uktog

No he is on leave

A question for anyone who brought hair straighteners- do they still work on reduced power? And is phone charging etc slower?

Oh dear. Looks a bit sad. What if you wanted to take a photo out the window?

I beg to differ re Starlink. That’s not my experience at all. I think relying on the ships wifi for entertainment or work, rather than simple surfing or emails is very high risk. We also had no wifi at all going through Suez and in ports like Aquaba on three separate cruises as there was external interference. Only in simple hop round Spain have I been within cellphone range on Azamara , certainly not in Asia Im afraid.

In November it was about 10 minutes including docking time. Hopefully these pictures help one from the ship and one from the shore

This may be controversial but I wonder if Azamara have decided that Cruise Critic Socials as they called them are part of a "budget cut" or a plan to "move on to recognise times have changed". There are also issues on one ship (Onward) re finding a venue and with some itineraries its hard to find a convenient time to have the event if there are no sea days. The socials were more popular when it was an opportunity to get a drink without paying which does not apply on Azamara. It used to allow interaction with officers - that no longer happens and in any event, on Azamara there is plenty of opportunity anyway The roll calls for my forthcoming cruises are very quiet but some facebook groups are busier. However when it was a large group, you could not connect with many people in any event. Cruise Critic predates Facebook and maybe the "need" for organised socials today is so much less less. I have been on two cruise lines recently that do not provide events but do have roll calls. Each line's ships are slightly above the capacity of Azamara. In both cases, we connected with roll call members no problem without a get together - and we also connected with many other non cruise critic guests. There was no problem re excursions as we had exchanged names and room numbers anyway so could leave messages if needed. Maybe its time to look after ourselves, privately set up get small togethers if we want, go with the flow and stop looking for Azamara to provide anything.

I wouldn’t recommend Azamara for a cruise of that length with teens. The Wi-Fi isn’t good enough to support game play and with no sports court and only a tiny pool it’s going to stretch even the most adaptable teen. I’ve just returned from an Explora Journey cruise - their itinerary might not match but their facilities for teens for a small ship were excellent. Teens kept asking to go to the club rather than be with parents. In addition to the Nautilus club (full of games both boxed and electronic) there’s a sport court, three pools (a 4th is adult only) and a full sized snooker table in a partioned corner in the Astern lounge so kids play whilst adults listen to the band. It was win win for multi generational families who didn’t want large boat, wanted great food everyone would like (eg Pizza oven producing fresh offerings all service) and facilities for the youngsters

Colin this is a really good balanced assessment of your experience - I am just finishing mine but there is a lot of overlap in our experiences and thoughts going forward.

I hope this has a very positive outcome for the person involved

Ginger ale was readily available as a mixer last week.

We sensed generally the captain is very cautious (no bad thing). Docking and undocking generally were much more cautious and slower than we’ve experienced in the same ports with other lines even in no breeze

Only the Residences guests go to the small areas (well that was the plan last time)

We ended up with no soufflés after 40 minutes had to give up. They had two large tables - they actually half way through wanted furniture moving to be one but the GM was called and good on her she said no needs prior arrangement. It was such a shame they spoiled some of the last night for so many

Given their disruptive behaviour in Fils Rouge the last night putting the galley under pressure with all their petty requests which impacted everyone else’s experience I hope the cruise line is more selective in those they engage with. This was a group of almost 20 entitled people who thought they owned parts of the ship.

We had no problem getting extra but we always did it via the reservation desk during the day rather than walk ups. The demand patterns were inconsistent two nights when we went there were walk ins ahead of us who were accommodated but on the same night Sakura was rammed full. It seemed to be a case of flex round and go against the trends!

We were told onboard it was expected to be around 700 with up to 50 under 18s.

Yes but only one or two very high end brands

Yes but there were only 320 guests onboard. Instead of walk up in the evening it’s easier to speak to the host at the podium on deck 5 who is there 8-6 and she can see full availability across all book able venues

Yes if you count the open doors, did not experience any other format on our cruise but a door or the front window was always open as conditions allowed it

Although the excursions looked expensive, we found they included a bit more than your average excursion. Our Death in Paradise tour in Guadeloupe included extensive snacks and lovely surroundings and in Bonaire we had a very good guide and experience (with both snacks and lunch). None of our tours had more than 10 people on them.

If bids are being accepted for your cruise you will get an email invitation late March - it is not something that happens on every cruise

Or alternatively people run threads about their experiences for each cruise which can also give port information? I agree information from cruisers rather than subsidised guests or influencers is really useful. I was so put off by the facebook blogs of an early cruiser who seemed to be unable to take off her dark rose tinted glasses. I was so relieved to discover that I did not need to have a spiritual attachment to the ship to be able to enjoy it!!!

There is no shade at the astern pool because the original awnings were not wind proof (so much of the ship had been designed by hotel designers without regard to sea conditions) but we were advised an alternative removable umbrella system was being sourced that could be used.

There’s a really lovely new host who takes orders there -Sylvie from Zimbabwe. Last cruise was her first ever time on a ship though she’s hotel school trained. Very first night she’s talking confidently to guests. Look out for her - she’s certainly one for the future! Delightful young lady.

I will do a summary for these boards shortly (I’ve put some things on the Explora board) but excellent and with their sale as they’re cheaper than Azamara on a like for like basis per day (ie factoring in room type and drinks package) we happily rebooked