HeinBloed Blog from MARCO POLO: 3-night-Nonstop-50+-Party out of Venice

[HeinBloed]

The new blog on the AZAMARA PURSUIT starts.

 

I started from Basle, Switzerland to Venice, Italy. Because of the MSC OPERA accident with RIVER COUNTESS, two cruise ships were in town.

 

I had to go and see right away, even though I lived quite far away from the city.

 

But that was worth to go. Especially since I could get a first impression of CARNIVAL PANORAMA.

 

https://heinbloed-x.blogspot.com/2019/06/tagday-0a-auf-dem-weg-zuron-way-to.html

 

 

But before that, a little bit of "banter" about my obstructed relationship with Celebrity and Royal Caribbean BEFORE TRAVEL on AZAMARA PURSUIT and the reasons that I did not feel comfortable with Azamara so far.
 

https://heinbloed-x.blogspot.com/2019/06/celebrity-vs-azamara.html

 

However, I can already reveal so much: AFTER THE JOURNEY, this is the beginning of a wonderful friendship. Everything Celebrity and Royal Caribbean have done to me: everything is forgiven and forgotten. Azamara made it all right and much more.

Edited June 19, 2019 by HeinBloed

[HeinBloed]

It continues in Venice with day 0B:

In the morning, my curiosity takes me to Marghera: CARNIVAL PANORAMA and RYNDAM are alluring. Too bad that there are no public shipyards tours, as in Papenburg, Germany

 

In the afternoon, the VISION OF THE SEAS comes in. No matter: the ship is ship and is staged in front of St. Mark's Square. It's finally the rehearsal for the arrival of MY AZAMARA PURSUIT.

 

Unfortunately, there is hardly enough time for sightseeing. The main thing is shipspotting. This will be very sad if one day the ships no longer drive through the Giudecca Canal. The experience remains, however: just take the ferry from Tronchetto to Lido.

 

In the evening I go to one of the supposedly best fish restaurants in the city in Mestre.

 

https://heinbloed-x.blogspot.com/2019/06/tagday-0b-auf-dem-weg-zuron-way-to.html

 

[HeinBloed]

It continues in Venice with day 0C:

 

Venice awakes! It's just exciting to be on the first bus or first Vaporetto.

 

At the Cruise Terminal St. Basilio meet our three friends of Atlantis Strings again: Réka, Matyas, and Ábel!

 

I'm moving: as befits the Hotel Danieli. What was suitable for three James Bond 007 is just good enough for me.

 

And then she is finally here: MY AZAMARA PURSUIT.

 

In the afternoon we go to the small and quieter sister of Murano: Burano.

 

In the evenings, just in time for the sunset over San Marco, Bruno arrives Venice.

 

Later we go when all the tourists are gone, another round on St. Mark's Square.

 

https://heinbloed-x.blogspot.com/2019/06/tagday-0c-auf-dem-weg-zuron-way-to.html

 

[HeinBloed]

Finally, the time has come: Day of embarkation (= day 01) on the AZAMARA PURSUIT.

 

Before we go on board: for 53.00 EUR / person probably the most lovely breakfast in Venice: the view you have to pay. Later I get the best pictures of the MSC LIRICA as she comes in.

 

In between, there is still some art and culture: The Doge's Palace with Luigina Romor - our guide from the NORWEGIAN JADE 2014 (2)! The world is small.

 

Thanks to Raoul and Jens von Sonnendeck Seereisen, we would not have had to worry about anything. The embarkation is very relaxed.

 

And then begins a three-day 50+ party that seems to me like I just had energy drinks for three days.

 

What is offered on the ship is incredible. Even for the three days, there is a cruisecritic.com Meet & Greet: just a pity that hardly anyone noticed it because it was scheduled 15 minutes before departure. But a fellow traveler had read it too: Audrey Allen.

 

But here we meet Cruise Director Tony Markey. He and his assistant Lee Hetherington understand how to entertain guests. On the show "Four on the Floor," I just wanted to take a few pictures and quickly get sideways to bed. But the cast around Abbey Cox, Kelsey Rae, Nate Huntley, and Luke Matherne is highly contagious. The good mood of them is on and calls for more.

 

We send greetings to the musical director Sasha Kovalov, who provides a pleasant atmosphere with his band.

 

Previously, we met Captain Antonio Toledo and his leadership team. Even a German hotel director Elisabeth Vogel from Germany.

 

Everything is rounded off by food, which we would not even get in alternative dining venues with others and here in the traditional main restaurant is offered.

 

And the service first: we quickly get to know the first excellent crew members: Rita Szabo, Suhas Barkur, and I Wayan.

 

The only downside: another coffee brand, where the coffee flavor should be in the foreground and not the roast taste. That makes Azamara only "human": Nobody is perfect. But Azamara almost. And we are only a few hours on board, and there is more! Hard to believe.

 

https://heinbloed-x.blogspot.com/2019/06/tagday-1-auf-deron-azamara-pursuit-in.html

 

[HeinBloed]

My blog continues for Opatija, Croatia on day 2 at the AZAMARA PURSUIT.

 

The highlight of the trip on NORWEGIAN SUN in 2019 was the Iguazu Falls and the penguins on the Falkland Islands. The highlight of the trip on MARCO POLO 2019 was the Isles of Scilly.

 

Never the ship. The ship was only a highlight, for example, when it was a transatlantic, such as QUEEN MARY 2.

 

Otherwise, the ship is often the pleasant means of transport to get from one attraction to another. Usually, I take the opportunity to eat local specialties ashore. This time, however, I wanted to get back and have lunch on board.

 

A party was never exciting to me in 98 cruises before. On my 99th cruise, the team around Cruise Director Tony, his wife Christine, his assistant Lee, his musical director Sasha and the singer team Abbey, Kelsey, Nate, and Luke, made me stay at a party from the 1st to the last minute.

 

I asked photographer Rebecca to take a picture of me enjoying the White Night Party.

 

Later, there are a few more selfies and also my cruisecritic.com fellow traveler Audrey wants to be on it.

 

Before that, I was lucky enough to take a selfie with Captain Antonio and thank him and Hotel Manager Elisabeth for the excellent performance on board.

 

They have prepared a fantastic buffet, but we prefer to move to the Discoveries Restaurant: there we also get lobster again. Very nice.

 

Yasmin has done a fantastic job: I wanted to look fresher for my job interviews. On Facebook, a friend posts and confirms a more vivid appearance.

 

I am sorry for Opatija: it was lovely. Old fashioned Royal Beach-Spa-Resort. But against the White Night Party, Erika had no chance with the beauty of Opatija.

 

I definitely feel much younger and more energetic after the White Night Party.

 

https://heinbloed-x.blogspot.com/2019/06/tagday-2-auf-deron-azamara-pursuit-in.html

 

[HeinBloed]

Unfortunately, we are already on the way back to the AZAMARA PURSUIT and day 3 of my blog takes us back to Koper, Slovenia.

 

Here we were already with our parents at the NORWEGIAN JADE 2011 (2). Even then we were traveling with Istranka Tours. So I am glad to see the manager Ivan again. He still runs his booth in front of the cruise terminal and offers the excursions. He is also amazed that I could show him a picture of that time. It's the little gestures that often stay in better memory than the big attractions. At that time, he got my mother a set of Slovenian euro coins and gave them to her as souvenirs.

 

With his guide Mateja we go to a UNESCO World Heritage Site: the caves of Skocjan. The excursion is not offered on board. Therefore, there will be no masses from the ship. Unfortunately, the place is not for photography addicts like me. But my eyes and my operated meniscus will long remember this place. Alone within the caves: 500 steps up and down and besides the ramps up and down.

 

Then we go with Mateja briefly in a bar for locals to taste local specialties. On this occasion, we are already planning our next visit to Koper. It would be a Meet & Greet with a singer who participated in the 2002 Eurovision Song Contest in Tallinn, Estonia. Does anyone remember the three drag queens in red glittering stewardess uniforms? One is a distant relative of Mateja!

 

Another trip with Azamara is also booked on board. You cannot get Azamara for the price of a Mediterranean cruise in January with MSC or Costa. One night with Azamara costs just as much as you would pay for an entire week in January with MSC or Costa in the Mediterranean. But we get disproportionately more for our money. But that's fine if I'm not in exchange on board always fumbled at the front desk or paid extra for every glass of water. And as it turns out: a large share, which we usually spend on board, moves into the fixed cost portion of the cruise, which we then pay before: Machu Pichu: we come. And finally, we will have time for Valparaiso and Santiago de Chile.

We get a better choice and above all a much higher quality. We hate fixed table times, and therefore, the system Azamara comes to us. Usually, flexible dining times and the same waiters contradict each other. But we have developed our strategy to get it: flexible dining time with the same waiters Kimberly, Aurelio, and Jerome. They know our preferences in such a short time, and so I'm very sorry that we do not meet crew members anymore to have.

 

I can be a decidedly disgusting passenger with quirks and individual wishes. I'm sure one or the other crewmember or senior officer will be partying when I get back on board. But I could not have been that bad either if someone I saw a few years ago with NCL. Now she is working for Azamara. A message came on Facebook that I should see her friend. Jennifer de Guzman will take care of me if I miss something. Thank you, Maria Anna Grace Ocuaman, for recognizing me.

 

Hotel Director Elisabeth has already arranged a special inspection of our luggage leaving the ship. We mention how great our cabin stewards Ashley and Berry are. Obviously, several crew members have lost their grip on such drastic measures. But the crew is so fantastic that you just want to take them home with you.

 

On other cruises, I often retired and took a nap. Meanwhile, I suffer from lack of sleep. In the morning again an incredible sunrise and in the evening cruise director Tony, his wife Christine, his assistant Lee, his musicians under Sasha and his singers Abbey, Kelsey, Nate, and Luke. They do not let me all sleep: "You do not bring me Flowers ", I do not know if I should find Barbra Streisand and Neil Diamond or Tony and Christine better.

 

However, with a chocolate buffet, it does not remain as the highlight of the journey. Other cruise lines abolished such events as cost drivers.

 

Instead of tomorrow morning, Captain Antonio brings us back to Venice at around 23:00 hrs through the Giudecca Canal.

 

The only complaints on board: the ventilation of an elevator cabin has failed. Furthermore, they always have too good food and far too much. They have not placed lanterns along the Canal of Giudecca, so I can see more. Unfortunately, Venice at night is not The Venetian in Las Vegas or Macau.

 

https://heinbloed-x.blogspot.com/2019/06/tagday-3-auf-deron-azamara-pursuit-in.html

 

[HeinBloed]

The last part of the blog on the AZAMARA PURSUIT takes us back to Venice and later to Germany.

 

A great morning: LE LYRIAL and HORIZON are coming to town. But so good that I can have breakfast in peace, without continually jumping up and down and bringing our waiters to despair.

 

Unfortunately, there is only a breakfast buffet on the day of departure! I hate breakfast buffet. But the breakfast buffet does not remind you of COSTA or MARCO POLO, but of the roof terrace of the Hotel Danieli. I will "survive" on the disembarkation day.

 

For another coffee, we do not have to have cash in hand, like the MARCO POLO.

 

The crew may now start their party when I leave the ship. Even the deck is flagged - to my farewell.

 

We arrive at the airport on time, thanks to the reliability of Venice Taxi Airport, it works well too.

 

In Germany, we go first Croatian food. In Opatija, we had no time for it. We are just getting our car dry. Then it starts to rain.

 

I want to go back to MY AZAMARA PURSUIT.

 

A few 360 ° videos from Venice and a few impressions of the White Night Party. I hope to see it again before 2022 on the AZAMARA QUEST.

 

https://heinbloed-x.blogspot.com/2019/06/tagday-4-auf-deron-azamara-pursuit-in.html