uktog

Thanks. It was a bit stressful No rest though, I’ve got to pack 5 weeks work into 3! It’s going to get “interesting”

Thanks And finally 72 hours late we are home - Buenos Aires was getting very boring though fascinating as always. We did see the impact of the hyper inflation first hand - ever morning when we went to the little "25 hour store" beside our hotel the price of water had gone up - we started at 650 pesos and ended our trip at 900. The increased cost of a can of Heineken in the hotel was even more significant - we watched them print and replace bar menus every evening. The car park excess was not cheap so that is certainly going to Lufthansa. But in our final thoughts - we are so glad we did this cruise - was it perfect - well can you even define perfect. Yes there were several things that could have been delivered better my Azamara but overall it was a great cruise. Are there signs of corner cutting on Azamara -- yes there are and that plus inconsistency remains a concern but we were happy enough to make another booking on board. Thanks to all the fellow passengers who made this voyage so memorable.

Thank you for asking. We all make crass calls at some time in our lives but the mark of a good director is to show contrition. I think the young lady has performance skills but there were several points along the way where she evidenced a lack of staff and customer engagement skills. Maybe I’m setting the bar too high but Eric, Darren and Martin in particular are always highly visible always on gangway duty every day and a disembarkation. That was just one example of what was missing here.

As I understand it, many on the world cruise, whilst disappointed at missing some stops, are recognising the situation and are very happy with how Azamara is handling it - words like extremely generous and way beyond what they needed to do were used on posts elsewhere. It’s been highlighted that with the future cruise credit they can pick up the missed ports and hopefully do a canal transit at a future date. African ports are irrelevant the cruise was never going there in the first place

Whether I’m onboard currently or not is irrelevant. There are also guests of individual legs affected and from the compensation you are being offered you are certainly not being screwed far from it. Technically Azamara in the current circumstances are only obliged to get the World cruisers to their final destination so rather than get emotional I would suggest you do as many others are and be very grateful for what you are being offered.

I was very annoyed that the Hotel Director blamed the Captain alleging he said to us when we challenged him in person it had been Johannes call. We knew that wasn’t true. She made a dreadful call in my view and put her team ahead of the guests.

Absolutely I will need to go there anyway to get my ticket re validated or I will be blocking the exit barrier 😀. I’ve certainly found them very accommodating but I will be 72 hours over. Obviously I will be passing any excess to Lufthansa

No. We didn’t make it to the session we were on hold (then cut off after an hour) to Lufthansa - what did he say

I think we are actually agreeing. My comment related to the boarding process being out of Azamaras hands not the communication process. Sorry if that was not clear. We know the communication issue has been raised particularly with the Head of the Call Centre where agents were still giving out wrong information despite it having been updated internally. Our excursion which was supposed to drop us at the airport at 1300 was much less successful. Our guide had “issues” starting with telling us aggressively at the port no one must wear gold on this trip it is too dangerous. She lacked guiding skills (she was small and had no flag) but worst of all the tour over ran by almost an hour leaving some guests very concerned about check in times (not helped by a dispute between her and the driver leaving us being dropped off well beyond the terminal with a long walk back). All this she blamed on the cruise line asking her to drop 4 guests off in town and she was responsible for their safety (that drop off and deviation took about 10 minutes max) however when the gentleman in front of us quietly asked her wasn’t she responsible for getting us to the airport in time the whole coach got another 5 minute rant about everything being Azamaras fault due to the four passengers and the safety issues etc. As it was we joined a line of guests at business class checkin all needing reroutes. The couple in front got the last reroute for today. We accept there’s always the one who just misses but we feel had we reached the airport at the advertised time we could have been home today. As it is we are both nursing ship acquired colds and are still 24 hours from leaving. Sadly the appeal of Buenos Aires had evaporated for now.

Thanks a lot. We will be communicating with Lufthansa once we get home! I read currently they’re trying to argue the security strike was the issue but our cancellation email was clear it was ground crew that was the problem

Thanks possibly not though because the issue is strikes but we will claim anyway. I’ve three days extra multi storey car parking at the airport for starters

In our experience all luggage even to the bigger suites comes onboard later in the embarkation process and then held downstairs until most is on before the attendants/butlers start on delivery. I find a mid afternoon boarding brings my luggage up at the same time as it would arrive with a lunchtime boarding. 90 minutes is about average wait but it doesn’t bother me at all.

What is your evidence for this, there are a significant number of other reasons why the offering is as it is. World cruisers have posted elsewhere that this includes in their view extremely generous compensation. I hope single leg cruisers are looked after as well

They’ve put us up in a hotel but there’s ambiguity between what we were told at the airport and here at the hotel re other expenses. It was carnage at the airport. They would have flown you to Frankfurt but you had to sort out your own onward journey and hotel. There was no guarantee of anything before Sunday so this option although an absolute pain (no grandson’s birthday party or Mothers Day lunch) was the best of a bad job. Just about to go out and find another currency exchange!

I have to agree, off key and shouty. She’s very young and inexperienced and I was surprised she was one of an Azamara cast. I’m not sure if our QR code feedback got lost as we had no follow up and whilst we enjoyed the music in the Den it was way too loud and conversation was impossible. I know those at the bar were more able to talk but even they were with loud voices to compensate- sitting on bar stools is never an option for me unfortunately. I agree about the overall entertainment and activities programme- generally it was weak and it’s was extremely badly organised/ scheduled. I was very disappointed the Cruise Director was so hands off that work and checking on detail during the day as others do. Examples included Overlap of speakers - effectively four talking on nature items and too much duplication though I understand the non Antarctic tour group speaker was only aware of the content of the other three well after boarding and was limited on the adjustments he could do. Les Evans content on Concorde etc was great but that doesn’t appeal to everyone. It needed another non nature speaker. White Night moved from what would have been a perfect night to a shocker such that it had to be indoors because the comedian joined late and they couldn’t ask him to do shows two nights running so his “demands” overtook the overall guest experience The watercolour teacher Jane was fabulous but the ship made impossible demands on her re numbers she had to cope with and venue restrictions- she and especially her glamorous assistant Tom were stars. For a cruise with so many sea days it felt like it had caught them out and they were just churning out cookie cutter day x who cares where we are activities (especially scheduling a 3 hour movie to clash with the peak Antarctic sailing viewing) We still loved the cruise even though we are now stuck in Argentina for another three days but there were some misses and the entertainment and it’s organisation certainly topped the list

No go refused to let transits board. We are stuck in BA until Saturday

Made arrangements for the excursions (but not the cruise balance which is paid already but not transferred to the cruise line ) to be paid. That was all that was needed!

The specialities weren’t busy on Quest at $49.95 other than suite guests or officers/crew on the later time slot when no one was coming. I think it was also affected by their only being one show at 9

We have resolution via a head office contact. They are aware of the issues with the system, particularly for those paying by card when there is still a balance due on their records for the cruise. They have escalated this as part of an IT fix bundle and new procedures will appear once the fix is in place. They fully acknowledge the current process is inadequate

Our problem is we are still just under risk on leg 1 and cancelled in leg 2. We can’t move without Lufthansa help

I’m afraid I have to strike that theory on Quest. Main Dining Room steak was FAR better than Prime C. @Mackdogmolly is absolutely right neither specialty is worth the up charge. We are in a suite but have found Discoveries was a far better experience overall

White Night was moved indoors the announcement came at 1600. The food was laid out on the patio with the tables indoors in windows. The Crepe Suzettes were offered in the Cabaret. We were eating with others and like many we opted to eat in the Main Dining Room. Unlike in previous years the menu (which was published days ahead) was not quite as “special” and unfortunately the execution wasn’t great. The halibut had potential to be memorable and it was but for all the wrong reasons. It was so badly cooked it was like a tough steak. Didn’t send it back, staff were rushed off their feet. Service was slow (inevitably) so we missed the crew wave and decided like many not to go to the Cabaret which was very crowded (to be expected) but relaxed in the Den and had an early night. I am not sure whether it was because of the change of plans or what but I would say wearing of white was only about 75% (I’m counting anything with white or cream in any part in that %). Now for today’s challenge - we are flying home on Lufthansa who go on strike tomorrow. The second leg of our flights is already cancelled but no rebooking offered. This could become interesting!

Yep and that’s not really fair if the offering is supposed to be consistent. The menus on quest are the same old ones so it’s not as if anything “better” is being offered

Perhaps someone should show this to the call centre

Wherever it is it’s not going to be ideal staggering around at a buffet. I think the Cruise Director really hasn’t thought this one through when reacting to a guest entertainer missing a flight. However I’m sure everyone will try to enjoy it