Mercruiser

I am hoping we start hearing some reports on how Starlink does on a TA. Azamara Onward recently completed a Miami to Tenerife Spain TA crossing. Here is the one report I can find on CC for Onward: "Internet on trans-Atlantic Onward has been great for us. Not perfect, but WAY better than the internet on Nov. trans-Atlantic!" Source:

My Starlink experience on Azamara Onward, last month, was really impressive. This was on a Lima Peru to Miami cruise. The speeds were great everywhere along the route. But, we were always close to land. I don't think Starlink will work well in the middle of the ocean (I could explain why, but it gets into technical details about ground station uplinks.) Here is a thread about the Starlink speeds. See the last post. I was getting similar speeds on my cruise. The Starlink equipment install does not need a drydock. It's actually very compact - especially compared to the legacy satellite dishes on most ships. Google "Starlink Maritime" if you want to know more.

We were on Onward last week, Feb 12 - Feb 28, Lima to Miami. I thought Onward was in great condition. The interior looks mostly brand-new. The assistant cruise director said that Princess basically trashed the interior when they laid up Pacific Princess for Covid. Princess stored all kinds of junk inside the ship. As a result, Azamara had to replace or refinish almost everything you see in the interior. IMHO, the result looks very good. A couple of niggles that had absolutely no impact on our enjoyment of the cruise: 1) They painted over the Pacific Princess white hull with Azamara blue. Some of the blue paint is coming off, especially at the waterline, showing the white paint underneath. Looks like a bad paint job. 2) They replaced the fans on the pool deck, underneath the jogging track. They look like some cheap POS that you might buy from a liquidation store for $20 each - not something I would want on my home, let alone a moving ship. The fans are already broken and inoperative. This fan is supposed to have four blades. It only has three. If you turned it on, it would vibrate so bad as to be a hazard to passengers below.

I am interested in this as well.

I am on Onward right now. I agree that this new Starlink Maritime system is very fast. I will be interested to hear from Scots Caz, and others how it does on a Trans Atlantic. When near land, Starlink satellites talk to the nearest ground-based uplink station. This has been the way Starlink has worked since launch for the home, business, and RV programs. The new feature of Starlink Maritime is new satellites that can talk to each other, until they reach a satellite in range of a ground station.This is important for remote Internet far away from land, like a TA journey. (Sorry to nerd-out here. It's an occupational hazard for electrical engineers.)

Here is a photo of the outlets in my Onward cabin. The hair dryer in the cabin uses the UK outlet. There is also a European outlet in the bathroom.

I'm on Onward now. On boarding day they set up the Aqualina/Prime C/Chefs Table booking desk right outside of Windows on the pool deck. I just went up to Windows on embarkation and asked, and they pointed the way. Subsequently, it's been just inside the entrance to Windows. Chefs Table bookings are NOT sold out on this 16-N cruise. They put a flyer in our room advertising open dates for Chefs Table.

Maybe for you, but not everyone in the world is the same. Wouldn't it be a very boring world if everyone was the same? Our adult children and us thoroughly enjoy sharing pictures with each other in real time during our trips.

MP opened Sunday Feb 12. Source is Notocias en Cusco on FB.

I use these on cruise ships all the time. Just make sure whatever you plug in is rated for 120-240V. (Basically every charger/power supply made in the last 15 years.) $7 for a bag of 6 https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0036VJ1OQ/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Why these? Cheap Small Light Does the job

My new Pixel 6 (Android v13) does tethering on cellular AND a wifi network. My old Moto G only supported tethering on cellular data. I'm guessing this is a new feature in the newer Android operating system. I'm boarding Azamara Onward tomorrow. They have a new Starlink system that is very fast, per a Cc thread. I plan to see if I can share a 1-device wifi plan with tethering. BTW - If Android users are wondering about the meaning of "tethering", "Hotspot” is the name of this feature on Android,

USA residents should get the Schwab Bank Investor Checking account https://www.schwab.com/checking I've used this for several years, all over the world. No fees ever. Here is a review https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/charles-schwab-bank-review#:~:text=Charles Schwab doesn't have,t charge foreign transaction fees.

We arrived in Lima Peru on Tuesday, Feb 7 for a Lima to Miami cruise on the Azamara Onward departing. February 12. Our trip from Spokane to Lima had zero problems. Arrival at the Lima airport was pretty normal for an international airport. We used Taxidatum for the drive to our Airbnb in Miraflores. The drive to Miraflores took about 40 minutes. This was around midnight, so there was very little traffic. Had I not been following the news, I'd have no reason to think anything unusual was happening in Peru. The only clue was the extra police presence at the Lima airport. And even that would not have really caught my attention. I've been at other airports will really high security. On our first full day (Wednesday) we walked just over 5 miles and probably another 5 miles in Uber taxi rides. Our most expensive Uber ride was 12 soles, or about $3.13 for a 30 minute, 5 mile ride. Uber is practically free here. We’ve used Uber for about 8 rides since arriving. It’s fast, cheap, and efficient. Anyone staying in Miraflores will want to take a walk on the Malecón de Miraflores. We walked from the Parque del Amor, north to the lighthouse. We then returned back south and went to the Larcomar mall and the the JW Marriott. This was my favorite activity of our 1st day.. But I like sea-view walks anywhere. There is a lot of discussion on CC and other places about whether it is safe to be in Lima. Based on our two days in Miraflores, I wouldn't even know there were protests in Lima if I didn't read the news. Everything seems completely normal. Miraflores (and Barranco) are very enjoyable places and the people are very nice and welcoming. To reiterate, we have had zero problems so far and are having a great time. This morning, we went to the Larco museum to see the artifacts from the archeological digs. It’s a very interesting museum for Peru history. They have a really nice restaurant and we ate lunch there. Tomorrow (Friday) we go on a food tour in Barranco. We have three more days to go before our cruise embarkation. So far, so good. You can find more detail and photos in our roll-call, starting at post #318. https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2841192-azamara-onward-february-12-2023-lima-to-miami/?do=findComment&comment=64794393

I agree. We used Taxidatum on Tuesday February 7, from LIM to Miraflores. They were excellent. I'm in Lima now and have been using Uber at least 4 times per day. They would be fine to the cruise port as well. Ubers and taxis are incredibly cheap here.

La republica (Lima newspaper) just reported that Machu Picchu is reopening. The article implies that the reopening will be immediate, but does not explicitly say so. https://larepublica.pe/sociedad/2023/02/08/machupicchu-ministerio-de-cultura-anuncia-la-reapertura-de-visitas-la-maravilla-mundial-lrsd-448016

It sounds like they are trying to copy Cunard's Gala Evening Themes: "Red and Gold" & "Black and White" I'll be on my 1st QM2 cruise in May. I suspect Cunard has more success than Princess in getting everyone to dress up.

The free version of Marinetraffic only shows 3 days of port history. It's not easy to find. The mobile app also has this info.

Insignia is on her 180 day world cruise. I was comparing the published itinerary and the actual ports on Marinetraffic. PM me and I can send you a link to the itinerary. It's on a TA site so I cannot post it here.

I've been monitoring the Cusco - Machu Picchu situation for the last few weeks. There are some very active social media groups for Expats in Peru and those who want to Explore Cusco and Peru. I like these because they are primarily written by people who are actually in Lima, Cusco, etc. Macchu Piccu is still closed. The trains are not running. In contrast, the flights between Lima and Cusco have mostly been on schedule. The situation is Cusco continues to worsen. Because of all the road blockades, Cusco is basically out of petrol, diesel, and cooking gas (propane). Grocery stores are running low on stock. As a result, many restaurants are closed because they don't have enough tourists, enough propane, or enough food to stay open. (Cusco does not have piped natural gas, so all cooking is done with propane.) Many hotels have shut down because of the lack of tourists. The petrol shortage means that getting a taxi to take you to the Sacred Valley sites can be a problem. There are also periodic road blocks that might keep you from seeing the sites. Street protest marches are a daily event, with lots of noise and air horns. You don't want to have a hotel room on one of these streets. Every time a protest goes by, all the shop owners roll down their security doors and close. In my humble opinion, Cusco is not presently ready to host tourists. Some adventure travelers may insist on going to Cusco no matter what. They will be fine. I don't think Cusco is any more dangerous than any other city in the world. But you're not going to have a good tourist experience with all the closures, lack of supplies, and constant noise from protest marches.

Oceania Insignia made a port call in Callao (Lima) today, per marinetraffic.com She skipped her two other scheduled Peru port calls in Salaverry and Pisac. It appears they are wanting to reduce their Peru port calls. I'll speculate they made their Callao port call because they needed to take on fuel, food, supplies, and make some crew changes. Next port of call is Arica Chile. Azamara Onward is presently on her way to Lima (Callao) from Miami, arriving Feb 11. She then heads back to Miami on Feb 13. I'll be on the Lima to Miami sailing. I will also be staying in Miraflores for several days before the cruise. As to whether Insignia allowed passengers off, I cannot tell. However, I did notice that she stayed in port all day long (maybe 10 hours).

Azamara just removed the Covid test requirement for Lima, (Callao) Peru. See https://www.azamara.com/booked-guests/before-you-board/explore-well-at-sea

If I'm cruising on Celebrity, I really prefer Aqua Class solely because of the open-seating Blu. I don't think the Aqua cabins are much different than other balcony cabins. In fact many of them are permanently shaded, being right under the pool overhang. On our Baltic cruise, we booked Aqua for a just few hundred dollars over a regular balcony - a real bargain. In contrast, I have a Singapore-Hong Kong cruise booked in 2025, and Aqua Class is $2000 more than a balcony. I booked the regular balcony on that one. We can dine every night at Murano and Tuscan for way less than that! Like others have said, its itinerary and price driven for me. Sometimes Azamara has very good deals, e.g. South America cruises. But for others, like Norway, their prices are way too high for my budget.

I was wondering if cruise lines are still making port calls in Peru. Fred Olsen Cruise Lines' MV Balmoral made her port call in Lima today. https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/home/shipid:369172/zoom:14

Wow. I didn't know about this. There is always something new to learn on CC.

I'm going to offer a different perspective here. I lived in Europe for two years (2018-2020) and travelled extensively. I also went on three Med cruises with Azamara. I got very good at optimizing price versus convenience. I followed one of Rick Steve's recommendations quite thoroughly: Spend money to save time. What that means in this context is don't waste precious port time waiting for a "free" shuttle or public transportation when an 10 euro Uber ride could save 30 minutes. While I'm waiting to get off the ship, I get on Uber and Lyft to see what the fares and waiting times are. And quite often I find the prices to be very reasonable for the time saved. I then book a rideshare for the the port right to the destination I want to see. Here is an example from a couple of old posts of mine: