Grandma Cruising

Depends on the cruise, number of free days & cruise length. We used ours on a Norway cruise, these tend not to be discounted.

Pre order the night before leaving the card on your door knob - can choose half hour slots. We always order tea & fruit juice every morning.

Never heard of that before. We’ve been able to use our $300 Shore Excursion OBC which was part of an Experience More package which was the promotion when we booked the cruise. I think I’d email them querying that. I think you’re right that all Azamara OBC is ‘promotional’, so that means you wouldn’t be able to book any excursions beforehand using OBC - yet they sent out an email explaining exactly how to do that using the website!

My TA is indeed my daughter, but she treats me the same as any of her clients (she has a lot of ‘business’ clients too who make very large booking -both on numbers &value). On this occasion I asked her to get price for one of 4 specific OV cabins I wanted and for the cost for other OV cabins in particular areas. She rang once & got through immediately, then came back to me on the phone with prices with Azamara on hold. None of the 4 specific cabins I wanted was available so I chose an alternative on the understanding (suggested by Azamara) that she go back to them in a few days to see if things had changed. She did & one of the cabins I really wanted had become available & she was able to get the booking changed. Again 1 phone call. I guess it depends what sort of TA you have. My daughter isn’t based in a shop, she works from home so all her client-faced work is by telephone or email.

Our TA got through very quickly, checked cabins and booked us with no difficulty.

Have you tried clicking on the pencil & paper icon above the cabin choice once you have input your information, then click on choose cabin?

It depends a lot on Customs & Immigration in the country of disembarkation. I’d get in touch with Azamara before booking your flight. We have got off an Azamara chip in Dubai at 10:30 pm the night before disembarkation to catch an overnight flight.

I do send cotton trousers, shorts, tops,husband’s shirts, tee-shirts. Thought I’d also post the link to the spreadsheet again to save folk having to search the topic to find it. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/15Deg-GaeZYLml8NN3PVwoh_jUkQ8QmYUe1wxnVAlODE/edit

I'd wash those by hand & hang them on a hanger on the line in the laundry

We’ve done the southern transatlantic route twice with Azamara - 2 stops in Brazil, Cape Verde, Madeira & 2 stops in the Canaries before finishing in Lisbon.

Ring Azamara yourself.

That was 2019. I’m surprised you were told in February that you would be able to move your booking. I thought that offer was only available to UK passengers during COVID times. I know US passengers have that as part of their t’s and c’s, but they don’t have the protections that we have in the UK.

I would contact Azamara directly. I would have thought legally they should abide by the t’s & c’s in place when you booked - presumably you have a copy of them?

You could also look at doing the overnight tour with another company. We did it a few years ago with YourEgyptTours. We stayed at the Steinberger (same hotel Azamara used). Our tour was much cheaper than Azamara’s tour with a similar itinerary. The only difference was dinner was not included, but the Steigenberger had a nice Italian restaurant that was reasonable. We also paid extra to visit SETI’s tomb and totally agree that it’s well worth it as it’s just amazing. We also had the option to pay extra & go to the light and sound show at Karnak in the evening. We went and I loved it, but my DH definitely did not! We had a great guide. We were in mini-buses rather than a larger bus, but they were fine.

There are several outlets above the desk on all the ships

If you click on the Itinerary button on the cruise you can see the ports and whether docked or tendered. I attach the one for the Quest 4 October Croatia intensive - not sure if that yours or not.

The last one I went to worked out very well. It was held in the Drawing Room, someone brought some sticky labels and had set the chairs out in a circle and a chap took charge and asked us all to go round and say our CC name, our real name & where we were from. In the absence of anyone from the ship, it certainly needs someone to organise it a bit in order for it to work well.

Good to hear.

It all depends what time you want to eat and is also affected by whether it’s a sea day or port day. We’ve had to wait anything from 10 to 30 minutes. It’s not a problem as Discoveries bar is very nice.

Same here, I drink gin & DH drinks whisky

I had a pedicure with gel polish which cost me $99.

Azamara excursions are expensive, however if you have lots of OBC to spend then they may be the best way to use it, given Azamara are so inclusive. Anyone can use the sauna & spa showers, but you pay for treatments. We love Prime C - never had a bad steak and the rack of lamb is brilliant. Chefs table is a 5 course meal paired with wine. It’s served at a big table in one of the speciality restaurants and there are various themes - French, American etc. Our favourite eating place is the Patio (included). It’s outside on the Pool Deck. During the day it serves burgers, chicken strips etc, but it has a different menu in the evening. There is always a soup, and there’s a salad bar and you can go into the buffet & get other starters and also desserts from there. Discoveries main dining room is, of course, included. We enjoy the food there. We’ve never eaten in the buffet in the evening as we prefer to be served, but many people do. The Indian night there is very popular.

Yes, bars of soap are provided in cabins along with shampoo, conditioner, shower gel & body lotion

And Beefeater

Yes you can buy a drink - it’s at full menu cost, not the difference. You can also buy the package part way through the cruise at the daily rate for just the remains days of the cruise. On our last cruise we had a little spare OBC so we used it on the Ultimate package for the last 4 days as a nice little treat