ECCruise

Just now, Charles4515 said:

How dare anyone ask for proof or disagree with the mob!. 

The proof was the passport.  Same last name.  It was produced.  End of discussion.

On 12/30/2023 at 12:43 PM, Charles4515 said:

OP is assuming that skin color or multiracial was the reason. I don't see proof of that. 

The proof is screaming loud and hard.  Did you read the OP's post?

12 minutes ago, Ayden said:

It is an advantage, but what would even better is booking 2 legs with one deposit.

Unrealistic but wishful thinking.

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.

1 hour ago, woodards said:

It’s just our view. I object to being told I’m being immersed into a destination, but the offering is fish and chips. Todays (and I quote…) “destination lunch” is a gilled sausage with a picture of a hot dog. I just think Aza could do better. Maybe conch fritters or black pepper pot. Just our view. 

 

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. 

10 hours ago, takemewithyou said:

That seems to be a reduction in quality to me.  

Price, probably. 

Quality?  Not so. 

And way more interesting. 

9 hours ago, takemewithyou said:

Interestingly we are just finishing a 13 day Transatlantic cruise on Oceania where the food quality has been excellent.  Much better than what we have experienced on Azamara as recently as June and  last Dec.  Chateaubriand in Main dining room tonight.  Last night was Beef Wellington.  Will say the lamb is better on Azamara.  Fish has been excellent.  Had the best halibut of my life the other night in main dining room! 

 

And the price of the TA was not more than comparable accommodations on Azamara…actually less.  
 

These reports of further reduction in food quality on Azamara have me a bit concerned! 

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. 

11 hours ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

Coming out of COVID I am seeing a lot of itinerary and dry dock changes - due to overcrowding. Affecting many cruise lines. 

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. 

13 hours ago, mahasamatman said:

Those passengers should have been denied boarding. End of discussion.

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. 

20 minutes ago, Charles4515 said:

I think cruise lines are canceling Turkey because their customers are canceling. 

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. 

15 minutes ago, woodley said:

Thinking of booking a dining package but would rather wait till on board.  Is there any difference in price of buying before rather than onboard.  Also with regard to the chefs table, I know there is a french one but what are the others?

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.

10 minutes ago, bennybear said:

Thanks for the great picture @bennybear

 

Wonderful Katsuo no tataki!

 

We were in Kochi twice this year and had it both times, plus at a Kochi themed restaurant in Osaka.

 

Unfortunately, bonito is really difficult to find in North America.

 

 

7 minutes ago, KevintheIrishDJ said:

My concern is how much time will we waste onboard to correct.

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. 

4 hours ago, KevintheIrishDJ said:

Half of our OBC disappeared months ago. Now we have no OBC

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. 

23 minutes ago, pickypicky said:

Interesting. Does this include individual specialty dining reservations? I am currently unable to see my future cruise.

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.

14 minutes ago, Spif Barwunkel said:

Did not take long for the "boo birds" to come out. It's human nature that for some folks, anything is not enough. Not the right venue, not the right time, not the right amount of time, not the right food, not the right drink, not the right presentation, not the right lighting, not the right deck, not the right temperature..........I'm sure I missed some. Probably the best alternative, is not to attend.    

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.

27 minutes ago, clogston said:

That would be the Coke Plus. It is like Diet Coke but they add dextrin (fiber) to it which for some can act as a laxitive. I do not want to experiment with it on a cruise. 😆

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. 

1 hour ago, Rus Tee said:

Thanks I was afraid of that as looking at the cruise on the TA's website the Suites look significantly more expensive than directly. I'll ask the question of them anyway but don't think I'll get the value I was hoping for.

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

25 minutes ago, Traveling Fools said:

 

Subways make it easy to travel between the two cities.  I would say it is less expensive to stay in Yokohama rather than Tokyo; just more convenient to where the ship docks.  Unless they have built a terminal, there really isn't one.....which can lead to boarding being a cluster...

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.