Azamarajunkie

Current position on Cruise Mapper also shows it at Sardinia. Can only find it now searching as Azamara Onward. 

And another of Azamara’s competitors, Seabourn has just announced 7 day sailings from Athens from 3rd. July... and they can be combined as B2B’s. Greece islands are going to be busy this summer!

Still  waiting for AZ to confirm or cancel our  2 July cruises that were lift and shifted from last year!

I’d like to see a return to the original itineraries around the Indonesian islands without the need to start or finish in Australia, we had some lovely trips around this area on Az which started in Singapore and was either round trip or finished in India via Sri Lanka. 
 

An intensive Hawaii Islands would also be nice without the long trip from Los Angeles.  

As we are both in the over 65 category, we were called for our vaccination this week, both had the Pfizer vaccine at our local vaccination centre 11 miles from home. We were given the date for our second jab at the end of April. Neither of us have had any symptoms fortunately. 

In Corfu we’ve hired cars and driven around the island, lots of nice old villages and sights to see  provided you don’t mind narrow roads and bends. Like most of Greece and its islands, there is always a lot of interest off the beaten track.

the Monastery of Pantokrator is a must visit place for a fantastic view of the island, although the drive up there is not for the faint hearted!

4 hours ago, notamermaid said:

Hello Azamarajunkie,

 

My heart bleeds as at this time of year I am usually in the Garden of England.

 

But to your case. I regard this as a special one as TUI are only launching their river cruising business, i.e. the first sailings, in November - after a postponement of several months. I was a bit surprised about the date but now I get that this a good way to cash in on the busy "British people to German Christmas markets travelling season".

 

The way things stand at the moment my gut feeling is that they will not cancel. Question for you is whether to wait and let them come to you or you contact them before final payment is due if you prefer not to go. Thankfully you can consult ABTA with any problem.

 

Would like to hear how your "case" progresses. Do keep us posted.

 

For an uncrowded beach (relatively) I recommend Seasalter with views of the Isle of Sheppey (shingles, not sand). Avoid Whitstable (full of Londoners these days). Or go to the desert, i.e. Dungeness. What a weird place!

 

notamermaid

 

thank you for your kind words, this was planned to be a celebration river cruise with a couple of good friends, so we will hang on for a while. All our other cruises (Ocean) have been shifted to next year and are keeping our fingers crossed that a vaccination is successful before next summer.

we are off to the lovely and quiet seaside tomorrow for a family beach day at Greatstone, near the Dungeness desert. 

On 8/3/2020 at 7:36 PM, thptrek said:

We have Christmas market cruise for late November and are expecting it to be cancelled soon.

we too are booked on a Christmas market cruise on Nov 26th with Tui. Like you we awaiting it’s cancellation as final payment is due soon.

25 minutes ago, john1970 said:

I'm hoping the next suspension comes before the final balance is due. I can then get my deposit back as my lift and shift options are very uninspiring. We are booked on the October 3rd cruise from Athens.

We have cancelled our 3rd October from Athens and moved our deposit to the Greece intensive next year which now makes our Black Sea cruise a back to back.....eek!  Will miss the Journey but looking forward to 26 days on the Pursuit 

56 minutes ago, nordski said:

I really hope it all works out for you.

 

We noticed that some upcoming Azamara itineraries are listing a stop in Nafplion,

 

If the pandemic relents, we are planning a return to that town after so many years, 

Thanks Nordski, would be nice if we do get there even if the cruise doesn’t go ahead, we’re booked into the Grand Bretagne in Napflion, lovely interesting place.

2 hours ago, nordski said:

You’ve just described our honeymoon in 1970. It also included a drive around the Peloponnesus and a visit to Delphi.

 

Of course, it was significantly cheaper then, there were far fewer tourists, they were of a very different demography, and there was no Internet to help with planning. In fact, it’s hard to remember how we pulled the whole thing off.
 

And the cruise from Athens to Crete was significantly less enjoyable than sailing on Azamara. 😄

 

Overall, there were some real advantages to being significantly poorer and very younger.
 

And we still marvel at the uncrowded sites and hotels. 
 

It was, indeed, an “excellent holiday”.
 

Sorry for this pandemic-inspired nostalgia.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Totally agree with you Nordski, we spent two weeks last year touring the Peloponnese, it was glorious and at the end of the summer season very quiet. Before the dreaded ‘C’ word we planned a further week there this year prior to joining the Journey in Athens on 3rd October. We still have the hotels and flights booked for that holiday, just waiting to see what happens to the cruise when our extended final payment become due in a months time  before we pull the plug.

All I can say is RCCL management must be living in ‘cloud cuckoo land’ 

We have successfully applied this to our Black Sea cruise, all done very efficiently through our TA and we are now going next year, for the same price with only a small adjustment in Port charges. Same category cabin, great service, all we need now is that vaccine! 
 

Do however suspect the flights next year won’t be as cheap When they are released.

19 hours ago, excitedofharpenden said:

Just a note that Spectrum of the Seas appears to have picked up some of the Journey crew and is heading ultimately to Manila, so some (or all) of the Filipinos are going home. Ovation is in the area too, but I do not know what is happening there. At least some are going to see family. 

 

Phil 

Michelle has just posted on FB that she and others are transferring to the Ovation, hopefully travelling home soon.

1 hour ago, uktog said:

We certainly did not have that good fortune last year.  I would not buy tickets through Azamara - the premium was 300% and the only "add on" was the guide who walked us to the grandstand, which given that we were following all the rest of the race goers wasn't really an added value, there was no way you would get lost.  As the tickets were randomly allocated to guests when we collected them, you had no control over where you were sitting, so buying direct is the way to go.

Agree, always bought them direct beforehand, that way you can choose which Grandstand and much much cheaper than AZ. 

We’ve both finished it, did feel a bit guilty about one of the last questions about what are you looking forward to and I answered ‘Our Seabourn cruise in 2021 around the Caribbean’!   

Anyone in the UK received the email yet?  

10 minutes ago, Werangels said:

Good point.  I don’t drink much alcohol at all so just having very sweet ice slush drinks, coke and lemonade I think is very poor and I don’t want to drink sugary drinks incessantly.  A seedlip grove 42 with a Mediterranean tonic would be a wonderful pre or post dinner tipple.  Just as some decent non-alcoholic wine would be nice.  
 

I would happily pay for a package and it would increase my enjoyment of my holiday.

agree wholeheartedly, although my own preference would be for Seedlip Spice 94. Currently my go to tipple for post Christmas. 

Thanks for  sharing Phil, looks good, now what about the puddings?

We had to use shekels for entrance fees at Masada and Ein Gedi on our visit to Israel although our private tour guide accepted USD.the rest of the cruise we used Euro, USD and credit cards. 

Azamara does well in the recent Which? Survey of best and worst cruise lines. 
 

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/travel_news/article-7925157/Best-worst-cruise-lines-2020-revealed-Viking-Ocean-Cruises-MSC-bottom.html

Absolutely no need to tip on Azamara, the best way to reward the crew is to contribute  to the crew fund which is always appreciated

A more appreciated way of recognising good service is to mention the crew members name on both the mid and post cruise surveys. .

I have always thought the tip line on the speciality bills is a ‘Feature’ of the accounting system they use which has not been relevant for a long time.   Similarly I cannot understand why some people insist tipping bar tenders etc at the beginning of cruises on Azamara expecting better service during the cruise when excellent service is always the norm, especially as it is not expected or required. 
 

I suspect this may open a can of worms!

Thankyou Phil and Harriet, I wasn’t aware of the 72 hour visa rule in Russia for cruise passengers, it’s a new destination for us.  Planning continues for this cruise as all the ports in the Black Sea are new to us, and are still awaiting Azamara to provide details of interesting land tours. 

We are on the first Black Sea cruise next year in July and have been mulling over whether we need any visas in advance, particularly for Russia when we dock in Sochi. I know a number of CC members went on the previous cruises there before the troubles in Ukraine happened and wonder if the ship handled any visas required. This is also a question for Bonnie. 

We are planning to hire a car for a day when our cruise overnights in Athens next year, has anyone had a car delivered to the cruise terminal in Piraeus Port Gate 11.