Texter2

1 hour ago, gmbhardy said:

My bad. I get three for balcony. I guess ocean view gets two. My apologies!

No worries. We have traveled in Infinity (Celebrity Edge class), Sunset, and regular balconies. They are lost on us. We rarely use them. Just excited to be on this beautiful ship and try out NCL. 

1 minute ago, gmbhardy said:

You should have five, three from FAS and two from FAS+.

I hope you are correct. My docs say two for FAS in oceanview. 

25 minutes ago, gmbhardy said:

Just out of curiosity, how did you end up with four specialty dining meals.

Good question! I believe two from FAS and two from FAS+. 

6 hours ago, BirdTravels said:

The ship has a capacity of 3996. We are sailing with 4900 passengers. There are passengers stacked in the halls. Every square inch of sunlight has a chair/lounger in it. 

 

Although the Waterfront and the Thermal Suite don’t feel very busy for those who enjoy some shade. 

So enjoying your trip report, BirdTravels! Thank you for all the photos, menus, tips, etc. Your posts are especially helpful as we plan our first NCL cruise. We leave Sunday for 21 glorious days aboard the Encore. The toughest part is where to use our four specialty dining meals! 

Thank you for letting us go on this voyage with you! Loved the pics and all the information. We embark on our first NCL cruise in 21 days on the Encore (that is why I read your trip blog with such interest, similar ship and a few of the same ports). We will have 21 days aboard and are going from Miami to Seattle. So thankful for your intel! 

You might consider two tour companies that I have used with good results. One is Tours By Locals and the second is Context Travel. I looked them up for Kyoto and (without knowing your dates) found some tours that might suit your interests and are reasonably priced. Context also had a Geisha online course for $27. 

Many thanks for the wonderful review!

15 hours ago, Traveling Fools said:

Saturday, November 11^th

Casablanca to Marrakech

 

The logistics of moving our luggage from individual rooms to our comfortable van was well organized and after breakfast we loaded up and left for Marrakech. 

 

Although bowel issues kept DW up for part of the night, she felt good enough to have some breakfast.  Traveling to Marrakech wasn’t an option.  We all had to make the trip.  After breakfast, we went back to our room to gather our things and brush our teeth. While in the room, I suddenly felt flushed and made it to the toilet in time to upchuck. I didn’t lose breakfast and what came up was very acidic, leading me to think it was caused by too much morning coffee.  DW was still experiencing bowel issues.

 

Our van got a late start because another member of the group had also experienced some stomach distress and was slow getting to the van.  He wanted the back row in case he needed to lay down.  Turned out he wasn’t as bad off as he thought he would be.

 

The drive was problem free and the countryside interesting.  We passed by rich farmland, olive orchards and arid, high desert landscape.  En route we stopped at a clean and well stocked service plaza.  Ironically it had a Mexican theme.

 

 

 

 

 

We all found Marrakech to be clean, vibrant, and beautiful.  We arrived ahead of schedule and looked for a place to have lunch.  We couldn’t find one that accepted credit cards, so we decided to go to the hotel early, have lunch there, and then continue the day’s activities after checking in.  Our hotel was the Sofitel-Marrakech.  It is a 5-star hotel and beautiful property!  The only thing we all had in common was they assigned us rooms in the wing furthest from the lobby.  It was a hike to reach them, and there weren’t any shortcuts to reach them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After checking in and tidying up, we headed out on our afternoon adventure.   This afternoon’s journey took us to the city’s “hidden side”.  This translated into an immersive journey into Marrakech’s artisan quarters located within its very active and busy souk.  The pathways were shadowy and crowded with people walking in both directions often making way for passing motorcycles. The 12 of us in our group often got strung out.  About 45 minutes into the back alleys of the souk, our travel companion who felt sick before we left Casablanca became nauseous and couldn’t continue.  He and his wife were transported back to the hotel in a tuk-tuk.  One other traveling companion and I wanted to return too, but we were told the tuk-tuk could only transport two people.  Once we resumed our trek, I only made it about 50 meters before I had to find a place next to the wall to throw up.  Thankfully, DW had a package of wet wipes in her bag.  We didn’t get much further when our other traveling companion also got sick.  While for me it was a one and done experience, David continued to be ill through the remaining part of the afternoon.  We determined later the common denominator was the nougat we all three bought the afternoon of our arrival in Morocco.

 

That evening dinner was a “1001 Nights” dinner show featuring Moroccan food and entertainers. DW went and thoroughly enjoyed herself.  I was wiped out and tired and remained at the hotel where I slept soundly and deeply.

 

Great to hear about your land trip. So sorry to hear about your food poisoning. 

On 12/5/2023 at 3:07 PM, Traveling Fools said:

November 8, 2023

 

 

Well today is the day our actual journey began.  And as many people a fond of saying, “No plan survives first contact with the enemy.”

  

We started off from home close to 2-hours later than planned, and that comes into play later.  The drive from our house to just north of Fort Lauderdale was incident free with no congestion.  North of Fort Lauderdale traffic began to get heavy and surged back and forth from stop and go to moderate speeds.  Except for when one of two lanes ended forcing a merge, the flow in the express lanes was unimpeded.  Remember, our goal was to park at Port Everglades and the Uber to MIA for our flight.  We arrived at Port Everglades just before 5 PM. The guard had to confirm that we could park at the cruise terminal parking lot adjacent to the pier Azamara uses at Port Everglades.  She gave us the wrong directions to reach the Palm parking structure and we ended up driving through the port and exiting the port at its north entrance.  No problem, we made a U-turn and reentered the port.  This time we got the proper directions and 5 minutes later we were at the parking structure.  The only problem was the structure was completely sealed off to the public. This meant our original plan was voided and that we would have to drive to MIA and park there.  It is now 5:45 and we are burning up the clock.

  

Traffic to MIA wasn’t very kind to us.  For a lengthy period of time all lanes, including the express lane were stop and go.  At about 6:15, express lane traffic started moving and we were able to reach the airport, park, and enter the terminal by 7:00.  Information provided by MIA regarding where to check in for Royal Air Moroc was flawed, meaning we had to walk the length of on one terminal and halfway through the adjacent one.

  

Check in at the Air Moroc Business Class counter was quick and painless.  We were told the aircraft was departing early and that boarding was to begin at 8:30. It was now 7:10.  Royal Air Moroc doesn’t participate in the Known Traveler program, but flying business meant expedited security screening.  Wrong, the security line we were using had no expedited lane (they did, but the lady screening passengers was unwilling to provide the service unless you were in a wheelchair.  Bottomline, we didn’t clear security until 7:30.

  

Once we cleared security, we were able to finagle a ride in a motorized cart to the Admiral’s club.  Once inside DW grabbed a flute of bubbly and I visited the men’s room.  When I looked at the departures screen, it showed our aircraft was set to board.  It is now 7:45. We decided we should head over to the gate.  We reached the gate at 8 and 20 minutes later started pre-boarding, for which we qualify.

  

Once on board and squared away, we started to chill.  The flight attendant made the rounds with a tray of water, tea, and mint lemonade.  If you have never tasted mint lemonade, give it a try!

  

After takeoff, we ordered a couple of adult beverages and perused the menu.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 I ordered the fish and DW the chicken      My meal was one of the best I’ve had aboard an aircraft.  DW said her’s was dry.

  

The lay flat seats worked like a charm and enabled several hours of sound sleep.

 

 

More Later

Traveling Fools, we were on this trip with you and look forward to your continued review. It is so much fun to relive the trip through someone else’s eyes. It was our first Azamara voyage and we enjoyed it very much. 

31 minutes ago, IDL said:

I like that approach as it is very disingenuous of Celebrity to sell specialty restaurant packages in advance that do not allow you to actually book the restaurants until onboard and then inform you they are not available- bit of shell game. 

We bought a discount package last year and made reservations when we boarded. We made all of our reservations at Fine Cut and were able to get the restaurants we wanted and the days and times we wanted. They will have availability, but might need to be flexible regarding restaurants and times. This year, we paid full price and booked restaurants and times beforehand. It is a trade off, and not worth the small savings on package, for us. 

7 hours ago, GenerationX said:

Oh wow, this is a high complement because there are some really great writers on the boards! Thank you so much!

I concur! You are a great writer. I love reading your posts.

I have not yet cruised on Azamara, but am on the TA Lisbon to Fort Lauderdale next month. I found port information on the Azamara website by looking in the “Before you Board” tab. It might not have complete information, but does seem to have our departure port in Lisbon. It might be a good place to start. 

On 7/28/2023 at 12:52 PM, Traveling Fools said:

FYI.....Copied this today from the Azamara website:

 

Upgrades Coming Soon

Our Azamara Upgrade bidding tool is currently unavailable due to the transition to new systems. During this transition period, we are unable to accept any new bids for upgrades.

We will notify you as soon as it becomes available again. Thank you for your patience and understanding during this transition period.

I just checked and it still says the same.

When I called Captains Club to upgrade, I was charged $20 (less 10% discount) plus the 18% gratuity. I was expecting a 20% gratuity. 

We have found the best rates are on the longer, repositioning cruises. If you have the time, the EB or WB (my favorite) transatlantic cruises are wonderful. 

So sorry to hear that Norris is ill. I enjoyed virtually traveling with you both. Hope all are better soon. 

Thank you for posting. I am enjoying following along. We are a couple of retired educators that discovered cruising about 10 years ago. 

1 hour ago, Ex-Airbalancer said:

Last year on the Apex , we had the Oceanview at the bow 9103 , from there to the pizza station and back it was about 950 steps 🤣

Wow! We were neighbors! We were in 9019. Did you see the helicopter transport the night we left Brest, France? That was amazing flying by the pilot.  

On 4/11/2023 at 8:56 PM, LisaLeone said:

Between you and @GenerationX you are allowing me to live vicariously until I board the Summit next month! Wishing you and Iain a fabulous voyage.

Exactly how I feel! So enjoy following both Jim_Iain and GenerationX! They make me feel like I am on the ships with them.  

Charla,

I have been following along and vicariously enjoying your cruise. I have enjoyed many of your cruise reports and laugh every time I see “one-woman Suite show”! You have a wonderful sense of humor, style, and joie de vivre. Thank you for taking us along!

Jim, I look forward to following you and Iain over the pond! We took the Apex TA last Spring and loved it. 

Have a great trip!

Jorge, 

Thank you for taking us along! I feel like I am there with y’all. Your photos are amazing.

4 hours ago, Mackdogmolly said:

I just tried to do a mock booking with Explora and ran into the same issue of needing to enter all of my contact information.

I am having the same problem. I hope they get it fixed soon. I tried several online agencies and also found that they didn’t have availability of cabins. Looking at several alternative cruises for our first Azamara cruise, but not willing to take the equivalent of a guarantee cabin assigned. 

I found that I could find out which cabin Azamara assigned to me, before I put in contact information, by clicking on the satchel icon on the top right. I could not figure out how to see which cabins are available or change the prospectively assigned cabin. 

Concur with above. We generally choose for itinerary and can find enjoyable itineraries on both lines. 

Love the new Celebrity edge class ships. Hoping to try new Sun Princess in Fall of 2024. Preference to Celebrity for food quality, except for three (or maybe four) cheese pizza on Princess. Do like being able to wash clothes on Princess without paying $49 (was the cost for “special” on day 10 of 14) for one bag.   

Thanks for all the assistance. I am hopeful that the functionality comes back to be able to see what is available without having to put in all guest information. I am sure the functionality will get better over time.