Riocca

Looks like I was wrong Quest was last in dry dock in August 2021 when the new logo was added, this means that it could run into 2026 before it requires a mandatory hull inspection.

As what was the last cruise ended in Lisbon and the next was scheduled to start there it’s fair to assume that the dry dock was scheduled for Navantia in Cadiz. This yard is extensively used by both Royal Caribbean Group and Carnival Corp so it’s quite possible Azamara have been bumped given the greater clout of the other two. Can’t remember when Quest last had a dry dock other than it was before the 2020 pandemic shutdown, so it’s probable that there will be a cruise cancellation sometime in 2024 to facilitate one.

Maybe the same coffee but not made the same way, Mosaic and Living Room have barista machines which in the right hands can produce an excellent cup of coffee. Windows Cafe has WMF automatic bean to cup machines which set up correctly can provide a good coffee, WMF is the Rolls Royce of automated machines and are extremely expensive. I agree coffee in MDR and specialty restaurants is pretty awful and I suspect is from filter coffee makers which can be ok if you get the first cup but after that forget it especially if it’s left on the warmer for any period of time. Trick is to ask for an Americano and then they have to get it from Mosaic Cafe.

No, it’s a very good question, I started going to Dubai in the early 1990’s on business and it was a totally different place then but still vibrant and exciting and at the start of this sustained period of growth. I can remember going to the opening of the first large shopping mall but then as now I much prefer Deira the old part of Dubai. If you stay somewhere like the Radisson in Deira which incidentally was the first 5* hotel in Dubai you can sit on your balcony overlooking the Creek and watch the dhows being loaded with goods as they have for centuries, although the goods being loaded have changed a lot since then. There’s a souk for everything, tourists head for the gold souk but wander a bit further and you get to the spice souk which overloads the senses. There’s even a material souk where you can buy cloth and silk at a fraction of the price you would normally pay and the choice was amazing. New Dubai is amazing to see and it’s incredible to see what they have managed to build in a desert, it’s glitzy and glamorous but for us at least not that interesting, to be honest we prefer Muscat in Oman as it’s more authentic.

Ours was a Caribbean cruise in 2019 they tried different set ups on the aft terrace but most days it was chaos at meal times. Don’t get me wrong there were good things about Viking as well in fact the Chef’s Table specialty restaurant was one of the best we’ve experienced. Having an aft pool would be great as is having an aft eating area, personal opinion is that they should not be combined.

Absolutely, it drove us nuts, the Viking ships are nice but we didn’t take to some of the features. Like the aft infinity pool it looks great but in reality having the aft restaurant terrace shared with a pool didn’t work. Imagine the Sunset Terrace a bit larger and shared with a pool, they also allowed those using the pool into the self serve restaurant in swimwear and bare feet.

Our experience was different, at the point of migration Azamara.com showed our correct number and points (excluding those for our March cruise) however Seaware.Azamara.com only showed new account numbers incorrect loyalty level and zero points. This remained the same until late May when after an update Azamara.com also showed these incorrect details, that’s when I looked at Seaware.Azamara.com and could see our correct details, which weren’t there before, in addition to the incorrect ones. When Azamara deleted the incorrect accounts the correct details were showing on both systems. It’s interesting that your first Azamara cruise was after the cut off date, did you have any loyalty status and points from previous Celebrity cruises? If so then it would make sense that that this would be lost during the migration and the new account number would be your Azamara ongoing with Azamara points only accrued from the 1st February.

Not a phantom account I think these accounts were created as a place holder to enable integration of the accounts transferred from RC. Being able to access your account is a different matter usually this is put down to some of the account information received from RC being incorrect.

Yes it’s fun to speculate but it’s going to be difficult for Azamara to get the balance right. If they stick at 30k tonnes and approx 650 passengers then space especially in cabins will be at a premium and prices will rise considerably especially as the demand in any new build will be for all balcony cabins. The most likely scenario is the Viking model of about 60k tonnes and 900 passengers that provides enough space for all balcony cabins and of course bigger bathrooms. Big problem for Azamara is that they will no longer be able to dock at the smaller ports which provide some of their most popular itineraries. Covered pool in theory a good idea for cruising cooler climates but the main problem is the amount of deck space that’s lost to it, not a problem on a big ship but as tonnage decreases it can be. Also it’s use has to be sensible, on Viking in the Caribbean they closed the roof every time they saw a passing cloud making the pool are too hot to use.

This seems to be a recurring problem I did post about it some time back but that seems to have been lost over time, recently those who’s level & points have been correct for a while have found that they have suddenly reverted to incorrect information. I think this is possibly because of updates within the Seaware system so it might be worth checking the following even if your Azamara.com account looks correct. To access the Seaware account system please follow the following instructions: Firstly don’t log in on Azamara.com and if you are logged in then log out. Go to any available cruise and select “Book Now” this will take you to the Seaware accounts system on Seaware.Azamara.com then click on login at the top right of the page, then login using your normal login details. Then select “Club Programs” if you see multiple accounts then you have a potential problem but just need to ask Azamara to delete the incorrect account number using the online form. When I originally found this ours were corrected in a couple of days and we’ve had no problems since. Can’t be certain but I think these accounts were created to help with the integration of the RC information and should have been deleted once that was completed. Therefore if you find that you only have the wrong account showing under Club Programs then it’s probable that Azamara hasn’t received your account information from RC. Hope that the above is helpful, and maybe our Host could pin this to the top of the forum for a while 😁

Discovered this back in May whilst recovering from hip surgery and having time on my hands, did post about it then but these things get lost in the posts about various problems.

Exactly what we found on both our accounts, just filled in the online form asking for the “new” account to be deleted this was done almost immediately and haven’t had a problem since.

This could be the Tuesday update problem, I say this because on our accounts I’ve noticed any changes always happen on a Tuesday. Would pay to check the following, don’t log in on Azamara.com but select “Book now” on any random cruise this will take you to Seaware.Azamara.com the Versonix accounts software. Once there sign in with your usual login, once in your account select club programs, hopefully you will then see both your correct account number & points as well as this erroneous account. If you do just ask Azamara to delete the error account and everything should be fine 🤞 Can’t be 100% certain but I think these accounts were created as part of the account integration system and should have been removed ages ago but some still seem to exist.

I get the same occasionally if I log out clear cookies and log back in usually all is good again.

It’s a Perrygolf cruise which usually pushes prices to the higher end of the pricing spectrum.

The selection of wines on the Ultimate Package has changed now with more sparkling wines including 2 champagnes. Red selection has changed as well, there seems to be more white’s but can’t be certain as we’re not white wine drinkers other than the occasional Pino Grigio. This assumes of course that these wines are actually available onboard.

Was the reverse for me, presumably the update is in progress.

Looked about an hour ago and the prices were the same as before, just gone back to check and the prices have been increased. Premium package has gone from $16.95 to $18.95 and the Ultimate from $23.95 to $26.95 presumably the upgrade from Premium to Ultimate will now be $8. Can’t say I’m surprised as I was expecting an increase given the way prices have been rising worldwide, actually thought it would happen sooner. As an aside I’ve noticed that with the new website most changes happen on Tuesday, must be the day Versonix work on Azamara business.

I will admit I have very little knowledge about golf but is it possible that this was a Perry Golf cruise and if so is there a course near Foynes that would be popular with golfers?

Cruise line organised CC meetings always seemed to be a RCG thing, we came to Celebrity/Azamara from mainly P&O and Princess and had never experienced one with them. After experiencing meetings with Azamara I did volunteer to organise one on a Princess Cruise, never again it was far too much trouble and Princess basically weren’t interested. Azamara at least are providing a venue and putting on the calendar other lines leave it up to the CC roll call to decide a time and place which doesn’t always work out well.

Why? Just flip the search criteria to latest departure and you would see the last cruise in the offer is the 9th November.

Interesting article reading between the lines I think they knew 2023 would be a challenging year. https://travelweekly.co.uk/news/tour-operators/azamara-boss-hints-line-to-build-new-hardware

By that criteria we may be losing Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, Princess & NCL who all have similarly attractive sales on at the moment. Or it could just be the sales season to boost what is normally a quite booking period, incidentally I did see a press release that Azamara did have their best ever “Wave” season for bookings. I do feel the odd one out however as both our online accounts have been working fine since the end of May, and other than a couple of minor irritations find the website reasonable and better than the old RC one. Made final payment on an upcoming cruise with ease every thing updated immediately something that was not possible previously. Yes we have had problems but that was down to human error with someone making an action on one of our bookings that they were unfamiliar with, it was corrected and I received an explanation and apology within a week.

I think that’s the US deposit cost, just added more info to the previous post.

U.K. deposit is £250 pp but as you correctly say is non refundable. Currently 2025 sailings come with the early booking bonus of an Experience More package which includes $300 Shorex OBC, Premium drinks package for 2 pax and unlimited Wi-Fi.for one device.