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Blocks

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Posts posted by Blocks

  1. In theory there is but I couldn't get it to work for me when making a booking a couple of weeks ago.

    I am stating this from memory but once you have have entered the passenger details there is a button at the top right of the section which has your allocated stateroom and if you click on that a drop-down appears and you can select an option to see available staterooms in that category and in theory select a different room but when I did that it just returned me to the previous page and had not changed the stateroom. 

    I raised this with Azamara customer service and eventually got a reply after a few days and after I had booked, they offered to change my booking to a different room but I just left it. 

    • Thanks 1
  2. I boarded Celebrity Eclipse in June 2023 with 3 medium sized ships in port. We arrived at Canada Place at 11:30 joined a large but reasonable fast moving queue to drop off luggage, then upstairs for cruise line specific checkin with minimal queue, joined a fast moving queue to get back downstairs for security and then passport control. This was the slowest part but even then it wasn't too bad. After passport control we immediately boarded the ship with no further wait. 

     

    It is a bit muddled with crossing of various queues but time wise it wasn't too bad. 

  3. We did this boat trip from downtown Juneau via a Celebrity Eclipse ship excursion in June. It was Allen Marine that provided the boat trip. It was a long day but we saw a whale bubble feeding on the way and the fjord and glacier were spectacular even though the weather wasn't great. 

  4. I will be cruising to Alaska on Eclipse in June. I will be in Aqua class so have access to Blu.

    In the available dining packages there is an option called Speciality Restaurant Trio Dining which is 2 dinners and 1 lunch in speciality restaurants and is currently 30% off. 

    My question is whether Murano or Tuscan Grille are ever open for lunch on sea days on Eclipse?

    If they are not then I believe it means that the only option for lunch will be Sushi on Five? Some in my party may not be so keen and I am not really interested in Le Petit Chef. 

    I can also get a 3 night speciality dining package for only 12 GBP more (also 30% off) so maybe that is my better option.  

  5. Back in 2017 we used Smiths for Airports. Cost was 74 GBP at that time.

    We docked at 8:00am and were picked up at 9:30am and we were far too early for a 4:00pm flight. I would allow at least 2 hours for the journey as you never know what traffic will be like especially if it is a week day.

  6. I don't know the answer to your question as I am not sure where Azamara normally docks in Venice. However MSC Opera actually crashed before reaching the main cruise terminal. The ship has now been moved to the main part of cruise terminal. If you look at a ship tracking website such as MarineTraffic you can see where it crashed into the dock and river boat that was docked there.

  7. 9 hours ago, Ithikan said:

    Hello Blocks, I've enjoyed reading your review, and I wonder if you can share the name of your guide from Trapani?  We've not been successful yet with finding a private tour to Erice.  Thank you!

    We used Trapani Tours, the owner is called Aldo Trapani. Erice is quite close to Trapani, if you only want to visit Erice then you could possibly just get a taxi from the port, I know one couple from our cruise who did this.

  8. 47 minutes ago, marysb said:

    Hi Blocks,  really nice photos - thanks for sharing.

    Next April our cruise will be stopping at Trapani Sicily.  We have included tours, but have to choose between a   Erice tour and  Segesta tour.  Having a hard time deciding between them .... any insights since you've seen both?

     

    Mary

    Hi Mary,

    Thank you. Erice seemed really nice but when we went it was in the clouds in a thunderstorm which was very atmospheric but ruined the views of the surrounding countryside that we were told were fabulous. At Segesta, there are 2 parts, the temple was within walking distance from the ticket office although all uphill and was quite impressive but only warranted a 15-30 minute visit. The amphitheatre has a bus service to reach it because it is 1.2km away and over a hill but it only ran every 30 mins when we were there and we didn't have time to visit before we had to head back to Trapani. If it was my choice I would choose Erice but keep your fingers crossed that it is not in the clouds.

  9. You board the bus by deck number from 8 down to 4 so the time you leave and the time you get back will depend on your deck.

     

    There were 15 buses last week and when they returned to the port there was not much room for turning so it took a bit of time to offload people at the ship.

  10. Hi Mike, I just completed my first Azamara cruise on Journey on an Italy Intensive itinerary. I am 50 and although there were some people who looked younger than me on the cruise there was not many, I was definitely at the lower end of the age range.

    I found that after 11pm there was not much happening apart from a few people in Spirits/Casino area but it was a very port intensive cruise so maybe that was a contributing factor. On a couple of nights we went to the Living Room after the show in Cabaret and it was almost empty. It will depend on the length of cruise and the number of ports.

  11. 5 hours ago, aussie travel bird said:

    Thanks for sharing your review. Can I ask why you weren't able to achieve the view from the back of the ship at the Sunset Bar, has something changed?  This is also our favourite please to hang out with my favourite view.

     

    I wasn't aware of the Sunset Bar, I saw the bar outside and assumed that this was just part of the Windows Cafe and only open at the same time. We did try to sit outside when at the Windows Cafe but typically the tables closest to the rail were occupied and it was a bit awkward to stand there between the tables.

  12. 12 hours ago, BBMacLaird said:

    Thank you Blocks for the cruise review. I'm glad you enjoyed your cruise on the Azamara Journey!

    If you have a moment, would you also post it on the CC cruise review section for the AZ Journey? You'll find the link to that at the top right corner "Write Reviews" with an icon of a pen.

    I posted it last night.

  13. 7 minutes ago, Larabelle said:

    You take amazing photos!  How did you like Trapani?

    Thank you. We took a private tour in Trapani, we didn't actually go into the city on foot, we drove through it to get to Erice, but we were in the clouds in a thunderstorm for most of the time in Erice but it was very atmospheric although we missed out on spectacular views. We also visited San Vito, Scopello, Castellanmare del Golfo and Segesta during the tour. 

    • Thanks 1
  14. Just returned home yesterday from a 9 day Italy Intensive cruise on Azamara Journey which sailed from Civitavecchia on 6th October 2018. We travelled as a party of 4 and had 2 Oceanview rooms on deck 4. We bought the Chefs Table plus 2 dining package.
     
    Below are some comments on our first Azamara cruise.
     
    Positives
    Friendliness and service from the crew especially Dave at Discoveries for breakfast and Julius in Spirits Bar and other locations.
    Visibility of the captain and other senior crew members. I am sure the captain was wishing passengers a good day as we left the ship at every port we docked at.
    Food was generally very good, especially the speciality restaurants and the chef’s table, but we had no complaints about the food in Discoveries.
    Booked our the dining package and speciality dining as soon as we boarded with no issues.
    Entertainment provided by Eric de Gray who was excellent and the other entertainment staff was very good. We attended most late shows and enjoyed them all. The exchanges between Eric and captain Johannes were amusing as were Eric’s grandad stories.
    AzAmazing Evening with Incanto Quartet in Livorno was excellent and very well organised.
    Size of the ship was great, nothing felt too far away compared to the other larger ships we have sailed on.
    Enjoyed the included coffee and snacks available at Mosaic Cafe. 
    Generally bar service was very good and we had no issues with getting cocktails or drinks using the included spirits.
    We tendered at 3 ports and very rarely had to wait a long time for a tender boat in either direction.
    Closeness to the city at several ports of call, especially Porto Ferraio and Trapani. 
    Oceanview room was adequate and Paulo our room steward was very friendly and efficient.
    Embarkation and debarkation were efficient both at start and end of cruise and at ports of call.
    Friendliness and courtesy of fellow passengers with very few exceptions.
    Living Room was very nice room and the food which was served (especially the tapas) was a nice touch.
     
    Negatives
    Missed not having a balcony (our choice) but it was only one floor up to deck 5.
    Not being able to walk a full circuit of the ship on deck 5 and it was often closed off in the middle at both sides.
    Apart from the Windows cafe, unable to get a sea view from the back of the ship which I had enjoyed on other cruises.
     
    Other Comments
    We are in our early 50s and whilst not the youngest on the cruise we were definitely at the lower end of the age range.
    White Night was very busy and queues to get food were quite long and slightly chaotic at times but the local Sorrento Mozzarella and tomatoes was a nice touch.
    Some of the included white wines were not to our taste, we stuck with included red wines which were generally good.
    We only had 1 sea day, so it was a very port intensive cruise, not sure how I would have felt if we had more sea days.
    Regretted missing the Indian night at the buffet because we booked Aqualina on that night because the smell was amazing.
    For speciality dining only times which seemed to be available for us to book were 18:00, 18:30, 20:00 and 20:30.
    We only booked private excursions so had no experience of Azamara excursions. 
     
    I would have no hesitation to sail again on Azamara for the right price and itinerary.
    • Like 2
  15. Okay, I’m going to try and post Norway.

    The first photo is from trollfjord where we had white nights. I stood on a trash can off the front of the ship to get it. The second pic shows the Journey way below from way above Gerainger.

     

    Nice pics, you have much better weather than when we were there in June 2017.

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