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Sea Days on the Journey - What are the typical activities?


Ken the cruiser
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For a little background my DW and I are in our active early 60's and as you can see from my signature, we have cruised on various lines over the past 4 years but are starting to branch out. We take about 3-4 cruises a year, enjoy going on ones with interesting itineraries and are pretty much inseparable when we're on the cruise. In the beginning we would take 7-10 day Caribbean cruises, but now we find 14-28 day cruises are more to our liking.

 

We are healthy and avoid the elevators at all costs and try to walk 2 miles around the ship on sea days. We enjoy going to lectures and evening shows and participating in friendly trivia and other passenger involved games. We'll even participate in a scavenger hunt every once in awhile. For relaxation, my DW likes to play computer games and I like to sit on the veranda and read my bee journals or just watch the ocean go by. We also like to watch movies together on TV if there is nothing else to do. As far as alcohol goes, I have one glass of wine at dinner and my DW doesn't drink, so hanging out at the lounges is really not our thing. Most importantly my DW loves to look at the next day's program and chart out fun things to do, so when we get up the next morning we have our day all planned out.

 

Now, we know some of you folks love to just relax on sea days and do nothing except sit around the pool and that's great. However, that's not us. We don't mind relaxing periodically, but not the whole day.

 

Our question is this. What are some of the sea day Azamara sanctioned events on the Journey that you have found enjoyable?

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For a little background my DW and I are in our active early 60's and as you can see from my signature, we have cruised on various lines over the past 4 years but are starting to branch out. We take about 3-4 cruises a year, enjoy going on ones with interesting itineraries and are pretty much inseparable when we're on the cruise. In the beginning we would take 7-10 day Caribbean cruises, but now we find 14-28 day cruises are more to our liking.

 

We are healthy and avoid the elevators at all costs and try to walk 2 miles around the ship on sea days. We enjoy going to lectures and evening shows and participating in friendly trivia and other passenger involved games. We'll even participate in a scavenger hunt every once in awhile. For relaxation, my DW likes to play computer games and I like to sit on the veranda and read my bee journals or just watch the ocean go by. We also like to watch movies together on TV if there is nothing else to do. As far as alcohol goes, I have one glass of wine at dinner and my DW doesn't drink, so hanging out at the lounges is really not our thing. Most importantly my DW loves to look at the next day's program and chart out fun things to do, so when we get up the next morning we have our day all planned out.

 

Now, we know some of you folks love to just relax on sea days and do nothing except sit around the pool and that's great. However, that's not us. We don't mind relaxing periodically, but not the whole day.

 

Our question is this. What are some of the sea day Azamara sanctioned events on the Journey that you have found enjoyable?

 

We have only been on one (very port intensive, 27 day B2B) Azamara cruise. On sea days, we very much enjoyed the destination expert lectures. Also, enjoyed talking to our guest lecturer and his wife at lunch occasionally (he was very friendly and happy to engage with passengers). My DH enjoyed the intermediate bridge lessons and the duplicate bridge games. I enjoyed the watercolor lessons (even though I have absolutely no talent for it!). DH enjoyed the gym. We enjoyed sitting and reading in the living room or the library (it was very hot with lots of air pollution in Asia, so we didn't sit on our balcony often). We didn't join in on trivia or bingo, but others enjoyed those activities. Cocktails in Spirits Lounge listening to Max play the piano was also a favorite activity!

 

Have a great cruise!

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There are several trivia quizzes every day, including one progressive quiz that is on every day. One team is declared the winner of the progressive quiz at the end of the cruise. All the other quizzes have a winner every day. You can get a card stamped for all the quizzes you attend (double stamps for the winners). On the last day you can use your 'stamps' to get small prizes - Azamara T-shirts, cups, pens, pins etc.

We have never joined in with quizzes on a cruise before, but joined a team of mixed Brits/Americans on our last cruise and really enjoyed it.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

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We have only been on one (very port intensive, 27 day B2B) Azamara cruise. On sea days, we very much enjoyed the destination expert lectures. Also, enjoyed talking to our guest lecturer and his wife at lunch occasionally (he was very friendly and happy to engage with passengers). My DH enjoyed the intermediate bridge lessons and the duplicate bridge games. I enjoyed the watercolor lessons (even though I have absolutely no talent for it!). DH enjoyed the gym. We enjoyed sitting and reading in the living room or the library (it was very hot with lots of air pollution in Asia, so we didn't sit on our balcony often). We didn't join in on trivia or bingo, but others enjoyed those activities. Cocktails in Spirits Lounge listening to Max play the piano was also a favorite activity!

 

Have a great cruise!

 

Thanks! I have to admit my DW's eyes lit up when you mentioned they have water coloring classes! Do you know if they have beginning bridge classes or do you have to know what you're doing before you can go to one of their classes? We've been thinking about learning how, so maybe we'll learn on another cruise before with go on Azamara in Oct 2018.

 

There are several trivia quizzes every day, including one progressive quiz that is on every day. One team is declared the winner of the progressive quiz at the end of the cruise. All the other quizzes have a winner every day. You can get a card stamped for all the quizzes you attend (double stamps for the winners). On the last day you can use your 'stamps' to get small prizes - Azamara T-shirts, cups, pens, pins etc.

We have never joined in with quizzes on a cruise before, but joined a team of mixed Brits/Americans on our last cruise and really enjoyed it.

 

 

Thanks! Some trivia games we've participated in have gotten pretty intense, especially the progressive ones. We've now found just sitting in the back and trying to guess the answers without joining a team works best for us. This way if we don't know most of the answers we won't feel like we're letting the team down and at the same time feel quite elated when we get one or two right!

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Thanks! I have to admit my DW's eyes lit up when you mentioned they have water coloring classes! Do you know if they have beginning bridge classes or do you have to know what you're doing before you can go to one of their classes? We've been thinking about learning how, so maybe we'll learn on another cruise before with go on Azamara in Oct

 

I don't know if they always have watercolor lessons. Perhaps more experienced AZ cruisers can comment on this. Anyway, on our cruise our instructor was wonderful. She brought all the supplies we needed and she used themes from our itinerary (we were on the Spice Route cruises). The class was usually in Aqualina (one of the beautiful specialty restaurants with lovely views).

 

They had beginner bridge lessons which were very well attended.

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They had beginner bridge lessons which were very well attended.

 

Thanks! That is great news as we are definitely interested in learning how to play bridge. We see it popping up more and more on sea day activity offerings and it will give us one more activity we can do together.

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On sea days they will offer ballroom dance classes for all standards and there is no charge. Held at 12.15pm in the Cabaret Lounge and a different dance each day (salsa, tango, cha cha, quick step etc). You also have the chance to take a private lesson or two with the dancers if you want. Charge for an hour session is $75 I think.

 

As others have said, lots of trivia choices. They do visual subjects on the TV in Spirits a little later in the afternoon.

 

Quite a few lectures and if there are a number of sea days they will have a bridge instructor onboard, but there is also unhosted bridge each day for those that are keen.

 

It does depend upon the crew that are on the ship, but you may find iPad and photo classes. The first one as an introduction is free and then there is a nominal charge to attend each time (usually $10). There were jewellery making classes too, run by ballroom dancer Sasha and they seemed to be well attended.

 

There is a splattering of other events, such as Captain's Q & A and a cook off in the Cabaret Lounge, usually between the Cruise Director and Hotel Director. They may also have cooking demonstrations in one of the Specialty Restaurants. I'm sure there are more that I can't remember. Check your Daily Pursuits which is delivered to your cabin when the room is made up in the evening.

Edited by excitedofharpenden
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On sea days they will offer ballroom dance classes for all standards and there is no charge. Held at 12.15pm in the Cabaret Lounge and a different dance each day (salsa, tango, cha cha, quick step etc). You also have the chance to take a private lesson or two with the dancers if you want. Charge for an hour session is $75 I think.

 

As others have said, lots of trivia choices. They do visual subjects on the TV in Spirits a little later in the afternoon.

 

Quite a few lectures and if there are a number of sea days they will have a bridge instructor onboard, but there is also unhosted bridge each day for those that are keen.

 

It does depend upon the crew that are on the ship, but you may find iPad and photo classes. The first one as an introduction is free and then there is a nominal charge to attend each time (usually $10). There were jewellery making classes too, run by ballroom dancer Sasha and they seemed to be well attended.

 

There is a splattering of other events, such as Captain's Q & A and a cook off in the Cabaret Lounge, usually between the Cruise Director and Hotel Director. They may also have cooking demonstrations in one of the Specialty Restaurants. I'm sure there are more that I can't remember. Check your Daily Pursuits which is delivered to your cabin when the room is made up in the evening.

 

Thanks! It's starting to sound like there are a variety of fun things to do on sea days. This is all good as we are thinking of booking another 35 day B2B2B involving Costa Rica in early 2019 after doing the 31 day Med/TA on the Journey two months prior. But the way it sounds from the feedback we are getting, there is plenty of fun to be had on their longer cruises, besides all the port excursions, if that's what someone like us is looking for. :)

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In addition to all the activities that Phil mentioned usually several other senior officers will hold Q&A sessions that I always find quite informative. We are big fans of the progressive team trivia contests that are held on every sea day at 12:15 just after the Captain's daily announcement. Depending on the cruise director it will be held in either the Living Room or the cabaret theater. They usually open the bar at noon so you can have your favorite libation at hand, as well as fresh pop corn. It can get pretty intense but is loots of fun.

 

If you want to start learning bridge I recommend that you subscribe to an online service that would teach the basics, improve your skills. I use a New Zealand service that costs about $7 (US) monthly.

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The "cook-off" may be running afoul of US food preparation regulations.

 

The Head chef Iwan was present in an advisory capacity at the 'Iron Chef,' which took place on the Quest TA.

 

About 6 (?) months prior to your sailing, you will be able to on to 'Booked Guests' on the web site where the Guest Lecturers will be listed. Also activities such as Bridge lessons and painting classes.

Edited by upwarduk
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The Head chef Iwan was present in an advisory capacity at the 'Iron Chef,' which took place on the Quest TA.

 

About 6 (?) months prior to your sailing, you will be able to on to 'Booked Guests' on the web site where the Guest Lecturers will be listed. Also activities such as Bridge lessons and painting classes.

 

Thanks! My DW already has it marked in her calendar!

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The Head chef Iwan was present in an advisory capacity at the 'Iron Chef,' which took place on the Quest TA.

That's nice, but did the two passengers who assisted take a certification course in food preparation and handling?

 

Look, I really enjoyed the iron chef sessions, but I don't make the rules. You may have seen the last one unless someone gets very creative in satisfying the food safety regulations.

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All of this is really making me want to book a TA. I don't know why, because I know me; I spend most of my time in my cabin, reading books and resting. But the dance lessons really sound like fun and I like to watch trivia being played. Maybe some day.

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i was able to find the guest lecturers for our transatlantic on April 2- however don't see any other activities such as bridge lessons. Perhaps someone can clarify where I would see those? Or perhaps they don't have any on this cruise? Thank you in advance.

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Thanks! It's starting to sound like there are a variety of fun things to do on sea days. This is all good as we are thinking of booking another 35 day B2B2B involving Costa Rica in early 2019 after doing the 31 day Med/TA on the Journey two months prior. But the way it sounds from the feedback we are getting, there is plenty of fun to be had on their longer cruises, besides all the port excursions, if that's what someone like us is looking for. :)

 

 

Ken, have you seen the 2019 itineraries, I wasn't aware they'd been published yet.

 

 

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Ken, have you seen the 2019 itineraries, I wasn't aware they'd been published yet.

 

No, not yet. We have a 5 year cruise schedule and use current schedules to plan for cruises farther out. From what we could tell, Azamara has booked Costa Rica cruises in 2017 and 2018, so we're hoping they will do it in 2019. If not, we'll have to adjust accordingly.

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We've only done transatlantic crossings on AZ, and have done 4 of those, so we've experienced a lot of sea days. You will experience lots and lots of trivia contests. On sea days there are 4 of those each day. I am an exercise fanatic and find the fitness center to be excellent, great place to spend a lot of time, as well as the spa. Honestly, there is less on AZ than on some other lines (Cunard, Crystal, Seabourn) to fill your sea days. The lecture offerings are pretty thin. But all the same, we have been very, very happy and always find plenty to fill our time and will happily return to AZ when the time is right.

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We've only done transatlantic crossings on AZ, and have done 4 of those, so we've experienced a lot of sea days. You will experience lots and lots of trivia contests. On sea days there are 4 of those each day. I am an exercise fanatic and find the fitness center to be excellent, great place to spend a lot of time, as well as the spa. Honestly, there is less on AZ than on some other lines (Cunard, Crystal, Seabourn) to fill your sea days. The lecture offerings are pretty thin. But all the same, we have been very, very happy and always find plenty to fill our time and will happily return to AZ when the time is right.

 

Thanks TV24. We are definitely looking forward to it!

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i was able to find the guest lecturers for our transatlantic on April 2- however don't see any other activities such as bridge lessons. Perhaps someone can clarify where I would see those? Or perhaps they don't have any on this cruise? Thank you in advance.

 

You wouldn't see them advertised on the web-site. You would find out about them once on the cruise through the daily newsletter you get on your cabin.

 

Guest lecturers are often listed on line in a tab about cruise information (land discoveries, pre and post cruise options etc). However, I do not see that tab for the April 2 cruise, so I am glad you found the guest lecturers. Most certainly on this TA there WILL BE a bridge instructor and some kind of art class instructor. There will also be at least one special interest lectures and possibly a clergy of some type, since the Spring TA covers some religous holidays. The clergy have also been known to give a lecture or two as well.

 

There is usually at least one bridge class each sea day (10 AM), as well as organized afternoon games (1 pm). Guest lectures are scattered throughout the sea day (most comonly 11 AM). Art classes are usually at 1 PM. General trivia at 9:30 AM and 5 PM, cummulative trivia at 12:15 PM, and music trivia at 4 PM. Bingo fills in at various times. Additional activites (ship tours, cooking demonstrations, dance lessons) fill up every day.

Edited by Leo_On_Geo
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It's a bit challenging (lots of clicking) to find the guest lecturers but basically I found them through "Life Onboard"- they have a tab for Guest Lecturers where all lecturers for the year are shown and another option where you can pull up your sailing where they provide particulars and bios. The Transatlantic in April has two, Dr. Mary Jane Cryan as the Destination Lecturer and Dr. David Roberts, Special Interest Lecturer with a focus on the Panama Canal. Not sure what the Panama Canal has to do with this itinerary, but we have cruised the Panama Canal and I do find it an interesting subject. Thanks for the information on the classes as well- we'll keep our eyes out!

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It's a bit challenging (lots of clicking) to find the guest lecturers but basically I found them through "Life Onboard"- they have a tab for Guest Lecturers where all lecturers for the year are shown and another option where you can pull up your sailing where they provide particulars and bios. The Transatlantic in April has two, Dr. Mary Jane Cryan as the Destination Lecturer and Dr. David Roberts, Special Interest Lecturer with a focus on the Panama Canal. Not sure what the Panama Canal has to do with this itinerary, but we have cruised the Panama Canal and I do find it an interesting subject. Thanks for the information on the classes as well- we'll keep our eyes out!

 

Thanks for that, they seem to have reorganized the web site a bit. I must admit those seem strange choices, but usually the SI lecturers continually expand their lecture selection to be hired for more itineries. I imagine it gets boring just doing the Panama Canal, so I expect he will have some new topics for the TA. I am also booked on that TA (my fourth on Azamara). I have never felt a lack of activities.

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