Are Azamara shore excursions good value?

I am going on the 23rd June 2015 sailing on the Azamara Journey. Should I book shore excursions with Azamara or is it better value to book independently?

Generally, you can always do better arranging your own tours.

There was a time when Azamara offered shore excursions at a 50% discount and we found they were comparable with excursions we could arrange ourselves.

Needless to say when they were competitively priced it wasn't worth the hassle of organising it yourself and we took their excursions.

They reduced the discount to 25% and then discontinued it completely.

Join the roll call for your cruise and liaise with others to arrange your own excursions would be my advice.

And you need to do this sooner rather than later :)

I always prefer to book private excursions with fellow cruisers on my roll call. You can find guides yourself by reading the port sections of CC or looking on tripadvisor. Most of the guides have websites.

If we are in port for a short time or it is a very exotic location I usually will take the Ship's tours.

Have fun planning!

Kathy

We have found sometimes yes and sometimes no. In Cities with traffic issues and shorter stays, we feel better with the fact that the ship will not leave if one of their tours is late returning. There is no guarantee when it is a private tour. Some of the ships tour are priced way out of line, and some are reasonable. The gig benefit of private tours is that you are not on a large bus with 40 of your "best" friends. It is nicer being on a tour with only about 8 of your friends. In the past we have had some not so good private tours and some great ones. We have had some great Azamara tours and some that were not so good.... It takes a little research and time. Enjoy

We have found sometimes yes and sometimes no. In Cities with traffic issues and shorter stays, we feel better with the fact that the ship will not leave if one of their tours is late returning. There is no guarantee when it is a private tour. Some of the ships tour are priced way out of line, and some are reasonable. The gig benefit of private tours is that you are not on a large bus with 40 of your "best" friends. It is nicer being on a tour with only about 8 of your friends. In the past we have had some not so good private tours and some great ones. We have had some great Azamara tours and some that were not so good.... It takes a little research and time. Enjoy

Great analysis.

I would add that sometimes it's hard to gauge the people with whom you may share a private tour. Their persona on this board may not be quite the same as on such a tour.

Great analysis.

 

I would add that sometimes it's hard to gauge the people with whom you may share a private tour. Their persona on this board may not be quite the same as on such a tour.

Oh so true nordski.....we have had some people that we "met" on a roll call that were very boring....And also too mean to tip the driver!

However, I know that you and I would be in 7th Heaven doing a private tour in Sicily! :D

Oh so true nordski.....we have had some people that we "met" on a roll call that were very boring....And also too mean to tip the driver!

 

 

 

However, I know that you and I would be in 7th Heaven doing a private tour in Sicily! :D

Absolutely! :)

I keep checking the Azamara itineraries to see if there is one that provides an in- depth exposure to that beautiful island. And one that is as evocative as the novels you have recommended to us.

I also agree about the meanness when it comes to tipping.

If you mention your itinerary you might get more definitive answers. All ports are different.

Absolutely! :)

 

I keep checking the Azamara itineraries to see if there is one that provides an in- depth exposure to that beautiful island. And one that is as evocative as the novels you have recommended to us.

 

I also agree about the meanness when it comes to tipping.

I had a port day in Messina and made the mistake of splitting the day between Mt Etna and Taormina. Taormina is beautiful and Mt Etna not so much.

We have had the most luck in roll call excursions when taking Princess cruises. We've met some great people. I can say that it is definitely easier when dealing with larger ships and larger roll calls. That's a trade off of doing smaller ship cruising on Azamara. It's nice to find nice and interesting people to tour with and share costs. However, you roll the dice when you share excursions with others whom you don't know. We have an Azamara cruise next summer. There are no others in the roll call. If we find some to share an excursion or two with, that's good. If not, we're happy to find tour operators who handle tours for 6-12 people or do ports on our own. Every now and again, cruise line excursions make sense - just not too often.

OP, I see you have Hvar on your itinerary. We found a great private boat tour from that island. You should look up Ilirio's Boat Tours on the internet. He does a 10am to 6 pm three caves tour, which includes beach stops and one on Pakleni Island. We plan on doing that next summer. It seems like a more active tour and if that doesn't interest you, I hear there are many types of boats available just as you get off the ship.

 

We have had the most luck in roll call excursions when taking Princess cruises. We've met some great people. I can say that it is definitely easier when dealing with larger ships and larger roll calls. That's a trade off of doing smaller ship cruising on Azamara. It's nice to find nice and interesting people to tour with and share costs. However, you roll the dice when you share excursions with others whom you don't know. .

Good point and, although in our experience Azamara cruisers are a sophisticated group, it is often difficult to find enough like-minded travellers to share a private tour. Our present roll call for October is virtually moribund.

This, perhaps, suggests that many are happy with the ships' tours, or that they reserve private tours. We tend to use private tours, when cost permits, simply to avoid misunderstandings.

Although some would disagree, there are times when ship tours make the most sense in our opinion, especially those that provide lots of opportunity to wander on our own.

I also note that Azamara seems to now be "bundling" some of its tours on imminent and upcoming cruises so as to provide a better deal.

Completely off topic, but on another thread I noticed your questions about the port Tiranna, and I thought, briefly, that you were referring to the centre of the hockey universe nearby which is often locally called Tranna. Further discussion led me to realize you weren't enquiring about a port on Lake Ontario, nor did the dire description of that port match that of this "world class" metropolis. :) Well, perhaps you'll disagree with that hockey universe comment. :)

Good point and, although in our experience Azamara cruisers are a sophisticated group, it is often difficult to find enough like-minded travellers to share a private tour. Our present roll call for October is virtually moribund.

 

This, perhaps, suggests that many are happy with the ships' tours, or that they reserve private tours. We tend to use private tours, when cost permits, simply to avoid misunderstandings.

 

Although some would disagree, there are times when ship tours make the most sense in our opinion, especially those that provide lots of opportunity to wander on our own.

 

I also note that Azamara seems to now be "bundling" some of its tours on imminent and upcoming cruises so as to provide a better deal.

 

Completely off topic, but on another thread I noticed your questions about the port Tiranna, and I thought, briefly, that you were referring to the centre of the hockey universe nearby which is often locally called Tranna. Further discussion led me to realize you weren't enquiring about a port on Lake Ontario, nor did the dire description of that port match that of this "world class" metropolis. :) Well, perhaps you'll disagree with that hockey universe comment. :)

Good one, but the Bruins symbol is the hub (spoked B) of hockey. I think it referred to hub of US hockey, certainly not North America. That's probably is Ontario, although many from Quebec might disagree. :D Should be a good game tonight.

I am having a tough time with Durres/Tirana. We'll either do the ship's Tirana excursion or stay on the ship and do a spa day.

Good one, but the Bruins symbol is the hub (spoked B) of hockey. I think it referred to hub of US hockey, certainly not North America.

It probably refers back to the Oliver Wendell Holmes (the writer, not his son the justice) quote about the Massachusetts State House located on Beacon Hill in Boston:

"Boston State-House is the hub of the solar system. You couldn't pry that out of a Boston man, if you had the tire of all creation straightened out for a crowbar."

Holmes's statement has been somewhat modified so Boston now refers to itself as "the hub of the universe."

It probably refers back to the Oliver Wendell Holmes (the writer, not his son the justice) quote about the Massachusetts State House located on Beacon Hill in Boston:

 

"Boston State-House is the hub of the solar system. You couldn't pry that out of a Boston man, if you had the tire of all creation straightened out for a crowbar."

 

Holmes's statement has been somewhat modified so Boston now refers to itself as "the hub of the universe."

We still lay claim to that, hub of hockey not so much.

We still lay claim to that, hub of hockey not so much.

I am going on the 23rd June 2015 sailing on the Azamara Journey. Should I book shore excursions with Azamara or is it better value to book independently?

I would strongly recommend using the ship's excursions if there's anychance that weather will alter the port calls. That was the case with a recent Antarctica trip.

The excursion team took care of all the rescheduling logistics. Would have been extremely difficult with a private excrusion.

I agree with the poster whose answer was "yes and no." We had an excellent tour in Corsica. The 4 hour tour in Nice "ending at the airport" was about 40 minutes of sightseeing with 2 1/2 hours of free time at the Market. We basically paid $109 a person to have our luggage stored while we shopped, plus a ride to the airport.

The poster who mentioned weather changes also has a point. We were scheduled for Roses, Spain and changed to Palamos due to 60 MPH winds that made tendering unwise. We also had some hazardous tendering in Monte Carlo which caused the Captain to prohibit passengers from going ashore in the evening. The Journey's crew did a great job getting everyone safely back aboard in seas moving the tender about 4 feet up and down next to the platform of the ship. We disembarked one at a time with crewmen timing each departure with the swells. Two crewmen propelled you off the tender and two crewmen caught you on the platform. Bravo Journey crew. It was far from routine, but they made it work.

 

I am having a tough time with Durres/Tirana. We'll either do the ship's Tirana excursion or stay on the ship and do a spa day.

I have a great tour guide to recommend for Albania. We used him for a half day tour from Saranda to Butrint, and he was excellent. On our second port visit to Albania (how many can make that claim!), we took a ship's tour because we thought he would not travel so far to get us in Durres; well it turned out he guided one of the other Quest ship tours that day. We had a lovely post-tour reunion. He is happy to travel for the opportunity. If you press the link under my signature, I will be happy to provide his contact info to you.