federalexpress

Yes, that was completed after I left, quite a few years later. I recall there was going to be a massive arts and culture complex on Saadiyat, including a Guggenheim and national museum but it was all delayed way over scheduled completion time. In fact I think they have only built the Louvre so far. It looked to be quite an impressive venue, though obviously I only saw the models and drawings. I think the problem with this part of the world is that there is basically no heritage and history and not even that much in the way of natural attractions. I guess that is why Dubai went the shopping and theme park route. To be fair, I always preferred Abu Dhabi, at least there is a sense of it being a real city connected to the coast. And there's the Grand Mosque, which is quite striking. You could certainly make a decent day of sightseeing there.

Just caught up with this thread. Unfortunately, having had long experience of working in the Gulf across well over a decade, this is unsurprising. Governments are a rule to themselves, unaccountable, mostly incompetent and not remotely concerned about decisions affecting individuals, unless they happen to be nationals. Of course, this is not Azamara's fault. The mistake was giving Qatar the World Cup in the first place but we all know why that happened. I don't know what subsequently happened to those who booked but for sure, road transport to Qatar from Abu Dhabi is a non starter. Just about the only way to do it would be to charter a private jet- maybe the Qatari government could stump up for that! What Azamara can and should do is offer full cruise refunds to anyone affected. I hope they did so. For those who were not going to the WC, I think they may gain rather than lose. Abu Dhabi is a bit of a soulless place like all these Gulf countries (perhaps excepting Oman) but a little less so than Doha. The golfers should be happy, the courses are in my view better than Doha, especially the amazing Yas Links. And that stop in Sir Bani Yas might be interesting,

OK thanks, I thought I saw a youtube video that showed an electric outlet on the side of the bed. Must have been something else. Do you know if there is a UK outlet anywhere in the room and did you bring an extension lead or can you get one onboard?

Quick question that does not seem to be answered on the spreadsheet. It looks like there is a socket on both sides of the bed in a CC suite on Pursuit. Is this a UK socket or US (or other). It's for a CPAP machine.

My problem is I wanted to use my $1000 of OBC to buy the package (or at least part fund it). This they don't allow. You have to pay for it with cash before you go but that would have left me with all that OBC without any reasonable need for it. So I have to buy it onboard. To be honest, this strikes me as a daft arrangement, you are simply using OBC to convert into a package of OBC's, but it's the way it is.

In the UK at least, if you haven't been vaxxed you've likely caught it and that amounts to the same thing. In my case, you can be vaxxed 3 times and still have caught it, such are the latest variants. At least I wasn't at all ill, and that might well have been down to the vax protection. But it won't stop us getting it, at least not much longer than a few months after the jab. If anything, I'd sooner people were tested before boarding. But I can see why even that is getting dropped. Instead my intention is to get vaxxed as close as possible to my next cruise. Not because I fear Covid, I don't, but it gives me the best chance of not being confined to my room because at least being vaxxed somewhat reduces you chance of catching it, if only for a limited time post vax.

This is what the guy at AZ told me. He could be mistaken or even lying to keep me at bay but I don't think so, he sounded pretty assured and confident. I join at Buenos Aires and said I should turn up early, around 1.30, as suite guests will get onboard first if they wish to. I'm 95% sure that he said they hold back a small number of private driver excursions for those who wish to book face to face. He said this was because some guests, I guess the older ones, prefer to do these things face to face. I even recall him putting a number on this of 4, for the private cars (the vans are different). This from a total of around 15-20 available. With no guarantees, he reckoned I'd be unlucky not to get one for my excursion. Note this only seemed to apply to the private driver type excursions. I don't think it does to general excursions. I guess if the latter get filled, they might try and put another one on (or cancel if they don't have numbers for the original one). Of course I'll soon find out if I got this wrong when I board!

Grandma Cruising's suggestion above is a good one but there are some excursions which are not cancellable at short notice. In my case, this involved me wanting to use a private driver in Ushuaia on a S America cruise but pay for it using the credit from the Indulgence package. You can't buy the latter until you board and I was told by AZ that booking the excursion prior to boarding with cash or OBC would make it non cancellable. I'd still have my $700 excursion credit from the package but would have to use it on other excursions. This didn't work for me, I'm self touring in the other ports, so I'm not having to take a chance they still have private drivers available at the point of boarding. Fortunately I'm in a suite and he said I'd be allowed to board from 1.30pm and he reckoned I should still get one if I act fast- get the Indulgence package, then use the credit. Apparently they save a few of the drivers just for onboard purchase- for those who don't like using internet etc.

I agree and have a feeling that I am therefore likely in a minority versus a majority of cocktail and/or spirit drinkers. Maybe that's why they do what they do on wine, too few notice much so they can get away with it. Shame really because I'd prefer a drinks package that included decent wine because a) I prefer the concept of fully inclusive and b) I want to buy a package that includes ultimate but has no allowance for bottle packages. Oh well, I'm sure I'll still enjoy my cruise and I'll bring on at least one decent red to pay corkage on. Seems daft/unnecessary to me to go that way, and it will obviously cost more, but I guess that's life.

With thanks to Grandma Cruising for the latest list from a different ship. A lot of similarities but also a couple of differences, especially on the reds. I see a halfway OK satellite St Emilion, the Dame de Bouard, but also a bargain basement CS/Merlot that appears to come from the Cote de Gascogne of all places. Also a not bad Jurancon dessert wine, the Domaine Lasserre. At this point it opens up the issue of what Azamara appear to be doing with wine versus our expectations as customers and whether they match up. My expectation is based on the fact that wine, albeit fairly basic, is already included, and that this needs an extra £20 per day spend (as a Brit, I'll deal in sterling). My expectation derived from the above is that I would expect to see wines retailing around £15 on the Ultimate list. Few people drink more than a bottle a day and that still more than covers their cost. Another way of putting it would be to apply a 250% mark up on the per bottle difference between the included and ultimate wines. You get to much the same figure. For £15, a little above or below, I have bought in the UK (so including our high taxes), a decent Pomerol or a top Cru Bourgeois Medoc, a good grower Chablis, a Rioja reserva from a top producer. A Sancerre would be borderline but a decent Pouilly Fume fits in. Burgundy is pretty much off limits at this price but you could get a top cru single vineyard Beaujolais or a reasonable quality Pinot Noir from Oregon or S America or for that matter, a much better one than Matua from New Zealand. Beyond the best known names, £15 would also buy you some very decent quality wine from top producers from S Africa, Portugal etc. What perplexes me even more is that some of the drinks on the list are definitely premium. The Champagne and Chandon would be way above that but look at those whiskies. The Balvenie and Macallan bottles are not all that far away from £100 a bottle. Granted you drink less whisky than you would wine, but even so, that also supports £15 a bottle. My conclusion is that AZ simply don't care much about wine and/or have zero expertise on the subject and so choose to make their savings there. I grant you most passengers are not wine nuts like me, but surely they are more interested than average, especially if buying the package? Seems to me, the package works pretty well if you drink whisky and champagne, a lot less so if you prefer wine. I write this hoping AZ may read this forum and do something about it.

Will do and with expectations somewhat lowered....

OK, well bang goes my one and only big need! I'll see how it goes, I won't me making any other demands that day and it can be as leisurely a dinner as they wish...

This will be my first cruise with a butler (and only my second ever cruise). I have no expectations (or even understanding) of what a butler could do that a decent cabin attendant could not. I certainly don't need help with packing or unpacking for example and I plan to do my own restaurant bookings so I know they are done and done quickly. On the first night, if weather allows, I plan to dine on my balcony so I imagine having a butler might mean that is more efficient and I get served as I would in a restaurant, course by course, and get my wine topped up. Otherwise I have no known needs. I can only imagine he/she might come in handy if I have a problem I need sorting that an in depth familiarity with the ship might assist with. So in Rumsfeld terms, 'an unknown known'.

Helpful, thank you.Although it makes for somewhat deflating reading. A decent Merlot like Matanzas Creek changed for what is basically a bucket Italian Merlot at about a third the cost? Mondavi's budget entry line v Sokol Blosser Pinot Noir? I guess we have to suck it up but maybe make sure onboard to the staff that some of us at least are noticing this, and hope that gets fed back...

Ah, OK, I'm on Pursuit and they don't, all the forward cabins are verandah (plus the v expensive suites at the very front). Didn't know there were such big differences between the various ships. Agree with you that although I'm far from an old hand, the front of the ship didn't appeal much, especially as I'll be in the Southern Ocean going around Cape Horn!

I've not cruised on AZ yet, just booked and researched it but I'm reasonably sure there are no CC suites at the front of the ship. N1 is pretty much middle, N2 more towards the back. Of course even the CC suite furthest back is not as the very back of the ship, given it's on deck 8 and the shape of the ship. I booked 8060 which is N2 but in the first half of them.I'm not midship therefore but someone told me that with regard to comfort in rough seas, the centre point in pitch terms is further back than the middle because the engines, which are heavy, are in the back. Agree with you re shower. We actually booked a CC suite and chose the room number with shower and won't be getting involved in upgrades (to go to the spa suite or the front big suite was eye wateringly expensive anyway). Like you, I wondered about which might be worse, under the pool deck or the buffet. My hunch is the pool deck might be worse, hence preferring the N2 rooms, but that may be wrong. Most nights we will be sleeping we will be at sea anyway and I imagine there will, like a plane, be plenty of other noises to dampen things out.

Thanks for this be interested in any other updates on current wines available, especially for the Ultimate package.

I'd generally agree with your comments but above all I'd like to send my sympathy to you regarding the news of your grandchild. I've had this awful news for two close relatives of my own in the past few years and I know how harrowing it is. At least they were 'current' generation, it must be worse when it is for a generation or even two below.

First time cruiser with Azamara booked in a CC suite of the Jan 24th 2023 S America cruise for 17 nights. Got the following upgrade offers, all minimum bid shown, in pounds sterling, per cabin (not per person) Spa suite £3540 Ocean suite £4950 Owner's suite £6190 Maybe this won't count for the spreadsheet because I have no intention of bidding at these levels. Looking at others' offers and bids, it seems the sweet spot is verandah to CC suite, those seem much more affordable for the extra 50% space and the suite benefits. If there is another time, I might book a veranda and bid for a CC suite.

OK, useful to know. Am I right in thinking there are one or two other theme nights for the chef's table. Think I saw an Italian one and maybe an Arabic one.

Yes I though they looked pretty decent. I assume this is on every ship? I'm on Pursuit in Jan/Feb. Do you know also if it is just one night only? I'm on a 17 day cruise.

Excuse me if I've missed something but what are we looking at here? Is this the chef's table menu?

I'm with Nippy Sweetie on this. I want to dine at the time I want, not at the time that is convenient to the restaurateur. On land this is easy. I avoid venues that cram in two sittings. I hadn't realised they did this when I booked my first cruise. They certainly don't mention it on the website.

If my perception is correct from my email exchange with them, they would be ok with you doing that but their current IT, which I gather is soon to be replaced, prevents that being possible.

Further to my last post above. this is what exceeds moving the goalposts. When I booked, corkage was $10 not $25. I saw no mention of confiscating wines bought in port. What use are they to me at the end of the cruise? At a minimum, I had assume they could be consumed in your room, free of charge and without interference. Now I also see they app ear to have markedly reduce quality of the package I had assumed I would buy. I'm sure I'll still find pleasure in my forthcoming cruise but I'm now beginning to feel nickel and dimed and I booked Azamara to avoid that.