Symmes99

Even though Azamara mentioned “unrest in the Red Sea” in relation to the October 2025 cancellation, the Journey is not in the Red Sea at all. She’s in the Med, sailing round trip from Athens and calling at Haifa, Ashdod, and Alexandria. The two Israel ports are likely the cause of the cancellation. It’s really unrest in the whole region that’s the concern, not just the Red Sea. No matter - safety first. And I suppose Azamara doesn't want to wait to reshuffle, even if the unrest dissipates by then. There must be a lot of competition for ports among all the cruise lines that are reshuffling itineraries.

Thanks. I will try and wait for Azamara to announce but I’m already looking at alternatives.

My TA got a message from Azamara that my October 30 2025 11-night Egypt/Israel Intensive Voyage was cancelled “due to unrest in the Red Sea.” Yet the cruise is still active in Manage My Reservation and anyone can still book this cruise on the Azamara website. The TA couldn't give me more information because she’d not been able to get through to Azamara yet. I wanted to understand why a cruise 19 months away was being cancelled now, so I called Azamara directly. The agent looked up the cruise, then transferred me to the Redeployment Desk which had a message saying if you have a TA, have them call. So I suppose the cruise is not happening and I should wait for details, such as what cruise will the Journey now sail? There’s no roll call yet for my cruise so there’s no one else to compare notes with.Azamara has several similar cruises in fall 2025 - I’m curious if others have also heard about their cruises being cancelled.

I received the promotion email on January 25, hesitated a bit, then called my TA and arranged full payment for a cruise in Feb 2025. The 5% OBC appeared on the booking form right away. I told a friend about the promotion - he’s on the same cruise but has a different TA. He called his TA who then called Azamara, and he too was offered 5% OBC so he also made final payment.

Has anyone taken advantage of this offer? I’m leaning that way now - a 5% return by paying 6 months early is better than leaving that money in the bank.

I said earlier that I’d ask my TA to check for any buzz, and was asked to post what she said. Here it is: ”I will contact Azamara- but no rumors of issues- no cash flow issues and they just hired Dondra Ritzenthaler as CEO from Celebrity- a great move for them in my opinion. She starts in May.” So my concerns about the basis for the 5% offer seem to have been allayed.

I am hesitant to take advantage of the 5% offer. Is Azamara’s having cash flow problems? Is my full payment needed to fund current operations? Do I want to be on a list of creditors if Azamara ceases operations before my cruise? I’ve asked my TA to check industry buzz.

My wife and I stayed at AlmaLusa Hotel (https://www.almalusahotels.com/baixachiado/) for 5 nights at the end of a transatlantic crossing in April 2022. Very well located - and flat surfaces all around. We could walk to the cruise terminal, the nearby square Prada do Comercio, and then uphill to explore further. The restaurant has some fabulous Portuguese dishes. I want to start or end a cruise in Lisbon again just so we can stay (and eat) here again.

According to Cruise Mapper, Oceania Riviera was the last passenger ship to pass through the Red Sea en route to Dubai (she is now well clear of the Red Sea). It doesn’t look like any other passenger ships are queuing up for the Suez Canal. I’ve been paying attention because we board her on 12/29 in Abu Dhabi and wanted to make sure she is in port before I fly from the USA.

Hey, it’s a start! I had already printed screenshots of excursions that looked interesting. I crossed-checked them with Azamara’s new list and they matched. Azamara shoreside is getting its act together slowly but surely. Thanks everyone for posting info and tips!

Thanks all for the feedback. I think I’ll just take screenshots of each tour description and print them. Clunky but it’ll get the job done.

I’d like to peruse shore excursions in a printed format rather than scroll online through each one. I asked my TA to check with Azamara but that was a dead end. I can’t figure out how to print a list of the shore excursions for my cruise with the details of each excursion. Has anyone been able to do this? Appreciate the advice!

As I said, I booked last spring so that was in early to mid 2022.

We did this cruise last November. No rough seas, wreathed was mild. Dakar was scratched before the cruise started, Cape Verde replaced it and was fun. Casablanca was missed because of some supposed Covid issue and we went to Funchal, Madeira instead (sort of a wasted half-day stop at which we tendered because other ships occupied the piers). And because a medical emergency slowed the ship (had to divert to Salvador Brazil for a medical evacuation. thankfully the passenger recovered ashore we were told), we arrived later than planned into Rio and spent an overnight there, which caused Montevideo to get dropped. None of this diminished the fun we had on this cruise. The best part was the 5- day extension to iguazu Falls and Rio. First- class operation all the way by Viking!

I booked a cruise last spring for January 2024 and paid the $25pp deposit. I canceled that cruise a few months ago and the only cancellation fee was the $25pp deposit. I could have moved the deposit to another cruise but let it go instead.