JM0115

4 hours ago, Jim Avery said:

Azamara has our fave Captain of all our travels and lots of the original SeaDream Yacht Club management so they produce a good product.  The downside, at least to us, is that all their ships are the old "R" Ships from defunct Renaissance .  The R ships have no retractable roof over the pool area, the normal cabins are very small and the bathrooms nothing at all comparable to V, the aft owners suites are grand but very pricey and aft cabins suffer from vibrations when underway on every R ship we have sailed.  For us we would not sail anyones R ships after becoming comfortable with Viking ships.  Too many old issues.  Just one persons opinion and your mileage may vary.

Agree Jim. The R class ships are not great.

23 minutes ago, Hobson1754 said:

Did I read on this Board somewhere that the bathrooms/showers on Azamara ships are much smaller than Viking (or did I dream this)?

Much smaller and with shower curtains in their regular cabins.

3 minutes ago, farmecologist said:

 

Interesting.  I'll have to look into Azamara.  Looks like they have some decent deals as well.  

 

How are their excursions?  I'm assuming they do not have a selection of "included excursions" like on Viking?

 

 

We greatly preferred Viking to Azamara. Their ships are old and worn and we did note feel as welcomed as we do on Viking. They have no included excursions except for the Azamazing Evening which is a great event. The ships are smaller than Viking which is a positive. Their excursions seem to be a bit smaller in size.

Wind Spirit Motu beach break was the best day on our cruise! Incredible vistas, bar, lunch, snorkeling, relaxing!😎 

You can wear whatever you want to wear.

25 minutes ago, Clay Clayton said:

Former World Cruisers we know are disembarking Windstar today after 14 days in French Polynesia and says:

"Best cruise ever not including the WC. Mainly due to FP being the most beautiful place ever. But Windstar is also very good. Up there with Viking and way better than AZ. Windstar crew are the friendliest by far. They are allowed and encouraged to have fun with the guests."

 

They have been on my radar for awhile and now Explora has my interest though just read an article saying that due to their inital popularity that prices were going to be raised which likely means we won't be able to satisfy that interest 😢

Clay is referring to me 😀. We did a back to back cruise on Wind Spirit in Tahiti (French Polynesia) for a total of 14 days (7 each). The sailing ship was amazing. Only 136 pax. Crew were so friendly and there was a very high service level. Only one restaurant on this small ship but food was excellent. Local fish was amazing but or course we were in FP😎! AMA.

31 minutes ago, lackcreativity said:

We have flown internationally maybe ten times, so by some standards we are practically newbies. Up to this point, we have never been impacted by a government shutdown. I keep seeing reports that travel will be disrupted, with little details. Does anyone have advice based on their experience from prior events?  We are departing October 12 ( Baltimore to Heathrow to Venice) and returning October 27 (Istanbul to Heathrow to Baltimore). For what it is worth, we have five hour layovers in each direction.

 

 

We are traveling internationally on Oct 2. Hoping for the best. Major issue in the past were sick outs for TSA who will not be paid but will receive back pay - but the sick outs did not occur until a few weeks into the shutdowns. Also, TSA and ATC workers declined overtime so there could be some delays. I assume the workers will also be grumpy as I would be if I was working and not getting paid.  Good luck with your trip!

2 minutes ago, californiagirl said:

Very excited to have booked Bangkok to Bali, November 2024 on Venus.  We are long time, experienced cruisers and we are elite on Princess.  Over time - especially since the change in leadership we have become more and more dissatisfied with Princess.  Also they don’t offer an itinerary in any way similar to this one.  Lastly we are at the point in life where we want a more upscale experience.  I read many Venus reviews prior to booking and the consistently high ratings were reassuring.  Having said all this I understand there is no perfect cruise line and that some Viking cruisers feel the company has slipped.  I think that is across the boards since covid.  However from reading this board and the recent reviews it appears the Viking experience is heads above Princess.

 

We don’t drink alcohol and rarely take ship excursions.  Since we overnight in Bangkok at the beginning of the cruise, early cabin access doesn’t matter to us.  (We will have a late checkout at our hotel.)  For these reasons we chose the lowest veranda cabin category.  I think someone jokingly referred to it as steerage class.  We like the location of the cabin.  Question: is there an extra fee for the specialty restaurants?  I realize we won’t have priority reservations.  Looking forward to this  cruise!

No fee for specialty restaurants. You will be able to get reservations once on board. Everyone is equal once you are on board. No fee for thermal suite either.

17 minutes ago, Tahitianbigkahuna said:

Enjoying the day on Motu Mahana (Tahaa)

 

Looking forward to visiting Motu Mahaea which is where Windstar takes their guest on Tahaa. 

 

Hope to be there in 3 weeks! 🙂

21 minutes ago, Tahitianbigkahuna said:

I'll keep it going for awhile longer ... hopefully others will enjoy and learn a tip or two. Getting up early to watch the sunrise has it's rewards. Sometimes the Capitan will glide into the lagoon of Bora Bora at night ... when you arise this is your view ... imagine enjoying this view with your first cup of coffee of the day. 

Beautiful!

6 minutes ago, Tahitianbigkahuna said:

 

I have 3 cruises on the Star Breeze in 2024 and 2025. Your on the sailing ship. Have a wonderful time. I go next in October on the PG.

Thank you. First time on Windstar.

Just now, Tahitianbigkahuna said:

 

Which cruise date/ship?

 

Windstar Oct 3

3 minutes ago, Tahitianbigkahuna said:

Not much love on the thread/pictures. Think I'll let it rest for awhile. 

Love the pictures- will be there in a few weeks.

4 minutes ago, Tahitianbigkahuna said:

All boards are very slow right now  ... 

I meant on deck in your picture! 🙂

5 minutes ago, Tahitianbigkahuna said:

Taken from deck 8 on the Paul Gauguin ... another beautiful sunrise. 

Where is everyone? 😂

39 minutes ago, CorgiCruzr said:

When I apply OML and compare it to my already booked 1/20/25 Australia circumnavigation cruise, Viking's website accepts the promo code but, gives me a price $2,000pp more expensive than I already have.  So, evidently not much of a discount.

What promo code did you originally use?

Anyone see any specials for the Australia and New Zealand cruise in Jan 2025?

Just now, longterm said:

We leave for the Grand European River Cruise in about 4 weeks; today I got our Viking travel package, but it only included 1 red leather baggage tag and 2 paper bag tags, and only 1 of the red paper stick-on tags that we're supposed to wear when we get off the plane.

 

In the past we've always gotten 2 leather tags and 2 paper bag tags per person, and one round stick-on paper tag for each of us; do they ship them separately to each passenger now, even though we're both part of the same booking number?

 

Seems odd...

Ask Viking

Forward to a family member or neighbor.

11 minutes ago, DaMom said:

I'm having trouble finding who goes around Tahiti because none of my go-tos (Celebrity, Princess, RCCL) do shorter trips. I'm seeing a lot of 30 day cruises and we can't go that long. Guessing I need a smaller ship - what can you recommend?

Windstar or Paul Gauguin

41 minutes ago, Squawkman said:

Here’s the link:

 

http://click.email.cruisecritic.com/?qs=b8774010bf9cd1355d8011a5857d086070291bab880b4dcbec5f95910390f5eb2503cff043b03950b68124aa09d4d8d13fcd605c27b064c4abd2a2c954e10940

Thank you. Works well on IPhone. US user.

2 minutes ago, Squawkman said:

I’m sure others received the email from Cruise Critic with a link to download their mobile app. I downloaded it on my iPad and after a few trial and errors, got it set up. One big difference is that there is a facility to send private messages. So if anyone downloads the app, try sending me a message to se if this works.

Can you please send a link?

Just now, Tahitianbigkahuna said:

That is pretty to close this was take  😉

Can you swim there or are the waves too strong?

1 minute ago, Tahitianbigkahuna said:

Rainbows abound in French Polynesia ... taken at the black sand beach on Tahiti looking towards Moorea.

Hope to get that shot from Le Tahiti Pearl!