Live - Pursuit, Norway 1-13 August (Maiden Voyage)

[Alsun]

Try Vesselfinder website here https://www.vesselfinder.com or their app to find out where you are.

 

 

 

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Thank you!

 

We seem to be on schedule, just over halfway between Southampton & Oslo (this was around 17.00)

 

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[Azamarajunkie]

Hi Alsun, glad you’re enjoying yourself, one small question, are they serving the Energizer at breakfast in Windows? It’s a morning pickmeup drink served in a shot glass, made of fruit juices and ginger. We always have one when we’re on Quest and Journey, be aware though, they are an acquired taste.

[Grandma Cruising]

Hi Alsun, glad you’re enjoying yourself, one small question, are they serving the Energizer at breakfast in Windows? It’s a morning pickmeup drink served in a shot glass, made of fruit juices and ginger. We always have one when we’re on Quest and Journey, be aware though, they are an acquired taste.

 

 

 

Yes, I always have one too. Sometimes, if I’m feeling brave, I drink it on its own, if not I tip it into an orange juice. (It has lots of ginger in it)

 

 

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[christine848]

Thank you, Alsun! Great to hear your impressions and see all the photos.

We are on the Icelandic cruise from Southampton on 13 August...can't wait! We have done quite a number of Azamara Cruises, and love them!

So sorry Tony is not on board just now...hoping he makes it for our cruise!

Enjoy yourselves! X

[AllisonJames]

Hi everyone—here are our thoughts on hits and misses on Pursuit thus far:

 

HIT: Just had an amazing Chef’s Table experience, incredible food and wine and a really fun group of guests!

 

HIT: LOVE the new design of the Living Room with the dance floor and band more toward the middle of the floor freeing up more view space against the windows and also reducing the noise level by having the choice of the band being in back of you!

 

HIT: LOVE the bed Den! Great space and lots of wonderful books and magazines on travel.

 

HIT: LOVE having more table space in the sunset terrace and so far have not noticed a decline in bar service due to the bar no longer being there.

 

MISS: the new large chair/loveseat in our veranda cabin seems to be deeper and more square than the previous rounded loveseat and as a result it’s very tight to navigate between the desk and the coffee table/loveseat. We had to move the table to the side of the loveseat in order to be able to move around the desk and to the balcony.

 

Food delicious so far! Crew extremely friendly, a few kinks but nothing major. The shower curtain is still there but what the heck, it’s an Azamara signature at this point!

 

 

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[BuddyR]

Hi everyone—here are our thoughts on hits and misses on Pursuit thus far:

 

HIT: Just had an amazing Chef’s Table experience, incredible food and wine and a really fun group of guests.

 

 

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I saw the pictures you posted on Twitter...looked amazing! Which Chef's Table (menu) was that?

[Alsun]

Day 3

 

Thank you AllisonJames for your thoughts. Good to know that experienced Azamara Cruisers also like Pursuit and how she compares to Journey/Quest.

 

I booked the Chef's table towards the end of the cruise and am very much looking forward to it.

 

Not sure whether all the loveseats are the same, but see below for the one in our cc suite.

 

Tonight we will be reaching Oslo, am excited to have our first port to visit. We don't have any plans for tonight in Oslo, probably just a wander around and maybe trying to get an Oslo pass in preparation for tomorrow.

 

But until then we have another seaday to enjoy on board this beautiful ship. I can understand more and more how cruising can become addictive! It is a very comfortable way to travel and we feel very much pampered by all the lovely crew.

 

I do think we are also very lucky with the weather and subsequently smooth sea. I guess if a first cruise would have horrendous weather/rough seas it would be a different story.

 

This afternoon I am planning to attend the mobile phone photography class, as I would love to learn to use my mobile phone camera better. I am very much a point & shoot photographer and dislike carying another camera so only use my phone for everything.

 

Would also like to try out the Main Dining Room - Discovery. We haven't been there aside from Muster drill, and I think it serves a brunch there today.

 

Really enjoyed yesterday's dinner at Aqualina. We had a table at the aft side, overlooking the wake. That part of Aqualina was quite warm as directly under the sun, so the blinds were partly down but could go back up later that evening.

 

We were actually wondering about the wake of the ship as we noticed small "zigzags" and couldn't think what could cause this as we sort of assumed any change to the course would be a more gradient curve. We didn't notice any specific movement of the ship which could explain those zigzags - but we did notice/feel changes of direction ie the gradual curves - if this makes sense. (Forgot to make a photo of the zigzag pattern though.)

 

Back to the food, we mainly had fish courses including the Dover Sole. As recommended on cc we asked for it without the puttanesca sauce and they must be very familiar with this request as a caper butter sauce was immediately offered as the alternative. Makes me wonder why this wouldn't merit a more permanent place on the menu as personally I think puttanesca is way too overwhelming for a delicate fish as Dover Sole.

 

We also had the scallops, vitello tonato, bisque and lobster tail (without pasta) and all were excellent.

Both Dover Sole and lobster tail were expertly deboned/deshelled at the table.

 

 

The Maitre D for both Aqualina and Prime C is Nicholay- didn't catch his last name.

 

After dinner we didn't feel in the mood for the comedian - plus we were already too late so missed the start of it - and instead spent some time in the Living Room.

 

The Chilean Trio (from Chile- as they keep saying [emoji38]) had an easier job tonight, there were more people and there was more interaction with the public.

 

They left to make way for the Michael Jackson dj night which was a bit disappointing as turned out to be about 3 MJ songs before resorting to generic dance music. We were tired anyway and left shortly after.

 

Will report back later re the energizer drink. Based on the description can't decide whether I would like it or not but guess will only find out once I have tried one! (If available)

 

 

 

 

 

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[Riocca]

Sorry to crash Alsun’s live thread but just wanted to add our thoughts so far.

Everything so far has been great a few odd things but we are the first ones debugging the ship after very extensive work. We are on the back of the ship and did suffer with vibration the first night but found out it was because all four engines were in use for a high speed run through the Straights of Dover, now back to normal running and there’s no vibration at all.

Sunset Bar was heavily used for lunch and bar service wasn’t a problem even ordering non included wine, but there’s only bar service during restaurant hours.

Captain Carl gave an emotional welcome onboard speech last night and was presented with a portrait painted by the onboard artist Minor-i, who paints with coffee! He also gave details of or meeting with Journey on Monday and passengers from both ships will be able to visit the other ship.

Overall everything is lovely and have to say despite original reservations The Den is a fabulous area so much better without the casino can’t wait for the other ships to catch up.

 

 

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[Alsun]

No problem Riocca, it's nice to have more input/thoughts from other cruisers as well!

 

Just very quickly: no energizer drink available. Smoothie menu also still not available but smoothies can be custom made.

 

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[Grandma Cruising]

Thinking about it, there never has been a smoothie menu, just a list of ingredients and you can ask for any combination. From memory on Journey & Quest the list includes berries, orange, mango, banana - probably others too.

 

 

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[Alsun]

Thinking about it, there never has been a smoothie menu, just a list of ingredients and you can ask for any combination. From memory on Journey & Quest the list includes berries, orange, mango, banana - probably others too.

 

 

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Ah, that explains why I was struggling to find one! [emoji6] [emoji5]

[procter]

Thanks Alsun and Riocca (Hi Carol and John)

Thanks for info re Nikolai,

He is a wonderful man but surprised that there is not a sep Maitre'd for Aqualina,

Please tell him Geoff and fFeda from Newcastle will be on board from Barcelona and can not wait.

Has any said how full it is and has the last minute discounting changed the atmosphere.

ENJOY!!!!

[Spursgirl]

Thinking about it, there never has been a smoothie menu, just a list of ingredients and you can ask for any combination. From memory on Journey & Quest the list includes berries, orange, mango, banana - probably others too.

 

 

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Many moons ago there was a smoothie menu (going back several years) but don't think there has been one for some time.

 

As others have said they will concoct any smoothie you want now

[Duck Duck Cruise]

No problem Riocca, it's nice to have more input/thoughts from other cruisers as well!

 

Just very quickly: no energizer drink available. Smoothie menu also still not available but smoothies can be custom made.

 

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Thank you so much for checking on the Smoothies. This is more than helpful! You are so kind to be running around getting answers.

[Alsun]

Day 3 cont

 

Some more thoughts:

 

Am happy for other fellow cruisers to join in with their thoughts and views, also because we are obviously not able to comment on each event or facility on board.

 

Don't know if anyone else is doing a live review? Can't check CC easily as internet has been very problematic for us most of the day, but luckily able to hotspot via a mobile signal briefly for now.

Have already consulted guest services but need to wait till IT guy is available around 5 pm.

 

(Had typed below in notes before copy /paste)

 

When we started our cruise research, I found CC very good in providing us with answers to (practical) questions, so here are some more practical observations in return.

 

The bathroom has a retractable washing line (above our bath, don't know if rooms with shower have one)

 

A has tested the gym and it appears satisfactory (we have to put a disclaimer here as he usually is not a regular gym user so his expertise is limited!)

 

Our room is midship, port side, deck 8. So far no noise at all from above (pool deck).

Will post in the cabin thread after we completed this cruise.

 

The fridge in the room is not new. Didn't ask whether they expect to replace these or not. It does what it needs to do, so guess replacing would be a bit of a waste anyway.

 

We are experiencing some minor airco problems- it doesn't seem to be very consistent. A technician came to look at it but couldn't find any issues with it. Perhaps affected by balcony doors left open somewhere? We are trying to keep the balcony door closed being either in our outside but would have preferred to be able to turn it off completely when neeeded.

 

There is a constant supply of bottled water and ice. It seems like every time we return to our room new bottles have appeared! That's a bit of an exaggeration but they do seem to be very keen that everyone is well hydrated [emoji4]

 

 

The ship is so clean. We constantly see crew cleaning various parts/areas.

 

The insider arrived on day 2 in the morning but the one for day 3 arrived the night before so we assume all future others will as well.

 

 

Oh, and met Thomas the F&B manager earlier, told him about the Earl Grey tea issue and he said they will source some Twinings in Oslo. Am very impressed with this service!

(He also said he hadn't personally tried the Earl Grey tea himself but he was going to do so, so next time I see him, I will ask what he thought of the Fields & Select brand...)

[Alsun]

Few more quick remarks

 

Can't comment on how full ship is, if they said anything about it I didn't hear it.

 

Nowhere feels busy or crowded.

 

And I have to admit I left the mobile phone photography class after 15 minutes as a)it was focused on Iphone (prefer android myself) and b) felt it was very basic, ie it spent a lot of those 15 minutes on very simple steps re the phone camera. Am sure there is an audience for it, but it didn't work for for me.

[Azamarajunkie]

Thomaz is lovely, we were fortunate to be invited to his dinner table on our last cruise. He is very articulate and funny when you get into conversation with him. We first met him years ago when he was F&B manager. Unless of course I’m getting my Thomas’s mixed up and the one I’m talking about is still on Quest. Can’t remember if he said he was going to Pursuit.

[Alsun]

Thomaz is lovely, we were fortunate to be invited to his dinner table on our last cruise. He is very articulate and funny when you get into conversation with him. We first met him years ago when he was F&B manager. Unless of course I’m getting my Thomas’s mixed up and the one I’m talking about is still on Quest. Can’t remember if he said he was going to Pursuit.

Shortish and Scottish?

 

I didn't check his exact name spelling/job title but he was at the Meet & Mingle (so assume a Senior Officer) and I remembered he was responsible for F&B.

 

Agree he was lovely. I felt a bit hesitant to use the word "disgusting" as of course taste is personal but he was more than pleasant about it all.

[Alsun]

Brunch at Discoveries with cheese from Isle of Man.

 

And love this art in Discoveries

 

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[Azamarajunkie]

Yum, love the Jazz brunch. Can’t wait until our next cruise in October on Quest.

 

I think I’ve got my Thomas’s confused, mines definitely not Scottish or Short!

[marinaro44]

Tomasz is a big man from Poland, is F&B manager on Quest, and steps up to hotel director when Philip vacations. Thomas is much smaller than Tomasz, and is a Scot.

[nordski]

Few more quick remarks

 

 

 

And I have to admit I left the mobile phone photography class after 15 minutes as a)it was focused on Iphone (prefer android myself) and b) felt it was very basic, ie it spent a lot of those 15 minutes on very simple steps re the phone camera. Am sure there is an audience for it, but it didn't work for for me.

 

It took a while for the class I attended to move beyond the basics as well, but given the questions being asked I can understand why the instructor stayed on those topics. She eventually moved to issues I was concerned about.

 

However, there was a very handy booklet that addressed perhaps more advanced issues and I consult it before every cruise.

 

In my view, well worth obtaining although, as you point out, it "focuses" (ahem) on the iPhone.

[Alsun]

Marinaro: thanks for the clarification re Thomasz and Thomas!

 

Nordski: I will probably pop by the photoshop another day to see if they have that booklet, and also to apologise to the lady who held the class as I felt a bit guilty walking out.

Even though it "focuses" on Iphone that booklet sounds helpful.

[Alsun]

Forgot to add that I did consider going back in towards the end of the class but got distracted by the proximity of land [emoji4]

[Riocca]

Internet glitch today seems to be related to the BOGOHO + codes expiring at 11am today, new codes issued and all resolved.

Smooth sailing today a little cloudy this morning then sunshine but as we approach Oslo more clouds appearing. Beautiful sail in up the Oslo fjord with spectacular scenery a taste of what’s to come.

 

 

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