travelberlin

I agree. I have to say that the wonderful reviews of the original Crystal have influenced as to book cruises with them. Those reviews came from cruisers and also from magazines. I have also written reviews and live blogs of some of my cruises. I guess I am also kind of an “influencer”. Only I have never got any benefit, financial or any type from sharing my impressions. Ticktockers make a lot of money out of their posts. It is for me just annoying sometimes going to a good restaurant and seeing the today influencers making several pictures of themselves in order to make comment about the restaurant. Ivi

A “Berliner” is similar to a doughnut. He said : “Ich bin ein Berliner” meaning only himself. He was loved and respected by Germans. Ivi

I have sailed both. I find Azamara much better than Celebrity. Give it a try and who knows it might be good for you too. Ivi

When was this? Azamara does not belong to Royal Caribbean anymore. Ivi

I am not sure if you still can match your Celebrity status to Azamara. I think that possibility has expired. Ivi

Unfortunately there seems to be a tendency to allocate the least desirable cabins for solo cruisers. The company that bought the Crystal name, is also allocating some cabins to solo travelers, which are in a less desirable location. I am not a fun of that policy and I hope that Azamara continues with its solo supplement discount of 25%-50% and we have the chance to pick up our own cabins. I would hate to see that deciding to allocate the ocean views restricted cabins only for solos with a lower supplement would mean that not other cabins are available for solos unless we pay double occupancy rates. Ivi

I understand your point. All cabins with exception of this ones would be ideal for solo travelers if there is no solo supplement. However this is unrealistic. Those restricted view cabins might be interesting for some solo cruisers if they do not come with a supplement. Ideal they are not. But they could also be interesting for couples if the prices of those cabins are the lowest on any cruise. Ivi

Interesting but how do you come to the conclusion that those cabins would be ideal for solo travelers? 🧐 I am a solo traveler and believe me those cabins are not ideal. Not only they are the smallest cabins on the ship but due to the obstruction the only thing you see are the tender boats. In addition there is permanently crew working on the tender boats, which means that in order to have privacy, you have to close the curtains. With that, your “ocean view” cabin turns an inside cabin but you paid higher prices. Ivi

Those are good news 👍 Ivi

I agree. I think that several people will be able to give us a good idea on how things are going in the new Crystal. And similarly as when we read reviews from other cruise lines, hotels, or whatever we would like to book, we will decide which things are important for us. Ivi

Wow… you are a Berliner 😀 Ivi

Pursuit, Jan 24, US 430 Ivi

I booked a midship ocean view no restrictions for my cruise with the Pursuit. I made an offer for an upgrade to veranda. My offer was weak but since I was cruising solo my offer had to be multiplied by two. I have got an upgrade 48 hours before sailing to a V3. I am discoverer plus. Ivi

I will not take those cabins not even as solo cruiser. I would rather take an inside cabin which cost less, and are larger. Ivi

Azmara Pursuit Cabin Number - 6053 Month/Year sailed - January 2023 Would you choose this room again? - yes Is noise an issue - Non whatsoever Room type - standard balcony (category V3) Ivi

Sorry to hear about your bad experience with shore excursions. Unfortunately that department is not the strongest at Azamara and independently how much you complain on feedbacks, it does not change much. I am not sure if they are independent providers. On the ship you have the possibility to escalate your complain to the hotel director. If it is something related to attitudes from personnel, you can also give the feedback to the Human Resources manager. One possibility to get an answer to your email could be to try to post it to the loyalty or next cruise officer onboard and ask them to pass your request. We used to have a person on this boards appointed by Azamara which was very helpful with any issue. Unfortunately she is not there anymore. Ivi

Of course the inside cabin in all ships is extremely dark unless you turn the lights on 😉 Ivi

Rick Steves is not that young anymore and has learned to value what it means to spend on things that make your life easier 😀 Ivi

Yes. It is terrible to fly nowadays with any airline. LH accepted my booking with a partner alliance Avianca in business class. Every thing confirmed. Before the flight, Avianca changed planes and suddenly there was no business class. I was downgraded to economy for a 4 hours flight. And the conpensation was US 18.- I used to enjoy flying. Before discovering cruises, we did twice around the world with the one world alliance. Every thing was fine. Now lots of cancelations and reroutings and strikes. It is a chaos. By the way we flew Eurowings Discover from Panama to Frankfurt. If the plane is the Dreamliner, then the Business class is good. Young crew, very friendly and attentive but still learning. Ivi

Lufthansa has removed champagne from their business class flights. Serving a sparkling wine instead. I wonder how much money they are saving 🧐 Ivi

Looking forward to your impressions. Amazing that you got good business tickets. We are struggling with the prices from Europe to South America. They are now the double than last year and unfortunately lots of cancellations, strikes. etc. Ivi

Good point. I know several solo friends who cruise alone. But those solo cabins from the new Crystal do not come at the same price of the per person fare at double occupancy. Which means your assumption is not correct. Two people (couples other friends) will pay less in a cabin with double occupancy than in two solo cabins. Ivi

With OBC I would use Azmara transfers. They are very well organized and I think they run directly under guest relations and not under shore excursions so that the prices are reasonable. Otherwise maybe you could also look at welcome pickups. Ivi

Is an optical illusion 😂 Ivi

Mein Schiff cruises have associated with Tim Raue, a chef that holds two Michelin stars. His restaurant in Berlin is listed among the 50 bests of the world. On the Mein Schiff ships his restaurant is called Hanami and is Asian/ Peruvian. Once in a while he boards one of the ships to the delight of the passengers. The food at Hanami is special. The setting wonderful. They offer also very good Sushi but it is mainly a starter. Ivi