taxjam

Thanks for the review . . .

Bill, Thanks.

Bill,

My wife and I are booked on the February 18, 2014 Quest cruise (LA to Caldera Costa Rica) and have several planning questions relating to Quest's stay in Cabo San Lucas:

1. The "Sailing Itinerary" posted on the website (under "Already Booked/Cruise Calendar") indicates that Quest will arrive in Cabo San Lucas on February 20, 2014 at 7:30PM. We booked the Azamazing Evening which is also scheduled for February 20, 2014 at 7:00PM. The evening requires a tender. I do not think listing 7:30PM is a simple typo (meaning 7:30AM) because the regular land discoveries are not listed for that day and it is about 900 miles. Can you find out the actual time Quest will arrive in Cabo?

2. The "Sailing Itinerary" posted on the website indicates that Quest will depart Cabo San Lucas on February 21, 2014 at 10:00PM. We are planning to do something in Cabo from 3PM to 6PM. Is the 10PM departure time accurate? It seemed odd that all of the ship's excursions left in the morning and none were scheduled for the afternoon?

3. We are also thinking of planning something for 8AM on February 21st. Since all the ship's excursions are scheduled to depart in the morning, we will have an issue trying to get a tender at 7AM?

Thanks in advance for any information you can provide.

Bill,

Looking back my original question was unclear. For planning purposes, I simply wanted to know which day and port would have the Azamazing Evening. I'm sure the place and date is already know. I can wait for the details.

Thanks

Hello Taxjam -

 

I can confirm that there will be AzAmazing Evening events on both of the Azamara Quest voyages. As I've been saying, I'm not able to share more details about the 2014 AzAmazing Evening planned for those two voyages.

 

I've been told we're almost complete with the reformulated 2014 program and that I should be able to share more information with you very soon. When I have specific details about the 2014 AzAmazing Evenings program I will share them with you on this thread.

 

Here's a link to the website's "Find -a-Voyage" tab so that you can review the itinerary times and details: http://www.azamaraclubcruises.com/find-a-voyage

 

Thanks for your patience and best regards,

 

Bill Leiber

__________________

Chief Blogging Officer*

Azamara Club Cruises

(*CBO is an authorized and compensated representative of ACC)

Anyone know the February 18 and March 4th Quest evening ports and dates?

While I know there is no way to please everyone the liquor list is very disappointing. The beer selection is atrocious, two tasteless rice beers and one so-so German lager. The worst is that just one scotch is included and that is Cutty Sark a truly rotgut brand. I was hoping Jameson would be included, since I'm an Irish drinker but I did not expect it to be. Looks like I'll still be paying for my drinks. The wines for the most part have always been enjoyable and the staff has always been accommodating if you found one you really liked. So my feeling is that the wine program is good, but the inclusive liquors are a major disappointment.

Completely agree. The beer selection is disappointing and the scotch is correctly characterized as rotgut.

Host Andy - can you update your listing for subsequent cruises, if available?

We normally use CC Roll Call & do private excursions. On this summer's 21 day Viking Expeditions cruise to the Iceland, Greenland, Faroe Islands, Shetland Islands, Isle of Skye, etc. we had concerns because several of the ports had virtually no tourist infrastructure, cancellation policies if the ship had to skip the port because of conditions (this actually happened with one port, and timing and distance in a couple of ports. So we decided to try Oceania's "YOUR WORLD COLLECTION" À La Carte Excursions for which you get 25% off the selected excursions there is a minimum number you must book. On our cruise we had to book 8 excursions to qualify for the 25% off. Even at 25% off, I wouldn't consider Oceania's excursions a bargain. We spent $1624 for the 8 excursions (16 excursions/slightly over $100 each). What did we think of the excursions? Two were excellent, four were fair/adequate and two were awful. With hindsight, I would book the 2 or 3 really problematic excursions with Oceania at list price and do the rest of the ports as private excursions. However, the 8-pack, as I called it, it was relatively painless involving minimal effort.

We have just booked the Nautica on March 10 Beijing to Rome. Our first Oceania voyage. It would seem that everyone thinks their excursions are too expensive. Nobody has mentioned if they are done well or not. Would appreciate some input. Thank you.

I use private excursions wherever feasible. On our 21 day July 2012 Oceania cruise to Iceland, Greenland, Faroe Islands, Shetland Islands, Dublin, Belfast, Isle of Skye, etc. I did 5 private excursions and 8 ship's excursions because some of the ports had poor tourist infrastructure, concern over delays getting back to port, concern over whether the ship would skip the port and tour operators had a bad cancel policy, and Oceania had a deal if I bought 8 in advance I saved 25%. The results were 2 very good, 4 average, 2 very poor; all overpriced and I would prefer smaller groups.

Motib,

Thanks and good guess (Oceania Nautica)

Ted

In June, we will be in port in Israel for 3 days:

June 20 Ashdod arrive 6AM

June 21 Ashdod depart 8PM

June 22 Haifa arrive 6AM depart 8PM

We would like to see as much as possible but thoroughly experience what we see. We are considering one or two nights off the ship in Jerusalem. What would you recommend we attempt to see and should we stay the night of June 20th in Jerusalem and return to the ship on June 21 doing the north area (Haifa) as an excursion from the ship or alternatively, should we stay 2 nights in Jerusalem and return to the ship in Haifa?

Thanks

Can't believe each installment is better than the last!

Can you tell us the camera and lenses you used?

wonderful. Can't wait for the next installment. We're in the Galapagos and Machu Picchu in February with Celebrity