little britain

So, here is another tip...be sure to review ALL YOUR NOTES before posting in a review. I just noticed that although it is stated that Giovanni's Table is $15pp for lunch, we paid only $10pp for this fabulous lunch!

 

I don't know if they have changed the lunch price or if it is a Embarkation Special. :cool:

Loving your review! Thanks for the 'tip' about eating at Giovanni's on boarding day (it is now another one of those CC secrets that only we know about...:cool:). Would you recommend booking or could you just turn up?

Hi,

Enjoyed your review. Could you please tell me if you were able to use anything other that the hryvnias in the Ukranian ports? In Museums, shops, restaurants?

 

Thanks.

I'm afraid we only used cash Hryvnias, or credit card in all the ports.

Cabin 8010

Azamara Journey

June 2013

Would chose this again

Standard balcony

No noise, even though it appears to be directly under the ping pong table. Easy access to lifts/stairs and up one flight to the pool area. Flat screen TV on the wall. Single chair.

Thank you so much Sue, did they run till late at night so you could go out or did you have to take taxis. We are there 2 nights.

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

Can you find my review - that has the details?? I think the buses stopped running back from WTC around 9pm so we caught a cab back after dinner and drinks in town xx (and shopping in Jim Thompson's of course...!)

But it seems now that I could have had a normal Kir with wine if I had known. Is that right? Am assuming now they have Cassis or equivalent blackcurrant liqueur? :confused:

 

Sent from my Samsung S2 using Tapatalk

Crème de Cassis is on the list of included beverages.

http://www.azamaraclubcruises.com/plan-your-voyage/onboard-packages/complimentary-beverages

No it is not. We also asked the same question on Journey and got the same reply - they wanted to keep it 'special' (gosh consistency in an onboard answer....:eek:)

Hi little Britain

 

That was an impressive list of wines. Do you know what spirits are on inclusive package?

 

Thanks

 

Ara

Here you go!

http://www.azamaraclubcruises.com/plan-your-voyage/onboard-packages/complimentary-beverages

It was certainly enough for our needs - we paid for 3 Baileys at $5.50 each. Certainly the cheapest bar bill we have ever had!;)

Hi Tim

 

I have been following your Azamara pre cruise and live cruise reviews, can you confirm Journey does not have all the complimentary wines listed on their web site, if not are they are offering a like for like or premium wine as a substitute in its place.

 

Bill

2 weeks ago the Journey had the usual selection of 7 white and 7 red and 1 rose wine on offer. If you did not like the wines on offer that day it was very easy to ask for a wine from a previous night. All wines were very high quality. And flowed freely. I find it very hard to believe that the selection on offer has declined or differs so drastically just 14 days later, as ET implies.:rolleyes:

The selection on this list gives a good indication to the range and variety available:

Boutique Wines

Kato Sauvignon Blanc (New Zealand)

Bulletin Place Shiraz (Australia)

Gérard Bertrand Chardonnay Réserve Spéciale (France)

Gérard Bertrand Cabernet Sauvignon Réserve Spéciale (France)

Caposaldo Pinot Grigio (Italy)

Melini Laborel Chianti Classico (Italy)

Main Street Chardonnay (California)

Castle Rock Pinot Noir (California)

Stellenzicht Sauvignon Blanc (South Africa)

Stellenzicht Pinotage (South Africa)

Cousiño Macul Riesling Reserva (Chile)

Cousiño Macul Cabernet Sauvignon Antiguas Reservas (Chile)

Bogle Chardonnay (California)

The Crusher Merlot (California)

Serra da Estrela Albariño (Portugal)

JMF Periquita (Portugal)

Joel Gott Sauvignon Blanc (California)

Cline Zinfandel (California)

Clos Clementine Rosé (France)

Thanks for posting your review. We are sailing Liberty on Sunday (16th June) so I will subscribe to your thread so that I don't miss anything before getting on board (we leave for Barcelona on Friday all being well with flights from the UK due to the French air problems just now). The info about the wine is very useful indeed after security so I know that I can get some wine to take on board and not need to run the streets of Barcelona looking for a shop to purchase some :D

As you are staying in Barcelona there are many little supermarkets where you can find the finest wine to take on board.... There is one at the top of Ramblas near Place Catalunya. This fine vintage cost €1.23!

 

Contrary to claims that most drinks are included. These are a selection for which you pay extra.

I think you may be flogging a dead horse here mate.

Most drinks are included. Fact

Some drinks you pay extra for, Like Baileys. Or Stoli Elit. Fact

I'm not sure where the word 'contrary' comes into this.

How do you book the Specialty Dining package - how do you pick the dates/times/restaurants you want? Do you have to wait till you are on board?

We did exactly that itinerary a few years ago -Marmaris was a hidden gem

The old streets of Rhodes were stunning

Kos was simple with relics very close to where you dock

Here is Sergey....

The night we were in Sevastopol was the Azamazing evening. I hold my hand up to being sceptical about these when first announced, but it was excellent. Coaches took the ship (minus the 40 who didn't go..) to the Mikhailovskaya Battery Museum for drinks and then an energetic performance by the Black Sea Navy Ensemble. There was a large buffet selection of local food to enjoy as well, including caviar and vodka and local wines, which went down well. It was very efficiently run and enjoyable in the atmospheric surrounding of the old castle. On our return there even was a gift of pin from the Sevastopol tourism board.

We did not change time zones during the cruise.

A day at sea and then into Istanbul, where we had to disembark. At this time there were troubles and rioting going on in the city but we saw no evidence of this. We had pre-purchased our visa online for $20pp as the UK office had advised the cost could be up to $50pp, but as it happened on board the cost was also $20pp.

We caught the tram that runs along the road directly in front of the port to our hotel (TRL3pp per trip) the Barcelo for a one night stay. Trams are efficient, clean, air conditioned and incredibly frequent - they really are the only way to get around this bustling city. We had drinks at the Cosy Bar which has outstanding views of the Blue Mosque from its rooftop bar, (look for it opposite MacDonalds)

and dinner in a little side street in the same area. On the tram on the way back to the hotel after dinner, there were 2 young men proudly draped in the Turkish flag, who could have been returning from the rioting...but they still stood up, and gave their seat to a lady...so they were well brought up rioters!! Watching CNN that night it was hard to believe we were in the same city.

In summary we had a wonderful cruise, the staff on board are efficient and fabulous, the ship was spotlessly maintained, and it was good to see Ernesto, who was previously on our 2 Quest trips again. And he remembered us by name two years later. How do they do that?! We met some great people who we hope will be forever friends, and we will return to the friendliest little ships on the deep blue sea soon.

So, with a slight hangover we reached Sevastopol, and the first part of our two day tour with Sergey Sorokin. This is young Sergey and not the historian Sergey and he was great! We went to the site of the Charge of the Light Brigade, a church built into the limestone in the 8th century, the Balaclava submarine base ( very James Bond and eerie) and the Panorama museum which was incredible, unlike anywhere we has ever seen before. Google it!

Day 2 we were in Yalta which is only 80km away - the ship sailed very very slowly that night. We went to the Massandra Palace (built for Russian tsar Alexander III who only had one lunch there),

the Livadia Palace where the Yalta's Conference of 1945 was held,

we had lunch overlooking the Swallow's Nest Castle ,

then on to Vorontsov Palace in Alupka which is an amazing palace in English-Scotish styles built in 1848 and on the way back we took a short look on Chekhov house in Yalta.

Lunch was an interesting introduction to Ukranian cusine. We had meat soup and then meat dumplings, and sampled 3 types of Ukranian wines – the red was dry and the whites were very sweet to our western tastes. The white had 3% sugar….Sergey said his wife likes white wine with 18% sugar. :eek:

We paid $170pp for the 2 day tour and cannot recommend him highly enough.

Next there was Constanta Romania. When researching this port I did find a comment that said it would be best to bomb the place which I thought was a bit harsh, by the end my assumption was that is exactly what they had done! The shuttle bus with the cracked windscreen built in the 1960s gave us a clue as to what is ahead..... There was little to see or do. On the plus side there were no tacky tourist shops....primarily because there were no shops at all!!. We did discover a new marina area, where there were cafes and bars (free wifi) which was a pleasant destruction from the depression of the city.

As Eric reminded us that night...." You love where we take you...!!!" There was free wifi in the cruise terminal which was the only redeeming feature. Others who took the excursion into Bucharest said it was well worth it though.

The Casino

Odessa....what a beautiful city ! We docked right by the Potemkin steps, which led up to elegant tree lined boulevards, wonderful architecture and colourful gardens. In many ways it reminded us of St Petersburg but with the difference that there was a real cafe society. One of the joys of Azamara of course, is the late nights in port, this means you get to experience the city by day and by night, and Odessa had a great buzz in the early evening sunshine. We ate in town at a restaurant called Jardin, very pretty and good service. Waiter spoke good English, not something that was common in many other places we stopped at in the Ukraine, thus adding to the feeling of truly being in a foreign county, and 'travelling'.

Beautiful Opera House

It was the signature White nights party that night on board with a crew member doing a very energetic performance of Gangnam Style!

The atmosphere on board generally was more lively than on our previous 2 Azamara cruises, and I can only put this down to the free booze!!

However, they really were pushing the drinks packages available on board, and one passenger we spoke with on around day 4 didn't even realise there was the semi inclusive element outside of the wine!! The complimentary selection of drinks is on the last page of the drinks menu whereas the packages were being advertised on the first page. Crafty. Even the welcome letter in the cabin only mentioned the boutique wines with lunch and dinner so this had not been updated. The wine selection and quality was excellent and the measures of G&T were huge. Consequently our account was the smallest it had ever been, on any cruise, with only a few Baileys on the rocks being bought ay $5.50 each. We asked why no 'bubbles' and the reply was because they wanted to keep that for occasions such as the Captains evening. Oh well, back to the G&T....

Our first stop was Mykonos, an island we have visited before, an efficient tender service meant no waiting ( unlike waiting for 45 mins to tender into Villefranche with RCI a few weeks before ). A pleasant day walking the picturesque alleys. Wifi was freely available in every restaurant cafe and bar. Pleased to say Petros made an appearance too.

Through the Dardanelles and the Bospherous into the Black Sea where we spotted dolphins. We tendered into Nessebar, Bulgaria. A very pretty town, with cobbled streets, old churches and timber framed houses reminiscent of a Harry Potter set! It was also full of shops selling tourist tat and copy designer items which did detract a little from the charm but nevertheless, it was a pleasant little town to spend a few hours in and have a cold beer.

It did not start well with the cab driver advising us that LHR was closed due to an emergency landing. Thankfully no one was hurt and our plane to Athens was one of the few that were not cancelled or severely delayed that day. On landing we took a cab to the Athens Marriott. A good hotel, but a bit isolated out of town on the main road between Athens and Piraeus. We could see the Acropolis from the nice rooftop pool area, but that was as close as we got, and we ate at dinner a nearby Italian restaurant which was the only restaurant we could find in the area. After breakfast in the club floor lounge we caught a cab down to the port.

Having sailed from Athens before we knew it was usually a speedy efficient boarding process. There were 2 lines, one for suites and one for everyone else, so no recognition for LCV members here. We were on board by 11:30. Time to see the changes! As others have said, they are pretty understated, or even underwhelming. DH didn't even notice any of them, but that is men for you. The carpet in discoveries was not as garish as I had expected, the painting is horrid, ( he has just read this review and said "what painting"...) but I did get used to the spikey lampshade!! The balcony table is too big, rounded edges would have helped manoeuvre around it. I think there are new bedroom doors and new room number signs (someone will no doubt correct me if there aren't), but why have they not done something about those tacky laminated "make up my room " signs....I'm sure they could so something funky with magnetic signs instead.

Food was very good as usual, Aqualina far exceeding Prime C, and Windows proving a very varied selection especially the Fish buffet on the first night that provided more prawns and mussels and calamari than I have seen before. I wonder why don't they set the outside tables with placemats and those nice coloured water glasses any more though?

Entertainment many have said is quite poor on board, but on this cruise they had a very good lady magician called Mandy Muden, the first lady to be in the Magic Circle. Her act did suffer a bit because of the very diverse nationalities on board, with Japanese, Scandinavians, ( as well as Australians, and of course Brits and Americans), And the Swedish gentleman plucked from the audience did not do as expected. Or did he....? There was a singer who sang like Nat King Cole, the singers and dancers performed a very Glee-like show with funky animated backdrop. And of course there was Eric! He had a fabulous voice well suited to the show tunes he performed.

We also appreciated the daily banter between him and Captain Johannes. And his grandfather tales.....

Mosaic Cafe had lost all atmosphere with the demise of Jim Badger and sadly we never went there.

But this cruise was always going to be about the itinerary. A trip to the Black Sea to visit countries that would have been impossible to visit just a few years ago. The demographic on board therefore made it very much about 'travellers' and not about 'cruisers'.

More tomorrow......

A truly fabulous review with awesome pictures(you could teach some people who try to do live blogs with dire pictures a thing or two ;)). Keep it coming!

I'm doing a Western Med cruise from Barcelona on Liberty in September. In your experience, is the Spanish tax on drinks etc applicable for the whole cruise if sailing from a Spanish port, or just in Spanish waters?

 

If it's only applicable in the Spanish waters, when do you know that it is no longer applicable - at the first non-Spanish port (ie; for us that will be Tulon), or will they announce when the ship is no longer in Spanish waters?

Spanish VAT is payable on the entire voyage, if ship leaves from Spain and returns to Spain, and if it is not visiting a non-EU country. I'm on LB this weekend which goes to France and Italy, and will post if there is anything different but I'm now fully expecting to pay 10% on top of the 15% for the duration:eek:

Could you please check on this? I have done many Transatlantics and never seen this tax. Is it something new?

Mark - thank you for the info about the rose on board.

:confused: I'm bringing back an older thread here. We started a cruise in Istanbul last year, arrived by air and got our visas at the airport. That was easy. We even did another cruise that called at Kusadasi and no visa was required because it was just a port of call. Now we're considering starting a cruise in Athens and ending in Istanbul, flying back to Canada from Istanbul. Can anyone please reconfirm that we'll be able to pay for the visa at the Istanbul cruiseport before we go the the airport for our flight home? The cruise overnights in Istanbul but just to clarify, after overnighting on the ship we'll disembark, ending the cruise in Istanbul and then fly back home from Istanbul airport. Thanks for any input!

I'll let you know in early June!

We are doing the same Athens to Istanbul. The cruiseline says they can get us a visa for US$50pp but the Turkish Embassy in London assures me that there is somewhere at the port where you can buy your visa for £10 (which is US$15pp).:rolleyes:

We get on as you get off! Please can you let me know what rose wines are on the main dining room wine menu and an idea of costing please - French, Spanish or Italian ones if possible please!:)

As I see it now price of the cruise is Interior from £729. Book more than 6 months in advance and get a C&A discount of £150, = £579, On board booking Bonus $150, and Balcony Bonus $225 gives a total of $375 = £242 = £337 now I think that is a good price. Upgrade for Balcony is £200 so gives a total of £537 / £600. Now this sounds reasonable.

Sorry but your prices are a bit out.

If the interior is £729pp then you would not get the £150 balcony discount as you are not in a room with a balcony.:rolleyes:

Also the £150 balcony discount is £150 total and not pp.

The onboard booking bonus is on board credit and not a discount off the cost of the cruise; and you only get the onboard booking bonus if you book a cruise when on board. Finally the $225 balcony bonus is exactly the same as the £150 balcony discount, so you cannot count that twice I'm afraid.

Prices are not known for balconies until tomorrow, so not sure where you have got the info that you can upgrade to a balcony for just £200 from, but I am expecting balconies to start at £1000pp for the 5n cruise. If they are any more than that I won't be booking...

I think this is all getting rather silly and, dare I say it, somewhat snobbish.

 

Whilst I have yet to experience the new system, I have sailed with Azamara a number of times. I have never had a problem getting one of the wines on the included list, whatever the wine of the day might be. That includes the first day of a cruise. If you don't want Cabernet, Chardonnay or, in my case, American wines (I find them overblown) then just ASK. I have never been refused and, in some cases staff have gone to a great deal of trouble to track down a chilled bottle of the white I requested. I would point out that I have always done this discretely and politely and never demanding. It works wonders.

I totally agree. I loathe Chardonnay but have never had any problems getting the wine from a previous day (the NZ SB being my wine of choice). Some people appear to be making mountains out of mole hills and trying to find fault and issues where there are none.

Happy Easter.:)

Cabin Number 7121

Ship Quest

Month/Year sailed Mar 2011

Would you choose this room again Y/N Most definitely

Is noise an issue Y/N No

Balcony size Normal/Larger/Smaller Large aft

Any other comments (keeping these succinct so the spreadsheet does not grow too much) Middle of the 3 aft cabins, good view, no issue with vibration when turning as others have reported

At the Cruise Show today [London] I tried to establish whether all the wines would be available at the bars each day or only those two on the daily rotation. The "off the cuff" response from the lady I spoke to was that they would all be available. However, when she looked at her paperwork it appeared to suggest that only the two wines of the day would be served. [so perhaps you won’t get your Chardonnay every day]. She is going to try to find out and let me know Monday.

 

I said that I was surprised that there was no sparkling wine included [not even Prosecco or Cava] and that even the wine package only included one sparkling. She was unable to give me the price of the wine packages and said that they were still awaiting the information from Miami.

 

She was very helpful but clearly was lacking a lot of essential information - as are we all. :)

 

She did say that the head of Azamara in the UK is at the cruise show tomorrow so anyone visiting then might get more information than I did.

I would think that it was only the wine of the day that is 'officially' available at the bars, during opening hours (and not just meal times). However in the past we have always been able to get the wine from another day, if you did not like the daily swill (aka Chardonnay!;)). I wonder how this will work now?

Totally agree about the lack of Cava/Proscecco.......this is so much lighter and easier to drink than some of their heavier whites, especially in the early evening or at lunch.