Carnevale

Many thanks LACrusier88 for the info on Vines. Not that many options considering so many things are sold out. I have trouble understanding how Princess can’t seem to get enough wine onboard since we had the same shortage problem this past October on Regal. It shouldn’t take too many cruises for the logistics people to get a feel for how much wine is needed!

Many thanks! It’s great to hear you have been dancing. We have enjoyed dancing in the Wheelhouse on other ships especially as the floor is wood (the piazza floor is harder on our legs). Sorry to hear about the lack of so many wines. That happened on our fall cruise too (which departed from Rome but had very little Italian wine onboard). I can’t understand how a ship departing Buenos Aires where there is so much good wine can run out of things. Maybe it’s time for Princess to move to more regional wine lists so it is easier to get more wine onboard.

What a fabulous blog! Many thanks for sharing all this information. Getting photos and the daily events is great. We just booked a Sapphire cruise from Buenos Aires to Santiago next February (2024) and found this info so helpful….makes thinking about being on board much more exciting. We have a few questions that we hope you can help us with: - if you can post any wine menus (by the glass) that would be great. We will have the premier pkg and are wondering what wines we can get. We are mainly interested in what Vines and the MDR have but seeing a recent menu from any location will be helpful. - have you noticed any ballroom style dancing in the piazza? We love to dance but the canned music in Fusion most nights might not work (on Regal in Oct few people went to the canned music dancing as it was boring but we enjoyed the occasional opportunity to dance in the piazza) - is there any dancing in the Wheelhouse? Many thanks in advance for any of the above you might be able to help us with!

Is starlink on all Azamara’s ships? We will be on Journey this summer sailing around Iceland and are wondering how good the connection will be. Thanks!

How strict are they regarding adherence to your scheduled boarding time? I ask as there can be a gap between hotel check out times and boarding making it preferable to be able to go from check out to boarding directly but that might be earlier than one’s scheduled time.

Thank you for the mocktail list. I was hoping for a few more options. I might ask them to make something out standard bar ingredients and see how it goes.

Are there any mocktails on the basic included drinks list? If so, does anyone have a copy of the list that they can share? Thx!

Does anyone have a sample mocktail menu for things included in the basic pkg? I know about the soft drinks but am hoping there might be some interesting alcohol free mixed drink options.

Many thanks for all of the recommendations! It was so helpful to have this input. We were amazed at how many hotel options there are in Reykjavik in what we think is the main downtown area. We ended up liking the options that the Center Hotels have (they have several properties in the main area). We have booked the Center Hotel Laugavegur and are looking forward to spending our pre-cruise time there. Thanks again!

Many thanks! This has given me some good leads and I am looking forward to digging into these options. From our own digging so far The Davenport seems to be a possibility as we have ruled out being in the Temple Bar area (we expect it might be too noisy for us as we are light sleepers). Thx again!

Many thanks Grandma Cruising and Mackdogmolly. It’s great to know that we can bring Aperol and Campari onboard! And we appreciate having our many questions answered!

It’s been a very long time since we cruised on Azamara so we are out of touch with how things work with regard to the included beverages. Are special coffees included? Ex. Cappuccinos, espresso, etc. Our favourite drinks are an Aperol or Campari spritz. Are they included? If not, does anyone know what they cost? I see that Azamara notes nightcaps as included. Does this mean port or cognac? If not, what nightcap drinks are included? What sparkling water is included? Our preference is San Pellegrino so if it isn’t included it would be nice to know the cost. Can we bring Aperol or Campari onboard to consume in our stateroom? When and where are the included wines available? Thanks in advance for helping us understand how all of this works!

Do all Azamara cruises have a white night? Is it mainly the ladies who dress in white or do a lot of men get into the theme too?

We need a hotel in Reykjavik for two nights before our cruise in July. If anyone has any recommendations I would really appreciate them.

If anyone has a hotel they like in Dublin I would love to hear from you. I am having trouble figuring out where to stay after a cruise that ends there.

Sorry for the confusion! I have looked at too many cruise offers but you are right….Journey is what we are considering.

Many thanks for all the replies! Sounds like we might have a few opportunities and that we should talk to the CD early on (even though that strategy didn’t work last time). Some mentioned an area called the Living Room. Does that space exist on Insignia or might there be a similar space with a different name?

Many thanks to all who contributed to this discussion. Seems that if we decide to book on O we will have to expect none to a few opportunities for ballroom dancing. We have cruised a lot on other lines and, as a result, have learned to go with the flow and dance to a broad range of music as long as the beat works ( e.g., we had a great set of Argentine Tangos on Princess when a violinist played in the atrium….not a traditional dance arrangement but it worked very well).

Thx. That was our experience but we were hoping it might have changed. I hadn’t heard of the new Crystal so will have to explore that as we really enjoyed great dance time on the old Crystal.

We are considering an itinerary we like on Journey but before we book we would really appreciate input on the activities on this ship. We sailed Azamara a number of years ago and haven’t been back as we were bored onboard and, in particular, were disappointed that there were almost no opportunities for ballroom dancing even though we asked the CD if it might be added. We hope a few fellow members of cruise critic will give us an idea of what we should expect onboard Journey by way of activities overall (excluding fitness related activities as we never engage in them) and especially information on whether there’s ballroom dancing and, if there, how often and where it is offered onboard Journey. Many thanks!

Great to hear! Thanks so much Mrs f!

Thanks so much! That’s more than we expected and sounds great!

Many thanks LHT28. Do you have any idea of how late the noise in the theatre ends? I think the performances are usually around 9pm but am not sure and I don't know how long they tend to run (about 45 mins like many other lines??) or if they use the theatre for anything else after that. When you have seen dancing in the evening, where on the ship did it tend to be offered? Thanks again!

We love to do some ballroom dancing when we cruise and, from past experience, know that Cunard may be our best bet. But we have found in itinerary on O that looks interesting but before we book we wanted to see if we could get info on whether there is any ballroom dancing (including Latin and Argentine Tango) and, if there is, about how much we should expect. We would be sailing Insignia which is a smaller ship so it may not offer what we are looking for. Any insights anyone can pass along will be greatly appreciated! And, while I've got you, does anyone know if staterooms on deck 6 forward are noisy in the evenings since they are above the theatre? Many thanks!

It’s SO confusing with the gap between the header for Greece and the note below the table. I really wish Princess would get its act together and figure out how to communicate. It’s really very simple. I don’t know whether to trust the header or the footnote and I expect that doing a chat or a phone call to inquire could produce many different, inconsistent answers. Any thoughts on how to get confirmation on this?