Pizzasteve

I edited my post, as most likely arent interestef in rescue work. The glacier hike was in Argentina. We had just hiked the W Trek in Pategonia and found it pretty easy, but I guess this one required some climbing and rope skills they assumed a 50+ wouldnt be ok with.

We had this experience as well. If you have a special date, in our case a birthday, they found us a spot in the Italian restaurant and baked a special cake too! For a 10 night cruise we had 7 nights of specialty reservations by 'front loading' our first 4 dates then checking early on days we wanted another. We were in a normal Veranda with consierge level. As a side note, the consierge was not willing/able to help with dining. Smiling and patiently waiting our turn seemed to help. 😉

Age based limits definitely suck, but at least its 70. My wife and I, in our 50s, were recently rejected for a Argentina glacier hike which limited participation to those 50 and under. It didnt matter that we hike 10+ mile hikes 3-4 times a week with 2000 feet or more of climbing, passing on the trails exhausted 20 somethings on hills. Apparently, hanging on to ropes was required and muscle strength declines with age. We moved on with our life and still had a good time.

I heard there are staff shortages, so the under capacity for rooms might be full capacity for the number of staff available. There can be multiple reasons for sailing under 100%, such as staffing shortage, lack of sales, certain rooms being reserved for staff, quarentines, rooms needing repairs, etc.

Compass Rose is an amazing restaurant on Splendor. Dont overlook the option to select the protein, sauce and preparation of you choice. Hundreds of combinations are possible and each is exceptionally prepared, from Lobster with Chimichuri to Veal with berblanc. One can literally eat almost whatever they want. A beautiful setting and amazing team. Please go for breakfast, it will be so relaxing. That said my only gripe was the very limited information about the beautiful art on display around the ship, and a front desk that didnt seem to care to help. An American whiskey tasting was a joke as well, with flat out wrong information shared, but one cant have everything. Enjoy lunch at the specialty restaurants. One of my favorite differences. Some lunch only items are nice easter egg suprises. Ask your waiter.

removed

Interesting. Fridge on our recent Oceana and Regent cruises easily chilled wine. Dissappointing.

Thats good news. I will welcome the space, as we like to bring our own sparkling or white wine from shore sometimes, and it is a pain to chill a bottle in the small fridges (and need to remove shelves and all the other stuff to fit it in). Thanks for the intel.

In pinch, we pack some strong magnetic hooks. Coats or other bulky items can easily hand from them anywhere, though it isnt a tidy aesthetic.

Im not sure this is a good thing regarding the pre cruise, but on board tests going away seems reasonable, as they likely have data on its usefullness now. A pre cruise test is still very helpful to our confidence, IMHO. Perhaps a required self administered test and appersonal attestation would be a practical compromise. By taking simple precautions and with pre board screening tests, weve cruised 3 times and still have never tested covid positive. I am not sure current spead rates support no testing before boarding. Have found Viking Ocean a nice experience.

We just visited Lisbon this spring and return to board Pursuit in Nov/Dec. What a city! Wonder if we sat in the same bar, the views there are stunning.

We look forward to meeting you on the Lisbon Transatlantic. We will be on that sailing too.

While we also use wheeling bags, a backpack can have advantages, especially if visiting less developed areas or going up and down a lot of stairs into subways. Flight attendents tend to stay in airports and hotels where wheeling bags are the most practical solution. For me a backpack can be better in some itineraries, a wheeling bag for others. A wheeling bag is generally better for cruising, though having a light backpack for port visits is often handy to carry lunch, a coat or something you might need on shore. So we usually have 2 small wheeling overhead bags and a small backpack we carry on and put under the plane seat. The backpack contents tend to be light items like phone chargers, neck pillows for long flights, maybe a pair of shoes that didnt fit, or our collapsable hiking poles that are ok for air security.

I do hope they make a comeback and can offer a fair service to existing and future customers. Our family lived throught the customer service hell of the pandemic, but did finally get the required refunds paid after about 12 months. It took some effort and my family were repeat customers who did not cancel, Vantage did. What I learned about their office culture concerned me, though I understand their field staff were quite good in the past and their itineraries good, when all went well. I wish them success with the ambitious new ships and would enjoy posts describing any customer experiences.

I hope this doesnt come across as disrespectful, because we do care about you all. That said, we hike 3-4 days a week with 'seniors' carrying heavy packs because they are training for one climb, hike, Camino walk or just another day of fun hiking. Yesterday we covered 2700 ft of elevation up and down about 4 miles each way to the summit of Mt Diablo. It was a medium difficulty training hike for us. We are probably the youngest in our hiking group, but ages ranged from 57 to early 80s. While I feel for those with disabilities, I also encourage healthy people to get out there and change their bodies by walking regularly. The goal of an exciting trip with a backpack can be an amazing incentive to get more fit. Some FB former co workers of mine are posting right now from a walking tour of Spain, on the Camino, taking their time, and post about how fast their stamina has improved. Walk in those great port cities, instead of taking a bus around, if you can. Packing light can be a part of a lifestyle change and we can cruise healthy! Maybe this is not advice for the OP, as I hope light travel can improve their mobility, but for those who can, is it worth a try for one trip at least or a bit of online research into new tech lightweight tech fabrics, suitcases, etc? Check out REI or a local sporting goods store, as todays packs are nothing like the old canvas heavyweights of the past.

We've done several cruises with a carry in bag, one 14 days the other 10. It takes some wardrobe creativity, but we have had no complaints. A simple black dress or lightweith silk/wool black sportscoat can dress up a lot of scarves, or a few shirts. Layers are helpful, if somewhere cold, multipurpose shoes, like atheletic walking hiking shoes that might look ok in a formal setting. Have fun. Its your vacation. Similar to the lightweight linen comment, we find Icebreaker lightweight Marino wool clothes to be fabulously flexible and have a bonus of being naturally warm, cool when needed and bacteria resistent.

I think that would be ideal actually.

Careful! You dont know where that funnel has been.

Specifically, I was referring to onboard testing, not pre board testing. It would seem that would go on the cruise invoice, so why it would need to be cash seems puzzling. I would not expect guests to be forced to present cash, but if you say so. This information came directly from Azmara staff onboard?

Any word as to why not?

Did anyone get a response from Azmara regarding using onboard credits to pay for required testing, either pre board or disembarkation?

Are guests able to use onboard credits to pay this fee?