uktog

That said an update - our friend has just done the identical excursion, same boat, exactly the same route and they were charged $94 by Azamara so you can see Explora's mark up -- ouch - we were using OBC so not really our money but still hurts

Thank you - Explora charged an eye watering $159 each - we went to burn credit but what you describe is absolutely identical (even the boat and the music). Useful for others to know Azamara's prices are fairee than others.

How much did Azamara charge for this? We were on that exact boat last week with Explora. It’s very spacious but we felt expensive. I’m trying to work out if all the cruise lines as collaborating on excursion prices

agh we suffered for two days on Explora until enough people complained. When will these kids just out of playgroup understand we do not want a party boat. I'd be keeping my money in my pocket too - Ive probably got a hearing aid to buy after cruising too much with kids

I’m sure as with all projects there’s a timeline to profitability- business folks always hope to be ahead of that but are realistic. I suspect they may be behind that timeline and have tried to encourage onboard decision makers to catch up by improving financial performance. When this is communicated to staff do not have English as a first language or sufficient financial knowledge the Chinese whispers kicking and we get the wrong message That said I was surprised on board how much importance was given to the role of the financial manager in all the senior team introductions. I was actually a little uncomfortable that on both ships at the Captains welcome the introduction are done as two very separate groups of four and four with the financial manager taking precedence over some of the service managers. My issue was more although working as a team they were very much status conscious splitting off key service managers from what was perceived as the top group. The financial manager is in the top group.

@oddjob16 keep enjoying- Schweppes will do me too. Having done a speciality on Viking at no added charge and on Explora (ok $180 for two but 7 course chefs table food and more - perhaps better to say best of the best plus food and service) I can understand why the Azamara specialities aren’t appealing to some.

They don’t stick to the times on the passes. You can generally board from around 1130-1200 so long as any required border authorities are in place. That can delay things a little

Same experience re Sakura

@Corriegr I agree about the crew compared to Journey 1. There was a higher % of hosts from Kenya, Zimbabwe and South Africa last cruise and they have got the service ethic spot on - engaged, lovely relevant conversations and not the eastern fawning that’s so fake. Sorry Mrs C also experienced the poor sirloin. It’s an issue they need to crack - mine was dire last cruise. Now you have to start to feel better soon (!) hopefully cheered up by your wonderful shore experience ( loved the video)

We will be doing Paris (Trier) to Prague (Nuremberg) next week. I see a lot of rain in the forecast (skin is waterproof 😂) but am wondering might this impact levels so we have a boat swap

You can reserve without the wine pairing- it was $140 each

Oh dear which Viking boat was this. We leave on a river trip next week and DH was so looking forward to more spontaneity than on Explora re the use of nuts. He needs nothing made differently just staff awareness of where there are nuts in a dish

Thank goodness you weren’t at the pierside staging

Hi Here are the answers as best as I can give We were quoted $150 each for cooking classes. We opted not to sink $300 that way preferring Anthology for a treat instead. There was some chatter that some classes were repriced to $100 later to encourage take up but I can’t verify that Art and craft classes, free of charge, good quality products (eg far better grade watercolour paper and paint palettes than say Azamara, no using paper plates as palettes). No sign up and never over subscribed. Apart from the Bootcamp classes and sport coaching all others seemed to be at no charge No multiple languages, English was the language of the ship. The captain’s English was superb, the entertainment staff all spoke very good English, their manager who did the announcements was Italian and very difficult to understand at times. The wait and bar staff language skills ranged from absolutely first class first language standard (typically staff from Kenya, Zimbabwe etc) to “challenged” (typically from India and the far east).

These over 40s with very young hearts and minds would do piano pre dinner and Deck 4 main lounge after dinner. Dancing was also part of our routine. I’d wager several on the floor when the type and volume of music was appropriate were 10 years up on us age wise- so “more mature people” were certainly dancing (age mature by the way, not necessarily behaviour 😂😂)

Guests should be able to use any entertainment venue they want. We wanted to dance as we did several nights. Therefore Deck 11 is entirely inappropriate The cast are all “real singers” who often front shows including pre and post main show events . No music, rock or whatever should be so loud as to trigger warnings on your personal devices. That can lead to a diminution in the ability to hear 😀

I have to disagree. The previous pre and post show in the Journeys lounge had a very good singer but she did not read the room every night. When she played a mixture of fast and slow including quieter numbers the dance floor was busy. But after Barbados she focused on louder rock type numbers and it killed things with only a few, perhaps more “exhibitionist” on the floor with the more reserved just listening. Had she mixed up fast and slow and had the volume been dialled down a little it would have probably resulted in more dancing. Every night our watches were constantly giving loud environment warnings and it wasn’t pleasant. Sounds like although it might not suit a few personal tastes this cruise is a little better even if the singer has changed

Speciality strategy will work if there is space available- it varies very much from cruise to cruise but you can ask for additional bookings any day. Spa service - insanely expensive and not great. Pressure to buy is very very strong. Bar service. There is no cost limit just a published menu for high end, some add ons are as little as $8 for a higher end malt eg Caol Ila Embarkation day - no real difference other than a few minutes in the terminal for classes of rooms Enjoy you will be extremely well fed and watered - I defy anyone to struggle with finding food or drinks to their taste unless they are unrealistically picky

Great balanced review thanks

Maybe they are not understanding you - I’m not sure we can understand your post but we regularly had drinks involving rum.

There is no corkage. You would certainly be better buying two bottles. We weren’t going to pair but as we love Rock Angel we planned to share that - but they’d run out. We both ordered ginger beer and drinks with it included between 5-22 November so must be a recent shortage.

The temperature was pleasant. Warm enough for pools and loungers but the hot tubs and sometimes the pool (even indoor one day) had to be closed due to the swell making them what they considered as unsafe. There certainly was some movement never seen that in tubs on other ships before on the Atlantic

Depends when you’re booking. The restaurants aren’t open all day and are concentrating on dining guests when they are so they very much prefer you to use the desk on Deck 5. All your reservations appear on your app as soon as you make them except strangely your Anthology reservations. But Anthology do send you a reminder card. They don’t take bookings for Fil Rouge or Med Yacht where we were always seated straight away. No issues getting extra bookings in Sakura (we did 3 times) or Marble (2)

No line or ability to attach one. We did however get creative with how we used the heated bathroom floor 😀

Yes you can the salad is particularly nice