terry&mike

On 11/24/2023 at 9:29 AM, Wehwalt said:

Enjoy. We would be interested in hearing about your docking/tendering experience in Manaus. 

We are sailing away from Manaus now. We tendered, and used local boats for the tender operation. They took us to a floating pier. Guests were then loaded onto shuttle buses at this lower pier area, and driven up a somewhat steep roadway to the bus parking lot just at the top of this lower pier area. They then boarded buses for their tours and went off, or if independent touring they boarded a shuttle bus for a very short ride to the cruise terminal. So - tender, shuttle bus up river bank, bus out of the port area. We chose to walk up the river bank road, as there weren’t many shuttle busses and lots of people. We then had to take the shuttle bus for independent touring to the cruise terminal, where we were dropped off. DH and I then took a walk to the market, up through town, past lots of street vendors, some street murals, interesting buildings, parks, churches, and so on. We strolled using a route I had mapped out for about 2.5 miles. The city is gritty and worn, with some poverty, but also with a few glimmers of interest. There is some criminal activity, so have your situational awareness on. You may see some fully naked people walking around. It was very hot with no breeze. Mostly, we just needed a good walk, so it worked. I’ll try to post photos of boats for tendering, and pier so you can see how low river levels are. 

15 hours ago, CJANDH said:

I too am on the Mariner Xmas cruise up the Amazon. Azamara Quest is travelling up the Amazon today. She has propulsion problems that are resulting in itinerary changes. But the cruise looks like it is going all the way to Manaus. I have been watching water levels in Manaus and they have been going higher a few feet over the last 5 days. So maybe Regent is right to "wait and see" for a while. Fingers crossed.

Onboard Quest now. We are due to arrive in Manaus at 1:30pm today, will overnight, and depart tomorrow at 10:00am. 

4 minutes ago, FeelingCruisy said:

Can I use Azamara OBC at their casino (non cash able play chips or slot credit)?  Thanks

There isn’t a casino 

We are on Quest, and our OBC is wrong by a lot. I have all my documents, and am keeping good notes on our spending, and will get it sorted later. We are on day 6 of 22 days, so have some time. It is going to become complicated, as they have changed our itinerary several times, cancelling excursions and rebooking excursions. 

We are on Quest, and have Whispering Angel. 

1 hour ago, terry&mike said:

In looking at the TV this morning, although it hasn’t been announced yet, it appears as though our stop in Boca tomorrow has also been cancelled. Currently, we are cruising up the Amazon, and can see houses along the shore, jungle, and a few small boats about. The air is heavy with smoke from the wildfires. 

Captain just said we will port in Boca de Veleria tomorrow! Yay!

12 hours ago, Mackdogmolly said:

Thanks for the update. Hope all goes well for you 

In looking at the TV this morning, although it hasn’t been announced yet, it appears as though our stop in Boca tomorrow has also been cancelled. Currently, we are cruising up the Amazon, and can see houses along the shore, jungle, and a few small boats about. The air is heavy with smoke from the wildfires. 

And on top of all that, he’s walking around on the pool deck having some swirl ice cream visiting pleasantly with guests, while occasionally taking calls on his phone. Grace under pressure. 

4 hours ago, Queen of DaNile said:

Will be interested to hear what the river conditions are.

We are having some mechanical issues that affect our propulsion, and speed, which will result in a few hours delay in our reaching the mouth of the Amazon. Probably Tuesday evening now. There could be some further issues due to this problem, once a further inspection has been done. Time will tell. For now, we are just sailing along headed south, enjoying ourselves. 

Currently on Azamara Quest, and as of today we are still planning on porting in Manaus in a few days. 

When we visited Bordeaux last year, I found it much cheaper to arrange our international air to/from Paris. I then used discount airlines for the leg from Bordeaux to Paris. 

2 hours ago, DS said:

Top Cruiser event on Quest ( Lisbon -> Barbados)  -- and news about next trip...

 

     Tonight was the "top Cruiser" event on Quest.  As I noted before, this voyage has the highest number of repeat travelers of ANY Azamara trip ever.   The Top Cruiser had 690 nights  (not us!)  There were 111 people with more than 100 nights; 54 with more than 200; 40 with more than 300; 15 with more than 400 and 8 with more than 500.   All top 3 had more than 600 nights.

 

     When the Captain was talking, he said he had spent the day worrying about fuel and water.

     Fuel.... in Bridgetown the fuel lines are apparently burying in the concrete pier.... but they broke!  So refueling there becomes more difficult.   As a result we have to increase speed and get there at 6 PM the night before we were suppose to arrive so we can refuel over night since all the slots with refueling capacity are filled the next day.

     Water in the Amazon-- no, not the water level ( that seems OK), but drinking water.  When we are at docked/anchored at Manaus the ship can not make its own potable water.   So water has to be delivered by these big barges.   We will need two barges full.   But it takes 10 hours between deliveries to refill a barge.... BUT WAIT!  if you pay 2 1/2 times more, the time can be cut to 5 hours!  As the Captain said, business in Brazil is--- interesting...

 

At least the ship will be there for us to board on Saturday!!

3 minutes ago, Billy Butlin said:

Is the ShoreEx credit in an Essentials Package included in available OBC, or is that a separate element.

Also can somebody confirm how much OBC and ShoreEx respectively you get with the Essentials Package, is it $150 of each.

 

May exlain why I can only see $150 OBC on my latest cruise

 

Regards

$300 Shore Excursion On Board Credit total.

https://www.azamara.com/booked-guests/onboard-packages

59 minutes ago, Werangels said:

 

I rang customer service this afternoon.  I always get Maya, never anyone else.  I have $700 OBC and want to use it as part payment towards an Experience More Package and then to pay for our excursions with the $700 from the package and cash but was told I can only do this once onboard.  I just don’t get it.  

Yes, this has always been the case. You cannot use OBC to purchase Experience More packages until you are onboard. You can purchase Experience More packages in advance of the sailing, and pay for them with a credit card though. 

In the past, you were always able to use the Shore Excursion OBC credit from the Experience More packages to purchase shore excursions in advance of the sailing, as soon as you purchased the package. Then there was a period recently of a few months where people were being told "no, you cannot use these funds for shore excursions in advance, you must wait until onboard to use them". As Grandma Cruising reported above, it seems like things are back to normal with this benefit. 

This communication from Azamara today in regards to using OBC to pay for shore excursions:

1. Booking Shore Excursions:

The process for booking shore excursions remains the same as before. Shore excursions become available to book once the first deposit on your clients’ cruise is completed. Most excursions are available to book six months prior to sailing.

Your clients may book shore excursions online by going to Manage My Booking, calling our contact center who will gladly assist with recommendations and booking, or, contacting you, their valued Travel Advisor to assist. Excursions may be booked up until 7 days prior to sailing.

2. Paying for Booked Shore Excursions:

If your clients have an Onboard Credit (OBC) and wish to use it to pay for their booked shore excursions, they may contact you, or give our contact center a call for assistance. Their OBC will be available to use 24 hours after the first deposit on their cruise is completed.

If your clients do not have an OBC, they may pay in full via credit card online. They may contact you or give our contact center a call for assistance.

Payment must be completed within 72 hours of booking shore excursions to secure their spot.

3. Shore Excursion Payment Policy (New!):

Please be aware of our new payment policy - any unpaid shore excursions will be automatically canceled after 72 hours. To secure their spot, please remind them to promptly complete payment.

4. View OBC Balances Online (New!):

Your clients can now keep track of their Onboard Credit (OBC) by logging into their web account. There, they can easily view the total and remaining balance of their OBC per cruise.

10 minutes ago, Lazy Sailor said:

Sounds like a very positive chance to rescue the Azamara brand from its recent problems. Always had the impression that Cabezas was not really the best choice. 

It will give us something to chat to the officers about when we join Quest next week!

I'm joining the Quest next week as well, you must be headed to the Amazon and Brazil!

Azamara Black Friday Sale, November 15-December 1, 2023

AzamaraBlackFriday.pdf

8 hours ago, Hammer61 said:

True!

 

It is a strange one though 😕 price suddenly increased and now its showing as sold out if i click on details and pricing unavailable on the cruise info page? But i had only enquired to an Azamara rep just over a week ago and was told there was plenty of availability and they even recommended getting a specific cabin, i then also looked at an online agent's site that lets you select your cabin, and it looked as if hardly any rooms had been sold for some categories! Which in part made me hold back to see what black Friday would bring as the current upgrade promotion is running until December.

 

Its a Greek island/Turkey trip 29th May from Athens.

You must be talking about the Journey, May 29-June 8 sailing. That sailing is not sold out, but has been removed from the system. My guess is that they are possibly reworking the sailing that is before this one, as it is Singapore to Athens, May 3-29, with several days near the end in Egypt, Jordan and Israel. Once they have those changes sorted, then this may lead them to tweak the May 29 sailing/departure. 

14 hours ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

Update:  chose Amalfi/Puglia with an Australian tour provider (Ormina Tours).

Hello Jazz, DH and I just returned from a 5 week trip in September where we spent a week touring around in Puglia (and several days in the Amalfi area). We had not visited this area of Italy before, and found it very interesting and diverse, with it's own food and wine culture. I think you will love it! Cheers!

Last year, Azamara was running a Double Upgrade plus $300 per cabin OBC promo coming in to November, but they had a Flash Sale/Black Friday event for several days that took the OBC up to $1000 per cabin, while still keeping Double Upgrade, and the prices did not change.  From my notes it looks like the flash sale started around November 15. 

We sail Cunard's transatlantic run between Southampton and New York occasionally, which is a 7 day sailing. Sometimes they have a 2 day extenstion from Southampton to Hamburg, which can be booked as a total 9 day sailing, or as just a 2 day sailing. We sailed this in September as a 9 day sailing, from Hamburg to NYC (with a stop in Southampton). About 1/3 of the passengers debarked in Southampton, and new passengers boarded for the 7 day crossing. The first 2 nights the ship was very active, with all venues feeling busy and buzzing. The clothing felt a bit more casual. Then when we left Southampton, things settled down, venues were quieter, and dinner clothing was a bit more elegant. We think a lot of guests bought the 2 day sailing as a way to "sample" Cunard and were getting in all the restaurants, bars, shows, venues they could in 2 days.

From our point of view, I would not say it was a negative thing, and we would certainly do it again, we just noticed that things were a bit busier for those 2 days. From the crew point of view, we heard that they really don't like the 2 day sailings as it makes much more work for them in turning over cabins, service, and so on. 

13 hours ago, bitob said:

Unexpected good news

 

i submitted my claim to the port

 

i just got very generous offer!!!

 

only about 500 less than I requested

offer is thousands 

Excellent news!

3 hours ago, susiesan said:

Terry&Mike could you please email me off CC to share Africa info 

susiesan8 at gmail.com

Done!

On 10/21/2023 at 6:53 PM, susiesan said:

This will be my 5th African safari. They have become my favorite type of vacation. I'm sure the safari operator will come up with an alternate itinerary if it's not safe to visit QENP in late January.  Because we have a day of gorilla trekking in the plan, and it's a bucket list item, I really really want to make the safari.

Hey susiesan, we have gorilla trekking booked as well, ours in Feb. 2024, and it's a bucket list experience for us. We've also been on several African safaris, and love them.

I'm aware that the local tour operators are monitoring the situation, and will make itinerary changes if needed to avoid Queen Eliz NP, or other troubled areas. Although tragic, the incident was a rare one. As the gorillas are in Bwindi NP, all should be good there, and we'll likely encounter greater security when we reach the QENP area a couple of days after Bwindi. 

Our Uganda safari is part of a longer 10 week trip that starts in Rwanda, then Uganda for gorilla and chimp trekking plus a bird safari for the Shoebill Stork. Then we'll head to Kenya & Tanzania for a big game safari. On to Zanzibar to relax. Next up to Antalya, Turkey to an apartment we've rented for a couple of weeks. Then we'll spend 2 weeks traveling across Poland by train, and a few days in Berlin. We'll end by joining a group of friends in Amsterdam for a bike and barge trip through the Netherlands during tulip time. Lots of moving parts, logistical considerations, and a couple of areas that could pose a problem if things turn bad, but (as we always do), we'll keep an eye on things and check and adjust as needed. 

I have used the Passport Health office here in Bradenton, Florida. It was in November 2022 for oral typhoid vaccine. They are a chain, and handle mostly travel medicine. 

I am well travelled, and keep good vaccine records, and had made an appointment to update my typhoid which was coming due. I had to fill out some paperwork asking where my trip was and when. This was rather difficult to explain in that we go pretty continually and all over, which is the answer I gave, but had to be covered in detail in the consultation. 
 

 I then had to sit through a consultation with a young medical professional while he read to me off of some papers that had been printed out from a web site.
 

Finally, I was given my vaccine in a cold pack to get it home, had all the directions read to me, and was able to leave. It was a bit basic feeling, but I imagine for people who don’t travel often that it gives them a sense of care and peace of mind. And gives them a reason to hit you with a hefty charge.