uktog

Whilst I agree when you are working around food allergies (nuts and chilli in our case) you want to find a menu that has least adaptations otherwise as DH found to his cost he gets lower quality substitutes at times.

Same on Azamara. Last time on Explora either they ignored the maximum or it wasn’t applying on the excursions we did. Azamara are brutally strict their system flags up your age and it will not allow a booking to be made - in our case we couldn’t join a cooking class which was ridiculous. They said it’s the company that provides the excursions that sets the limits and they have to follow them strictly. No way round the issue - other than suggesting I being slightly younger went and DH went on a panoramic drive around - that was the ultimate slap as he’s fitter than me.

Interesting we’ve been told sale reductions do not reduce your fare and in the UK it only relates to a wholesale reduction eg change in taxes

Thank you. No need for the sarcasm 😂

So would I

Not on their UK site as far as I can see

This business practice is not global. Cruise lines may well look after US guests this way but the cruise industry does not have as generous terms in UK, Europe and Australia. Explora appears not unsurprisingly to be follow European conventions. Those of us who have watched others benefit from price drops in the past whilst locked out prefer the Explora model.

It’s been reported on another thread you cannot bid on b2b cruises on a single reservation number. It’s a bug the outsourced provider cannot work around. Evidently the advice is to enquire once onboard. Personally I’ve given up on the upgrade “benefit” a long time ago when they outsourced it and weren’t transparent on whether loyalty counted or not. I book the best I can afford from the outset and leave it at that.

Our experience in the UK booked through one of one of their major travel agent partners is no chance. It’s a rebook and loose the initial deposit (we declined)

Very interesting. Although a little OTT should be compulsory pre board viewing. One area he touched on which we have noted regularly is a problem on Azamara is some guests are monopolising the serving crew in bars and particularly in Windows café the first day and service really suffers. Our son worked in a hotel which was a high-end experience and had a lot of Asian staff who joined them. One of the training programs they had was what they called disengagement training. Azamara needs this. What this related to was explaining to staff whose cultures were to be impeccably polite that there were techniques to use to be able to get away from guests and perform their work duties as part of a team. Indeed some of the staff reviews were marked down because they spent so long chatting to guests even though the guests reviews might name them as being wonderful. The feedback they got from the Trainees was they were very grateful for this training because many of them found the level of questioning intrusive and awkward . Dare I say it particularly by some of the American guests who tend to be quite intrusive compared to British European guests would ask eg asked about number of children family circumstances where they live animals they had at home etc - not realising a line was crossed. The staff found it an intrusion into their personal space unsettling but they answered the question perhaps giving the impression of wanting to share the information. Training practice answering questions like that and give a polite response close down the conversation was so appreciated. I think also Azamara could also give some of the more Junior crew guidance on how to interact with guests on social media. Recently, I have seen one member of the staff publicly displaying on their page thank you notes including the names of the guests, their home addresses and gifts received. It’s almost like they are looking for this from others which is totally inappropriate and must annoy some of their fellow crew members. I also think Azamara should strongly discourage guests from funding crew members at home on an individual basis. It happens and I know it upsets some crew. We all have a lot to learn and need to me much more emotionally intelligent around staff and other guests. This video was a timely reminder.

Grits

Have you any other suggestions how they could tackle this?

Why not tell the servers your preferred tastes - they will be able to give you great advice. I love the smoked negroni but it is a matter of taste

I thought you had to be invited to have the right links

Train from Oerstad station which is about 100meters from the Copenhagen Crowne Plaza Towers hotel into the middle of Copenhagen

Barcelona like many places has a problem- the protests currently are rooted in issues about the cost of housing. It’s the same on the Spanish islands. IF people spent more ashore and did not use short term rentals there would be more money in the economy and the housing stock would improve for locals. It’s no different to what is happening in Edinburgh although two solutions are being worked on - a tourist tax that’s added to port fees for cruisers/ hotel fees for others. And more importantly very tight licensing of short term rentals and higher local taxes on them. In future they will be licensed and the number of licenses heavily restricted. I do not blame the cruise lines. Guests want to see iconic places and they want turnarounds in locations with good flight connections to the US. I responded because there has been an undercurrent on several threads here that eating ashore is good eating onboard is bad. It is not. Barcelonas issues are repeated around the world. It’s a very complex supply and demand conundrum affecting availability of staff for the hospitality sector, their wages and the supply of living arrangements. My father used to complain about the tourists from Edinburgh coming to Fife. Beyond our front door we are all tourists to a greater or lesser extent. Good luck anyone coming to Edinburgh timing their holiday to coincide with the festival and tattoo. Unfortunately the refuse collectors are cute these days and intent to coincide their latest pay dispute then as they did two years ago. Edinburgh stank then 😡

You are correct we’ve had two different disembark locations with Azamara. We found the Crowne Plaza at the airport fully met our needs. We actually stayed a couple of nights there. It was an easy ride into town

Bear in mind for those with food allergies in a country where English is not universally spoken heading back to the ship for lunch is part of the “risk management” process. We do however head back out and as well as leaving money in the shop tills may enjoy a coffee or drink ashore. So accept not everyone can eat lunch ashore easily!

It very much depends on the sailing you can’t say every night I’m afraid LuAnn

I expect that route is under review- it’s not so much the canal as the seas off the type of Somalia that led to the round Africa trips earlier this year. I expect there’s a lot of discussions with insurers etc as to whether the canal route could be offered

Not a scam but a very good benefit that now works as a genuine discount without the smoke and mirrors of the past

Your toilet issue sounds like a system back up which happens from time to time. I suspect from other things said your room hadn’t been signed off by the supervisor. Maybe it should have been but you should address the issue with the supervisor so they monitor for the future.

In warmer places the Patio is a great spot. We also love the back veranda on Windows if we want a simple casual dinner. I agree the MDR is not as it used to be - menu choices focus too much on spices cheap meats with the beautiful salads and pasta of the day no longer offered. I am sure though with some of the changes in Head office hotel side we will see adjustments in due course.

There are pubs in the area or head further into town on the tram - might be much more pleasant as the terminal building is minute

The gangway is open all night. Experience is that they do not show games like that onboard and haven’t been showing the games to date this year. Bear in mind if you are watching in Edinburgh you may well be with a lot of Scots suddenly claiming Spanish grannies 😀😀