TxnAquarian

1 hour ago, RichYak said:

I've read reports that on recent Edge cruises, Eden Cafe has been closed for the entire sailing.

Yes, the Eden Cafe and Le Grand Bistro were both closed on our sailing. 

I just finished up my 10th Celebrity cruise - my first on E Class. This was the 8-day Italy, France and Spain cruise out of Rome. I think we are Celebrity’s target market - early - mid 40s, double income, no kids, travel internationally for pleasure several times a year. Celebrity as a brand works perfectly for us. Just to summarize my thoughts: this was a wonderful trip, as usual. The Edge is an absolutely beautiful ship. I love how modern it is and love the cool vibe. However, would I return to an E Class ship? Probably not, unless it was offering an incredible itinerary. 
 

Cons:

- Absolutely hated the infinite veranda. It was basically just a room with floor to ceiling windows. Really poorly-done design idea by Celebrity. We only sail Aqua Class, so this totally didn’t work for us.

- Didn’t like the Martini Bar location. We really missed the small, intimate ones on the older ships. It took away the appeal having it in the center of this cavernous atrium. 

- Noise everywhere. Whether we were at the pool or eating dinner at Eden or the steakhouse, there was constant noise and live bands. The noise volume at the steakhouse was especially obtrusive. This is addition to the hammering that went on outside our room from from 8am - 5pm on several days. Aside from that, opening and closing the ”veranda” was noisy and we could everyone else opening and closing theirs. The ship never felt relaxing.

- We didn’t like the unisex saunas and steam rooms. Really missed having a more private one in the men’s locker room.

- Location of Blu wasn’t ideal. It felt dreary in there; especially as there was not a good view, so the curtains were always drawn. We would’ve much rather looked at the deck and had some outside exposure.

Pros:

- Staff were the absolute best I’ve ever had! From day one, they couldn’t do enough for us. It felt like a luxury cruise with staff who were incredibly guest-focused. Amazing  job! The ship was only half full, but I have no doubt their level of professionalism is the same regardless. 

- The design of the ship is gorgeous in the public areas. Around every corner was another cool design feature. I also loved the QUIET and chill music piped in around the ship.
 

- Our bathroom was wonderful! It was right up there with ones we’ve had on much more high-end ships. Loved the shower so much and the CO Bigelow products (although I assume these products are on all ships).
 

- Eden dinner was incredible! Aside from the noise volume from the live band, the service was flawless and each course we ate was perfect. I would’ve booked it again if it had been a longer cruise.

I know we don’t all look for the same things in a cruise. We had a great time! I’m sure some people are sold on sailing E Class now, but for us, the M and S Class are our ships.

This was our first post-pandemic cruise and it was amazing being back!

Michael

On 9/13/2022 at 7:18 AM, florisdekort said:

I’m booked for 270 nights on a  competing cruise line between today and end 2024 and every single one of those sailings is more interesting than Azamara’s 2024 itineraries - sadly, as they remain one of my favorite lines. Many small ports, overnight stays and 11 pm departures - once Azamara’s unique selling point. And no, I don’t think “the state of the world” is a valid argument, the vast majority of countries is already open, and 2024 is still a year and a half away. 
 

Totally agreed! I have not one booking with Azamara, because the itineraries are so dull and repetitive. They like to say that they focus on destination immersion and finding off-the-beaten-path ports, but they really don't anymore. Same ports year after year. It's too bad, because Azamara has always been a lovely and comfy product. Now my bookings are with Silversea and Seabourn because the itineraries and ports are so much more varied. I am truly spoiled looking through some of their 2024 itineraries with many ports I've never been to, late nights and overnights. Even Oceania is adding new ports in Alaska, and that's rarely done. 

Michael

I'm in Mykonos often and I'd recommend booking a private transfer. Taxis are not very available and Uber isn't on the island. I feel like taking the bus takes away from the fun of a quick beach day. I use this transfer company and recommend them. They can do a large van for a group of 7.

https://luxurytransfersmykonos.com/?_gl=1*1hysmoo*_up*MQ..&gclid=CjwKCAjwquWVBhBrEiwAt1Kmwsj0XgzlqGuzTNd14z3sSWFOX5fcHqgMEaseKNTbz-OpJ4wTJ5s5pBoCrDYQAvD_BwE

Little Venice is accessible from the pier if you tender. If you dock, you'll have to take a shuttle from the port. 

Michael

Thank you so much for all of the wonderful feedback! I am not crazy about the idea of this infinite veranda, but I do like Aqua Class and Blu. All of these photos are so helpful to give me an idea of room types on the Edge Class. 

I just made final payment on my Edge cruise - my first cruise since before the pandemic! I have been watching a lot of videos on the rooms and looking at the deck plans, but I can't figure out if every veranda room is an infinite veranda. We are in an A1 Aqua Class. Are there any traditional verandas on this ship or are they all infinite? I'm not sure I'm crazy about the design and I prefer using my veranda to sun instead of going to outside decks. Do you all like this new design?

Michael

I live right by the pier where Regatta docks and I also work at the airport (I'm a flight attendant), so I do that trip a couple times a week. You can easily make it to the airport by 9:00am (it looks like the Regatta disembarks around 8am). There's rarely much traffic going that direction in the mornings, except for a little congestion when the freeway merges....but you are talking about Seattle during peak summer season. The airport will probably be exteremly busy. I would really suggest changing to a flight after 12noon, if you can. It'll allow you to relax and not feel rushed. SEA is not an efficient airport and the lines can be very long.

51 minutes ago, clojacks said:

If your airline is working you 16 hours a day, everyday, it might be time for a change of lines. I'm sure you are exaggerating a little, but regardless of how often you work, and what you folks have had to endure from immature, unruly passengers, I'm pleased to hear you will respect any mandates. I have to admit, seeing the few reports of Pilots coming out of the cockpit to make mandate removal announcements, left me somewhat disappointed, as I don't believe the CDC, TSA, WHO, or whoever was involved, enjoy implementing them , but I fully believe they were doing it for what they felt was the good of all of us. To see Pilots basically lead the passengers in cheers, was insensitive to those that would have not been here without mask mandates and other mitigation measures. 

My flying time is more like 12-13 hours, but I'm speaking of time in the airport before flight, time between flights and transport to the hotels and mask wearing to the hotel and my room. It's a sweaty mess. And I am happy not to have to speak to 60 year old men anymore, as if they are a 5-year old, when they start screaming at me because I ask them to wear a mask. It's made  an enjoyable job completely miserable. I have been a huge supporter of mask wearing and vaccines, but we've reached the point that we need to get back to some semblance of normalcy. And, again, we all need to respect each other's mask-wearing or non-wearing at this point.

1 hour ago, Julma said:

The airlines still have the choice to keep the mandate in place and most chose not to, so they must feel it's the right thing.  I wonder if flight attendants will still be masked?

I'm a flight attendant who was working when the mandate ended, and as soon as we got the email that masks are no longer required, we all took them off. We were so giddy with excitement!   I miss smiling at my passengers and having that personal interaction. And I've been so tired of wearing it everyday, 16 hours a day, for two years. I, of course, will respect any mask requirements when I travel. And we all need to respect each other's choices. 

I just flew back from Rome this morning. The cruise port is about a 40 minute drive, but I’d allow at least an hour in case there’s traffic.

The process at Rome airport takes a bit longer now, if you’re flying to the US. They check your boarding pass outside before you can enter the terminal. Once inside, there is a long line for them to check your passport and vaccine card. Once you get through security you, of course, have you to go through passport check and then (oftentimes) a train ride to the US departure gates. I wouldn’t book any flights until afternoon time. It’s well-organized, but just busy.

21 minutes ago, Stumblefoot said:

I'm curious how many folks here think including "free" excursions in every port is a good idea. 

 

Personally, we don't like it.  Included excursions is one of the reasons we never cruise with Regent since we don't like paying for services we don't utilize.  At least with "included" air, we can always get a credit back for declining the inclusion.  I assume that will not be the case with excursions, unfortunately.

I’m really disappointed by this decision. I can totally understand that SS wants to find as much revenue as possible, but, depending on what the pricing looks like, this might be out of my league. I stopped sailing Regent in 2016 because the prices got too steep. And I find it silly to offer these ”included“ excursions, because I have never done an excursion in my life. Looks I’ll be sticking to Seabourn and Oceania - not that SS will miss me 😂 

We did this itinerary Christmas/NYE 2018. Your itinerary is almost identical to the one we did. It is a wonderful cruise!

Perth is a lovely city. Plenty to do for a couple of nights. There is a lovely waterfront and great restaurants right in the city. Look to see if they will hold the holiday show in the park while you are there. We were there over the same dates as you, and it was really wonderful to be outside in the park with the holiday music. Also, try to tour the prison in Fremantle, where the ship docks.

Albany is a small town and easy to walk. We didn't do anything special other than wander the town and visit shops.

In Adelaide, you will want to take the train from the cruise port into the city. It was SCORCHING hot the day we were there. Plenty to do in the city. No shortage of food and shops. They also held our Azamazing Evening in Adelaide, which was a performance by a known Australian pop singer. It was held in a beautiful venue, but it was nothing amazing. Worth it just to see the venue to have a nice evening with other passengers.

Kangaroo Island was incredible! We booked an island tour through the ship. Fantastic guide and incredible wildlife. We saw plenty of koalas and kangaroos out in the wild. We were able to get fairly close to the koalas that were in the trees. We also toured the coast and some of my favorite travel photos are from this day. I don't know how the wildlife situation has changed since the fires. It varied from warm to cold, depending on where we were on the island.

In Sydney, you'll dock at White Bay, which requires a bus ride to the city. Plenty to do in Sydney, obviously. Darling Harbor is right across the harbor from where the ship docks, which we did for dinner one evening. We did a NYE event through Azamara - dinner and fireworks viewing from the zoo. It was incredibly expensive. We liked it, but a lot of people complained about it. Do plenty of research about what options are available for NYE and do price comparisons. I don't know what Azamara will offer through the cruise line for 2021, but keep an eye on the cruise line pricing vs independent booking. Do your homework for this one!

The other ports, we didn't visit, as our cruise did Tasmania instead. 

Have an amazing time!!

As others have said, I think Alaska is oversaturated and AZ really needed to come up with more enticing itineraries with out-of-the-way ports. I was excited when AZ announced they were heading to Alaska, but the itineraries were exactly the same as any other cruise. Even the overnight in Seattle on July 3-4 doesn't stay late enough for fireworks. There was just nothing special that AZ added to the Alaska season and I think a lot of people, like me, didn't bother booking with them.

Michael

On 1/1/2019 at 2:11 PM, richb823 said:

We are also on board, to be fair the view from the ship was much better than we expected, we had considered various options but in the end were really glad that we stayed on board.

I can’t imagine that we will ever experience a better firework display than what we saw, did London a few years ago and Sydney was so much better!

 

As regards the zoo trip.....I will leave that for someone who attended to comment on how it worked out in the end., all I can say for certain was that there were 16 people out of 60 that attended that demanded to be brought back early due to the poor facilities, we saw some of them at around 11pm just after they had returned and to say a few were furious wouldn’t be an exaggeration.

 

I should also add, overall this has been an absolutely fabulous cruise, great mix of people, superb service and a great itinerary, and we still have 4 days to go!

 

We were on this cruise and went on the evening excursion to the Tauranga Zoo. We had a lovely time. The venue was quite nice and the dinner was lovely. We had views of the whole harbor, although it was a bit far, and looks as if the views from the ship would've been a bit more impressive. Yes, there were a group of people on this excursion who demanded to be driven back to the ship early, and these same people carried on for days about what a nightmare the evening was. I finally confronted one of them outside The Living Room and told them they should be more thankful for being able to be in Sydney and have this wonderful trip. This ship had a very entitled, complain-prone contingent and nothing annoys me more than people on an expensive trip, complaining about everything that they can think of. It was a great cruise and we enjoyed our two nights in Sydney very much.

On 1/1/2019 at 2:11 PM, richb823 said:

 

I have been in communication with the Azamara escalations team, to no avail.

Their “catch cry” response is we reserve the right to alter the itinerary and ports accordingly, and no compensation will be offered at this stage. Apparently the change to this itinerary was initially communicated 24th July, but just not emailed to their passengers.

The NSW port authority has had the ship docked at White Bay all along, so I feel this runs contrary to how the cruise was marketed, from being “right in the middle of the harbour” to “find your own vantage point on shore”.

Only received an email advising of White Bay docking last week, unfortunately maximising any monies lost should I choose to cancel, as the final balance was paid four weeks ago. This is an underhanded questionable practice. I for one will not be paying $1500 a head, for a dinner at the Taronga Zoo on New Year’s Eve which Azamara are now offering. It’s a disgrace.

 

 

I just booked the Taronga Zoo excursion. I’m looking forward to at least having this as an option, as I don’t feel like trying to book something myself. I’m not going to ruin my mood by complaining about things that could’ve been. I’m going to enjoy what is available. Too many people on here create chaos when things don’t go their way. Yes, I’m disappointed that Azamara pulled the rug out from the initial marketing campaign, but life is short and I’m still going to enjoy myself immensely.

 

 

Michael

Like!

Double like! 😂

Valletta Malta is very walkable. It's an incredible sail-in/out and a lovely town. Since you have an overnight, you might even want to add in a visit to the Blue Grotto after touring the town. It's all very easily done on your own.

As a previous person said, renting a car and doing your own drive in Amalfi is risky, with bad traffic. Amalfi is easily seen in one day and you don't need to venture far. If the cruise offers a tour to Pompei or Sorrento, those are interesting options as well.

Sete France is easily done on your own. Seabourn will shuttle you to town and the town is small and easily seen in a few hours. I recommend going to a street market and visiting one of the bakeries in town. It's lovely.

Michael

Just checking to see if anyone is on this cruise! =)

I am a male married to a male. I plan , book and pay for all of our cruises. Yet, everything we get is addressed to him. I have never gotten one mailer. Even onboard, he is listed first on any mailers we get. So, I can assure everyone that Seabourn is not chauvinistic lol

Michael

I just booked this short 7-day cruise to try Oceania out. This will be my first solo cruise! Anyone else going to be onboard? I'm looking forward to a new ship for me.

Michael

I am on my first Seabourn cruise since I was on the Pride’s inaugural season when I was 12 years old! All I can say is that this ship is absolutely gorgeous! It’s been a great cruise, and of course, I am sad that the time is almost here to disembark.

First though, let me get the negative out of the way. I am in Rm 843 and this has to be the worst location of any room on any ship in 50 cruises that I have had. It is right under the pool deck bar and right next to the staff staircase or storage. It is constant scraping, rolling, banging and bumping from 5am until 11pm or later, if there is a deck event. I spend a lot of time in the room and this has been awful. I’ve stayed under many pools, and never had a problem, but this is torturous. It’s shocking that a brand new ship isn’t better soundproofed.

Aside from this, the room is absolutely gorgeous and the best of any basic veranda rooms I’ve had on any ship. The decor and linens epitomize luxury. The bathroom is stunning. And I love the selection of amenities and soaps. I don’t want to leave (except for the noise lol). This room beats anything I’ve had on Crystal, Regent or Silversea.

The service has, generally, been flawless. There are a couple of grumps, but I have an amazing stewardess and the restaurant staff don’t leave your glass empty. Constant refills and attention. I’ve had some lovely surprises, like staff handing out frozen fruit skewers on the pool deck, and strawberries and cream with cognac, placed in my room.

The Colonnade has been my go-to for amazing lunches and dinners. The Moroccan dinner they did the night we sailed from Tangier remains my best experience in recent memory. I did The Grill once, which was excellent, although it’s best-suited for couples or groups. I am traveling alone. I haven’t done the MDR.

I wish Seabourn had longer port days. Having to rush back on by 5:30 in Tangier or 4:30 in Malaga is a shame. This is why Azamara remains my go-to line. Speaking of ports, each one has been wonderful in its own way. It’s been a steady stream of marquee ports that really need more than one day to explore. I also love how Seabourn sails from the World Trade Cruise port in Barcelona - it’s such a relaxing place to board.

I don’t know if it’s just this cruise, but the ship is a ghost town past 8pm. There is no one in sight. At least this way, I’m getting a lot of reading done - which I love Seabourn Square for.

Seabourn really outdid themselves with this gorgeous ship. I’ll definitely be back!

Michael

I guess all things are relative, but I think 14 nights is a short cruise. If I wanted a shorter holiday to SEAsia, I would fly.

I do a lot of 10 & 11 days cruises, as I have a job and dog and responsibilities. I appreciate the fact that Azamara offers a variety of itineraries. If all Azamara offered were long cruises, I’d never be able to sail.

Michael

That just adds to whatever confusion is taking place when people try to show up early. Maybe booking a day room at a hotel would’ve been a better option, and then Azamara could clear the disembarking passengers first 🤷🏻*♂️

Michael

UPDATE: Just checked and saw that our room was assigned today! V6 Suite 843

We're ready to go!

Michael

Thanks for all of the feedback! Location doesn't really matter to us, all that much, although it's nice having a room assignment prior to boarding day lol We have 11 days until the cruise, so I'll keep checking the website ;)

Michael