travelordie

The following just appeared on our Azamara Journey roll call for October 27th: "Notice to all Canadian passport holders... I just spoke to an agent at Azamara and she told me that we would be denied boarding if we do not have a VISA for Egypt. It we cancelled the cruise today we would face a 75% cancellation fee on the amount we paid. If we wait until 30 days from departure to cancel we will face a 100% cancellation fee."

Azamara has not responded to my inquiry.

Thanks. I was planning to ask that question. If the answer is no, we’ll remain in Greece for the duration of the Azamara cruise.

There is an Egyptian embassy in Athens and we could drop off our passports for a few hours. The problem is that they want them for 4-5 days.

We are currently travelling on a cruise ship and will continue to do so until October when we switch to an Azamara cruise with stops in Egypt. Therefore, we can't apply at an Egyptian embassy or consulate as we're on a ship. We don't know if Azamara will let us board. How did you find out that your cruise line won't let you board without an Egyptian visa?

It is unfortunate that you don’t remember enough to list your disappointments. I do still remember that my Seabourn Venture cruise was outstanding.

Good to know. I suspect she’ll not provide an explanation as to why she’s negative.

We just completed a cruise on Seabourn and it was the best cruise we've ever taken. What made your Seabourn cruise disappointing?

I view this as a valuable learning experience about Canadian Arctic cruising. We have decided that we will definitely do the Falklands, South Georgia and Antarctica on the Seabourn Venture but will probably not risk doing the Northwest Passage. Seven consecutive “at sea” days was enjoyable yet sufficient.

I agree that this trip would have been more successful a few weeks earlier. It seems likely that initially it was planned for an earlier date but with the Venture under construction, then delayed, this probably created the new scheduling.

One of the submersibles was out of service during our segment of the cruise. We were waitlisted on the remaining submersible but did not clear the wait list. We were booked on four different kayak excursions but all were ultimately cancelled. I do understand that the Captain’s motivation is 100% safety and do not fault him for his decisions. However, some token compensation would be nice. We did see wildlife from the ship on September 25th and it was a memorable experience - polar bears, musk oxen and even beluga whales.

We were last able to get off the Venture on September 24th at Pond Inlet. The stops at Dundas Harbour and Crocker Bay were cancelled by the Captain due to unfavourable weather conditions. The stop at Beechy Island on September 26th was cancelled as the Captain suspected that our exit route would potentially be blocked by impassable ice. September 27th and 28th were scheduled days at sea. The stops near Lady Franklin Island and Monumental Island today were cancelled due to unfavourable weather conditions. September 30th and October 1st are scheduled days at sea. When we arrive in Newfoundland on October 2nd, we will have had seven consecutive sea days. We realize that the Venture is an expedition ship and were anticipating some cancelled stops and a backup plan. This is probably a new itinerary for Seabourn and there appears to be no backup plan for the multiple cancellations. It would have been nice, for example, to have alternatives to the relatively large number of cancellations. Given the daily cost of this cruise, at minimum Seabourn should be offering financial compensation, future cruise credits or shipboard credits to the many disappointed passengers on this segment of the cruise.

Perfect. Exactly what we’d hoped to hear or see. Thanks.

Glad to hear that there is live music. We will certainly request some of our favourites. Here's another question. We're packing now and trying to decide if we should bring empty water bottles from home for excursions ashore or whether Seabourn will provide them.

Thanks for this information. Might not pack our dancing shoes. Do you recall if the music is live or recorded?

When cruising, we enjoy dancing to live music in the evening. Does this happen on the Venture or do most people go to sleep after dinner?