travelberlin

Last evening we had a very nice show. Four ladies, beautiful, young and with marvelous soprano voices, performed open air on the pool deck of the Azamara Pursuit. The style was Pop Opera, which included well known arias from Bizet and Verdi and also songs from ABBA. The end song was Com te partiro, which is one of my favorite songs. Overall was a nice evening and I have enjoyed it. However this type of entertainment on board is offered at the moment instead of the Azamazing Evenings. And there is where my problem lies. It is not at the level of the Azamazing Evenings because those evenings were more than the talented performers. Those evenings were set on beautiful and/or meaningful places. I recall one for example in the Wadi dessert in Jordania where I have asked a lady completely covered in Burka if I could take a picture of her and she agreed and looked straight into my camera, of course without removing the Burka. Or I remember another in Sankt Petersburg where the symphonic orchestra performed just for us and the director of the orchestra kept talking and talking and the Cruise Director and the Captain tried to end the evening to come back to the ship but it was kind of difficult to stop him 😃 Or another Azamazing evening in Cyprus in a wonderful setting in which it rained, and rained. On that evening the orchestra performed a composition by a lady from Cyprus who was there and with whom I had the chance to talk afterwards. The cruise director Russ was kind of knighted on the evening in the order of Saint John. It was memorable and some years later Russ remembered that evening during a meet and mingle meeting as one of the worst Azamazing evenings 😊 I am sure the reason were the logistics because of the rain. And I could go on… IMO the evening last night could not match those experiences. I understand that it has been done like this because of COVID, but since Azamara has dropped precautions in relation to COVID, I guess they might also be in the position to start conducting again the Azamazing evenings as before. Ivi

Kotor is one of the ports I like the most Adrian. Especially if the ship is staying overnight in Kotor, it is lovely to visit and enjoy some nice food or drinks. At the moment I am having a break before returning to the ship in our second day in Livorno. Ivi

Thank you for following! The application is called Komoot. It is very good. I have bought many years a package which covers the whole world. I have used it every where even for hiking in Switzerland and Austria. Ivi

Hi Beamafar thanks for your post. I have learned a lot from your posts on the MSC forum. My husband and I are cruising to the Norway Fjords in Juni with MSC. Welcome to Azamara. It is such a different experience than MSC… Ivi

Today we are in Livorno. Since I have been in all the places you can reach from Livorno like Lucca, Pisa, and even Florence once, which is really not a good idea because it is so far away from here, I decided to explore Livorno. I have an application for finding my way around the world and I have decided to use that application. It tells me directly from my phone how I shall proceed. I do not need a map in my hand and I do not look too much as a tourist, which is good when traveling alone. The app gives me recommendations to take the most interesting route, not the shortest. By the way for those new to Azamara, on the 4th floor at guests relations there are always maps and infos about the port of calls. Before COVID representatives from the tourist information services used to board the ship. Now it is just printed information, which the friendly people at guest relation will hand to you. There is also print outs with the main news of the several countries. With the help of that app I started my walk in Livorno in the direction of the New Fortress, which is like a park. Today Sunday so not many shops were open. However on via grande on the left side of the road going to the Cathedral, a small shop was open. Out of curiosity I went in there and an old Italian Gentleman, the owner. He told me he was closing and had reduced his prices because of that reason. The reason for closing the shop was because people have intended/broken in three times in his shop. He has shown me pictures of the way the windows looked after those break ins. I felt sorry for him and I have bought a purse, which he said it is made in Florence (Giulia Peralli). Maybe those going to Livorno will see his shop… My further walk took me through empty streets on this Sunday. Funny looking people walking around. I felt uneasy but I have continued my walk up to the New Fortress. Once there, I was almost alone and it is a public free place. A couple of men which did not look like they were going for a walk in the park arrived and fortunately also a couple of tourists. I did no continue my walk there and left with the couple of tourists in close proximity. I have continued my walk in direction to the ship this time. Many interesting places to see on the way. The channels that are like a caricature from Venice, Churches, which in Italy as usual are just a pleasure to visit. There is always something new. One thing that called my attention were the many graffitis from apparently love driven people who were asking for forgiveness from their beloved: “who loves forgive…” said their public declarations on the walls 🤨 there was even one who had painted a figure of Pinocchio with a very long nose 🤥 and who said “I love you”. We all know why Pinocchio has such a long nose… Also on my way back, I was able to explore the old fortress which is near the port. Nice place. I think there the previous cruise had the Azamazing evening. Back on the ship, I had a very good lunch. The special today was a seafood stew Tuscany style. I also had a good Rose from Italy: Santa Cristina. Thanks a lot for following my cruise and my experiences! Ivi

I am sure your experience was also good 😊 Ivi

Joyride, I will not be on that cruise. I am here only until Barcelona. Please do a life thread of your experience. It will be lovely to follow your trip and to see how you experience Azamara. Ivi

I could see that there is a Rose from Spain called Villa Esmeralda. I have tasted it but it was not cold enough, so I did not like it. Ivi

Good Morning 🌞 What a fantastic “Night at the Opera” we had last night! The small theater onboard the Pursuit was full. Unfortunately only about 10 people wearing masks. I wish they had kept the enforcement of mask wearing in the theater. So many people in an inside room with poor ventilation…. Two Opera singers came on board. David Righeschi and Maria Salvini. Wow! Standing ovation last night for them. They have sang the most known arias from several operas. From Carmen, La Traviata, Tosca, Turandot… they were just amazing. They have also done an homage to Ennio Morricone and presented a beautiful interpretation of the last scene of Cinema Paradiso. Remember that movie? It was lovely. Ivi

Enjoying your posts Adrian 👍😃 Ivi

Tonight I have just had a very good dinner. It is the English theme night. I had fish and ships as a starter and chicken korma as main 😋Please forgive me my English friends but I have not been in India and the best Indian food I had was in London. I am enjoying the food very much. Only the pizza and the chili con carne did not meet my expectations. We have a free rider with us as we leave Civitavecchia… Ivi

Man overboard. My picture does not show all the details clearly but it is an interesting mosaic. Ivi

Definitely yes 👍

Today mussels on the ship. Very tasty but small portions. My first portion came 4 mussels and one was closed. So I order a second portion. Again one closed… in total I have eaten 6 mussels. I was too shy to order a third, fourth… Ivi

Today in Civitavecchia I was seriously consider to stay on board, but then I have thought it would be good for me if I go for a walk. Without knowing what to do because I have been at the main attractions in Civitavecchia before, I have decided to go and explore. The port offers a shuttle bus every half an hour which is convenient. What is not convenient is that the ship is docked very far away from the main entrance to the port and that the shuttle stop is also very far away from that entrance but on the other direction! Once on Civitavecchia, I have tried to get to Tarquinia by public transport but I was not prepared with enough information and once I arrived at the Train Station, I could not find out how I could get there and most important, hoe to come back without much stress. After gesticulating for a while with the person selling tickets at the train station and seeing that there was forming a queue without me going to be able to go no where, I have just said “Grazie” as charmant as I could, and I moved on. Actually, I was lucky because, left from the train station there was a small beach and a place called Pirgo, which apparently was kind of very well visited by Romans. Nice restaurants there, which I have resisted since on the ship we were going to get fresh mussels. It was a very nice morning with a coffee break (I have learned once from my Italian guide in Calabria, that in Italy you do not look for a toilet. If you want to use one you go for coffee 😄). On the small beach in Pirgo, I became very sociable because there were some Italians walking their dogs and since I like dogs, I always start a conversation when I see one. I have gesticulated again for a while since my Italian is very rudimentary 😃. I am attaching a picture of a mosaic which I found interesting in Civitavecchia and which I have seen for the first time. Maybe some of you know it already? Ivi PD sent from ny cell data because internet on ship not working 😩

Thanks Grandma! I will try it. Ivi

Thanks a lot for your comments! They motivate me to continue. Posting is not very easy because of the Internet connection which disappears quite often. I have to rewrite my posts several times. The internet package for the whole cruise costs for this full voyage about US 180. Besides being expensive it is very deficient. Nowadays internet is free of charge in most ships and with a much better quality. I do not recall that pre COVID time was already this bad 🧐. As a discover plus member, I have a discount of 75% but still… Fortunately this is a port intensive itinerary and I am able to log into the internet in the ports using my cell data. please excuse me if you get my posts one after the other if I am just talking to myself or with mistakes. I try to make the most of the Internet availability once I have access. We have arrived in Civitavechia: the harbour of Italy 😉 Ivi

The Pursuit as seen from Sorrento.

Those are the included red wines being served on the Pursuit during this cruise. The Pinotage from South Africa, the Shiraz and the Cabernet from France and the Merlot from Italy. Ivi

Hey Adrian! I will be following… My husband and I have sailed on the Royal Clipper. It is a completely different experience as you can imagine… just today on the tender boat from Azamara I was remembering the Royal Clipper which also tendered in almost all the ports of call. Our plans changed also due to the Crystal situation. We were actually going to end up our World Cruise at this time if the year. Ivi

Phil thanks a lot for your advice, from Mrs Miggings and from others. I love how the cruise critic community is so helpful giving tips along the different ports. As an independent travel I really appreciate this. I have followed Mrs Miggings advice and took the public lift to come up. Sorrento is really charming. I came to the Victoria Hotel and I am waiting for my drink. A beautiful place 👌 I might go back by lift or walking not sure yet. I am attaching some pictures of Sorrento. My pictures always come lije glued together. Any ideas how to have spaces between them? Ivi

Have a wonderful cruise Adrian! I would love to hear if you like it. Ivi

Welcome to Sorrento 🤩 after a lovely breakfast ready to explore it. We are tendered. I was here before but I do not remember it because we just went to Pompeii which was quite easy to reach by train from here. We have received the information that there is a strike in the public transportation in the whole Italy. Apparently the reason is that this department is protesting about money being used to support Ukraine while their demands are not being met. I am curious how far I can reach by foot … Ivi

The town of Giardini Naxos has several beaches (Lidos). Most of them private. It seems to attract well off people because the prices at the restaurants are a little high. When in Sicily, I can’t resist two of the specialities: Arancini and Cannoli. Since I have seen that on Windows we would have cannoli I went for the Arancini. It was excellent in a charming little place. Back on the ship I had cannoli and a small pavlova. Both wonderful 😋. I have tried to post the picture but I am unable. I am enjoying the food at the Azamara Pursuit. Ivi

Today was our first port of call: Giardini Naxos. We have tendered with a nice view from Giardini and from Taormina. Since I was in Taormina many times before, I decided not to go there but to explore Giardini Naxos. I was lucky because just in front of the place where the tender boats stop there is an Archeological Museum. Apparently Naxos was the first Greek Settlement in Sicily. The Museum was a pleasure to walk at the time I was there. It is open air and with many trees and flowers and sounds of birds and smell of Eucalyptus. This is how one imagines Sicily… Goethe has written about the beauty of Sicily and I always remember his words when I come here: “Do you know the place where the lemon flowers…”. Ivi