uktog

Several cruise lines do that. I’d find it strange if they didn’t

Ian really made our cruise. A brilliant musician and a very clever guy. He’d clearly researched his brief thoroughly

We had that issue on Journey. The cruise director stood and listened one night after mid cruise feedback and agreed. He discussed it with the pianist but basically she would not take onboard the feedback, I am not sure if they renewed her contract. I think the problem is with the particular artist, if they are happy to be the background with a little more interaction as appropriate it works fine but if they see the Den as "their show" and a place to dominate, it spoils everything. As you say, the whole point of the Den is to meet with others and we have to be able to hear them

But it feels different if SSBP was included as a booking promotion

Always expected there to be a pecking order over and above square footage for those who pay so much more

Lots of options to do on your own, most start very near the ship. All are pretty good and all are a fraction of the cruise line cost

That’s so annoying she didn’t know these answers six weeks ago and people gave her detailed notes at every port. We had three people with walkers and there was an elevator from street level to the boat which the guide took them to. We told Riba that

Because of the market operating rules the hotel staff on the Ocean vessels were predominantly from the Philippines, something tells me there are limitations on using them on all American vessels. Most were quite good, none we spoke to aspired to Ocean vessels most saw European rivers as their option

Sorry to hear about the noise level (no pun intended). On our last cruise we only went to White Night to dance after dinner downstairs. My Apple Watch was constantly highlighting loud environment to me (at one point 90db) so we left. Tgg is right the next generation has very different perception about what is loud to us. I’ve never heard anyone complain the music is to quiet onboard but I’ve often heard it be criticised as too loud. On Onward the Living Room was “painful”. We stopped going.

I am aware of one UK agent who is extremely reluctant to engage with Azamara

This is the independent site the UK government directs travellers to if they want to check vaccination requirements. This is the South Africa page but you can head back to the index for any country https://travelhealthpro.org.uk/country/201/south-africa As you can see South Africa requires anyone who has recently been in an area at risk of yellow fever transmission to be vaccinated. This is the list of countries affected- it includes Kenya https://nathnacyfzone.org.uk/factsheet/65/countries-with-risk-of-yellow-fever-transmission

It’s been announced another shop onboard - Cartier

It’s nothing to do with Azamara and the colour of the form is irrelevant. It’s the public health authorities at immigration that set the rules. The cruise lines have to follow them. I am not sure you require vaccinations to enter in South America but I would advise you check with official sources in your country and in the countries you plan to visit. In the UK that’s the FCO website

The agent is not correct - the transfers can be booked via OBC. Sometimes they appear as excursions and you can do it that way, if not leave it and do it onboard, it will be fine

And how do they determine the top cruiser 🙂

Sorry to those who have been disappointed for 2024. We kind of got the sense this might be happening when onboard and there were elements where it was showing that there was no enthusiasm to "build the brand" in this area. It is a shame but I would say although Viking is more expensive, their boats and food offering are in a different league to AQSC. I suspect AQ knew this and realised they couldn't justify the investment to match Viking

It very much depends where you have been the previous 14 days and from what we could ascertain this was the issue with South Africa. It’s why on Azamara guests couldn’t tour countries en route to Cape Town if they were not vaccinated and exemption letters or cards were not acceptable. They had to stay onboard some couldn’t get off between Lisbon and Namibia. I know Explora is on the east side but stopping at Mozambique and Tanzania unvaccinated could give some people challenges. It’s understandable that South Africa is now being strict and wants to protect their people Everyone has to do their homework before booking cruises these days! Don’t rely on what someone did last year. Times have moved on

My travel agent will not let us book without checking the current vaccination position for each country and what she found for guests not vaccinated against yellow fever was not good news, partly due to the abuse in issuing exemption letters by doctors in some countries. This annoys, I cannot get these letters just by asking, I have to go through a detailed assessment process and the default position is to direct the traveller for a vaccination unless there is an underlying health reason why (which is the case in my situation). I do not think we can tell what Explora is like until the first sailings, it certainly does not feel too low key for us

Average

For those of us flying long haul to USA there is far less opportunity to do the Caribbean. Many face too many barriers to be regular cruisers so may only have been a few times. Therefore itineraries with St Vincent, Guadeloupe (ah Death in Paradise setting for the Brits at last!) are very attractive. You have to remember Explora’s decisions are Europe centric for now so their itineraries may not appeal to the serial cruising US market who see the Caribbean as an extended winter ritual. That’s why to many they are different. Absolutely no interest in Africa, like many we cannot have certain vaccines and there is no longer acceptance of exemption letters as guests on Azamara discovered last year. Zero desire to travel that far burning that amount of hard earned money to stay on the ship for days on end sorry! For those who are able to be fully vaccinated against yellow fever etc they are however very attractive itineraries- you are lucky you can do them!

We are not long back from Chicago post our American Queen river cruise. We had three days/2 nights there. Wish it had been more. Absolute must (agree with others) is the 90 minute (not the shorter) River Architecture tour We did the Foodies walking tour with bobbysbikehike.com. It started at Lou’s at 1730 and was a great way to enjoy pizza, hot dog, steak sandwiches and brownies plus some sightseeing- who knew the brownie was a Chicago invention Our other recommendation for an interesting two hours being driven around was the Gangster and Mob tour by chicagocrimetours.com. We did a daytime tour but I hear the night one is also fun. We thought given we come so far Chicago would be a “one and done”. Absolutely not we want to return for more there is so much to see and do

As long as you also report any symptoms you can pack what you like!

Prices for what we booked did not change, anyway as Dr Cocktail rightly said at least they did not go lower

Drat silly me being an early booker!!

No shuttle to the station, the only trip to Glasgow is a charged event The walk is about 12 minutes