EdinburghTim

2 hours ago, KenzSailing said:

line as the reservation number.)  To add to the mystery

We were on the Journey in early March. I can confirm what the others have said. You dock in the city up the river. Azamara also run a shuttle bus that takes you from the port and drops you in the city centre next to the Caravelle Hotel and Opera House - a 10-15  minute journey. From there you can explore the city on foot on your own if you're brave enough to cross the roads!

Cruise director Darren gets off Journey tomorrow (6th Feb) when this cruise ends in Sydney. He will be replaced as CD by Stephen. Staff captain Dario is also leaving on vacation and I believe so are the excellent house band Fantastic Beats. Not sure who will be their replacements.

Grace is a gem. She got off Journey in Auckland and was replaced by Jose. She has been promoted to cruise director and will rejoin on Pursuit after her vacation 

It does seem to be ship specific. When we were on the Journey in June, the muster required us all to report to our muster stations A/B en masse before sailing. We got off the Pursuit yesterday in Oslo and when we boarded in Dublin at the end of July, we were played a video in the cabaret lounge in small groups after we had completed check-in in the cabaret lounge, regardless of muster station. I much prefer the Pursuit approach and hope they standardize this way.

We visited Porto on Pursuit in June last year. There was an Azamara shuttle running from Leixoes (where we docked) to Porto. It was quite a distance and took 30 minutes+ because of the traffic but it was free. You could walk into the old town or across the river to where the port houses are in about 15 minutes from where the shuttle dropped you

Just off Pursuit today in Barcelona after a fabulous cruise. Weather and seas were perfect - sunny skies and very calm. The whole crew were excellent particularly the entertainment team led by Emily. Patio was open for dinner sporadically. You needed to check the daily Insider to see whether it was available on a particular night. There were 578 passengers on board for this cruise and 571 for the next one departing today for a 10-day cruise to Ravenna. This information is from a friend who is staying on for a B2B. Looks like occupancy is getting back up to pre-pandemic levels - which is good from a corporate point of view but I'll miss the days of walking around seemingly on a private yacht!

Les, I think you're worrying unnecessarily. Azamara have changed the wording on the website since their original communication to us to remove the ambiguity around 'days' versus 'hours' for precisely the reason you articulate. If you are embarking on Tuesday, a LFT from any time on Monday (or Tuesday) would be acceptable to Az. Ivi, in post #203 confirms the same after speaking to her TA. 

However, I'm hoping Az will remove this particular requirement before our cruise in June. If not, we will be taking the test at the airport before we fly out the day before embarkation as per my recommendation to you. Even if I were wrong (which I'm not), the worst that would happen is that we would have to fork out again for Az's high-priced test at the pier. Not great I accept but not a showstopper. Plus, I don't have happy memories of the testers at Lisbon trying to push the swab through my brain and out the top of my skull when we took the free test before our November Az cruise! 

les37b, you can get an antigen test at LGW before flying out on Monday. A negative result anytime the day before you sail on Tuesday is fine. Don't get hung up on testing time versus boarding time. Here is the relevant section of the (current) website:

In the interest of welcoming you onboard and starting your voyage as quickly as possible, guests will no longer be required to undergo a COVID-19 antigen test while checking in at the terminal. However, to strive for a COVID-19 free environment, guests will be required to provide a negative COVID-19 test upon embarkation. At-home and/or self-testing kits are not accepted. The test results must be from a testing laboratory or a licensed testing site. The COVID-19 test can either be:

PCR: Test date no older than 3 days prior to embarkation; OR 

Antigen: Test date must be within one day of embarkation

Note, the switch in the wording from the original communication I received on 21st April (dated 20th April) which stated the validity of the PCR test in hours (see below) which led to a lot of confusion of the kind you are mentioning:

• PCR: Test date no older than 72 hours prior to embarkation; OR
• Antigen: Test date must be within one day of embarkation

So Monday for your LFT should be fine although it will mean getting to the airport a bit earlier. I'm  also hoping that particular hoop will be gone before June so are holding off booking our tests until nearer the time

The Scottish App is OK Mrs Skip. The App generates a new QR code every time you open or refresh the App. The QR code is valid for 3 days - so today (26th March) it is valid until 29th March.

According to the App, this 3 day validity of the QR code is for 'security reasons'. It also advises that you check your QR codes are up to date before you travel. 

If you click on the information symbol next to the validity date, there is an explanation to this effect.

Hope this helps!

Testing at embarkation is a lateral flow (antigen) test. You get your results in about 15 minutes. It would take several hours and a sizable laboratory with skilled technicians to process pcr tests for several hundred embarking passengers.

Perhaps Az have agreed with Morocco that this antigen testing is sufficient because I agree, it's pretty late in the day to start changing ports for the end of March but you never know? Anyway, I wouldn't get stressed about it. You have to be flexible in the era of Covid and 'go with the flow'. Wherever you end up,  you will have a wonderful time aboard Az!

When we were onboard Journey in December, my wife went to an interesting talk by Captain G who said that the reciprocity arrangements between Captains Club and AZ Circle would continue until the IT system was disentangled 'at the end of March 2022'. Whether that project is on track to deliver on time, I have no idea.

If your friends are showing as Discoverer at the time of sailing, I'm pretty certain they will receive the perks despite not having sailed Az before. We certainly did.

We're on a Silversea cruise in May and were told this week

'We have been advised that, unfortunately, Morocco remains closed to cruise ships. As such we have amended the itinerary to now visit Gibraltar in lieu of Tangier, Morocco.

Don't know if this is an accurate statement, but if true, the concern over the Covid entry requirements for Morocco may well be moot. Anyway, as uktog says, Azamara take care of all the various testing requirements once on board.

SS need to reconsider this requirement. Most people will be travelling to their embarkation port the day before or even earlier which leaves a very narrow, or in many cases, a non-existent window to take the test before they leave home to meet the 48 hour approved window. The alternative is to find a clinic at your destination. Who wants to spend their precious vacation time navigating the streets of a city you don't know to find a suitably accredited test centre when you probably only have a few hours to see 'the sights' in the first place?

Come on SS, this is a massive backward step. Either continue to test at the port or drop the requirement altogether. This new policy is not helpful and will only irritate your customer base

Which ship is Mikael going to Captain? Do the Captains switch between the ships? I thought they had their 'own' ship

The website says (my bolding): 'A proud Finn who's always had a deep connection to life on the water, Captain Mikael Palmroos is looking forward to creating a “home away from home” experience with the friendliest crew at sea as the captain of Azamara Onward.

whereas the e-mail that was sent out announcing the promotions says he will be on the Pursuit  

Sasha and Dema were on the Journey cruise that ended on 11th December so they must have jetted off to join the Quest pretty recently.

Just off the Journey yesterday. No piped music by the pool - bliss. Paula with a lovely voice played Piano in the Den each evening and the excellent house band East Pearl played several sets in the Living Room each evening. Between the live sets in the Living Room they did have background music playing in the evening but nothing before about 5pm (that I noticed). Due to the low number of people on board (172) there was only 1 show each evening starting at 9:15pm most nights. The Destination event started at 8:30pm but most nights it was 9:15pm. Eric the Cruise Director and his excellent team worked hard to create an atmosphere but it was tough as there were never more than 100 in the room. The 4 singers in the crew were excellent and put on good shows. Overall, I thought the entertainment was first rate given the size of the ship and resources available.

Capacity limits on some excursions may be the least of your problems. They appear to be offering the Taj Mahal from Cochin port on 1st May 2024 (if I'm reading that correctly). Not sure if anybody has looked at a map but that's over 1,000 miles away and a 33 hour+ road trip each way. Will RCCL be chartering aircraft?

Regarding access to the gym - we were on 31/7-6/8 cruise and I went to the gym every day. I think there was a notice on the door reserving the right to restrict access (I could be wrong) but that was never needed any of the times I used it (which varied day-to-day). There were only a few people (maximum 6) using the gym when I went and you could walk straight in. Capacity was reduced though but that was never a problem. Every second machine like the treadmills was blocked off and disconnected to maintain social distancing and you were asked to disinfect the machines with wipes before and after use - a common courtesy and no real difference from gym use in pre-covid times. Enjoy your trip

We were on the cruise before this one. There were 90-odd children out of 1,000ish passengers - so nearly 10%. As the OP says, mask wearing amongst the over 11s who were meant to be wearing them was non-existent and there was zero enforcement by the crew. I think they were tested periodically and we didn't hear of any positive cases whilst we were on board which was lucky. This lack of mask wearing by children was probably my biggest gripe from the cruise. Mask wearing by adults was pretty close to 100% and the crew ALWAYS wore them both inside and outside on the decks where they were optional for passengers.

The lady at guest relations said there were 1,005 passengers but she could be wrong or not including infants ( of which there are a few) or something.  Anyway, 1,000ish passengers on a 2,800+ ship means there is plenty of space!

8 minutes ago, isdoo said:

 

The ship declared total passengers as 1029 with 860 crew over the radio - so I hope we haven't lost any since Southampton 😂 😂 

 

Unless that is 1005 + 98 in which case we have stowaways 😂 😂 

An observation on mask wearing. 

It seems pretty well observed indoors. Exceptions seem to be a few elderly people,  particularly elderly men. Children and teenagers also do not seem to be following the rules and crew are not visibly enforcing them.

Just onboard Silhouette now. Checkin was easy at 1PM. 18 minutes from car park to ship.

Ship has 1,005 passengers with 98 children. Rather more than expected considering there is little for them to do onboard.

Happy cruising everyone 

As laslomas says, I don't think we'll know what the restrictions will be until we sail. The latest information is on the website (updated 9th June i.e yesterday)

https://www.celebritycruises.com/gb/healthy-at-sea/uk-travel-requirements

Currently, getting off in port on our own will be allowed IF local regulations allow.

Facemasks to be worn inside but NOT outside or if eating/drinking