Port Guides useful to cruisers and travellers. Watching the Doris Visits films will be like you are there, or remembering when you were. Doris Visits is on YouTube and the cruise chat sites on Facebook.
Quite simply the Viking Neptune is a wonderful all balcony ship with spacious Explorer suites. Once sailed on, you will not be able to judge other ships by the high standards it sets. Viking has a style, and it is not based on budget. It is not a ship that you look at for a budget or bargain cruise, it is a cruise that is a wonderful holiday and there is no finer way to travel, if there is, we haven't done that yet. They may suggest that once you add in the free drinks with meals, the free fast WIFI, the free additional fine dining restaurants and a free tour at most stops, what you have to lay out saves to the point of making it a very reasonable holiday with the beautifully designed in the understated elegance for which Viking is known.
Technically it is a small ship, and although there seems far too many facilities for a small ship it has under 1000 guests so hits the title. Just as its eight sister ships (the number is growing), she is about 47,800 tons, 465 cabins with accommodation for 930 passengers.
The Neptune marks a quantum leap in the longstanding cooperation between Viking and Fincantieri for designing, delivering and operating sustainable and eco-friendly cruise vessels. It embodies the first result of the experimental hydrogen fuel cell module, with a nominal power of 100 kW. There appears to be, at any given time, at least one, but many more than one new ship being built for Viking.
The difference the guest sees starts in the way they are approached. The daily events paper is just that, it is not trying to sell things. There is no pressure to buy anything. There is no pressure. The quality of food is comparable to a top restaurant. Quite simply, you are in a top city hotel and not a motel. The staff dress and address you in a way you would expect if entering a Park Lane Hotel.
We have two versions of the film, and on both we use the music of the very talented Laurence Murray. His song Nothing More To Say/Red Thread of Fate should be a hit. Laurence's own Spotify page is here. The Red Thread of Fate is a love song, and is inspired by the Red Thread of Marriage, joining, and other variants of togetherness even when apart. It is an East Asian belief originating from Chinese mythology.
The shorter 6 minute long version of the filmed tour on our channel.
Azura is the fly-cruise of the two Grand Class ships. It home-ports in Barbados in the winter, and Valletta in the summer. This means that with just a short break, you can holiday in some fantastic places. We have always been huge fans of the Grand Class ships and have some great memories.
The Azura has eleven restaurants and eating areas, twelve bars and places to drink, four pools, a gym, two spas, outdoor cinema, a theatre and two show lounges. She is 290m long and has a beam of 36m. Its 24-knot speed is achieved by two 21 MW electric motors with fixed propellers driven by 6 Wärtsilä diesel generators. It also has three bow thrusters, and three stern thrusters which may not be enough when trying to berth as seen on our film where 3 tugs pushed her into Chania (Souda Bay)
It has four pools. The Terrace pool at the back is the one with steps and a handrail for those who are a little unsteady. It has a hoist with a chair on the Aqua pool. The Coral pool is the one with the pizza, grill, and sea screen. Then, there is the quiet pool, where no children are expected to be, that is the Oasis pool at the bow near the gym. The Oasis pool is the only one that does not have a bar.
The ship has five main entertainment venues. The Manhattan is a nightclub venue which normally has a comedian, a DJ or the occasional floor show from the Headliners. The middle club is called Malabar and now has a singer working to backing tracks, making it more like a club venue. However, the big act is often put in there for their second performance which I feel is such a waste. I have seen both Andrew Browning as George Michael in there, and Owen James as Sting, two of the best tribute acts we have ever seen. The main theatre, the Playhouse Theatre is where all the big acts do at least one of their shows, and the Headliners put on their extravaganzas and shows like 'Astonishing'. The fourth venue is the atrium, which has a dance floor by the Java Cafe. A singer can use this, like the Busker, the resident act that sings around the ship and at some sail-aways. It can also be used for ballroom dancing, line dancing and Fitsteps. Last but certainly not least is the stage in Brodies, where all manner of entertainment happens from quizzes to karaoke, from the Busker to video game competitions. It is also the sports bar and screen. I would not suggest that either the Blue Bar on Deck 7 or the Planet Bar on Deck 18 are entertainment venues, but they can have a pianist playing. The Planet might have the busker or a trio but that seems rare now.
Entertainment can also happen around the pool areas, especially when the weather is good.
There are very few port talks now, so we strongly suggest you look at our filmed port guides and lists of tours which are ideal for research, all listed in the menu.
Restaurants are many. The three main dining halls are the Oriental, the Peninsular and the Meridian. We enjoy a mixed shared table there most nights we are on, for a three-course meal. On gala or celebration nights, these are normally the black-tie formal nights, the meal steps up a notch and is four courses and amuse-bouche. One of the two weeks might be the Macro Pierre White lobster meal, which is lobster pieces in a choux-pastry shell.
The Premium restaurants have become the place to dine out, and on all our recent cruises they were booked to capacity every night, and even the Glass House which does not take reservations is full early doors. The Epicurean is a more formal restaurant with a great meal, meat or fish. The Sindhu is an Asian restaurant with Indian-style food that is quite mild unless you advise them you prefer it more spicey. The Beach House is half the buffet with the tables laid, lights lowered and waiter service. Here the nachos and fish skewers are as much a favourite as steak still cooking on a stone. The buffet is always a good and easy option. The dress code applies to the main dining area, and the Epicurean is smart.
A silly thing that probably won't affect you - there is a net on the top of the basketball court so you can't shoot hoops. Silly thing that may affect you, the shops always have a discount day on most times. It can be a different item discounted on different days or a vast 40% off on the last day. They will normally tell you, but you risk missing something as items do go. There is no deck 13, and you cannot walk through on decks 5 & 6, so have to go up to 7 and come back down.
If you wish to return home without masses of laundry, we recommend using the laundrette early evening the day before the day before you leave. It will be empty as everyone is getting ready for dinner. Dump your washing. Go back shower etc then return and use the tumble drier. You can pick it up just before you go out to dinner. So lovely not to have to face a case full of washing when you get home.
Our new 2023 Azura ship tour will be loaded this weekend, it is far superior to the one we currently show, so we are excited. Here is what to expect when our poor 4Mbps finally loads it. So far it has been 5 hours and we have achieved 58%. That's rural London for you, anywhere in the world would be faster.
My prediction for the long term. I can see the main dining becoming less and less important, and deck 5 Meridian being looked at as a Limelight Club and cinema. I also think that when the two smaller adult ships are released from the fleet, the two Grand Class ships will see their kids club areas converted into cabins as they did when the Aurora was changed up. But that is just future guessing, I have no actual knowledge.
0:00 - Intro Azura
0:26 - Glass Lifts
0:50 - Cabin Steward's new routine
1:05 - Playhouse Theatre D7
1:22 - Glass House D7
1:44 - Shops D7
2:06 - Malabar D7
2:20 - Photogallery D7
2:30 Sindhu Indian R D7
3:07 - Manhattan D7
3:32 - Oriental D6
3:42 - Shops D6
3:52 - Reception D6
4:03 - Casino & Brodies D6
4:37 - Kamala Room D6
4:47 - Excursions D5
4:57 - Library D5
5:10 - Meridian Java Cafe D5
5:20 - Atrium Dance Floor D5
5:38 - Whitewall Gallery D5
5:55 - Ivory Suite D16
6:08 - The Bridge D14
6:19 - Oasis Pool D16
6:50 - Gym D16
7:07 - Deck 18 Sun
7:19 - Coral Pool
7:32 - The Grill
7:42 - Grab & Go
7:52 - Pizza & Ice Cream
8:02 - Aqua Pool
8:12 - Sea Screen
8:20 - Deck Quoits
8:30 - Terrace Pool
8:45 - Epicurean
8:58 - Golf & Sports
9:08 - Planet Bar
9:22 - Kids Clubs
9:50 - Buffet
10:09 - Beach House
10:30 - Main Dining
10:55 - Ship Map
11:04 - Split preview
11:48 - Kusadasi preview
The Azura is the sister of the Ventura. See our Facebook chat group for the Azura. uCruise Azura is a big friendly group. It has chat rooms within the group for specific cruises - see EVENTS.
The SAGA ocean-going cruise ship, the Spirit of Adventure, is one of the newest ships at sea.
SAGA refers to itself as a boutique cruise line. We looked up the meaning of 'boutique' and the phrase that fits is a small company that offers highly specialized services or products. Its product is for those 50 or above, but it specialises in the great care of those who may need a little more help, some maybe a little older. On our cruise, with them, the average age was said to be 77, and we are not sure if that included the crew but it probably included guest artists like the 19-year-old drummer and the rest of the musicians and acts, because they are full guests whereas the resident hosts and musicians are crew and wear badges.
There is normally a Chaplin on board, the menu is traditional and the speciality restaurant should be informed if you like spice when you order. After our first meal, we asked for a spice level of 10/10 and it was great.
The all-inclusive tours normally have space as they tend to be panoramic type tours. That buzz word panoramic on all cruises tends to mean a coach journey seeing the sights, with one or two photo stops. Of the three we took, one was just that with the toilet stop longer than the photo stop, the second was a museum with lifts plus a coach tour (Ephesus), and the third would have been tough for anyone with walking difficulties and they clearly said that. That tour also included a museum and was by far the best for us. (Troy). Our film of the three comparing the tours is here. SAGA WEB PAGE
Back to the ship. The TV is great, very modern, with biographies, loads of movies and talks from the captain and crew plus menus and other information, the daily paper and events. I guess these will soon be on an app as they have gone this far. There are very set dining times, breakfast ends at 10 am. Lunch ends at 2 pm, and dining is over early. Often both salad options on the menu had meat in (see menu above), and sliced turkey will have pork sausages and bacon laying on it in the serving bowl.
There is room service which many who rarely venture from their rooms take advantage of, and the waiters are dressed butler-like. There is only one show, then the ship goes very quiet. The upstairs Britannia lounge will have a small gathering and the guest entertainers are normally there and the hosts have to dance until 11.30 which is similar to Cunard. A trio backs the cabaret act, and the house band is a trio with a singer. There are some sail-away events, either a duo, the house band or the hosts.
The ship is very new in design and has many new features. These include the five vertical fire and flood zones (unlike other ships they number their zones with Zone 1 starting at the back, zone 5 being the front and a helicopter rescue area that was used during our cruise. (film). Having two separate power generator plants, each with two generators (nine-cylinder diesel) and them being away from each other means a fire or flood in one area allows the ship to function. They can produce up to 6900 volts! SAGA WEB PAGE
] click the picture for reviews[/caption]
Right down to USB sockets to charge your device not just in your cabin and in the library but in other places on the ship, it is a ship designed to meet the future of cruising. The use of an electronic device to read or listen to an audiobook is definitely a nod to the future too, as there are no real books in the library (apart from the book swap pile). We can confirm that is where the market is because our own books are read mainly in the Kindle library and sell more on Audiobook than in paperback. If you are new to our cruise crime series, start at the beginning and get to know the characters. Cruise Ship Heist is book 1 although each is a separate story and can be read as a stand-alone novel.
The fins or stabilisers are side fins that are pushed out hydraulically and operated independently by a computer driver sensor to stop the ship from having a bad rolling motion when the sea is rough. The Captain suggested even with a side wind the tilt was expected to be no more than ten or eleven degrees. Being a small ship, and the smallest we have been on for some time, they do move more with the sea than bigger ships. The pitch front to back, or up and down is noticeable so if you suffer from sea-sickness choose to stay in the middle and low down. Also, pack the wristbands. There is a tiny shop on board and small jewellers, but this all-inclusive ship does not work on the need to sell. You are not chased by the waiters like you are on ships that have to meet targets. There are also two bow propellers in tunnels through the ship to help side manoeuvres and parking at the birth (the modern version of side thrusters).
The manoeuvrability of the ship is fantastic. It has 2 x Siemens SISHIP SiPODs that can swivel a full 360 degrees (on a large cog driven by 4 x internal motors) meaning the ship can pirouette. The electric motor that drives the high skew propellor (that pulls the ship rather than pushes) is in the pod (one in each), not the ship, which means no shaft and less vibration.
The small ship is not actually small, and it dwarfed the R-class Azamara ship next to it in Lisbon. At 236 m long it keeps at 999 guests to be referred to as a small ship. However, it is roomy and spacious, though the speciality restaurants get busy as people look to sample the more adventurous food.
The top speed of 18 knots was beaten by a run at 19 knots during our stay
During our 4-week cruise, the ship was half full. 524 guests and 535 crew were on board. The following amounts were consumed.
Lobster main coarse on formal night[/caption]
nearly 0.5 tonnes of Lobster
5 tonnes of chicken
85,000 eggs
3,000 ltrs of ice cream
15,000 bottles of wine
1,500 bottles of liquor
Incineration and waste are done at least 12 nautical miles out, and they have the latest ecosystems and incinerators inside. There are three SLCE water makers and each can produce 10 tonnes per hour. There is a storage capacity of 1,400 tonnes of water. The fire-fighting system is also the newer vapourised water approach. This means a mist of vapourised water is used to consume the fire, but uses less water and gives less of a flooding problem than when fighting fire with sprayed water. There are two fixed pump areas, each with 14 pumps, ready to be used for fire fighting. Hot steam is also pumped around the ship from a couple of boilers, to heat the water. But the ship also uses exhaust fumes to reheat.
To keep you cool there are 4 x chillers, each with 6 compressors. These are used for cooling and air-conditioning. The ship still uses external seawater to cool the engines, and this is via scrubbers (filters) in the 'sea chest'.
It is very heartening to know that the ship can remain afloat with two of the five watertight sections flooded. That it uses two types of fuel (14,500 tonnes fuel capacity) so carries the cleaner gas oil when a port demands, meaning better access to destinations. At full speed it uses 70 tonnes of fuel a day, and 40 tonnes when cruising. On a port-day (8am to 5pm) it will use 6 to 7 tonnes.
The air rescue area at the front of the bow is only overlooked by 4 master suites. This deck is normally a crew relaxation deck on most cruise ships, so on these ships, the crew get the court area on deck 14, which means no ball games, no walking football. Cabin Video here.
987 Guests | 6 Lifts | 540 Crew | 236m or 774.3ft length | 102.4ft beam | 58,250 GT | speed 18kn | Built Meyer Werft | Launched 2021 SAGA WEB PAGE for OCEAN CRUISING
This is our own film of the ship, showing what it has to offer. Please share and embed.
There are millions of dollars, why you? How do you get it on board, and then off again? Then you realise there is far more to it and you weren't chosen by accident. Now, can you stay alive?
For two years Doris Visits contributor Stuart St Paulhas been looking at a possible film or drama to set on cruise ships. There are very few books that are set totally around cruising and cruise ships, and to re-work them for TV or a film was proving as much work as it was to develop a new work from the beginning. This new work could be current, pacey, a thriller that has the page turning style of modern box set TV. This first book is a movie in itself, or as they say a pilot episode if not a whole series because the twists and turns and blind alleyways and dead ends are endless. The bookis a real page-turner and is an accurate portrayal of both a cruise ship and the ports around the Panama Canal where it all kicks off in no uncertain terms, and that is to be expected as Stuart is now a regular guest on many different cruise ships talking about the films and television shows he has been in. CRUISE SHIP HEIST - OCEAN ATLANTIC
Commander Kieron Phillips survived Ireland, survived Iraq and many more missions behind enemy lines. Now retired, he finds himself looking down the wrong end of an automatic weapon in South America, and potentially in the most dangerous situation of his life. Being killed in service might have been envisaged, but on the first holiday of his retirement- if release with no pension or honours can be classed as retirement- danger was the last thing he expected. Click the picture for a pre-release version on Kindle. The book will be out soon. Kieron is going on a cruise to meet with his adopted daughter, a dancer on the ship. But even in his short journey from luggage reclaim to customs he is chatted up by a Latina beauty who won’t seem to leave him alone, and watched covertly by another stunning woman who has a more familiar somewhat military air. Sadly, for him, it seems it’s not his rugged good looks they are after, and before he knows it one woman is arrested, another sharing his taxi to the ship and a third arrives carrying a case that obviously doesn’t belong to her, filled with who knows what. Kieron involuntarily becomes involved in the movement of drugs and money in South America. All he wanted was a quiet break.
His two new accomplices smuggle the case with its unknown contents onto the ship. Now embroiled in the saga, his cabin is searched by a stowaway gunman looking for the Latina woman who he thinks is on board and was not arrested. Standing on the deck looking down at dock in Panama, he realises it could be unsafe for him to get off, but on instinct, when he sees the female officer he met at the airport being followed. He takes off after the team of locals, into an area of downtown that cruise guests would never venture and a world of trouble which has to resolve before the ship sails. Kieron continually battles with himself, trying to leave his life in conflict behind him, to adjust to civilian life and spend time with his daughter, to play Dad, but continually gets pulled back like a magnet, into the criminal drama escalating below decks. Is he seeking it out, or is it seeking him out? He starts to wonder if his being on this cruise was an accident, or whether someone saw his ex-military status and put him in the right place at the right time. It becomes clear to him that he cannot trust anyone on the ship, and no crazy amount of money is worth either his life or the life of his daughter. They are both in serious trouble which escalates as they cross the Atlantic out of reach of any helicopter, policing or rescue – his time of jumping from boats and planes is far from over if he wants to live.SHIPS & CHAT - Read a cruise novel, share with the community for your cruise operator or ship. You will find them here + share - clickCruise Ship Heist - Ocean Atlantic is out on Kindle, the paperback will be out spring 2019. The second novel in the series, Cruise Murders – Ocean Pacificwill be out next year. Cruise novels are published by Cruise Doris Books. The parent company has previously released films themselves and with distributors Universal and ICON. Cruise Doris Visits cruise books must take place against the backdrop of a cruise, so they make ideal cruise reading.
Click the book pictures for a description. See on Amazon below.
At the top of the cable car, many people walk straight past the gardens to get to the toboggan ride. That is fair, but if you want to see the gardens then do that first or you will have to come back up again as opposed to going down from the base of the toboggan. The Monte Tropical Gardens are so extensive (70,000 sq meters) that you could spend a day there and walk back to the ship. They are tiered gardens on the mountainside. In the grounds is a three storey museum
The Monte Palace Tropical Garden has an huge exotic plant’s collection, coming from all over the world. There is manor house and lake with water features, swans including Black swans from Australia, Tasmania and New Zeeland, and duck’s. Peacocks and chickens walk free in the grounds.
The Monte Palace Museum is an ideal exhibition space nestled within the beautiful surroundings of a tropical garden. There are three floors, two of which are dedicated to sculptures and the third houses a unique mineral collection gathered from the four corners of the world as seen in the film. 'African Passion' shows part of a collection of contemporary Zimbabwean sculpture from the period 1966 to 1969. 'Mother Nature's Secrets', on the lower floor, proudly exhibits one of the finest private collections of minerals, predominately from Brazil, Portugal, South Africa, Zambia, Peru, Argentina and North America.
Around the garden is a large collection of tile panels placed along the walkways and amongst the vegetation. The collection is considered to be one of the most important in the country after that of the National Tile Museum, is made up of Hispano-Moorish tiles of the 15th and 16th centuries and panels produced in Portugal from the 19th to the 20th centuries.
If you are new to Doris Visits Cruise TV then welcome, we invite you to comment at the end of our blogs, and ask you for follow us on here on www.DorisVisits.com and like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter and subscribe to our YouTube Channel to get the best from us. We are always looking for a social media persons to help us expand so drop us a line anytime at press@DorisVisits.co.uk PLEASE SHARE
The Cruise Ship from P&O Azura has a 3100 passenger capacity but doesn't feel like a big ship which is why it has its fans and such a high returning customer base to its 14/19 passenger decks.
With some bigger ships having over 6800 passengers and the P&O flagship Britannia having approx 3640 passengers, maybe, the Azura will soon no longer be referred to as large. It no longer makes the top 30 biggest cruise ships. However, it is three sets of corridors long as opposed to the Arcadia's or the even slightly smaller but spacious Aurora's two sets, so it is larger. It is the sister ship to the Ruby Princess and the Ventura.
It is said to be the ship that the raunchy romantic novel Her Virgin Voyage was written on during a Canary Islands cruise, but not the ship in the second book which predicted P&O's venture into the first same sex marriages at sea in the second book The Perfect Storm. The Azura is an easy ship to navigate, it offers a lot in the way of fine dining options and entertainment with three large venues as well as quiet areas and a library, so it has the best of both worlds. It also has a pub and casino on the lower decks if you wish to avoid dressing on formal nights. Take a look at our film of all passenger areas first. Please subscribe to us on You Tube and follow us on Facebook and Twitter.
Check out some of the great Cruise Routes, our concise films of what a ship offers when it takes a specific route. These are typical routes but we do have films to help cruisers on every popular cruise destination in the world.
If you are new to Doris Visits Cruise TV then welcome, we invite you to comment at the end of our blogs, and ask you for follow us on here on www.DorisVisits.com and like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter and subscribe to our YouTube Channel to get the best from us. We are always looking for presenters and social media activists to help us expand so drop us a line anytime with ideas at press@DorisVisits.co.uk PLEASE SHARE
Nothing is as impressive as autumn on the east coast of North America, a perfect time of year to witness the superb spectacle of colour in the Fall or Autumn - whichever.
These New England cruises offer a contrast between some of the most British of American harbours with the familiar colours of leaf fall, and the rugged Cornish-like sea coast. Boston is many people's favourite American city with its huge park and "Cheers" bar. Our films there take in the Parks and Freedom trail as Boston is an easy city to explore on foot although there are trolly buses for tourists.
Bar Harbour is a port that is a tender port and often missed due to bad weather so the dreamed of ''lobster roll' was missed - it has been for us every time. One day we will get there.
New York’s wonderful Statue of Liberty against an instantly recognisable skyline is an amazing sight as the ship cruises along the Hudson River. Then the ships start to creep further south to Baltimore, then to Charleston and Bermuda before taking in the Azores on the way home. All these are featured on our East Coast menu, so if you have not cruised there yet, take a look at this route. Our destinations are split into route sections to make it easy for you, have a look around and let us know your thoughts. This was the main section of the Aurora 715 Boston down and back to the Azores.
A cruise route is like a road trip at sea, if you have missed our previous blog on the road movie film The Last Flag Flying, please take a look. Great movie.
J
Kieron continually battles with himself, trying to leave his life in conflict behind him, to adjust to civilian life and spend time with his daughter, to play Dad, but continually gets pulled back like a magnet, into the criminal drama escalating below decks. Is he seeking it out, or is it seeking him out? He starts to wonder if his being on this cruise was an accident, or whether someone saw his ex-military status and put him in the right place at the right time. It becomes clear to him that he cannot trust anyone on the ship, and no crazy amount of money is worth either his life or the life of his daughter. They are both in serious trouble which escalates as they cross the Atlantic out of reach of any helicopter, policing or rescue – his time of jumping from boats and planes is far from over if he wants to live.
