Grandma Cruising

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

Thanks for the confirmation Rabo & Oddjob16. I’ll add that to the tips topic and spreadsheet.

That’s how we felt after our cruise on Journey in November. When we got good service it came across as if they were doing you a great favour, rather than it being the norm. Pursuit in Feb/March was totally different - excellent but unobtrusive service, great food too.

4 hours ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

Great news!  If we can verify that this is a fleet-wide policy change, @Grandma Cruising can add it to the Tips sticky.

Will be happy to do so if someone else can confirm this. I had a look at the Ts & Cs on the Azamara site and there’s no mention of whether unused OBC can be transferred over to the second/subsequent cruise of a B2B.

42 minutes ago, ECCruise said:

I am assuming then that they changed the experience from the one we had in Namimbia in December. 

Bad enough that they cancelled the Azamazing Evening which was an African cultural and musical experience in the desert (which we would gladly have spent a couple hours doing) but to have it replaced by the awful show we had to witness was an affront, frankly. 

Although the German community is a very small % of the Namibian population,  about 70% of the show was German influenced. What was billed as an oompah band (but was 2 bad musicians playing American oldies) and traditional German dancers ( that danced to the "Cotton eyed Joe" an annoying American country tune)  

There was some African drumming and an a Cappella group, but nowhere enough to make up for the embarrassment of the rest of the show. 

And to be told, frankly, that the reason for axing this (and presumably the other 3 we've had cancelled in the last year) was strictly one of cost cutting. 

 

i think they must have learned from your event. Ours was an a Capella group and a drumming & dancing group, both of which were excellent, and an absolutely wonderful young peoples choir which sings all over the world.

The Azamazing evening we had in Bangkok at the Ancient City was our favourite - magical.

2 minutes ago, excitedofharpenden said:

Azamazing Evenings are going the way of the dinosaur unfortunately to be replaced by these Destination Celebrations.  Not the same at all. 

 

Phil 

It depends how good the performance is. Our event in Namibia was just brilliant. It was onboard, but the three acts we had were amazing. Personally we preferred it to the last few we’ve been to onshore where we had to queue up to get on a bus, go to a large tent at a hotel, have a drink and a snack then sit & watch a performance, then queue to get back on a bus, effectively taking up a whole evening for a 45 minute performance.

If it’s off the ship then it needs to be something really special to justify the queuing & standing around, not just a performance that could be done in the cabaret lounge on the ship.

11 minutes ago, Ballwin Babe said:

Thanks for all the responses AND the photos!   We are on a 9 day Greece intensive itinerary in late September.  There are about 25 of us so I will get the word out abut White Night.   What do men normally wear for bottoms?  White shorts?

Mine wears pale beige trousers.

They don’t do Azamazing evening on cruises of less than 7 days or on transatlantic crossings.

The White Night is an on-deck party night where most people wear white.

18 minutes ago, Dynacruiser said:

I don't think any of the passengers in the Pursuit March 2024 Canary Islands cruise posted about the Azamazing event in Tenerife.  I was frankly VERY IMPRESSED.  I did not expect something as grandiose and enjoyable as this.  It was held in the beautiful Auditorium of Santa Cruz and it featured... 50 or many more performers?

 

First, they had several drum lines and carnival dancers escorting passengers from the buses to the Auditorium.   We all danced/walked behind a Samba-style band.  Once in the Auditorium, because of the explosive drums, the live music and many colorful and extravagant costumes, it felt like we were surrounded by hundreds of performers.   Different beats filled different areas of the Auditorium.  Every time I tried to take a picture there was another dancer, or Harpo, or Michael Jackson appearing out of nowhere!  Even the carnival Queen in her barely-there outfit accidentally walked in front of my camera...

 

I found the enclosed video online (not mine), but it may not entirely capture the feeling of happiness in the room.  The auditorium was massive, but the Samba music beats filled every space and made folks move to the music, even nondancers like me.  And the bar was open for extra pours for those who approached the bartenders.

 

Absolutely a great event and made for an unforgettable evening.  This evening celebration was not cheap and it greatly exceeded my expectations.

Great job, Azamara!

 

 

 

I think you were lucky that the ship docked in Santa Cruz at the same time as their Carnival. It sounds brilliant

13 minutes ago, combine said:

Last year we had choices of 4 reds and 4 whites in the included wines, plus a rose and a sparkling. I know you have travelled recently,  have the red and white changed to 2 now? 

I was just quoting the Azamara site. We had the Ultimate package on our last 2 cruises, so didn’t drink any of the included wine.

The included wines are 2 red & 2 whites which may change and a sparkling (usually a Prosecco) and a rose.

There are no wines the Premium package and the wines in the Ultimate package are by the glass (but they may not all be available on any one cruise). Other than that you can buy a wine package, buy bottles of wine or buy a glass of the wines by the glass. Alternatively you can take your own wine onboard, drink it free in your cabin or pay $10 corkage fee to drink it in a public room.

6 hours ago, uktog said:

You need the Ultimate Package for the Atlas special cocktails 

Or you can buy them

7 hours ago, luv2travel90266 said:

To view excursions, log into Azamara.com and click on "upcoming cruises".

Ignore the note "excursions coming soon!"

Click on "Manage my reservation" and scroll down to "excursions" and you will find them listed.

 

 

But you have to click on the pencil and paper icon on the right to see them in detail

Just think about it, the OBC Azamara gives you comes back to them, not only that but they make a good profit on almost anything you buy using OBC. Speciality meals, drinks packages, Wifi, excursions, spa services etc don’t cost them anywhere near what they charge you in OBC, yet they can put your cash in the bank & earn interest on it.

Thats how most travel agents work - they ask you to pay them way before they have to pay the cruise company, hotel etc. They earn interest on your money until they have to pay!

7 hours ago, Morrey said:

I just spoke to a res agent that confirmed this and said the single meal specialty restaurant price is now $49.95 which works out for the right discount for the packages per the webpage.  So the spreadsheet needs to be updated to reflect the new $49.95 price.  Thank you for putting the spreadsheet together it's very helpful.

Thanks, now updated.

9 hours ago, debcip said:

I am currently on the Journey, sailing for the first time since the pandemic. Both DH and I think the food is substantially better than in the past!

on a slightly disappointing note, I asked about the Reistafel and was told that “since COVID” these have been disbanded. 

That’s not true, we had one on Pursuit in February/March this year.

54 minutes ago, Popeye4u2 said:

This is great where and when does the bid system start

Azamara emails you some weeks before your cruise to ask if you want to make a bid to upgrade your cabin and telling you what is the minimum amount they will look at for each type of cabin available. Typically you get the chance to bid for the level above the one you have booked and the one above that. However if the cruise is full you’re unlikely to get the offer. If you bid and are successful they email you again and ask you to ring them to discuss what is available then to confirm your payment.

If people get an offer to upgrade they can post about it here (date of offer, cruise date, length of cruise, minimum bid, bid made, type of cabin originally booked, type of cabin bid for, cruise region) then come back & post their success (or not). I’ll enter the info into the spreadsheet so others can get an idea about what type of bid might be successful.

Here’s a link to the spreadsheet so you can see the information from the old system with one new entry (our recent cruise)

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1pEoojQ5-EPmD4cI3gw1dVcYfYTXfZePdDXxU09l0H3M/edit

We recently finished a cruise on Pursuit and found the food in the MDR to be mostly as good as ever. There was one exception - I had duck breast one night and it was both very small and as tough as old boots. To be fair they were very happy to change it for another dish - I chose lamb chops and they were brilliant.

Everything was very tasty and very well seasoned, Thai dishes like hot & sour soup were terrific! We also had the Reistafel, which was great, but way too much food!

8 minutes ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

Done.  Thanks for taking this on again!

Thanks, no problem,

I will start to update the spreadsheet as people post new information.

Host Jazzbeau perhaps you could edit the first post in this topic to give a link to the spreadsheet and include my list of the information as in my post #1178. Thanks.

16 minutes ago, manc said:

I think it would be really helpful.but a lot of work for you. Thank you for all you do

I’m happy to update the spreadsheet & keep it updated if people would find it helpful and are willing to post tge information! 

Just wondering whether to resurrect the upgrade spreadsheet which I haven’t updated since March 23 when the upgrade system disappeared. 
As it now seems to be back, would people find the spreadsheet helpful or not. If you would find it useful then please start posting the following upgrade information.

- bid date

- cruise date

- cruise length

- loyalty level

- minimum bid required for upgrade (in US$)

- total amount bid (in US$)

- cabin type initially booked

- cabin type bid for

- final bid cost per night (in US$)

- bid strength

- outcome (successful or not)

- cruise region 

- any other useful information (E.g when told about outcome)

Here’s a link to it. The only new entry is mine for my most recent cruise https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1pEoojQ5-EPmD4cI3gw1dVcYfYTXfZePdDXxU09l0H3M/edit

2 hours ago, Riocca said:

 

The same chairs are used in the Pool Bar.

Thank you, much appreciated.

We’ll be on Onward for the first time in September. Could someone post a photo of the chairs, so we know what to expect.