ignatz

Let me start by saying that I've had pneumonia a few times since catching it in the 3rd grade, so am more susceptible than average to developing problems after an upper respiratory infection.

I've discovered that I will pick up an infection about day seven of a cruise, regardless of how often I wash my hands, refuse to shake hands, not touch the handrails, push the elevator buttons with my knuckle, not touch the pencils used in trivia games, etc. Having cruised about 15 times since 2005, I get a runny nose and sore throat that rapidly drops to my chest on almost every cruise.

Fortunately a doctor in London gave me the insight that my personal physician had not. After listening to my chest she frightened me by saying Legionnaire's Disease, which is a type of pneumonia. Although not Legionnaire's Disease, we determined that this was something probably caught through the ship's air conditioning system.

I now travel with nasal spray, other medications, ibuprofen, a thermometer and antibiotics to prevent an emergency doctor visit. Reviewing my history I will not travel on the Carnival Miracle, HAL Ryndam, Maasdam or any other ship I've become sick on. Typically we've cruised for longer than a week, so there is no possibility that the return air transport was to blame. Staying outside will not trump sleeping overnight with the air conditioning running. I tried that on our last cruise and am still recovering 8 days later.

Hope this is of some help to others. Track your health on the voyages lasting over 7 days and observe when the symptoms start.

The only time I've experienced chicken wings on Azamara was as a passed savory at a special event. Have I misses some place on the ships where I can get chicken wings - preferably Buffalo style?

Hot from the pool grill at any time, along with the spring rolls. It is on the menu. (Not buffalo style) Only order the burgers in the dining room or from room service.

Many of you have seemed to miss the point. No one will choose a cruise line by the quality of their onion rings or hash brown potatoes.

The fact that Azamara's chefs are unable to serve simple dishes that any bar or waffle house can churn out consistently is pathetic.

Sharing a table with a older gentleman and frequent Azamara cruiser while waiting for our room to be ready after embarkation, we were warned that the onion rings at the pool grill were awful and to not order them. I asked myself, How bad can onion rings be? Well, he was right after all. How many months or years has this been the case? How can this continue to be a problem?

Chicken wings and spring rolls at the pool grill were good but not the hamburgers.

Pizza from the carousel in the buffet was barely warm. The waffles, pancakes and french toast had all been precooked for breakfast. Lunch in the dinning room at a table for 8 resulted in cold fries for everyone who had them with their sandwiches. Remarkably, the two plates of extra fries that had been ordered at the same time were nice and hot.

Plenty of good meals on board but it was a hit or miss proposition. This shouldn't be the case.

Not to take anything away from the many Azamara fans, but there was no magic present on my only cruise with these folks from Seville to Miami this November. A fine cruise but plenty of room for improvement.

Possibly compared to other RCL ships the Azamara line stands out. I would suggest branching out to HAL and Regent for a better overview of cruising.

A fellow cruiser who was as disappointed with the breakfast hash browns as I was mentioned this to head chef Fabio. Fabio's response that 2 complaints out of 500 passengers wasn't bad indicated a basic ignorance of customer service.

This was my first cruise in 14 where receiving food while still warm was a problem. Surprisingly, room service had no difficulty in this regard.