Host Jazzbeau

The Oceania R-ship PHs have the same layout and numbering as Azamara Onward CCs (but not the other Azamara ships). Unfortunately most of the reports in the spreadsheet are for the other Azamara ships, so it's necessary to map Journey-Pursuit-Quest numbers to Onward – that will give the answer for Sirena.

We DIYed Arenal after a similar cruise on Azamara that ended in Puerto Caldera. It was great, and we didn't feel a need for the hand-holding of a package tour. Details are in my blog: jazzbeauxcostaricacruise2018.wordpress.com Such an approach can easily be tailored to suit your needs, starting with pick-up at SJO and ending at the ship in Puerto Caldera. But the Azamara tour also looks very good and includes all the things you would want on an introduction to Costa Rica. If we had had that option we probably would have taken it.

I have been near elevators on several ships (not Silversea) and never heard any noise. [I wouldn't try this on one of the booze-cruise ships, but it seems safe on adult-oriented luxury cruises...]

Sorry this happened to you, but most cruise lines do this. Charters are guaranteed to be profitable and most of those affected apparently rebook so that income isn't lost either. The really bad stories are when this happens very close to sailing – since your cruise isn't for over a year, you can't have booked airfare yet so there shouldn't be any ancillary expenses (other than your time and disappointment). If you have travel insurance, you should be able to move that over to a future trip. I hope you find a replacement itinerary you like on Azamara.

I think the Canal experience will be much better on Windstar than NCL because of the size of the ships. We did the Canal on Coral Princess, which is still smaller than today's NCL ships, and the experience going through the Gatun Locks was interesting but the public areas never dropped below the lock walls. That was only a 'partial' transit so we got off the ship in Gatun Lake and took an excursion on the public ferry from the lake through the Culebra Cut and all the way to the Pacific Ocean – the experience on that small ferry was much more dramatic. A Windstar ship would be like the ferry experience all the way through.

The review is post #1 in this thread. The Four Seasons in Sydney was very nice and very well located [main entrance leads directly to Circular Quay, back entrance to The Rocks], but a little cold compared to boutique hotels. The hotel restaurants are very pricey [breakfast is $60AUS per person], but luckily there are lots of good restaurants in The Rocks and Circular Quay areas and uber is cheap and reliable to any other restaurant you fancy.

Now I understand what happened (I think). When I post, it initially comes up with some crazy-low number – never figured out where that came from, maybe you're right. But when it refreshes it gets the proper 'next' number in the thread. PS – this one initially came up with the same number as the post I was quoting, then changed to the correct one.

I don't have a record of it (and my memory isn't worth much these days...). If you send it again I'll be on the lookout: jazzbeauster@gmail.com

You are plenty worthy Lola. As to explaining it – me? I don't even see the same numbers you all do. [When a post is hidden it reduces the count for the public, but Hosts still see the hidden post so our numbers are always higher. When I want to refer to a post by number I have to log out and check the public number...]

When we did Alaska on Coral Princess we were unable to see Hubbard Glacier because of floating ice. An ice-rated hull would have allowed this. When we did the Chilean Fjords in Feb 2023 the bay leading to Pia Glacier was completely chocked with floating ice [see pics below] – the crew said that the previous week it had been clear and like glass...

The drivers aren't blind, but the bureaucrats are! 😕

Sadly this is the future: new ships will all be forced to have GPS thruster positioning to save the planet. [I say: Save the old ships!]

KEF is pretty far from the center of Reykjavik, so it didn't surprise us that a private transfer cost $150 but the door to door service was worth it. We used https://www.rvkcars.com/airport-transfer

Meteora is absolutely worth two days in this 'Athens' post-cruise stay – stop at Delphi on the way there, get to Meteora for sunset on the first day, stay overnight and see 2-3 monasteries on the second day, then be driven back to Athens or the airport.