I have already written about speciality dining on Azura in the past, but here is something you can't book.
Everyone has read about Sindhu and Seventeen and the fact that you can get food in The Glasshouse, but when I was on board and having a nice relaxing lunch in The Glasshouse, my wife and I were approach by the Manager, Nestor and asked if we would like to join him and a small select number of other passengers for 'Olly's Supper Club'. Something we could not turn down!
So what is it?
Well, an evening of about 10 passengers, with a meal prepared in The Glasshouse kitchen with a glass of wine specially chosen by Olly Smith to go with each course. Added to which you get Nestor's wit, charm and description to each of the wines on offer.
Yes it costs, but no matter with the company, charm and excellent food it was well worth it.
On most cruises they do 2 or 3 of these evenings, and you have to be asked by the Team but it was well worth it just to listen to Nestor's stories and tales!
I have to be honest and say that most days I spend my time selling traditional cruises on the open seas in the Caribbean, Mediterranean or the Baltic and just occasionally get asked about River Cruises.
I have booked one for a customer, along the Danube, I think, so looking for another would be just a piece of cake! So I thought I'd first do a little bit of research and I found a video which explains a little about River Cruising, its by Swan Hellenic, so just follow this link and and press play on the video player to watch the video.
You can cruise various large rivers, like the Rhone, Rhine, Danube, Nile and even the Yangse the ships are a lot smaller and stop everyday at a suitable town en route.
In my research I could not believe how popular this type of cruising really is, especially when I found how hard it was to get the cabin on the sailing my customers wanted.
My customer wanted a Swan Hellenic cruise, to be honest most of the 2011 sailings are already sold out and on the others there are only a limited number of cabins available on certain sailings. I had expected it to be like mainstream cruising, availability on most sailing until the last minute, clearly that's not the case.
The moral of the story is, decide what you want and book early, so give me a call when you a have decided what you want to do.
I regularly get asked by customers, which is best, Port or Starboard?
Well that is in reality a difficult question, it depends on many different things like tides, other ships in port, which pier is used or what the pilot wants to do!. So thought I'd take a picture everyday from my cabin on Azura to show the view, so from port side balcony cabin, B258 the following short video is a picture of the view in the morning in the following ports;
Barbados, Curacao, Aruba, St Maarten, Tortola, St Kitts, Dominica, Grenada, St Lucia and then back to Barbados.
Now this is not a scientific example, and there are times when a specific side will give a special view, like Starboard on the morning approach to Venice so you can see St Marks Square or Port on the approach to New York for the Statue of Liberty to name just a couple.
But the view from the other side will be totally different, and as an example here are 2 more pictures from my cruise the first shows what the view would be on the starboard side of the ship:-
Other ships in St Maarten, AIDALuna next to the Azura, with Oceana and Niew Amsterdam behind!
Busy day in port that day with Allure of the Seas and Celebrity Solstice seen from the port side of the ship.
The quay side in St Lucia.
So I can't say which is the best, but can't complain about my views on a Caribbean Cruise!
So having spent a fortune on trips on past cruises and wanting to have something different I saw this with Voyages to Antiquity - Cruises to Classical Civilisations.
Firstly the ship, MV Aegean Odyssey is a premium class ship that was rebuilt in 2009 to cater for cruising in the coastal waters of the central and eastern Mediterranean. The vessel provides the best features of a mid-size ship such as passenger space, a choice of restaurants and stability in inclement weather.
Originally a vessel carrying up to 570 passengers, Aegean Odyssey's new configuration includes generously-sized suites, junior suites and staterooms with and without balconies. She now carries an average of 350 passengers.
Classically elegant, but far from stuffy and formal, Aegean Odyssey has been designed to offer the sophisticated traveller every comfort at sea. She offers the personal service and intimate surroundings of a small vessel, has the ability to pass through the Corinth Canal, visit ports that are too small for larger vessels, and navigate around the scenic islands of the Adriatic and Mediterranean.
As a bonus shore excursions are included in most case giving a significant saving against most of the other cruise lines, and with the itineraries there is loads of choice.
My wife has always wanted to go to Sicily and Malta and challenged me to find a holiday that covered these, well this covers both and with 5 ports of call in Sicily! Starting in Athens and ending in Rome! Look at this itinerary:-
There are 3 departures this year of this cruise and the places and sights look amazing, shame I can't get the extra time off work, one for 2012 for me then I think.
So for the final part of my series, to Barbados where many of the Caribbean cruises start and end.
Beautiful beaches, warm blue sea and sun-drenched days. Barbados offers all the features of a tropical island. Its people are warm and friendly and yet there is still an inescapable colonial feel to the place that adds to the island's unique atmosphere and special style.
So have you worked out the link yet? There are no prizes but you can email me if you think you have the answer.
Watch next week and you will get to read my review of the Azura, and see some of the many pictures I am expecting to take!
