oddjob16

Both ships will dock in Nice on the 28th

Happy Star Wars Day, everybody. One week until we board again. Yippie.😁🥂

After a week on Quest we did not experience any lack of quality opposed to our sailing 6 months ago.. 

FYI. On Quest there has been a change of band this week. Musique4Soul going on holiday and is replaced by East Pearl. 

6 hours ago, uktog said:

On Azamara journey at present there is a really bad cough going round - it’s not hayfever as people say because it’s a rasping rattling chest cough and unfortunately when you’re on tour you have people bringing up phlegm beside you and doing very little to take care of where they dispose of their tissues.
Also, the concept of putting your hand to your mouth is not something that many of the older guests seem to want to do.  Despite being extremely careful we now are coming down with it and I think we can pinpoint which shore excursion that happened on - even our guide spoke to the guest about her coughing fits. 

Many crew have the cough as well and I really think the ship should have been more open about the problems and perhaps to have made facemasks more readily available. For several guests the argument for not wearing one when they should be as they did not bring any with them 

If embarking tomorrow you might want to get some cough medicine before boarding 

I have it, too. Suspect that in my case it’s a case of reaction to cold AC in warm weather. Will do a test tonight when we get home. Currently in AMS waiting for the flight to AES.

On 4/11/2024 at 12:01 PM, oddjob16 said:

According to Marcello he will be replaced by Ryzcard early May. Marcello goes on holiday and will then return to Pursuit.

On Star Wars Day to be excact.🤪🤣

Quest is in Melilla today. Melilla is a Spanish enclave in Marocco and the city is very open and welcoming. Lots of Art Deco architecture and very clean and neat. We are mid cruise and so far there is nothing to complain about. Been to Discoveries, Windows and Patio and all meals have been excellent. The included wines are 👍  and no reason for us to go for any upgraded packages. We will not do the speciality restaurants on this cruise, but we will check them out on our two cruises coming up in May.

White Night is tonight. Nice and warm weather, so it will be a blast.😁😁

On 4/8/2024 at 3:38 PM, oddjob16 said:

Azamara Quest as of April 8 2024

According to Marcello he will be replaced by Ryzcard early May. Marcello goes on holiday and will then return to Pursuit.

Azamara Quest as of April 8 2024

Sounds like the ship is now "working" under Ryzcard. He is the hardest working HD. A pleasure to sail with.

27 minutes ago, tgg said:

I am grateful today that I'm retired and don't have to make critical decisions with far-reaching and complicated consequences.

Sadly that’s not true. Complicated decisions all the time. Go and make tea, then take trip to the loo, or go to the loo first, then make tea…..And so it goes. On and on…🤣😂

BIG news must be something more than the new CEO or new itineraries for 26/27.  I am expecting anmouncement of a new build in the 1000- segment.

27 minutes ago, excitedofharpenden said:

Big news coming on the 10th April. Wonder if that will excite?  Or another special offer?

 

Phil 

First thing that comes to mind is a new build.

1 hour ago, Grandma Cruising said:

Will be happy to do so if someone else can confirm this. I had a look at the Ts & Cs on the Azamara site and there’s no mention of whether unused OBC can be transferred over to the second/subsequent cruise of a B2B.

They treat the B2B as one reservation. You can consider your OBC a total for both cruises.

1 hour ago, Heartfelttraveler said:

No guests between May 3 and May 29.  

Obviously. The cruise is cancelled. 

Port Nah Rong. Ten minutes on the coach from Rex Hotel. Always!

3 hours ago, uktog said:

Thanks

 

And finally 72 hours late we are home - Buenos Aires was getting very boring though fascinating as always.  We did see the impact of the hyper inflation first hand - ever morning when we went to the little "25 hour store" beside our hotel the price of water had gone up - we started at 650 pesos and ended our trip at 900.  The increased cost of a can of Heineken in the hotel was even more significant - we watched them print and replace bar menus every evening.

 

The car park excess was not cheap so that is certainly going to Lufthansa.

 

But in our final thoughts - we are so glad we did this cruise - was it perfect - well can you even define perfect.  Yes there were several things that could have been delivered better my Azamara but overall it was a great cruise.  Are there signs of corner cutting on Azamara -- yes there are and that plus inconsistency remains a concern but we were happy enough to make another booking on board.

 

Thanks to all the fellow passengers who made this voyage so memorable.

Glad you finally got yourself back to your island in the North Sea..🤭🤭Nothing like home. I am not sure your CD will get any new contracts, though...

Journey's May 3rd is cancelled, but no info as how the ship will get to Piraeus in time for the next cruise is given. Will they sail thru Suez with minimum crew? Isn't that a serious gamble?

7 hours ago, DS said:

Which ship is the 3 May cruise on?   Can you post the email?

Journey. Singapore to Piraeus may 3rd

8 hours ago, uktog said:

Thanks possibly not though because the issue is strikes but we will claim anyway. I’ve three days extra multi storey car parking at the airport for starters 

EU is clear. Strikes do not constitute exemtion, just strikes un-related to the airline  e.g ATC or similar.

1 hour ago, Riocca said:

That’s my guess, the 26 night Singapore to Athens cruise is showing as pricing unavailable the same as Onwards two segments. That presumes that Journey can travel the distance required with only essential stops to make Piraeus for the 29th May.

Probably impossible to make that time for Piraeus. Rough calculation it would take 35 days at 17 knots

5 minutes ago, uktog said:

They’ve put us up in a hotel but there’s ambiguity between what we were told at the airport and here at the hotel re other expenses. It was carnage at the airport. They would have flown you to Frankfurt but you had to sort out your own onward journey and hotel. There was no guarantee of anything before Sunday so this option although an absolute pain (no grandson’s birthday party or Mothers Day lunch) was the best of a bad job. Just about to go out and find another currency exchange! 

What a bummer. Be sure to save all your receipts. I am confident you will get covered, but to make sure....

OK, not the end of the world. Hope you find some ways to savour more of BA.

30 minutes ago, uktog said:

No go refused to let transits board. We are stuck in BA until Saturday 

That was a new one. Unbelievable.

Are they covering your expences?

18 hours ago, uktog said:

Our problem is we are still just under risk on leg 1 and cancelled in leg 2. We can’t move without Lufthansa help 

See your flight landed EZE this morning and will go as scheduled to FRA. That's probably as far as you get on LH. Good luck.

29 minutes ago, laurieb said:

I have friends that got an owners suite for an excellent price!!

Timing is of the essence😁😎