dccruisin

That is the picture that I am getting with RCL. The land tour people don't tell you anything until you get to their tour. Read Cruislvr04 review of the 7B tour. They arrived late in the day before the tour started and by the time they got there some of the excursions they would have liked to take were full by people that had arrived earlier in the day.

Thanks everyone for your responses. I know we can on our own book the Wilderness tour directly via the NP vendor but that costs $144 a person. Since we have the Historical tour via our cruise tour package (which shows a $116.25 price.) I was trying to find out if anyone who has taken the RCL cruise tour if RCL offers an upgrade at some nominal difference in price or not before I fork out $144 a person for the wilderness tour. I contacted my TA and she does not show any details about the land tour except what is posted as the general information. From what I can find, the optional excursion information is generally not available until you are on the tour. Just looking for people's past experience. Thanks, Linda

Do you have to wait until we are on the tour or can you do it ahead of time?

It will be May 28th. I checked the NP site and they start the tours in mid-May. Linda

We are booked on the May 17th sailing of the RCL Radiance and taking the 7A land tour that includes Denali. Does anyone know if RCL offers an upgrade to the Denali Wilderness Tour from the included Denali Historical tour? I know there was a rock slide and the Wilderness tour only goes to mile marker 43 but still would like to take the wilderness tour. Also, if anyone has info, tips or experiences from the RCL tour to Denali the information would be very appreciated. I have read Cruislvr04’s very detailed posting of their 7B tour in 2023 that was helpful. Thanks, Linda

Just FYI. We just took advantage of paying in full early for our Carnival Rio cruise in Feb 2025. We paid yesterday and the 10% of the cruise price OBC shows up in our online reservation today. I found it amusing that the additional OBC was 10% down to the penny. No rounding to whole dollars. Linda

Hi crew news. Would you happen to have this type of info (links) for RCL? I have been trying to workthrough the CC postings on Alaska. Thanks. Linda

Not sure where the wilderness tour usually goes but there is this warning on the NP site: An ongoing landslide at Pretty Rocks is impacting bus service. All transit buses will travel only to Mile 43 of the 92-mile long Denali Park Road. Elsewhere it says all buses including tour buses can only go to mile marker 43. So not sure what we will see. We are on RCL's 7A tour from the May 17th out of Vancouver. I am trying to find out more info also on our land portion. Linda

Thank you so much for this detailed review. We will be going the opposite direction in May, 7A tour. The info about meals on the train is very helpful. Linda After taking kids to Disneyworld no meal prices shock me. 🙂

I did that and so far there are no excursions posted. The cruise isn't until Feb. 2025, 18 months away, so Azamara may not have lined up any excursions yet. So if someone has the flyer for the Rio Carnaval excursion I would be interested in seeing it. Linda

Thanks Grandma for the info. If anyone happens to have the flyer for the 2024 Rio Carnaval tickets I would be interested in seeing, especially the prices. I know even buying tickets directly from a dealer in Rio the tickets for 2024 are from $100 for the cheap seats to more than $600 a person for good seats. So I can image the cruise excursion would be quite expensive. And we have 11 ports on this cruise. We have been quite awhile to indulge in going to Rio for Carnaval. Panama goes nuts at Carnaval time, and we have been to Mardi Gras in New Orleans but Rio takes the cake. Linda

Sounds like you had well organized. Good to know you can't book the package a head of time with OBC. I want to lock the package in before Azamara changes their mind on the price. We will probably have many excursions and some may be pretty expensive excursions. I hope Azamara makes arrangements to see the Samba at the Rio Carnaval. So that $900 might get eaten up pretty fast. We usually make our own excursion arrangements but many of the ports aren't high cruise tourist ports so probably be looking at the Azamara excursions. Linda

Thanks for the info. We are in a veranda so we don't have the other perks so this will be a real bargain for us. And we have $900 OBC so we will use the OBC to purchase. Linda

Hi Grandma Cruising, Thanks for sending. I had seen this on the site. I just couldn't believe Azamara would charge the same price for 25 days as for 8. Glad they are doing that. Now to lock this in. I went to our booking and only the essential package was listed and did not have a price. I guess this whole website update has things messed up. I guess I will have to call. Linda

Hi federalexpress, So was the cost $1,499 for your Indulgence package on your 17 night cruise? We are on a 25 night cruise in February 2025. And if we can get the indulgence package for the $1,499 price that would be great. Linda

Thanks for putting this together. We are new to Azamara and appreciate the information. Linda

Just an update. I was able to use the Next Cruise certificate and got the $100 OBC for 7 day cruise and credit for the $200 deposit. It did take some back and forth phone calls among RCL, my travel agent and me. After RCL researched the certificate RCL said the travela gent had to call and use the certificate. So booked the cruise via the travel agent. Travel agent called RCL told travel agent that I had to call RCL and use the use the certificate. After some back and forth and contacting supervisors at RCL and such finally a 3 way call among RCL rep, my travel agent and me we got it done. Everyone was nice and patient. So if you have an old certificate you are going to use just be insistent on what you know and be patient. Linda

Yes I also keep forgetting to use the certificate. I called RCL and the agent was able to see the origination I date. Initially she said that the certificate was not eligible for OBC since I did not book the cruise within 2 months of getting the certificate. I pointed out that I thought under the old rules we had forever to book the cruise (online shows an expiration date of 2039). So she searched around and did find that the certificate was eligible for OBC. Now I have to choose a cruise.

Thanks for the info. Linda

Thanks for the ino. I think we simultaneously posted.

Well, I think I got my questioned answered. After much searching the RCL agent found out that we would still be eligible for the OBC too. Linda

I have a Next Cruise certificate in my profile that has an issue date of October 2010 and an expiration date of 2039 in my profile. I keep forgetting to apply the certificate. I called RCL and the customer service person said the $200 deposit would be applied but in order to get the OBC I had to add a booking within 2 months of the certificate issue. I know that is the policy is now but I thought back in 2010 the policy was different. Does anyone know what the Next Cruise certificate policy was in 2010? Thanks

I will throw my 2 cents in on the currency discussion. We have been traveling in Europe for 6 weeks. We have been to been to England, Norway, Spain, Morocco and France. We have been to 23+ cities (large and small) and our US chipped Visa cards have been accepted for 1 Euro bathroom charges and many times for small snack purchases to purchases much larger than 100Euro. Never have we been asked for a pin. Very few places including small vendor stalls, public transporttion and taxis do not accept credit cards. In fact in someplaces if you paid the bus fare by credit card it was cheaper than using cash. Handling cash has its own expenses for vendors that people don't think about. I found that the Marriot Visa Bonvoy card seems to give a better exchange rate than our Capital One card. I have notifications turned on so that anytime I purchase something I receive an email instantly with the amount charged in $$. So I can see instantly what we are actually charged even before getting up from the resteraunt table. Linda We have used some cash for tips and such. I found it interesting in several ports where the locals ran the shuttle bus to the city you did need to use cash.