RBPatt

Billy / Vineyard View,

Thank you very much for the information.  That's very helpful and very timely.  I was about to change our flights when I saw your post.  Good thing I didn't.    Instead I purchased the Port to Airport transfer and will arrange to disembark early to go straight to the airport.

Also, I have a copy of a letter that someone on a September cruise received from Azamara last month about the Fusina process.  That one says they will bus passengers with flights before 11:30 directly to the airport.  So far we haven't received anything from Azamara.

If anyone wants to see that letter I'll be happy to post it here.

  Bob

Vineyard View,

Thank you very much for the information.  That's very helpful. The cruise line does have a transfer to the airport, but nobody there could tell me when they start and if they go straight to the airport. 

To be safe I think I'm going to switch to a later flight or wait until the following day.

  Bob

On 3/6/2023 at 5:42 AM, Billy Butlin said:

Thanks all. I am going to call Azamara and ask.

Hi Billy,

I know  it's been a few months since you asked about debarkation at Fusina, but it's my hope. you found the answer. 

We are scheduled to debark at Fusina on August 22 with a fairly early return flight (11:00 AM).  I called Azamara to inquire about the debarkation process at that port but the rep did not know.  He could only guess about the availability of taxis.  Not very helpful.

Have you already sailed, and if so what was your experience?  Or if you haven't sailed yet, what have you learned?

Thank you very much.

  Bob

2 minutes ago, excitedofharpenden said:

If it’s port intensive and you get a reasonable amount of data with your plan (I get 12GB data for a month which is ample for me) then I probably wouldn’t bother with ship internet.  Expense and slowness.  I had lots of sea days on my trips which is why I used the ship internet. 

 

Phil

 

 

Thanks Phil,

We have 5 sea days out of 15 and it won't hurt to be unplugged for a while.  I'll just stick with the mobile data in port.

I used the ship Internet on a Cuba cruise recently and it wasn't too bad.  But that's a different part of the world.

  Bob

On 2/18/2020 at 3:34 AM, uktog said:

My experience the IT technicians onboard just say anything they alleged an issue with my work Mac which was absolute rubbish the issue was the system isn’t fit for purpose. 

 
You're right, that Mac comment is rubbish.

We're booked on Journey  March 9.  I have an international  SIM for the days we're in port.  From the discussion here it sounds like we should skip the Internet package.  Does anyone think otherwise?

  Bob

1 hour ago, Host Grandma Cruising said:

They used to say they kept groups to under 25, but nowadays people say it tends to be more, and certainly that was our experience in Norway.

Thanks Grandma, 

That's very helpful. I'll check Trip Advisor before I make a decision.

  Bob

35 minutes ago, Wichenford Wolf said:

Any other tips which might persuade us that paying for the cruise line excursions would be worthwhile?

If your cruise includes stops in Rome, Florence or Naples I highly recommend Share a Shore Excursion.  They take between 6-8 people in Mercedes Sprinter vans and are usually very flexible about the itinerary.  We booked with them in each port a few years ago and enjoyed every one of them.  I know this has nothing to do with the cruise line tours, but thought I'd mention it anyway.

  Bob

1 hour ago, PirateWife said:

We have done lots of Azamara shore excursions.  Part of our decision has been how much OBC we have. 

 PirateWife,

Thanks for the quick reply and your advice.  We booked through Costco of all places.  They have several private events and tours for their customers but we have no OBC. I don't mind paying extra for the tours as long as they're not cattle calls.  And we like small ones because everyone gets to know each other (20 is a nice size).

I saw the Azamara videos that say their tours are small, but I had to check.

  Bob

Shore  excursion question for Azamara veterans.

Until now we’ve only taken cruises on larger mass market ships, NCL, RCCL etc.  We learned quickly to avoid shore excursions through the cruise line because they were usually in big crowded buses which made us feel like cattle.  Instead we either explored on our own, hired private guides or booked small local tours.

Azamara claims to be different.  Is that true?

We’re seriously considering a couple ship sponsored excursions including the Kangaroo and Koala tour in Melbourne.  How many people do they typically take on tours like this?  If it’s only  20 people or so, we’re interested.  But if it’s a large 60 passenger bus we’ll pass.

Thanks for your advice.

  Bob