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We had the note in the cabin, but nothing further, so I assumed it had been superseded by the credit for the entire cruise. Until yesterday, when I got an email refunding a further $300. It was a total surprise! I felt I’d been more than fairly recompensed for every possible thing already, but an extra credit is always a very nice thing. It’s no wonder I am an Azamara loyalist!

The answer to these questions is nearly always “layers”! 😀 If you think Wisconsin in October, and not Florida, you’ll be pretty much right on the money. It can be gorgeous, sunny and pretty warm, or cold and rainy. Finding a site that gives the average temperature for the countries you’ll be visiting will also be useful.

I would still say, don’t knock the Atlas Bar until you’ve tried it! The fancy cocktails are irrelevant to me, as they’re too sugary for me to drink. It’s the ambiance of the bar, and the quiet intimacy of the place that charmed me. Have you tried having a quiet conversation with anyone in The Living Room or The Den when the entertainment is on after dinner? Impossible. And for research purposes, I took many trips through the Drawing Room on our recent Pursuit cruise to count how many people were using the room. The highest count was six, and only once, in the afternoon. Most of the time it was zero, especially in the evenings, and sometimes one or two.

The different approach from ship to ship is interesting. Maybe down to available personnel?

I am keeping an informal eye on the use of the Drawing Room, since I am onboard Pursuit. There were about 40 people for the Cruise Critic event on the first sea day. Beyond that? Well, I have seen four people in there at the same time since then. Once. In the afternoon. When I check in the evenings, I am finding one or two people at the most. Roll on Atlas Bar conversion! Zipping up flame-proof suit. I am an unrepentant fan of the Atlas Bar. (aka lush! 😁)

We are onboard Pursuit currently, and I am thrilled to report that the Patio Grill is open for dinner. It’s just as delicious as I remember it, but a bit underused, possibly because we are in Iceland, and people may not realise that the heaters are on, so it’s very nice even at night.

I’m so pleased you’re enjoying your first Azamara cruise! We just boarded Pursuit today, and it’s wonderful to be on a ship again.

That sounds like an excellent solution!

I think there may be two ideas going on here. I have bought an Essentials package prior to the cruise, but I was not able to use onboard credit for it. Maybe that has changed recently? When I am onboard, I have been able to use onboard credit to buy dining packages. They like to sell those to people already onboard, because they normally book our three dinners at the time of buying the package.

Some surprises are better than others! One of the possible surprises is finding out that there is only the dreadful Royal Club tonic on board. It’s worth knowing that in advance so I can do a bit of shopping beforehand for something decent so that I can have a drinkable G&T. 😁

Well yeah, but we have never been suite dwellers. I’m speaking for the common folk here! 😁

The packages are really good value!

I know. I think someone must have been having that sort of day. It’s not like we are going into the used clothing business, and even if we were, we wouldn’t get much for that assortment!

As an aside, we decided to ship a suitcase to Dublin so that we’d have something to wear in case of luggage problems at the airport. It was pretty easy, straightforward and not too expensive, only £50 for shipping a 20kg suitcase, including insurance and a “Brexit supplement”. They did warn me that the Irish Customs officials could charge me duty, but they rarely do. Well, they did for us. I got to pay €48 duty for a beat-up 25-year-old suitcase and a selection of used clothing. But as someone pointed out, that’s still cheaper than buying a new wardrobe in Iceland! And I have heard from the hotel and the shipper that the suitcase arrived.

How nice! Well done you!

If you do fill out a passenger locator form for France, and it is no longer required, it won’t cause a problem.

Ooh, I just bought a new iPad last week! I’ll have to check this out. Thanks! Edited after trying - it works! I can’t say if it’s the new iPad, or iOS 15.6.

My husband gets a big kick out of this. He likes to make fun of my iPad when I have to borrow his laptop to print our boarding passes. I’ve offered to just print mine, and leave him at home. 😁 Roll on the new Azamara booking system!

In the pre-Covid era, it used to work that way on Azamara too, but these days, it’s still evolving. In your shoes, I’d probably go have a really nice lunch and turn up a bit later in the day.

Oh, okay! That makes sense.

I would be really surprised if you made it to the port that early. If your flight comes in on time, it will take you a little while to get into the terminal, a bit longer to clear passport control, (unless you’re EU or EEC?) and a little while to get your bags, find your driver and get to the port. An hour would be really quick, I think. 90 minutes between landing and arriving at the port would be possible if everything went smoothly.

At the moment, (and I could be wrong about this) I think 2pm is the earliest boarding time allocated. If you are early, and have priority (in a suite perhaps?) I am sure they will get you on board as soon as they can. But it depends on a lot of factors, such as when the ship is ready after the previous group has disembarked, and the requirements of the local officials. You may well end up cooling your heels for a while somewhere in the port facility.

The last time we stayed there, they did, but that was before the pandemic. I think if you emailed them, they would answer.

No, the casinos have been gone for a few years now. The Den so much nicer in that space, but no opportunity for spending much money there now!

That’s a shame as I much prefer Veuve Clicquot to NF.