excitedofharpenden

I'm now beginning to feel just a little bit gullible. As an afterthought I looked at the photos on this thread again and noticed the containers on deck included a green one! It must be the change in the weather in the UK - it's now freezing cold.

We're on the Journey in 13 days time so I'll check out the green cabana for you and make a reservation.

Rita

I think the white one has your name on it even though it says LMG Finland at the moment!;)

Phil

Many thanks for all the suggestions. Booked in Aqua at the moment for the February cruise so a big jump in cost for an upgrade.Short cruise is the most likely solution if I can do it at a sensible cost so I will keep an eye on the price of the May cruise from Southampton, UK which is only a two drive from home. With all the booking incentives offered at the moment not a huge value to the jump to Elite Plus for just one cruise.

Thanks again

WEJD

To be honest for the extra benefits you'll get for Elite Plus over Elite it would have to be a really cheap cruise to be worthwhile. Two bags of laundry (washed, dry and folded, no pressing), 200 free internet minutes compared to 90, free cappuccinos, 10% discount on a beverage package and 15% discount on specialties. Yes, it would have to be a very cheap cruise!

Phil

Will certainly have a look at the itinerary Phil :)

Dubrovnik, Kotor, Venice sail in and the Johannes, Heike, Eric team too. What could be better? Not that I am trying to persuade you or anything.:)

Phil

So now we go there again! Some inside cabin cruisers bashing the Suite cruisers! Honestly if I pay so much $ I do have some certain expectations! X is not cheap anymore if you sail in one of the premium suites and it should give you a bit of a difference! If the advertise Bvlgary, free laundry and many more amenities it should be there! It is not an entitlement it is a comfort thing and it got promised by X, you booked and paid for it that way!

Also I am sorry you do not understand!

Who said they are inside cabin cruisers? Why does it matter? I share the opinion of richsea, dkjretired and others here and I stay in cabins all over the ship. The suite amenities being discussed here are still bedding in and a little bit of patience and less worrying would be a better bet in my view. It's not life and death!

Phil

I'm liking it so far -- especially those new pool cabanas [just like what Celebrity did to Reflection] I'll take the green one. :D

Lol!

Phil

Andy, your first task will be to make sure they've taken that flippin' mural off the wall in Discoveries;)

Phil

Hope to be back on Azamara May/June

Come on Journey 23rd June, Athens to Venice! Great itinerary. Wonderful people onboard;)

Phil

Thanks Andy:cool: if I see any good photos not already seen here I'll post them.

Phil

I just checked the Azamara website and you are right. The monetary savings are much more useful and I struggle to spend OBC as it is. Disappointing.

Phil

wuppis, I'm a bit confused about your comment specifically about cruises not starting or ending in Istanbul. There are still three Journey cruises that either embark or disembark from there. As far as I know these remained in the itineraries when Azamara took the decision last year year with troubles in the area to substitute Eastern Mediterranean cruises with Western and probably because Istanbul was already the start or end point and it would cause problems for those already committed to flight tickets. I'm on a Celebrity cruise in October where Istanbul has been substituted, but not an issue because it's mid-cruise and we embark and disembark from Rome.

Phil

I agree with Hazel. I'd do the Chef's Table plus four. A visit to each of the Specialties twice does them better justice. There is a lot of food and wine at the Chef's Table and too much for me these days, but they are fun. After you've checked in there should be a station set to book them up.

Enjoy!

Phil

Thanks Phil but that evening is the Azamazing Evening at Fort Santiago.

 

I'd forgotten they had to put the Azamazing in somewhere.:o. Not sure in that case. If it is Osaka and cold they can hold it in the Cabaret (scheduled events there permitting). As you say perhaps Bonnie has a contact.

Phil

It will be a late stay port and looking at your itinerary I would hazard a guess it will be the first evening when you overnight in Manila. Bit chilly maybe to wait until Osaka and late in the cruise too.

Phil

Nordski, that is not correct.

 

The bomb exploded among a group of german tourists who wanted to visit the Blue Mosche. People were informed to avoid groups because they are afraid that there will be more bombs today.

 

They don´t know how much germans are dead, but they think, that te most people, who were killed are german tourists. 10 persons are dead, 15 are injured.

 

The turkish president Erdogan has forbidden to inform the press about the facts.

My heart goes out to the families and your country and the Turkish people in general. I was in Istanbul twice last year on Celebrity and Azamara and felt very safe. This latest terrorism is a step up from what went on then and would have me thinking twice about going back to Istanbul at the moment which is of course exactly what the terrorists want. Very sad:(

Phil

The reason I am interested Azamara is because they promote themselves (or used to) as a line that is especially focused on quality food. I don't think a slight price increase would put Azamara out of anyone's reach and if that is what it takes to keep the quality very, very high, isn't it worth it? Surely you all don't want to wind up with meatloaf and hangar steak like on Carnival?

As you haven't been on Azamara and are a self confessed foodie I would say that you'd be disappointed if you picked a cruise on them for that reason. As others here have said you just won't get the food you describe on Azamara. If you want a comfortable ship with great service, a friendly nature to those crew and guests onboard in a truly involved atmosphere and good food (which is such a personal thing, but I've never gone hungry!) then I think you'd enjoy Azamara. They aren't and don't market themselves as a luxury line.

Phil

Will Chai tea be available anywhere on ship?

It's definitely been available in Mosaic on cruises I've done.

Phil

Just returned from fabulous cruise to Mumbai, Azamara Quest. Unfortunately there were some Americans on board who had to disembark early at Fujiarah (Emirates) because they didn't have visa to enter India. I'm sure it cost them big bucks to get home! I think some passengers believe that if they just go to airport in Mumbai, and not tour, they won't need visa. They are sooooo wrong. You must have a visa! Indian custom officers are first to board vessel when it reaches Mumbai. They meet every passenger disembarking face to face.

 

It was sad to meet these "left-out" Americans on board. Azamara was nice to them, gave them specialty dinners and so on, but there was nothing they could do to get them into India.

 

Be sure to get a visa!! I was hesitant at first when I found out Indian Embassy in Chicago used Travisa Outsourcing exclusively for Indian visas but, after receiving two Indian visas from them, I can't say enough about their professionalism--and speed!

 

Have a great time in Mumbai, an absolutely wonderful city!

Had a similar situation Athens to Mumbai last year on Journey. Some with no visa left the ship in Fujairah, but one lady travelling on her own continued on the following cruise around India because she was unwilling as a single Jewish female to travel on her own in UAE. She stayed on the ship until Sri Lanka and flew home from Colombo as no Indian visa requirements there. It still amazes me how visas can be overlooked by travel agents and guests, but It obviously happens regularly. If I do a transatlantic from UK to US and as a UK citizen I have to show a copy of my US ESTA travel approval document.

Phil

One of my absolute fave things about AZ is the wide availability of coffee drinks all around the ship. Mosaic is the best place, but you can also order in the restaurants, and we do. And you can make your own in Windows buffet, if you wish. There's a machine. I like skinny lattes and I can always get them, the illusion of low-cal. Yummy. No extra charge. No need to pull out your room key for a charge added to your bill. Bottoms up!

Tom I agree about the coffee. I am also a lover of herbal tea without the milk and like the mint tea they have and also the Twinings lemon and ginger. I'm glad I've got into those because even taking my own teabags (PG Tips) I can never make my cuppa taste the same as it does at home.

Phil

I'm only going from memory of what I put on my cornflakes in the morning, but I tick the whole milk on my breakfast order and it comes in a carton and tastes just fine. I haven't examined the writing on the carton itself, but I'm fussy about milk on cereal and not had an issue, even with a lot of sea says on say a transatlantic. The other choice on the breakfast room service menu is skimmed milk, not semi-skimmed. That tastes ok too, but I prefer the whole milk as a treat on a cruise as I have semi-skimmed at home. You can order milk on room service at any time by the glass. That tastes good also. I've often had it with cookies of an evening.

Phil

1) (additional expense) - One can get these on-line for roughly $2/per. So one has spent an additional $10-$20 on an item that can be used repeatedly. In the scheme of a $2K - 10K vacation that is peanuts.

 

2) Can 1-2 minutes of YOUR time be all that important. If it is, you probably should not be taking time out for a cruise. And 1-2 minutes is actually all it takes . . . . . . been there, done that.

John, I totally agree. As you say you can DIY if you want to (I bought some of the luggage tags via Amazon which did me for Celebrity, Royal Caribbean and Azamara cruises, although they currently show as unavailable because probably many are doing the same thing) or get them at the port. They are set up to do it there and I've done it many times, four this year. In the grand scheme of things not getting luggage tags is a non-issue.

Phil

Looks a really nice itinerary (which is probably why it's sold out!). Enjoy Quest. The Philippino crew onboard will be excited to be stopping off back home:cool:

Phil

On the site I use it is there, but showing as sold out. I know once that happens it disappears from the Azamara website.

Phil

With the 1,2,3 Go type promos being the norm and a large majority (I'm guessing) of passengers already having a free beveridge package, does Celebrity need to rethink it's Elite Cocktail Hour?

 

While I appreciate the perk available to Elite and above, it really doesn't mean much if you already have free drinks. While it's nice to socialize and meet the Captain's Club Host/Hostess, the lure of free drinks and cheap appetizers isn't what it was when you weren't getting free drinks already.

 

Would improving the quality of drinks be a good idea? How about some first rate appetizers (Shrimp cocktail, bacon wrapped scallops, etc)?

 

So far I've been lucky and there has always been an Elite Hour. I can't imagine how useless this is if you already have the drink package.

The lure of the Elite Lounge for me has been and will always continue to be the social aspect. I've been on some cruises and never gone. I've been on others and I've been there on quite a few nights. I've met some really nice people in the lounge who I keep in touch with (Facebook is great!), but it's not just fellow guests. Case in point on Constellation in September. We had some excellent servers at the bar and chatted to them quite a bit. The Snack Assistant (yes, that was his title) Suraj was an absolute delight. To describe the snacks as cheap does them a disservice in my view. I thought they were very nice, at least on our sailing. I would vote to keep as is, but couldn't register because the poll is now closed.

Phil

 

Although having been on a few first cruises post refits we know that a little patience may be required.

I think that is the right attitude to have.

Phil

I heard there are going to be 800 people working on the ship during dry dock. It would be fun to see some photos of it all happening.

Phil