joetop2467

We were just at Volunteer Point a few days ago from the Sapphire Princess. If you have any possible way to go there, please do. It’s amazing. Check out Shaun Jaffray. He’s $200 compared to over $400 with the cruise ship. There are hundreds of King Penguins there.

Here’s one thing to think about-if you’re using non refundable OBC, make sure that you’re not going to cancel the excursion you use it for. We canceled the first excursion we booked that used most of our OBC and had to book the others with a credit card. Now we have over $200 non refundable OBC and have booked all our other excursions and have the plus so there’s nothing left to buy. I would cancel another excursion that we paid for but all the prices have gone up at least $20-$40.

I remember reading here that at some stores in certain ports, you may pay using your medallion. If I have non-refundable OBC, will the cost of what I buy use this OBC first and then be charged to my credit card? I have non-refundable OBC that has been credited back to me after I canceled a shore excursion. We have purchased all of our shore excursions and have gratuities and wifi included. I’d like somewhere else to spend this credit rather than being limited to onboard shops.

We hardly ever use cash any more. I get nervous if I have over $80 in my wallet.

They have always cashed checks on other cruise lines. But that was usually in the Caribbean where they have been to US more recently. They have our credit card so they know we are good for the money. I’m more concerned about availability of US dollars and current policy. We have one tour that wants to be paid $400 in US cash and another that wants US cash of $270.

We will be traveling on the Sapphire Princess in South America on February 5. We have a couple of tours booked on our own what want to be paid in American money after the tour. We generally don’t like carrying large amounts of cash and in the past have been able to cash a check at Guest Services. Does anyone have recent experience doing this and do they give you American money?

We were just in Cabo last week on a land trip. We saw two Viking ships anchored in the harbor and the tenders running back and forth. The distance is not far and they seem to run pretty quickly. There is plenty to do right there at the dock. We paid $20 each for a 45 minute boat ride to the arch and some other spots around the bay. There are people all over selling these boat rides. Just stay clear of the timeshare sellers. We were staying in San Jose del Cabo. We hired a driver to take us to Cabo San Lucas. It took about 45 minutes. I don’t know what excursions your cruise ship is offering but my point is you can do everything you want on your own and pretty cheaply.

We canceled one and it came back half on one credit card and half on another. We had to call to figure out what was going on. No explanation of why. It was bought using one credit card.

Can we use one of our free casual meals there?

Thank you.

We have a ship excursion we booked prior to our February 5, 2024 cruise that we paid for with a credit card. If we cancel it now, will we get a credit back to our credit card or OBC? If it’s OBC, will it be refundable or non refundable?

We have always stocked up on Retin-A and Latisse at a nice pharmacy in Cozumel. We are going to be in Cabo the first week in January and are wondering if these two products which are prescription in the US are available in a nice pharmacy there without a prescription. I’m 72 and don’t look a day over 71 with the Retin-A and my daughters love the long eyelashes they get with the Latisse.

We are trying to decide between two Princess shore excursions. We have Punta Tombo reserved but Punta Ninfas Penguins & Patagonia Linch has opened up. It was sold out when we booked Punta Tombo. Does anyone know where we will be most likely to see more penguins and what type?

I am currently on the transfer from Venice to Chioggia. We were very confused as to where to catch it so I thought I’d report while it’s fresh in my mind. If you are at Piazzele Roma you have to get on the People Mover. It costs 1.50 euro each. If you have bought a 24 hour or longer pass for the public transportation ACTV it will work for the People Mover. If you need to buy the ticket for the People Mover the machine is confusing. There is a tobacco store a few doors down from the entry and they sell the tickets there. Cash only. There are only three stops on the People Mover. They are Piazzale Roma, cruise terminal, and Tronchetto. Tronchetto is where you need to go. The middle stop titled cruise Terminal is no longer used for cruises. Azamara reps were waiting there and everything was great and organized. Their pre cruise info is very confusing. It says last stop of People Mover but we kept wondering of three stops which is first and which is last. If you get on at Piazzele Roma (already forgot how to spell it) you get on there across the street from the ACTV buses. There are elevators if you are dragging luggage. The People Mover comes about every 8 minutes. Get on and it will make one stop before the final stop at Tronchetto. Get off here and reps will greet you. There is a restroom there (1 euro) and drinks are available for purchase. I hope this helps you understand Azamara’s confusing info on where to get the shuttle to Chioggia.

Does anyone use their iPhone to check on cruise critic? How do you get there?

I have been on Cruise Critic for years but never on my IPhone. I normally use my IPad and it appears I use it through a cruise critic app. At least I get to it by pressing a little cruise critic Icon. We are leaving for Europe Monday and we were thinking about leaving the IPad home. The only thing I use it for is Cruise Critic. Everything else, I can do on my phone. I thought I’d just go to App Store and add the app. Not so fast, it seems there is no such thing. How can I get cruise critic on my phone and keep logged in like I do on my IPad every day.

There’s not enough money in the world to make me watch that show.

We’re on our first Azamara cruise in two weeks. It hasn’t been pleasant planning with all the website issues. I can’t stand the view. Ana Navarro is a bitter former Republican. I was having a pedicure and they had the view on. I asked the nail tech to change the channel and all the women sitting there were glad when she did. I hope Azamara realizes how foolish it would be to take a political position. This cruise better be fabulous or it will be our last. They have enough issues without turning woke.

We are staying at an Airbnb near Piazzale Roma the nights of October 5 and 6. We are hoping to walk to meet the transfer. Is this realistic?

We have purchased transfers to the Azamara Journey from Venice. We are confused about where to pick up the transfer bus. The info we have says at the last stop of the People Mover. We don’t know which is the last stop-at which end?

That’s terrible. I’m glad you answered me back because Azamara customer service kept acting like we were lying or mistaken. Thanks for validating our sanity.

We thought we had everything under control for our October cruise on the Azamara Journey. We decided to take time today to review all our excursions both booked through Azamara and booked on our own. To our shock our excursion “Knossos Palace and Museum” in Heraklion in Crete was no longer listed but some excursion we had never considered—something or another and some Monastery was there in its place. This was priced the same as our original booking of Knossos Palace at $109 using our OBC. Should be easy enough to cancel and rebook but the price of Knossos had gone up $20 to $129. We called Azamara and they answered right away but of course after being off and on hold with customer service for over an hour, we were told that there was nothing they could do. We asked for a supervisor and after another half hour or so, we still aren’t sure if the additional $40 will be credited back to our OBC. She said something about issuing a ticket for $40 but so far nothing has happened. I was so disappointed in Azamara. This will be our first cruise with them but have cruised extensively with Celebrity and Royal Caribbean. Azamara’s accounting system is very strange and makes no sense. So it’s really difficult to see what you pay for anything. This is just meant to be a warning to all of you with excursions booked for future cruises. Be sure to check daily so you can see if one is mysteriously changed.

Oh, ok. Never thought of that. So I guess if I order another excursion the balance will be used. Thanks.

We just booked an excursion for our February South America cruise yesterday. We have $250 shareholder credit. The excursion was $219. It took one excursion out of the OBC and we had to put in credit card info in for the other. Apparently, it couldn’t do part OBC and part credit card for the second one. So we still have a $31 OBC balance. I was very happy to see the OBC was readily available since we just booked the cruise a week ago and had not received shareholder credit confirmation yet.

Good luck. We’ve tried making our final payment for our October cruise for weeks now. Information keeps saying Paid in Full. So it won’t accept our payment. Our TA has called as well many times. We have many names, dates, and times of Azamara representative saying don’t worry, trip won’t be canceled. They just don’t want our money. Other than that we have all our excursions booked using OBC and requests for transfers to and from the ship. Never tried so hard to pay money before.