Live from Pursuit Barcelona to Lisbon 5 -31

[Host Jazzbeau]

17 minutes ago, uktog said:

We have had my husband’s jackets dry cleaned on Azamara ships so this must be a new development 

Thanks – I didn't know it was possible recently.  [I figured it must have been back in the 'formal' days when ships rented tuxes, but I wondered if that died out because of tighter pollution controls in addition to lack of interest.]  I never bring dry-clean-only clothes when traveling, so never had occasion to test this out.

[roberts2005]

On the laundry slip, the dry cleaning rates listed were very reasonable.  $5.00 for a pants.

[uktog]

8 minutes ago, roberts2005 said:

On the laundry slip, the dry cleaning rates listed were very reasonable.  $5.00 for a pants.

Yes, we do not do our dry cleaning before boarding, we get it done the first day!

[Xcelsior]

Can someone please confirm if there are ironing boards in the laundry room?

[tgg]

8 minutes ago, Xcelsior said:

Can someone please confirm if there are ironing boards in the laundry room?

Yes, and steam irons.

[joyride]

We are currently cruising toward Lisbon.  We have had such a busy schedule, this is the first day that feels a bit like a sea day. We just ordered a pizza from room service!

 

Yesterday we went on a tour through Spain day tours to Seville and visited Alcazar and the Plaze de Espana  . It was amazing. Cadliz and Seville are beautiful cities I can't believe this is our last day Too short!

[joyride]

Les37B, sorry to be so late to answer your question, but I think you'll be fine. Here's an image showing what you're up against. There is a metal "strip" above the window, but it is pretty high up. You'll need to figure out how to get up there and also perhaps without getting caught!

 

Good luck.

[Host Jazzbeau]

4 hours ago, joyride said:

We are currently cruising toward Lisbon.  We have had such a busy schedule, this is the first day that feels a bit like a sea day. We just ordered a pizza from room service!

 

Yesterday we went on a tour through Spain day tours to Seville and visited Alcazar and the Plaze de Espana  . It was amazing. Cadliz and Seville are beautiful cities I can't believe this is our last day Too short!

I'm glad to hear this worked for you and that you had a good time.  I have booked many tours with them, but unfortunately those Spain cruises kept getting cancelled and then the one that sailed included excursions.

 

My one worry was that Spain Day Tours won't run the tour unless they get a minimum number, and Azamara ships are small (and the roll calls are therefore often not very active).  Was everybody on your SDT bus from the Azamara ship, or do they mix in passengers from other ships in port?

[laurieb]

2 hours ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

I'm glad to hear this worked for you and that you had a good time.  I have booked many tours with them, but unfortunately those Spain cruises kept getting cancelled and then the one that sailed included excursions.

 

My one worry was that Spain Day Tours won't run the tour unless they get a minimum number, and Azamara ships are small (and the roll calls are therefore often not very active).  Was everybody on your SDT bus from the Azamara ship, or do they mix in passengers from other ships in port?

We've booked several private tours with Spain Day tours, for 4-6 people, and been extremely happy with all of them.

[takemewithyou]

1 hour ago, laurieb said:

We've booked several private tours with Spain Day tours, for 4-6 people, and been extremely happy with all of them.

Good to know….I will file that away in my brain for the future! 😀

[les37b]

8 hours ago, joyride said:

Les37B, sorry to be so late to answer your question, but I think you'll be fine. Here's an image showing what you're up against. There is a metal "strip" above the window, but it is pretty high up. You'll need to figure out how to get up there and also perhaps without getting caught!

 

Good luck.

 

Many thanks, that looks fine. Hopefully a chair will be high enough. I may just ask at GS to explain what I'm doing (with some clips so they understand) and I think it should be fine. Fingers crossed.

[Sleep7]

Hi joyride!

Thank you for such  fun and descriptive postings about your cruise!

I know every sailing is different but was it very rocky going thru the straits of Gibraltar?

Any point of the trip that was rough?

Thanks for letting me know.

I have always wanted to book this itinerary but the worry of a very rough time always stops me.  I don't get seasick but the hubs does...

[RW75]

Joyride, so pleased you arrived safely and are enjoying your cruise. Great posts by the way. 
I am certain the laundry bags used to be bigger, although I often have false nostalgia memories. 
How many times has your husband hit his head in your suite? Definitely looks like he has to bend his neck to go through the doors. 

[wjfan417]

12 hours ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

I'm glad to hear this worked for you and that you had a good time.  I have booked many tours with them, but unfortunately those Spain cruises kept getting cancelled and then the one that sailed included excursions.

 

My one worry was that Spain Day Tours won't run the tour unless they get a minimum number, and Azamara ships are small (and the roll calls are therefore often not very active).  Was everybody on your SDT bus from the Azamara ship, or do they mix in passengers from other ships in port?

We have been on many Spain Day Tours trips that other Azamara passengers have booked- the minimum is only 10 so not difficult to reach. I started my own group with the for the first time on our August 30 cruise, and not difficult at all to reach the minimum by posting on the Roll Call.

 

Diana

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[les37b]

On 6/6/2022 at 7:31 PM, les37b said:

 

Many thanks, that looks fine. Hopefully a chair will be high enough. I may just ask at GS to explain what I'm doing (with some clips so they understand) and I think it should be fine. Fingers crossed.

 

Trial run leaving Lisbon.... Ready for Amsterdam, Kiel and Stockholm....

Thanks again..

 

[MouseBerry]

Looks pretty good 👍 Did you get a permission or was it „let‘s try and see“?

Does this cruise go around Denmark or does the ship sail thru the North/Baltic sea channel (Nord-Ostsee-Kanal)? Must be a nice video if you pass the channel.

[audobon_tx]

1 hour ago, MouseBerry said:

Looks pretty good 👍 Did you get a permission or was it „let‘s try and see“?

Does this cruise go around Denmark or does the ship sail thru the North/Baltic sea channel (Nord-Ostsee-Kanal)? Must be a nice video if you pass the channel.

 

Kiel Canal transit is often used, depends on itinerary.

[joyride]

We are home everyone, safe and sound in California. Very tired and jet lagged today. It was overall an amazing trip. I wanted to share a few more comments about our specific experience with Azamara.

 

My husband didn't have to "duck" at any of the doors or anywhere in the CC Cabin, just in the shower because of the bathtub bottom being sort of elevated. If you are tall, get the non-bathtub suite. 

 

Our butler was really awesome - from calling us when they ran out of raisin bran, to providing us with snacks, etc. when we wanted to have friends over. He kept me supplied with the included white wine in our fridge. 

 

I personally made a "BIG DEAL" about the Thermal Spa, I just thought that was something I would want to use every day. It turned out, we bought a pass, but only went once! It technically didn't cost us anything because we had so much OBC with our package. We were just too darn busy. We also never got in the pool or hot tubs. This is my fault because I scheduled us for so many activities and we had no sea days. I won't do that again.

 

We ate at Prime C twice and Aqualina once. We did the French table in Prime C. We also went to Aqualina early evening and had cavier and vodka (once again using up the OBC's). It's funny because we didn't have dinner in the Main Dining room at all. We did have breakfast and a brunch in the MDR on the last day when we got into port late. The Window's Cafe, the Patio, etc. were great for burgers, salads, al la carte dining, etc. and nice water views. 

 

Azamara needs to work on their pizza. In my opinion, it wasn't even as good as frozen pizza. LOL 

 

Someone asked about whether it was rough or not. I guess I felt a little motion when we headed up to Portugal - but no, it was smooth, calm waters and great weather the whole trip.

 

What I loved: The smaller ship, the crew, the personal attention and attitude of the staff, the food, no hard sales of photos, bev. packages, etc. What I missed: The casino, shows & entertainment that you get on the larger ships, this is definitely a more low key atmosphere. But, I didn't miss it much because we were so busy.

 

I will not do an intensive again without having a few days before and after to unwind before flying home. For us, it's just too far to go to not have a little more relaxation time squeezed in there. But, that's completely our fault.

 

One final thing. We had to do our COVID test (Abbott proctored) for flying home in the Cruise Terminal in Lisbon because we had to use the terminal's wifi. The ship wifi just wouldn't work for us. It worked out OK, but we missed our last dinner on the ship and had to order room service...

 

 

 

[excitedofharpenden]

A tip for others re the pizza. I'm not a fan of the ones in Windows either, but the room service pizza?  That's a different matter. And ask for it with extra mozzarella. You'll need to phone. Trust me. They are way better. 

 

Phil 

[MomC]

We are booked in a CC suite in January.  I noticed you have a great mid ship location.  I am worried about noise from the pool deck above.  I am very sensitive to the noise of tables and chairs being moved about —the scraping.  What is your observation about noise from above?

Also, when did you make your specialty dining reservations?

 

Thanks!

 

Mom C

[blag]

As a resident of Italy, I never order Pizza anywhere else.

The ingredients elsewhere are never the same!

[combine]

59 minutes ago, MomC said:

We are booked in a CC suite in January.  I noticed you have a great mid ship location.  I am worried about noise from the pool deck above.  I am very sensitive to the noise of tables and chairs being moved about —the scraping.  What is your observation about noise from above?

Also, when did you make your specialty dining reservations?

 

Thanks!

 

Mom C

What’s your cabin number?  We have done 8054 and 8061 this year, both were quiet  except  on white night when they were moving the  furniture back after the event. Have you looked at the sticky ‘Cabins Threads’ at top of the page . There is a link to the spread sheet on the first post.

 

You can only  make  speciality  restaurant reservations when you get on board. If you go to the desk in windows restaurant as soon as you get onboard . 

[travelberlin]

Joyride thanks for taking us along with you on your cruise. I am glad to hear that you have arrived home in good health. 
 

Ivi

[travelberlin]

4 hours ago, blag said:

As a resident of Italy, I never order Pizza anywhere else.

The ingredients elsewhere are never the same!

MSC cruises has the best pizzas at sea. Fresh made in front of you😋

Ivi

[So Cal John]

4 hours ago, combine said:

What’s your cabin number?  We have done 8054 and 8061 this year, both were quiet  except  on white night when they were moving the  furniture back after the event. Have you looked at the sticky ‘Cabins Threads’ at top of the page . There is a link to the spread sheet on the first post.

 

You can only  make  speciality  restaurant reservations when you get on board. If you go to the desk in windows restaurant as soon as you get onboard . 

I am curious about joyride’s response regarding cabin noise since I am in that very cabin in a few months. Thanks.