Benthayer Gonbak

Interesting! I’ve done the Canadian trip to Quebec twice and never had to deal with immigrations although I recall some check in Boston when we returned from a cruise.

Not exactly what you asked but: In May most of Italy was doing antigen tests but using nasopharyngeal swabs it seemed. The top part is flexible and smaller so it can go a bit deeper. While I wasn’t on a B2B the rules for those testing in Rome Italy were in flux for how early the testing could be etc. We boarded in Ravenna and had less confusion than the celebrity cruises were reporting. Ultimately, things change as the country’s protocols change which can seem hourly, and Italy seems to be no exception!

Thats my perception too. Of course the sideways cabins are a whole ‘nother thing!

Although what you’ve said seems accurate, in Barcelona I’m not sure how they would have known when I checked in my bags as the areas seemed separate and disjoint in that there wasn’t any direction to where checkin was.

We did San Marino as a tour from the Silhouette which originated in Venice and then stopped in Ravena. It was on hubby’s bucket list even though the trip was long. I don’t remember it being too winding, at least not for the whole trip. The countryside seemed nice, certain much better than the bus from Venice to Ravena! we found the passport stamp fairly expensive and because we’d have to wait for the to come back from lunch to get it opted out. The lunch prices, of course were different for locals than tourist but we enjoyed a small meal at one of the shops. fwiw, The streets are steep, but there are lots of places to browse if you need to. We even found a different road down. For us, we had a lot of time on our own but I think the guide went almost to the top before setting us free. I do remember wondering about the distance but the trip back seemed shorter.

Loveit!

The Explorer Express is not new, and I’m glad to hear it remains. There also is a concert in the park held I think in July, I think it’s only a week, maybe shorted. The buse run special routes for that evening event.

Crystal had those table that raised, they were nice. They were also glass which was both good and bad.

You could try bold and see it there is enough contrast.

There is a book “Burning Cold” that tells the story of a Ship rescue off the shores of Alaska. It uses the records/logs from the incident. The passengers were picked up from the lifeboats and dropped on a container ship as I recall. Interesting read of the problems of rescues in bad weather.

Thanks. I remember Le Voyage parties up there and the band, but that was before the Living room, it seemed easier to maneuver around back then.

Actually no. I guess I didn’t spend much time in the living room in the 60 days we were onboard. Is it always/only certain times?

We’ve been in both oceanview and balcony cabins, although perhaps more in oceanview now. The regular rooms always felt small as we entered, I had a walker at the time which was tight with the door open, but then they opened up. I remember being able to easily walk past the foot of the bed where on celebrity that passage was tight. A room 1x200 is unusable even with the larger square footage which is to say that sq Ft can be deceiving. I hated the sideways cabin because it was difficult to maneuver in, but then we were in port nearly every day! I’ve only had one meal, a desert, that I sent back as inedible on Azamara. It was a pineapple upside down cake that was dry! I still marvel at how that was even possible. I’ve had it since and it was nice.

Our TA called on a Saturday and got right through, shocked him for sure! Normally 2-4 hours. Right now they seem to be due more than their commissions!

Ive seen notices that mention Jewish services being passenger led. I assumed that was because there were no clergy onboard.

Be careful with shuttle services, we missed a flight due to a late inbound flight and were told since we didn’t cancel 24 hours in advances! I gave them both flights but they said they only track the latter flight, not the connections.

I hear you, I can’t afford to get long COVID. Please note that some of the events are in indoor theaters too. On some of the regular tours, early on, there was an attempt to keep assigned seats on other cruise lines. The buses we were on in May, not Azamara, were mostly masked as that was what was required indoors by the originating port. I consider sitting near opening windows when things seem iffy. Last account I had Azamara was still fully vaxed.

When we travelled on Azamara everyone needed a full visa. Several people had letters from the consulate saying otherwise, India’s immigration denied them entry! At that time the visa were for one entry only but we were given an extra card that we carried and then turned in after the second port. It’s good to hear that things may be getting easier.

My reaction was to ask how yelling changed the settings on the toaster that could have been set to bagel! I like your solution better!

Interesting. There are a couple of states in the US that allow parents to give their children alcohol in a restaurant. I can’t believe anyone would think that was appropriate international regardless of whether European children drink wine/beer or not! Glad to hear there are something’s that are being enforced!

There are several countries, or were where you could enter the country without a test but had to be tested to cruise. In May Italy was one of those and they also required they ship require masks indoors even though all but the largest venue, think sports event, no longer required masking indoors.

Im worried about long COVID too. It isn’t clear to me that there won’t be testing because some of our ports at least mention COVID restrictions. if you haven’t been on a full Azamara ship it often feels like it really isn’t that full. Yes the buffet can feel crowded when everyone comes back from a tour but I really don’t recall lines except boarding after an Azamazing evening. In fact I’m not used to see other people in the elevator with me, but I’m sure that depends on the cruise. Take care of yourself, for sure!

If that happens here I may have to upgrade to a data plan! Right now I’m home mostly and I just use wifi for data, unfortunately dsl.

I have seen too many negative pressure rooms in government building that leaked cigarette smoke too. However, it seemed Crystal might have perfected it. Either that or there was never anyone in the lounge. From the deck map it was pretty close that I expected to be, but I totally forgot to notice! And yes, I can normally detect smoke in peoples clothing etc when they enter a room.

I worked on legacy systems for Y2K! I remember a couple of junior staff asking why some code looked like it did. They were clearly system down on the fly patches. I knew one of the coders who had written a lot of the code and although I wasn’t always impressed with his approach even he didn’t write that crappy of code except as a quick patch. I was impressed with the care being given to just fixing the data for the cruise and then fixing the code where needed. Some of the problems occurred for B2Bers, others because of club status.