AroundWithMAPTravels

Thanks. It’s nice to see that there are quite a few GF items listed, including on the White Night Buffet. i have been on ships where there were NO designated GF options on MDR menu. Made for some “slim pickings” … looks like that will not be an issue 😁

Tribute to Roy’s adventurous spirit: Sunrise at “fin del mundo”: “sailing” over the rainbow… where skies are blue and cares are far behind: Sunset under the careful watch of the gods:

Boarding Journey in a few days… yay! azamara newbie…. just realized that I either forgot to ask, or forgot the answer and can no longer find it (so, apologies if this has already been asked/answered). I am a GF diner (listed in my profile). Is there an AZ protocol for identifying such to hotel/restaurant staff? (Identify self to maitre d; chef has meeting with all with dietary restrictions, etc… have seen many different protocols). How is this handled? we like to “dine around” rather than eat all meals in MDR, so if next-day menus are only presented at dinner, I would possibly miss out on several (eating dinner at buffet or patio or….) …. On other cruise lines, menus are delivered to cabins at turndown… to be returned to dining staff in the morning. On many occasions it is not until we wake that we make a “plan” for the day, so if I had to choose the prior day I would then need/want to “cancel” (out of courtesy to chef). since we also have 2 specialty restaurant nights, how are special needs handled there? I am hoping/assuming that requests for GF meals are more “mainstream “ nowadays, so can be dealt with relatively easy. Now for a somewhat “silly” question…. Are meal orders taken with “paper” pads or with “devices” (these seem to “remember” any special needs). I have seen both, but the paper system seems to need “daily updates” to the GF status 😏. thanks for any replies or redirection to prior answers 😁

I am a late-comer to the Daily party (2022-ish). The daily banter, caring , and international friendliness kept me coming back. I especially looked forward to Roy’s alternative menus and sunrises (from morning walks or onboard a ship, all were beautiful ways to start the day). I never met him, but still felt like I “knew” him i shed a tear or two when I read this news. i just hope that there are many more beautiful sunrises awaiting him in heaven. 🙏

Azamara newbie here… those “six wines” that are complimentary… are they available outside of meal times (and “always complimentary” or only “complimentary at meals”).

Thank you for following up on this.

We are scheduled for a later sep 2026 Northwest Passage sailing. Looking forward to it. Would love to hear reviews from anyone going this year.

I am the OP…. I agree that the “intent” is to discourage the beachwear type. However my friend made a point of telling me that other footwear that was tasteful, but “loosely” fit the description were being turned away as well on Quest recently. I fully intend to abide by AZ requirements… just need to know what that is.….and looking forward to what I hope will be more AZ trips in the future. Footwear is not going to make or break a trip … but I truly don’t want to use precious packing space on items that will end up spending the trip solely in my cabin. Would rather be prepared, and pack appropriately.

Love Ketchikan (was there only once-on our ferry trip in 1998) and all of Alaska. Love eagles, too! If you love eagles and don’t want to go all the way to Alaska, but still do a “cruise”, consider doing an upper Mississippi River cruise. There is the National Eagle center just outside Red Wing, MN that is sometimes a ship excursion (it was for us on a Viking cruise). Also, eagles and other shore birds are EVERYWHERE along the northern part of the Mississippi. Good quote. Finally a reasonable dry Riesling. My Dad was the “shish”-guy! Boy was that his favorite! Especially when bacon was added to beef and onions. And smelled sooooooooo good! (Mouth watering, drooling on my iPad right now).

Agreed! And thank you for investigating!

Just to be clear on the “rule”… the sandal on left is ok, but the one on right is not? trying to establish what types of shoes I “can” pack, and what to leave behind in lieu of something else…. Thanks!

@MamaFej Was your laundry “included” with your level of cabin (ie Veranda Plus or above)?

Would this also preclude “mules” (similarity being no ankle/heel strap: difference being straight across foot vs between-toe hold) if so, what would the reasoning be for one vs the other being allowed/disallowed? Not trying to be difficult, just trying to learn how AZ works (being a novice to AZ, but not ships in general). thanks for any explanation!🙂

I am jealous! Would sail with Captain Becky anywhere! ( We sailed with her on Mistress in 2020). My brother sailed again with her on the French last year. we are looking into a possible sail on one of the late-season trips this year. limited availability. glad you enjoyed! Thanks for the review! and I always refer to being on one these boats as “camping on a boat”. Not for everyone, but if you think you may like it, I think you will be hooked!

A friend was recently on Quest. She told me that flip flops of any kind were disallowed in restaurants. Does this apply to only “beachwear” or also to “dressy” thong-style sandals (no ankle strap)? Or was it something that the Quest onboard staff decided to enforce? I hadn’t seen/heard of anything like this (other than “no beachwear allowed” rules. Is there a “specific” rule? headed on Journey in a few weeks and started to pack….hopefully my chosen footwear will be okay. Thanks for any guidance!

Contrast of Mendenhall Glacier 1989 (top) and 2013 (bottom). Yes a big change - you can see how much it receded! First time was a “ferry” trip with a few days in Juneau. No tram at that time. Very different city in 2013 (much more “touristy”). 🙏 to all!

We are new to AZ, first trip coming up within a few weeks. My account seems to be fine, but my husband’s account continually shows “no upcoming cruises”, even though he enters his ID when prompted… next time he tries, same scenario. Our TA had contacted AZ, who said it was “corrected “, but it wasn’t. He gave up trying. Will have to check again after our trip…. I think it is more widespread than one or two people, but do not know how prevalent it is, nor what the cause could be (as a “systems” person, I normally need to diagnose probable causes, but in our case, cannot come up with any… other than the fact that I am the “primary” for our booking, with him being “secondary” or just “linked”). This is not our only anomaly in our account (but I just chalked all up to the quirkiness of Seaware. Note, our TA has experienced similar quirks using Seaware for Explora.) Here’s to hoping everyone gets their issues resolved soon!

LOVE hot air balloons! Have done it twice (high wind in Custer, SD prevented a third time, however). One time was close to home in west central NJ. Hearing the cows mooing as we floated over the farms was fun. Second time was on a cold frosty morning in Lancaster, PA . It was early on a Sunday. The only sounds were the clip-cloping of the buggy horses on the farm roads. The NJ festival of Ballooning is less than ten miles from here, and have been there several times. Mass ascensions are really a feast for the senses (sounds, colors, etc). (Albuquerque festival is on bucket list). We have had a balloon land in our back yard (gave us lousy wine… no champagne) Highly recommend trying…. At least viewing… it’s a pass on meal and maybe wine, but a big YES to drink (both ways). Never been to port. 🙏to all!

Ditto! it was raining in 2023 when we did this, so could not go outside. Had a great time just watching the birds and learning lots . Highly recommended!

When we were there last year, they had set up the gangway on one deck…. Then “pondered” it… then removed the gangway and moved it to another deck…. this process took nearly an hour (my husband and I were waiting to go for a walk and had to wait and watch, and wait and watch… ultimately the gangway was useable… I am wondering if the initial setup was what the OP experienced… we did not look closely at initial setup. but it may be in the manual as “initial setup routine “… and they didn’t go to “plan B”, unfortunately.

Note: we didn’t book that cabin…. Somehow we got upgraded…. Not sure why/how. 🤷‍♀️ I normally do not book anything under an outside deck either. we were surprised that walking track wasn’t more soundproofed, too.

Since the decks are metal, even with the rubberized paint, footsteps (walking or running) CAN be heard by people in upper deck cabins… we were in one. We like to walk early (before it gets hot) or after dinner. Once we realized just how much can be heard in our cabin, we adjusted our walking times to adhere to the “open” hours. something to keep in mind…

You should be fine😁 I don’t remember anything that required long or strenuous walks on our itinerary. and nothing “fast”. mostly flat, too. we didn’t do this, but the fort at Mackinac may have had the most walking involved, but friends who did it said pace was very slow. ship is gorgeous and comfy. Enjoy

That “depends”… if it is a Great Lakes itinerary on octantis… the level of activity required is “low”, compared to other locations that Octantis visits. having done many “expedition “ ships prior to our 2022 Octantis Great Lakes trip, I expected that most of the passengers would we fit and ready to go. Traveled iwith several others, some who had done other expedition travel, some novices. That expectation could not have been farther from what we experienced! All of us (including novices) were surprised (aghast?) by the number of mobility aids (walkers,scooters) that were aboard. (Probably more, percentage wise than ANY other ship, ever!). However, once we found out the level of activity in the various ports… we were underwhelmed, but did see many of those folks enjoying the ports…all very very easy, with only distances needed. so…. It may just come down to your itinerary… all in all, it’s a much smaller ship to navigate than VO ships. I do not remember if they had “leisurely “ groups, as is common on the VR ships, sorry.

We were in Halifax on Zaandam in August 2023. It turned into a purely miserable cold and rainy day. We took the HOHO. It was raining just lightly when we went to the Public Garden. But we got caught in torrential downpour whilst at the Titanic memorials at the cemetery. It was a bit “chilling” to see all of the headstones displaying the same date. The HOHO driver, while doing something nice… taking their time to let anyone who wanted to get on… forgot that people (us) may be standing in downpour waiting , and waiting, and waiting… for the bus to arrive. Interesting, they know we were with HAL and refunded a large portion of the HOHO fare, probably due to nasty weather, assuming that people did not get off. it wasn’t our first time there, so we were okay with everything that transpired ( once we dried off and warmed up, of course). photos of flowers for the Garden Club… and the Titanic portion of cemetery…and it’s a “ maybe” to food, drink and wine today. 🙏 to all