DS

Have anyone received an email offering them a bid on an upgrade on Journey, West Africa, Capetown to Lisbon on March 4th?

I regularily have Manhattans, Martinis and Gimblets with no added cost... listed spirits only.... if you want rye or top shelf bouron or gin, its extra

Just FYI....excursions are usually cheaper to book on line pre cruise....once on board the same excursion is $10 per person or more. That wold be like throwing money away to cancel and rebook...

Have you asked the AZamara Loyality people? loyalty@azamara.com; AzamaraGuestRelations@Azamara.com

Thanks! Sound like a extensive, if slow starting day. We are currently scheduled to be there in March on Azamara ( although the Azamara Nov cruise did not make it), so your news is good news!

Did you actually get to Ivory Coast? Most cruise ships recently ( Regent, Azamara) have had to cancel this port... Perhaps they just opened???

We have had two YF shots, years apart... no noticeable ( and remembered) side effects except, like any shot, a pain the arm later that day

HEY... there were only about 280 of us aboard the TA, and I'm sure we did not drink the ship dry... AND... you had a port call in Miami, home of Azamara... why not more suppies onboard.... DON"T BLAME US!

The Quest sailed out of Miami last winter...we were on the Christmas cruise, you remember, the one that ended up with 30-40 passengers with COVID and more than 60 crew either sick or isolated. Also missed almost half the scheduled island ports...Captain Johannes always found new ones!

The RCCL big book was apparently softcopy and they were literally no longer able to access it. They did go by memory and try to replicate the procedures, but sometimes memory is incomplete or differs. Tony said they wanted a native English speaker with some writing experience and a long tenure onboard with Azamara -- he has these although not as HD

An extract of what I posted on "anyone onboard currently" about wines.. ...Comp wines are a mix of Azamara labeled and others (a very nice other Syrah last night…). Tony had a Q&A today and wines were discussed: head office has hired a sommelier to revamp the entire wine (and other liquor packages) program;... .... They did have a second container full of wine, which they found in Sydney. After it had sat for a year or more in heat and cold and heat and… they ended up throwing most of it away… tested one bottle per case, then if needed dumped the rest. (Now there’s a job that we passengers could have helped with if they had asked!) One of the things "Jonathan" ... the guy hired to look at the wine program... is specifically looking at is a country intensive wine program for those cruises that are "country intensive" Not sure yet if it will be the comp wines or the "revenue wines" or maybe a stand alone package. Tony also noted that Azamara has entered into an agreement with Chateau St Michelle ( which is also owned by Sycamore Partners) to provide more wines... again, not sure if house wines or "revenue wines" -- Tony's words...

Onboard the ONWARD, Transatlantic from Lisbon yesterday (11/20) to Miami (12/1). Number of passengers about 315 ( or 317, or…). Senior Officers are: Captain Gianmario Sanuineti Hotel Director Tony Markey Cruise Director Eric De Gray Asst CD Martin Lawson F&B Iwn Pennings Ex Chef Shiju Sekharan. Our only port stop was to be Hamilton Bermuda, but today, in his noon announcements the Captain said we had to redirect because of a couple of low pressure systems in the mid-Atlantic that were making 5 to 6 meter waves, so we could not maintain enough speed to get there on schedule. Instead, they are investigating Nassau, and we are taking a more southern route. Given the earlier kerfuffle about Bermuda landing permits, fees, etc., I’m sure this will generate a bunch of conversation… A lot of the crew who have been on in the fall left before this cruise because of US visa issues: we lost a couple of dining room waiters we had in the fall, one of the butlers, several of the bar waiters. In fact, our room steward was brought over from another ship simply because he had US visa. In response to frequent topics: Patio open for lunch, but not for dinner (not enough quests per the staff); Comp wines are a mix of Azamara labeled and others (a very nice other Syrah last night…). Tony had a Q&A today and wines were discussed: head office has hired a sommelier to revamp the entire wine (and other liquor packages) program; No info on tonic water (not my usual mixer…). Other topics from Tony… The comms difficulties with shore side was discussed. They are keenly aware of our difficulties. They closed the Wichita call center during the pandemic, and when they reopened only about 20% of the people came back –others had taken other jobs or did not want to work. They are back to about 50% now. Even so, the kinds of questions and calls they get are much more broad than pre-pandemic, so they are having difficulty getting new folks up to speed. Turns out that since ONWARD was never owned by RCCL, Azamara is using it as the guinea pig for many things, including technology testing. One of the fall-outs of the split was that the “Big-fat-book-of-rules-and-procedures-for-everything!” was owned by RCCL and none of the Azamara ships were allow to continue to access it. They have been trying to go from memory (which explains some of the differences amongst the ships.) Tony will probably be charged with writing the master version for Azamara. Sounds like at some point he will step aside as one of two regular HD’s on ONWARD. Elizabeth will do the entire 2024 World Voyage. Between now and then, Tony will work on the SOP and fill in on any ship that needs an HD. Yes, they are discussing getting a newly built ship. Sycamore Partners is supportive. Probably looking at about 1000 passengers. Nothing decided yet. When it is, it is still a two to three year project—have to find a ship yard (some have closed), have to find steel, other supply chain issues. Speaking of supply chain issues (and he did on almost every topic/question that was asked) they know precisely where the huge cargo contain of balcony chairs, carpets, wall covering, etc. is—its sitting in Shanghai. The port was closed for a long time because of COVID, but the containers kept piling up. When it opened again, the “big boys” who had hundreds or thousands of containers hired all the ships. Azamara had 1 container! And have been unable to get it loaded. They did have a second container full of wine, which they found in Sydney. After it had sat for a year or more in heat and cold and heat and… they ended up throwing most of it away… tested one bottle per case, then if needed dumped the rest. (Now there’s a job that we passengers could have helped with if they had asked!)

The TA on Onward is NOW! WE left Lisbon today heading for Miami. In the spring it does not do a true TA... it goes from Miami to the Canaries in Feb, does a few Canary intensives, then gets to Lisbon in early April.

I think if you use one credit card for the both of you, all the OBC credit gets combined. If you each give them a seperate credit card, then you're on your own!

Three weeks and no posts by anyone onboard any of the four ships??? Should I worry about Azamara???

We, also from SWFL, are on this cruise. We expect Lisbon to be cool at the end Nov, but Miami to be "usual"... so I'd expect every temp in between. As with you, after IAN, we are looking forward to DOING NOTHING, and having the Az crew take care of us!

Someone earlier posted about the railings on deck 5. EVERY day this cruise there has been a crew person oiling down these railing.... not just running a cloth over them, but giving them a good massage over every inch. They are beginning to look much better.

Vasi (last name unknown) has been, but tomorrow Pavel from the orchestra sits in, as does the Guitar player for another set ( tomorrow is Destination Celebration, so not a good day to compare...)

UPDATE ON ONWARD Many of the postings have noted some of the deficiencies on the ONWARD. We are currently onboard (Islands of the Med Rome-> Barcelona). We were told by HD Elizabeth that there would be workers onboard this cruise doing “stuff’ And, boy, are there! They have replaced all the bench seats in Atlas Bar (I presume they took comments of them being too narrow to heart). They are replacing all the hall wall coverings at least on deck 8. They are replacing all the cabin desktops that were cracked (as ours was… we came back today with a new desk top). They are adding new air flow devices to keep smoke from smoking area out of cabins on deck 9 and 8 (ONWARD is first… will migrate to other ships later). While there are still things to do, its clear they are taking things seriously. (I would add that at most ports the majority of “stuff” loaded onboard has NOT been consumables, but equipment, engine parts, pallets of wood, furniture, etc.)

UPDATE ON ONWARD Many of the postings have noted some of the deficiencies on the ONWARD. We are currently onboard (Islands of the Med Rome-> Barcelona). We were told by HD Elizabeth that there would be workers onboard this cruise doing “stuff’ And, boy, are there! They have replaced all the bench seats in Atlas Bar (I presume they took comments of them being too narrow to heart). They are replacing all the hall wall coverings at least on deck 8. They are replacing all the cabin desktops that were cracked (as ours was… we came back today to a new desk top). They are adding new air flow devices to keep smoke from smoking area out of cabins on deck 9 and 8 (ONWARD is first… will migrate to other ships later). While there are still things to do, its clear they are taking things seriously. (I would add that at most ports the majority of “stuff” loaded onboard has NOT been consumables, but equipment, engine parts, pallets of wood, furniture, etc.)

We are onboard the ONWARD ( Rome -> Barcelona). What was originally advertised as an AzAmazing evening is going to be held on board-- i.e. a Destination Celebration. Eric said that after Nov 25 they would be AzAmazing Evenings... we ( or you, since we are not on cruise immediately after Nov 25...) will see!

on 2nd leg of B2b.... same senior officers as noted above.... 573 passengers... assuming all got thru the Rome airport mess ( we were almost 3 hours late in departing, waiting for passengers... some never made it... including Capt Carl's family, whose flight was cancelled yesterday

1. it was onboard... a Destination Celebration 2. Every venue has been TOO loud... Cabaret, Living Room, Den. I also thought that maybe all those "youngsters" had hearing loss so they turned everything up. Yesterday Roy, the Assit CD did a set of Jazz numbers in the Living Room before dinner... the canned sound track was too loud. Today, the Band Saxophonist did a set and the same thing.... the canned track blocks out the soloist. Both those sets were wonderful... orders of magnitude better than the usual LR band...

MDR times are usually 6-9 PM...so 7 PM tours require gulping dinner before... But you could eat in the patio or other non-full-service restaurants before 5

our cabin was frigid on boarding day... told steward... next day and since... as toasty as we wish... currently onboard ONWARD