Symmes99

My cancelled cruise was an Egypt/Israel cruise on the Journey round-trip from Athens, departing on 10/30/25. Azamara had not said what the journey would do instead.  

This is the message my TA received on 3/22 when we first learned of the cancellation:

1. Rebook to any Azamara cruise 12 nts or less and be fully price protected
2. Rebook to any Azamara cruise 13 nts or more at prevailing rate
3. Refund

Here’s the text of the email I received on 4/23:

We’ve been on Azamara 3 times since Covid and the cruises have been great - as good as our pre-Covid cruise with them. We love their product, it suits us well. 

The shoreside operations and website were abysmal at the turnover from the RCL booking platform but have been improving and are maybe 75% of where they need to be. We’re booked on Journey in Feb ‘25 and it was a monumental task to get “Manage My Reservation” to align with the booking confirmation. But now all is well with that booking. 

Just this week I received a refund of my deposit for an October ‘25 11-night Egypt/Israel cruise on the Journey that Azamara cancelled due to “unrest in the Red Sea.” I first learned of this cancellation a month ago and thought it was odd: the cruise would be in the Med not the Red Sea (but still in an area of current unrest, maybe that’s what they meant), I could still buy the cruise on the Azamara website, and who cancels cruises 1.5 years out? The unrest could be settled by then. I was offered the option to rebook up to a 12-night cruise and keep my original fare (if it was lower), transfer all my OBC, and get another $1,000 OBC for my troubles - nice offer. But none of the published cruises in that same timeframe were of interest and our next opportunity for a future cruise would be in mid-2026, beyond the limits of the current Azamara calendar. So I asked what would be the Journey’s new itinerary, maybe that would work. Azamara didn't have that yet. And they needed my decision before that itinerary would be set. So I cancelled and am now looking elsewhere to plug that gap in my cruise calendar. My thought is: why not wait to notify on the cancellation until you know what you're doing with the ship, then reach out to the client? There’s plenty of time - no one will have purchased airfare this far out. 

Despite the shoreside adventures, we are still big fans of the line. 

Even though Azamara mentioned “unrest in the Red Sea” in relation to the October 2025 cancellation, the Journey is not in the Red Sea at all. She’s in the Med, sailing round trip from Athens and calling at Haifa, Ashdod, and Alexandria. The two Israel ports are likely the cause of the cancellation. It’s really unrest in the whole region that’s the concern, not just the Red Sea. No matter - safety first. And I suppose Azamara doesn't want to wait to reshuffle, even if the unrest dissipates by then. There must be a lot of competition for ports among all the cruise lines that are reshuffling itineraries. 

Thanks. I will try and wait for Azamara to announce but I’m already looking at alternatives. 

My TA got a message from Azamara that my October 30 2025 11-night Egypt/Israel Intensive Voyage was cancelled “due to unrest in the Red Sea.” Yet the cruise is still active in Manage My Reservation and anyone can still book this cruise on the Azamara website. The TA couldn't give me more information because she’d not been able to get through to Azamara yet. I wanted to understand why a cruise 19 months away was being cancelled now, so I called Azamara directly. The agent looked up the cruise, then transferred me to the Redeployment Desk which had a message saying if you have a TA, have them call. So I suppose the cruise is not happening and I should wait for details, such as what cruise will the Journey now sail? There’s no roll call yet for my cruise so there’s no one else to compare notes with.Azamara has several similar cruises in fall 2025 - I’m curious if others have also heard about their cruises being cancelled.

I received the promotion email on January 25, hesitated a bit, then called my TA and arranged full payment for a cruise in Feb 2025. The 5% OBC appeared on the booking form right away. I told a friend about the promotion - he’s on the same cruise but has a different TA. He called his TA who then called Azamara, and he too was offered 5% OBC so he also made final payment. 

Has anyone taken advantage of this offer? I’m leaning that way now - a 5% return by paying 6 months early is better than leaving that money in the bank.  

I said earlier that I’d ask my TA to check for any buzz, and was asked to post what she said. Here it is:

”I will contact Azamara- but no rumors of issues- no cash flow issues and they just hired Dondra Ritzenthaler as CEO from Celebrity- a great move for them in my opinion.  She starts in May.”

So my concerns about the basis for the 5% offer seem to have been allayed. 

I am hesitant to take advantage of the 5% offer. Is Azamara’s having cash flow problems? Is my full payment needed to fund current operations? Do I want to be on a list of creditors if Azamara ceases operations before my cruise? I’ve asked my TA to check industry buzz. 

My wife and I stayed at AlmaLusa Hotel (https://www.almalusahotels.com/baixachiado/) for 5 nights at the end of a transatlantic crossing in April 2022. Very well located - and flat surfaces all around. We could walk to the cruise terminal, the nearby square Prada do Comercio, and then uphill to explore further. The restaurant has some fabulous Portuguese dishes. I want to start or end a cruise in Lisbon again just so we can stay (and eat) here again. 

According to Cruise Mapper, Oceania Riviera was the last passenger ship to pass through the Red Sea en route to Dubai (she is now well clear of the Red Sea). It doesn’t look like any other passenger ships are queuing up for the Suez Canal. I’ve been paying attention because we board her on 12/29 in Abu Dhabi and wanted to make sure she is in port before I fly from the USA. 

Hey, it’s a start! I had already printed screenshots of excursions that looked interesting. I crossed-checked them with Azamara’s new list and they matched. Azamara shoreside is getting its act together slowly but surely. Thanks everyone for posting info and tips! 

Thanks all for the feedback. I think I’ll just take screenshots of each tour description and print them. Clunky but it’ll get the job done.   

I’d like to peruse shore excursions in a printed format rather than scroll online through each one. I asked my TA to check with Azamara but that was a dead end. I can’t figure out how to print a list of the shore excursions for my cruise with the details of each excursion. Has anyone been able to do this? Appreciate the advice! 

As I said, I booked last spring so that was in early to mid 2022. 

We did this cruise last November. No rough seas, wreathed was mild. Dakar was scratched before the cruise started, Cape Verde replaced it and was fun. Casablanca was missed because of some supposed Covid issue and we went to Funchal, Madeira instead (sort of a wasted half-day stop at which we tendered because other ships occupied the piers). And because a medical emergency slowed the ship (had to divert to Salvador Brazil for a medical evacuation. thankfully the passenger recovered ashore we were told), we arrived later than planned into Rio and spent an overnight there, which caused Montevideo to get dropped. None of this diminished the fun we had on this cruise. The best part was the 5- day extension to iguazu Falls and Rio. First- class operation all the way by Viking! 

I booked a cruise last spring  for January 2024 and paid the $25pp deposit. I canceled that cruise a few months ago and the only cancellation fee was the $25pp deposit. I could have moved the deposit to another cruise but let it go instead. 

Will be on Quest b2b in the early fall: 11-night Greece intensive, followed by 8-night Croatia intensive. HVE been on Quest and Journey before, not yet on Pursuit or Onward. 

Seems like business class air will soon cost more than most of the cruises we take! Will need to get comfortable with premium economy. 

Congratulations on solving your voucher issue!

I too learned the hard way about vouchers being applied without me knowing about it or even being notified.. I called and got the voucher reinstated. I don’t remember all the details but it worked out ok. 

Fortunately I have no vouchers left so not a concern going forward. 

I did book several cruises on the $25pp deposit program because it was too tempting. I already canceled one, and lost the $50 deposit but it was fun to have that cruise in my future for a while! 

My wife and I have  been on 3 Azamara cruises (including 1 since they were sold) and 4 Viking Ocean cruises. We enjoyed every one of them. We have 2 cruises booked on Azamara in 2023 and 1 booked on Viking Ocean in 2024. Both lines have done a good job handling my wife’s food allergies (she’s a celiac, plus has allergies to dairy and soy, and is picky about a lot of other food), but overall we like the food on Azamara a little better. We prefer the main dining room on Azamara - it’s more elegant and spacious. The Restaurant on Viking reminds us of a cafeteria, and if you’re seated at the aft end you have to navigate the obstacle course of chairs half blocking the aisles when you exit. We like the theater on Viking better - nicer seating, better sight lines, not as crowded as the Cabernet setup on Azamara. I like the lounges on the outside lower deck of Azamara (deck 4, I think), because it’s quiet and the ocean is right over the railing. My wife prefers the lounge chairs on Viking’s deck 7 by the pool, because it’s livelier and it’s easier to get drinks and food. One thing we now focus on is the itinerary; whichever line has an itinerary that pops will get our deposit. That puts Azamara ahead because they seem to do more adventurous and varied itineraries than Viking. But we also have upcoming cruises on Silversea and Regent for the first time because of unique itineraries, and a 2024 cruise with Oceania (we cruised with them once, 8 years ago) because of an exciting itinerary. 

Embarkation was simple. Show docs at terminal then board straight away. No pre-cruise testing required. Wasn’t until we got to cabin and saw the spit tubes that we realized testing onboard was being done. The Travel Requirements on MVJ indicated that we’d be notified not email before the cruise if testing would be required. But never got an email. I spoke with the General Manager onboard and showed him the pre-cruise info on MVJ. He was surprised and unaware that shoreside operations were saying that no testing would be required. His marching orders were to test everyone every day.  

We got off Jupiter yesterday morning after the crossing from Barcelona. We were required to do spit tests each of the 21 days even though none of the countries we visited required testing of vaccinated cruise ship passengers. 

Just now, powderhorn said:

Is the crew masked?

More or less. They do wear masks but some pull them down when speaking with you or for a photo. And many noses are uncovered. It’s good to see faces again!