DS

It seems all of us have issues with what the web page says our cruise status, price remaining, OBC registered, etc. etc. What I'd like to hear is from people who are actually on board and if they think their accounts are accurately presented: right OBC, right status, etc. etc. We are only seeing what is obvioulsy a poor transitioned the web site. What is important is the transition on Azmara's internal systems and those onboard. I can live with a bad web page ( for a while, at least) if I know that the REAL system is correct. Azamara... tell us!

Onboard the Journey... STARLINK was our internet provider as of this morning in Funchal, Madeira (it was NOT the provider up the west coast of Africa, nor in the Canaries the past two days). Downlink speeds (per speedtest.net) was about 1/2 of a megabit... not great, but clearly better than yesterday!

Onboard the Journey... STARLINK was our internet provider as of this morning in Funchal, Madeira (it was NOT the provider up the west coast of Africa, nor in the Canaries the past two days). Downlink speeds (per speedtest.net) was about 1/2 of a megabit... not great, but clearly better than yesterday!

Currently on the Journey, heading up the west coast of Africa, starting 4 March. If its the same guitar playing "Nestor" he was on our ship at the beginning, leaving here on 6 or 7 March in Namibia. People here had same impression of performances...

Onboard the Journey now, coming up the west coast of Africa. StarLink is apparently installed, but not in use--yet-- because there is no service to any African country. BUT, we are told that by the time we get to the Canaries early next week, the switch over will occur. Stay tuned...

Aboard the JOURNEY.... today's a sea day between Angola and Ghana. The highlight was a visit to Null Island, a mythical "land" (since there is no "land") located at 0 degrees longitude and 0 degrees latitude (also a common error of some mapping programs: if you put in a non-existent address you sometimes get 0,0 back...). Crossing was about 9:42 AM GMT. There is supposed to be a buoy at the location, but I could not spot it (too close to the hull??). The traditional equator crossing ceremony on the pool deck with King Neptune was held at 10:00. GPS screen shots before and after attached... Null island.pdf

Onboard the Journey… Earlier I noted that the patio was not open at first for dinner… it is now. Yesterday they had springbok as a special! Tonight they have Oxtail Potjie, a South African stew. The complementary wines are mostly new, and reflect their past months in South Africa—a very nice SA shiraz and of course a pinotage—much better that the Azamara branded pinotage of a few months ago. The cab was also a SA vintage, which I have not had yet. There was also a SA Rose. I’m not usually a rose drinker, so can’t compare it to the whispering angel of fame on these boards, but it was quite nice, not like soda pop. All in all, a definite improvement over the last few cruises. Yesterday was Walvis Bay, Namibia. Had person-to-person immigration in Cabaret before we could get off… went quickly (although a half hour late starting…); also an “exit” check out, again smooth. And, in the good news department (most welcomed after lots of uncertainly wrt visas etc. before trip…), Angola has changed their policy, just since we sailed(!), and no face-to-face will be required. Although the quick change could portent similar not-so-nice-changes in other countries—the adventure continues! Walvis Bay port is a busy commercial port, with absolutely no cruise terminal/infrastructure…. Just a parking lot for buses. The town goes inland for maybe a mile, then the dunes of the Namib desert run up and down the coast Weather has been cooler than we expected—mid to high 60’s F ( high teen’s C)—same latitude as Rio de Janeiro… I guess the colder, north flowing current from Antarctica?

Onboard the Journey, departing Cape Town on 4 March for Lisbon, up the west coast of Africa. A nearly, but not quite, full house of 585 passengers. A fair amount of following winds and seas as we left Cape Town, so more roll/pitch than we expected—not bad, but noticeable. Temp on high 60’s F, so sitting on deck not enticing for long periods. First two dinners in MDR have been very good—food hot, service excellent. Patio has not been open for dinner, yet… Senior Officers on board include: Captain Filip Adelfoulakos Hotel Director Tomasz Jadczyk Cruise Director Stephen Millet Asst CD Sarah Hughes F&B manager Mario Kucko Chef Shijumon Loyalty/ Future Cruise Tine Schils Of note, Daniel from Croatia, who was the manager of the specialty restaurants on the Quest for the past 12 years, is now the manager for all restaurants on the Journey. After having this cruise cancelled out from under us at least twice since 2020 ( quite a few other passengers in the same boat, so to speak…), we are looking forward to lots of sea days, punctuated by strange and mysterious ports.

Onboard the Journey, departing Cape Town on 4 March for Lisbon, up the west coast of Africa. A nearly, but not quite, full house of 585 passengers. A fair amount of following winds and seas as we left Cape Town, so more roll/pitch than we expected—not bad, but noticeable. Temp on high 60’s F, so sitting on deck not enticing for long periods. First two dinners in MDR have been very good—food hot, service excellent. Patio has not been open for dinner, yet… Senior Officers on board include: Captain Filip Adelfoulakos Hotel Director Tomasz Jadczyk Cruise Director Stephen Millet Asst CD Sarah Hughes F&B manager Mario Kucko Chef Shijumon Loyalty/ Future Cruise Tine Schils Of note, Daniel from Croatia, who was the manager of the specialty restaurants on the Quest for the past 12 years, is now the manager for all restaurants on the Journey. After having this cruise cancelled out from under us at least twice since 2020 (quite a few other passengers in the same boat, so to speak…), we are looking forward to lots of sea days, punctuated by strange and mysterious ports.

We have done 3 or 4 TA's on Azamara. All have been nice; some a bit more "wavy" than others; none excessively so. Last fall we did one that was from Lisbon to Miami, and susposed to go "north" to Bermuda. Weather forecast indicated that that would be a rough route, so Captain adjusted to a "southern" route and we ended up on Bahamas instead of Bermuda. Could you wander down the corridors in an "S" shaoaed patter? Absolutly! Did it make one seasick? Not for us or anyone we noticed. I would not, however, recommend a forward cabin for these trips...

we were able to check in for 4 March cruise on Journey today...

Have anyone received an email offering them a bid on an upgrade on Journey, West Africa, Capetown to Lisbon on March 4th?

I regularily have Manhattans, Martinis and Gimblets with no added cost... listed spirits only.... if you want rye or top shelf bouron or gin, its extra

Just FYI....excursions are usually cheaper to book on line pre cruise....once on board the same excursion is $10 per person or more. That wold be like throwing money away to cancel and rebook...

Have you asked the AZamara Loyality people? loyalty@azamara.com; AzamaraGuestRelations@Azamara.com

Thanks! Sound like a extensive, if slow starting day. We are currently scheduled to be there in March on Azamara ( although the Azamara Nov cruise did not make it), so your news is good news!

Did you actually get to Ivory Coast? Most cruise ships recently ( Regent, Azamara) have had to cancel this port... Perhaps they just opened???

We have had two YF shots, years apart... no noticeable ( and remembered) side effects except, like any shot, a pain the arm later that day

HEY... there were only about 280 of us aboard the TA, and I'm sure we did not drink the ship dry... AND... you had a port call in Miami, home of Azamara... why not more suppies onboard.... DON"T BLAME US!

The Quest sailed out of Miami last winter...we were on the Christmas cruise, you remember, the one that ended up with 30-40 passengers with COVID and more than 60 crew either sick or isolated. Also missed almost half the scheduled island ports...Captain Johannes always found new ones!

The RCCL big book was apparently softcopy and they were literally no longer able to access it. They did go by memory and try to replicate the procedures, but sometimes memory is incomplete or differs. Tony said they wanted a native English speaker with some writing experience and a long tenure onboard with Azamara -- he has these although not as HD

An extract of what I posted on "anyone onboard currently" about wines.. ...Comp wines are a mix of Azamara labeled and others (a very nice other Syrah last night…). Tony had a Q&A today and wines were discussed: head office has hired a sommelier to revamp the entire wine (and other liquor packages) program;... .... They did have a second container full of wine, which they found in Sydney. After it had sat for a year or more in heat and cold and heat and… they ended up throwing most of it away… tested one bottle per case, then if needed dumped the rest. (Now there’s a job that we passengers could have helped with if they had asked!) One of the things "Jonathan" ... the guy hired to look at the wine program... is specifically looking at is a country intensive wine program for those cruises that are "country intensive" Not sure yet if it will be the comp wines or the "revenue wines" or maybe a stand alone package. Tony also noted that Azamara has entered into an agreement with Chateau St Michelle ( which is also owned by Sycamore Partners) to provide more wines... again, not sure if house wines or "revenue wines" -- Tony's words...

Onboard the ONWARD, Transatlantic from Lisbon yesterday (11/20) to Miami (12/1). Number of passengers about 315 ( or 317, or…). Senior Officers are: Captain Gianmario Sanuineti Hotel Director Tony Markey Cruise Director Eric De Gray Asst CD Martin Lawson F&B Iwn Pennings Ex Chef Shiju Sekharan. Our only port stop was to be Hamilton Bermuda, but today, in his noon announcements the Captain said we had to redirect because of a couple of low pressure systems in the mid-Atlantic that were making 5 to 6 meter waves, so we could not maintain enough speed to get there on schedule. Instead, they are investigating Nassau, and we are taking a more southern route. Given the earlier kerfuffle about Bermuda landing permits, fees, etc., I’m sure this will generate a bunch of conversation… A lot of the crew who have been on in the fall left before this cruise because of US visa issues: we lost a couple of dining room waiters we had in the fall, one of the butlers, several of the bar waiters. In fact, our room steward was brought over from another ship simply because he had US visa. In response to frequent topics: Patio open for lunch, but not for dinner (not enough quests per the staff); Comp wines are a mix of Azamara labeled and others (a very nice other Syrah last night…). Tony had a Q&A today and wines were discussed: head office has hired a sommelier to revamp the entire wine (and other liquor packages) program; No info on tonic water (not my usual mixer…). Other topics from Tony… The comms difficulties with shore side was discussed. They are keenly aware of our difficulties. They closed the Wichita call center during the pandemic, and when they reopened only about 20% of the people came back –others had taken other jobs or did not want to work. They are back to about 50% now. Even so, the kinds of questions and calls they get are much more broad than pre-pandemic, so they are having difficulty getting new folks up to speed. Turns out that since ONWARD was never owned by RCCL, Azamara is using it as the guinea pig for many things, including technology testing. One of the fall-outs of the split was that the “Big-fat-book-of-rules-and-procedures-for-everything!” was owned by RCCL and none of the Azamara ships were allow to continue to access it. They have been trying to go from memory (which explains some of the differences amongst the ships.) Tony will probably be charged with writing the master version for Azamara. Sounds like at some point he will step aside as one of two regular HD’s on ONWARD. Elizabeth will do the entire 2024 World Voyage. Between now and then, Tony will work on the SOP and fill in on any ship that needs an HD. Yes, they are discussing getting a newly built ship. Sycamore Partners is supportive. Probably looking at about 1000 passengers. Nothing decided yet. When it is, it is still a two to three year project—have to find a ship yard (some have closed), have to find steel, other supply chain issues. Speaking of supply chain issues (and he did on almost every topic/question that was asked) they know precisely where the huge cargo contain of balcony chairs, carpets, wall covering, etc. is—its sitting in Shanghai. The port was closed for a long time because of COVID, but the containers kept piling up. When it opened again, the “big boys” who had hundreds or thousands of containers hired all the ships. Azamara had 1 container! And have been unable to get it loaded. They did have a second container full of wine, which they found in Sydney. After it had sat for a year or more in heat and cold and heat and… they ended up throwing most of it away… tested one bottle per case, then if needed dumped the rest. (Now there’s a job that we passengers could have helped with if they had asked!)

The TA on Onward is NOW! WE left Lisbon today heading for Miami. In the spring it does not do a true TA... it goes from Miami to the Canaries in Feb, does a few Canary intensives, then gets to Lisbon in early April.

I think if you use one credit card for the both of you, all the OBC credit gets combined. If you each give them a seperate credit card, then you're on your own!