andrcan

1 hour ago, takemewithyou said:

It’s things like that, that make me love Azamara as well.  
It sounds like your case got dropped in water or sat out in a rainstorm?  
 

I was just reading last night on a travel web site about a covering that is waterproof that you can put on your suitcase to protect it from scuff marks, as well. It was priced between $11 and $17, based on the size.  I may purchase one, especially after reading your story!   It was on Amazon.

Stories like this one make me understand why they say “Welcome home!” at Azamara!

Since my college years, I always pack stacks of folded clothes in the plastic shopping bags before putting them into the suitcase. Shirts separately, shorts separately, etc. Better protection, better navigation, easy to pack/unpack. Saved me from trouble a couple of times when my suitcase was delivered wet)

8 minutes ago, uktog said:

Are you still in Patmos or is the ship cleared to move to its next port. 
Such an awful situation for both those on the bridge seeing it happen and all ashore affected 

Vesselfinder shows they are still in Patmos just off the port: https://www.vesselfinder.com/?imo=9200940

Such a tragedy 😞

1 hour ago, mj_holiday said:

I am sure that the laundry soap is environmentally friendly to the ocean.

Wish I could say the same about my gym socks… 🥺

1 minute ago, luv2travel90266 said:

Ever had your phone run out of battery or decide to do an operating system update at a very inconvenient time? 😬

👏Always!

6 hours ago, uktog said:

French chefs table. A fabulous wine pairing on journey 

Talking about paired wine, do they refill the glass? ☺️

55 minutes ago, uktog said:

Agree, we loved on 6 October Journey cruise.  We didn’t do the Italian (too many substitutes needed to remove nuts) and had the Explorers Dinner would happen on the 13th but it was cancelled due to low demand 

 

Thank you so much for posting the menu - you and Jazzbeau convinced me to try it next time I’m on board (which is in less than 2 mts - in fact, just yesterday we were talking about it, so perfect timing)!

2 hours ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

The paired Châteauneuf-du-Pape was so good that I bought a bottle!

Yes, I love it, too - smooth and full body, with lovely structure; here in Ontario we still have it at $55 CAD but in Quebec it’s all gone! 

1 hour ago, luvtocruise923 said:

Hi Everyone,

We'll be on Quest soon...so excited to finally travel!  Does anyone know if there are mahjong sets available to use on Quest?

Thanks,

Pauline

You can get mahjong set from Guest Relations, they have it.

No more FOD but more alphabet on my last cruise in June)

1 hour ago, FlyerTalker said:

Can't remember....is the laundry room 24 hours, or restricted and locked as Silversea does?

Open 8am to 9pm, locked overnight.

30 minutes ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

 

On Journey right now.  The laundromat soap is provided free of charge.  It is heavily scented [no matter what they say]

Another supply chain issue, I guess. Well, better be scented soap than undrinkable wine)

18 hours ago, trk_koa said:

Is it scented?

They specifically say it is unscented.

1 hour ago, tyler6597 said:

The itinerary for our 12 night treasures of the Mediterranean voyage cruise starting May 6, 2023 and ends in Venice on May 18, 2023 with a overnight in Venice on May 17, 2023 calls for the Journey to be at the Marghera port in Venice which is just outside of Venice. I am so happy that were not docking in Trieste or Ravenna. The web link for this is https://www.cruisetimetables.com/veniceitalyschedule-17may2023.html

Tyler

Yes, it looks like Azamara ships are scheduled to dock there starting April’23. This is very nice news indeed.

41 minutes ago, Mrs Humuhumu said:

We are scheduled to stop at Liverno on the Pursuit at the end of March 2023. We would like to go into the town of Florence and it is my understanding that it is a bit of a drive from the port. Does anyone have any good tips about how to get from the port to the City of Florence? I don't suppose Azamara provides shuttles but that we will be on our own. Any tips or advice would be helpful. Thank you!

Well it's been pre-covid but we used to take Trenitalia trains - they departed for Florence from Livorno Centrale station every half an hour or so and it took them some one and a half hour give and take ten mins to reach Florence. Takes less than 10 mins to get to Livorno Centrale from the port with a cab.

Forget no mention: trains arrive in Florence at Santa Maria Novella station, which is very centrally located - a 5 min walk to the Cathedral.

On our Pursuit cruise last June that ended with an overnight stay in Lisbon, early disembarkation started at 4am. Windows cafe opened at 4:30am for continental breakfast. You may need to arrange for transportation to the airport though as the earliest AZ shuttle bus departs at 7:30am; the ship docks next to Santa Apollonia train station so you may catch the cab from there or book it in advance; I would allocate 1 hr to get to the airport from there just to be safe as at such an early hour, it would take less than that (Google shows 18 mins).

Men will have to shave every day now 🥺

This is the Pursuit Nov 19 roll call thread:

Cozumel - been there several times over the last 15 years with my husband and other gay friends; very safe and lovely beaches.

Belize - been there some 10 years ago; we didn’t walk around the town as it looked poor and boring but took a jungle and caves tour, which was a lot of fun.

Roatan - Mahogany Bay is safe and nice; we also walked around Roatan town where we docked with Atlantis cruise earlier this year - it’s safe but very poor and nothing to do.

4 hours ago, Mackdogmolly said:

I can’t even imagine the price tag!

Shouldn't be more than renting a super yacht, which is in the ballpark of $ 3,000 to 4,000 per day per person.

31 minutes ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

New article on Cruise Industry News:

Four Seasons Set to Start Cruise Brand

 

One of the founding execs is Larry Pimentel.  But this brand will be way way above the level of Azamara, with the smallest suite at 54 square meters (581 square feet)!

Intriguing. With the dimensions slightly above those of Azamara vessels, they may be able to provide quite a variety of facilities for less than 200 guests. 

9 hours ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

Apparently it's much more in Europe, which doesn't have Canada's lovely hydropower.

About  2 times more in Italy.

3 hours ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

I love watching glass blowing demonstrations, but even in the audience you can feel the heat when they open the doors – that heat requires HUGE amounts of energy, which as we all know is in short supply at the moment.  Even some of the luxury glass blowers in Murano, Venice are shutting down because they can't pay the energy bills.  So no surprise that lower-value glass operations (like bottles) aren't churning them out.

Italian wine bottle makers estimate energy consumption required to produce one 750 ml wine bottle to be about 7 MJ, which roughly converts to 2 kWh, that’s about 20 US cents in Canada (for industry).

Wow, I thought this would be some kinda obsolete act that no one really cares about… Thanks, this is good to know.

9 minutes ago, njhorseman said:

No, you can't do a Seward to LA cruise because that would violate the Passenger Vessel Services Act. That type of itinerary from one US port to a different US port requires a port call at what is known as a distant foreign port, but there are no distant foreign ports within thousands of miles of that itinerary.

 

The examples you cited were of a completely different type of itinerary where you and your brother eventually embarked in foreign countries, which eliminated the PVSA issue.

My understanding was, there’s a $798 pp fine for PVSC violation that the cruise line would ask the passengers to pay, otherwise it’s ok to travel.

 If you want Seward to LA and they only have LA to LA, you may have to pay for unused LA to Seward part of the cruise but embarkation along the route used to be ok before COVID pandemic started - once upon a time, we missed Miami embarkation due to the weather related flight delay and had to fly to StMaarten to catch the ship, and my brother embarked the ship in Barbados instead of Puerto Rico;

COVID changed things; last January, we were told that since everyone had to be tested at embarkation, no further embarkation along the route were allowed. Since testing is being phased out, I expect embarkation along the route to be permitted again but I’d rather check it with the cruise line.

Hope this helps.