flb

We are booked to sail on the Quest on the April 18 Springtime in Asia cruise.  There has been a lot of discussion on the roll call for that voyage about the need for a Vietnam visa.  While on the Pursuit in January I asked them to message the Quest and the Documentation Officer onboard the Quest.responded: "A visa on arrival will be provided for the guests onboard the ship, it’s validity will be lasting for all the ports of call in Vietnam. The cost of this is US$20.00 per person.

If you wish to stay overnight or disembark in Vietnam, an individual visa should be applied at a variable cost.

*information is subject to change"

Now some people are being told by Azamara that we need to get our own visa before we sail.  You may have heard that Aamara's website is down for transition to their new system and it is impossible to call them.

Can I ask a favor from one of you who are on the Quest now that will help all of us in the April 18 sailing?  Could you please ask the people on the Quest and verify what the true story is with Vietnam visas.  Your fellow Cruise Critic members would very very appreciative.

We are on the AMACerto it is Saturday night just before midnight and we are in the lock. It is operational and we are finally on our way.

Tomorrow we will be sailing all day to Vienna where we will stop for refueling.

What happens after tomorrow is still a mystery to us. The going assumption is we will make get to some of the planned ports of call and the cruise will end somewhere short of Amsterdam. Then and we will be bused from there to Amsterdam. Hopefully they will tell us more tomorrow

We are on AMACerto stuck in Gonyu, Hungary. We left Budapest on Wednesday and were told that the captain had just been informed that the lock was closed for repair and it would take three or four days but nothing definite. They took us to Estergom, not on our original itinarary, and bused us ~ 1 hour to Szentendre for an hour tour and then back to the ship. On Thursday they moved the ship to Komarom and then bused us 1.5+ hours to Bratislava for a 1 hour tour and then back to the ship. Today, Friday, they moved the ship once again to Gonyu, Hungary and bused us to Vienna. They provided a one hour tour, lunch and a tour of Schonbrunn Palace before a 2.5+ hour bus trip back to the ship. Tomorrow they are offering tours to Neusiedl, Austria, 1.5 hours, or Gyor, Hungary .5 hours.

The captain and cruise manger keep telling us they have no news on when the lock will be open. Tonight they said maybe Sunday sometime, but no guarantees. They will not tell us what the plans are for the rest of the cruise assuming the lock opens. They have not mentioned moving us to hotels like other cruise lines have done. So we are stuck in Hungary waiting and seeing places we have never heard of and never had a desire to see.

We are due in Amsterdam on August 10 and it looks like we will have to miss most of the ports on the way to make it, that assumes the lock opens soon.