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Everything posted by vtgumby
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Multiple times over a few days and up came an error message. I finally contacted NO customer service and they said it was because I wasnât Norwegian. If my travel companion was then weâd get that pricing but weâre both from the USA. Disappointing.
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The challenge is on Hallasm! Itâs such a great difference in pricing that it just needs a better answer to satisfy me! đ Thanks for all your Hurt advice in the past too, I found the different sites because of your posts years ago!
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I feel like I may be stalking Hallasm but Iâm posting this because we tried to book on the NO site this week and found they would not allow non-Norwegians to do so despite in the past having done just that. I have asked them to meet the NO site pricing and I await their answer and will post when I find out but the NO site was a third less than the US or global site so it looks like we may be doing Havila also.
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Bergen-Kirkenes-Bergen - differences between ships
vtgumby replied to Christie Malry's topic in Hurtigruten
Unfortunately Hurtigruten will NOT let non Norwegians book off their NO site which is 6k less per person then their global or US site. Iâve asked them to meet the NO site prices and awaiting their answer but it doesnât look promising. GREAT advice in the past regarding the various websites but it doesnât look good for NO site for non NorwegiansâŠI will update when I get an answer. -
Thanks for the information Stan and Hallasm!
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Hallasm! My Hurtigruten expert! My control issues like for me to know for exactly that reason SO do you know where the Hurt cruise terminal is in Hamburg?? Relying on you my CC friend, youâve been a wealth of information so far! đđ»
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Brilliant thought, we have an awesome travel couple who do just this, clearly smart minds! đ
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Worst customer service? MSC hands down! Yet we still sail them cuz we love YC. Hope you enjoy your cruise! đ
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I thought the Pursuit shops were pathetic and why they were empty as compared to nice Journey shops (pre Covid) with decent merchandise. Very odd to not stock more than a few items for both men and women and I mean a few. People would buy their overpriced merch if they actually stocked some to buy, disappointing.
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Turn Down to be reduced to once a day 2023!
vtgumby replied to ulster-cruiser's topic in Norwegian Cruise Line
Uh, yeah and exactly why we DONâT do public hot tubsâŠanywhere. People are pigs, watch the buffets, itâs appalling how utensils arenât used, just grabbing food with their hands. I guess a pandemic taught us so very little. -
Turn Down to be reduced to once a day 2023!
vtgumby replied to ulster-cruiser's topic in Norwegian Cruise Line
Yay. Time to cut back unneeded service and yes, just my opinion. I enjoy giving our steward the gift of âtime offâ and we do zero night and once every three or four days and we still tip them regardless of not using them daily. Weâre not pigs, itâs not that difficult to pull your bedsheets up and reuse towels so weâre happy theyâre doing this. These guys and gals work like dogs although I imagine theyâll just be given more rooms with less stewards, the business way to squeeze labor as much as possible. Applauding this decision! -
Transatlantic Cruises.....venues limited hours on sea days?
vtgumby replied to Healthmark's topic in Norwegian Cruise Line
Never on the thirteen TAs weâve done. Casino has a captive audience, they take your money gladly! -
Apologies, you were totally right, SPANISH research station. Chilean was the next day, sorry!
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They told us they were limited to one beer a day. Agreed on fresh fruit, send them more then a basket however and how about that leftover bread đ„ ?! đ
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Awesome! I truly hope it was a one off situation!
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Princess Sapphire looks like a much better itinerary then Azamara, changed or original.
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We were on the ship and I would not recommend it because the captain decided to reverse the itinerary because of Drakes passage and due to that we were unable to enjoy Antarctica for a full day. A large chunk of the passengers felt that it was a wrong decision to reverse the itineraries but what are you gonna do? I personally would not go back on Azamara for Antarctica because I donât think theyâre built for it. 20-30â waves are the norm and if that causes you to change itineraries thenâŠour next trip will be on one of the expedition ships. Another negative of this trip was going to Deception Bay which is basically a volcano caldera, nothing to see and perhaps it was because we had a beautiful morning of scenery but all that is there is a Chilean research station and thatâs it. They did come on board to give us a talk and Azamaraâs big contribution back to them was T-shirts and a fruit basket, kind of embarrassing actually. they shouldâve sent back a couple of cases of wine and beer along with all the leftover food from the Buffet but the Cruise Director was all excited because we gave them T-shirts. Sure, a valued gift.
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Suggestions for Panama City excursions: NCL Gem, Feb 6 2023
vtgumby replied to MLA's topic in Panama Canal
Wait. No advantage to advance purchase and who knows what that day might bring⊠-
Or better luck. I hope this was a one off situation, we are low key people who roll with stuff but there was a LOT of complaints swirling and we finally agreed, it wasnât what it was in the past. Maybe nothing is post Covid but I can say Windstar the month before jumped far ahead of Azamara in terms of both quality and service. Way ahead. Hoping Azamara fixes the issues abound on this last Pursuit cruise.
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Pursuit WAS full for the Antarctica cruise according to the cruise director on first night, 650 ppl We also found internet to be fast but we donât stream, just email
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AGREED! Itâs disheartening to dress nicely for dinner and see people in their swampy clothes, certainly men have a button up shirt somewhere in their closet and if they donât they should perhaps purchase one.Your trucker hat isnât suitable for ANY cruise line DR. Stick with the buffet if you donât feel like putting on decent attireâŠand flip flops, no one wants to see your icky feet at dinner. Azamara used to be an upscale line and Oceania definitely is and let me throw Windstar in there also, somehow cruising has become a low class affair.
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We just got off the Pursuit and met quite a few Oceania cruisers and the overwhelming thoughts about Azamara versus Oceania was that Oceania won hands-down. We used to be loyal Azamara cruisers and our last cruise with them was January 2020, it was superb. However, the food has taken a big hit and the service has gone downhill also, it was actually quite disappointing and we thought what has happened? So much so that I donât see us taking another cruise with them for some time. Three new couples to Azamara said never again and they raved about Oceania. I didnât bother to ask if they had been on Oceania since Covid because like I mentioned, we used to be cheerleaders for Azamara, but no more after this last experience. I understand theyâre trying to make money back after Covid but the food has become average, they ran out of items immediately such as bagels on day 2, escargot left a few days later, and thatâs just bad provisioning for a 17 day cruise. A week into the cruise and the dining room had a whole list of things that were no longer available. Service is also taking a hit and we noticed in the Buffet that getting water and wine almost became a self service situation, servers would literally walk by people with empty trays and we just figured out to go up and get our own water and wine and then other people were asking us how we got our water and wine and we told them we helped ourselves. That isnât the normal Azamara service we have become accustomed to, quite sad because we really did love this line but after this last cruise not so much. Looking forward to great (I hope) food and service on Oceania in April for 28 days!
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We just got off Azamara Pursuit and found both service and food lacking from our last in January 2020. Dining room was hit or miss for dinner, we stopped going but we did do a lunch and it was much better. They slam their servers at dinner and some can handle it but our different array of servers just couldnâtâŠwaiting thirty minutes for a cold app is crazy. Buffet has less items and frankly not as good. One guy at the carving station so on Greek and Mediterranean night he methodically put gyros together that took minimally three minutes perâŠwhy not have two guys doing this? Eggs in the morning were the same, one guy although at the end they DID add another person but whatâs the thinking there? We DID have some standouts in buffet service (Indra and Pyeush) but truthfully we were often ignored despite smiling and patiently waiting and finally just getting up for our own water and wine, sometimes after we had eaten. Some servers would look at you, empty trays in hand, and just walk by, it was crazy but like I said, self service worked! Or waving your hand at them but thatâs not amazing service by any means. Bar service was great, I was impressed with the Cabaret lounge servers, they definitely worked the crowd. We had early departure from Antarctica, a full day which was quite disappointing (a reason Azamara shouldnât be doing this trip if they canât handle Drakes 20-30â waves) and then the SLOW 8 knots to the Falklands and the captain could have EASILY arrived an hour earlier and left an hour later but no, confined to a 3 pm last tender. Several people asked if that had been extended (after losing an hour out of their two hr excursion) but were told no, last tender is there, pointing at it at 3 pm. We STUPIDLY loaded up being rule followers and there were tender after tenders afterâŠwe watched from the ship as 74+/- 2 people got off a tender at 4:30 pm, 12% of the passenger load which was ridiculous. This should have been extended for EVERYONE so lucky 12% that didnât follow the rules, the rest of us suckers got screwed. Quite disheartening. We feel Azamara has slid down quite a bit and Iâm sure itâs happened to all of them post Covid as they try to make up their cash but running out of bagels on day 2 of a 17 day cruise isnât a good sign. Btw, zero lobster despite offering it and then delivering giant butterflied prawns. I actually thought that was amusing but definitely a bait and switch. We honestly canât be their cheerleader anymore, what they used to be isnât close to todayâs reality. It didnât help that we just came off Windstar which I always considered the same class as Azamara but Windstar hands down kicked their butts. I will say they nailed their Azamazing evening however, day two of the cruise and we thought âthis is going to be greatâ but quickly found out they started strong and ended up quite weak. I hope they get it back but our cruise dollars will go elsewhere for awhile.
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Thanks for the information!
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Observations from first time Windstar cruise
vtgumby replied to markgray's topic in Windstar Cruises
I wouldnât say two hours (6-8 pm) is rushing through dinner, some of us just prefer to digest our meal before bedtime, healthier for our bodies so slap early bird nomenclature on us but not having heartburn at midnight, priceless.