mj_holiday

They do a country fair, which at first I wasn’t sure I would participate. I went up to the deck to take a look and found it was a fun event. Wished they would have given a couple more prizes.

Since the port before Vancouver is Victoria and the zoom starting time is really 9am pacific time, I would disembark in Victoria and spend the night someplace there and do the zoom there. I would not make taking a ferry to Vancouver or disembarking in Vancouver the morning of the zoom in the critical path.

We did Cape Town to Cape Town with another cruise line last year. Check the location of where you are docking. Some of ours were in industrial areas and there would be no place to walk, and I do not remember seeing taxis. Other were in town but except for Mozambique they weren't by areas with something to see if you walked.

We were on the Cape Town to Cape Town this last December. I attract mosquitos. I got a couple of "chigger" bites on my ankles one evening as we were heading back to the transport from a sunset cruise. I took a shortcut across a bunch of grass instead of the using the walkway. We had no other issues, bring a good repellant.

For our South Africa cruise last December we were offered a Delta with a surcharge of $2000. We also were offered a BA (AA) through LHR and return was United which we took. We have always been offered something that worked for us. One thing I do is ask for Seat Assignment (esp BA) when the flight is worked by TA.

Can also use OBC for Bingo. If you win you get cash credited to your account.

I seem to remember when things were starting to think about opening up from COVID Barbados seemed to be one of the first places that let cruises start there. And then suddenly cruises started popping up starting in Barbados.

Have cruised Journey and Onward. The gratuity is included with the included drinks and also included if you purchase a drink package. There is no upcharge if you purchase something not part of the package ( or the included set) you pay the listed price. For our first cruise (Cuba) we stayed with the included set of liquors and beers and when DH ordered a drink that was not included (the tip is included in the drink price) and the ticket for DH to sign also had a tip line. On our more recent cruise (SPAIN) we each had a package and when you ordered something that was not on the included list, the server brought the item up on his handheld with our suite number and that told the server whether or not we had the package or that the drink would be charged. On our final bill these drinks were listed all with a $0.00 charge. As for what happens in port, I do not remember anything about no drinks being served in port. What I do remember (not sure if this was Azamara) is in certain ports, items could not be purchased (whether from the boutique or a liquor item not included) because of a very very high tax that the country imposed. You will hear about this a couple days before that port.

DH and I thought the food (quality and selection) this past spring on Onward was just great. Everything else about the cruise was very good.

Our cruise this last December (15 days) had a group on and I didn't notice any issues. Just like people have different personalities so do groups.

We have sailed Azamara twice (one before Covid) and I find the web site very hard to find stuff. Even the new updated web site is difficult to find things. And asking through Cruise Critic gets different answers. I seemed to have found the most complete set of information in the notebook and other material that is in your cabin. It is important to read this the first day. The one bag of laundry ever 7 days is per for each guest with the loyalty status. You can buy a drink package anytime on the ship, once you buy it you can't stop it. Also one person in the cabin can have a package and the other doesn't need to buy one. (but the bartender etc won't serve the one person two drinks at a time etc, so I wouldn't try using the one package to cover both of you) On the flyers for drink package there is a discount for your loyalty status, I believe the first status gets you 5% off. The info of what comes with your cabin can be found under Our Ships -> Staterooms It looks like on the new web most of the information can be found under Our Ships, just need to go through each tab. But this does seem to be better organized than before.

Deviation fees now would be 210 days prior, if I remember correctly. I book cruises very far out and I would be pretty upset if one of those cruises got cancelled for chartering.

Yes, I call RSSC.

We are not in named suites so if we want something special I will call or email guest Services at least 60 days prior, and it has been in our cabin when we arrive.

This link is US state department and list requirements to enter different countries and how many blank pages they request. https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/international-travel/International-Travel-Country-Information-Pages.html

While long bus rides can be a pain, I also like to use the ride as a chance to look at the country side. Some of the long bus trips that I am glad we took are: 1. Very long ride to the pyramids, 2.Fairly long ride to Petra, 3.Long trip to Peggy’s Cove, 4. South Africa had some fairly long trips several days. Worth it. As said above, reading the description and checking the distance will help keep you from being surprised. Checking the port locations will help before you book the cruise.

Totally agree with the monkey warning. On our visit, as we were getting on the cable car our tour guide saw a couple with a small child and stroller heading up. She told them they needed to leave the stroller behind because of the monkeys. It was an umbrella stroller. They ignored her advise and as soon as monkeys caught sight of the stroller coming off the cable car, they were on it and the couple baring had a chance to get their child out of the stroller before it was destroyed. The monkeys were not after the small child. But the experience of the monkeys is that strollers are a good place to find food.

Double check your tickets when you get to your suite and the couple page description of the tours for your cruise. Times may change, the activity level may change and the meeting location may change. The correct time and meeting location will also be correct in Passages, the day before the tour.

That is if you book your own air. correct.

We are Regent fans. Cruises with them is really all inclusive, (laundry, drinks, specialty restaurants, room service, excursions to name a few) The items not included are some excursions, top, top shelf liquor, boutique and spa. Check out the cabin sizes, they are great. We have not been on Celebrity, so can’t co.

The passport control is if you are in a schengen country. When you first enter a schengen you go through border control (passport check) and won't need to for next stop or arrival at another schengen country. We have gone through LHR twice since COVID and had 6 hours between flights, while a long time I also was relaxed about making the connecting flight and the fact that our luggage made it with us. I recommend Apple Air Tags for your luggage if you have IPhones. I was able to relax when I saw our suitcases move toward our connection just before I lost wifi. I recommend using seatguru.com to look at the seats in business class. Make sure they are lie flat if you want to sleep. When we go with BA I have our TA get us seat assignments with the booking. I am not sure how she does this but we get them. I do not like waiting for the seat assignments. LHR and Madrid airports both have the practice where you do not get your departing gate until 30 minutes prior (LHR) and 50-60 minutes prior (Madrid) I always worry about not getting to the gate fast enough when it is announced.

Keep you tour documentation handy when you board. You should have a tour envelope in your suite when you first get there and then you can compare the tickets with your list. In the past when the tour we wanted was full I would call RSSC and ask to be put on the waitlist. And all that I waitlisted for (not that many) did clear. For our upcoming cruise I see that the online reservation system now has a place to wait list (with out calling RSSC). There was one tour that was full and no wait list available. I called RSSC and was told it was full/closed and I did not understand the difference between this one and those that had waitlist opportunities. I was also told to check the reservation on line every so often to see if it has opened up??? So, glad to hear that now when a waitlist tour clears, the system will cancel your reservation for the back up tour. Not sure of what is the difference for a tour that does not take any waitlists. (As I was rereading the description of this tour that we are not getting waitlisted for, I noticed at the end it has a note that for the soaking baths you need to be naked!!) I am not going to check on this one anymore.

We have not checked our carry-ons before, may try it next time. But when we get on and head to the Pool Grill we find an out of the way table and there is not a problem putting our carry-ons between us and usually an outside wall. And it really isn't very long until our suite is ready. I thoroughly agree with not putting carry-ons in suites before they are ready. The staff working on the suites have enough to do to get everything ready and shouldn't have to worry about "who told me they put their cases in what suite?"

Our check-in post Covid was very chaotic because the buses picked people up very early (10am) at the hotel. Our check-in and boarding prior to Covid went like this. We checked out of the hotel we were staying in (not a Regent hotel) and took a cab to the port. We realized that we may have to wait for awhile but really enjoy people while waiting. At the port we handed our luggage over to porters and followed the directions. Sometimes we had to wait, but usually got on and had a great lunch at the pool grill until our rooms were ready. For us it is not a big thing to have to wait to board; that is preferred to going someplace between hotel and boarding and then feel rushed to get to the ship.

I want to second the train ride. We did it getting to the ship in Seward and it was a great afternoon.