jnjcruz

We did a Cuba cruise in spring with Azamara. Like you we read all the info on being required to use the organized ship tours. All ships give you the same info because it comes from the US govt. But we too found that once we reached Cuba there were no restrictions. We enjoyed our shore excursions, but in our free time we wandered around Havana on our own, took a hop on hop off bus, etc. Many people hired local taxis for tours or prearranged things with locals. Never any guarantees that this will continue to be the case, but if we took another Cuba cruise we would do more on our own.

I want to emphasize the idea of taking Canadian money or Euros to change--much better deal than US. There were money exchanges easily available at every port.

Enjoy the trip

Jay

I'm not going to complain about times. I just have difficulty with the whole idea that the "upper classes" get first crack at the excursions. Most cruise lines do just fine with letting first come first serve even if you are in steerage. We have gotten all our excursions (we are "middle level") but were on a Viking Med cruise on which we met people who could not get any included tours in Algeria--and you could not get off the ship without a tour.

It would also be nice if we could prebook a restaurant reservation for four. We are a party of four but prebooking is limited to one table for two. Yes, we can usually book on board, but it does feel like a put down.

It is what it is, but I wish it were different.

Jay

Is that the one that goes up the Irridalady not sure I spelt that right.

Yes my husband and I are still discussing and saying maybe we should leave the Angkor trip and do it with a river cruise another winter.

The Irriwady is in Myanmar. A wonderful river trip with glorious temples, but not near Angkor Wat.

We did the Viking trip up the Mekong (Vietnam and Cambodia) and thoroughly enjoyed it. The trip finished with three days in Siem Reap at a 5 star hotel. Good tours of Angkor Wat and a couple of nearby sites. I absolutely agree that you need at least two days there and three would be better. Do it from the ocean cruise only if there is no chance you could ever see it otherwise. But I highly recommend the river.

Jay

We've stayed here twice. Very convenient location downtown with good rates. Also has a shopping mall downstairs.

Check the executive floor.

You might also ask if the Classic package is available. That would give you more choices.

If not orderable online, how/where do we sign up for a premium (beer) package the first day of the cruise?

If you can't hit the tables at checkin just stop at any bar. The bartender will be glad to sign you up.

viator has a good hop on hop off bus. We have been to Paris three times and only did the bus on our last trip. Not only a good orientation for a newbie but great inexpensive transportation to a lot of different sites. (Also love the Metro). If you are a foodie go to Place de la Madeleine; the square with the church is surrounded by gourmet food shops. We stayed at the Marriott Rive Gauche last time. A few blocks walk from Notre Dame, a couple blocks from the Metro and in a lovely neighborhood.

Enjoy Paris.

Jay

Sneakers worked or solid sole sandals (not flip flops). We were glad we brought our own hiking sticks. Lava is tricky walking.

Thank you for your reply. My question wasn't really intended to be how to get there [private tour vs. ship excursion]; but rather, where is the best for sights and wildlife [read: penguins]. Is one area is better than another? For example, is a trip to Berkeley Sound better than one to Bluff Cove Lagoon?

We did a private tour to Volunteer Point which was marvelous: Gentoos, magellanics and King penguins. I definitely recommend taking a tour which says it has King penguins. They are like slightly smaller Emperors; absolutely marvelous. The Gentoos were fun to watch.

One of the ship tours went to a place with rockhoppers but no kings. The rockhoppers are cute, but I'd go with the kings any time. I think Bluff cove is supposed to have kings.

Jay

I'm a little late to post on this thread but we just returned from Myanmar on the Viking Mandalay -- yes it is the leased Pandaw Indochina, but also has a sign saying Viking Mandalay. So if anyone is upset about names you can take your pick.

The cabins are small and have no TV. Don't know why you would want to stay in your cabin when you can sit on the sundeck or in the dining room and watch the surroundings. You can have the beds pushed together to make one large bed--you just have less room to move around. Yes the erratic water pressure is annoying. But, honestly, if you are going to a developing country you should not expect the elegance of a European voyage.

I don't understand the food complaints. We thought it was very good and you always had multiple choices.

We thought the trip was great

Jay

We are departing from Singapore and have given ourselves two full days plus the morning of departure. What is best to cram in? We plan on walking their Chinatown area and the Flyer but zoo VS gardens?

The zoo is good but what is unique is their "night zoo". Special lighting so you can observe the nocturnal animals moving around. The orchid garden is spectacular--I didn't know so many types of orchids existed.

Jay

In Hiroshima we took the ship shuttle into town. It stopped very near the Hiroshima Peace Park. The museum there is superb; it tells about the atomic bombing and covers both the aftermath and the WWII context. We found it very evenhanded--not anti-American like some of the museums in Vietnam. The Peace Park itself is lovely. Nearby is Hiroshima Castle. You really don't need a tour here--do it yourself.

We took a very good shore excursion into Kyoto and saw a lot including a lovely Zen Buddhist temple, a fascinating warlord's palace, and a big shrine (and much more). We took the bus tour rather than paying extra for the bullet train.

You can't go wrong in Singapore. Even if you just walk around and visit little India, little China, the wall-to-wall shopping malls and the dozens of little restaurants you will have a great time. Nicest people we have ever met. But I do agree with other posts that the Orchid Garden is amazing.

Jay

Hi Everyone,

 

I'm very pleased to see that Azamara has listened to our concerns, and made the welcome adjustments to the Le Club Voyage program. I'm also gratified that my predictions that Azamara would listen to their guests and offer a compromise, proved to be the case. I was deeply disappointed that very few supported my numerous posts encouraging members to have patience and faith that Azamara would come through. I felt like Tom Hanks in Cast Away... stranded on an island by myself (and Wilson !) :) IMO, today's updates are a very fair compromise. As the LCV program stands now, there are several benefits that are greatly improved. I see it as a win-win for all.

 

Andy

I am delighted with the outcome, but the fact is that few corporations really listen to their customers these days. So patience and faith are hard to come by. I think we have all received the letters that start "To serve you better..." and then describe changes to your bank, your credit card or whatever that make life harder and/or more expensive. That makes Azamara a real standout and I'm already looking at new bookings.

Thanks. Responsiveness like this is what will keep us coming back. It is what we have enjoyed in the past and can now continue to expect from Azamara.

Jay

We love Azamara but increasingly wonder if that should be past tense. Now we are losing immediate, every voyage benefits (laundry, internet) for a long in the future possible benefit (assuming no further changes are made before we can collect). Like many others I'd rather have the harpist and more competitive fares than the Azamazing evenings we have experienced. The staff and atmosphere are still superb but we are starting to look elsewhere.

Jay

Ok I'm in countdown mode and a bit panicky. We added some stress to all of this by moving the week before our cruse which leaves this Saturday the 27th. I've printed the tags and I can't for the life of me remember when I put the cruise tags on the luggage the last time we cruised back in 2010.

 

Should I put them on just before we head out to the port? We're arriving in Rome a day early and will head out from our rome hotel on Saturday morning.

 

Thanks

We put them on just before we go to the port. Figure they're likely to get torn off on the plane. If your luggage does get lost or delayed, the airline will ask you where you want the bags delivered. These days they can usually even tell you where the bags are and when they will get to your destination.

But the porters will have extras at the port if needed.

I strongly suggest you make the dining change as soon as possible. On our last cruise select was full and I heard from a number of people who could not change from set dining even the first day.

Jay

Thanks for replies. I am interested in Fall and believe will stay with that Season.

 

We have done a lot of ocean cruising so do know that booking early for best price and cabin are important :)

We did the Danube with Viking in October, Nuremberg to the Black Sea with time in Prague beforehand. Weather was great and the crowds had thinned in the major cities.

The really irritating thing about limiting Michael's to suites is that now Michael's always seems empty. On our last cruise I think we saw passengers in there twice and each time it was only one group of three. Maybe on some ships it is being well used, but so far we haven't found anyone who said it was.

Renew! On a South America tour one couple's Brazil visa had run out a few days before and the whole group was held up. As someone noted Customs & Immigration don't negotiate well.

A lot of countries require that 6 month window now.

Jay

We were on the same cruise. I saw someone asked about brunch. No, there was no brunch. I've seen other posts about no brunch so the whole line may have dropped it. (sob)

Chef's table still seemed to be there.

The ship was fine, the food was very good and the staff was as great as ever. If you do this itinerary check out the little museum right next to the dock at Cobh/Cork. Great presentation of information on the Irish emigrations, the Titanic and the Lusitania.

Jay

thank you so much for your thoughts....

 

we are now looking only at AMA and AVALON....it is for the fall of '14 so we have time....

 

how do these two compare? if anyone has done them both, can you please chime in here?

We have not done both. We have done 5 with Viking and always had a good experience. We did one with Avalon and were not as pleased--more charges for side trips and poor communication with the local guides. We have known people who took AMA and Uniworld and heard good things about them.

Jay

Thanks for the responses. The meet and greet was the "official" connections party. We have done roll call parties at sailaway in the past, but that is always a smaller group so it works OK. The itinerary was port intensive so I even would have understood having it the first day, but a larger space was needed, such as the Constellation.

Jay

Just took a nice British Isles cruise on Infinity, but the meet and mingle was awful. It was at one side of the Sunset bar at sailaway so people were shoulder to shoulder. The activities director was there but with the crowd few could hear what he said. No attempt to have people introduce themselves and too crowded for anyone to try to get intros started. No refreshments (though of course you could buy your own drinks). On all other ships it has been in a quiet room big enough to circulate, there have been introductions and an opportunity for people setting up group activities to contact each other, and often coffee or some kind of refreshment.

Is this latest experience typical or unusual? It will influence whether I try to go to the meet and mingles in the future.

We have purchased open bookings several times with no trouble. This year when booking a British Isles cruise I gave them my open booking number, then began to tell them which of the 123 perks I wanted. The girl said I couldn't use 123 and the open booking together. OK I said leave off the open booking and I'll use it in the future. Then she said since she already had in the system all she could do is move it to some other cruise far in the future. So somehow I have my open booking applied to some unknown future cruise. I have been over the paperwork with a magnifying glass and found no reference to these restrictions. Very strange. Looking forward to sitting down with a future cruise planner and getting everything straightened out.

Jay