Riocca

This is from our FCC email from Azamara Onwards maiden, the same t&c’s apply to “Cruise with confidence”. Any booking made using this FCC must be used for a sailing that commences on or before June 30, 2023 If the FCC is not redeemed and sailed on or before June 30, 2023, the certificate will automatically expire and have no value. I spoke to Azamara before this was issued and was told that I had to book and sail before the 30th June 2023

We also received ours last Monday, we booked direct with Azamara but if you booked with a U.K. travel agent it would have gone to them. The way most U.K. travel agents work they don’t give the cruise line your contact information.

I believe you can only buy it beforehand as part of an Experience More package which has extras we don’t require. When buying onboard you get a discount depending on your Azamara Circle loyalty level which is up to 25%. If you have a booking that comes with the Premium package you can upgrade to Ultimate for $7 per person per day, unusually if there are two (or more) in a cabin they don’t all have to upgrade.

Good move to get rid of the 4 half bottles really must have caused a headache with stock as they were only held for the suites. However the choices from the included spirits is a bit limited unless they have added a dark rum, we have to go for the Ultimate package these days to get our preferred spirits.

From the Azamara website: A FAREWELL FROM HEIKE BERDOS Let me start by saying that I am extremely grateful for having this opportunity to express my gratitude and thank Azamara for what you have meant to me and for what you have taught me along the way. The amazing people I have met during these past 15 years and the truly outstanding colleagues that I got to work with, have fun with and was successful with, became family. The connection with so many unique and precious people I have made, is priceless and will remain forever. Change is never easy but is part of our lives and should be considered if it feels right. It is certainly not easy leaving a place that has always been supportive and caring for me, and that I still enjoy working with. The opportunity that has come my way is simply meant to be. Throughout my entire life, I have always followed my heart and instinct and this new stage in my life is calling my name. I will continue to follow the brand, and the friends and colleagues that I have met throughout the years with Azamara. It has been such an AzAmazing time, which I will always carry in my heart. Heike

Bit off topic but as we’re very close to you I thought I would jump in, test requirement is either Antigen (Lateral Flow) within a day of boarding, so can be anytime the preceding day, or PCR within 3 days. We were confronted with the problem at short notice before Onwards maiden and found DAM Health in The Galleries Broadmead to be the best answer. PCR was £49 with results in 24 hours but at least we had the results in our hand before we flew out to Monaco the day before the cruise. Antigen is about £22 so we’re going to do this the day before we go to Southampton to board Quest in August, results are supposed to be within 2 hours.

I’ve phoned Azamara 4 times in the last week other than the long winded out of date pre-recorded messages I’ve gotten through to an agent in a matter of minutes each time. Unlike my soon to be ex travel agent I gave up after 50 minutes and used the message service and a week later I’m still awaiting a reply.

This is the email we received last week from Azamara regarding our 30th August cruise on Azamara Quest. Hope you are doing well and staying safe. As we prepare to welcome you onboard, we'd like to keep you up to date on the latest health protocols. As of June 12, 2022, U.S. CDC will no longer require air passengers traveling from a foreign country to the United States to show a negative COVID-19 viral test, making travel easier for our U.S. guests returning from cruises outside the country, and international guests cruising from U.S. homeports. Important Note: Many governments and certain airlines require proof of a negative SARS-CoV-2 test before entry or flight departure. Please check with have your client check with their airline, local health authority or government travel agency regarding any requirements they may have when exiting or entering the countries they will visit. Azamara Testing Requirements o To strive for a COVID-19 free environment, guests will be required to provide a negative COVID-19 test upon embarkation. The COVID-19 test can either be: · PCR: Test date no older than three days prior to embarkation; OR · Antigen: Test date must be within one day of embarkation o For Guests that cannot present a negative COVID-19 test upon embarkation testing is available in the terminal or on the boarding deck for $59 USD. For Guests that cannot present a negative COVID-19 test upon embarkation testing is available in the terminal or on the boarding deck for $59 USD. For guests on Azamara's pre-voyage land programs, this test will be included in your price. o Boarding will be denied to those guests who test positive or cannot provide a negative COVID-19 test. · Prior to Disembarking: Guests who are required to take a COVID-19 test before returning home can do so onboard for $59 USD for Antigen and $85 USD for PCR. For more information, please contact Guest Relations while onboard. o Although some of our guests are COVID-19 tested as a prerequisite to travel to the ship, for those guests that do not have this requirement (for instance US domestic travel, inter-EU travel, or those driving to the port), we strongly recommend all guests take a COVID-19 self-test at home prior to traveling. Vaccination Requirements o To ensure the safety and health of our guests and crew members, all guests 12 years and older must be fully vaccinated at least 14 days before sailing with all required COVID-19 vaccine doses. Children under 12 will not need to be vaccinated. o All our crew members are fully vaccinated, have received booster shots when eligible, and are tested frequently. o All guests are required to bring proof of vaccination, such as the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) COVID-19 vaccination record card, with the final dose of the vaccine completed at least 14 days before sailing. o All vaccinated guests eligible for a booster, are required to have their booster dose in order to sail with Azamara. However, a second booster is not required. o Azamara currently only accepts guests that are vaccinated with WHO approved vaccines. o A COVID-19 recovery letter does not negate our vaccination requirements as stated above. o Check out our Explore Well At Sea page for the latest Covid-19 Vaccine and Booster guidelines. § Please note that vaccine requirements may vary on the country they are visiting. Although, we are continually adding, monitoring and adjusting information on vaccination requirements as public health conditions evolve, we suggest visiting the countries government site for the most up to date information. Face Masks o Following the guidelines as per the CDC's COVID-19 Voluntary Program, and the EU Healthy Gateways guidelines, indoor mask wearing is optional but recommended. Masks might be required in the terminals of the ports of call we visit and within cities and touristic sites. o Certain countries we visit (such as Greece) require that masks are worn by cruise ship guests and crew members when indoors onboard the ship under certain circumstances. We will keep them informed during the voyage when masking is optional, and when masking is required. Thank you for your understanding. We take great pride in bringing every Azamara guest unforgettable experiences both onboard our ships and within our destinations. We can assure them that their future Azamara vacation will deliver the highest standards of service and quality for which we are known. We will continue to update you as other countries' requirements become available. If you have any further questions, please visit our Explore Well At Sea FAQs page for answers to our most recent frequently asked questions. We look forward to welcoming you onboard. Sincerely, AZAMARA®

Shambolic check in is nothing new but covid has added a new dimension, it’s usually ok, but not assured, if ships have a regular home port. Ships using different embarkation ports are at the mercy of the quality of the handling company staff manning check in. Remember some ports do not allow ships staff to be present at check in and this probably has got worse after covid. Our worst experience was with Princess cruises in Vancouver check in took almost 4 hours with nowhere to sit, it was during a heatwave and if the neighbouring HAL ship hadn’t brought water ashore there would have been nothing to drink. With the now defunct Crystal Cruises in Cape Town we all had to manhandle our cases through the check in area and it was total chaos. I could go on but some ports like airports are more officious than others, often timing is key and if 100’s of passengers turn up at the same time very few ports can cope.

Thank you, that’s good news last time we booked onboard we were told this but our next cruise is the last using a TA and we want to book onboard direct with Azamara.

There’s also a discount for booking onboard, Explorer is 5% and Discover is 6%. Onboard bookings can be transferred to travel agents, but if you booked the cruise you are on is booked with a travel agent it’s supposed to be transferred to them.

When we’ve used days booking onboard it’s been quicker because they had direct access to the department that worked it all out. We also received the extra $100 OBC for booking in the first half of the cruise because that’s when we made the enquiry.

We booked directly with Azamara and the agent was able to calculate an approximate cost using the free days. We then had to book with the invoice showing the full price of the cruise while the booking went off to another department to add the days. It was about 2 weeks before we received the invoice showing the new payment amount, ours was more complicated because it was a booking moved because of Covid and was originally made onboard so those benefits had to be added as well. As I understand it if the updated booking is more than any prevailing offer you can still revert to that offer, but ours worked out extremely well.