ONWARD and Upward.. our Azamazing "Italy Intensive" Week - April 22 to April 29, 2023. Full Trip Report With Tons of Pix.

[Sleep7]

Dinner in the dining room tonight and it was delicious!  Such warm and friendly service.. so welcoming and anxious to please. 🤩

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And just like that.. day two was over in a flash.

Edited May 1, 2023 by Sleep7

[Sleep7]

MONDAY - APRIL 24TH. 

 

Was supposed to be Santa Margherita but changed to La Spezia instead.. more info coming.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[combine]

33 minutes ago, Sleep7 said:

👋Good morning Combine!

It was such a lovely cruise.. wasn't it?  The ports.. the weather.. the food.. the service.  All just perfect.

Hope you had an easy trip home.. I'm so glad you are reliving the smiles from last week with me.😊

It certainly was  a very good cruise. We stayed on for this week also!
Did you take the sunshine back in your suitcase 😂. 

[Sleep7]

3 minutes ago, combine said:

It certainly was  a very good cruise. We stayed on for this week also!
Did you take the sunshine back in your suitcase 😂. 

Oh my.. lucky you!!! I'm quite jealous that you are still aboard.😍

And no.. the sunshine didn't make it back to New York.

It's been nonstop rain here since we landed.. going to clear up today though.

[Sleep7]

So Monday dawned and I had the strangest experience..

I had woken up momentarily at 6am and thought I had heard the noises that a ship makes when it's stopping and being anchored.  Then fell back to sleep and woke up 3 hours later and we were sailing again.  I thought for a moment that Sam and I had totally overslept and missed the port of Santa Margherita altogether!  We were still on NY time so it could have been a possibility..

Dressed in pajamas I dashed into the hallway and asked Reyner where we were and what was doing. He said that the water was too rough for the tenders to operate to Santa Margherita so they were sailing on.. finding another port to stop in.  Whew! We didn't sleep the day away.. was so glad.

We made the tail end of breakfast and then there was an announcement that we were going to dock in La Spezia around noon.  I love that about Azamara.. if a port gets cancelled even at the last minute they always have a back up plan in place.  Great job!!👏

I was a bit disappointed though as there was a "style your own" sandal shop in Santa Margherita that I was anxious to visit.  They have a few branches in the Med and I had previously bought pairs from similar shops in Olbia and Sorrento.

You pick the heel height.. the strap style.. the color;  they fit them to your feet and make them for you while you wait. 

This was the store in Olbia.. they are still my favorite pair of sandals!

 

 

 

 

 

[Sleep7]

Enough silly Sardinian sandal stories.. lets get back to business! 😆

The water was rough and the ship was rocking but thankfully Sam felt OK.

He is prone to getting seasick so I was fretting.  Sitting on the back deck and looking out onto the sea made the rolling of the ship tolerable for him so that was great.  I do come armed with a whole assortment of seasickness remedies but I always leave the bag of them in the suitcases under the bed hoping that they won't see the light of day until I take the suitcases out a week later to repack.

 

 

 

[Sleep7]

Breakfast was also being served in Discoveries.

 

 

[Sleep7]

The daily schedule was shuffled around a bit to accommodate the later than first planned arrival into our new port.

We thoroughly enjoyed another informative and entertaining lecture.. today's topic.. Florence.

 

 

 

[Sleep7]

Almost at La Spezia..

 

 

[Sleep7]

Even though we had eaten breakfast only 2 hours ago we managed to fit in a little lunch before going ashore.

 

[Sleep7]

Hello La Spezia!

 

[Sleep7]

No make your own sandal shops but La Spezia did have the most gorgeous palm tree lined promenade.  The abundant Mediterranean sunshine make it even more beautiful.

 

 

A lovely little town to walk around in.

 

 

 

 

 

[Sleep7]

A special shout out to this fabulous jewelry store.. their designs were beautiful.  Most pieces under 10 Euro and they all looked like a million bucks.

 

 

Edited May 1, 2023 by Sleep7

[fruitmachine]

9 hours ago, voyager1964 said:

@Sleep7 Thank you so much for the detailed review!

I noticed that the gangway was all stairs - did you get a chance to see wheelchair-assisted people on it? 

Thanks in advance

On Journey, they were using Deck 3 Forward (a near-flat gangplank) for both disembarkation and crew/visitors going on and off the ship, keeping the stepped gangway to Deck 4 midships for embarking passengers.  I'm pretty sure that they would have used that alternative Deck 3 route for anyone needing assistance.

 

Only Deck 3 forward was used for all the ports of call.

[Sleep7]

Back to the ship and here is the menu for dinner in Discoveries.

 

 

 

[Sleep7]

First to a party though..

 

 

 

The Hors d'oeuvres, sweets and drinks were picture perfect!

 

 

 

 

 

[Sleep7]

Arrivederci La Spezia.. thank you for being a calm port in a "storm."

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thankfully these were put away and not seen again for the rest of the week.

 

 

Edited May 1, 2023 by Sleep7

[Sleep7]

Dinner tonight for us was at the Asian buffet at Windows and it was outstanding as usual!!😋

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Sleep7]

TUESDAY - APRIL 25

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Sleep7]

We had received this survey in our cabin last night too.. only the best things to say.😍

 

[Sleep7]

Also disembarkation transfer information was in our cabin last night.

 

 

A well as logistical information about the Azamazing evening tomorrow.

 

[Sleep7]

We enjoyed another lovely breakfast at the Windows Cafe.  Here are some choices for plant based and gluten free diets. 

🤩Also.. shout out to each and every one of the staff at the Windows Cafe.. anytime of day you visit they are all so helpful, friendly and sweet. 

All smiles from us to them and from them to us.😊

 

 

 

 

Edited May 1, 2023 by Sleep7

[Sleep7]

Oh! Forgot to mention.. While I love my Iphone 13,  Sam's Pixel 6 Pro has the most amazing editing feature.  You can literally erase something (or somebody) with a swipe of your finger.

AMAZING. 

Now you see them..

 

 

 

Now you don't..

 

 

 

 

[Sleep7]

Now you see them..

 

 

Now you don't..

It's not perfect in every situation but it's pretty darn good!

 

[Sleep7]

There was a note in the cabin about yesterday's port change.📝

 

 

As well as an invite to another celebration.🥳