dhall711

I don't know about fans.  I assume if it's small enough you can bring your own.  Don't believe they have any but you can always ask.  The A/C in the room is pretty good - keeps things at nice constant temp without blowing everything around.

There's a hairdryer already in the stateroom (not sure of wattage but it looked to be a full sized one). You can also bring your own along with curling irons, straighteners, etc. as long as it runs on standard voltage.  Many of the outlets are actually European plugs so you might want to bring a few adapters with you.

Steamers - absolutely not.  They will x-ray your bags during embarkation and will confiscate any irons or steamers and hold them until you disembark at the end of your cruise.  They are very strict about this as these are fire hazards.

As stated above you can have garments pressed through the laundry service.  Irons/ironing boards are available in the self-service laundry on deck 7.

Here's a picture I took at the dock in Sitka with the Quest sitting next to the Eclipse.  Pretty striking the difference in size, no?

On 7/12/2019 at 4:02 PM, helby said:

  Macdogmolly said " Final port yesterday in Nanaimo. We arrived at 2:00 pm, but after docking, the captain was told he had to move the ship a couple of meters (who knows why), thus delaying those with shore excursions. "  

 

The reason the ship had to moved was because the port  employee removing a fence section dropped and it it got stuck sideways so the gangway couldn't be put in place until the ship was moved a few meters to another section so a  port problem not the ship's.

 

It's not that the dock worker dropped the fence, it's that they couldn't get that particular section of the fence that was lined up with the ship's entry door to come out of it's placements.  So they had to move the ship up a few feet in order to get the door aligned with a different section.  We watched them work at it for a long time before finally giving up.  It was actually quite comical.

We did the wine tour in Nanaimo and is was very pleasant.  It was pretty far outside of the town town and took about 45 mins to get there.  The reds were awful IMHO but we actually brought back several bottles of the pinot grigio.

All in all it was a good voyage but we were extremely disappointed in the overall itinerary.  The overnight in Seattle was perplexing and pointless, the AK ports were the exact same ports as all the other mega ships (as evidenced by the thousands of people descending on these tiny towns all at once), no glaciers anywhere (why not spend the extra day going into Glacier Bay for example?).  It seemed the 10 days could have been easily condensed into 7 and not have missed anything.  While it was still nice it was not worth the premium price.

Highlights were chihuly gardens and Nanaimo and the whale watching excursion we took in Juneau (saw rare humpback bubble net feeding).  Other than that we were less than impressed for the money spent.  Just our opinion. 

7 minutes ago, CHYMN said:

Has anyone actually measured the shower?  If not, can you provide an estimate?  For comparison purposes, we were recently on the Celebrity Reflection, which had a small shower but it was workable for us.  It did have a folding door.  Can anyone compare the Celebrity shower to the Azamara ones?  The magnets seem like a good idea.  Do the suites on Azamara have the same size showers?  Sorry to belabor the points, but we are considering an Azamara cruise and really would like the info.  Thanks!

I’d say the AZ showers are about the size of a telephone booth (for those of us old enough to remember). There’s enough room to get done what you came there to do but not much else. 

We’re on Quest right now and the CC suite shower is huge by comparison (and wonderfully strong and hot!). Enough room for 2 if you’re into that. 

Was on the Journey last November circling Cuba and the WiFi was barely functional.  Speeds so slow that simple emails were taking 10+ mins to load.

YMMV

1 hour ago, lovecruzin said:

 

Interesting, we bid as well and have not heard back either way. Our bid was significantly lower, perhaps they are waiting for last minute, more $$ bids!

Congrats on your upgrade!

I debated on how much to bid factoring in the probability of limited # of suites left and upgrade competition from higher LCV status.  I probably overpaid by a little but am betting that anything less than $500/per person will not be successful given the ship is getting close to selling out.

I've been monitoring the remaining cabins for the past few weeks and see a pretty constant number of around 10 or so suites not sold.  Prices on the two July cruises have been swinging wildly the past couple of months.  Noticed today that only suites are available now so that might have been why they finally processed the upgrade to free up some verandas and outside cabins to sell.

Somebody upthread mentioned their upgrade seemed stuck until they went in and raised it up a bit.  The minute they did that the upgrade cleared.  You might consider ponying up just a little bit more and see what happens.

All in all, we're getting a suite for several thousand less than if we had booked it directly plus the additional suite amenities so I still consider it a decent deal.  However, it doesn't alter my opinion that this year's Alaska cruises are still wildly overpriced compared to other cruise lines. 

Just received a successful upgrade notice for our July 2 Alaska cruise on Quest (22 days out).

Bid $600 per person ($1200 total) for verandah to club continent suite.  Minimum bid was $200 and my bid was considered weak.  Made the upgrade request on March 12 and we are Adventurer LCV level (this will be our 2nd Azamara cruise).

Looking forward to our suite and the included amenities.  Previous cruise we were outside cabin and regretted not getting a balcony.

Looks like the hammer finally dropped and future Cuba cruises are now in jeopardy. 

Glad we went last November while we could. 

https://www-m.cnn.com/2019/06/04/politics/us-cuba-travel-restrictions/index.html?r=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cnn.com%2F

The new restrictions will prohibit cruise ship passengers whose trips are arranged as organized tours. It's unclear how the new restrictions will impact US airlines flying newly established routes to the island.

I agree that the small ship experience is still much better than the mega ships and we plan to enjoy our trip regardless. 

You can go to www.cruisemapper.com and look up the future schedule of all ships and their ports.  For instance, I see 4 other ships in Juneau the same day we will be there (Sunday, July 7): 

There's no way to sugar coat it - the showers are tiny.  Even small people will find it claustrophobic.  The worst is the shower curtain clings to you with even the slightest movement.

Best tip I heard is to get some long shower curtain magnets like these: https://www.amazon.com/Clingless-Shower-Curtain-Liner-Weights/dp/B07DKRQY3K?ref_=bl_dp_s_web_14576561011

to keep the curtain from blowing inward.

Other trick I learned is to put the bottom of the curtain on the outside of the shower stall and into the little drain channel that runs along the outside and underneath the sink. This gives you a little extra room to maneuver.  

Been to Osaka and Himeji castles in 2005.  Original Osaka castle was destroyed in the war but Himeji is the original structure built in the 1600's.

Favorite city is still Kyoto though.  Stayed at a traditional ryokan and visited the imperial gardens and temple.  The US avoided bombing Kyoto during the war so most of it is still original.

We are on the July 2 sailing out of Vancouver.  An Alaska cruise has always been on my wife's bucket list so we booked last November while onboard the Journey to take advantage of the future cruise discount and OBC.  This will be our 2nd AZ cruise so we are just lowly Adventurers. 

I'm a little disappointed to see that the itinerary so closely matches the other big cruise lines with only limited times in port (no overnights except in Seattle of all places) and the same AK ports that I visited on my first HAL cruise almost 40 years ago.  Also a little bummed that we don't go into Glacier Bay although I agree that it's not that big of deal - plenty of other things to do and see.  We booked shore excursions for most of the days as there's not much to do in the actual towns other than souvenir shop with 5000 passengers from the other ships in port that day.  The one bright spot is spending a day in the wine country outside of Naniamo, BC.

The real gut punch though is seeing the steep discounts being offered since we booked last year.  For the price we paid for a verandah on AZ we could get a sky suite on Celebrity.  Live and learn I suppose although it would be super nice if AZ threw those of us who paid the higher early fares a bone with some additional OBC or Experience More package.  The AK market is obviously over saturated so maybe it's best that AZ focuses on places the other lines don't go to like Japan.

Well then maybe we just had an outlier experience as during our cruise on the Journey back in November the internet was all but useless - and we weren't the only ones complaining.  It was even a running gag with the performers in the nightly lounge acts.

Thankfully we had the unlimited package because it would take 15+ minutes just to refresh my email account and download simple attachments.  I saw (and heard) very frustrated patrons in the library desperately trying to conduct some business on the ship's computers and complaining to anyone nearby at how they couldn't get emails to go through. 

So I guess like most things, YMMV.

As others have said, you'll have a unique login code that is only good for one device at a time so you will have to login and out as necessary to share a single unlimited account. 

You may already know this but the internet on board is extremely slow and spotty.  We're talking early-90's AOL dial-up modem slow.  Almost useless for anything other than simple email or very basic web browsing.  You can forget about uploading pics to Facebook or playing streaming video.  The entire ship shares the same satellite-based internet connection so the computers in the library are just as bad.

Best just to wait until you're in port and can find an Internet Cafe or coffee shop with free WiFi or do your research ahead of time and download it to your ipad before you embark.

I understand our office has tried calling you, and has left you a voice mail. If you don't have a message, perhaps they're reaching out to the wrong guest? Let me know.

I don't see a voicemail but I did just get an email with an update to my booking confirmation (y). I see somebody added the Experience More Enjoyment package to my reservation :hearteyes::hearteyes:. That is so wonderful and unexpected!! THANK YOU BONNIE!! This is exactly the resolution I was hoping for!

I can't express my appreciation enough for stepping in and rectifying the problem so quickly. It's refreshing to see a company willing to extend a courtesy in the interest of customer service. This has definitely impressed me about the culture at Azamara! :):D

Thanks so much for the responses. I regret that I didn't use a TA and will certainly not make that mistake again. I never would have imagined that booking a cruise would be that much more complicated than making airline reservations or buying theater tickets in this day and age but I suppose there are still some improvements needed in this area before cruise booking engines are truly customer friendly.

I just tried a new dummy booking with the same guarantee cabin selections and went to the summary page. Just above the "Vacation price" total at the bottom, there's a line with a little star icon that says: "Promotion applied to cruise. View Details". Clicking details it just says "BPS GTY" with no further explanation. I'd say this is very misleading as it implies the promotion eligibility is included.

Bonnie - I really appreciate your help looking into the situation for me. It would great if there's something you can do but I certainly understand if not. I also really appreciate this forum for allowing me an avenue to express my problem with the community and seek a resolution.

I apologize if my frustration came across too much in my original post. I am usually very careful to read all the fine print and understand exactly what I'm paying for - especially when plunking down close to $7k - so I'm also upset with myself for not catching this issue before pulling the trigger. If the T&C's do indeed spell this out and I just missed it then I'll just have to make the best of the situation and move on and know to employ a good TA in the future. Regardless, we're still looking forward to Cuba and hope the voyage is problem-free.

Hi all - We are new to Azamara and have done just a couple other cruises (Princess) over the past 20 years so we are real newbies here. Wife and I are celebrating 25 year anniversary so we wanted to do something special and visit Cuba in November. Loved the itinerary and small ship size of Azamara even though it is significantly more expensive than other lines. Spent some time researching ships, itineraries and dates and pulled the trigger on the November 10 departure on Azamara Journey. Decided not to use a TA as I figured direct booking was just as easy since everything is online now.

Picked an outside cabin and paid the full amount up front. One of the reasons for choosing Azamara was the fall promotion "Experience More" special which included $500 OBC, wifi, drink package and spa credit. I made sure to book by Aug 31st which was the last day of the promotion.

After booking and receiving confirmation email I did not see any references to the OBC or packages so I called in. Was told rather flatly and apologetically that because I picked a "guarantee" stateroom that it was ineligible for any and all promotions - therefore I am to receive nothing other than a cabin with a window. No OBC, no drink package, no wifi - basically everything I was trying to avoid being nickled and dimed for onboard. Add to this that the "guarantee" cabin option I picked on the website was the same price as the non-guarantee stateroom so I saved no extra money. I just happened to pick the wrong button.

The rep said there was nothing she could do for me, no other specials available and no option to cancel/rebook without forfeiting the entire amount (being so close to sail date). Extra insult is I just noticed today that the prices dropped almost $1000 over what I paid not 2 weeks ago. :mad:

I tried to look but the Terms & Conditions for the fall promotion are no longer online and I definitely do not remember that cabin description as being spelled out as excluded at booking time. There are so many different fare classes and each one has exactly the same descriptions so it's impossible to know what the differences are and why one is more expensive than the others. I did not mean to pick a guarantee and lose the promotion - it was just the option at the top of the list. Had I known I definitely would have chosen differently. The whole thing has left a sour taste and it's honestly spoiled the excitement.

Am I in the wrong expecting more clarity in the terms and conditions when booking? Is is well known that "guarantee" cabins are always excluded from promotions and I just happened to miss it? Should I bother trying to call again and argue my case? Any advice is welcomed. Thanks.