Live on Journey 5/12/07

[ella99]

On the 5/12 cruise, will be brief- The ship was unable to go to St George due to high winds, will be just in Hamilton for 4 days. The ship could have used at least another month to get things in order. No butler service from what I can see, just a stateroom attendant. No fridge in room. Tv not always working. The whole ship has not been refurbished, just certain area's. The food is excellant. Will try to post again later in the week.

[AllAboutCruising]

Thanks for taking time out of your vacation to give an update.

[JkyLovesRuss]

Thanks for your post! Looks like things haven't changed much..:confused:

[Zenithfan]

Never wanted a butler.

Don't need fridge.

Don't watch TV on cruise.

 

If these are three of my biggest problems, I'm going to have a great time!

[ecslady]

Thanks so much for posting. :) I was wondering if anybody would. It will be interesting to see how much progress is being made. At least, you got into Hamilton for 4 days.

 

Looking forward to more live posts.

[usavvy2]

how did the Journey "ride" on the way over to Bermuda?

[mringenoldus]

The butler issue seems to be the one area everyone feels is missing.....although one of the most touted perks on the Journey was a butler for all cabins. I wonder how Azamara will answer this question?

[1cruiselvr]

I never expected a butler in the true sense of the word. I always new it would turn out to be a glorified cabin steward but it won't stop me from sailing with them. Happy Sailing!

[curiouscat]

I think I"ll bring "Jeeves" my butler from home with me:p

 

Looks like the butlers are still refurbishing the ship...........

 

CuriousCat

[patpaul]

On the 5/12 cruise, will be brief- The ship was unable to go to St George due to high winds, will be just in Hamilton for 4 days. The ship could have used at least another month to get things in order. No butler service from what I can see, just a stateroom attendant. No fridge in room. Tv not always working. The whole ship has not been refurbished, just certain area's. The food is excellant. Will try to post again later in the week.

Sailing on the 26th,any chance you are on deck 8? Wondering if pool is open if it's a problem being below.

[ella99]

Yes the pool is open today- today is really the first day we are able to enjoy it. Its was windy and cloudy yesterday. It cleared up today and will be going on deck to enjoy the sun.

I think the cabin steward doubles as the butler- First day in a crisp white uniform - the next day he turned into the cabin steward a blue uniform! lol-

 

The sea's were a little rough early sunday morning- but not too bad - it lulled you to sleep. It was rainy and windy all day Sunday but I must say the ship was fine, handled it well.

 

thats all for now,

will try to post again

[miamigirl814]

Ella99,

 

THANKS for all of the info. I appreciate the time you are taking, while on your vacation, to keep us posted! We are cruising on Journey on 5/26, so have been very interested in reading the posts.

 

Hope that you have a great vacation!

[spirlene]

We are going with 15 on June 30

Is the dress formal- formal dinners?

or all C830?

Casual?

Is the dinner seating open or assigned 6 and 830?

Possible to have 50 anniv celebration in dining room

15 seated together??

Are all the cabins refurbished?

 

butler -dont need

frig -could be handy

Glad food is good

too bad about St George- ships fault or natures doing?

You are really terrific to be writing and a great help to those of us who will be on Journey soon

Hope you enjoy your vacation

Spirlene

[MaryJean56]

We are going with 15 on June 30

Is the dress formal- formal dinners?

or all C830?

Casual?

Is the dinner seating open or assigned 6 and 830?

Possible to have 50 anniv celebration in dining room

15 seated together??

Are all the cabins refurbished?

 

butler -dont need

frig -could be handy

Glad food is good

too bad about St George- ships fault or natures doing?

You are really terrific to be writing and a great help to those of us who will be on Journey soon

Hope you enjoy your vacation

Spirlene

 

The seating in the main dining room is open. You show up with your group and are seated. They will seat a large group together. You can have a celebration in the dining room, we still heard "Happy Birthday" being sung like other cruises. There are no formal nights; casual attire is the dress code every night. You can however dress up if you wish, some people did.

 

I believe all the cabins are supposed to have new bedding & new TV. Beyond that, I am not sure.

[eph89]

I believe all the cabins are supposed to have new bedding & new TV. Beyond that, I am not sure.

 

In addition to the bedding and TVs, I believe all the other "soft" goods were upgraded, too. In our room, these included the draperies, carpet, and newly upholstered loveseat.

 

I believe it was posted on a thread a while back, but even though Pullmantur no longer shows the Blue Dream on its website, the pages are still active:

 

http://www.pullmanturcruises.com/r6.html

 

On the left, click on "camarotes" and then on the right, choose EF Exterior Superior. This could be the exact room I stayed in.

 

In fact, now go to my photo gallery, and you can now compare to determine the upgrades http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=dcrqh0c.k51y4e4&x=0&y=-9cirds

 

actually, having now been on the ship, it was good to explore all of the Blue Dream pictures against mine to see what Azamara did. It may not seem like a lot, compared to other improvements, but I think it made a big difference. I am still hoping they are trading out the chaise lounges at the pool too.

[jumponboard]

Thanks for the photos eph89. Thanks also to ella99 for the info on the 2nd sailing. We really appreciate you taking the time to update here while on treasured vacation time.

 

jumponboard

[cruisingdelt]

too bad about St George- ships fault or natures doing?

 

The cut to St George is very narrow and when the winds pick up is is unsafe for ships to transit it. We were not able to do it in 2001 on the Zenith. It is quite a site to see. You can almost jump onto the beach! Don't try:eek:

[patpaul]

On the 5/12 cruise, will be brief- The ship was unable to go to St George due to high winds, will be just in Hamilton for 4 days. The ship could have used at least another month to get things in order. No butler service from what I can see, just a stateroom attendant. No fridge in room. Tv not always working. The whole ship has not been refurbished, just certain area's. The food is excellant. Will try to post again later in the week.

Hope they work faster we're leaving on the 26th

[Tall One]

Thanks EPH89 for the slide show, it brought back fond memories of the Ren 2 when we sailed on her in 2001. I read that the Quest is the Ren 7 which we are going on in Oct. 2007. I hope that the ship will be ready, I think that this will be its first scheduled trip. We were on a HAL ship, its fifth cruise, & we had never had such a bad cruise in all our many cruises. We decided to give her one more chance a few years later, & it was one of our best cruises.... time improved it.

Looking forwad to our Oct. Quest cruise.

Tall One

[SheilaNC]

Lovely slideshow. We look forward to adding more pictures in a few weeks. Thanks for sharing your pictures and your experience. We look forward to posts from those on the 2nd Journey - pun intended :b

[spirlene]

Really appreciate you wonderful pics and info

What are the restaurants ?

Are they instead of the main dining room?Where is breakfast? Is there food served all day? anything besides the 3 meals included in the price?

Do you pay separately?

Did you try them?

As you can see I am a newbie!!

[rebeccalouise]

Thanks you for the slideshow presentation. Very nice looking ship.

Did they have a white gloved afternoon tea in the looking glass lounge everyday?

[ella99]

This will be my last post until I return-

Things seem to be improving slowly- Its still a work in progress though- A lot of painting and fixing going on still- Our room 7028 has only new carpeting and new wall covering, the furniture isn't new. The suites are really beautiful completly redone. I will post additional info when I return.

[O2B@C]

Ella99: If possible, when you have time after your return, could you comment on the mattresses? (See this thread: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=552299 ) Thanks so much for any feedback you can offer!

 

Everyone else: I'm sorry if I'm being a pest about this. It's at least as important to me as smoking vs. nonsmoking is to the people who have generated hundreds of posts on those threads, yet there have been no responses so far to my inquiry about the mattresses. The ship size, dress code, food quality, and price point of Azamara sound like a really good fit for us, plus I have cruised on X before and was very happy with the service and general ambience. But unless we know in advance that my DH will be able to sleep in the beds without hurting his back, we can't even think about booking anything.

[Suzy B]

Hi Ellen,

 

I see you had the same stateroom category we booked - “1A” on the port side. What was your opinion of the stateroom? Were you disappointed in the size? I understand that they really aren’t 215 sq. ft. like Celebrity’s web site states; they are only 177 sq. ft. Any photo’s to share with us?

 

Did the shower have a door or curtin? Did the closet have enough room for clothing for two people for a 7 day cruise?

 

Thanks for your help. Despite all the problems on board, hope you were able to still have an enjoyable vacation.

 

Take care,

Suzy B