Semi live from Azamara Pursuit May 17th Athens to Barcelona

[takemewithyou]

1 hour ago, travelberlin said:

Those are the included red wines being served on the Pursuit during this cruise. The Pinotage from South Africa, the Shiraz and the Cabernet from France and the Merlot from Italy.

 

Ivi

 

Thank you!  Looking forward to trying them.  Love all your pics and reports! 

[travelberlin]

The Pursuit as seen from Sorrento.

[BohJang]

I'm following along and enjoying your review.  We will be on the Pursuit on July 27 for the Ireland cruise.  This will be our first time on Azamara and first time to Ireland. I can't wait!

[QueenP]

Your pics of Sorrento bring back lovely memories! We used the lift and walked all over Sorrento the last time we were there. Absolutely love the cloisters, both at night and day!

[Baynanno1]

6 hours ago, travelberlin said:

The Pursuit as seen from Sorrento.

 

I am enjoying your review and the memories evoked.

The gull in this picture may well be the one that joined us on the Sunset Bar / Verandah every meal time we were at Sorrento - and there have been several!

[DS]

20 hours ago, Baynanno1 said:

 

Agreed!

I was just about to respond with a no when your post arrived.

This is one person's "semi-live" report from one ship and would be lost among the many other posts from all four ships.

Thanks for your comments... and I agree that the ACO board has degenerated into tonic water and hair dryers.   BUT.... it offers the opportunity for posting what is actually going on  on all current cruises.   Using a specific board for Ship X date Y become unwieldy.   I have enjoyed and learned from the posts on this board.    I just don't see the same level of detail from the current Quest, or OnWard or Journey cruise ( have they started?).   Having it all in one place would be useful to those of us not currently on a specific cruise

[annapolitan369]

Journey starts again on 5-26 and we are looking forward to being on that cruise

 

 

[uktog]

Live from threads are very helpful to those who are considering a similar voyage as they cover port details and related issues. They happen on most boards.

The currently onboard thread emerged post covid when it was not the itinerary but the onboard experience and testing that bothered guests. I don’t want to see live from threads merged in to other ones they lose their value then and the anyone on board becomes disjointed and unwieldy 
As happened pre covid sometimes there was a lot more information coming from one ship than the others. 

 

Thank you Ivi for your posts it’s lovely to hear how the cruise is going and to pick up valuable information from you. 
 

 

[excitedofharpenden]

3 hours ago, DS said:

Thanks for your comments... and I agree that the ACO board has degenerated into tonic water and hair dryers.   BUT.... it offers the opportunity for posting what is actually going on  on all current cruises.   Using a specific board for Ship X date Y become unwieldy.   I have enjoyed and learned from the posts on this board.    I just don't see the same level of detail from the current Quest, or OnWard or Journey cruise ( have they started?).   Having it all in one place would be useful to those of us not currently on a specific cruise

I'll concur with others. In my view if a member is taking the time to post "live from" threads they should remain as they are to enable us to travel along. For all the time I've been a member here it has always been like that. Stickies such as the one you refer to are for tidbits of information. 

 

Phil 

[travelberlin]

Thanks a lot for your comments! They motivate me to continue. Posting is not very easy because of the Internet connection which disappears quite often. I have to rewrite my posts several times. 
The internet package for the whole cruise costs for this full voyage about US 180. Besides being expensive it is very deficient. Nowadays internet is free of charge in most ships and with a much better quality. I do not recall that pre COVID time was already this bad 🧐. As a discover plus member, I have a discount of 75% but still… 
Fortunately this is a port intensive itinerary and I am able to log into the internet in the ports using my cell data. please excuse me if you get my posts one after the other if I am just talking to myself or with mistakes. I try to make the most of the Internet availability once I have access.
 

We have arrived in Civitavechia: the harbour of Italy 😉

 

Ivi

 

[aliaschief]

Thanks for sharing your cruise experience.

[Grandma Cruising]

21 hours ago, travelberlin said:

P

 My pictures always come lije glued together. Any ideas how to have spaces between them?

Ivi

 

Ivi, to get the pictures up separately, once you have added them, just click the first one to insert it. Once it’s inserted scroll to the bottom of it, then put your cursor in at the bottom of the photo and click the return button to move your cursor down a line. Next click on your next photo to insert it, and repeat! Hope this works for you.

[oddjob16]

Thanks, again, Ivi, for the «live»-thread from Pursuit. We love these ports and are repeating them on Journey in august. It is nice to be reminded of things,- like the lift in Sorrento. Have a lovely day in Civittavecchia. We probably will stay on board when we get there next time. Another nice thing to do there is to take the train or a taxi to Santa Marinella just 10 km down the shoreline. There are some nice beaches and restaurants there. Maybe Azamara should make this a beach excursion from Civi…😎😎

[travelberlin]

4 hours ago, Grandma Cruising said:

Ivi, to get the pictures up separately, once you have added them, just click the first one to insert it. Once it’s inserted scroll to the bottom of it, then put your cursor in at the bottom of the photo and click the return button to move your cursor down a line. Next click on your next photo to insert it, and repeat! Hope this works for you.

Thanks Grandma! I will try it.

Ivi

[travelberlin]

Today in Civitavecchia I was seriously consider to stay on board, but then I have thought it would be good for me if I go for a walk. Without knowing what to do because I have been at the main attractions in Civitavecchia before,  I have decided to go and explore.

 

The port offers a shuttle bus every half an hour which is convenient. What is not convenient is that the ship is docked  very far away from the main entrance to the port and that the shuttle stop is also very far away from that entrance but on the other direction!

 

Once on Civitavecchia, I have tried to get to Tarquinia by public transport but I was not prepared with enough information and once  I arrived at the Train Station, I could not find out how I could get there and most important, hoe to come back without much stress. After gesticulating for a while with the person selling tickets at the train station and seeing that there was forming a queue  without me going to be able to go no where, I have just said “Grazie” as charmant as I could, and I moved on.

 

Actually, I was lucky because,  left from the train station there was a small beach and a place called Pirgo, which apparently was kind of very well visited by Romans. Nice restaurants there, which I have resisted since on the ship we were going to get fresh mussels. 
 

It was a very nice morning with a coffee break (I have learned once from my Italian guide in Calabria, that in Italy you do not look for a toilet. If you want to use one you go for coffee 😄).

 

On the small beach in Pirgo, I became very sociable because there were some Italians walking their dogs and since I like dogs, I always start a conversation when I see one. I have gesticulated again for a while since my Italian is very rudimentary 😃. 
 

I am attaching a picture of a mosaic which I found interesting in Civitavecchia and which I have seen for the first time. Maybe some of you know it already?

 

Ivi
PD sent from ny cell data because internet on ship not working 😩

[travelberlin]

Today mussels on the ship. Very tasty but small portions. My first portion came 4 mussels and one was closed. So I order a second portion. Again one closed… in total I have eaten 6 mussels. I was too shy to order a third, fourth… 

Ivi

 

 

[andrcan]

16 minutes ago, travelberlin said:

Today mussels on the ship. Very tasty but small portions. My first portion came 4 mussels and one was closed. So I order a second portion. Again one closed… in total I have eaten 6 mussels. I was too shy to order a third, fourth… 

Ivi

 

 

Thanks - knowing that, I'll order 5 portions at once thus saving time! 😋 Is it worth it?

[Ithikan]

1 hour ago, travelberlin said:

Today in Civitavecchia I was seriously consider to stay on board, but then I have thought it would be good for me if I go for a walk. Without knowing what to do because I have been at the main attractions in Civitavecchia before,  I have decided to go and explore.

 

The port offers a shuttle bus every half an hour which is convenient. What is not convenient is that the ship is docked  very far away from the main entrance to the port and that the shuttle stop is also very far away from that entrance but on the other direction!

 

Once on Civitavecchia, I have tried to get to Tarquinia by public transport but I was not prepared with enough information and once  I arrived at the Train Station, I could not find out how I could get there and most important, hoe to come back without much stress. After gesticulating for a while with the person selling tickets at the train station and seeing that there was forming a queue  without me going to be able to go no where, I have just said “Grazie” as charmant as I could, and I moved on.

 

Actually, I was lucky because,  left from the train station there was a small beach and a place called Pirgo, which apparently was kind of very well visited by Romans. Nice restaurants there, which I have resisted since on the ship we were going to get fresh mussels. 
 

It was a very nice morning with a coffee break (I have learned once from my Italian guide in Calabria, that in Italy you do not look for a toilet. If you want to use one you go for coffee 😄).

 

On the small beach in Pirgo, I became very sociable because there were some Italians walking their dogs and since I like dogs, I always start a conversation when I see one. I have gesticulated again for a while since my Italian is very rudimentary 😃. 
 

I am attaching a picture of a mosaic which I found interesting in Civitavecchia and which I have seen for the first time. Maybe some of you know it already?

 

Ivi
PD sent from ny cell data because internet on ship not working 😩

Uomo a Mare: "Man Overboard"?  "A Sailing Man"?  I am enjoying your posts, Ivi, thank you very much.

[Mackdogmolly]

7 hours ago, travelberlin said:

The internet package for the whole cruise costs for this full voyage about US 180. Besides being expensive it is very deficient. Nowadays internet is free of charge in most ships and with a much better quality.

This is kind of a sore spot with me. I bite the bullet and buy the package because it is too slow to pay by the minute, but it really should just be included.

 

 

[mchell810]

7 hours ago, travelberlin said:

Thanks a lot for your comments! They motivate me to continue. Posting is not very easy because of the Internet connection which disappears quite often. I have to rewrite my posts several times. 
The internet package for the whole cruise costs for this full voyage about US 180. Besides being expensive it is very deficient. Nowadays internet is free of charge in most ships and with a much better quality. I do not recall that pre COVID time was already this bad 🧐. As a discover plus member, I have a discount of 75% but still… 
Fortunately this is a port intensive itinerary and I am able to log into the internet in the ports using my cell data. please excuse me if you get my posts one after the other if I am just talking to myself or with mistakes. I try to make the most of the Internet availability once I have access.
 

We have arrived in Civitavechia: the harbour of Italy 😉

 

Ivi

 

 

Your posts are appreciated whenever they come. 

       Sounds like you had a lovely meander in Civi

[travelberlin]

4 hours ago, andrcan said:

Thanks - knowing that, I'll order 5 portions at once thus saving time! 😋 Is it worth it?

Definitely yes 👍 

[travelberlin]

4 hours ago, Ithikan said:

Uomo a Mare: "Man Overboard"?  "A Sailing Man"?  I am enjoying your posts, Ivi, thank you very much.

Man overboard. My picture does not show all the details clearly but it is an interesting mosaic.

Ivi

[Mrs Miggins]

I agree that the shuttle in Civitavecchia is a rubbish.  We paid 5 euros for a Tuk Tuk (they asked for 10) for the ride back to the town centre.  We walked back to the ship, but saw the guy in the Tuk Tuk returning from the ship.  Wish we had found him again in town.

We did mention this to Ryzard but he said it was out of their control.   

[travelberlin]

Tonight I have just had a very good dinner. It is the English theme night. I had fish and ships as a starter and chicken korma as main 😋Please forgive me my English friends but I have not been in India and the best Indian food I had was in London. 
 

I am enjoying the food very much. Only the pizza and the chili con carne did not meet my expectations.

 

We have a free rider with us as we leave Civitavecchia…

 

Ivi

[joyride]

HA HA, lvi, there is always a bird!!! So enjoying your post, we will be on Pursuit May 31st in Barcelona. Will you be on that cruise, are you B2B? I might consider doing a "live from" post also as a first time Azamara cruiser.