java spot

If you head over to other social media places you will find someone who posted at great length about traveling with her 7-year-old though I can't recall if it included the room setup.

On the topic of "all questions" - is there any reason I would not be able to board several hours after my listed boarding time. While in Iceland I'd prefer to be out touring rather than hanging out on the ship which will be there through the night.

@frogfish12 This is the first time that I'll be traveling on a brand new ship and cruise line, so the Facebook experience has been a novel one for me. I had not realized that the first cruise was a sales pep talk event, so to speak, so was just baffled when so many of the posts seemed to mimic the Explora language and post rhapsodic reviews of every corner of the ship that they thought would appeal to their clients. It was very frustrating as I am accustomed to Cruise Critic and well, the word critic is an important part of the name. I want to know the good and bad and hearing only the brilliant just made me anxious and sceptical. Now some actual passengers are providing some actual information and it is mostly positive but in a normal person kind of way. Apologies in advance if I am offending anyone.

@frogfish12. Last post was accurate. The TA posts, while helpful in regards to lot of photography around the ship, were PR pieces for Explora basically. And I was castigated for asking one TA why they had not responded to a post in which they were asked if they saw any areas that they felt needed improvement. It's also been bizarre that people report that they aren't allowed to post the wine list!

@Whipsnade I will look forward to your objective reports on the ship. It has been frustrating to have to weed through the glorious reports of TA's, etc when many of us have questions about logistical issues and also want to hear something other than what I consider an insipid PR campaign about an "ocean state of mind." I'm thankful that a few actual paid cruiser reports are starting to come through on facebook threads, and will very much look forward to your additions.

Thanks so much! @TER777 One more question. Strangely I did not see a refrigerator in the suites when gawking at all of the posted videos of the ship. Is there a fridge there?

I have a question for someone on board about a couple of little things which do have an impact on my decision-making about what to pack. Is there a choice of pillows in the suite? Are there down pillows of a variety of "strengths" (medium, firm, soft) and/or down alternative? Is it possible to change out? Also, I'm interested in knowing the brand of the soap, shampoo, conditioner and lotion in the cabins, From the images, I could only read gardenia but I will bring my own depending on what is reported. Thanks so much to anyone who can answer these queries.

$100 is the going price for a haircut in NYC, so at least on that service, seems "reasonable."

File a dispute with your credit card company (assuming you used one). That will get their attention very quickly. I had never done so until Crystal went bankrupt.

I went up into the mountain villages and thought it was gorgeous. If you are traveling with a group, it may be really nice to hire a driver to go up there so you can take more time. It was a hot summer day but 15 degrees cooler up in the mountains.

Twice I took Azamara cruises that were meant to stop in Egyptian ports, but political unrest prevented us. In 2020 I was supposed to go to Egypt but on the day of my departure, New York was starting to shut down because of covid. I'm leaving tomorrow for Cairo. I think it's past the 3rd time is a charm point, but I rather wish I'd waited to go on this cruise, which seems like a lot less work than going on tour.

I was in an obstructed view cabin once on a Sydney to Auckland trip. It was shockingly small; even the bathroom was smaller than the normal cabins. In addition to the lifeboat outside the window, they seem to need to light up the lifeboats, and the light made it through the alleged room darkening curtains.. They had to cover my window up with cardboard at night. In addition, there was a lot of noise generated from the lifeboat - possibly wind making it move about. A day after disembarkation I flew to Sydney and was on a Seabourn cruise from Sydney to Bali. My bathroom on Seabourn was larger than my cabin on Azamara. It took me several years to return to Azamara.

I think your TA could request some extra OBC or some other compensatory good will gesture. I am fairly sure that is what has happened to me in similar situations. (which seem to happen quite frequently)

I remember when Sycamore purchased Azamara this board expressed hope that these bogus sales would come to an end. I am surprised to be reading of the same old tactics.