uktog

You need to ask Azamara because in South America the customs rules for when you can disembark with luggage are very strict and subject to last minute change. I don’t think anyone here can give you a definitive answer If it was me and even though Azamara might say provisionally yes, the problem is in South America the local authorities change their mind so often I would rather opt for that extra day and go for the flight the next morning

@ECCruise how well put Anyone else find that these days they all too often have an image of headless chickens when they think Azamara

I have to agree, a cruise where a high % of guests were part of mini groups will not give the ambience I want. It will change Azamara and not for the good/ The only way they could create space for the workers is to take out precious space onboard. Possibly be fine if you are on a good weather cruise but not great if you are on a scenic cruise in less good weather - our South America cruise was bad enough with all the available space when we had three days of poor weather. I too still work onboard but do so in my room or, if I am just on my pc with regular coffees in the Discovery Bar (so I dont hog up Mosaic, occasionally if DH is joining I may use Mosaic. I dont expect the cruise line to make space for me. And the idea of somewhere for group meetings -in other words another way to market group bookings for team away weeks (do bottom lined focussed business other than those in the travel trade do these now?) My other concern is the noise - and that cuts both ways. I would want Azamara to strictly enforce (no ifs no buts) a policy of no Teams Meetings or FaceTime calls without the use of headsets in public areas. We dont all want to hear the call thank you - this is something that is needed now, FaceTime is happening too often in the dining room. But also dont put the "dedicated area" in the Living Room or the Den - these areas are needed for other activities such as Trivia and Games so we do not want Business Person telling us to keep the noise down. Lets hope like some previous surveys these ideas die as quick a death as they had a birth.

In the Marketplace in the evening are you having to go and select your choices or can you get some "service" at your table? The food sounds lovely but I am someone who just wants to sit down and enjoy my evening meal. I do not enjoy buffets, not because of the handling of tongs etc but because of the need to jump up and down

Too late for that 😂😂😇

The argument always is that cruise critic is not scientific

Answers on a postcard to send by Pigeon Post to ………

I love the Peroni 00. Recently on a blind tasting published locally 75% of regular and frequent Peroni drinkers could not differentiate between "the real thing" and the zero. I am interested in the NA Red wine - I love a glass of red wine but some days it hates me. It will be good to have an alternative to try

I haven't a clue about our nights and I am not sure I would be good at checking anyway. I always went on the basis of someone else will know the right figure! Wonder if I will ever know.....watches the tumbleweed creep over......

I have just done Scenic. There were alternatives for dining at lunch, sit down for dinner or room service plus everyone had one meal in a special restaurant and those on diamond deck also had a “best of the best” experience in another venue one night. But yes, inevitably river boats have fewer options but compared to Ama I was surprised how much Scenic packed into their ships. I’ve yet to try Viking River but they’ve a Christmas Market itinerary others don’t do so I’m contemplating it. In terms of Viking River and Ocean because of UK rules the payment terms are 90 days before so that absolute disadvantage goes for UK guests. Im on our second Viking Ocean at the end of the month. It’s somewhere Azamara wasn’t doing this year (Greenland). I’m interested to see how the vibe is. Our first Viking came close on the back of an Azamara so feel we were comparing like for like. We found the crew equally attentive (both had lapses) and the guests equally friendly but it was during Covid mixing restrictions so might have given a false impression in that guests and crew were always taking their limited opportunities to be outgoing!

Many people arrive for cruises without having done online check in even in the good "olden days" pre new IT system so I would say if you do not want to enter this process you should be ok. I would have thought if it was urgent, Azamara would email you or your travel agent

Before it was removed, I noticed a lot of people were having an absolute go at Azamara not only about that sailing but about others and general website issues. I wonder if it was attracting too much negative publicity and that was why they pulled it, they try and keep that site as good news only

Bit slow in booking your excursions aren’t you 😂

You are being too kind because when you click the book now tab it does not take you through to a page to book a cruise, it goes to a page that offers to help you find an existing booking and service it

The problems continue, love the reference to attention to detail

Ah @Riocca is the guest it worked for 😂. To be honest I think being told to message the ship by the call centre is a really very bad thing. People will start sharing the email address on websites, the ship will get swamped with communication and others will and the onboard service will grind to a slow. Riocca I know wouldn’t do that but others will start sending pillow requests and minibar requests when would it end. Whoever is doing that at the call centre or whatever procedure manual it sits in should stop/change it immediately

Just about every day I get a marketing email from Azamara (yes I know some people would love to get even one!) which is now feeling like “desperation” Todays takes the biscuit it’s inviting me to book my shore excursions and carnival tickets for my upcoming South America cruise. The good news, I do indeed have a cruise booked to South America, the bad news it’s an Antarctic cruise not over the period of carnival which does not call at Rio. Other than that…… How much more garbage output from this IT system do guests have to tolerate?

Not sure I follow. Your free nights apply on one of the cruises, your discount would be applied to the balance and the full cost of the next cruise.

Both you get $300 obc (or $200 if you book towards the end of your cruise) plus your loyalty discount

Agree sounds a great range

Do you know if you don’t get an included trip check in with the staff onboard- they usually manage to fit you in. I never noticed the larger number of passengers as the onboard sq ft is much larger pet head

The set procedure as I understand it is no furniture on the Aquavit terrace for all Northern Lights sailings which is fair enough. Crew won’t know they just do as they are told without question you need to speak to people like the Chief Safety Officer or equivalent stripes in the Marine side to get an insight

Increasing, our alternatives are Viking and potentially Explora plus possibly Scenic having loved a river cruise. Our friends who have different requirements from a cruise line have gone to Celebrity Retreat

If you mean pricing they price them separately and you choose the most advantageous one

Very good point @excitedofharpenden We have had the same issues with 3 nights. I know others will chime in that it’s worked for them but it’s a case of “all depends on the price of the cruise”. If your sole driver is booking to use the three free nights you probably will find a cruise where it makes a difference but your additional spend may be quite high. If you are booking for a particular itinerary you want you are much more likely to find the free nights have little or no value Theres also a problem that hopefully will be fixed by the time you come to use them - not even your travel agent can see the “value” of your free nights it’s not published they have to contact Azamara wait until someone does the calculation then come back to you. Two calculations on a cruise of the same length and same advertised ballpark price won’t necessarily give you the same “discount”. It’s all a bit hocus pocus. My own view dump the free nights and go for a flat % off advertised fare (say 25%, 50% 75%). Easier to understand