Grandma Cruising

We use the Halifax Clarity card too. It’s recommended by Martin Lewis/MoneySavingExpert. No card fees, no currency transaction fees and gives a very good rate of exchange.

Wow, looks amazing

7 hours ago, Toronto Guy said:

Yep I was right!.  Logged in to webisite just now and $420US in OBC has just disappeared again.  This company is absolutely incompetent.

So make sure you take a screenshot when it’s there!

Thanks for your informative & interesting posts. Your Destination Celebration looks fantastic, what a varied and interesting programme.

2 hours ago, gymfreak said:

So very true and our experience mirrors that exactly 

We felt like that about Journey in November, but totally different on Pursuit in February, despite the GI issues, pool closure etc.

9 hours ago, Toronto Guy said:

Same for me.  Not that I really care.....but cutbacks were obvious

It may depend where they provision the ship. Our Pursuit cruise, which did have lobster, had spent the winter season in South Africa where all seafood is relatively cheap (all food was very very cheap in Cape Town).

Did you click on the paper/pencil icon, then on available, then on each excursion?

5 hours ago, Mackdogmolly said:

Last one, I promise - but it was spectacular!!

Great photo!

Sounds like they’ve decided not to risk the Red Sea, even with only a ‘skeleton’ crew.

Thanks for the info Debbie, all added into the spreadsheet

No obstructed balconies, the only obstructed view cabins are the obstructed view Oceanview cabins on Deck 6 (6046-6033 on Quest) which are behind the lifeboats.

If you don’t mind where you are on the ship then I would say that a guarantee veranda could be a good bet for you.

48 minutes ago, jcruizer said:

I would consider paying for the evening ashore if it was in a historical or interesting location. Its just a shame that we only just discovered Azamara...

 

Grandma cruising that was our first Azamazing evening, so from our perspective we thought it was such a special event to put on for passengers. We have only ever experienced cultural events onboard which has been like a show... We didn't feel cold...obviously the Wadi Rum would have been amazing...

No it wasn’t cold in Aqaba, but because Wadi Rum is the desert, it does get cold at night.

The best Azamazing evening we’ve been to was in Bangkok where we were taken to a park called the Ancient City which is full of one third size replicas of the famous old Bangkok buildings. We went on a little land train through the park to an area where they had set up a stage. There were cocktails and snacks to greet us as we got off the train. The show was great, traditional dancing and a kick boxing display. After that there were fireworks, then we were all given a little floating disk with greenery and a lit candle which we were invited to float off down a stream. We were then taken back to the buses on the land train through the park where the buildings were all beautifully floodlit, a really magical evening which couldn’t have been replicated on the ship.

2 minutes ago, cinnamon said:

I think I made the bid about 3 weeks ago. I’m Discoverer level. 

Thanks

2 hours ago, DOJO466 said:

A lot of times the "warm water" version of lobster may be served on ships. Personally, I hate it, but then again I am one of the fortunate ones who live in an area where Maine lobster is plentiful and sometimes relatively cheap.  I do not order in a restaurant or on any cruise.

 I can see how others that do not have access to fresh Maine lobster would want to order as it is a delicacy not to be missed.  I hope you all enjoy.

I quite agree with you. We live in an area where cold water lobster and prawns (shrimp) are available and I don’t like the warm water versions at all. Rarely order prawns (shrimp) on Azamara as they are all the tasteless warm water variety.

50 minutes ago, cinnamon said:

I bid the minimum of £320 to upgrade from an Outside to a Verandah on Quest, sailing tomorrow. I got an email at 10.25 pm on Friday night offering me the upgrade. I asked for cabin numbers and was offered a choice of 4. I agreed on one the next day by email them received an email with a payment link. In the morning we will have our verandah……… for the minimum bid, what I don’t know is what the cost would have been had I booked it in the first place. 😏

Thanks for the information, added it to the spreadsheet. Can you tell me when you made your bid and what your loyalty level is?

7 hours ago, jcruizer said:

We just did our first Azamara cruise to Egypt Oct'23 with an Azamazing evening in Jorden. We were blown away that a cruise line would do such a great event. Was it perfect? No, but it made us book again. It was this bonus that made Azamara stand out for us and we loved it. We have Italy Intensive coming up in Oct and its changed from Opera at the Fort (which would have been fabulous) to onboard. Not my fav. music even though I have been to lots of them, but the setting, OMG would have been great. So now we may not go.

 

It becomes like other ships where they bring entertainers on... no difference...

Was your Azamazing evening in Jordan a show of local music and dancing outside a large hotel in Aqaba? That’s what our last Jordan one was and we were completely underwhelmed - lots of standing in queues, no food, a glass of wine and a mediocre show! Our previous Jordan one was at an amphitheatre at Wadi Rum which was a lovely setting, but was men dancing, doing what looked like the same dance over and over, and it got very cold!

They did on Pursuit in February, but the food was set out in Windows buffet rather than in the Patio.

1 hour ago, kent4489 said:

My OBC suddenly changed a couple of days ago. $400. (Of my original $700.) went missing. However, my early payment OBC is still there. 

Good idea to take a screen shot of your account.

1 hour ago, B17 said:

Interesting Both Journey and Pursuit are in Koper on same day.  We are on Journey and have booked the Choir in Tito Square which was the only option about 6 weeks back.  Now I have looked again today after reading this, there is also the option of Azamazing Evening Viennese Waltz and White Horses.  It give no detail on the event other than 7pm start which clashes with the Choir.  dont know what to do now.

Book for both of them, only 1 of them will happen

1 hour ago, susiesan said:

Where on our reservation do we sign up for the Azamazing Evening as a shore excursion? I'm on Pursuit Sept. 8 Croatia Intensive. How do we know what port will have this event? On my reservation there is no place to book any shore excursions online. Do I need to call it in?

Go into Manage My Reservation for your cruise. Scroll down until you come to excursions. Click on the paper/pencil icon on the right hand side. That will bring up excursions, divided by a tab at the top into booked and available. Click on each excursion to get details. The Azamazing evening is the excursion with zero cost.

2 hours ago, NC Rob said:

I did the same math with similar results... they could go around Africa and make it to Istanbul for the June 8th sailing, but I don't see how they can get to Athens by May 29th.  It is interesting that Crystal Symphony went through as did some others... maybe Azamara plans on sneaking through at the last minute unnoticed. Otherwise I don't know why they don't cancel the May 29th sailing now.

But Crystal Symphony went without passengers

1 hour ago, tgg said:

We had two booking numbers and the OBC DID carry over.

Thanks for posting, it seems as more people have had OBC carry over than haven’t.

One other thing to note, although there are set times for booking, we’ve never found it a problem if we arrive earlier and have usually been seated straight away. We prefer to eat latish so try book for 8 or 8:30, but then often turn up at about 7:30/7:45. 

31 minutes ago, Rabo said:

We had two separate booking numbers for our February/March B2B on the Journey. We had a non-refundable OBC balance from the first leg that did carry over to the second leg.

So it sounds as if it’s pretty inconsistent - for some it carries across even if a B2B is booked separately, whilst for others this isn’t the case!

7 hours ago, Grandma Cruising said:

In the topic about Azamara new offers, it’s been noted that B2B cruises are now booked under a single reservation number and any unused OBC on the first cruise is transferred across to the second/subsequent cruise.

I’ve added this to the spreadsheet 

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/15Deg-GaeZYLml8NN3PVwoh_jUkQ8QmYUe1wxnVAlODE/edit

However it also appears that if the B2Bs are booked as 2 separate bookings, remaining OBC doesn’t carry across.