bbqoug

I can also vouch for tripinsurancestore.com.

I have received great advice and service through them. We purchased a Trip Insured International policy through them for our cruise last year and when I had to file a trip interruption claim both Trip Insurance Store and Travel Insured were great to work with.

I don't know how the insurance with Princess works, but I have read that many cruise line policies provide future cruise credit on a claim while a third party policy will reimburse in cash.

2 hours ago, ak1004 said:

Personally I can say that Oceania and Azamara provided us the best cruise experience so far, as expected, compared to Celebrity/Princess etc. But we would still prefer Oceania in almost every aspect.

I'm glad to read that Oceania & Azamara have been your best experiences so far.

We have enjoyed our Azamara cruises very much and look forward to our cruise on Sirena next April.

The contents of this review are disappointing to us since we air sailing on Sirena next April for our first Oceania cruise. We have sailed with Azamara in the past and thought we would give O a try for this itinerary.

Having never eaten lunch in the MDR on a port day that information does not bother me.

However, it is very disappointing to read that the variety and quality of the dinners in the MDR have declined.

18 hours ago, oceanbill457 said:

If you are a craps player, you might want to be aware they have single odds. Unlike other cruise lines and casinos all over the world.

Thanks for the information.

I guess I will steer away from the craps table on our cruise.

6 hours ago, hillsprint said:

With regard to Redtravel’s post, as far as I am aware  Azamara still has a Cassini unless you are on the new Pursuit which has a different layout to the older ships.

 

If you are content with the R design ships then I think there are Pros & Cons for both lines, but Riviera and Marina are in a different class, especially on a longer cruise.

The only Azamara ship that has a casino at this time is Journey. Quest had its casino removed during a dry dock earlier this year.

Journey is scheduled to have its casino removed as part of a dry dock in October 2020.

Most posters on the Azamara board seem to like the new space called The Den which replaced the casino.

My wife & I enjoy visiting the casino after the evening show. That is one of the reasons we decided to book a cruise on Sirena for next April instead of another with Azamara.

On our 2 Azamara cruises my wife & I enjoyed stopping by the casino after leaving the show.

Some gambling along with a glass of wine is something we looked forward to in ending our evening.

I was looking to book an Azamara cruise for 2020.

Azamara's current high prices along with the lack of a casino has led us to book a cruise with Oceania for next April.

I am really enjoying reading along as you enjoy your cruise.

On Journey in April the Chef's Special was also Filet Mignon on our first night and it was fantastic.

I also really like the Greek Burger at the Patio.

Thank you to those on the cruise for your descriptions and photos.

59 minutes ago, leennp said:

They accepted by PDF confirmation!

 

Thank goodness you took a screenshot.

This is a good reminder for me to do the same in similar situations.

19 hours ago, SkystheLimit said:

We also had the privilege of having Lyric and Hosannah take care of us and our cabin.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All of these references to Lyric & Hosanna are bringing back good yet bad memories (if that makes any sense) from our shortened cruise on Journey in April.

They were doing a fantastic job as our cabin attendants when our cruise got cut short due to a death in the family back home. They were very helpful and gracious in helping us get our luggage off the ship and to a taxi so we could fly home from Charleston.

We were enjoying ourselves very much only to have our cruise cut from the expected 11 nights down to 3.

It may sound strange, but I have not only been grieving the loss of my Father, but also for the loss of our cruise that we had anticipated for so long.

I keep telling my wife we need book another Azamara cruise as part of the healing process.

I also gave my opinion that we're not interested in more inclusions since the price would definitely go up.

Azamara's prices are already at the bleeding edge of what we can afford and are willing to pay.

Very interesting how different passengers can have a completely different experience on the same cruise, even on a ship as small as Journey.

We were also on this cruise until a family emergency caused us to disembark after only 3 nights.

I don't discount or question Lois' experience at all, but our enjoyment was much more in line with CateW than with Lois & CruisingChick's experience.

Our 3 nights in the MDR had excellent food the first night and what I would call very good the next 2. Food is so subjective, so someone else could eat our same meals with a totally different opinion.

We had different wait teams all 3 nights with very attentive service each of those nights. The service seemed very friendly and efficient, and our wine glasses were constantly filled to the point where at one point I let them know that we were fine & would not need any more.

I feel bad that Lois and CruisingChick have been disappointed with their experience so far. Hopefully things improve for them for the remainder of the cruise.

For us, this was starting out to be so enjoyable that it was on track to be our best cruise yet. I have to admit that this was only our 9th cruise, sailing previously on Azamara, Celebrity, and Princess.

47 minutes ago, BBMacLaird said:

I'm so sorry to learn of your loss bbqoug. I know you've been participating on our forum for awhile now, and am so sorry about the circumstances that shortened your first cruise with us.

P.s. Thank you for taking the time to let us [the AZ CC community] know about your situation.

 

Thank you Bonnie. This was actually our 2nd cruise with Azamara. We enjoyed our cruise on Quest a couple years ago so much that we knew we wanted to sail with Azamara again. This one was starting out to be even better.

Just now, Lois R said:

I am also on this cruise..........so sorry about your loss......my condolences to you as well.

Thanks Lois. I saw you at the Meet and Greet but never got a chance to speak with you.

Hopefully we can sail together sometime in the future.

3 hours ago, CruisingChick said:

So sorry to hear of your loss.  We are currently on Journey.  Once we left Charleston on Sunday night the ship has been really rocking and rolling. I have never taken so much Dramamine.  Today is a bit better. Yesterday morning was rough. We also are leaving Bermuda on Thursday - 22 hours EARLY as we would not make it back to NYC in time as we will be hitting a storm.  We are expected to dock in NYC at 3 pm on Saturday.  

Thank you for letting us know how things have been going since we left.

It seems like White Night was scheduled for Thursday evening in Bermuda. Has it now been rescheduled?

That has to be disappointing leaving Bermuda so early. We were really looking forward to our time there.

Best of luck with the rest of your cruise.

Thank you all for your condolences and well wishes.

I asked the CBP officers if the fine could be waived under this circumstance. One of them said "That's a negative." He said if they made one exception then others would want it as well.

The fine was actually levied on Azamara who then passed it on to us via our onboard account.

My wife and I boarded Journey on April 10^th in Manhattan for the Bermuda and the Old South 11 night itinerary. The sail away out of New York Harbor was breathtaking.

Unfortunately, my father passed away back at home while we spent the 2^nd night on our cruise. We didn’t find out about his death until the 3^rd day when we arrived in Charleston because we didn’t have cell phone service on our sea day. As soon as we found out we knew we would have to cut the cruise short to fly home.

I went down to customer relations to let them know that we were going to have to disembark in Charleston instead of continuing on to Bermuda. Everyone at customer relations was very sympathetic and helpful. We had no idea disembarking early would be a problem. Rafael the documentation officer contacted the officials in Charleston and let us know that we would have to meet with Customs and Border Protection officers the next morning in the Drawing Room. It ends up that we were in violation of the Jones Act or Passenger Services Act because we embarked in one U.S. port (Manhattan) and would be debarking in another U.S. port (Charleston) without first visiting a distant foreign port. We ended up having to pay a fine of $300 each because of this infraction. They then cleared us to exit the ship. Our room steward Lyric and assistant Hosannah were very kind and helped in getting our luggage off the ship so we could catch our new flight.

We had ended up taking a 3 night cruise for the first and hopefully last time. Up until we had to leave we were on our way to having our best cruise ever. We didn’t make it long enough to attend the Chef’s Table & specialty restaurants we had booked, but our meals in Discoveries were very good. The first night the Chef’s Special was a filet of beef with marrow crumble that was so tender and flavorful, I was concerned that anything I ordered in Prime C wouldn’t measure up. Too bad I didn’t get a chance to find out. Our breakfasts from room service, Windows Café, and Discoveries were great, and the Greek Burger we had at The Patio was delicious. I could not fault any of the food on this abbreviated cruise.

Service was also very good with the officers and crew very friendly.

Our CC Meet & Mingle was well attended and fun. We met a lot of very nice fellow passengers that we were looking forward to sailing with.

The second night of the cruise Captain Johannes was greeting people as they entered the dining room. I asked him if he ever turned off the ship’s lights to allow for people to star gaze. He immediately called to tell someone to leave the lights out on deck 11 forward for us that night. We had no idea that this kind act by the captain allowed us to be viewing the beautiful star filled sky as my father was passing away back at home.

We hope our fellow passengers that are still on the cruise are having a fantastic time with good weather.

We will try to be back. It took us 2 years of saving to be able to afford this cruise. Thank goodness I purchased travel insurance, which will pay us back a prorated amount for the cruise time we missed. Also, customer service at Delta was very nice under the circumstance in that they were able to change our original flights with no change fee. Unfortunately I was told by the Travel Insurance company that they will not cover the $600 we have to pay in fines.

We already had a high opinion of Azamara from our previous cruise on Quest. This short cruise and the way they handled our unusual circumstance only added to our opinion.

Becco was very crowded, but we really enjoyed it. It was within walking distance of our hotel and the food was great.

5 hours ago, George C said:

another Italian place is Orso which is next to Joe Allen’s and across from Becco , I perfer Becco but this is another option, read than Hillary Clinton was there last year before our trip. 

We are having dinner at Becco this Sunday evening before the same cruise that Lois will be on.

We are looking forward to it.

7 hours ago, excitedofharpenden said:

You will have Captain Johannes along with Hotel Director Heike. Both very able and delightful. I hope you enjoy your cruise. 

 

Phil 

We are also on this cruise & looking forward to sailing with the ones you mentioned along with Eric as CD.

I also received the survey request this morning.

I figured I would take the time to complete it, but was getting bogged down part way through when a power bump at my house made me lose my progress. I decided it wasn't worth my time to start over.

To me the survey was very tedious, with one section asking which of 3 possible loyalty programs I would choose. There was page after page of these choices of 3 where the underlying specifics of the programs only changed slightly from screen to screen. I found myself not taking the time required to make informed choices because I was just wanting to get it over with.

I think a more concise survey would be more effective.

I also get the sense that these surveys are trying to channel me to choices which validate the decisions for change that they likely have already made. Kind of like the Club Veranda Plus survey with an idea that was very unpopular here but got implemented just the same.

4 hours ago, jgnova said:

I've usually worn tropical shirts to dinner on =X= and RCI on non-formal nights. Will I feel out of place doing that on Azamara?

On our Azamara cruise I wore tropical shirts & golf type shirts in the main dining room as well as the specialty restaurants.

I plan to do the same on our upcoming cruise.

You will not feel out of place.

On 2/11/2019 at 4:04 PM, Charles4515 said:

Wednesday, 17 April 2019 and run through to Wednesday, 4 September, 2019 in Hamilton. Every Wednesday except it will be on Thursday April 25, instead of Wednesday April 24. The Thursday April 25 date is to accommodate the ITU World Triathlon Series.

 

http://bernews.com/2019/02/harbour-nights-get-underway-april-17/

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

 

 

Thank you for posting this information.

This is great for us since we will be docking in Hamilton on the Azamara Journey on April 17th.

Count me as glad that Journey's casino will still be available for our cruise in April.

My wife & I enjoy a bit of gambling after the evening show.

On 2/10/2019 at 4:37 PM, Lois R said:

Thanks. I found one being offered but they don't tell you the time it leaves or the price.

Hi Lois,

Since we are on the same cruise as you in April I took a look at Voyage Planner.

The Manhattan Showcase (With Airport Drop-off) is listed as starting at 9:00 AM and is $125.00.

Our flight from JFK is scheduled for 3:58 PM, so we may take a look at this tour as well.

15 minutes ago, Cyber Kat said:

 

I have tag holders that fit the larger size Carnival tags (got them from Cruise Critic!). Will the Azamara tags fit those or do I need the narrower ones. 

 

Also all our suitcases have luggage ID tags we got from Viking. We love them because they are red and it makes picking our black suitcases out of a line up easier. Will they get people upset 😳. Do I have to dig out our older ones 😁. 

 

So glad to hear about the app!  I love having an app,  And the photo thing is great!  I can’t wait to try it all out!

These are the ones I ordered that should work for Azamara https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01E4SQNU4/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00__o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I'm not sure if the ones for Carnival will work or not. Hopefully someone else will know.