ptrpanpens

There are several cruise companies who post available cabins. Just find one of those and do a dummy booking so you will see which cabins are available in real time.

you will probably get a better price, too.

I was in 6036 for a cruise a few years ago and really liked it. The cabin was positioned between lifeboats so there was plenty of light. The problems were that you had to be careful with keeping blinds open when the crew was out there. I would also recommend a smaller bed. A Queen or double would make the room feel more spacious. But for one person it is great. I saved about $1,500 on this cabin and would choose it again.

the location is great too.

I have stayed in 6036 once. It also has a decent view between the lifeboats. I would never book that category with two people as it is just too small, but for me it was fine especially when saving over $1,000 compared to a balcony. Only category 08 was available for oceanview so I only had the choice between a balcony and obstructed OV. The location is fantastic but you have to be careful when they are servicing the lifeboats to keep the blinds closed. 
 

personally I think they should restrict them to solo occupancy and reduce the size of the bed to at least a Queen or double which would make the room seem larger.

On 12/26/2022 at 1:10 PM, travelberlin said:

I have noticed that. I hope more offers will come.

Ivi

There are several reduced solo supplements in March, April , May but they are not advertised and you have to go through the booking process to see them. 
 

two that I have seen are the Greece, Turkey and Bulgaria on May 2 and the Wine cruise on May 30. There are several in March too including Spain, France and Italy.

I have no idea why they are not listed on the site when you search solo cruise deals but I found them by chance when I did dummy bookings.

I don’t know about June yet, there may be some there too. Many are also listed on Quarterly savings for an extra 10%.

Anne

1 hour ago, excitedofharpenden said:

Understand. To me it sounds like they've messed up and haven't attached the offer to singles. Unless buried within the terms and conditions it says not applicable to singles. Which is ridiculous because you are paying for two people. Every such offer I've booked in the past as a single gets the same offer as two people. I'd check it with them. It's not the first time there have been mistakes in the booking engine. If you find out then let us know. 

 

Phil 

Will do when I find out anything. Right now I am not ready to book anything so don’t want to escalate things to upper management. Hoping they will hear from other singles and just correct the site.

quarterly savings haven’t  been updated to April quarter either.

1 minute ago, travelberlin said:

When you look at the Azamara web page, they say there are solo savings for some itineraries. It is called something like single125. I have chosen one of those itineraries. But when I have booked there was no discount at all for this category although it said it would be a solo discount. I have received other discounts for this cruise, for example the quarterly club discount and I the end I have accepted the final price but it is weird that no solo discount came.

Ivi

Often they do not update specials to reflect current availability. It is maddening they are so incompetent.

solo prices have been really good until the past couple weeks even though they have plenty of empty cabins on some cruises. Maybe they are trying to see how much they can get closer to sail date.

i get that solos pay more but why would the total cabin where a single is booked cost over $2,000 more than the total cabin where two persons are booked? Maybe they figure they lose $2,000 in extras when only one person books so they want to really gouge  us.

3 minutes ago, excitedofharpenden said:

Is it a guarantee?  Guarantees aren't always offered to solos. 

 

Phil 

 No it is the new promotion 60% off for the second guest. I know the guarantees aren’t offered to single occupancy but I have gotten them by elevating the request to higher ups.

Does anyone know why the total price of a cabin would be $2,000+ more if booked for single occupancy than the total price of the same cabin when booked for double occupancy.

it appears the current promotion of 60% reduction for the second person does not apply when the cabin is booked by only one person. I understand that singles usually pay as much as double what 2 people pay for non promotional rates but shouldn’t the total price of cabin be the same?

i am looking at a cruise where the total cabin price for two persons including taxes is approximately $6,400 where the total cabin price for single occupancy is a little over $8600 for the same cabin. Does this seem fair?

i seem to remember this happening the last time Azamara had this same promotion and they eventually adjusted the price down for single occupancy so that the total cost of the cabin was the same minus taxes for one person.

maybe I am confused. Any solo travelers or anyone else have an opinion on this?

5 minutes ago, Lois R said:

I appreciate your thoughts.  I will contact my rep at the cruise line.....I am very fortunate she is a long time friend and has a direct contact in the air dept. 

she should be able to get you a better connection. I would be too nervous only having that short time especially the way things are now. I will be flying to CDG myself in March but staying in Paris so luckily wont have to transfer this time. Good luck

If you risk the 1 hour 15 minute connection, make sure there is a later flight from CDG to Lisbon as a backup just in case. Personally I would not risk it on a flight coming in from the US. Not only is CDG a very huge and confusing airport but it is crowded and anything can happen to delay things. Be sure you get to know the layout of the airport so you can get to the gate quickly if you decide not to change.

i always fly business class and have gone through that airport at least 10 times in the last few years (not counting covid of course) so I  know it pretty well. Returning back to the US and transferring through CDC is easier since you dont have to go through customs so the 1 hr 15 minute time is more reasonable, but not when incoming.

Just my two cents.

I have transferred in CDG with a 1 hr 20 minute connection. I had to board a bus for the transfer between terminals, but I was able to make it in 40 minutes. I do know CDG airport pretty well and that helps. If you are not familiar with the airport you may have more problems as it is not the easiest to navigate. I was also flying business class so off the first flight quickly and that saved time. It will also depend on whether you can get the first bus transfer to make it easier.

i was flying to LAX so maybe it is different flying to Atlanta. Good luck

6 minutes ago, gskimmel said:

yes but why pay $50 for a walk around town when I can do that myself for free at my own pace and see what I want to see?  Or I see the $200+ excursion in Sorrento that goes to Capri but I could easily hop on a 30 min ferry myself. I just find it odd that I will be able to travel to Italy independently but if I’m on a cruise I need to be part of a cruise-sponsored excursion. Who knows. Maybe the guidance is assuming worst case scenario and will be more liberal at time of sailing. 

I am hopeful things will become clearer after the Greek cruises have set sail. Personally, being forced to go only on ship excursions is a deal breaker for me. Especially in Italy where I know several outstanding guides I always use whenever I go there,  (If I decide I dont want to explore on my own.)

one or two ship excursions might be acceptable but no more than that.

21 minutes ago, ECCruise said:

There is a buffet, it just will not be self-served.  This is the way it has been done on some other cruise lines for many years. From the "Explore Well at Sea:"

Buffets will now be served by crew rather than self-service

Yes I read that after I posted the message. Sorry about the confusion. You are correct and it makes perfect sense. Personally I am happier being served at buffets anyway, as sometimes people pick up food and then put it back without thinking of how unsanitary that is even under normal circumstances.

Curious as to how they will handle disembarkation is there is only one dining room? And since there will be no buffet, will they convert that area into another dining room, or perhaps a cafe where you cannot serve yourself. The dining room may be very crowded if that is the only option other than a boxed meal.

On 1/21/2021 at 9:35 PM, avw said:

If a cruise interests you, have your travel agent inquire about solo fares for you. I have been pleasantly surprised more than once with a reduced solo supp on Azamara that was not advertised or promoted on the website.

Same here. You have to go through a mock booking sometimes to see that the cruise has a reduced single supplement. I have seen both 50% and 75% single supplements that weren’t advertised and just showed up when pricing.

43 minutes ago, PirateWife said:

This isn't working for everyone.  We booked the same cruise in 2021 that we had booked in 2020.  The 2021 cruise starts about two weeks earlier and is 1 day longer.  With a less desirable room, it is costing us over $1,200 more.

I would check why it doesn’t work. But one thing is I think the cabin category must be the same. I know on mine I was able to book the same cabin.

I was just going to cancel my 10 night November 2020 cruise from Barcelona to Lisbon but since I had booked onboard, decided to see if I could switch it to an 11 Night Athens RT cruise in October 2021 that goes to some unusual ports in Greece and Turkey and spends two full days in Istanbul. That way I would not lose my OBC or booking discount.

To me, the cruises were not really comparable but I guess they met the Azamara criteria so the switch was approved. Same cabin on the 2021 cruise, one more night, and a savings of $2,000 on my cabin. Plus I got to keep my $300 OBC!
 

The way things are now I am not anxious to cruises again but things could change by next year and I had nothing to lose by changing my booking. The price was Certainly excellent and the itinerary was one I havent seen before on any line, even though I have been to Greece and Turkey many times.

So thanks Azamara, whatever happens.😀😀 Maybe there will be a miracle vaccine by next year.

Who wants to go on a cruise wearing a mask? Who wants to walk around Europe or anywhere else with many attractions possibly closed (and wearing a mask). Who wants to fly 12 hours in a mask? I don't.😱

Think I will wait for a vaccine or effective virus medication before I think of traveling to Europe or going on a cruise again.

15 minutes ago, Baynanno1 said:

 

You too are lucky!

Indeed I believe you are quite right there as far as speed goes and I may be wrong, but I believe many of those have cancelled their cruises themselves.

 

Yet we are still waiting for our refund promised in an email from Azamara on 10 March for the 17 March cruise, one of the first Azamara cancelled.

 

As more cruises are cancelled each month, so the workload increases for those handling compensation. It irks to hear of refunds being received for more recently cancelled cruises while we continue to wait . . . . . . 🤐

I also cancelled on March 10 but the cruise was for May 14. I received my fcc letter in about two weeks but they did not attach the FCC to it so it had to be redone. It took me almost two more weeks to receive the 50% cash refund for the cruise and the air refund but at lest I received it. I still can’t figure out how it was computed but since it was a little more than I expected I just accepted it and moved on.

Reading these boards I realize I was lucky.

It seems to me that the people who received 50%cash and 50% FCC received their refunds faster than those who got the 100%cash or 125%fcc. It took me almost a month to receive the 50/50 cash and FCC but at least I received it. A bird in the hand...and all that!😁😁

No problem being optimistic. Just be sure you have a large supply of masks and gloves. You will need them!

Many booking sites, airlines and tour companies are also dragging their feet on refunds. I got my refund from AZ for a May 14 cruise that I canceled on March 9, but it took about a month and I got 50% FCC and 50% refund. 

Refunds will take even even longer once more cruises past May 11 are cancelled.

good luck. Azamara makes many mistakes normally and esp during this period, probably due to the volume they are processing. So hopefully yours will get sorted out. Glad I didn’t have to fight it out with them.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bloomberg.com/amp/news/articles/2020-04-10/cdc-s-no-sail-order-for-cruise-ships-extended-by-100-more-days

2 hours ago, Wheelhouse said:

On March 10 my TA canceled a May cruise per my request as the 50% refund and 50% FCC policy was in effect.  Within 3 days I received a refund for an experience more package that I had booked directly.  On April 2 I contacted my TA to cancel an additional cruise with another line and to check on my Azamara refund.  The TA contacted Azamara and was told the refund had been processed the previous day.

 

Today my credit card showed a full refund for the taxes and a separate refund that reflected a transfer and 50% of the cruise fare.  So in my case it certainly appears that Azamara lived up to their end of the deal.  I have not had any direct communication from Azamara about the FCC but my TA said that might take a while.

 

So patience may be the best approach.  

Thank you for this information.
 

I also canceled my May 14 cruise on March 10. At the time, I was told that a 50% Cash refund, a refund of all taxes and a full cash refund of choice air would occur within the next 10-14 working days, as would the 50% FCC. I received my FCC by email about a week ago, however have not received anything else as of today April 6th.
 

I plan on contacting my travel agent after Easter to follow up if I have not received anything by then. I figure that will be more than sufficient time to expect a refund especially since my cruise was cancelled on regular cancellation terms, not their cruise with confidence terms.

Hopefully Azamara will make this right for us, but confidence in that happening is waning every day this drags on.

I called the skymiles number and they connected me within 10 minutes. This was about a week ago. They said the miles would be redeposited into my account wih no fee and they would refund the taxes back to my credit card.

you should be able to find the sky miles number on the Delta site.