travelberlin

How long is your cruise? Looking forward to reading about your experiences. Ivi

Adrian have you seen how many bottles of champagne and wine have been consumed during my cruise? I will be looking forward to see how many will be in your cruise 😄 Ivi

Thank you 🙏🏼 I see you are starting a cruise with the Quest today. Have a great and safe cruise. Ivi

Thank you Phil! I took your advice of booking Welcome Pickups. It functioned perfect 👍. Are there only in Barcelona or elsewhere? Ivi

Thanks Betsey, at the moment I have landed safely in Frankfurt. Many flights have been cancelled, but I do not see a bad weather at the moment. I hope it stays that way. Ivi

It does not apply to the spa treatments but there an automatic gratuity of 18% will be added to your bill. I am not sure about the rates but in the case of the product I have paid at the shop in which the Greek tax was applied, it was 24%. Ivi

Buenos días. First to say I am very sad of what happened in that school in Texas. My thoughts and prayers are with the families of those children and teachers. We have arrived in Barcelona. We are docked at the World Trade Center. Here some numbers in relation to the cruise which ends today. Ivi

Update on my flight: I was able to get a seat on the apparently only flight leaving from Frankfurt to Berlin tomorrow 🙏🏼 I will have to wait some hours in Frankfurt but it is OK. This evening, I had a nice meal at the Windows. The last for this cruise. Unfortunately the Sunset Veranda is not operating because some bad weather is supposed to come. Until now we are fine. The food tonight is Indian food and remember our executive is Nathan from India? As far as I can evaluate, it is very good. Spicy yes… I will need some anti acids tonight. Ivi

Hi Terry good to see you here 👍😊 Ivi

Today lunch special Bouillabaisse in Marseille 😋 I had a nice riesling with it. Ivi

My favorite champagne 🍾 Ivi

You are so kind😊 Lufthansa did not contact me to offer an alternative. My husband called them from Berlin and they told him it was not easy because the flights from Frankfurt to Berlin have been cancelled due to bad weather in Frankfurt. My flight from Barcelona however was expected to arrive in Frankfurt anyhow. I wonder how if there was going to be bad weather 🧐 Since I am flying business they promised my husband to put me in the only flight leaving from Frankfurt to Berlin later in the evening. I have not received any confirmation yet that this is the case. So I am still in Limbo… Ivi

Hi Keith I am glad to see you and some other friends from Crystal around. I am in the Azamara Pursuit right now, also doing a life thread. It would be lovely to see you and Anne Marie again on board a ship one day. Ivi

Thanks Joyride. I have booked my flights independently. I am waiting to see if Lufthansa offers me an alternative flight. I am a frequent traveler with them. They are supposed to do that. If I do not hear from them until lunch time, I will contact them. Ivi

I have drank Sauvignon blanc, Pino grigio and Chardonnay. I like the Chardonnay the best. I have not seen that wines are changed every day as they advertise in the included package. They have been the same for the whole cruise. Ivi

Good morning. Thanks again for following my cruise. Yesterday we have docked in Nice. I love Nice. I have been there before for a long stay, but it is the first time that I have arrived by ship. The Azamara Pursuit docked directly on the port of Nice and not in Villefranche Sur Mer, like other bigger ships. I went to Cours Saleya, which is a nice market. From the ship it was a good 45 minutes to walk there. Near Cours Saleya there is a place where I found a table cloth Provence Style, which I was looking for. After buying it, I continued to walk in the area of old Nice and the Promenade d’Anglais. Many people in the area. Early in the morning mainly locals. Later on mainly tourists. I had booked a table for lunch in advance at a restaurant where I had eaten before. It is called Terre des Truffles and it serves all its dishes with fresh truffles. I had a nice lunch with champagne there. I was impressed how empty it was! All other restaurants in the area had more guests. Ok, maybe it was because it was more expensive than the others but we are talking about fresh truffles… For the afternoon I had booked a spa treatment on the ship which was kind of luxury manicure and pedicure. Kharen from Philippines did a very good job. After walking yesterday more than 9 kmts my feet were thankful for the pedicure, which included a good massage. Last night it was the white party on deck 9 around the pool. Unfortunately it started to rain. The party moved inside to the Living Room. Since I avoid interior rooms with lots of people, I did not participate in the party. I had however a good meal before the rain started. I have not seen lobster tails but there were other seafood. The white party on the Azamara ships are the best on any ship according to my opinion. During the cruises with Azamara, I have never seen king crab legs in the restaurants. I have seen lobster tails but never king crab legs. I would love to have them included in the menu. Maybe in Prime C? Overall it was a lovely stay in Nice. Only last night I have got an email from Lufthansa informing me that my flight to Berlin has been cancelled. Not sure yet how to solve that. This is one of the reasons why I would never fly to take a cruise on the day, the ship departs. Fortunately, this time I am returning to Berlin. Ivi

No lobsters and no caviar. Plenty of seafood. I am at the white party right now. Ivi

I have only cruised once with Windstar. It was the Star Legend. They have played Conquest of Paradise and I did not notice any strange. I think the composer is Vangelis? He just passed away😔 Ivi

Beware of the Greek taxes Adrian if you want to buy something from the shop onboard. I have bought perfume, which was supposed to cost US 62 and because of the Greek tax which for some reason is valid during my whole cruise although we have long left Greece, I ended paying US 77. Ivi

I can confirm that they do have it. I will try tomorrow 😋

From San Francisco to New York. I had booked that cruise with another cruise line for August this year but the company went bankrupt 😔 Ivi

For those who are wondering about the toiletries onboard, I found that the body lotion and the soap are fine. Thanks to UKtog who advised us on shampoo and conditioner, I have brought mine. I have tried them once and I agree with Uktog. Better bring yours. Ivi

Yes I took your advice. Now I have increased the size to 12. Is that better? Shall I increase more? thank you! Ivi

Good morning 🌞 i am posting early because internet seems to work better at this time. Yesterday was our second day in Livorno and our last day in Italy. I had my breakfast at the Discoveries restaurant. I have not eaten there before during this cruise because I am enjoying the terrace of the Windows restaurant and also the concept that you can order a la carte there and not just have a buffet. The weather is nice at this time of the year in this region and the terrace is perfect. But yesterday morning I wanted to have shakshuka and this is only available at the Discoveries restaurant. It was very tasty. After breakfast I decided to go to the Museo Cívico, which apparently has good works of art. This was about 2 kmts walk from the ship. I have grabbed a bottle of water on my way out, which Azamara always has ready for us in all ports of call. Unfortunately I have forgotten that it was Monday and on Monday museums are closed😔. There is a small park there, where many people were walking their dogs. Afterwards I went to the Terrace Mascagni, a nice promenade along the sea. Overall I have walked 6 kmts yesterday morning. I have to admit that I arrived quite tired at the ship. My stay in Livorno was fine but it is not a port, which I find attractive. I prefer to stay overnight in ports which are smaller and which allow for a better destination experience in the evenings. One thing which I noticed last evening at sail away time is that Azamara did not play a sail away song like other ships. MSC plays Con te partiro, Windstar plays Conquest of Paradise, Mein Schiff plays Grosse Freiheit and Crystal used to play Wonderful World. All beautiful songs and when we hear them we remember our cruises. Does Azamara have one song for sail aways? Ivi

I know many of us have been very disappointed about the pre cruise experience with Azamara. I know many first time cruisers with Azamara are wondering based on the pre cruise communication if it was a good idea to book with Azamara. Here I would like to post my impression on the people working on the Azamara Pursuit right now and who are one of the main reasons why we return. After I arrived at the terminal and was waiting to board, I was approached by a friendly lady who offered me some water. She is Ngawhira from New Zealand, the hotel director in this cruise. I did not know at that moment that she was the hotel director but I have remembered her from previous cruises. I have always liked Heike, the previous cruise director on this ship who just left for vacation and I was not sure how things were going to work with the new hotel director. In my opinion, Ngawhira is doing a very good job. She is friendly and attentive. Everything seems to be running smooth and the crew seems to be happy. There is also Juan from Honduras who is my cabin attendant and keeps my cabin clean and tidy. My interaction with the guest relation personnel has been positive. I have met German from Costa Rica, the guest relations manager, in previous cruises. He is approachable and able to quickly find solutions to problems we might present to him. Nathan, the executive chef, together with the people working with him is spoiling us with good food and is responsible that I will leave this ship with a couple of kilos more. The waiters are friendly, efficient and pay attention to details. I have met some of them also in previous cruises. For example Irina. I am glad there are back. The officers make a very good impression. Captain Mikael gives the impression we are in good hands. I like also how the Cruise Director Ernest approaches his job. And finally there is Elisa, the cruise sales manager who has helped me book my next cruise 😃 As you see, I am a happy cruiser until now 😎. Ivi