hamrag

Not personally, but on our Star Pride cruise, a couple of weeks ago, we noticed some solo travellers appeared to have met informally....or it may have been through a get together, we don't know for sure. On one evening we noticed the entertainment manager hosting them for dinner, which we thought was a lovely touch from her. They were located right next to our table, no idea if it was a one-off arrangement but we certainly saw those solo travellers together a few times including once off the ship.

On our Star Pride cruise, a couple of weeks ago, we noticed some solo travellers appeared to have met informally....or it may have been through a get together, we don't know for sure. On one evening we noticed the entertainment manager hosting them for dinner, which we thought was a lovely touch from her. They were located right next to our table, no idea if it was a one-off arrangement but we certainly saw those solo travellers together a few times including once off the ship.

Perhaps not in your case! On our recent 18 Nov sailing on Star Pride the OBC from our TA could not be set against gratuities! 😉

Correct.

Thanks Jazz, I have a good feeling you will enjoy Windstar as much as we did. I made a late edit about the deck BBQ, if you missed that sentence.

I can also confirm that OBC (provided by TA) cannot be set against gratuities. On our trip we did no excursions, rather self explored, so cannot answer the excursion cancel/rebook question. We absolutely loved Windstar, excellent culinary experience in all venues i.e.MDR, buffet, specialties. They have a deck BBQ one evening, whilst similar to Azamara White Night it doesn't quite reach that level although still very good. The MDR is by far the best we've experienced on any other ship, and we did the specialties only because they were available to us i.e. included in the cruise fare. It's biggest drawback is evening entertainment, which is adequate and no worse than we expected. We'll be seeking out our next Windstar cruise soon, without a doubt.

Richard Admittedly our 58 cruises, across 18 cruiselines is a few less than your 75 (or is it really 175)?? We recently cruised Azamara for the 4th time, and never had any issue such as you described your experience to have been! I think Host Jazzbeau has nailed where the issue truly lay.

The restaurant host right in front of you for specialty dining, when you enter windows cafe port side, for brekkie or lunch is your go to friend

Having just returned from an Az transatlantic cruise, followed by two 7 nights with other cruiselines, I cannot for the life of me see the obsession that some have with pre-cruise experience! Being totally chilled, we arrived at the cruise terminal and took everything from there. The ship was in Lisbon, as scheduled, we boarded without any issues whatsoever, OBC was showing as planned etc. etc. The on-board experience is not affected by anything pre-cruise, trust me!

UK carriers do not!

OK, our other Az cruises were port cruises so that might explain why the vibration was so bad on a transatlantic cruise! Thanks.

Not sure why it would take anyone15 minutes to book, it took us less than 5.

Interesting....on our Quest cruise 9 November the booking process took approximately 15 minutes of our time which included 10 minutes waiting. We had no issue getting the times we desired for our 4 specialty dining package. For us, the whole process was truly a breeze! Our first specialty booking was the day following a rough nights sailing....as seasoned cruisers we ought to have remembered that the area from Lisbon, south of the med entrance point down to Funchal in Madeira is notoriously choppy, so that was definitely a schoolboy error on my part. We both felt queasy at breakfast, and decided to cancel to afford the opportunity to others who may have been looking to book that night. In the event we were feeling absolutely fine by late morning. We enjoyed the cruise so much that we forgot to rebook for our 4th visit until the day before final night. Nothing was available, so we were wait listed with 7 ahead of us! On final day I kept checking...nothing available. When we were almost ready for dinner about 6.45pm, I snuck out the cabin and decided to go to the restaurant desk at Aqualina, fully booked nothing doing! Then went into Prime C more in desperate hope than expectation....after a discussion between the restaurant host and presumably the maitre d, they said if you come ASAP and before 7.30 we are in. We thought that was incredibly facilitating, as we could see how busy they were when we arrived at 7.15 or thereabouts. The cruise was 9 nights, so we hade 4 MDR and the White Night in addition to the specialties. I have said following our previous 3 Az cruises that we do not find the MDR to be very good, and that was the case once more so I wont labour the point other than to say it's been the same now on 4 cruises. The other, and more problematic issue was the engine vibration throughout 75% of the MDR area which seemed more problematic on the Quest. It really felt like the engine was labouring, so we asked to be moved to the area closest to the welcome desk, where it wasn't too bad but still noticeable. Perhaps an engine upgrade will be included in the next dry dock, as it is intolerable for us and many others around us said the same and had requested the area we used for all our MDRs!

I posted this on the rollcall, as this should be of interest to the others also. Thanks again Phil.

Many thanks Phil, that is really helpful and much appreciated. We've done a few TAs, in both directions, and generally after the canaries on the caribbean southerly route the weather has never failed us. Captain J is a fantastic man too, most mornings on our first Az back in Dec 2019 just pre-Covid. Usually he would appear at the nice coffee bar deck 4 or 5 and insist he take his place in the queue. No argument, that was the deal, when he could have had any number of staff serving his coffee on the bridge. His wife was on that trip, and she a fantastic person too. Delighted to hear he's in charge again! 😊

The thing about live music is that one persons pleasure point, may be another persons tipping point causing them to exit the venue! Such is life, but we certainly would never choose Az for its entertainment value! All being well we cruise Quest from Lisbon in a short number of days, and will take any entertainment and music as it comes. On said Atlantic crossing repositioning cruise we may even enjoy some entertainment aspects more than we otherwise would on a port intensive cruise. We intensely hope there will be a White Night, which we do thoroughly enjoy.

2 nights of our 3 MDRs on our May Onward 7 nights, albeit at absolute peak time, we were told 30 minutes and only had 10 and 15 to wait. That's pretty good at peak of dining IMHO

🤸‍♂️🤸‍♀️ 😱

Wow, thanks for posting that. All being well, we board in 6 days time.....cannot wait.

OK, thanks. More specialty restaurant pricing than chefs' table, might try it if available next month on Quest.

Is this one at chefs' table experience and pricing?

Perhaps even a double degree graduate!

Perhaps it's an attempt to attract a younger demographic to a cruiseline currently generally more attractive to retirees or those in the latter years of working life? So, there may be other changes planned in it's future and not yet communicated!.

My comment certainly was not intended as snarky! Unsure who the Az flag wavers are, but we have 55 cruises across 16 cruiselines....soon to be 58 across 18. We are not loyal to any cruiselines, and flag wavers for none! We choose for itinerary and experience, simply taking each cruiseline as we find them.

Because Az don't allow it. If that's such an issue for you, book one of the lines who do! 😉