wjfan417

45 minutes ago, Nebr.cruiser said:

Thank you everyone.  I am fine with the 48 hour notice.  I was just worried that if using OBC it couldn't be cancelled, ( I mean, the OBC wouldn't be returned)  as I thought I had read that somewhere.

 

We probably would use OBC on specialty restaurants and upgraded wifi, but honestly the other things like upgraded drinks (we mostly don't drink), spa, etc. aren't items we are interested in. In 50 + cruises I've never bought any kind of drink, coffee, pop, etc.!  I'll probably enjoy the basic drink package, but not a big deal for either of us.

Also good for sending laundry out to be done, rather than spending time in the self-serve laundry room!

7 minutes ago, Traveling Fools said:

 

I don't know if this will meet your scheduling requirements, but Enrichment Journeys is offering a 10-day pre-cruise adventure & 12-night cruise combination beginning on Jan 30th.  The cruise is aboard the Quest.

 

Here is the pre-cruise itinerary:

 

10-night pre-cruise land program in South Africa and Zimbabwe

o    Johannesburg, South Africa: 1-night hotel stay

      §   Welcome Dinner

o    Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe: 2-night hotel stay

      §   Sunset Dinner Cruise

      §   Full-day tour of the falls with visit to local community

      §   Boma Dinner

o    Kapama Wildlife Reserve, South Africa: 3-night hotel stay

      §   Morning and Afternoon Game Drive

      §   Morning and Afternoon Game Drive

o    Cape Town, South Africa: 4-night hotel stay

      §   Immersive GOLD Dinner Experience

      §   Full-day tour of Cape Town

      §   Full-day tour of Cape Peninsula

      §   Full-day tour of the Cape Winelands & Stellenbosch

Thanks but those dates don’t work. I booked the December trip a couple days ago.

1 hour ago, Werangels said:

We did our own thing which included 5 nights in Vic Falls overlooking a water hole in Vic Falls game reserve. There is so much to do including safaris in the game reserve.  Saw all the big 5 including lion cubs and a rare genet as well as being roadblocked on the road to our accommodation by 2 bull elephants having a stroll! 
 

We did the Zambezi Queen, the same boat as Jazzbeau and loved it.  Loved Chobe and had wonderful elephant sightings.  We would go back in a heartbeat. 

We’re thinking about doing a couple days in Victoria Falls on our own before joining the pre-cruise.

3 hours ago, crzrr said:

We were on in February and completely agree about it being a very different experience.  The Hotel Director, Tatiana, should be demoted or fired in my opinion.  She should never have been put in that position as she obviously does not have the experience to handle the job.  And, it just flows down from there.  Because she was invisible, the rest of the officers felt that it was okay to be invisible as well.  Ryszard came on for our second cruise of our b2b and things changed dramatically.  He told me that the first thing that he told all of the officers was that they had to be out of their cabins by 7am and mingling with passengers.  You could tell that a few of them were not happy about it but complied.  

She was HD on one of our cruises last year-never saw her! Ryszard has always been at the gangway when we left for our tours each day-he’s the best!

We’re considering a South Africa cruise on the Quest in December. Pre-cruise option is a 4 night Kruger National Park Safari, and post-cruise option is 2 nights in Victoria Falls, 2 nights at Chobe Game Lodge and a night in Johannesburg. Has anyone done either of these, and what did you think of them?

Diana

There used to be an option when you applied for a passport or renewal to add extra pages. I didn’t see the option when we renewed our passports last year. Not sure if it’s because we did the online renewal or because the extra pages are now automatically added.

3 hours ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

Odd.  I had gotten the 'save the date' email, but nothing today...

My husband got it but I didn’t!

3 minutes ago, Mackdogmolly said:

Wow - double whammy!!

And I forgot that the Guardians home opener is Monday also! Glad I’m retired and no longer working downtown!

41 minutes ago, Mackdogmolly said:

I live in Burlington, Vermont, which is in the path of the total solar eclipse on April 8. Our state of around 600,000 people is expecting to be invaded by 100,000-200,000 people over the next few days. 50,000-75,000 are expected to come to my city of 40,000. 😬

Many of them will be trying to travel home immediately following the event. Should be interesting!

In Cleveland-in the path of the eclipse and women’s final 4 basketball here this weekend! 

10 hours ago, Roel94 said:

Have done blue mts,Hunter valley,gone to,a resort on a reef to snorkel.

Thanks-we’ve done all of that previously.

45 minutes ago, aussie travel bird said:

Hello wjfan417

Being an Australian and avid azamara cruiser I noted in your post your desire to visit Uluṟu on your Australian trip. It will be Australia’s peak summer time and not at all a good time to visit Uluru. I’m not sure of your country of origin but Australians even avoid Uluru in summer.  Here’s an extract from the internet. You might want to do some more research. May or September are lovely times there.

 

• “December, January, February

  This is Australia’s summertime and is the worst time to travel to the lovely Uluru. The temperatures can be unbearable in the day, reaching low to the mid-30s majority of the time. The highest temperature recorded was a top of 45.5 Celsius degrees, which was only in the shade! Unless you are a fan of sweating like a pig, we recommend trying a different time of the year.”

Thanks-I’ve been rethinking this cruise because I doubt we’ll be back in the area again and it is something I’m really interested in seeing. We’ve been to Sidney and Melbourne before, and we’re at each of them for around 4 days each on our B2B cruises and not interested in spending that much time in those cities.

4 hours ago, aliaschief said:

As of last night probably now around 120. Of the 135 several are getting off in Dubai and doing their own travel plans then rejoining in Venice. All lounges will not be open at same time but will be rotated and that will also be the case with specialty restaurants.

Haven’t heard yet how many guest are going on the safaris. Guest count could really be lower that week.

Taking a three day side trip to Angkor Wat. Will rejoin Onward in Bangkok.

Was the side trip arranged by Azamara or on your own? If on your own, did you prearrange? We go back and forth between Sydney and Melbourne on our B2B this December and January, and would like to be able to visit Uluru from Melbourne and rejoin the ship in Sydney.

Shore excursions are available for our December/January cruises to Australia and New Zealand.

11 minutes ago, laurieb said:

Does Azamara still offer the transfers onboard?  

They did last year when we were there. I would assume they still are.

We donate to the crew fund every trip.

3 hours ago, travelberlin said:

I wonder why people who get sick and have to be quarantined are receiving compensation. Is Azamara accepting that this illness is its fault? Guests on other cruise lines are being quarantined for five days because of COVID but are not getting any compensation. 

I was quarantined with Covid for 6 days during our Azamara cruise last fall. Covid was definitely not the ship’s fault, but I received future cruise credit for the days I was quarantined.

7 hours ago, dcl999 said:

I just saw that the onboard WiFi does not support VPN. How are people handling security on their devices?

My husband and I always use our VPN without any problems.

6 hours ago, aliaschief said:

Our Azamazing Evening was last night. We went to the Hobart Music Hall and enjoyed a performance by the Hobart Symphony. A grand evening. 
Today we are leaving the ship and flying to Melbourne. Stay overnight and tomorrow fly to visit Ayer’s Rock. We will rejoin Onward in Sydney.

Yesterday we enjoyed visiting four vineyards and especially enjoyed walking on stable ground without dealing with high seas.

 

Was Ayres Rock an option offered by Azamara or are you taking an independent tour? We’re on Pursuit in December, and I’ve been trying to figure out how to get to Ayres Rock prior to boarding in Perth.

34 minutes ago, Mackdogmolly said:

Lots to do today!

Jakub Trasak’s great! He’s been on a couple of our cruises.

Nice that they finally have a Sauternes on the ultimate list.

We use it to purchase bottles of wine, specialty dining, laundry packages, wi-fi.

I think someone just shared that one of the ships is including Erath Pinot Noir (not sure if it was in the included or ultimate package).  They also own Rex Hill and A to Z. We travel to Oregon at least once a year and Oregon Pinots make up most of our cellar. However, the Sycamore brands are inexpensive supermarket wines at this point. 

We were on that cruise too, and they were fantastic! A private guide that we had for a small group tour was amazed that they performed on our ship! We saw them last summer at an outdoor venue in Cleveland.

2 hours ago, luv2travel90266 said:

I see you went in 2023. We are leaving in the fall for a similar Azamara itinerary and also looking for what to do in Volos? Prior to the cruise we will be renting a car and driving so are staying in Kalabaka for 2 nights so looking for something else to do in that port stop. 

We went in July 2023 and visited Meteora and Makrynitsa with a private tour operator that had been recommended by others on this board-Taxi in Volos.

Usually 30 minutes