Onward (and, hopefully, upward) 21st - 28th May

[Noggins]

It was never my intention to offer any sort of commentary on this trip - and it may just peter out. We'll have to see how time / inspiration/ encouragement(!?) play out. Overall though I have decided to 'blame' Ivi that I have made this start! 😎

This is a trip that was supposed to have happened in March 2020 - in the Caribbean and on a different ship - Royal Clipper. Multiple new bookings and cancellations since then bring us here - with 4 friends. Most recently our Tradewinds cruise was cancelled and it was rapid scurrying around looking for a cruise that fitted a precise window of dates that led us to Azamara. The sharp eyed among you will notice that masts and sails were to have been involved. Two of our party have never cruised before and were only persuaded to come if there were going to be sails. After all the cancellations I had hoped they wouldn't notice a certain absence of sailing equipment but the internet put paid to that (they spotted a picture of Onward) so I had to engage my best persuasive powers. They have yet to be convinced - so fingers crossed. (My brother has just returned from Onward with some horrific tales, laced with reassurances that 'everything will be alright for your trip' sort of comments. I do hope he is right - and that I will be reporting good things.)

As we booked so late there was no question of going to Venice, so we fly to Bologna later with our lives and plans safely in the hands of Mr O'Leary and his blue and yellow planes. Overnight in a hotel near the airport then a van for the hour or so drive to the port.

Have we cruised before? Yes, and on many different lines. Big ships, medium ships, small ships, tiny expedition ships. We are very familiar (and fond of) the R ships that Oceania have. We have been on them all, Caribbean, Med and transatlantic. If we are doing any comparing it will be with them. (Crystal had become a favoured home away from home but that has all come to an abrupt stop......)

House / pet sitter due anytime so that is all the intro. you're going to get. From now on if you get anything it will be what I would want to read reports of - although I'll try to answer questions too - if anyone is out there with any.

Adrian

  

[travelberlin]

1 hour ago, Noggins said:

It was never my intention to offer any sort of commentary on this trip - and it may just peter out. We'll have to see how time / inspiration/ encouragement(!?) play out. Overall though I have decided to 'blame' Ivi that I have made this start! 😎

This is a trip that was supposed to have happened in March 2020 - in the Caribbean and on a different ship - Royal Clipper. Multiple new bookings and cancellations since then bring us here - with 4 friends. Most recently our Tradewinds cruise was cancelled and it was rapid scurrying around looking for a cruise that fitted a precise window of dates that led us to Azamara. The sharp eyed among you will notice that masts and sails were to have been involved. Two of our party have never cruised before and were only persuaded to come if there were going to be sails. After all the cancellations I had hoped they wouldn't notice a certain absence of sailing equipment but the internet put paid to that (they spotted a picture of Onward) so I had to engage my best persuasive powers. They have yet to be convinced - so fingers crossed. (My brother has just returned from Onward with some horrific tales, laced with reassurances that 'everything will be alright for your trip' sort of comments. I do hope he is right - and that I will be reporting good things.)

As we booked so late there was no question of going to Venice, so we fly to Bologna later with our lives and plans safely in the hands of Mr O'Leary and his blue and yellow planes. Overnight in a hotel near the airport then a van for the hour or so drive to the port.

Have we cruised before? Yes, and on many different lines. Big ships, medium ships, small ships, tiny expedition ships. We are very familiar (and fond of) the R ships that Oceania have. We have been on them all, Caribbean, Med and transatlantic. If we are doing any comparing it will be with them. (Crystal had become a favoured home away from home but that has all come to an abrupt stop......)

House / pet sitter due anytime so that is all the intro. you're going to get. From now on if you get anything it will be what I would want to read reports of - although I'll try to answer questions too - if anyone is out there with any.

Adrian

  

Hey Adrian! I will be following…

 

My husband and I have sailed on the Royal Clipper. It is a completely different experience as you can imagine… just today on the tender boat from Azamara I was remembering the Royal Clipper which also tendered in almost all the ports of call. 
 

Our plans changed also due to the Crystal situation. We were actually going to end up our World Cruise at this time if the year.
 

Ivi

[kent4489]

I am very much looking forward to your reports as we board the Onward in 29 days! Safe travels.

[kool kruiser]

See you tomorrow!
Colin and Steph

[curmudgeon98]

It will be interesting to be sure.  I was slightly caught out that today (Friday) is a 24-hour general strike day in Italy.  Usually I look them up ahead of time (though often they are called off at last minute), but today we had walked across Venice and were planning to take the vaporetto back - no dice as only a few boats are running today...  Good thing we weren't depending on taking the vaporetto to a testing site - we used the emed ones and got that hurdle covered.

[lisiamc]

I think horrific is too strong a word for the experience most people had on the inaugural cruise.  We were among the lucky majority in that we had some inconveniences, but nothing that was going to spoil our cruise.  

 

-There was no hairdryer - they arrived before the end of our cruise, and I was notified beforehand, so I brought my own.

-There were no balcony chairs - they arrived a few days in 

-Our keycards failed very frequently in the first few days, as also happened to many others - the batteries in many door locks were replaced. No problems for us after that.

 

More significant issues that affected some people:

 

-the bathroom in the ladies’ spa area was out of service - I haven’t heard what is happening with that

-some cabins were not fully ready - they have been left empty for the current cruise and are being worked on.

-there were some air conditioning issues, in some cabins and some public areas - those were improved over the course of our cruise, and during the current cruise

-there were some plumbing issues in some cabins - I believe those have been sorted now, and if not all, then the most serious ones, I hope, anyway. I haven’t heard any recent reports

 

Because I spent a lot of time at the desk with my key replacements, I overheard a lot of complaints.  The most unhappy people seemed to have the most trivial complaints:

 

-the windows were dirty, especially after the storm that brought red dust from the Sahara

-one man was complaining at midnight that he was unable to have breakfast on his balcony because of the lack of chairs. He was correct that there were no chairs, but there wasn’t any way to make them appear until they caught up with the ship, and that certainly wasn’t going to happen at midnight

-the balcony railing wasn’t varnished yet

-someone didn’t like the wines in the upgrade package - and their favourite one wasn’t included

Edited May 20, 2022 by lisiamc

[Mackdogmolly]

31 minutes ago, lisiamc said:

I think horrific is too strong a word for the experience most people had on the inaugural cruise.  We were among the lucky majority in that we had some inconveniences, but nothing that was going to spoil our cruise.  

 

-There was no hairdryer - they arrived before the end of our cruise, and I was notified beforehand, so I brought my own.

-There were no balcony chairs - they arrived a few days in 

-Our keycards failed very frequently in the first few days, as also happened to many others - the batteries in many door locks were replaced. No problems for us after that.

 

More significant issues that affected some people:

 

-the bathroom in the ladies’ spa area was out of service - I haven’t heard what is happening with that

-some cabins were not fully ready - they have been left empty for the current cruise and are being worked on.

-there were some air conditioning issues, in some cabins and some public areas - those were improved over the course of our cruise, and during the current cruise

-there were some plumbing issues in some cabins - I believe those have been sorted now, and if not all, then the most serious ones, I hope, anyway. I haven’t heard any recent reports

 

Because I spent a lot of time at the desk with my key replacements, I overheard a lot of complaints.  The most unhappy people seemed to have the most trivial complaints:

 

-the windows were dirty, especially after the storm that brought red dust from the Sahara

-one man was complaining at midnight that he was unable to have breakfast on his balcony because of the lack of chairs. He was correct that there were no chairs, but there wasn’t any way to make them appear until they caught up with the ship, and that certainly wasn’t going to happen at midnight

-the balcony railing wasn’t varnished yet

-someone didn’t like the wines in the upgrade package - and their favourite one wasn’t included

Boo hoo. This seems to happen on every single inaugural cruise. Makes me wonder why people are so eager to take them.

[Riocca]

13 minutes ago, Mackdogmolly said:

Boo hoo. This seems to happen on every single inaugural cruise. Makes me wonder why people are so eager to take them.

We’ve done a number of maidens over the years including Pursuit & Onward, part of the enjoyment is experiencing things first and because of that we expect there to be teething issues and it adds to the experience.

To be perfectly honest Onward wasn’t the worst experience we had more issues on Pursuit. Yes there was little bits of paint work required, the windows were dirty and there was ongoing varnishing but nothing to ruin the enjoyment of the cruise. 
I was intrigued by the new operating system onboard and staff were more than happy to go through it with me, It’s a customised off the shelf system which once bedded in will be a quantum leap forward from the old RC system. Yes there were glitches but nothing compared to the software problems on Harmony of the Seas maiden.

[lisiamc]

43 minutes ago, Riocca said:

We’ve done a number of maidens over the years including Pursuit & Onward, part of the enjoyment is experiencing things first and because of that we expect there to be teething issues and it adds to the experience.

To be perfectly honest Onward wasn’t the worst experience we had more issues on Pursuit. Yes there was little bits of paint work required, the windows were dirty and there was ongoing varnishing but nothing to ruin the enjoyment of the cruise. 
I was intrigued by the new operating system onboard and staff were more than happy to go through it with me, It’s a customised off the shelf system which once bedded in will be a quantum leap forward from the old RC system. Yes there were glitches but nothing compared to the software problems on Harmony of the Seas maiden.

I thought I might meet you at the Cruise Critic party on board, but I lost track of when that was supposed to be, or if it actually happened. I was looking forward to meeting the source of these levelheaded, calm posts full of good information! 🙂

[Riocca]

7 minutes ago, lisiamc said:

I thought I might meet you at the Cruise Critic party on board, but I lost track of when that was supposed to be, or if it actually happened. I was looking forward to meeting the source of these levelheaded, calm posts full of good information! 🙂

Likewise, with the naming ceremony and the AzAmazing evening it was all a bit frenetic at the start of the cruise and we forgot to see if there was a meeting. But most evenings we could be found in the Atlas Bar 🥂🍸

[jollyjoyce]

Riocca, So pleased to hear you spent time…a lot by the sound of it lol…in the Atlas Bar. After all the angst about it I find it good to know you used it regularly. I’m sure it will be a great addition to the experience.

[Riocca]

1 minute ago, jollyjoyce said:

Riocca, So pleased to hear you spent time…a lot by the sound of it lol…in the Atlas Bar. After all the angst about it I find it good to know you used it regularly. I’m sure it will be a great addition to the experience.

Yes it’s nice to have a quiet bar where it’s easy to have a conversation, The Den and the Living Room are fine but the live music, loved by many I know, does make conversation difficult at times.

[royallondon]

14 minutes ago, Riocca said:

Yes it’s nice to have a quiet bar where it’s easy to have a conversation, The Den and the Living Room are fine but the live music, loved by many I know, does make conversation difficult at times.

Riocca, having experienced the Atlas bar first hand, do you think it would be suited to double up as an additional daytime coffee lounge?  
 

Regards

[excitedofharpenden]

29 minutes ago, Riocca said:

Yes it’s nice to have a quiet bar where it’s easy to have a conversation, The Den and the Living Room are fine but the live music, loved by many I know, does make conversation difficult at times.

Hmmmm. You might be changing my mind now 😊

 

Phil 

[Riocca]

58 minutes ago, royallondon said:

Riocca, having experienced the Atlas bar first hand, do you think it would be suited to double up as an additional daytime coffee lounge?  
 

Regards

Personally I wouldn’t think so The Living Room is now the additional coffee lounge and they’ve not put a coffee machine in The Den as they did on Pursuit. 
Once they’ve fixed the incorrect seats it will be a pleasant quiet space during the day.

[Riocca]

55 minutes ago, excitedofharpenden said:

Hmmmm. You might be changing my mind now 😊

 

Phil 

I understand the library issue but it wasn’t a space we ever used before this cruise, didn’t hear any negative comments other than the seats around the wall which were a bit of an oops! and are being remade, mix up between metric and imperial measurements.

It’s a very social area and we met and talked with some lovely people, it was a bit like a local pub, maybe more refined. I think the food aspect will fade away as the take up was very poor and imho didn’t really fit.

 

[Mackdogmolly]

3 hours ago, Riocca said:

We’ve done a number of maidens over the years including Pursuit & Onward, part of the enjoyment is experiencing things first and because of that we expect there to be teething issues and it adds to the experience.

To be perfectly honest Onward wasn’t the worst experience we had more issues on Pursuit. Yes there was little bits of paint work required, the windows were dirty and there was ongoing varnishing but nothing to ruin the enjoyment of the cruise. 
I was intrigued by the new operating system onboard and staff were more than happy to go through it with me, It’s a customised off the shelf system which once bedded in will be a quantum leap forward from the old RC system. Yes there were glitches but nothing compared to the software problems on Harmony of the Seas maiden.

You take these things in stride, unlike (seemingly) many others, who seem to expect things to be perfect on a maiden voyage. I salute your attitude!

[Mackdogmolly]

1 hour ago, Riocca said:

Yes it’s nice to have a quiet bar where it’s easy to have a conversation, The Den and the Living Room are fine but the live music, loved by many I know, does make conversation difficult at times.

Glad to hear it was quiet! That’s one of the reasons why we usually have our pre dinner drinks in the Discoveries Bar. The noise level is usually tolerable.

[Riocca]

14 minutes ago, Mackdogmolly said:

Glad to hear it was quiet! That’s one of the reasons why we usually have our pre dinner drinks in the Discoveries Bar. The noise level is usually tolerable.

There is the capability to have music to go with the video wall but it’s all controlled by the barman so not difficult to get it turned off. It was only turned on when we were given a demonstration of what was available, most of the time there was a roaring (silent) log fire or pictures of destinations around the world.

[Host Jazzbeau]

3 minutes ago, Riocca said:

There is the capability to have music to go with the video wall but it’s all controlled by the barman so not difficult to get it turned off. It was only turned on when we were given a demonstration of what was available, most of the time there was a roaring (silent) log fire or pictures of destinations around the world.

I hope this remains the case.  The one thing I never want to hear on an Azamara cruise is "that's dictated by Miami"...

[lisiamc]

1 hour ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

I hope this remains the case.  The one thing I never want to hear on an Azamara cruise is "that's dictated by Miami"...

For now, I guess it would have to be “dictated by New York”! I think that’s where Sycamore’s headquarters are. 😉

[Noggins]

So, a bit of a delay out of Stansted - and the blue / yellow plane turned out to be red. Michael has clearly done a deal with the late great Nikki and LaudaAir was our carrier. The Bologna Airport Hotel is fitting the bill nicely and tomorrow is the big day  - testing at the pier for us..... Hopefully things won't grind to a halt at that point 🤞!

Colin & Steph - looking forward to seeing you!

Ivi - yep, we've done 3 Star Clippers trips so far. Different yes but we're sure we are about to have a wonderful cruise - sans sails!

As for the maiden, I don't intend to engage in any raking over that. I'm only interested in what is to come. No one has their glass more half full than us.

Adrian

 

[laurieb]

Adrian, I’m sure you and your friends will have an amazing time!

[Mrs Miggins]

Have a wonderful cruise.  Loved our two Star Clipper cruises.  Azamara different but also lovely.  Our April B2B on Quest was great.  Biggest problem always to find dog and house sitters.  On our July cruise our usual Trusted Housesitters couple will come to Surrey instead of to our (now sold) home in Greenwich.  Much easier to get sitters if the location is stunning.

[lisiamc]

I hope you have a great time. Please let us know what you think, and how your friends liked it. Bon voyage!