoreline in the last 6 weeks. Things like double checking OBC amounts, using OBCs to book shore excursions, etc. All have been quick and no problems. Don't even waste your time hunting for available cabins on Azamara's website. Numerous online sources can show all available cabins as will any TA. We have no worries. Have sailed 75+ days on Azamara since the restart and board Pursuit tomorrow for 37 more days.

That was my first thought. They sent the email noting that pax were to "ensure they had the correct visas." It was not Celebrity's responsibility to jump through hoops, invest valuable staff time and possibly money to bring the Indonesian officials onboard because people couldn't follow the instructions in the email. We've had several sailings where the visas were reviewed at check-in. No visa, no boarding.

I think that is the whole point. We would go to Istanbul or Kusadasi tomorrow without fear (have been to both many times both in calm and volatile periods) but fully understand if the cruise line feels it is better to substitute alternative ports.

My biggest question is logistics. Say the promotion is just moderately successful, and they book 30 "Work and Wanderers" on a specific sailing. For the life of me, I can't imagine where they are going to park 30 " included monitors, keyboards, mice and adapters" (their words) plus their users on an Azamara ship without pretty severely impacting the enjoyment of the other 664 pax onboard. More than moderately successful? Try finding homes for 60 wanderers, say, and their associated equipment.

Pricing is the same. No way of knowing what Chef's Tables will be on your cruise until you are onboard. We've had French, Italian, American (California) and Arabic. But best odds are French and Italian, depending on the length of your sailing.

With Azamara OBC, never a second. Always there. With TA OBC, maybe 5 minutes total on one of our sailings. Showed them TAs invoice, they forwarded to Miami, credit in account 2 days later. All other TAs OBC showed up on day 2 or 3, the way it has been for like 20 years on =X=, Royal and Azamara.

It appears that every account shows no OBC. There is none showing on any of our 8 bookings, including 3 in the next 45 days. They are making changes in the system, evidently. I am not the least bit concerned. Each of our 6 sailings since the IT fiasco has been correct when we get on the ship.

No. Individual specialty reservations can only be made onboard, as it has always been.

The whole Key West thing has been a back and forth issue for a couple years. In 2020 Key West voted overwhelmingly to limit cruise visitors to 1500 per day and enacted some environmental provisions. In 2021, the legislature passed and Gov. DeSantis signed a law that nullified the vote by the KW citizens, stopping any restrictions whatsoever on cruise calls. In 2022 KW City Council passed an ordinance banning cruise ships from city owned piers, restricting them to Pier B, which is privately owned. I think some cruise lines are tentatively scheduling KW calls, hoping that things get sorted out. But obviously, that can change.

As much as we hate to miss ports and probably too overconfident we are in these types of situations, the current climate in Ecuador, before, during and after the election, plus the drug problems, were enough of a red flag to Azamara to ditch those 2 Ecuador calls. Probably a smart move. Whether there will be more changes obviously depends on the political and health situation in various ports.

Happy to see that =X= is taking the initiative to add this back to the 5-7 Happy Hour. In years past, we've met some wonderful friends at those events.

I think you need to upgrade your browser because it is showing things that just aren't there. I see lots of things like it's a nice gesture, looks like they are doing things for loyal cruisers, good for camaraderie, appreciate X reintroducing the lounge. Lots of positive comments. Can't find much of the one's you tout.

Correct. And it definitely can have a laxative effect so don't treat it like Diet Coke and drink several cans in a single sitting. You will regret it.

Your TA should be able to secure the same pricing as is on Azamara's website.

Both Yokohama (Osanbashi) and Tokyo (the new Tokyo International) have great terminals. We embarked in one and disembarked in the other this year and both were well equipped and the experience seamless.

Thanks for doing these wonderful reports @Ferry_Watcher We will be doing the very similar sailing next year on Noordam, and your recaps like the one above for Hakodate are giving us lots of ideas for next October.

Even though we would never use the library for books (our 500+ books on Kindle Fire more than satisfy) I applaud HAL for reinstalling the libraries for those will will avail themselves of them. And this thread verifies that those folks are out there.