uktog

Azamara often docks in Kotor. They might be moving to dock once another vessel leaves in the evening if they are tendering in the day. But my guess if the website is showing both it’s in transition to being an on ship event- but anything is possible!

The count is increasing by almost 50%. The bar staff are correct they’ve been in training planning for it!

Unfortunately companies are using US based software to handle transactions and from what I understand from someone in the trade it’s impossible to disable that part. To infer as another poster did that failure to hand over $5 when passing a bag over at embarkation will lead to it going missing is an insult to the port staff. The poster is actually inferring that those in that role in the port here are cheats and thieves and not the hardworking people they are.

I found the level of customer service far far higher in Japan recently than on my trip immediately prior to the US. No tipping brings about a very different culture. It’s very easy to bring gifts they love. It’s not about going out shopping once there. It’s not about you making yourself feel “good” by sharing your money or buying them what you think they need. It’s about saying thank you not about paying yhrm off. We have a rather naughty traditional sweet - tablet. Going to Japan I wrapped individual bars in nice paper (tartan actually but it could be anything) with a matching thank you tag. The recipients were all delighted and no offence was caused. On our extension in Europe (where unlike the US there are generous minimum wage regulations) I may follow the $10 a day suggestion provided I see evidence of someone doing more than just the basics of their job.

That’s as maybe however it’s not the best way of giving out a message when the CEO is actively giving a very different picture. Why was this old canned text (we’ve seen it before) not prefaced by “we are committed to holding as many off ship as possible but for your cruise we have not been able to secure an appropriate venue.” Everyone is watching what she’s saying and hearing a possible new better time ahead but it seems like others in the organisation are ploughing on with their old ways regardless. Dondra has a lot of back office heads she needs to bang together!

We have been known to get 4 x 80cm hard shell cases under the bed on a 42 day adventure no problem. Enjoy your cruise!

People cannot message you from the boards. Why not google Explora travel agents?

Agree to be clear I’m only talking about adding a generic premium mixer to the package not a number of alternatives. As I say that wheel is clever marketing- just like the clever marketing Glenmorangie and Glenfiddich did to buy into the US whisky market when other better options were around

And within the Travel Agency in this case it’s not the operative you deal with but the team that manages the product creation of the “package bundles” you need to escalate to

That wheel picture is a clever marketing ploy by Fever Tree do you carry lots of random bottles home from the shop. Flavoured tonics do work if you’re very particular about tastes or if you’re working with a craft gin - Azamara is not! It’s certainly useful to know the combinations for at home drinking but to be fair on ship they could probably only stock a premium generic tonic. For the last two years I’ve been giving feedback to Azamara to add the premium mixers to the Ultimate package as they have done for the waters but never had an acknowledgment of the comment (indeed one hotel director who I know claims he is a g and t drinker was very dismissive of the suggestion so I doubt it went any higher!). I will try again.

Your travel agent has a business manager at Azamara UK and should be escalating things to them. It will confuse things if you are also calling in as different call centre agents will be doing things to your booking and that’s probably where issues are arising. It’s not ideal and there are certainly IT issues which the new CEO fully acknowledges but as it looks like you aren’t sailing for a few months I’d back off Azamara and keep checking in with your travel agent. Under UK agency rules that’s the correct route.

I’d like to see a role that was akin to the original information officer which focussed on facts and had a route in to informed sources of information so could clarify issues quickly. His route for information was often direct to the ships captain. Whilst a blogging officer was nice this role was only plugged in to marketing and couldn’t answer many questions (I’m not meaning questions about individual bookings more questions like clarification of port information, details on specific shorex etc). The other problem was some of the blogs they were directed to post came direct from marketing and were factually inaccurate (I still wince at the garbage spun about Edinburgh). As a result the blogging officer could come over as ill informed. So I would certainly welcome a conduit if Cruise Critic is still a key part of their communication strategy (maybe it’s not, maybe it’s Facebook twitter and instagram who knows) but please can it be a fully plugged in information officer.

We use Touchnote when we are away using our own photos to make the cards. They get printed and posted in your own country so arrive in a few days. Unless the recipient is a stamp collector it’s the simplest thing to do

If the port authorities permit it and the town is not in immediate walking distance Azamara provides shuttles free of charge There is lots of additional information that might help you in the thread Tips for Azamara Newbies

Nope there’s not one

I think you will find there was a lot more than 4 US guests onboard - indeed I know several more who were on the Tokyo-Singapore trip I think you refer to. I actually think the number is 178 US guests onboard making them the biggest group There were 645 guests onboard (a figure I was also aware of when disembarking) Add up all the figures in that breakdown it only comes to 471 - the US figure is obviously a misprint - OK one that should not happen So maybe given that Canadians and US guests tend to "share" crossword genres its as well you did not find an outlet to make your point in relation to this cruise 🙂

Matters like that can be highlighted whilst onboard - you would have had the QR code for comments or could have made them on a form at Guest Relations You can also highlight it on your post cruise feedback comments However, need to recognise the focus of the daily crossword isn't going to be high on their attention list As regards your points, the new Director of Loyalty is very responsive - her email address is on the webinar link posted above

Better to feed something as specific as crossword construct back direct rather than here. I do agree some elements do need more of an international balance and I see the setting up of a UK call centre as a good move in helping that

Indeed. I am sure the travel community will really welcome this move which is the right step to take.

For anyone wanting something easy to do in Greenock instead of (or before or after travelling further afield there is a fascinating new museum as part of the new cruise terminal https://www.wyllieum.com/ I hope to visit there soon as my grandfather bought two sketches from George Wyllie which my family sold when the house was broken up. We were amazed at the interest at the auction in them and they sold for much more than expected. Maybe they are in that museum!

Ok sorry fat fingers. Hopefully @Ayden knew what I meant

The CEO recognised this expiry issue in her webinar. If you lost nights and it was due to the lack of communication I’d suggest you contact the Loyalty team - the new director is Erin ODonnell. Her email was included in the webinar email (erin.odonnell@azamara.com) and the message in the webinar was very much please tell us your issues and concerns

The recent posts highlight why some cruise lines have installed machines with auto dispense soap and sealed soap trays. I hope @catspaw1 enjoys their cruise, respects the laundry room rules and uses their packaged soap for in room handwashing only

And tax is payable when disembarking I read - the ship reports the sales to the authorities so buyer beware etc

It is indeed plus of course your happy holiday mindset. Enjoy! 😊