gymfreak

On 7/19/2019 at 8:32 PM, islandwoman said:

Can someone recommend a walking tour of Pelourinho in Salvador, Brazil?  

Does anyone know whether we can expect to find a shuttle from the cruise dock to Pelourinho?  - (We're sailing on Princess).

It’s very easy to do this yourself

We walked from the ship to the elevator which I believe was less than 1 real. You are ten in the historic district which felt very safe and busy. I think we picked up a walking map and took our time strolling round, had a drink then returned to the ship via the elevator 

9 hours ago, Lottie A said:

My Hendrick's gin and Fever Tree tonic served by the utterly marvellous Ruby in Prime C bar tonight. 

You will all be glad to know the hideous Royal tonic is no more! From now on it will be Schweppes, Canada Dry for the diet variety and a small stash of Fever Tree if they have it! 😄👏🍸

 

Please tell the lovely Ruby to save a few bottles of the stash for Vicki in November 😉😉😉

4 minutes ago, Werangels said:

 

Gymfreak you have quoted this in your reply and somehow cut and pasted it and managed to make it look as though it was my post which it wasn’t.

 

 

Sorry I realise it was not your post 

I aplologise for the error

4 hours ago, Werangels said:

nd I don't hate the environment, I am ready to make different sacrifices but don't really want to start with those darling little bottles.

I know I’m going to get burned here but I feel very strongly about this final sentence on your post

You may be aware o the following fact but if not here goes

Different kinds of plastic can degrade at different times, but the average time for a plastic bottle to completely degrade is at least 450 years. It can even take some bottles 1000 years to biodegrade! That's a long time for even the smallest bottle

So I’m afraid your darling little bottles are going to be around and causing future generations massive environmental problems long after you and I are long gone

I do not want this to sound like a personal attack’s but want to raise awareness that we can still enjoy our luxury products but it won’t literally cost the earth

9 minutes ago, norn iron said:

Maybe Richard Twynham need a memory jogger about his promise of last year. (That whilst the ships are in Europe, they will serve Schweppes).

 

I read on another thread were Gymfreak was weighing the option of buying the Ultimate Indulgence package. I am considering the same purchase, however, I won't waste the money if there a risk of a poor quality Tonic water.  

Yes your right

I have upgraded my drinks package on other cruises but take the precaution of packing some decent tonic. 

It would seem I will need to continue doing this to enjoy the upgraded spirts.

1 hour ago, hiccups said:

I thought if it's OBC from a travel agent, you have to wait until you're on board before using it, so it might depend on the source of the OBC.

Although booked via a TA it’s an Azamara package that had a $500 credit with the booking.

We have some OBC for an upcoming cruise.

Does anyone know if it can be used to purchase an Indulgence package prior to the cruise?

Thank you

Vicki

We have visited Salvador by cruise ship before, however we return to this port in November.

on our previous visit we took the Elevador Lacerda to the Pelourinho district and spent several enjoyable hours taking in the sights. Does anyone have an alternative suggestion about what to do in this port. We are quite adventurous and don’t mind local transport but realise safety may be an issue in certain parts. Any thoughts appreciated 

5 hours ago, uktog said:

I welcome that new products are being checked out.  I’m not so keen on the dispenser idea, smacks of budget chain not premium if I reflect on land based experiences but I do agree maybe different coloured lettering on bottles would help. 

Personally I would support a dispenser. For me it’s about the quality of the product. If we had a quality product and were able to eliminate the single use plastic which continues to devastate the planet then it’s a win/ win situation.

Hope the ship will be well stocked in November as we leave Lisbon to head to Rio. Not many options or opportunities to restock on that cruise. May have to squeeze a case of Fevertree into the luggage!

17 hours ago, uktog said:

 Nordski is correct it’s the lack of transparency that’s the issue. There were always reasons upgrades were given that were nothing to do with loyalty and I expect that to continue. 

I always book a category I wanted and whilst upgrades happened on about 20% of cruises on the old system once we passed to the top tier they were never expected. 

What disappoints is that in emails to us personally and comments made elsewhere we were assured the system was functioning perfectly and that levels of loyalty still paid a key part in the algorithm. The absence of the rejection email, the gobbledegook other emails and hearing that £400 (if that’s true) trounced two levels of loyalty makes me believe otherwise. 

Anyway I won’t be bidding for our next cruises and will also book late for 2020 given how much extra we paid for these two still enjoyable cruises. They are extremely enjoyable just not value in our calculations 

This again confirms my suspicion that the algorithm only comes into play when the TOP bids are equal. In other words whoever bids the most is successful and if two or more bid that figure then the multiplier ( or simply who is the top loyalty bidder) is applied.

In this scenario Azamara collect the most cash available.

I asked Bonnie in a thread if this was how the system worked but didn’t get a response!

If this is true then loyalty means virtually nothing in the process.

I may be wrong but if no one who knows for sure clarifies the process then based upon results such as above it remains a possibility  

Well I think you know my thoughts Phil on the gym. 

As a regular daily user of this facility I would expect the equipment to be maintained and replaced promptly.

It can get quite busy in there so it’s important to have safe functional equipment. We have to wait until November for our next Pursuit outing, so I’ll watch this space!

vicki

2 hours ago, travelberlin said:

Hi Bonnie, 

Some of us have completed the survey, not because we have received it from Azamara but because we have used the link you have shared. Thanks for that. I wonder how Azamara has selected to whom to send the survey. I find it strange that being discover plus, I was not contacted directly by Azamara.

 

In any case, now that I have participated, I would like to know the results of the survey. Are you also going to post those results or how can we know what people have answered?

Ivi

Not sure if it applies to anyone else but I’m Discoverer plus and didn’t think I had received the survey . However I did find it in my junk email box which I rarely check.

43 minutes ago, DebbieMacG said:

Possibly, I didn’t get an email and followed the link from Bonnie in her thread.

 

 

43 minutes ago, DebbieMacG said:

 

 

Very revaeling though that U.K. passengers are charged at $1 equals£1!

1 minute ago, john1970 said:

I'm on Pursuit at the moment and was given Schweppes. 

Hi John

Did you ask if they had any Fevertree. When we had it onboard it wasn’t on display but kept under the counter!

vicki

6 minutes ago, uktog said:

I love the cucumber one if I’m having Hendricks.  By the way I only hope Azamara stock the basic fevertree and fevertree light I know it could never manage the range. Combine is right, it’s individual tastes.  We all will have our favourites and dislikes but I bet if we had a poll there would be one thing we’d be unanimous about, Royal Club ruins a gin, even a bottom shelf gin 

We did gain a small victory when limited supplies of Fevertree appeared onboard. Haven’t heard on this board anyone recently reporting it has reappeared. As many other cruise lines now stock this as standard let’s hope Azamara will follow suit

i agree with you that Royal Club and such like tonics are a abomination to any gin

13 hours ago, gymfreak said:

I would just like an answer to my question that the first and formost denominator in a successful bid is who bids the most and only then do we see other factors considered 

12 hours ago, BBMacLaird said:

Hi Gymfreak, I have no further insight into the algorithm than I've already posted. 

Bonnie, thank you for your response and I appreciate you may not have any more insight, however my question is a simple one to confirm I am correct or not. Are you able to enquire within the organisation for the answer?

It is very disappointing and does make me think I should look elsewhere.

I still think Azamara should be honest and respond to my question. I don’t expect them to reveal the so called multiplier equation I would just like an answer to my question that the first and formost denominator in a successful bid is who bids the most and only then do we see other factors considered 

Bonnie can you help clarify this?

1 hour ago, hiccups said:

Bonnie's first post of the thread mentions LCV status:

LCV members will be given a boost to your bid to increase your chances of upgrading. Your bid increases in weight as you go from Adventurer to Explorer to Discoverer to Discoverer Plus to Discoverer Platinum. Assuming all else is equal among bids, the LCV member with the highest tier will receive the upgrade.

It’s the assuming all else is equal which I take to be equal top bids before the multiplier comes into the equation. Therefore a bid of $500 by a first timer trumps a bid of $450 by a Discover Platinum member. Again have I got this wrong?

2 hours ago, CA Oceanfront said:

Not necessarily. It depends on the “multiplier” assigned to the loyalty level. 

I thought the multiplier only came into consideration when the top bids were equal. Am I wrong?

I also thought it may be interesting to discover if someone posts they have a successful bid how far out from the cruise date the offer was made. I know the terms state this can be from 60days but I suspect in reality Azamara would hold off until much closer to sail date in case of a better offer being made.

Kudos to Azamara for dealing with the situation.

I do hope all will be well for your friend Phil

Vicki x

11 minutes ago, grayjay said:

Unfortunately I still don't know if - as a European customer with a customary 4-week deadline to final payment - I would be allowed to bid anyway!

If it is important to you on a particular cruise to be able to bid when bidding opens can you make your final payment earlier in order to fulfill the criteria?

33 minutes ago, excitedofharpenden said:

Vicki and it’s even worse for me as a single because I will have to pay double as it’s per person.  For a cabin location I don’t have any control of.  Sadly, in  its reincarnation this is an advertised perk that is no longer of any benefit to me.  However I will continue to book cabins I am happy with at a price point that is comfortable and forget the LCV loyalty for it.

 

Phil

Yes Phil, it’s certainly a very bad deal for single occupancy cruisers like yourself

I agree that under these circumstances you cannot include the possibility of this benefit when considering booking

Vicki

24 minutes ago, Belfastman said:

The strength of the bid is an indicator or how likely you would get an upgrade based on your bid. Loyalty is not taken into effect unless two people submit equal bids then the higher loyalty status will play a part. Having placed bids in the system I can see how it is working.

Wow if that’s the case it’s worse than I thought

In that scenario if someone who has cruised only once on Azamara submits a bid of $1 more than a person who has cruised 30 times than the once only cruiser gets the upgrade!