Despite roaring winds, we slept well and enjoyed complimentary breakfast before packing up for our drive to the ship. Alvaro of Odyssey Tours sent his father, Alvaro Sr., to pick us up and bring us to Puntarenas. On the way to the port we passed another Odyssey van with a flat tire, so we were happy to give those folks a lift to the ship.
It seems that the winds we had experienced in San Jose were blowing just as strongly on the Pacific coast. Azamara Quest had a difficult time docking in Puntarenas on Sunday, and was forced to remain there instead of sailing across the bay [only 6 nautical miles] to the scheduled turnaround port of Caldera. It seems that no other ship had even made it into port in this area of Costa Rica because of the winds, so kudos to Azamara Captain Carl for getting docked in Puntarenas!
Shuttle buses helped with the transition for those who didn’t get the word, but the Cruise Critic roll call had alerted us and Odyssey also knew about it as this family firm is based in Caldera. Azamara also had to take over the Puntarenas tourist information building for check-in, hire more buses to get us along the wharf to the ship, reroute all the re-provisioning trucks to Puntarenas, and work with the Costa Rica immigration authorities to process us onboard Quest.
It must have added up to a lot of extra expense for Azamara, but it was handled so well that it all went very smoothly – except that the immigration folks didn’t finish their work until several hours past our 5 pm sailing. Luckily we were having a sea day so no heroics were needed to keep on schedule. Captain Carl was very professional in his announcements – and very open about the details of the weather and logistics involved. All in all, it was a very impressive performance by Captain Carl and the entire Azamara team!
Once checked in we went directly to our accommodations. We had originally booked a Club Continent suite [‘CC,’ similar to a Princess mini-suite] because the Veranda cabins on the Azamara ships are just too small – but as the sailing approached I heard that many people were getting upgrade offers so I called the Azamara loyalty program [Le Club Voyage] to enquire if we could too – and lo and behold they offered us an upgrade to a Club World Owner’s Suite [‘CW’] for $1,500 and then threw in $600 of OBC, for an apparent net cost of only $900 [but see below for the wrinkle].
The Club World Owner’s Suite is the most luxurious accommodation on the R-ships, with a large living room, separate bedroom, dressing room, huge aft-facing wraparound balcony, and split bathroom [a separate cubicle for toilet and sink, plus a larger area with another sink and vanity, a bathtub and a large shower]. There are so many closets and shelves that we were easily able to sort clothes etc. by function – and we still never used some of the spaces. There is a dining table in the living room, and another on the balcony. Pocket doors allow you to screen off the bedroom and master bathroom, or by opening them to have a complete circle throughout the suite. As one of our guests remarked, it is really designed for entertaining – but it is also a wonderful retreat for living. Sweet!
We also found 4 bottles of liquor: decent brands of rum, scotch, vodka, and gin [375ml each, not little airline bottles!] plus a bottle of good French champagne and 2 of decent Cabernet Sauvignon [from a combination of suite amenities, Amex Platinum, and our Travel Agent]. We also got free soda and bottled water. We never drank the soda, but the bottled water kept coming faster than we could drink it – at one point we had 20 bottles on hand! And we had a vase of Gerbera Daisies on our dining table that lasted nicely throughout the cruise. [I do have to note, sadly, that our suite refrigerator contained the dreaded Royal Club Tonic.]
We had a little soot on the balcony some mornings, but the cabin attendants cleaned it without being asked. The space, and quiet, and the view were unmatched. Also the location on deck six was very convenient to most activities. We were directly above the MDR [Discoveries], but we never heard any noise.
For us, the most important thing in a suite [besides just space and more space] is a proper dining table. That lets us order room service breakfast for efficient use of time [with early shore excursions] or a leisurely morning [on sea days]. Having the Butler set the table and serve breakfast is icing on the cake!
Windows Café was open for late lunch so we ate there. We unpacked and met our butler Eyup [from Turkey], who said we also have 2 cabin attendants, and went to the muster drill.
At 5:45 we went to the Cruise Critic Social, then on to an invitation-only cocktail hour for the top suite guests where we sat with a lovely couple from Houston. Then dinner called and we went to Discoveries. We had a table for two which was placed close but not too-close to the next table, and had a conversation with two gals from AZ. I had Vol-au-vent [with mushrooms and asparagus] and Wiener Schnitzel. DW had Spinach Caprese Salad, Filet Mignon, and Profiteroles. All excellent.
We went to the 9:45 show Danzare in the Cabaret Lounge, which was preceded by the Captain’s introduction of officers and his explanation of the change of port for embarkation. This was Captain Carl’s last cruise on Quest [for the next six months he will be supervising the refitting of the new Azamara Pursuit] – it was our first encounter with Captain Carl, but if the Captain thing doesn’t work out he could double as a standup comic.
Captain Carl had us turn the clocks ahead early for Panama, so that we had a sea day to acclimate to the time change.