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When we were on the Onward in January we were so impressed with the internet speed. The ship had been upgraded to Starlink. We were just on the Journey in September. Even though the Journey uses Starlink as well, the internet speed was awful. I noticed an ad in the daily program to upgrade the internet speed at a cost of $8.95/day. As we were in ports every day and have international coverage, we didn't do anything about upgrading. However, with 3 days left of the cruise a port was cancelled, our ships excursion was cancelled and we found ourselves with OBC and nothing we wanted to buy. So, we decided to upgrade the internet for the last 3 days. In speaking with guest services we learned that it is a pilot program and if we had any feedback we should put it on our end of cruise survey. The upgraded speed was exactly what we had experienced with the basic package in January on Onward. Needless to say, we gave quite a bit of feedback. There has been quite a bit of complaining about internet speed lately on all of the ships. I can't help but feel that they are limiting the basic package speed in hopes that people will pay more for better speed. Not my idea of what a premium cruise line should be doing. So, if you are budgeting and need a higher speed, you should probably plan on another $8.95/day. Currently, there is no discount for loyalty on this upcharge - another thing that guest services recommended that I comment on.

Since the conversion, has anyone been able to book ships excursions for a future cruise while onboard in order to get the 10% discount, and been able to use the OBC for that future cruise to pay for them?

Does it show up anywhere in your account?

How would AZ know what the OBC from your TA was? It generally doesn't show up on your account until the 2nd day of the cruise.

Thanks for a great review. I had followed all of your trials and tribulations post conversion and am very happy to hear that it all worked out. One thing that we do when we purchase the Ultimate drink package is ask to see the included drinks list. We then snap a picture of it so that we always have it available. We were just on the Wine and Culture cruise on Journey and the subject of included port came up after dinner. We were able to produce the list and the included port was provided. It comes in very handy.

As far as I know, this has never been possible. We have tried before and we received the same answer that you received. We have purchased the packages with a credit card and have been able to immediately use any OBC that came with the package to purchase shore excursions.

We just got off of the Journey. 540 passengers of which 333 were Americans. And the cruise departed out of Southampton! We’ve never been on an AZ cruise where Americans were not in the majority. I’m not a Prime C lover as I’m not a beef eater and don’t care for the other entrees. However I make a very nice meal out of starters and sides. I’m in Prime C so I order off of their menu. I do however order the soufflé from Aqualina as I don’t like the one in Prime C and they never seem to do a second option there as they often do in Aqualina. Btw - this time Dover Sole was the special each time in Aqualina. And, judging by the amount of filleting going on, it was popular.

Currently on the Journey. Everything great. Ship looks good, food great and crew as wonderful as always. Ship almost full. White night and Azamazing evening both fun. Booked two cruises while onboard and already have all documents in our email. All in all a very enjoyable cruise … and there’s even Fever Tree!

Last November we booked excursions in both Cairo and Luxor. We thought that both were very good. We were in full sized busses. Never felt rushed. We seemed to have enough time every where that we went. The one in Luxor was the overnight that they offer. One of the benefits was that we were at The Valley of the Kings right when it opened. No lines and got to see everything we wanted.. including adding an extra ticket to see the tomb of Seti I. Others have talked about doing this privately and, if you read some of the roll calls for this itinerary, you can get the names of private tour companies. We were more comfortable going with AZ.

Our last Panama Canal transit with Azamara was in January 2023 on Onward. We had a gentleman who was an expert on the Canal who spoke over the loudspeaker throughout the entire transit pointing out various points of interest as we were approaching them. All very interesting.

I can't comment on what Viking does but, having done the Panama Canal twice with Azamara, can say that one of the highlights is having an expert on board who explains the canal as you are traversing it. You learn so much.

If you didn't like the buffet eggs, why didn't you asked to have fresh eggs made for you at the egg station? Personally, I find the scrambled eggs to be fine. However, if I want something extra in them, I have them made at the egg station.

Personally, I think that it's great that the fridges are empty and you can ask to have whatever you would like in them. We have always asked for the fridge to be emptied of everything but diet coke and bottled water. Now we will just ask for those items. However, I also think that there should be a note in the room stating what is available to be stocked in your room... ice, sodas, water, etc. Also, if in a suite you can be asked about afternoon tea, etc. We've always told our butler not to bother with the afternoon goodies as they would just be wasted... we can make it a few hours without eating (maybe)! It's all about communication and consistency which, unfortunately, has not been Azamara's forte recently.

Last time we were onboard it was $95 per person.

Up at the top of the page is a shopping basket icon. If you click on that, it will take you to the screen that is shown above with the cancel button (I think ... you never know!🤪)

You should be able to book your excursions now with that OBC - assuming the $600 is from AZ and not from your TA. We've booked ship's excursions a year in advance with OBC. No need to wait until after final payment.

Some cruises have 4 free nights, some have 3 free nights. The cruise in question, 12/22/23, has 3 free nights. Obviously, the cruise price has gone up in the year since it was first booked since it is a holiday cruise and probably popular. It would appear that the price has gone up enough that once the the 3 free nights are applied, the price is back down to where it was a year ago when booked. When there are sales like this sometimes it works in our favor to rebook at the lower price, sometimes it doesn't. Depends on the popularity of the cruise.

Hi. Did you check out? As you "book" shore excursions, they show up in your basket at the top. You then have to go through various convoluted maneuvers to get them to be deducted from your OBC. There are a few postings that go through the whole process. Instead of entering payment, you click "cancel", etc. Probably easier to call since wait times are down significantly.

Thank you for letting us know about this. I emailed our TA and she was immediately able to send us our docs for our upcoming Sept. cruise and the two cruises that we have in Feb/March 2024. Unfortunately, our OBC's were incorrect so she worked things out with Azamara. We all agreed on what the OBC should be but it was not reflected correctly in the docs. I really only got them to check the OBC's since we don't really need them to board.

That's for 2 people.

Just as an FYI - those are the same sites included with the AZ overnight.

Here is a picture inside the tomb of Seti I.

On our Luxor tour we did not stop at any place like that. We did at the end of the day in Cairo to see the Pyramids.

After lunch we had free time. We ended up taking a walk, having coffee in the hotel atrium and then enjoying our balcony which looked out over the Nile. Late in the afternoon (and neither of us can remember the time) we left for the Karnak temple and the light show. We got there right around dusk and it was dark by the time that they let us in. We enjoyed the show. Had dinner upon our return. In the morning, look out over the Nile towards the Valley of the Kings and you will see lots of hot air balloons. It was beautiful to watch them as the sun was rising.

Hi! We did this last November. Really enjoyed it. Unfortunately, I did not keep our itinerary. What we enjoyed the most was that we were at The Valley of the Kings when it opened. It was basically our group in King Tut's tomb by ourselves. The ticket that they give you entitles you to visit 3 tombs and Tut's tomb. On the first day we asked our guide about buying the extra ticket to visit the tomb of Seti I. She arranged it for us and it was, not only a fabulous tomb, but it was just the 4 of us in the tomb. She had warned us that if we went to Seti I we probably would not have time for the other 3 tombs. However, given that we were there at the opening, we had no problem visiting all of the tombs. The only negative with the tour was that all of our meals were at the hotel and 2 lunches and the dinner were the exact same buffet. A number of us did complain about this one aspect so, hopefully, they have changed that. Happy to answer any other questions.