7/2 Alaska Showcase

[Grandma Cruising]

It’s been a great blog with lovely photos - I’ve enjoyed it, thanks.

[Mackdogmolly]

18 hours ago, maggie.1008 said:

So excited to leave next week. Can you tell me what the price of the Crab Fest is ?

 

18 hours ago, helby said:

Thanks Macdogmolly for your great live blog.  Your photos really show the experience we had on this cruise.

 

  Macdogmolly said " Final port yesterday in Nanaimo. We arrived at 2:00 pm, but after docking, the captain was told he had to move the ship a couple of meters (who knows why), thus delaying those with shore excursions. "  

 

The reason the ship had to moved was because the port  employee removing a fence section dropped and it it got stuck sideways so the gangway couldn't be put in place until the ship was moved a few meters to another section so a  port problem not the ship's.

 

maggie.1008 asked about the Crab Fest. I didn't go but I think it was $35.

Yes, it was $35. And one more note about Nanaimo - that was the original date of our. White Night. Thank goodness it got moved. Most of the excursions didn’t even start until after 3 and many didn’t return until quite late.

[Mackdogmolly]

Thanks for your comments everyone. We had a great time! Just a few more photos of Marche Atwater in our beloved Montreal as we make our way home to Vermont this morning.

Betsey

[lovecruzin]

4 hours ago, Mackdogmolly said:

 

Yes, it was $35. And one more note about Nanaimo - that was the original date of our. White Night. Thank goodness it got moved. Most of the excursions didn’t even start until after 3 and many didn’t return until quite late.

 

I never understood why white night was scheduled for Nanaimo, given our hours there and being the last night. Weatherwise, it would have been perfect. 

 

Safe travels home!

[Bilgeboy30]

Trying to find the place on this website to add our names to the Roll Call. 

We are Chris & Guy from England sailing from Seward to Vancouver, then riding the Rocky Mountaineer before returning home. 

No idea how this website works . . . 

 

[Grandma Cruising]

2 hours ago, Bilgeboy30 said:

Trying to find the place on this website to add our names to the Roll Call. 

We are Chris & Guy from England sailing from Seward to Vancouver, then riding the Rocky Mountaineer before returning home. 

No idea how this website works . . . 

 

Which roll call do you want?

There are 2 ways to find a roll call. The easiest is the roll call finder. If you look at the blue bar at the top of the page you should see ‘Find Your Roll Call’. If you don’t see that, click on ‘Forums’ first.  Click on ‘Find Your Roll Call’ then select Azamara, your ship and the month & year of your cruise. You should see it listed there, click on it then click on more at the bottom.

However, the Roll Call Finder is not working perfectly at the moment, so if this doesn’t work click on Boards in the top right corner, then scroll down to Roll Calls and select Azamara Roll Calls, then select your ship. This will bring up a list of roll calls for your ship and you should be able to find the one for your cruise - there are several pages so it may not be on the first page.

If you can’t find it at all that may be because no-one has started one for your cruise, so you could start one by clicking on a Start New Topic. Make sure your title includes the ship, date and year and cruise destination.

[Redtravel]

 Just came across your thread. We enjoyed the cruise too. Loved your photos.  We were on that hot bus with no AC too. We contacted shore excursions. We got a phone call the last full day from Maria who said that they knew about it and were “still looking into it.”  No apology.  Did you ever get any satisfaction?

 

We were also on an excursion in Nanaimo that was terrible. Bus driver had never driven the route previously. Got flustered when he came upon a detour in town where the street was blocked off for the local market. Guide and bus came from Victoria to do the tour. Took over an hour to get to the first stop....a muddy path to big trees and an outhouse.  Next stop was supposed to be an adorable village with crafts. 2 stores were open. It was a dump. The highlight of the excursion was an ice cream cone. Guide told us that we were the second ship of the season to dock in Nanaimo.  Nanaimo was not a good port.

[lovecruzin]

38 minutes ago, Redtravel said:

 Just came across your thread. We enjoyed the cruise too. Loved your photos.  We were on that hot bus with no AC too. We contacted shore excursions. We got a phone call the last full day from Maria who said that they knew about it and were “still looking into it.”  No apology.  Did you ever get any satisfaction?

 

 Nanaimo was not a good port.

 

“We’re looking into it” seems to be the standard response when something goes wrong on a tour. We were given the same line last year on Quest, we booked a Sunset boat tour that went the opposite direction of the sunset! I understand needing to talk to the tour company but to me it sounds like they need to verify the guest complaints. 

 

We stayed on in Nanaimo, all of the tours were too long for us given the late arrival.

[Redtravel]

Nanaimo was a huge mistake,

[Mackdogmolly]

3 hours ago, Redtravel said:

Nanaimo was a huge mistake,

I’m sorry about your Nanaimo tour, Roberta. It does sound terrible. We didn’t book a tour as you know from my post. I heard that the wine tour was nice, but if our White Night had been in Nanaimo as originally scheduled, all of those on that tour  would have missed out.

[Redtravel]

White night on the last night?  What were they thinking?  White Nights can be a really fun night outside when the weather is good. Azamara has had weather problems for white nights on other Alaska cruises this year. Knowing that the Alaskan weather can change quickly, it would have been better if they had held the event inside. Starting out outside and then moving inside to the Living Room doesn’t work well. We travel often on Windstar cruises. They have a deck bbq on every cruise. It is similar to white nights.  When the weather is dry and warm, it is held outside.  If there is any chance of bad weather, it is held inside.  On my most recent Windstar cruise, it was inside. The food is set up buffet style in the galley.  The party is in the dining room. It was fabulous.

I was also puzzled at the brunch being held on the last day. I had expected it on one of the sea days.  

 

[martincath]

Best guess (not knowing SOP for Azamara, but being from this part of the world) is that the Brunch was sensibly on Nanaimo day because of the late arrival (it was basically a Sea Day until after normal lunch service would stop, but by having brunch that day - i.e. no Lunch in the MDR - any crew with leave could actually get the place tidied up earlier than normal be able to get off the ship at 3pm), but that the White Nights thing was never going to happen that day. Nanaimo has a pretty standard set of 'BC boilerplate' city bylaws, and most of those concerned with booze and partying date back to when Temperance was the order of the day... the entire province still suffers under some really backward 'thou shalt not have fun' laws!

 

A ship having a party on deck while at the dock was never going to comply with noise bylaws without Special Event permissions being granted. Those cost money, but more importantly time and planning... and I've learned that the folks back at HQ in charge of planning are pretty sloppy when it comes to research, so it would not surprise me at all to find out that they only discovered the requirements to not make noise after 10pm without permission at far too short notice to actually be able to comply! They've had the exact same issue in other ports from what I've read, so you'd think this is the kind of thing that would be researched before deciding where to have the deck party...

 

As to Nanaimo not having enough local guides etc. - well, on that front I do feel it's another thing that any well-researched decision about ports should have factored in... but as the only ship, and a small one, maybe the locals exaggerated what they could provide though, or genuinely hoped they could get enough experienced people in place? Given the relatively low max speed of the Azamara fleet though, having Victoria as a stop instead just wasn't an option that could be combined with the Inside Passage - and I for one would take what we did again in a heartbeat over another outside trip around the Island and a boring short evening stop in Victoria like all the RT Seattle ships do on their homeward leg; Nanaimo might be small and pretty boring but the scenery sailing down to it is gorgeous!

Edited July 16, 2019 by martincath
spelling

[Sujormik]

Thanks for this thread. We board for the 10 day intensive on Saturday and hope to enjoy it as much as you obviously enjoyed yours!

[maggie.1008]

We board on the 20th as well. I wonder what night our White night will be. The Amazing night will be in Ketchikan. 

[Werangels]

16 hours ago, martincath said:

Best guess (not knowing SOP for Azamara, but being from this part of the world) is that the Brunch was sensibly on Nanaimo day because of the late arrival (it was basically a Sea Day until after normal lunch service would stop, but by having brunch that day - i.e. no Lunch in the MDR - any crew with leave could actually get the place tidied up earlier than normal be able to get off the ship at 3pm), but that the White Nights thing was never going to happen that day. Nanaimo has a pretty standard set of 'BC boilerplate' city bylaws, and most of those concerned with booze and partying date back to when Temperance was the order of the day... the entire province still suffers under some really backward 'thou shalt not have fun' laws!

 

A ship having a party on deck while at the dock was never going to comply with noise bylaws without Special Event permissions being granted. Those cost money, but more importantly time and planning... and I've learned that the folks back at HQ in charge of planning are pretty sloppy when it comes to research, so it would not surprise me at all to find out that they only discovered the requirements to not make noise after 10pm without permission at far too short notice to actually be able to comply! They've had the exact same issue in other ports from what I've read, so you'd think this is the kind of thing that would be researched before deciding where to have the deck party...

 

As to Nanaimo not having enough local guides etc. - well, on that front I do feel it's another thing that any well-researched decision about ports should have factored in... but as the only ship, and a small one, maybe the locals exaggerated what they could provide though, or genuinely hoped they could get enough experienced people in place? Given the relatively low max speed of the Azamara fleet though, having Victoria as a stop instead just wasn't an option that could be combined with the Inside Passage - and I for one would take what we did again in a heartbeat over another outside trip around the Island and a boring short evening stop in Victoria like all the RT Seattle ships do on their homeward leg; Nanaimo might be small and pretty boring but the scenery sailing down to it is gorgeous!

 

The cruise I was on last week had the White Night on deck well wrapped up by 10pm and continuing in the Living Room.

[nordski]

18 hours ago, martincath said:

 

As to Nanaimo not having enough local guides etc. - well, on that front I do feel it's another thing that any well-researched decision about ports should have factored in... but as the only ship, and a small one, maybe the locals exaggerated what they could provide though, or genuinely hoped they could get enough experienced people in place? Given the relatively low max speed of the Azamara fleet though, having Victoria as a stop instead just wasn't an option that could be combined with the Inside Passage - and I for one would take what we did again in a heartbeat over another outside trip around the Island and a boring short evening stop in Victoria like all the RT Seattle ships do on their homeward leg; Nanaimo might be small and pretty boring but the scenery sailing down to it is gorgeous!

 

[nordski]

1 minute ago, nordski said:

 

 

For those looking for an activity in Nanaimo, you might consider searching out the perfect Nanaimo Bar with details contained in the link below.

 

https://www.nanaimo.ca/about-nanaimo/nanaimo-bars

 

If Scotland can have its Whisky Trails, then.... 🙂

 

Over consumption of these bars may be equally dangerous to your well being. 

 

And a shout out to Mackdogmolly on the Croatia thread who pointed out that the latest Cook's County Magazine in the U.S.A. contains a recipe for these delicious treats.

 

Will they soon tackle butter tarts?

 

 

[Redtravel]

5 hours ago, nordski said:

 

For those looking for an activity in Nanaimo, you might consider searching out the perfect Nanaimo Bar with details contained in the link below.

 

https://www.nanaimo.ca/about-nanaimo/nanaimo-bars

 

If Scotland can have its Whisky Trails, then.... 🙂

 

Over consumption of these bars may be equally dangerous to your well being. 

 

And a shout out to Mackdogmolly on the Croatia thread who pointed out that the latest Cook's County Magazine in the U.S.A. contains a recipe for these delicious treats.

 

Will they soon tackle butter tarts?

 

 

Nobody has to worry about what to do in Nanaimo.  Quest was the second ship to land there this year. There are no other scheduled cruises stopping there this year.  Silver seas stopped in Nanaimo in June. It was also scheduled to stop again on July 11th from 10 am to 11 pm. Our tour guide told us that it chose to skip Nanaimo and replace it with an extra day in Vancouver.  As I said previously, Nanaimo was a mistake. 

[Mackdogmolly]

19 hours ago, nordski said:

 

For those looking for an activity in Nanaimo, you might consider searching out the perfect Nanaimo Bar with details contained in the link below.

 

https://www.nanaimo.ca/about-nanaimo/nanaimo-bars

 

If Scotland can have its Whisky Trails, then.... 🙂

 

Over consumption of these bars may be equally dangerous to your well being. 

 

And a shout out to Mackdogmolly on the Croatia thread who pointed out that the latest Cook's County Magazine in the U.S.A. contains a recipe for these delicious treats.

 

Will they soon tackle butter tarts?

 

 

Butter tarts!! I hope so! 😄

[martincath]

18 hours ago, Redtravel said:

Nobody has to worry about what to do in Nanaimo.  Quest was the second ship to land there this year. There are no other scheduled cruises stopping there this year.  Silver seas stopped in Nanaimo in June. It was also scheduled to stop again on July 11th from 10 am to 11 pm. Our tour guide told us that it chose to skip Nanaimo and replace it with an extra day in Vancouver.  As I said previously, Nanaimo was a mistake. 

Have to agree - even though I live in Vancouver I'd have preferred an overnight here than the Nanaimo stop! I could have walked home, had a real shower, and walked back to enjoy last night onboard 😉

 

But simply skipping Nanaimo and making it a full sea day, spending all the hours of daylight slowly cruising some of the nooks & crannies of the Inside Passage, would have been the best possible option IMO.

 

As to Nanaimo Bars - not even close to the deliciousness of a Butter Tart, no question about it (come back to the table when you invent something that actually needs baked Nanaimo!!!). The real question is whether you are a nuts, raisins, or purist tart lover?

[Redtravel]

On 7/16/2019 at 12:36 PM, maggie.1008 said:

We board on the 20th as well. I wonder what night our White night will be. The Amazing night will be in Ketchikan. 

Look online. I read something about the lumberjack show. Azamara lists Azamazing evenings in the shore excursions for each cruise. I have been to evenings that were great, good, and bad. On our Alaska cruise, the evening at the Chihully museum was fabulous.  We overnighted in Seattle. Your event will be where you overnight or sail very late. Have fun.

[Mackdogmolly]

25 minutes ago, Redtravel said:

Look online. I read something about the lumberjack show. Azamara lists Azamazing evenings in the shore excursions for each cruise. I have been to evenings that were great, good, and bad. On our Alaska cruise, the evening at the Chihully museum was fabulous.  We overnighted in Seattle. Your event will be where you overnight or sail very late. Have fun.

I agree, Redtravel, we had a fabulous Azamazing Evening!

[cruisinteach2]

Ouest June 22-July 2 -- The Lumberjack show in Ketchikan was fun. The night we were there was beautiful and warm. Delicious treats and drinks were served. Everyone seemed to enjoy the evening!

[lovecruzin]

Here’s a thought re the Nanaimo stop, they could have skipped it and added a glacier! I was full aware there were no glaciers on this cruise. We had a wonderful time and saw some beautiful scenery,  I just didn't realize how incomplete an Alaska cruise feels without some bergy bits and watching a glacier, hoping to witness calving.

 

Or....With our early departure from Ketchikan and late arrival into Juneau we could have gone to Endicott Arm before Juneau. 

 

 

[dhall711]

On 7/12/2019 at 4:02 PM, helby said:

  Macdogmolly said " Final port yesterday in Nanaimo. We arrived at 2:00 pm, but after docking, the captain was told he had to move the ship a couple of meters (who knows why), thus delaying those with shore excursions. "  

 

The reason the ship had to moved was because the port  employee removing a fence section dropped and it it got stuck sideways so the gangway couldn't be put in place until the ship was moved a few meters to another section so a  port problem not the ship's.

 

It's not that the dock worker dropped the fence, it's that they couldn't get that particular section of the fence that was lined up with the ship's entry door to come out of it's placements.  So they had to move the ship up a few feet in order to get the door aligned with a different section.  We watched them work at it for a long time before finally giving up.  It was actually quite comical.

 

We did the wine tour in Nanaimo and is was very pleasant.  It was pretty far outside of the town town and took about 45 mins to get there.  The reds were awful IMHO but we actually brought back several bottles of the pinot grigio.

 

All in all it was a good voyage but we were extremely disappointed in the overall itinerary.  The overnight in Seattle was perplexing and pointless, the AK ports were the exact same ports as all the other mega ships (as evidenced by the thousands of people descending on these tiny towns all at once), no glaciers anywhere (why not spend the extra day going into Glacier Bay for example?).  It seemed the 10 days could have been easily condensed into 7 and not have missed anything.  While it was still nice it was not worth the premium price.

 

Highlights were chihuly gardens and Nanaimo and the whale watching excursion we took in Juneau (saw rare humpback bubble net feeding).  Other than that we were less than impressed for the money spent.  Just our opinion.