wjfan417

16 minutes ago, cruisinclined said:

This has probably featured in previous discussions but is imminent for us. A few days in Seville are part of an upcoming cruise. A long awaited and anticipated visit to Seville and we hope for very warm but not severe temperatures in early June - depends on our luck! Could be 35C we have heard.

We hear that there is a 20/30 min walk from the ship to the centre and ask, for older passengers, whether that is doable both ways or do we consider taxi travel?

We walk an hour plus a day in temperate climes but Seville will doubtless be more of a challenge. Is it flat or uphill?

We appreciate the key things to visit but are interested in your experience and any tips plus any less well known locations you recommend.

Any lunch tips? We tend to eat lightly lunchtime but like Spanish food.

Plus other things you think we ought to hear about.

Looking forward to your advice.

 

Seville is pretty flat and easy to walk. Both times we’ve been there, either my husband or I had some foot issues but didn’t have any problems there. We walked to the Alcazar and cathedral, as well as the park with the beautiful tiles.

Is there any way to see the exterior of the monasteries without the hike up and down (can you wait at the bottom while the rest of the tour goes up)? Looks beautiful but unfortunately both my husband and I have developed some foot issues and wouldn’t be able to do the climb.

Every time I’ve tried to reset my password, I get a response saying I’m not authorized to view that site. I finally set up my husband’s new password today. All of our cruises are showing, all of our balances are correct, and our account numbers are the same. It does show my husband has moved up a level with an extra 2000 points than he actually has. We’re also missing a bunch of onboard credit. Since our next cruise isn’t until mid-July, I’ll try again in a couple weeks.

Good arrival timing. We’ve done that cruise twice and have had to get up in the middle of the night both times to see that. Seville is beautiful and very easy to get around on your own.

8 minutes ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

I only received this email (not the one that asks me to set up a new account):

Neither my husband or I have received either email!

13 minutes ago, cruisinclined said:

For our booked June '23 cruise on Journey we looked through the excursions and there appeared the 0 cost evening in the city of Valencia. The second night of the cruise.

Probably not information that is available before booking?

A similar question applies to the White Night and we will wait to be on board before knowing when that is being held.

Having said the above we are relaxed about these dates and just go with the flow.

I suppose if you are planning the booking of a full day, riguorous excursion that returns late then knowing such dates beforehand makes sense.

It’s probably the Hemisferic show in Valencia which we attended as the AzAmazing Evening in 2019. It’s a great acrobatic show. You will need to register in advance. You won’t know when White Night is until you’re on the ship (it will be a night when you’re in port late or overnight). It can also change because of weather.

13 hours ago, crusinbanjo said:

We are with AMA Waterway.  We looked at Viking, and wanted to go with them, but they were sold out until way into 2024.

Love AMA-we’ve been on 4 of their river cruises including Vietnam and Cambodia with a land package.

11 hours ago, luv2travel90266 said:

Rome is 2 hours away by bus so not much time there. I'm on a cruise before you and found tarquinia-tuscania-shore-excursion . Rome is great but just a few hours doesn't leave time to see much. 

Interesting-the link takes you to a page that looks exactly like the Spain Day Tours website. I wonder if the companies are related. I’m going to see what they offer for our ports in October because I’ve seen enough of Rome and Florence for awhile.

2 hours ago, Travellingbeaver said:

We are doing a b2b departing Lisbon 19 Sept, through civitavecchia and on to Choggia disembarking 7 Oct.

wondering if anyone else is doing the same and if so, how you might be planning to spend the day in Civitavecchia. We would love to spend the day in Rome but because it is a changeover port, there doesn’t seem to be any excursion plans for people doing b2b cruise through here. 

Did you check the roll call for that cruise to see if anyone has organized an excursion that day? We’ve taken a train to Rome from Civitavecchia on a previous cruise and were able to see quite a bit before taking the train back.

That link is also showing our September cruise docking in Villefranche.

We stayed at El Palace pre-cruise when we were there in 2019. I loved the area, but looking for something a little less expensive this September. I’ll take a look at some of these suggestions.

24 minutes ago, Backbord said:

Good morning al! Just wondering when and where the meet & mingle party will take place. I can't find any information on that. Thanks!

It will be listed in the daily Insider. On the 4 cruises we took last year, they were on Embarkation Day.

32 minutes ago, the_dylaness said:

 

Azamara Pursuit, Sept 25 Barcelona to Venice.

We’re on that cruise also. I added the cruise to our Croatia Intensive because of the Four Sisters Meet AzAMazing Evening. Disappointed at the change but we had 4 excellent on board AzAMazing Evenings last year so I’m sure we’ll enjoy.

2 hours ago, lisiamc said:

I totally agree with you! Some of the independent excursions in some ports are 8-9 hours, to a place 2 hours away by coach. I always suspect that there is something charming to see or fun to do much nearer the port. (With a few exceptions, of course. Some of the ports are near enough to bucket list attractions to be tempting.) About 5 hours into a tour, I can feel the will to live draining away through the soles of my shoes, (especially if part of the tour is a guided visit to a museum 😄) and I’m ready to head back to the ship.

Our first Mediterranean cruise in the 1990’s was a last minute replacement for a barge trip in the Carmarque  which was cancelled at the last minute due to plumbing issues and a subsequent train trip to Italy. Since we already had rail passes, we took trains to Florence and Rome instead of shore excursions. We hadn’t been to either and could see what we wanted on our own schedule.

55 minutes ago, wjfan417 said:

We did the French and Italian Chef’s Tables last fall and both were very good? Agree with the above post that the wines were much better quality.

Tried to edit to change the question mark to an exclamation point, but it didn’t give me that option. Both were very good-no question about it!

We did the French and Italian Chef’s Tables last fall and both were very good? Agree with the above post that the wines were much better quality.

There is a roll call for this cruise that might answer your question or you might get a better response if you post there. There is a link at the top if the Azamara page for roll calls. Enter your ship and travel month.

I’ve brought a case from Oregon in the VinGardeValise and it was just under 50 pounds. I just bought an 8 bottle case during their recent sale to use for Europe.

10 hours ago, Turangi! said:

Azers,

 

In the old days, as a Loyalty perk you could bid to upgrade for a straight $400… we had a  Deck 6  Obstructed Oceanview… tiniest cabin (insides are bigger) with a view of the underbelly of the lifeboat… there are a few of the obstructed 6s that you can see ocean between the lifeboats…choose wisely… luckily the loyalty upgrade for us came through, but we knew what we were paying for and were amazed we got upgraded!  Now with the new system,    staight bidding and my unlucky karma, we book the cabin we want… waited for the Inside for Balcony annual offering deal which is a more expensive inside price (smoke and mirrors) as compared to the rest of the year price…  but a cheaper Balcony than usual promo for our next cruise to Norway…  so if you ever book a Oceanview make sure you get a full sized one and not the Obstructed ‘skinny’ cabins on Deck 6!

 

Study the AZ deck plans…  it makes a big difference in what you choose… Friends had an inside on an upper deck…it was lovely, but I am spoiled and like natural daylight  and not a Bat Cave!

 

Turangi!

On our first Azamara cruise in 2012, we took our adult children with us and booked an inside cabin for them and an outside cabin for us. The inside cabin was extremely dark! I’ll never book an inside cabin based on that experience.
 

6 minutes ago, lisiamc said:

I may be mistaken, but I think I’ve eaten more than one very late lunch at the Patio Grill, at 3.30 or 4 pm. Maybe someone on board has a daily sheet with food hours?

The dining schedule above shows the Patio open for lunch from noon until 5 p.m. which is what I remembered from our fall cruises. I’d go up in the late afternoon looking for the dinner menu and they were still serving lunch.

We never used our 2 free nights-booked a cruise with it but when there was a special offer that was much lower I gave up the “free nights” and rebooked at the lower fare. I am using my 4 nights on a 7 night Croatia  Intensive in the fall. I also booked on board so we received that discount as well as $150 per person OBC. I added the previous cruise too, so we also have the B2B discount. I keep monitoring the cost and so far the free nights are working out. On a previous thread on the free night topic, someone said it is best to use them on a 7 day cruise or a Norway Intensive which doesn’t get discounted often.

1 hour ago, maggie777 said:

We will embark in Chioggia in Oct. What is your plan to go from Venice airport to Chioggia?

You might want to check with your travel agent or Azamara to see if they are offering cruise only airport transfers. 

We were on 3 cruises in the late summer and they were offering shuttles then. Unfortunately, we didn’t go to Valencia on any of those cruises so can’t answer that question.

5 hours ago, Grandma Cruising said:

I noticed the inconsistencies in points - same route in the same type of cabin in different years gives 2 points and 51 points. However I do remember that at some time the points system changed altogether, tho’ I can’t remember how or exactly when.

I have 1 point for my first cruise in 2012!

I normally carry a spray bottle of wrinkle remover when I travel (well sealed in a couple plastic bags in case of leaks).