nordski

i don’t know, but if you and Uktog are examples I am all for more of them.

Thanks for the information. Was the dry dock schedule posted during or after the period when cruises were postponed because of Covid?

As a young 4H Grape Club member I was told that some of the saviour rootstock came from Canada, but maybe that was an embellishment. Google tells me that both Missouri and Texas claim to be the sources. Can we agree to say North American root stock to lessen the chauvinism? 😀

A great write-up, but they should have focussed on the wonderful residents.

I guess I am hoping that there is a process in place that is gradually improving the situation. Some posts do suggest that. After previous apparently near-death experiences, I am not yet convinced that we have the final answer. Azamara has been the cruise line partially created out of a rather sobering business disaster (Renaissance), abandoned by a disinterested parent (Celebrity), recreated as the “New” Azamara (Larry Pimentel), and then abandoned again (RCI). So I am rooting for the turnaround that means the story doesn’t end.

I think this article resonates with many who have suffered particularly in the post-website period. However, I am not certain that it is fair to be quite so laudatory about Larry P’s administration. First, it would be wonderful if Larry’s ideas had, as Richard Fain claims, a big impact upon the industry as a whole. If so, then it would not be so difficult to find an alternate cruise line and perhaps RCI would have stayed the course. Secondly, he doesn’t mention Azamara’s transition to a “more inclusionary” beverage experience. On this forum that change produced considerable heat, so much so that Azamara offered free cancellations to those who felt that this would compromise the shipboard experience.. So heated that the wonderful Chief Blogging Officer, Bill Leiber, at least once withdrew from the discussion to let cooler heads prevail. Thirdly, it was not unheard of thst people complained here as to how the office in Miami was letting down the crew on the ships. Larry Pimentel deserves high praise indeed, but if anything gives me hope for the future it is that Azamara has experienced several transitions and heavy seas. Not so heavy as the present regime faces and we will discover if they, as was Larry, are up to manning the helm.

I apologize that the humour in my response was not clearer.

Thanks for the clarification! We take out peameal bacon so seriously that there was a feature movie about it, although it WAS a comedy.

Now wait just a gosh darn minute here. Several years ago I had to enter the trenches on this forum to defend the honour of Canadian back (peameal) bacon. And as a long ago hog farmer I am certainly willing to vigorously defend the quality of the source of that bacon. Being of a peaceable nature I am going to assume that maybe there is a confusion in terminology between Canadian bacon and what the English seem to call “streaky” and what we would call American bacon. But be warned that I will not stand for any slander of our fine Canadian bacon (either back or peameal)

Quite true and probably an issue particularly in North America. It also is a big expense if, as some reports indicate, the experience is interrupted by illness. So some of us of a certain age may be waiting for more “clarity” before committing. Right now I only make a reservation with a full refund option.

Then, in terms of time, my experience was better. No emails or calls either.

That’s a more promising timeline. Hope it is accurate.

It seems that on various threads there is periodic discussion of the timeline for refunds for cancelled cruises. We cancelled in May and received our refund today, so the time elapsed was about 3.5 months. We found this acceptable, others will likely disagree. If appropriate, others may wish to share their experiences.

I enjoy your good humour on this topic. The front office will have to provide a product that cruisers can “grow (mature?) into” as they age and leave behind the ships that suited them as young singles, couples, or families. I certainly accept that those who are somewhat younger than us will not necessarily share our values or our culture. In my view, Azamara has to appeal to those younger souls but hopefully not completely alienate those of us who have become attached to the Azamara experience.

Thanks for this informative post. Given that there are still a number of issues affecting individuals who are/have signed up for cruises, it would certainly be understandable that those concerns are the priorities, Once those priorities have been resolved, we can hope that the Seaware programme can be revised in terms of how it handles shore excursions, finding available cabins, and paying with OBC.

I agree. We made both the 3 and 6 free days work for us, but it took some serious research not to mention excellent advice on this forum. Simpler would be better.

Thanks for posting this. I did not link to my source in my initial post as it would probably be paywalled.

You have certainly received lots of good advice. We would concede that, while we enjoyed our stay there, Trastavere is not the most central location for some of the sites. Host Jazz Beau made an excellent suggestion about staying near Termini. Fairly central, access to transit, and lots of small and inexpensive family-run hotels. See Rick Steves books for suggestion. That was our first location and one of the best. If you are willing to pay for a unique experience, then Cruise Mom42’s suggestion of the Aubergo del Senato is spot on. Top-rated on TripAdvisor and we were lucky to receive a free upgrade. Thus, Tratavere wouldn’t be our first choice given your parameters.

Apparently in 2024 visitors to the Schengen Area from countries such as Canada, the USA, and the UK, will need to fill out a new form as part of the Europe Travel Information and Authorization System (ETIAS). The form will be required for those between 18 and 70, covers visits up to 90 days long, will be linked to your passport. and will cost 7 Euros. It also appears that the application can be filled out online and the rationale is to provide anther layer of security. Of course, details of this plan may change before implementation,

Tourism and its impact, both positive and negative, will certainly be a rising topic for discussion in the future. In that debate, Venice is clearly by far the most dependent on tourism and Amsterdam, I would argue, the least. I also expect the challenges for cruise lines like Azamara will be rather different than those facing the Royal Caribbean fleet. The various cruise line responses will be fascinating.

An urbanologist I know has just made that point. Although he lives in Toronto, he is presently in Malta where his father lives. In the midst of +40C temperatures and the tourism season, he speculates that eventually cruise ships may be severely limited in available ports and essentially become floating resorts. Like you, we won’t be “cruising” any more.

We too used to love Blu, but our experience 3 years ago led us to the conclusion that the Blu concept was no longer any kind of priority.

The news story seemed to link the “sustainability” problem of cruise ships with the arrival of British lads on a bachelor party binge.(Wasn’t there an episode of Ted Lasso that alluded to this?) Given my age and energy level, however misguided the comparison I might take it as a compliment. 😀

Thanks for posting this. Doesn’t mention discriminating based upon a ship’s size, as is the case in Venice, so this may apply to river cruise ships as well.

Ahhh, now I see the problem. Thanks for the explanation and I apologize for my post.