uktog

Thanks, very helpful (the well travelled Ikea long handled boot horn - all 3 ft of it at a cost of £1 will add to its many avois) 🙂

Random (yes very random) question for those onboard In these lovely well equipped suites is there a long handled shoehorn? And is so approx how long is the handle? Hope everyone is staying safe and not having to overdose on the ginger 😀

I suspect this is an example of point 2 in my post as you’ve got a “bundled booking” the agents are back because they’ve been given a great price out of which they can create a package holiday which has a good margin for them as the base price Azamara is charging them is quite low. For Dr H that’s another reason UK guests work with agents. If you do cruise only booking direct you do not have the same level of packaged travel protections. For those additional packaged protections there have to be at least two elements in the booking. The second element doesn’t have to be the flight. With my agent, they set up an airport transfer or hotel with the flight to create the package. Why is a package protection important- well if the cruise is substantially altered eg no Israel, there are much greater cancel without penalty protection if you have a package covered by the regulations. You do create a package booking direct if you do flight plus cruise but that can have big disadvantages given the lack of control. However sometimes lack of control and a direct booking has advantages not least you don’t pay for flights until final payment of

I’m going to try Explora soon. Reading good things about the food onboard. Have also done many Azamara but I’d say Viking is above them now. I’m looking for under 1000 guests good food some but not too much evening entertainment and choices. Choices where to eat, sit daytime and sit evening. Viking ticks these boxes at a nice price point for us

It is extremely rare for a travel agency price in the UK to be the same as booking direct with Azamara in the UK. Always lower. Two reasons 1. To get business agents factor in a commission rebate in the fare they charge so my travel agent invoice will show the original Azamara price as advertised on line and then have a discount line 2. From time to time Azamara sells a block of cabins to agencies. This often happens nearer the sale date and effectively hands the marketing of unsold cabins to a third party and avoids published price drops that might mean having issues with existing guests. The agencies must pay for the block or a significant portion of the fee whether they sell them or not. To maximise revenue they sell them at very keen prices. If you look at the websites of the typical discounters they never advertise these prices. They say for prices call. For anyone looking for a cruise about 2-3 months out it can be a very productive call!!! You have to ask why would people in the UK book direct - major reason control! Many UK agencies aren’t very good at servicing bookings.

What a fabulous way to spend the later evening

I have not worked with chefs but I do work in an environment where I have to communicate with people at all levels and with all language skills across a wide range of languages. I’ve no problem someone asking a supervisor as you say they have a lot to keep up to speed with. In terms of communication some accents and some colloquialism hits issues so I find slow, distinct and simple words like more and less when discussing food works well in any environment. Hope you get dishes to your liking today

You may find your case is delayed on delivery if the kettle is picked up by the embarkation scanners. You would eventually be asked to go to the “naughty room” and you’d probably find they will keep it until disembarkation

Can you be more specific what the communication issue was? I try and avoid anywhere that is select yourself so am absolutely delighted to hear no one can do that on Explora. I was so disappointed when Azamara and Viking went back to the pile it on yourself model. But I’m interested in understanding what the issue was - was your request basic or unusual for example?

@florisdekort that looks a beautiful meal. Way above Prime C standard. What was the source of the beef as I read they’d planned some changes

Wow

Sydney is picking up a lot of extra callers this year. Nice genuine craft market on the dock beside the big fiddle. There are a few taxi drivers offering Cabot trail tours at the port - better value if you can get 3/4 together their price for 2 was high

Have a great cruise. Really looking forward to hearing the views from this cruise from @florisdekort and @artbcpa I hope you also share your thoughts elsewhere as appropriate to redress the balance

We have enjoyed several Azamara chefs market tours on three continents with meals cooked back on board and set up at a special spot (often a section of windows or if the weather is nice on the opposite side to the patio.) These were run by the ship's chef and generally cost more than the price of the paella trip. I am wondering if this is more a land based event and there may be a disconnect between the shopping and the visit to the restaurant and may not involve the onboard Executive Chef. We were very involved with the chef (and usually two assistants and the sommelier) in choosing what would be cooked based on what was found in the market. We saw the excursions as an excellent way to use OBC as they gave us an excursion and a "chefs table". It was lovely to have dinner with the people we had explored the market and other sights with earlier in the day.

Indeed you can

Having spent more time again today my biggest beef is they need to sort out shoreside especially the pre cruise experience. I know Seaware from other cruise line and how it works and Explora cant have configured it right as the error messages when trying to service an existing booking or complete on line check in when you have been invited to are beyond a joke. The staff you engage with are all very nice but sorry they are absolutely clueless, they are all "escalating the issue" but never able to come back with solutions. However today I thought I might have made progress, I see an email in from their IT Team entitled (again, I have had four now) It is now time to check in for your Ocean Journey. Great I think we have lift off , the issue did get escalated. My joy is short lived when I open it, I get a sense of doom when I read Dear Mrs zcq Margaret jgtwwt. Now when I went to the font zcq was not what I believe I was called and when I married DH and took his surname I do not think it was jgtwwt 🙂 Oh and i followed the link to do the check in and yet again we get the "sorry there is a problem please try later....." Words fail me!

In the same bowl - that’s a Michelin star experience so stop being picky 😂😀

Hopefully for you yes - certainly I have done more Tables on repositioning trips like transatlantics than on shorter voyages. They certainly look to offer more - it is also when I have done both Rijstaffels that I have enjoyed.

My experience re the Rijstaffel differs to other posters. Really excellent experience lots of food, spicy enough for all present (they’re never going to go extreme for a group of 24) and a great amount of veggie and non veggie. So I wouldn’t be put off by posts where they had less good experiences. It’s great to have the opportunity to try these kind of menus onboard but then we are not purists and may not have the opportunities to experience them elsewhere so do it onboard. I hesitate to say this as I know one frequent cruiser thought it was awful but we also loved the Californian menu they sometimes offer. We’ve done it twice. I hope they try the Arabian again and get numbers for it, id love to see them try a Greek one however it will be what it is and I prefer not to let set backs on trivial things like menus stir up extreme feelings like anger.

Ask the airline. Only they can fully answer your question. They may even provide the hotel. I know of two others who do on long layovers

When booking a cruise in some parts of the world you have to think of history and risk. The cruise lines pulled out of Israel for several years previously. There was always a higher risk that a cruise to that part of the world would have cancellations than say the Rome to Barcelona run. It was clear, even before these problems that the Israel intensive Cruises we’re not selling well, hence the heavy discounting of prices that was going on which may explain why there are now additional funds to pay on some replacements. I’ve had a fair share of cancellations (including 2 in the week before cruising) and even more altered itineraries. As others have said the cruise contract allows that. It’s a risk when cruising. Your travel agent can guide you on any additional ABTA protections that may help you

Yes cheap as chips but SOOOO wonderful. Thee and me are lucky to be either side of it if my calculations are correct!

oops that should read "who all seem to be back on that sailing" Its as if Explora are bringing them back again and again at virtually no charge to keep writing fluffy drivel which they somehow believe will convince cruisers to come over to Explora.

Australia is certainly a tricky one. They had the most unusual arrangements of any cruise I’ve been on certainly when disembarking in Cairns and Freemantle. I’d not bother with the stress in case the authorities change what they’d agreed as happened before. Just get a different flight

What you’ve done in the past currently is no guarantee of the future as the new software is handling back to backs differently and also port authorities are not handling “transit guests” as they did in the past. Barcelona is an example. It would be good if the OP could make a cancellable up to 24 hours before booking as they could then have a conversation with the Documentation Officer once onboard. They are the person who liaises with the authorities. If it looks like it’s a no go then they would still be able to cancel the tour