Bingo?

Never thought I’d play bingo on a cruise ship but they were giving away an upgrade to the largest suite on the ship.  And given there are only around 600 on the ship, the odds seemed like it would be worth a few dollars.  But $50?  Pretty pricey but I talked myself into it thinking the odds would be better because not everyone would be willing to pay that price.  So, hard to believe but I didn’t win.  Won’t do that again…wait, bingo tomorrow is for a free cruise!

Yesterday was also our Meet and Mingle event for Cruise Critic members.  Cruise critic is a cruise review site, much like tripadvisor. I had used it to get a lot of good info on Azamara and this cruise in particular.  Anyway, at the get together I got to meet several people that had posted on the forum.  One of the guys is a cameraman at Madison Square Gardens: someone to talk hockey with, and discuss the Ranger/Senators series!  (Go Sens!)

I found a few nice spots to sit and read.  My favorite is in the Looking Glass lounge.  It’s on deck 10 at the very front of the ship.  It has floor to ceiling glass around three sides giving sweeping views of the ocean.    Also spent an hour reading on my balcony, totally relaxing.

Later in the afternoon, I went for a run on the running track around the top level.  To give you a perspective on the size of this ship, last year on QM2 last year, three laps was 1.1 miles.  Here to run a mile, I had to run 13 laps!  I did 4 Kms before I was just getting a little dizzy!  But it’s a beautiful to spot to run or walk with the elevation allowing views of the sea in all directions.

The weather has been perfect so far.  I haven’t seen a cloud since Thursday morning.  The sea is beautiful and quite calm.  I ate breakfast outside, again in the rear of the ship where it’s sheltered and warm.  The temperature is 52 but it feels warmer if you can find a sheltered area.  I think I’ll spend some time around the pool today.

At Sea!

The sail-away out of New York harbor lived up to my expectations.  It helped to have perfect weather:  Sunny and 70 degrees as we backed out into the Hudson river.  We sailed past the Manhattan skyline on the port side, and then Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty very close on the starboard side.  Then a left turn and sail under the Verazanno-Narrows bridge.  I moved to the Windows Café which has an outdoor deck and bar at the rear of the ship.  I had a glass of wine I watched the bridge and NY move further into the distance.  

I met a nice couple from Scotland there who were doing this cruise to mark her retirement as an occupational therapist.  We were having a nice chat when they decided they were going to go for dinner and invited me to join them.  It was very nice of them so a gladly accepted.  As we left this nice setting, part of me was thinking that it was disappointing to leave the view of New York.  Luckily the main dining room is also in the rear of the ship and didn’t we get a table at the back, with views of the sunset and then the lights of New York in the distance.  Add good food, and nice complimentary wine and it made for a very nice evening. 

After that I went to the Captain’s welcome cocktail party.  The Captain is British, probably 45 or so, with officers from UK, US, Greece mainly.  He informed us that the weather will be very nice for the first few days but then they are showing some rather “severe” weather on the other side!  He’s trying to avoid it by sailing a bit further south hoping it will pass before heading north.  Well that could be interesting.  As I woke this morning, the ship was rolling noticeably.  It’s not enough to get sick from but I was quite surprised to see the seas calm out my balcony.  Not sure how it will feel in severe weather!

I then won $22 at the casino, so the day was a definite success!

This morning the seas are calm and it’s sunny.  It’s a gorgeous day.  As I mentioned, you can feel the motion despite the calm seas, but it’s quite gentle.  The temperature was 65 when I got up but now only 50, though it seems warmer now than earlier.  Can’t quite figure that out.  Saw my first dolphins jumping a few hundred metres from the ship.  There are mini binoculars in each stateroom.  By the time I got them out I couldn’t see the dolphins anymore.  Hope it won’t be the last sighting.

More to come!

New York - part 2

Woke a bit earlier than I hoped when a tanker pulled in right next to our ship.  Some guys on deck were really loud.  Not sure but I think it was probably used to fuel us up for the long trip across the Atlantic.  I went for breakfast in the windows cafe, which is the buffet.  It was very good, definitely better than the QM2 buffet.  They also served tables for coffee, again unlike the buffet on QM2 which was more like a cafeteria.

But because I was up early I did manage to go for the run I wanted to do.  I went north along the Hudson river, it was great.  They have done a nice job of revitalizing the greenery along the path.  It wasn't too busy but a few cyclists and locals with their dogs, probably from the three "Trump Place" condo buildings bordering the road.

I also went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  It's very large, quite overwhelming actually.  you could easily spend a day there, but I opted for around 2 hours of strolling through various exhibits.  Will have to go back.

I was going to go to the Intrepid Air Museum which is right next to our pier, but it was lined up both in the morning and afternoon with school field trips.  Because the weather was so nice, I spent the last couple of hours around the pool getting some sun.

We sail out in about an hour...looking forward to it.

Here are a few pics.  I'm not yet on the satellite internet plan so can afford a few.

A shot of the ship docked.

The pool area, filling up as people come back from the day in New York.  You can see the cruise ship Balmoral off to the right.  It was the other ship that had a Titanic Memorial cruise.  It started from Southampton.

My stateroom, very small but functional.

A Partial Day in New York

Got here a little late due to a "cargo issue" on the plane out of Toronto.  But as I hoped, the embarkation process was truly effortless.  I drop my luggage to the porters, walk in to the terminal...it's virtually empty.  Go through security: "oh don't worry about taking your laptop out of your carry on" they say to me.  Next to check in and walk on the ship.  Immediately the stress starts to disappear.  As I walk onboard the champagne is offered and they tell me that lunch is on until 4.  Because we are a bit late it's now 315 so I check out my room (more on that later) and get some lunch.  (The Air Canada pretzels didn't cut it).  Even though I'm at the end of the lunch period, I get a nice plate of veggie pad thai and some salads.  It's warm enough to sit outside and quickly I'm offered some wine, which is included with lunch and dinner (different than most cruise lines).  So much for the run I was going to do.

Everything goes down really well and I go back to my room.  It's smaller than QM2, as is everything on this ship.  But it's very comfortable.  Bottled water and soft drinks stocked (again,different from most cruise lines). My luggage arrives shortly after as does my room steward who introduces himself. Olivina is his name.  I'm assuming he's from the Phillipines.  Nice fellow.  As I start unpacking, if there was any doubt about going for a run, they announce the muster drill will be held at 4:45.  Good thing I stuck around.  I unpacked and went to the drill which was well organized.  Our group assembled in the main dining room and got the run down on what to do if you hear the alarm.  Basically:  go to the station and follow the instructions.  It's not too hard.  I have to say that with the smaller ship, it seems like it would be a much easier task to move all passengers and crew into the lifeboats.

Another safety procedure that I didn't hear last year:  if there are children with parents, they children are given coloured bracelets to wear.  If, by chance, the parents and kids, are not together when the alarm goes off, the parents are to go to the muster station and the crew take the kids to the appropriate area.  Makes sense.  Having said that, I haven't seen one child on the ship!

By now it's 530 and I take a taxi to the meat packing district for dinner at Barbuto.  Thanks to our good friends Gina and Blair for this recommendation.  A relaxed, neighborhood place, that seems to have been a garage at one point.  I had ricotta and sweet pea bruschetta followed by the best gnocchi I've had.  A couple glasses of chianti to wash it down and all was good.

I walked over to Greenwich to the Bluenote and took in the show with Jim Hall.  It was superb.  He's not the youngest guy but he still plays a great guitar.  The songs ranged from blues to brazilian to jazz, all very accessible.  If you aren't a jazz aficionado, I think you would still have liked it.  He also had another guitarist named Jullian Lage playing with him.  He was fantastic.  I will have find some of his recordings.

So maybe tomorrow I will get that run in, or the spinning class at 4.  Just as long as I'm on deck for the sail away.  Weather looks great: 70 and mainly sunny!

And I'm Off

Currently in transit flying to New York on Wednesday morning.  It's interesting how much more relaxed I feel when it's travel for vacation instead of work.  Also helps to check bags....I keep feeling like I forgot something though!

Something that Azamara does more than other cruise lines: overnight stays in port.  At first I thought it was a little strange to start with a night in New York but as I started to plan, the more I liked it, especially in a city like New York.  Most cruise ships come in to port early in the morning, disembark all passengers, clean the rooms, and then let the new passengers board.  It means they will board all passengers in 3 or 4 hours.  While last year boarding 2500 people on QM2 was very well organized and low stress, especially compared to air travel, on this trip, I can board any time after noon today.  So a smaller ship, with people arriving throughout the day, it should be a very easy process.

But, of course, the real beauty of this is that I get a little more than 24 hours in New York, without having to come early and get a hotel room.  There are a few things I have planned.  Weather permitting (and so far it looks good) I am looking forward to a run along the Hudson River.  There is a parkway around most of Manhattan and I should be steps from it from the ship.  Tonight I have tickets to the Bluenote jazz club, Jim Hall quartet is playing.  I can't say I understand jazz but definitely enjoy it and what better way to take it in than at a club in Greenwich Village.

Tomorrow I have some options ranging from one of the art museums or maybe the Intrepid aircraft museum, next door to the ship. I think it may be a game time decision!

Journey leaving New York for the Titanic Memorial Cruise

The two Titanic memorial cruises are now well underway.  Yesterday (April 10), Azamara Journey left Manhattan to start its voyage.  I managed to watch a bit of the sail-away on a fantastic webcam in New York harbor.  Here is the little ship on her way to leave the harbor under the Verazanno Narrows bridge.

Courtesy of NYHarborWebcam.com, used with permission

This webcam, by the way, is not your average webcam that's grainy and updates once a minute.  This webcam is high-def, full motion.  It is extremely clear and provides a really nice view of ships coming and going in the harbor.  I haven't seen much better streaming video.  I highly recommend it, especially next week, say April 19th around 6pm!  Yesterday this shot was taken just after 6pm and Journey should have departed at 5pm, the same time we are scheduled to depart next week.  So, if you have time on your hands, mark your calendar and check in around 5:45 pm EDT.  Weather permitting I will be on the top deck as we go under the bridge!

Check out the web cam at: http://nyharborwebcam.com.  The same folks run other webcams, for example in Port Everglades, Fort Lauderdale.  It's a much busier port, in terms of cruise ships that is.  For ship lovers, look there on the weekends, it's full and usually has the largest cruise ship in the world, Oasis of the Seas, positioned there (no desire to go on it personally!).  That webcam can be found at http://portevergladeswebcam.com

 

Fire on Azamara Quest

By now I'm sure most of you have heard about the fire on the Azamara Quest cruise ship.  It happened on Friday March 30, after a stop in Manilla. While the fire was extinguished quickly, it knocked out the engines and power for 24 hours.  Luckily, the engineers on board managed to get minimal power back, allowing it to sail to port in Sandakan, Malaysia.  All passengers are safe though 5 crew were dealing with smoke inhalation issues, one reported as serious.  As I'm less than two weeks from departure on Azamara's other ship Journey, which happens to be identical to Quest, you can imagine I have been doing some reading to understand more about the incident as well as how the crew dealt with it.

The first thing to note, though it might seem obvious, is that a fire on a ship as sea is indeed a very dangerous situation.  It seems like it was extinguished within minutes which was absolutely crucial to avoiding it turning into a deadly event. While I'm not sure if it's true, I read that the one seriously injured crew member was trapped in the area with the fire due to the fire doors closing automatically when fire was detected.  Most unfortunate that a safety feature for the ship could have caused one individual to get injured.

The next thing to understand was how the crew dealt with the situation.  Unlike the ridiculous antics by the Costa Concordia crew, it seems like the Azamara crew performed perfectly.  People were asked to put on their life jackets and assemble at their muster stations whereby the captain kept everyone well informed of the situation.  And after 2 hours or so, they were told they could stand down and that they were out of danger.  Every report I read indicated that the crew were fantastic in dealing with the situation and kept the passengers calm.  I even saw some raw footage that clearly showed people calm, sitting down and listening for further directions, even some people were laughing.

Finally, how was the situation dealt with post fire.  The fact that the crew got the ship running again and able to return to port on its own power seems to have been an amazing feat.  There was 24 hours prior were there was no electricity but the crew ensured the passengers were as comfortable as possible despite no air conditioning.  Free drinks became the rule and while the kitchen had no power, BBQs on deck  kept people well fed.  Everyone was also given free internet access and free phone calls to relatives.  And when the ship did make it to shore, the first person to greet the passengers and apologize was the President and CEO of Azamara, Larry Pimentel.  And as I searched through news stories and videos, not one report could find any passenger with anything bad to say about the crew or the way the situation was handled.

You learn a lot about a company and its employees by how they deal with difficult situations.  I'm more confident than ever about the safety and standards aboard Azamara and still looking forward to those sea days.