lizboyle

Good to meet you too Steve and Rose.

 

Off out today to experience what the Savor Local tour is about with Chef Monica, Resraurant Manager Mario and then wine tasting with one of the sommeliers at 1.30pm. Azamazing in Chania again later.

 

Phil

Morning Phil! Is this savour local tour something they do on every cruise? I read about it last year and asked when onboard and no one seemed to know what I meant. I'd love to do this next week. I may have to ask chef Monica once I'm onboard. Enjoy your day and the Azamazing evening. Sounds wonderful! 6 days to go! 😀

Enjoy your lunch Phil. We board next Sunday, can't wait!

You also get it included if you buy the "Love" package.

 

Knowing our luck if we did it, it would rain, seagulls would attack us and we would be woken by gawping dockside navvies :)

That made me laugh. 😂 I so want to do this on our cruise in July but when I mentioned it to DH, his reply was almost identical to yours! 😂 He's going to take some convincing! 😏

Liz, that's the day I get off.

 

Turnaround day yesterday in Athens. The crew did a better job with the luggage than the striking porters! Now on our way to Greece's ancient capital, Nauplion. Never been, but have heard great things about it.

 

Phil

Guess you have to get off sometime Phil. 😏 Enjoy your vacation. 😀

A few shots from White Night including the mandatory selfie. Excellent evening in warm Kusadasi weather.

 

 

 

 

 

Phil

Hi Phil, thanks for the updates and pics. Now that I know what you look like, I'll seek you out and say "hi" when I'm onboard 3rd July. I'm sure you'll still be onboard then? Liz

This tour's description will be online soon. Thanks for calling our attention to it being missing!

 

"Spend your evening in relaxed atmosphere of the local restaurant in Town of Starigrad. Taste traditionally prepared delicious food accompanied with famous Hvar Island Wines. Hvar is famous for its pleasant Medditerranean climate, virgin nature, lavander fields, olive trees and wines. It is home to the best Croatian winemakers dedicated to produce the pleasure for your palate. Knowing that Hvar has more than two thousand hours of sunshine a year, the quality and taste of these wines are unquestionable. In this Restaurant situated in the hart of the Stari Grad , between the old stone walls and surrounded by history traditionally prepared food, wine has the perfect taste.

 

Restaurant Pinetta: - local ham and cheese; baked veal; lamb with patatoes baked under the iron; bell salad; desert; 1/2 wine; 1/2 l water

 

Additional drinks can be bought on the spot

 

Drive from town of Hvar to Starigrad: 35 minutes

Dinner with music entertainment: 2 hours

Drive back to Town of Hvar: 35 minutes"

Thank you so much for your help Bonnie. That sounds wonderful! 😀

Sounds interesting! We would also love to know about this excursion!

Hi wendilyn5, maybe we will need to wait until onboard before we get info. If I find out, I'll post on our roll call. Liz

dig a bit deeper and this is what you get.....

 

Azamara Best Price Guarantee Form

Please fill out all fields below within 48 hours of booking your cruise to process your claim.

 

and when I complete the form this is Azamara's reply:

 

 

Your claim cannot be submitted as your reservation was made after 48 hours.

 

I'm afraid it's all a bit of smoke and mirrors. thanks for doing due diligence on my (actually all of our) behalf.

I hope you get some satisfaction as it's very irritating when you see the price drop so much. We are on the same cruise. Have you checked the roll call and signed up for the meet and greet? Here is the link if that suits you.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2320840&page=2

If you log into your my Azamara account and go to book land discoveries up to date descriptions often pop up against excursions. Just checking it's not the Azamazing Evening is it? That was our evening in Hvar and it was brilliant.

Hi uktog, it is there in the discoveries brochure but no details next to it. It's not the Azamazing evening, that's held in Split. Glad you enjoyed yours in Hvar. How did you enjoy Hvar? Any tips would be appreciated. Liz

If this excursion is in your downloaded voyage's Land Discoveries brochure, then it is available on your voyage. Unfortunately I'm not familiar with this particular tour, and won't have access to a PC until tomorrow so I can't check for myself.

Is anyone out there familiar with this tour?

Hi Bonnie, thanks for getting back to me. It is in my downloaded discoveries brochure but there's no details attached to the tour. If you're able to find details about this tour, I'd be very grateful. Thanks, Liz

Hi Bonnie, I have had a look at the shore excursions available for Pearl of the Adriatic July 3rd. I also downloaded the brochure and found an excursion titled "Evening party on Hvar island" but this didn't have any details attached to it. Where can I find info on this and if this is available for our voyage?

Many thanks,

Liz

I have had personal experience of how helpful Richard Twynam is ....he went far and beyond his job description to help us out last year. He responds promptly to emails and I don't know that many Managing Directors who put their email addresses on a public forum. I think he is a great addition to Azamara UK.

I concur! I think Richard Twynam and Bonnie are a real asset to Azamara.

I doubt they have another venue short of taking the library out at night more than they currently do.

I find the high seats too uncomfortable so we don't go now but can confirm the food and wines are lovely

I noticed on quest they were running up to 20 with the two high tables adjacent to the long table also being used. I felt sorry for the folks that got that table, they looked a bit detached from the conversations and enjoyment.

We love chefs table on a variety of cruise lines and were so disappointed to see those ridiculously high tables on azamara. Needless to say, we didn't partake. I so wish they'd just have normal height tables. 😏 Until they do, we won't book, sadly. 🙁

So sorry for your loss. 😞 Lovely gesture Azamara.

Did you book your cruise Liz? Or has this experience sent you straight back to Azamara? :D

Lottie, We have just found out our daughter needs major surgery so won't be able to book. We may grab a last minute and I think it will be Azamara if the price is right.

Thank you for your comments.

Thank you for all your comments. I hope you have a wonderful cruise on Nautica with your friend Lottie. 😀

We were trying O for the first time, boarding the Riviera in Miami on January 13 when I looked over and saw the Journey nearby. I was shocked, and dismayed and felt like I was cheating on Azamara. What was I thinking, going on this ship when I could have taken an Azamara voyage?!!!! I quickly realized that the Journey was in port ready to leave to its re-do, so that calmed me down. We did go on to enjoy our 10 day trip, but still came away with a firm belief that Azamara is our very favorite.

Hmmmmm.... 😏

Thanks

The liquor package is usually the House Select which is wine by the glass & beer at meal times

I would clarify that before you decide

But if the price & itinerary are right for you then give O a try

 

JMO

Thank you. Instead of drinks we can have $600 obc which would cover all drinks.

Our cruise is in October Liz. I have done an O cruise before, on Marina though and we did enjoy it but yes....it isn't Azamara! Don't expect the officer interaction....you rarely see them, but the crew were lovely, as was the food. However the entertainment was dire....but the ship and the stateroom were beautiful.

Just some advice....the free drinks package on offer only covers drinks with lunch and dinner and ours is a port intensive cruise, so we decided on our T/A advice to go for the $600 per cabin OBC and to spend that on drinks instead. It would seem to be better value and I do love the O Lemon Drop Martini's. :)

 

I am happy we booked it because it is incredible value, but like you, we will miss Azamara.

Thank you for that tip Lottie. We're not big drinkers but do enjoy a drink or 2 after dinner. 😄 We looked at the October one too. It's great value!

Air, liquor and Internet included for less than Az cruise only.

There are a number of threads here on the subject of Azamara as compared to Oceania (I won't say "versus" Oceania) so I suggest you do a search.

 

We ourselves haven't sailed on Azamara yet so I can't comment personally, but you will find there are people who prefer Oceania but also appreciate Azamara. Others who prefer Azamara. (I believe a common comment is that the crew is friendlier on Azamara, but for us Oceania is just right.)

 

Prices on this size of the pond seem to favor Azamara unless things have changed since I last checked.

 

Good luck.

 

Mura

I wish it were the same here, I wouldn't hesitate to book Azamara at the prices O are quoting!

No airfare/credit from Azamara. That's a chunk of change for trips to other continents.

Yes, exactly my thoughts! If they(Az) were competitive, even a few £ more then I wouldn't hesitate to book Az.

We did an Oceania cruise on the Riviera last year, very nice ship, good food, no complaints, but it wasn't Azamara. The crew were nice, but the officers were not very visible or involved with the passengers as they are on AZ. We got the cruise on a good offer which included drinks and gratuities.

 

Would we do another one? Yes if the price and itinerary was right, but our home will always be Azamara.

We love the friendly crew and love Azamara but does it justify the extra money? 😏

Well Liz, we know how you feel! We just booked an O Nautica cruise yesterday at a fantastic price. I feel a bit like a traitor to AZ but the itinerary is great for us and the added OBC and free internet is very tempting. We also booked a land holiday to the Italian Lakes last week.

 

The AZ prices do seem to have increased a lot in the UK this year....perhaps to pay for the refurbs? We can't wait to be back on AZ again, but maybe it will be a wait for a late deal this year?

Oh Lottie, I'm sure that must be the same cruise I'm looking at in July. It's sooooo tempting given that there's free tinternet and drinks. 😏 I'm just scared I don't enjoy it as much as we love Azamara.