Live! Azamara Quest May 16-31, 2009

[emcee207]

Welcome Back "Best of Italy" !!! I lost track of this thread and only remembered when I saw Critterchicks msg.

Couple of thoughts while I was gone;

 

Guess Cruseyguy had a bad day that day, eh Critterchick:rolleyes:

 

Jancruz, I was very surprised that such a veteran poster, 2600+, as you didn't know about the Ports of Call boards. It was really really helpful for this cruise for us. I found most of our private guides from recommendations from others there.

 

Re: the shuttle in Venice. I didn't remember being charged so I checked my bill and yes, it is $15/pp for all day use. The first day we didn't use it going into San Marco and I wanted to see the Grand Canal from the "end" by the "Piazzale Roma". Critter chick is correct, it is a pretty long walk, maybe a mile, but not a good walk at all if you have ANY mobility issues. But we did it and than got a 24 hr Vapporetto pass. We spent the day roaming Venice, hopping on and off the Vapporetto''s. You can't miss riding them, lots of fun. Sometimes a little crowded but even that was part of the fun.

I am pretty sure at the end of that day we just jumped on the shuttle with other cruise mates and headed back to the ship, no tix!!

That evening we headed back as we had dinner reservations in Venice. It was a lovely ride at sunset. We had a great dinner and wonderful time that night in Venice. We roamed around, got lost and almost missed the last shuttle back to the ship at Midnight! It was just the two of us and two woman who worked on the ship. One was the Art Director and the other was a Guest Relations person. We laughed and laughed all the way back to the ship as we all had partaken of some good Italian wine that night.

Anyways, the hours for the shuttle for our trip was as follows, remember we left at 5:00 pm our second day.

 

Day 1 8:30 am - 12 Midnight

Day 2 8:30 am- 4 pm

 

Crimson bird, try sicilytravel.net and look for the "Godfather" under tours in Taormina

[Project_gal]

The service was slower than usual, perhaps because a party of 6 seated at 8:30 "had" to get to the show at 9:45 and their order pushed everybody else's aside. Oh, well. We were too tired to care at that point.

 

I wish people would not do this. It is unfair to the staff and disrespectful to the other guests.

 

When we left the ship, the senior officers were there to say goodbye - the Captain and F&B manager were at the Seapass station, Sue Denning was at the door, Mary Amanda (harpist) was on the ground. I have NEVER seen a single ship's officer, never mind the Captain, do such a thing. It was yet another brilliant touch that left a hugely positive last impression of a brilliant cruise.

 

Agreed. We found that this simple touch ensured that we finished a wonderful cruise on a really high note. It was greatly appreciated.

 

I've read many posts about "who's the Captain" and "why do you care". I give Captain Karlssen full credit for the Quest crew being as topnotch as it is.

 

Yes, if you have sailed with Captain Karlssen you will understand why it matters and you really will care.

 

Thanks for your reports Jean. They brought back happy memories. Enjoy yours.

 

Sue

[Project_gal]

But it seems like there is a problem with reservations at the alternative restaurants with other posters commenting that they were unable to get reservations and your comment-"they messed up all but one of our reservations on this trip" . My question is, at this point, why should Azamara have these problems with their reservations? I can understand glitches in the beginning...but that should have been worked out by now. We are going on the Quest in less than two months and we're keeping our fingers crossed that whatever dinner reservations we make will be honored.

 

We had reservations in Prime C or Aqualina on 21 out of 24 days on our cruise without any glitches at all. The only people on our cruise who had problems getting reservations were those who left it until late in the cruise before trying to book - and then they made a tremendous effort to fit them in if they could. I suggest that you make your resevations early, in person. The you can actually see them entered onto the computer. Establishing a relationship with the maitres d' will give you confidence. It is unfortunate when thing go wrong but, if I was you, I would not be too concerned.

 

Have a great cruise.

 

Sue

[dirtgirl]

Thanks for your review, Jean! Sounds like a wonderful cruise!!:D

[critterchick]

We had reservations in Prime C or Aqualina on 21 out of 24 days on our cruise without any glitches at all. The only people on our cruise who had problems getting reservations were those who left it until late in the cruise before trying to book - and then they made a tremendous effort to fit them in if they could. I suggest that you make your resevations early, in person. The you can actually see them entered onto the computer. Establishing a relationship with the maitres d' will give you confidence. It is unfortunate when thing go wrong but, if I was you, I would not be too concerned.

 

Have a great cruise.

 

Sue

 

We had the same good fortune on Journey last year, but I think the word is out about how great the specialty dining can be. We made one reservation with Captain's Club and then went up to change the time (they would only give us 6:00/6:30 or 9:00/9:30 for a party of 2) and made our second one then, too. Sue announced on the first day that we could make as many reservations as we wanted for the rest of the cruise, and I guess there was a bit of a stampede, LOL. My disappointment was not that they said no, but that they said yes and then messed up a couple of reservations. Just bad luck, I guess.

 

We're back in the States waiting for our connection from Dulles to home. I still can't believe that this trip has come and gone in the blink of an eye!

 

I heard a few folks mentioning this - in asking some of the other staff (security staff, guest services, etc) they said the 2 hour decision was made at the begining of the cruise at the request of the Venice port due to the regatta and other events happening that day. I wonder if it is a case of them taking credit or if it was really their doing.. we probably will never know!

 

I prefer to believe that the decision was made later. Otherwise they would have announced it sooner. Besides, our noon departure wouldn't have affected the regatta, which had cleared out of our path by 11:30 or so. And the Captain would have been telling a HUGE lie about how he managed to extend it, which I really don't want to believe. So I'll keep my happy thoughts.:)