artmc

Do you know if this was done for all passengers.  We are Canadian.

We are on Azamara Journey from Athens to Dubai and then BTB Dubai - Abu Dhabi, Qatar, -Dubai.

I am wondering if anyone can clarify information on Visas for all the countries - Egypt, Jordan, Oman,and United Arab Emirates.

Some advice on private tours: check out the company on Trip Advisor. We've never been steered wrong. One of my least favourite tours was a Carnival tour of Panama which was supposed to include the Canal. When we finally got there we were allowed to stay for 10 minutes (maybe) before we were herded back to the buses, telling us they couldn't be late. We got back early and wondered the port waiting for the other ship tours that were late.

On the other hand we went on a private tour in Kho Samui that had three vans of passengers, all of which managed to show us everything despite torrential rainfall. But the reward was that the organizer booked a meal for us at an incredible local restaurant that laid out a feast for us, including one drink. We couldn't eat at all, despite the excellent quality of the food.

We've read how certain cruise lines are not recognizing Astrazeneca as legitmate vaccinations. Has Azamara made a policy regarding this issue?

We're booked to sail with them in October 2022. Ideally it will be a non-issue by then, but I'm not betting on it.

The problem is that in a number of countries (mine - Canada - being one of them) we were told to get vaccinated with whatever we could get asap. Due to health issues I have, I was able to get it faster than the public at large. I'm not sure why the cruise lines are doing this. AZ was taken off the market because of side effects. I've never heard that it didn't work. Given that countries that have done fairly well containing the pandemic (e.g.-Canada, Australia and England) used AZ effectively, I can't figure out why the cruise lines are being so difficult. 

I also got AZ and Pfizer. I live in Canada where AZ was allowed and encouraged. Being "immuno-compromized" my doctor told me to get what ever I could as soon as I could get it. DW and I are booked to sail on the Azamara Quest in October 2022. Ideally all of these discussions will be moot by that point. Has anyone heard anything about Azamara's position on this?

Forgive the rant:  AZ was put on the back burner because of side effects - blood clots in a minimal amount of cases. There was NO indication that it didn't work. Countries where it was used - however temporarily - have done quite well in dealing with the pandemic. e.g.- Canada, Australia, England. Why the cruise lines won't recognize it as a legitimate vaccination dose is beyond me.

You find yourself spending more time on this website than you intended.

Islandwoman, thank you for your reply. My Princess experience was rather recent - The Royal Princess in 2017 and the Sapphire Princess in 2018. I'll take some gravol with me....I'm still up for the adventure.

DW and I are sailing on the Quest in late October 2022 from Athens to Dubai. We've done Carnival, Celebrity, and Princess but this will be our first Azamera cruise. Years ago (1980) during my gap year long-hair, backpack journey I sailed on small ships on Cook Strait between New Zealand's North and South Islands and (deck class) from Haifa to Athens. On both occasions the seas were quite rough and there were  plenty of people who "lost their lunch" and I almost joined them. When DW and I went on our first Carnival cruise I was nervous about repeating that experience so we packed gravol, those patches that go behind the ears and lord knows what else. I didn't need any of them.

I learned that the large ships have tubes running along their keels that minimize wave effects and never had motion sickness problems; in fact, I found the gentle motion very soothing when going to sleep.

Question: the Quest is obviously smaller than any other liner we've sailed. How much different will it feel during wavy seas?

DW and I booked to sail from Dubai to Istanbul in May 2023. It would have been our first Nautica cruise. However about a week ago we received a notice that we weren't going to Turkey (a bucket list entry) and instead are sailing across the Mediterranean from Haifa to Barcelona (where it will be drydocked), with one stop in Malta. This adds two sea days to the itinerary, meaning that half of a 20-day cruise will be at sea. This makes me wonder if any of the so-called refurbishments have taken place, or will take place before 2023. We spoke to Oceania and said we may cancel. There aren't a lot of cruises scheduled yet for that time and itinerary. The man we spoke to said there will probably be more come the fall of this year, and we could easily transfer our reservation to one of them. We'll see.

I know this is supposed to be about Oceania but I've never sailed on this line. All being well that changes in May 2023. Anyway, one of our first cruises was on Carnival and our MDR tablemates were this wonderful couple from Chicago. (More than 10 years later we still maintain contact, which reminds me that I owe them a letter.)

Anyway, one evening we were enjoying a great meal, wine, and conversation - so much so that we didn't realize we were the last passengers in the dining room. Undoubtedly to tell us (politely) to leave, they started making crew annoncements on the room's public address system. OOOOPPPS!  We quickly left, sheepishly apologizing to the maitre'd on our way out, who was remarkably classy in assuring us that it was okay. Though it was a little embarassing, in nine cruises on three lines, it's my favourite memory.

Getting back to the op's question, DW and I just booked a 2023 cruise on the Nautica (Middle East - Dubai to Istanbul). We were told we could change our minds and get a full refund up to the end of 2022, which is why we were confident enough to book it.

This is our first Oceania cruise. We originally booked an inside suite, and then rebooked and took the least expensive balcony suite. We've done Carnival, Celebrity and Princess. This isn't an intentional "working our way up"; rather, we pick cruises by itineraries and this one is going where we want to go. 

Any wisdom people care to share about what we should know about Oceania is welcome.

On ‎11‎/‎7‎/‎2018 at 9:05 AM, Boiler Cruiser said:

My DW and I will be departing on the Royal Princess in December.

 

I am, admittedly, one of those people who like to get on our cruise ship early.  With the ship departing from Ft. Lauderdale, when is the earliest that we can board the Royal? 

 

We are not Premier or any thing like that.  This is our third cruise on Princess, and we enjoy getting on board, exploring the ship and getting some lunch before sail-away.

 

Thanks. 

in 2017 we sailed the Royal Princess out of Barcelona. We had finished checking in at 1:10, and a sign said cabins would be available at 1:30. Much to our pleasant surprise, we were told that in fact the cabins were ready, so we went there to drop off our hand luggage. Much to our really pleasant surprise, our suitcases were already outside our door when we got there. I suspect this is more the exception than the rule.

We did four Carnival and two Celeb cruises in inside cabins. On our third Celeb cruise, DW and unofficial TA, initially booked an inside cabin and then pleasantly surprised me by getting it upgraded to a balcony (partially obstructed) telling me to not get used to it as it was to be a one time thing.

HAH!!! We both liked it (me especially) and we since did a three week Princess Mediterranean cruise with a balcony, also partially obstructed and enjoyed it immensely. In December we're sailing on the Sapphire Princess out of Singapore, again with a balcony, this time unobstructed and high up (Deck 12, I think.)

I get my money's worth out of the balcony. In the past I've ordered breakfast for the balcony and enjoyed both the food and the experience. Before dinner I'll often sit out there either reading or leaning on the rail and holding a glass of wine. If I see other people doing the same thing, I'll raise my glass to them. I've yet to have anyone not return the favour.

After shows/dancing/drinks I may sit outside in the dark watching the stars, the moon's reflection on the water or maybe other ships in the distance. I live about as far away from an ocean as you can get in North America, so despite being on 8 cruises (soon 9) I can never tire of just watching the waves.

When we used inside suites we always took lower deck cabins as there were no view issues, and we don't have mobility problems. Some people on a Carnival trip said their inside suite was right under the pool deck and when there were deck parties they thought some of the dancers might fall through their ceiling.

The point: inside or outside you need to know what's beside or above your cabin. Most ships have their main entertainment and dancing at the front of the ship.

I wish they would do away with it. It's not well attended and highly noisy if trying to sit by the pool area.

All this time I thought I was the only one who felt this way. I have no problem with the movies at night because I'm not going to be on deck, since DW and I are usually at a show or dancing. But during sea day afternoons it's not unreasonable to expect some peace and quiet, particularly when movies can be shown on TVs or in the theatre.

DW and I will be taking a Princess Sapphire cruise in Southeast Asia this December. One of the stops will be Bangkok. Does anyone know of a private company that can show us city highlights that would be cheaper than the ship excursion?

Thx!

DW and I toured Vietnam extensively in 2015. The one part of HCMC/Saigon we didn't see was Cholon. We're going on a Princess Sapphire Southeast Asia cruise in December which stops in HCMC. I'm hoping we can revisit the city and concentrate on this area. There is a shore excursion that takes you to and from Saigon and leaves you to explore it on your own, but it's almost $80 per person, which seems rather expensive. Does anyone have other suggestions?

BTW, for anyone going there, if you visit the Notre Dame Cathedral, right across from it is an apartment/office building that was in the famous photograph of the helicopter on a roof top loading up with passengers during the fall of Saigon. (The view you'll get is from the other side of the building.) Contrary to many erroneous descriptions, that picture was not taken at the U.S. embassy. It was simply a building that had various CIA operatives as tenants. There's still a ladder on the roof. I was told you can't go in it.

DW and I are doing our first European cruise - 21 days, Barcelona-Barcelona, Royal Princess, May 6, 2017 - and we're very excited.

I read this thread as well as the Princess website and understand that suits or tuxedos are acceptable formal night attire for men. I'm wondering what are the "unofficial rules" of tuxedos vs. formal suits.

The reason I ask this is because circa 2012 DW and I did a Celebrity Caribbean cruise during American Thanksgiving. Presumably because of the holiday there were relatively few Americans on board. (Approximately 800 of the passengers were British, 300 were German and we heard many people speaking French.)

On five previous Caribbean cruises I always wore dark suits for formal nights and never felt remotely underdressed (and I hate being underdressed). However on the 2012 cruise I mentioned most of the men were wearing tuxedos or white dinner jackets and very few of us (or so it seemed) wore suits. Fortunately the other men at our table (one American and one British) both wore suits so I didn't feel completely out of place.

Given that we'll be on a European cruise, should I assume most men will be wearing tuxedos?

This triggered very fond memories of reading For Whom the Bell Tolls while our family vacationed in Franco's Spain.

 

When authors get the setting right, being there while reading makes the book and the visit so much better.

To quote an old Three Dog Night Song, I've Never Been to Spain but I kind of liked the music. (Actually...really like the music.) That changes in May when we fly to Barcelona for a Princess Mediterranean cruise.

I can't help but wonder if you were putting yourself at risk taking For Whom the Bell Tolls into Franco's Spain, or was it a more tolerant place than I imagine?

Really there's no rules on this. What you enjoy reading at home will probably do just fine.

However I often select books set in the places I'm visiting. If you're on a Caribbean cruise, you could do worse than read Ernest Hemingway: The Old Man and the Sea, To Have and Have Not, or Islands in the Stream.

Going to Spain? You could read For Whom the Bell Tolls or Death in the Afternoon (about bull-fighting).

Going to Spain and/or Paris - The Sun also Rises

Doing a European cruise - consider Mark Twain's Innocents Abroad

Going to Florence? - try Forster's A Room with a View

Cruising in south East Asia? W.S. Maugham short stories give a glimpse of life in ccolonial Malaysia and various local islands.

Morning: sitting on the balcony wearing a bathrobe, eating breakfast.

Late afternoon/early evening before late seating: pre-dinner glasses of wine. I'm either sitting and reading as I sip my wine, or stand at the railing and look for other people doing the same and raise my glass to them. Rare are the people who don't return the favour.

Late, late evening - watching the stars and the lights of ships in the distance, maybe drinking wine.

We did five cruises with inside suites. That's not happening again.

On seven cruises we've always done set seatings (late) and have yet to have cringeworthy tablemates. In fact, we keep in touch with two couples years later. The others were nice enough but no one we felt the need to exchange email addresses with.

We did have one particularly interesting companion at a dining room lunch. We were seated at a table for 10 and one woman insisted on informing us how much she gave to various people in her church, becoming increasingly detailed - way beyond too much information. If that wasn't enough, she then talked about the ones who weren't grateful enough or who didn't put the money to sufficiently good use, getting angrier as she went on. Fortunately she didn't stay long and after she left, the rest of us exchanged "that was awkward" smiles, and then talked about all manner of things.

DW and I sailed on Celebrity three times and enjoyed it tremendously.

We're booked to do a 21-day Mediterranean Princess cruise out of Barcelona leaving May 6. We did this because it had an itinerary we like.

I'm wondering what differences, positive and negative, we might expect. We liked Celeb for its food (though we never did the specialty restaurants).

DW and I are 62 and 59 respectively but hardly stuffy and we really liked Celebrity because most of the passengers were similar in age and attitude. In other words, does Princess have a comparable passenger mix and night life?

And do they have classical trios/acapella groups/guitarists etc. playing in other venues?

How do their mainstage entertainment compare?

Are there trivia contests?

On sea days what activities take place around the pool?

Any other information/suggestions/thoughts would be appreciated

Lamb shanks in the MDR on either the Infinity in 2011 or the Eclipse in 2012 (can't remember exactly which). They didn't have them on the Silhouette in 2015.

On previous threads some have suggested using the TV channel that shows the view from the on-deck camera as an in-cabin nightlight. You get some, but not a lot of light, and there's no volume. DW and I prefer to leave the bathroom light on and the door shut. The light that comes through the bottom of the door suffices.

DW and I did this cruise in 2012 and highly recommend it. The only complaint is that during the first week the main stage entertainment was rather repetitious. I'm guessing someone cancelled at the last minute. The second week had more variety.

The ports were superb. I particularly liked St. Lucia and Grenada. In the latter we took a morning private excursion which was superb. (Sorry, I wouldn't remember the name of the tour company.) We went back to the ship and had lunch and decided to explore the capital city on our own. Given that it was Sunday, there wasn't much opened, but we ended up walking to a church that had been badly damaged by Hurricane Ivan about four years earlier, and were invited in to see the restorations. We even climbed in the belfry.

In Aruba we took a Celebrity-arranged sailing excursion which included two snorkelling sites (one with a sunken WWII German ship) and another where we saw sea turtles. Then they had an open bar, and a trapeze which you could use to swing off the boat. All of this was great, but it was the overall fun atmosphere that made it my all-time favourite shore excursion.

Seeing the surfers in the Barbados was also great.

Two week cruises won't be as swarmed with kids and spring-breakers as the one week-cruises.

If the amusement parts don't interest you, and you have the time either pre-or post cruise I strongly recommend the Florida Keys, especially Key West.

I'm sure the South Pacific would be equally attractive, or maybe more. However, if you've got the chance to come this far now, I think you should. You may not be able to do it later but possibly could still do the South Pacific, given its proximity (relatively speaking) to you.