kaymoz

Back to the dressing-up issue again....so often we've heard the dress code on a ship is something along the lines of 'smart casual' (I think Azamara uses the terms friendly & sophisticated 🙂). But then once we are on the ship, we've often been informed that a certain evening will be "Captain's Night" or the like, with the implication that passengers are to make more of an effort to dress up on those occasions, and it seems that many do. Does this happen on Azamara? Just want to make sure we are prepared!

UPDATE: In my investigations, I was unable to identify any bag storage near the Dublin port for that day (even phoned P&O since they have a location there). I even asked my TA to inquire with Az about it since she was going to call them anyway with another question. The answer was No Storage for Luggage at Dublin. I think we'll just have to carry the stuff with us on the tour vehicle, limiting the numbers accordingly. That is, assuming anyone else would be interested in going to Newgrange on disembarkation day!

The port is Dublin. According to What's In Port, our ship will be at: "Berth 18 – North Quay Extension Cruise ships will also dock at Berth 18 located on North Quay Extension, in front of the Thomas Clarke Bridge. Passengers will disembark/board at North Quay Extension and are permitted to exit the Port on foot via the blue gates on East Wall Road. The nearest Luas Red Line Tram stop is located at the Point village, approximately a 9 min walk (750m)." I looked on Google, and that location appears to be the area shown in the photo: It is close to a P&O ferry facility, so I phoned P&O to see if they had luggage storage -- No. I also checked Luggage Hero and the closest location was 1.2 km away. The challenge is that I am attempting to organize a private tour for that day, and the operator's vehicle can't likely accommodate everyone's luggage if the group is 6 or more. So, whatever storage solution I might identify would have to work for others, not just for me and my partner, and therefore the risk tolerance is reduced alot. Of course, we could cap the number of people on the tour in order to have more space for luggage but then that would raise the cost. (e.g., $450/10=$45 each; $450/5=$90 each). But at this point, I don't know if anyone would even want to join us -- I haven't announced it on the roll call yet since I wanted to have this worked out!

Does Azamara offer luggage storage at port for disembarkation/embarkation day?

I'm lining up a group tour for our disembarkation day in Dublin, but the vehicle doesn't have room for everyone's luggage, so I'm looking for luggage storage options at our port location. Our ship is one of the smaller ones (Azamara), so it will be docking at Berth 18 located on North Quay Extension, in front of the Thomas Clarke Bridge. TIA

Oooh, these are good suggestions! Cute shoes, both of them. Trouble is my foot is narrow and typically if I buy a "regular" width shoe without any straps or laces to secure it, then I basically walk right out of it. But maybe I can go try them on to check -- I found there is an Allbirds store downtown! (I'm in a DC suburb.) Of course, the most pocketbook-friendly and time-efficient solution would be to simply use something I already have on hand.....photo below shows my candidates. The tan ones are probably the most minimal space-wise (and are also Chaco!) but don't feel as lightweight as the black shoes.

It seems like people who can afford to cruise can afford $60 for a test to help reduce the risk for others on the ship. And those "others" include the shipboard employees! I recently learned that back when smoking was allowed on planes, the non-smoking restrictions were introduced because it had become such a health issue for the crew, ultimately leading to a complete smoking ban for US flights around 2000.

This summer, we'll be circumnavigating Ireland, traveling more for a week afterwards. My packing dilemma is footwear, since I want to limit myself to a carryon bag, which will a first for me on a cruise. I'm struggling with the dress-for-dinner aspect of shipboard life. If I didn't have to "dress up" for dinner on the ship, I'd simply wear my hiking shoes on the plane and pack a pair of Chaco sandals, which are super comfortable and supportive -- enough for light hiking! (see the photo), plus some cheap, minimal flip-flops for the spa, etc. We like to have dinner in the formal dining room and I clearly can't wear the hiking shoes there. While I hate to devote precious suitcase space to dress-up shoes I won't use for anything else, I'm not sure my trail-worthy Chacos are gonna cut it at the MDR either, even if I try to color coordinate my outfits with them. The cruiseline is Azamara which describes its onboard environment as "friendly yet sophisticated, and encourages guests to "follow a 'resort casual' dress code." [Too bad we can't just rent dress-up footwear for the cruise, like we can rent ski boots at the slopes or men can rent tuxes on Cunard!] Anyway, I appreciate any practical thoughts to help me work through this situation. I know many of you have been there! TIA

Thanks for directing me to that page. I see that Azamara has some reciprocity with Royal Caribbean as well as Celebrity. We sailed with RCI once also. The other day I went into my account profile and entered my Celebrity "Captain's Club" number. The system automatically transformed that into a Azamara Circle # so I am now at the Adventurer level. It looks like that could be most useful in terms of the wifi.

One other factor I'd consider in the assessment of economy is how much extra it would cost for an oceanview or even a balcony cabin...for a TA (especially a long one) you might spend more time in your cabin than on a voyage where you are out touring every day, so the view might mean more. Personally, I love that fresh ocean air even if it's cold! We opted for a balcony when we did TA and were so glad!

In the almost-luxury category, we *really* appreciated Windstar. But who knows what a ship that small would be like for a week of sea days!

I just checked with Celebrity, since I learned here that their Captain's Club is reciprocal with Azamara for the time being. I only have 30 points! Does that do anything for us in terms of our first Azamara cruise coming up next month? (We are those people who itinerary-driven and despite 10+ cruises, so far we've only repeated a cruiseline once!)

I just found out that the tour we want to do on our disembarkation day departs almost two hours earlier than we had anticipated, so I'm worried we won't be able to leave the ship in time. Specifically, the pick up time is 8 am at a location across town from the dock, so we'd need to disembark at about 7 am. Will Azamara allow this? This would be on a day following an overnight in port, FWIW. This will be our first experience with Azamara, and we know that on many ships passengers must often wait for disembarkation even if they keep their bags with them. TIA

I'm uncertain about the likelihood that one of us will test positive the day before we fly home from Dublin after travelling around Ireland for a week following disembarkation. But I feel that between that risk AND the high cost of arranging quarantine lodging at the last minute in an expensive, heavily booked area, I should have some kind of contingency plan in place. I read of one woman who made a 'quarantine' reservation at an airport hotel, just in case. What have you done and what plans have you heard from others that sounded good?

Looking for feedback about the "perfect" black pants for traveling with a carry-on only, so they work for everything, along with denim jeans. We'll be in Ireland, so the pants should be sturdy and water resistant but not so intensely synthetic that they would be uncomfortable should the weather warm up. I prefer a zipper closure to pull-on. I want them to be practical for hiking, so lots of generous, workable pockets would be great. And they should be generically plain enough that I can dress them up with a nice top when needed. Any suggestions?

Azamara's website currently shows the list of inclusive amenities for all guests to include: "Shuttle service to and from port communities, where available" (Italics added!) This is shown on the pages for our cruise, which is the 11-night-ireland-intensive, departing 27 July 2022 on Pursuit. However, when we booked a month ago our confirmation documents included this statement (yes, in RED letters!): *Please note, these amenities have been modified to comply with current health protocols due to COVID-19. Destination Celebration will now be offered onboard as an adaptation of Amazing Evenings. We have also suspended our shuttle service temporarily We are wondering if the shuttle service suspension has now ended, so that they would be back on, as least where available? And if so, how can we find out which ports will have them? (This affects how we plan for the ports where we might not do a ship excursion, and since this will be our first cruise with Azamara, we have no good idea what to expect.)

I want to travel with "just" a carry-on bag, but I must travel with a CPAP, so I'm seeking advice for "streamlining" my luggage process. For ease of moving from place to place, I'd like to be able to stash the CPAP inside my carryon suitcase (with the zipper expansion feature in play), and then remove it for the airplane part of my trip, since the expanded bag wouldn't conform with any airline's carryon size limits! Plus, airlines don't "charge" for carrying a CPAP in addition to the carryon. This approach means repacking the bag some whenever the CPAP comes out of or goes back into the suitcase, typically in an airport. What strategies would facilitate this kind of rearranging and reordering of the interior space while on-the-go?