Carnevale

On Discovery last week the volume was a significant problem in and around the Piazza. We tried different things to get it corrected and it was turned down but only by a small amount and not for all events/performances. We also left almost all of the performances in the theatre very early due to excessive volume. GS ignored our first complaint. We tried again. The 2nd agent was much better and put in a report to the entertainment area but they ignored it. To her credit, the 2nd GS agent phoned to see if the entertainment staff had contacted us. We also asked a bar mgr to get it turned down and he tried but came back to tell us that the sound tech said it couldn’t be lowered which of course is not true. GS even tried to tell us they get complaints about it not being loud enough which is hard to believe. We also reported this issue on the survey as we have done in the past but Princess never seems to listen to its customers (has the excessive volume impacted their ability to listen?). It’s our biggest concern with Princess and, after last week’s sailing, I am not sure we would continue to sail on Princess except that we already have paid for our February cruise. If that one has the same problem then we likely will be done with Princess.

Did you happen to find out the total number onboard for this sailing? Any info about what countries the guests represented? We always enjoy these kinds of fun facts but haven’t seen it on this sailing. we get off tomorrow and are envious of your extra time onboard!

We checked in at LA for Discovery and were blue lane as shipping to Canada wasn’t available until after I had placed my order and I didn’t bother to change it. We got to the port around 11am and the blue line looked long but it moved quickly so we were on faster than expected.

We are also currently on Discovery. In our stateroom our download speed is 2.72 and upload is 0.93. Compared to other sailings we are happy with this and are lucky that we aren’t having any issues with it.

Following….. I am interested in this too…

We are currently on Discovery and have Plus. Tonight we ate at the Salty Dog Gastro Pub and it was hands down best meal we have had onboard plus it was walk in (with so many doing reservations for MDR it’s getting harder to get a two top as a walk in). We aren’t enjoying the MDR food as we have on past Princess sailings. Food is very subjective but, for us, the MDR isn’t cutting it. We are now really glad we have the Premium pkg for our February sailing as the value of the better wines and included unlimited dining in alternative venues will be worth it along with the two specialty dinners.

We are enjoying a CA coastal cruise on Discovery right now and this evening we had a terrific meal at the Salty Dog Gastro Pub - best food on this cruise to date. Does the Sapphire have a Salty dog Gastro Pub?

Thanks so much for this thread Bob - I am getting lots of good info from you. One question: how are the beds and pillows? We are currently on Discovery and are missing the great bedding we’ve had before. The beds are harder than the ones on Regal last year and the pillows are firm and thick. Hope Sapphire has the better beds and pillows we have enjoyed in the past.

We have enjoyed some time in Take Five after dinner having night caps (really good staff and bar tenders at this bar) and listening to the jazz trio. Right now it’s great venue. Hope it stays that way. For us our pillows have two challenges. Some (not all) are crunchy which might be the pillow protectors. And all of them are really thick and firm They are too thick to use two (as we normally do) yet not enough to just use one.

The Piazza is a difficult venue. There’s little to dampen the sound so it gets loud easily and there are too many other venues close by with nothing to stop or diminish sound carry over. We asked for the volume to be turned down a little but nothing was done. It’s good it worked for @PacnGoNow. We are finding it impossible to have a conversation in Good Spirits when the musicians are playing without having to almost yell which really has a negative impact on our enjoyment of that area. Thankfully we can escape to the bar at the Crown Grill but then we have to miss out on opportunities to dance.

We’re also on this sailing but just for this week and echo the comments by @Cruise Raider The main exception is that we have eaten either in IC (for breakfast - excellent food) but our lunch, afternoon tea and dinners in the MDR haven’t been great. The food has been mediocre at best and bad as well as cold at times. This has never been our experience on Princess before so is a surprise. There are some very good musicians onboard however the volume in the Piazza has been excessive which has made it too hard to stay in that area which is disappointing. We too have found the ship to be great and our bed good but it isn’t the wonderful Princess beds we’ve had on other ships. And it would be great if they had some other pillows as we don’t like the ones we have either. Like other Princess ships the staff are amazing.

Does anyone know what will be done during this refit?

We have loved sailing to Hawaii so that plus being booked on Sapphire for a February cruise around the bottom S America has me very interested in following your posts. Many thanks in advance for sharing your experiences on Sapphire. We love ballroom style dancing so if you happen to notice any onboard and can share where it took place we’d greatly appreciate it. And your observations on the condition of the ship will be good to read. We expect it’s in good shape but first hand experiences are the best way to know. Enjoy the hourly count down…..not much longer to go! We’re envious! Bon voyage!

For those in regular staterooms are these pop ups available to us and, if so, what is the cost? Thx!

Like @LadyL1 I think the Princess medallion and app are great. There are lots of very useful features and it is easy to use. But I expect there can be different experiences among others.

Do we have to purchase a Cunard wifi pkg in order to use the digital planner when on QM2? Or does it work via a free intranet?

I agree with all the comments re Air Tags. We have been using them for the past year and have had more peace of mind with luggage delivery that is slow and we managed to get an early start at lost luggage when we knew before luggage delivery started in the airport that our bags hadn’t made the plane (but we knew they were in the previous airport). We also have then in our carry on and hand bags in case we forget something somewhere along the way as we travel.

Do we have to request this in advance? I am not vegan so I don’t want this menu all the time but as I don’t eat meat or poultry there are some good options here. Can I ask for this menu once in a while after I am seated in the MDR?

I’m dismayed and disappointed with what has been described regarding Cunard’s reaction to this mess. I expected them to step up in a much better way than bitob has described. When people are disembarking they generally are heading for the airport so following up with luggage that is eventually found and returned to the pier requires Cunard’s intervention. And Cunard serving as a liaison with impacted guests is just customer service 101. I hope bitob that you will keep us posted on your experience and let us know how it gets resolved with Cunard. I wish you all the best with this unfortunate situation.

Great blog! Many thanks for sharing this info. I hope you continue for the rest of your cruise. Happy sailing!

Many thanks uktog for this review. All the things you noted as points in favour of Viking underscored areas were we felt Azamara really missed the mark. We have yet to try Viking ocean but as you specifically note these areas as positives over Azamara we are encouraged to give Viking ocean a try. We have sailed Viking river and see some similarities in our experience there with your experience at sea. Our next cruises are booked on Princess and Cunard both of which we have sailed before and which, for us, are lines we have found to be much better than Azamara. We realize there are a broad range of tastes and opinions when it comes to cruising and are grateful there are different lines with different types of offerings. It’s important to us to hear different opinions and, based on having read many other things you have posted, I feel confident accepting your observations so again, many thanks!

I don’t think it’s unreasonable to expect Azamara to better manage the use of space when bad weather forces everyone indoors. This clearly happens often enough that I expect them to have better backup plans. For example, why did they close the MDR so early and fail to open it for lunch when the ship couldn’t dock? On those days the buffet was too busy and room service wasn’t able to keep up yet the MDR sat unused. Likewise, why didn’t they have a better plan for White Night when it had to be indoors? They tried to squeeze everyone into the theatre when they could have had an additional offering of something in the Living Room (e.g., split up the entertainment staff into two groups and have some canned music and dancing in the LR). I understand that space is limited on the R class ships but when what is available is not used as effectively as it could be it creates customer dissatisfaction.

Can we get cappuccino or espresso in the MDR?

With apologies to the Azamara cheerleaders who my post may offend, I have to say that we continue to struggle to understand the comments on CC that say that while the pre-cruise experience was bad, the onboard experience was good. That was not our experience on Journey in July. While the public spaces looked good our stateroom was very worn and unacceptable. The food was not good. Some of the ports and the process of getting off and on the ship were very poorly handled with long lines we had to wait in. As the weather was bad the indoor spaces were extremely crowded - we have never felt as crowded on any of the other line we have sailed on including much larger ships. Compared to other lines (e.g., Regent, Viking, Princess) the onboard staff did not do much to respond to or follow up on issues. It felt like they were overwhelmed dealing with the issues people arrived with regarding their accounts, loyalty status, etc. Bottom line: we cruise once or twice a year but Azamara won’t get any more business from us.

Thanks to all who responded to my question about gala nights. I will wait and see.