joyride

We were on the Spain Intensive 5/31 ending in Lisbon on 6/7. We tested negative prior to flying home from Lisbon. Two days after arriving home, I was positive and then my husband was positive 2 days later. Reading these stories of being positive on board, or having to isolate in a foreign country, I feel we were so fortunate that we didn't get it until at home! It seems to me that lifting the mask requirements has maybe been a bit premature...We are both double vaccinated and double boosted. We didn't wear our masks on board, in hindsight, I wish we had.

You Azamara people are so nice and friendly! Thank you for your nice comments, I would love to meet all of you. We didn't book a future cruise because the next couple of years are sort of up in the air with my hubby close to retirement and we may relocate. If I have my way, we will definitely cruise on Azamara again. We did come down with COVID upon arrival back home, so it's been a rough 10 days for us. We are finally recovering and I'm working on unpacking from the trip. We did enjoy the cruise, very much!!!

Cabin 8050 Club Continental Suite Date 5/31/2022 Ship: Azamara Pursuit Pros: Spacious, tons of storage, comfortable bed, plenty of plug-ins for phones, laptop, etc. Awesome Butler. Quiet yet close to lifts and stairs, great location. Cons: We had the bathtub and my husband, who is 6'2" had to duck when in the tub for a shower. Better to get the CC Suite with a shower if you are tall.

I wasn't going to post about this, but after reading the recent posts I feel I should share. We were on the Pursuit May 31st Spain Intensive ending in Lisbon June 7th. We had 604 people on the ship. We did not mask much at all, but in the ports we did on public transportation, etc. On our last night in Lisbon we did an Abbott Covid test for our flight home the next day and both tested negative. Then we flew from Lisbon to Philadelphia PA and then on to San Francisco, CA. We wore our masks in the airport and planes. Anyway, we both came down with COVID the day after we arrived home. WE just today tested negative after 8 days sick. So, I don't know where we got it. We are both double vaccinated and double boosted. I'm just happy we waited until we were home so we didn't have to isolate in a foriegn county.

I have posted a review of the Azamara Pursuit Spain Intensive here on Cruise Critic reviews. Check it out!

Just had a massage on the Pursuit. They could have had a field day with me because right before the cruise I had a reaction to the sun due to a new medication I'm taking. So, I had blotches on my legs. I told them I'm not interested in any products and just wanted a relaxing massage, mainly working on my back and shoulders and that is exactly what I got. They were great, no pressure at all, just tell them straight up that you aren't interested in the products.

I loved our cabin location (8050), a couple doors from the lift and stairs up to pool deck. No problem with noise at all. I think I may have heard a chair or table being moved above us once...but it was during the day. The bed was SO comfortable, slept like a log every night. Our butler offered to make our dining reservations for us the minute we got to our room. I wanted to make them myself because I had our schedule all figured out, so we went to the table in Windows right away. We went to Prime C the very first night with our friends we met here on the thread (OZ Cruising) and had a great table looking out at the wake. It's better to make all of your reservations that first night, you can always cancel if something changes. We tried to go again later in the week and they were pretty booked up, but they did accommodate us. Blag - I just mentioned to my husband that I did enjoy the food on our trip - but nothing like Italy. No one can do it like they do it there. Not just pizza, but everything! The pizza on Princess is really good. The pizza I had on the Pursuit wasn't from Window's buffet, it was from room service and it really wasn't very good. Really a minor issue, everything else I ate on the ship was wonderful!

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...

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.

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!

The laundry bag post was just meant for fun. I just had to laugh when I saw how small it is Since this is only a 7 day cruise, using the laundry service just wasn't needed. I put one load in, and everything is clean and we only have 3 more days. We just came back from the Chef's table. It was very good and I think it's an experience that is worth the money. We had a lot of OBC, so we are trying to use it up. Tomorrow we will be in Cadiz and are going to Seville.

One of the benefits of having a suite is a free bag of laundry handled by the butler. Well, my hubby isn't the butler, but I thought you all might like to know that a single pair of jeans is just about all that fits in the micro-bag they gave us to take advantage of this elevated perk. Oh well, I went to the self-service laundry and did what I needed to do. Also free!

Here's a picture of us with Milo.

Yesterday in Malaga we did a Spain Day Tours excursion to The Alhambra in Granada. There were 24 Azamara guests on the tour. It was a long drive on the bus from Malaga to Granada, but the scenery was amazing. Mountains and hills with olive orchards, wild poppies, a goat farm, little cities with houses in the hills.. We made a stop on the way and were able to purchase olive oil, snacks, etc. At Alhambra they broke us up into 2 groups of 12 and we had our own guide for 3 hours while touring the gardens and palace. It was so beautiful. After the tour we had free time in Granada and we had some local beer and seafood. It was a great tour.

In Cartagena we did the ship's tour to see the Andalusian Horses at a ranch. This was probably one of the best excursions I have ever been on. They seated us in the shade and brought out a White Stallion and explained to us the workings of the ranch where they have about 6-7 Stallions and 40+ mares. The mares have about 1 foal a year. After we met the stallion, Milo, they walked us out to a dirt path and then released the horses and foals to run to the nearby meadow. We stood there and about 35 horses ran by us, it was so cool! The mares and babies are all different colors, grey, brown, white, but Milo's babies will eventually all turn white. At the end of the tour we had an amazing Flamenco dancer perform, she was SO Good, with castanets' and everything. At the same time, they brought out a beautiful grey dancing horse. I have some awesome pictures, but just can't get them posted right now.