trk_koa

Just a few weeks away for us so this is timely. Sailing Journey on October 2. Getting excited.

Personally, I like a bigger cabin so on M class, I would consider concierge or aqua. We often stopped by Blu in passing on Equinox last November and the menus were posted outside. Most nights there wasn't much on the menu that appealed to our tastes. Perhaps you could find some recent Blu menus and peruse them to see if it is something you would like.

I usually have to call and ask for an emailed copy of my booking. Never seem to get one automatically.

Does Hawaiian still fly once a week?

Yes. Our flights are on Saturdays. We are taking a 10 day cruise that leaves on Wednesday so we are flying in the previous Saturday and spending a few days on Moorea.

Nancy

Verandas have always been expensive on PG as there just aren't very many of them. The ship's capacity is 332 persons. PG prices include air from LAX. You can get that removed for a credit back if you have some other way to get there.

We have sailed her once and loved it. We will be joining her again this January. We are flying on Hawaiian Airlines, so our fare had $1850 pp removed. Although we are usually veranda people, we are fine on PG with a window. Love the ambience, no extra fee for restaurants, included beverages, and, of course, the location.

Nancy, I am in Rome quite often and I have found that usually wherever you can buy good gin you can also usually buy Fever Tree tonic. Or even Fentiman's tonic which is almost as good. There are quite a few Enoteca's that sell both now. ....

 

I did leave some bottles behind on Quest in August though, so it wouldn't hurt to ask if anyone is on Quest. They may still be behind the bar. You can have them with my compliments! .....

 

Thank you, Lottie A. I think it will be worth it to try to find some. I appreciate the thought of the FT you left behind on Quest but we will be boarding Journey in a few weeks. Hope someone will be able to enjoy your generosity.

Nancy

Is Fever Tree available to purchase in Rome? Hubby is ok with Schweppes but thanks to this board, he is now a Fever Tree guy.

How far in advance of your sail date did you get that call asking if youd like to upgrade to the CO for $1500?

Got the call on 8/17 for a sail date 10/2, so 6 weeks.

Nancy

Our cruise is 8 nights. We booked under the free double upgrade promo to get a V2. I immediately filled out and submitted the LCV upgrade form. I got a phone call from AZ offering an upgrade to CO for $1500 ($750 pp). I was told on the phone that it was because I had applied for the LCV upgrade. All suites and balconies have been showing sold out for quite a while, so we were surprised and delighted for this upgrade.

We sail on Journey October 2. We had booked on the double upgrade promo in November 2016 while aboard X, so even with the cost of this upgrade, I think we are still under what a V2 was going for last fall.

We are sailing with my sister, so I am thinking of buying her a dining package so she will be able to join us in specialty. Celebrating her retirement. We are all three first timers with Azamara.

We just got a (paid) upgrade also from V2 to Club Ocean Suite. Yippee!

Never had a suite before.

Hi trk_koa,

 

All our beverage packages are only sold onboard at this time, with or without the LCV discount.

Thanks or the clarification. Appreciate it.

Nancy

Here are the LCV savings on the Ultimate Beverage Package.

 

They'll be up on the website by next week...I'll post the link for you when I see it.

 

 

 

LOYALTY BENEFITS BY MEMBERSHIP TIER

 

· Adventurer: 5% savings with the purchase of the Ultimate Beverage Package

 

· Explorer: 10% savings with the purchase of the Ultimate Beverage Package

 

· Discoverer: 15% savings with the purchase of the Ultimate Beverage Package

 

· Discoverer Plus: 20% savings with the purchase of the Ultimate Beverage Package

 

· Discoverer Platinum: 25% savings with the purchase of the Ultimate Beverage Package

I called to buy the ultimate beverage package for our October 2017 sailing and was told that you cannot get the LCV discount unless you buy the package on board.

In November 2016, the night before our Transatlantic aboard Equinox, my iPad decided to brick on me. Completely unresponsive and wouldn't even do a hard reset. I took it to the iLounge and the wonderful guy there helped me. It needed to be attached to a Mac or PC to use iTunes to reload the OS. Since none of the units in the iLounge could do that, he asked if I minded waiting until his break and he would go to his cabin and borrow his roommate's. A few hours later it was back in working order and I used the unlimited high speed internet to restore my backup from the cloud. Needless to say, he didn't need to go to all that trouble and I really appreciated it. I filled out the kudos form (can't remember what X calls those) at guest relations and also made sure he got a generous gratuity.

Yes, the Ruby has had the new beds for over a year. They're quite an improvement over the old ones. Very comfortable.

 

 

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Comfortable must be in the eye of the beholder. Just got off Ruby on Friday and I hated the new beds. Very soft and had a topper that I found hot. Pillows are very squishy. I had a back ache most of the cruise. So YMMV.

Go back to their crew policy of CRUISE (Courtesy Respect Unfailing in Service Excellence) where the crew always smiled and greeted pax, spoke only in English when in the presence of pax, and was not supposed to say no to any reasonable pax request.

 

We are on Ruby right now and unfortunately we've heard "no" more than we would expect.

Worst so far (among several) was dinner in the dining room. Ordered a very nice red wine and could not get a red wine glass. First offer was a port glass, then a white wine glass then the head waiter came and told us the true red wine glasses were only for Club Class. We ended up not having wine at all that night.

Kind of sad for a "Wine" cruise.

Disembarking Equinox in November there was an elderly couple in the lounge waiting to our numbers to be called. They were carrying the blue X tote bags filled with ship's toilet paper. Odd, for sure, but kind of sad.

We are doing the guarantee thing for the first time. Mini suite. No assignment yet at just over three weeks until we sail. Balconies, mini suites and suites are sold out. I check every day. Not sure I'd do it again, but the deal was sweet.

Yes, the website is up to date. The packages were reviewed and changed around February 20th.

Here's an overview of the two remaining liquor packages, and what they include:

 

Premium - $15.95 per person per day

Includes all the same spirit selections as before

Includes all beer selections

No longer includes any discount on wines by the glass or bottled water

Not eligible for any LCV discounts

 

Ultimate - $21.95 per person per day

Includes all the spirits from the Premium package, the eliminated Top Shelf package, and the current Ultimate package

Includes all beer selections

Includes all wines by the glass except Taittinger La Française and dessert wines

Includes all Nespresso coffees and cocktails

Includes all individual servings of bottled water

Eligible for LCV discounts

 

LCV Members are eligible for the following discounts on the Ultimate Package only:

Adventurer - 5%

Explorer - 10%

Discoverer - 15%

Discoverer Plus - 20%

Discoverer Platinum - 25%

We sail on Journey in October 2017 and so I am looking at the package description on the website for Ultimate (DH prefers Bombay Sapphire, I like Patron, and we both want wine and bottled water/sparkling, and specialty coffee).

There is no mention on the web site that it includes wine, water and specialty coffees.

Seems to get what we prefer, your description of Ultimate is what we want, especially with the Discoverer discount.

I'd sure like to see it in writing officially.

Can you please confirm?

I made a reservation at Fare Suisse for the one night. Trip Advisor reviews are very good. I searched here on cruise critic and it seems to be recommended. Price is good and we can cancel up to 48 hours prior if we change our minds.

Hotel Tahiti Nui looks to be sold out for the date we need.

Getting excited and it's months away. [emoji3]

Thanks for the insight. I just wish the IC wasn't almost 50% more.

Anyone have any other suggestions for a decent place just to overnight before heading to the ferry the next morning?

We have our reservations on PG in 2018 for a 10 day Society Islands and Tuamotus cruise to celebrate our 30th the anniversary. The cruise embarks on a Wednesday.

We are now making the arrangements for pre-cruise. We want to get all the big stuff arranged so we can get our travel insurance lined up.

We will arrive on a Hawaiian Airlines on a Saturday late evening.

Our TA has a nice package for 3 nights at the IC on Moorea for Sunday through Tuesday nights. What we need now is a place for Saturday night when we arrive. She is recommending either Tahiti Pearl Beach or IC.

TPB has a better price. We just need a clean comfy place to sleep, grab some breakfast and get to the ferry.

Can someone tell me if TPB is a good choice?

Thanks! Getting excited even though we are months away.

We don't mind forward. Rocks one to sleep. Our second cruise ever in 1995 was way forward on Legend of the Seas to Alaska. It was a great cruise so maybe that's why we have a special place in our hearts for forward.

Most recent cruise on Equinox we had the FV all the way forward on deck 8. Loved it.

We almost always book way forward or way aft.

Is Sushi on 5 open on embarkation day?

 

 

 

Cheers,

It was on the Equinox TA.

We just sailed on the Equinox TA. We asked to buy the UDP upon embarkation. The first dining person we talked to told us that they did not offer the UDP. So we went to Murano and purchased it there. We asked and were told So5 was included.

Made all our specialty reservations at that time as well.

We had unlimited Sushi on 5 for the whole trip, although we only went for lunch. (4 times)

They offered lunch in Murano one day during the crossing, plus twice in Tuscan and at least once in Silk Harvest (maybe twice, can't recall). We had lunch at Mast Grill once, dining room once and buffet twice.