PAtravelbug

Sorry to hear it!    So far so good here. I have been closely paying attention. And I know that you had plans with people after the cruise.    Get well soon please.   I so enjoyed getting to know you better this cruise.    - Allison

On onward/.  It’s 9:09 am and we are waiting to disembark. There has been some sort of hold up for a while

now.   The luggage was late coming off the ship because the fuel wagon was blocking the luggage exit door.  We watched all of the arm

waving and shouting as it was all worked out below from our balcony.     At 8;30 the all clear was made that people could disembark.    We were to be all off by 9am but the den is full and there is a long non moving  line along the starboard side by the windows.  
 

we are in no hurry fortunately with our flight at 1:25. 
 

The cruise has been lovely.  Always nice to visit with fellow passengers that we have met in the past and, of course, the crew is excellent.      The last show last night was the trumpet player from the orchestra doing a show.  An excellent show.  He could have done a matinee sometime for more of his repertoire. 
 

  We could tell the  whole cruise that he was something special just hearing him as part of the orchestra,   He choked up after his opening piece telling us that this Concert was in honor of his newborn daughter born just the day before.  And showed a photo.  Adorable.  He is leaving today to get home to meet her in Venezuela.   She came a few days early.  

At lunch yesterday in the patio was Waffles and Gelateria set up. I wasn’t sure what that was. Waffles, with toppings and chocolate and or vanilla gelato as it turned out.  
 

I noticed that there were plastic spoon with the  soft serve frozen yogurt this cruise. In the past has been real spoons. And the pool bar serves drinks in plastic disposable cups (the azamazing 10 year anniversary recognition imprinted on them).  This is also different from the past where it was the non breakable but washable things.  I feel like there are less crew aboard.  I have no way of knowing if that is true. But no cleaners at the gangway  with sanitizer, no assistant waiter at the entrance to the buffet greeting and reminding to use the sanitizer, other signs.  Maybe there are fewer dishwashers so the disposable cups help?   Just an observation, not a complaint. 

The line is clearing now. 9:25.  Time to go. 
 

On 10/3/2023 at 4:52 PM, cancruiseforever said:

We are in room# 8001 on the Onward, any comments would be appreciated . We know it's beneath the gym.

We were in this cabin for 2022 the cruise before Christmas. Liked it very much. Yes. Below the gym so we sometimes heard a dull Steady thumping as people ran and when someone dropped weights.    It never bothered us. The gym hours were 7am to 10 pm ( and still are as of Jan 2024)

You see the bridge officers going back and forth  and the captain since its right near their area.    Close to the forward stairs which was nice.   I don’t remember at the moment if it had a shower or bath tub. 

The 29th was St Lucia which is a busy place.  Walked around the bay from the port and found the cathedral and walked around the streets.     
 

The last time I was here was in 2021 and due to covid restrictions, we could only get off the ship with a ships excursions. So we only saw St Lucia from on board and we were docked over where the containers are.  This time we were at port across the way. 

The cast did their disco show tonight. They are quite good this group. 

on the 30th we stopped at Mayreau in the grenadines. This is my favorite stop of all of them.  We tendered.  Population of 271. Just a Caribbean island.  No shops. No diamonds international. A few tshirts and colorful  wraps hung over ropes strung between trees. 
 

You walk up a steep hill with some

bars and very simple homes along side. At the top is a church and stunning views. Down the other side opens to another bay with bars fashioned out of whatever they could find, more shirts hung around, kids playing and locals around. Lots of catamarans  at anchorage and those folks come on to use the beach. Many wooden boats closer in.  We had a drink and the found some other Azamara guests  who got a boat ride around the island to get there.  The owner of the bar took us back in his yellow and green painted wooden boat. We saw a few sides of the island!  
 

there is a beach just off where we tendered with chairs for free and crystal clear warm water.     Lots of people took Adavantage of the beach and the nice water. 
 

this is what I like. Just a small place. The smallest inhabited island in the grenadines.    Captain Carl said that this was a new stop for him. As was for most.  

Astrid, the assistant cruise director did her show at 8:15 and Eric did his at 9:30.  Great fun.  Astrid is lovely and did songs in Portuguese, Papiamento, french, English, Spanish and Hindi!  Eric, of course ended it all in drag on online skates with the ABBA portion making use of the cast too.   Packed theatre. 

Two days ago now, We tendered to Terre de Haute- one of the islands that make up Guadeloupe. It was gorgeous.   And quiet - at first.  Thing a close from

12 to 2pm according to all of the literature. We started rendering at 11:30 am after arriving a little early.   I got to the island at 1:30 and was immediately thoroughly charmed.  French looking - because that’s its influence. Most everything was still closed so the streets were quiet.   We walked away from others and found our way to the Catholic Church via some 

charming and quiet street.  Came upon Mr and Mrs tcg there.  I always like exploring a church. And it was good to get out of the hot sun.  We walked around some more finding our way to a sports area on the water and poked around there taking photos. Then backtracked a bit to walk over a ridge enjoying the houses along the way, passed an above ground cemetery and then came out on the other side to a gorgeous huge beach with not a lounge chair in site. Very wild. There was a small run way that ended or began right into the sand!   
 

we walked back and detoured up some white steps to the top of a hill where a cross stood over looking the  harbor where our ship was anchored.     We shared the island with the Royal Clipper. A 5 masted ship with 240 some guests.  Made quite a show when it departed and flew all of its sails. 
 

Back in the other side the stores were open -  they use Euros here-    
 

There was more to see for sure. The fort which is supposed to be a must see at the top of a hill closes at 12:30 so we couldn’t visit that. 
 

Very much enjoyed this port. 
 

the show this night was  the singers and dancers doing Wanderlust replacing Eric’s planned show since his voice wasn’t quite up to it.   I use the gym  in the afternoons to run.  It has been very clean and never crowded.  Also love the self laundry-  so far I have never had trouble finding a machine. All but one washer is in working order (currently) 

11 hours ago, takemewithyou said:

It looks like they changed up the show a bit from last year.  I loved the St Maarten Azamazing evening last year for the convenience of just walking off the ship and walking right to the show….no buses.  The food is a new addition from last year……the lady with her dress had rum punches on her table- skirt.  Were they offering any cocktails this year?  

The Azamazing evening at St Maarten in 2021 was also good. We had three ladies singing Motown and they were brought onboard due to Covid precautions….we were still all wearing masks onboard.

There were only the rum punches and small bottles of water as far as I saw.    

21 minutes ago, uktog said:

Guadeloupe we were there a few weeks ago and did a wonderful Death in Paradise tour - even saw "Neville".  Last night we sat and watched the Christmas show, it was amazing to see now how much is filmed there with nothing changed and not on sets.

 

We absolutely loved that Azamazing Evening in St Maarten last year- it was so much fun. One of the better ones, nothing to complain about there for us, but we are not picky

 

Enjoy today

We watched the first few seasons of death in paradise and are looking forward to seeing the locations!   It’s been a stunning approach to the island.  

We are approaching Guadeloupe now. New for me!   It beautiful outside today.  
 

azamazing evening was last night in st Maartin.   We watched 4 other big ships leave leaving us behind.  Getting off the ship was very organized and we were greeted by the officers, stilt walkers who were kids and , a high school drum group.  Just off the pier we were greeted with water and rum punch and island treats on tables- With a woman in the middle with the tablecloth looking like her skirt - hard to explain.  Conch fritters, swordfish fitters, guava tart.  All nice.  There was a steel drum band playing for the first 40 minutes or so   then the high school drummers came up front and did a bit. Then the captain spoke and the CEO of the port (10 year anniversary of azamazing evenings). The main act was not at all as described.  It was much better! In my opinion.   Female lead singer.  French. Amazing guitarist and a saxophone player. They did some familiar tunes , some French, a song in Papiamento- a gorgeous La Vie en Rose.  Some young dancers appeared from time to time well choreographed and organized.   It was well done and entertaining.   Back to the ship with champagne and juice on the pier, the band and then snacks in windows.  American junk foods , sushi, fruit, sandwiches and dessert.  We made a quiet exit from. St Maartin with a full moon (one day past) over head. 

Daniel says that Iwan will come on on Jan 5.   Food and beverage manager.  I have missed him.  He was all over the ship last year and lovely. 

What always amazes me is how the crew recognizes us from a whole year ago.  And a few have even remembered our names!!

3 hours ago, tgg said:

Ok Allison, I give up. 😄 Still haven't seen you.  We're in 7049. Please leave a note and get in touch.

My dad and I will be in the living room

Between 5:15 and 6. My dad is the one Chinese passenger in the ship that we have seen!   We are hanging out with some aussies.  Say hi!

There is a Hampton Inn being built right next to where our ship is docked in havensight . This is where that abandoned Senior Frogs was for a long time as far as I can tell.    Seems like such a strange location-  literally along side the ships!

St Thomas was nice today. Very hot in the morning.  We took an open air taxi to down town for $6 each because we wanted to walk up the 99 steps.  We explored up at the top and some nice views.  The Norwegian ship parked with us could consume the onward whole!   We enjoyed walking around seeing some different things than from

past trips.   The ship is pretty quiet this afternoon and we are enjoying that. We sail at 6pm for St Maartin.  Azamazing evening will be there. 

53 minutes ago, tgg said:

Ok Allison, I give up. 😄 Still haven't seen you.  We're in 7049. Please leave a note and get in touch.

Ha!   Will do!  

Christmas dinner last night was quite nice in discoveries.  (Better than the night before)  And I always love the sing a long that we did in Christmas Eve.  After the Christmas show last night, there was hot chocolate and rum in glasses with sprinkles on the rim and a table of Christmas treats and wait staff with canapés in the shop/mosaic area.   In our rooms were a few Christmas cookies added to the plate with the little treats they leave at night.  No christmas ornament this year.    We just docked in st Thomas with crystal serenity coming on right behind us.  

On 12/23/2023 at 9:21 PM, tgg said:

 

We haven't seen your friendly faces yet, but we'll keep looking.

Toni

I have been watching for you too!   

Aboard the Onward for 14 nights in the Caribbean.    We joined 4 other ships in the Bahamas today.  Must of been 15,000 people in port today.      The ship is lovely with familiar faces -  both crew and passengers from last year.    The theatre stage is all ready for the Christmas show covered in fluffy ‘snow’ and decorations!  

3 hours ago, ghstudio said:

We board the Onward next week...our 2nd cruise on the ship this year. Hopefully, it will be as good a cruise as the last one (barcelona to venice).  You did remind me of the balcony chairs...maybe I'll throw in a cushion or two when I pack.  I am flexible on food so not too worried, but the service was outstanding on our first cruise and it sounds like that may no longer be the case....maybe we'll be lucky.  I am not surprised that there are cutbacks on perhaps crew and food....the new Azamara investors can't be happy with Azamara's performance since February....shown by the recent and well earned departure of Carol Cabezas.

I found last year aboard the Onward that a beach towel folded up helped on those balcony chairs a lot.   I love to sit out there.  

This past Christmas aboard the Onward, I found the library in the Living room to be well stocked - I read 7 books all from that library.      

We were on back to back in December for 23 nights.   Both were wonderful cruises.    Guest relations was always very helpful and lovely.     The food was excellent and we tried all of the venues over the time.   I read 7 very good books from the library in the living room.    I used the gym in the afternoons and found it very clean and everything in working order.    We will be returning to Onward next Christmas.  

10 hours ago, Wondermouse said:

8801 is not a Club Continent Suite. It is a balcony plus.  No tub just a tiny shower. You must have been two cabins further aft. The cabin is right beside the door to the officers area/bridge on the starboard side. So if you were further back, it would make sense that the noise was less. I had been looking for info on these cabins when I booked and there was none, so I wanted to ensure that others had the info. Again, if you are a deep sleeper or wear earplugs it may not bother you. 

Right. 8001 maybe.  Two doors away from the door to the officers and bridge area.  We were up most mornings by 7 aware of the noise but were never bothered by it.   We would stay there again. 

We were 8801 on onward for the Dec 12 to 23 cruise just a little over a month ago.    It's a Club continent suite with a tub.   We liked it and the location a good bit.  We could hear the rhythmic noise of the treadmill at  6:50/7am and usually around 4pm and the occasional thump of a weight, but it didn't bother us.        It's near the the officers crew quarters so you see them pass by a lot. 

I remember that pre-pandemic, you could board starting at 11am but the room floors were closed.   You had lunch and hung out by the pool until an announcement was made that the rooms were ready around 1:00pm or so.     At the restart, they said that they needed more time for the cleaning, which makes complete sense.  

I am just off of the Onward and took these photos of the complimentary beverages just yesterday.    I don't drink coffee so I don't know much about that - but you can get tea any time, coffee, expresso, cappucino, hot chocolate.    There is also wine - red  (Cabernet, pinotage, Merlot) and white (Chardonnay, Pinot grigio) probably a rose - some others but those are what I tried - that is always available and included. Anything other than the included 'house' wine is extra.    unlimited bottled water. 

This is for all cruises and all cruisers. 

there is a long list of beer that you can pay for.

Hope that helps!  It's the best!

IMG_4079.heic IMG_4080.heic IMG_4081.heic

……..We also had China, Japan, Caribbean, South American.   We are nearly all of the nights in the buffet.  The Indian buffet Last night was spectacular. 

Onward in port and soon will be ready for the next passengers.  Looks like we are in terminal c like that last few times.   It’s a lovely ship with a special crew.    Enjoy!