Leo_On_Geo

Excursions used to be available 12 months ahead. Now 6 months?  Also if you are at your account page looking at your booking ignore the notice "No excursions available" message.  Sometimes they are avaiable. Click around and you can find them. However at 6 months they should be available for certain. 

Also it is good to purchase before you board.  Costs rise considerably.  On my recent cruise the cost of on-board excursion booking were $30 to $130 more expensive than when I booked about 3 months ahead

Also on this cruise, and I have to say I had some the best meals in discoveries every night. I think Azamara has really stepped up its game in terms of food.
My only negative comment is the lack of variety in discoveries for lunch. Menus were rather repetitive.
Overall, it was an excellent cruise, and very happy with the FCC we were given.

Last time (2022) I did this we were dropped near Santa Croce.  IMHO Five hours is too short for much.  If you have an overnight (often the case), consider spending a wonderful night in Florence.  It is magical in the late and early hours without the day trippers. 

1 hour ago, NicNata said:

We just got a brilliant deal for an Iceland Intensive cruise next year using our 6 free nights for a 12 night cruise. It was way cheaper applying the free nights versus using current promotional discounts. My question is what happens when you get to 1500 points and 2250 points etc? The website says at 750 points you get 6 free nights - that is easy to understand. However it says when you reach 1500 points then it is +3 nights, at 2250 it is +3 nights etc. Does that mean at 1500 points you get 9 free nights (6+3), at 2250 you get 12 free nights (6+3+3) etc.? It is very unclear to me how the free nights work at higher numbers of points. Has anyone claimed the free nights at higher points levels and if yes, how did it work?

No nights are not combinable.  You just get the free three nights as you reach the various levels that are really hard to make a value off, as the promotions are usually less that three "free" nights off the full price.  The 6 and 10 nights are a value, the three --no so much

1 hour ago, G2G said:

As a solo traveler, I can confirm what UKtog has said. If you go to the solo get together you may meet like minded people who wish to try the specialities. I’m quite content to savour the view and eat alone, I appreciate it’s not for everyone. 

 I make my specialty reservations when I board. As the cruise progresses, I ask other solos if they would like to join. Easier to get joiners if you already have the table reservered.  Then they add their names to the reservation. If not I will eat alone, but it is much fun to have a nice group. The later additions to a reservation are only a problem if you go above 4 (then you need a larger table). 

46 minutes ago, crusinbanjo said:

I bought the 3 table tour with the Chef’s table, but I didn’t see any link to make a reservation, guess I’ll go look again.  

I don’t believe there is a way to make reservations online. All my previous experience is that reservations are made on board. So if they are selling the premium dining and it seems from your experience they are, and if you get on board and there are no reservations available, which was your original question,  then they would refund you money. 

7 hours ago, crusinbanjo said:

So……..  What if you bought the dinning package that includes the Chef’s Table, then when on board, it is all booked out.  What happens then?

Doesn't happen because you can book BEFORE you board. When you board you book, if there is space you reserve and you pay then.  If there is no space I strongly suggest the waiting list, they add additional Chef Tables all the time,  I've had cases where I bought and paid for a three table tour, (with reservations) because the Cheftable was sold out. Later they added me to a Chef table and altered my purchase to a two table tour and Chef Table. Try to book as soon as you can, and sign up for wait list.  It will all work out

4 hours ago, AnnaNicole said:

Does this Best Price Guarantee apply to price drops after final payment?   My cruise dropped two weeks after I booked.   They dropped two ports from the itinerary and prices went down.

It doesn't hurt to ask.  I have gotten some additional OBC in such a case, or an upgrade with a much lower cost.

11 hours ago, Grandma Cruising said:

If you log into your account on Azamara, then click on upcoming cruises, then click on Manage my Reservation for the Rio cruise you should be able to see the excursion. Scroll down to excursions then look for the paper/pencil icon on the right. Click on it and the excursions for your cruise should come up.

Is there away to download a pdf of all the excursions...like before?

The QR Code comes with internet minutes for guests to fill out their comments.  I asked at GR and they provided the old insider for the day I missed the QR Code and I passed it around for others to use. I have also been asked by numerous staff to submit mid cruise comments.  I don't agree that they do not want to hear comments from the guests.  I have been repeatedly told that they would rather address issues in real time, than after the guest got of the ship when nothing can be done. A satisfied guest is a future asset.

42 minutes ago, babykay said:

I agree - there are some stars on my cruise.  Mid cruise form?  We didn't get a mid cruise form. And I had trouble with the shore ex staff - but these were future cruise agents - I would envision that they would be very accommodating. We have been home a week now and still haven't received the critique form. 

The mid cruise critique is now a QR code printed in the insider. You have to look for it, and that makes it hard, because most people are expecting the previous printed page request. You really have to know to look for it. Although it is prominently advertised in the insider.  
 

As to not getting the post cruise critique, that probably has to do with your email address. I have found that some of my cruise bookings had  a misspelled email address while other cruise bookings  had the right email address. So sometimes I got the post cruise assessment, and sometimes I didn’t. It took quite a while to get that straightened out. 
 

The times when I didn’t receive the post cruise critique, I wrote directly to The LCV, hostess, and ask for the comments to be passed on. Better than nothing.

I don't think you could make a 6:30 flight, unless you got off the ship on the arrival night and stayed at a hotel. In my similar (arrival the night before) experience from March, as we left we were held at the gangway until customs cleared, and luggage unloading transportation finished (for safety reasons I assume). I easily made a 10:30 AM flight. If you must take the 6:30 AM flight it may be possible to leave the ship a day early, as I suggested, with preplanned permissions. 

Hi Phil,

I have had no problem using CPAP in OV and V cabins. The cord of the machine reaches to the power plugs at the desk (If you are using the side of bed closest to window).  If not you can ask for an extension cord .  However, I was given a bulky, heavy, and large yellow industrial extension cord that was a pain to store. For me it is easy to extend the machine's cord to the desk, then unplug in morning and shove the cord in the bedside table drawer. Azamara provides distilled H20.

Another issue your partner may find is that I like to have a space between the bed and wall for the cord to drop into while I am sleeping. You need to tell the stewart to leave the space, unless you want to pull the bed away from the wall each night. Their default is to push the bed back to the wall every day.

Lisa

On 7/2/2023 at 3:36 PM, harrodsfan said:

I have waited far longer than ten minutes many times! 

I tend to go first thing in the morning or in the late afternoon hours (5-7 pm).  If I see a long line, I just come back later.  Plus there is a drop box.  I never wait more than 10 minutes. 

12 hours ago, sofietucker said:

We have been trying to convert our already-paid-for shorex to OBC. But the rep said that to do that, we must cancel the shorex and then rebook with their *brand new* online system. Fine BUT! She said there's a high likelihood that those are already waitlisted. (PS, very limited options in some ports: EVERYONE wants the sole excursion to Troy, for instance). So if we cancel, it will instantly be reassigned to the first person on the waitlist & then we've lost our spot. To make it work, it must be done on the phone with the rep. BUT she will ONLY work with our TA, not us directly. Or, she said, go stand in line at the shorex desk once aboard and have them do the conversions. Yeah, no. We'll let our fabulous TA make the conversions for us.

Standing in the line is really not an issue. I've never waited more than 10 minutes. However, this recently  happened to me, and  ShoreEx said that one way to prevent my space being reassigned, was to transfer the form of payment AFTER the tour (check this before).  So I went on the tour, and just made the exchange (via the drop box, so no wait). The credit charge was applied to my account and refunded to my card at the end of the cruise. 

I have done this several times as new cabins are often freed up after final payment date. My TA did it, I am usually on the phone with her.

I did this trip in March, Including 10 days in South Africa before. You can buy the special clothing, or you can just use permethrin spray, bought on Amazon, to give your clothes insect repellency.

There is usually no problem getting on tenders.  In the last year I have experienced requests for independent travelers to get tender tickets, due to anticipated demand.  If you just explain you have an early tour, there is no problem.  Even when they used tender tickets I found they usually resort to "just go to the tender" after about 30 minutes.

Fairly certain it is a problem with your email address. Happened to me. got the feedback email for many years , but then didn’t. When I checked with loyalty, for some reason the address spelling changed so I didn’t get the email.

You can write your comments and email them to the loyalty ambassador. I did this several times during that period. In March got the email fine. Hopefully all correct now

37 minutes ago, nonrev1 said:

Kind of funny since when we were onboard they could not find our OBC for our next cruise this summer. (we were hoping to book our excursions while onboard and get the lower rate and the 10% off promo for booking 3 while onboard)  They told us we could book our excursions with our credit card and when we board the ship this summer, they will cancel it off our credit card and rebook it with our OBC.  ( That is assuming this gets sorted out by then)  After the Shore Excursion issues we had earlier this month,  I am not willing to do that.  

That is exactly what I was told last month on the journey. It was during the changeover.  they couldn’t book the shore excursions at the reduced rate, so they gave us a letter that we could use once we boarded in November to get the cost of the excursions reduced to the pre-booked special prices we’ll see.  Not dealing with this until at least July, hope things resolved soon

13 minutes ago, Grandma Cruising said:

Yes, we’ve done that too - BUT one of the FAQ’s on Azamara’s new website now says you can’t do that

 

Thanks For the update. It’s a shame in my regard because I had used my OBC for excursions that were later canceled and OBC refunded so left with extra OBC and shore excursions charge to credit card.  
The only place I wanted to use my OBC was on shore excursions.

20 hours ago, fraj1 said:

Can I just clarify LeonGe…..did you initially precruise book your excursions with your personal credit card and then when onboard got them to refund the monies to your personal credit card and deduct it from your OBC instead? If so then this is an ideal solution! Would be a bit worried about using my own credit card without this assurance as I don’t want to be left with lots of OBC! 
 

many thanks

 

It was a rather complicated situation. I had booked several tours on board a previous sailing, some of which used my OBC, and some that were charged to the credit card. Gradually over the course of months, many of the tours were canceled, rearranged, etc. and I was left with one tour that was charged to my credit card, and some of the remaining OBC that have been refunded from the other canceled tours.

I spoke with Shore Excursions once I was on board, and asked that the tour which was charged to my credit card be changed over to be charged to the OBC.
 

The refund did appear on my television screen, but it was not non-refundable credit. In fact, I used it for the crew welfare fund for which you can ONLY use refundable credit. If I hadn’t used the credit, it would’ve been rebated to my credit card at the end of the cruise.

8 hours ago, Sallyandtex said:

Has anyone successfully paid their shore trip with OBC?

 

If not, and I pay with CC , an I able to cancel shore tours online and get refunded.?

 

We have only a small OBC, but want to put this to part of a  shore trip as we don't see any need for the credit otherwise. 

Also, are the shore trips in USD? All our payments are shown in AUD, but no symbol/letters after the shore trip cost advertised. 

Interestingly, our full payment for the cruise comes up substantially less than what we paid.....maybe not factoring in the TA commission ((more than 20% seems a lot)

Yes, you can pay for shore excursions with your credit card, and then change it to use your OBC once on board. Very easily done. Sometimes this is a good strategy, because the price usually goes up closer to the sail date. They will honor the price you paid for, not the current increased price. At least that was my recent experience.  YMMV

Got off journey a few weeks ago, I had booked several excursions using my credit card, and then shifted them to onboard credit when I was on the ship. Very easily done nothing to worry about. The credit Card issued credit appeared on my ship account as refundable, But in the end used most of it on other things.

On the Pursuit in Dec.  There was electronic billing, so no opportunity to even tip extra iin the Specialties even if you wanted.  They knew I had a package and I  wasn't presented with a "bill".   I didn't have to sign anything. Maybe that will change.