AJCM

We haven’t done a tour but we’ve used George for airport transfers to and from on several occasions. Totally reliable.

I wouldn't say any of the excursions were "must see", as we all have separate preferences. For what it's worth, however, we really enjoyed Miyajima (Hiroshima excursion). The whole environment is very scenic. We had a wet and cloudy day but this gave the place a very calm, quiet atmosphere. It may be a place that often gets over-crowded, though, and that would give a different impression. In Kagoshima, we did a combination tour of Mt Sakurajima followed by Senganen garden. It was a sunny day, with great visibility of the volcano from the viewing point (at ground level). The garden was outstanding. This tour did not include the museum. This year's "highlights" tour refers to a pause at the garden - don't know what that means but it's probably a short stop. Guests will thus at least get a chance to see this wonderful garden. In Shimizu, we visited Kunozan Toshogu Shrine & Miho No Matsubara. The shrine was a most impressive complex,comprising a number of buildings on ascending terraces; and reached via cable car. I'd describe it as strenuous. The weather was thick cloud and rain but this gave the place a very peaceful and eerie atmosphere. We're strong walkers, so were able to move ahead of the group and virtually had the place to ourselves through the various levels. The second part of the tour was ostensibly to see Fuji from the beach. Probably would have been worthwhile on a clear day - all we saw was whiteout. I enjoyed skimming stones from the water's edge instead. We visited Nagasaki on Azamara twice, a few years ago. The Atomic Bomb museum and ground zero were very moving. The ship visited Osaka, and we did the castle. Probably the least of the excursions we did due to the very large crowd all wanting to tour through the castle. Strenuous, due to the many steep steps in the castle. Little to see inside. very good views from the top floor. Other than that, the rest of the Regent itinerary is different from 2019. We didn't do private tours while in Tokyo. The 3 days pre-tour was pretty good; although it moves slowly with substantial numbersa of us to be organised. A shuttle bus takes you to Shinjuku Station, which is surrounded by restaurants and shopping (plenty of restaurants are at ground level but a lot of restaurants are in high rise buildings). We learned how to navigate the subway system (at least the central loop) and we used this often, after being returned to the Regent hotel and more extensively when we stayed on our own for 3n after the cruise. This enabled us to get around different parts of Tokyo. It was very efficient - if a train was too full, the next one was only a couple of minutes away. We bought a suica card and loaded credit on - easy to re-charge. We always felt totally safe wherever we went in Tokyo. Highly recommend Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden that is near Shinjuku station. It's only about a 10-15 min walk from the station and is a wonderful oasis in the middle of this bustling area.I expect the colours to be stunning when we're there in Oct.

Azamara, Seabourn, Regent Seven Seas - have a look at the other CC boards and you’ll find similar concerns about a drop in standard. I accept that there are staffing and supply problems not just in the cruise industry but across many industries world wide. Despite this, we had another wonderful experience with Azamara Pursuit on a B2B2B in Sep 22. Why get upset about things that neither cruise staff nor yourself can do anything about; especially when they’re trivial matters (food items; drinks, etc)? Even so, this system transition has caused a legitimately major concern for people who are starting, or will soon, their upcoming cruises. It’s not acceptable that Azamara has not specifically ensured these current guests have their records completely correct. We’re not cruising with Azamara until 2024 and so I’m not worried whether our points are correct or not, as I know it will be addressed in good time. However, if we were due to start cruising anytime now and the documentation wasn’t sorted I’d be very concerned. It’s pretty clear, I think, that they’ve stuffed up. Who knows, but an optimistic view is that Azamara on land administration may actually improve, having separated from RCI, once their systems and staffing have settled down. From my experience, their on land operation doesn’t need to do much to bring about improvement. I can very easily live without brussel sprouts being on my plate. Thanks for highlighting though. Having been warned, we’ll certainly pack some vegemite for our next cruise. Maybe others could pack some frozen BS and/or a six pack, just to be sure they’ll have what they want.

We did this excursion in 2019 and loved it. The garden is quite extensive and varied and the temple and its surrounds were serene and a very visually attractive environment. Most of the excursions we did included a garden, Without exception they were exceptional - just beautiful environments to walk around. We loved the whole experience so much we’re returning with Regent in Oct; including the pre-tour in Tokyo. We’ll, of course, do different excursions to 2019. We’re very much looking forward to the autumn colours throughout Japan.

AVA Hotel and Suites. Very close - short walk straight toward the Acropolis and entry is just around the corner. Very comfortable place.

I booked tickets from the Sagrada website, for late May, last week; so you can apparently pre-purchase at least 3 months prior.

Good luck for a long, healthy life

Montserrat and Gaudi definitely.

Thanks MAVIP - with your info, I’ve just booked 2 9.00am tickets for late May. I probably wouldn’t have bothered looking before late March, so I’m very happy to have an early start and hopefully beat the crowds.

Shuttles were provided in Sep, in Valencia, as described, and Bilbao - close to Guggenheim. Shuttles weren’t needed anywhere else; except maybe Gibraltar. Most docking positions were very close to highlights. I’m not sure about Gibraltar as we did an excursion. I think there may have been a local shuttle, which charged. It looked like it would be a much longer walk to town than when we visited some years ago, so a shuttle is advisable. Vigo wasn’t on the itinerary.

The fx conversion fee is charged by the credit card companies. It has only occurred because Azamara has the recipient in Dublin, resulting in a conversion to Irish currency.

No problem with FX fee if I know about it. In this instance there was no transparency. I'm just glad it was deposit only. The other day I made final payment on an upcoming Seabourn cruise. Again, this had been booked in AUD and the final amiount due was substantially paid by credit card in AUD. However, because of what happened with the Azamara deposit, I contacted Seabourn and was assured the tx would be in AUD - it was.

Just a warning, for Australians at least. Booked a cruise last week and paid the $1,200 deposit, spread over two credit cards. The booking was done via phone with Azamara Australia. The booking was priced and paid in AUD. Apparently, Azamara is now an Irish company; as the transaction was actually made with Azamara Dublin and involved a credit card fx fee on each $600 payment. So, buyer beware - certainly don’t pay a substantial balance due using credit card if you want to avoid substantial fees. I guess the Australian govt won’t be building any infrastructure, hospitals, etc from tax on profits made by Azamara from its Australian guests.

I’d think if you’re in a club owner suite, you’ll be accommodated in either specialty restaurant on any day, if you wish. You might not get your preferred time but I expect they make the effort to look after owner suite guests. Just ask your butler on the day or the night before. As I don’t really know if that is the case, you might consider booking multiple nights as soon as you board, because many experienced guests will book either the 3 night package or suite benefit on boarding. Then, if you prefer to dine elsewhere on any given nights, you just need to contact the specialty number on the morning (and your butler will do that for you if you ask). When booking, they’ll be able to tell you the dates for white night and Azamazing. The seatings are 6.30 and 8.00. If you’d like a meal not on the menu, they’ll likely prepare that for you if they have at least 24hours notice.

HDMI slot is at back on the right. Pull the tv,in the centre bottom, toward you - you won’t get it out far and you really need your partner to hold it at that position. Then feed the HDMI cable toward the identified HDMI slot and persevere until you get it in.It’s not easy, so when you succeed, leave it there - cabin staff don’t seeem to have a problem with it being there. Then change the input selector using a universal remote - Azamara doesn’t have an input select option on their remote. I don’t understand how a HDMI cable will connect to an ipad - we use a laptop.

My experience of teens is that they’ll be bored to tears. Take them to a magnificent beach.

As others have said, Regent provides a high quality cruise experience. The suites are very comfortable. If not for price, we’d cruise much more on Regent. However, so we could cruise a lot over the past 12 years, we’ve mainly cruised with Azamara; and had a great experience each time. We’ve tried Siversea and Seabourn once each (and doing Seabourn again in 2023) but consider Regent better than those. I don’t know why but we felt more comfortable on Regent. Weve chosen Regent twice; Alaska 2012 and Japan 2019. The clincher here was that we knew we’d have to do excursions everywhere. On both cruises the included excursions were very enjoyable and the comparative cruise cost of other lines did not differ much from Regent once excursions, drinks and suite were factored in. Both cruises had a great feel, with very pleasant guests. For Japan, in particular, lower price cruise lines tend to charge a premium due to demand in a very limited cruise season. Regent also included a 3 day pre/post program which was a great benefit to get some familiarisation with a very different city, as well as getting the chance to meet other cruisers pre-cruise. We’re doing Regent Japan again in 2023.

Hilton is good. Large, comfortable rooms for Tokyo. Breakfast in a large conference room but ok. Outside of the included pre/post trips Regent puts on a regular shuttle bus for the 5-10 minute drive to Shinjuku station, which is one of the major stations and on the primary Tokyo loop. Plenty of restaurants in the immediate vicinity of the station- in all directions. Good shopping and a magnificent public garden are in easy walking distance of Shinjuku. What they include in the pre/post cruise is good, although with the Imperial Palace you’re kept outside and don’t see much. It’s a very good introduction to a confusing major city, which prepares you well if you want to spend a few days in Tokyo after the cruise. If you do, then consider looking for a suitable hotel near Shinjuku, as you’ll already have some familiarity with the area and so can more easily get around some Tokyo highlights from the station; which is initially very confusing because it has lines on different levels but you get the hang of it - especially if you stick to stops on the loop. We did an April cruise in 2019 and just loved it. All the ship excursions we did were very enjoyable (other than Mt Fuji white out - it’s hit or miss). We’re booked for Oct 2023 and we’re really looking forward to seeing Japan during the change of seasons. Fortunately, the itinerary is a bit different from last time, so we’ll visit some new places; in particular Kyoto. We’ll try different excursions in repeat destinations. The pre cruise land trip also has some different inclusions, so we’re happy that Regent is looking after repeat cruisers. It’s a remarkable, beautiful country and probably the safest feeling country we’ve visited.

Re : internet I have some work to do pretty much each day. I purchased a wifi hot spot as I’m resigned to very poor internet speed on cruise ships. It works the same as a mobile/cell phone at home. My hotspot picks up the best signal in whichever location you’re in. I purchase a package of GB beforehand and it gets activated when I first access wifi in a country (or region - e.g. Europe). It also can take a sim card, so I look to buy a sim card in a major city - this works out much cheaper than the pre purchased data. Overall it works very well. It can only be used when not at sea; which works for me because Azamara is a destination cruise line with very few days at sea. So, if you want better wifi and you cruise do some google searches. Mine is 3G because it’s now a few years old but I recently used it on an Azamara Europe cruise and had no problems. The Azamara wifi, on the other hand, is either at least a decade out of date and improbable or is actually insoluble. Either way, I’m not waiting around.

P.S. If you’re fortunate enough to know the moves to “Man, I Feel Like A Woman” practise up.

We finished a B2B2B on Pursuit recently (including the four ships get together). As our first cruise since 2019 has finished, I’ve lacked the enthusiasm to closely follow the board as I recover from the inevitable jet lag flying west to east for 24 hours. I’ve just read several pages of this thread and people are talking about how to avoid aspects of White Night (eating and attire). To give a different perspective, for many this is the highlight of the Azamara cruise experience. I encourage people to get into the spirit - arrange a table with friends or ask to join a table and make new friends, eat what you do like from the buffet (there’s a really wide choice), make sure you leave space for the crepe suzette. Seems to me plenty of people leave once the eating finishes and the dancing starts,so you don’t have to fully throw yourself into the night. However, if you want to fully enjoy the night, I suggest you wear white and dance. The music, singing and dancing is great fun and the whole crew make a tremendous effort to make it a special experience. One outfit in white doesn’t take up much room and plenty of people wear their white more than once. From some comments it’s clear that some people don’t want to wear white. It’s not compulsory but imho everyone looks great and who’s watching that closely anyway. If you wear white you’ll likely feel more a part of the night. It’s a great night if you choose it to be. If you choose not to wear white (completely up to you) you’ll probably still have a very enjoyable night but feel a little out of place. This comment is not intended as. a criticism of anyone - just trying to give a different perspective to people who may not have cruised with Azamara before.

Ours also must be used on a sailing which commences before 31/10/23. We will not get to use it as we have 2023 cruises already booked on other lines. Perhaps the expiry is based on the date a Ravenna cruise ended, which in our case was Oct 22.

Just finished- stayed in 8049. A drawback to be aware of is that the balcony gets a good drenching at least every couple of days. I think it’s because they wash down the outside of the windows on the pool deck (so it probably happens on port side too) but it may be due to the washing of deck 9 and they just have a run off outlet above 8049. The cause isn’t really relevant. Consequently, our suite balcony would be hosed down later in the morning on those days. 8053 seemed to get the same drenching. It made the balcony fairly unusable until the suite hose down had dried.

Just off Pursuit and busing into Venice. Both Onward and Pursuit disembarked this morning and the whole process appeared seamless. Our bus left 3 minutes after the scheduled 8.30 departure. Having completed B2B2B, we’ve gained a good sense of the mood of the crew and they have been wonderful. They’re obviously happy and very attentive. So all credit to the Azamara leadership for being able to reinstitute the crew aspect of what made Azamara our line of choice. I’d be confident it’s the same on the sisters- especially after seeing the joy felt by many crew, catching up with old friends at Koper.

TV offerings have always been pathetic. From your post, it clearly still hasn’t improved. Here’s the work around we’ve had success with. Load movies you like onto a laptop; connect a HDMI cable to the back of the tv (difficult but doable); bring a universal remote so you can change the TV input to HDMI; and watch what you want on demand. If the ship has mainly port days (as opposed to sea days) and you’re prepared to buy external wifi data for a hotspot (phone or device) you can also watch streaming services from your laptop through the HDMI cable. I don’t know whether casting works. Sometimes many of us just want to have a rest in the small cabin in the afternoon and it’s significantly more enjoyable to watch a movie from the start ( and a movie which actually has some appeal). Also, if you’re wide awake at 2.00am, it’s nice to have options. The TV offerings is an area where Azamara fails badly.