graciekelli

Not to be off topic, but after reading all these posts I feel like the posters are very critical in a negative way about what azamara is doing to compensate pax when a change becomes necessary. I just want to say that we too had a disruption to our originally planned cruise. It seems that a charter came along and bought out the entire cruise and we were bumped off our carefully planned trip. I was very happy when azamara offered to give us another trip within the same duration and cabin at the same price we locked in for our original sailing. Hubby and I picked another cruise valued much higher +3000 pp. and azamara honored that booking. We are very excited to go on our first azamara cruise in July 2016. I think the way azamara handled the disruption to our plans was fabulous. I can only imagine, based on reading these boards how wonderful this cruise is going to be.

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I see a lot of complaints about things not going quite right. However I want to give a big shout out to the Crown and Anchor Ambassador - Joan - who really went the extra mile in resolving my problem. In a nut shell, I just returned from a cruise in Panama in April. Prior to taking this cruise I was Emerald with 59 points. We were in a JS so I knew we would get 14 more points, bringing us to a total of 73 (YES!!! one more 7 night cruise and we would finally make diamond.)

You can imagine my dismay upon checking my status a few months later when those cruise points from April were finally added and I say a new number 66. On no, what happened. So I sent an email to Crown and Anchor. Bad idea. After waiting sometime I received a response that made no sense. So I picked up the phone explained everything to Joan and when she looked into our account she said that someone combined my sons points to my husbands and then realized they made a mistake and corrected it. Now it is right.

Huh?? But now a whole week's cruise was missing and it was one from a very long time ago - vanished - gone. I was sad. I then told Joan I know I have emails somewhere from long ago that showed my status and my points etc... would this help? She said yes. Send them all to me - but it's going to take a while because its a group email box and by the time they sort and it gets to her it will be 2-3 days later. Okay. So I sent several emails - dating back as far as 2009 all giving point history.

It's been a week. I haven't heard from Joan. I checked the website. What do you think I see??? Yes. My 73 points. Thanks Joan for the great service. Thanks for resolving this issue. It may not sound like a big deal to all you big Ds and D+s but to us newbies who have been cruising so hard to get so close, it meant a lot. Thanks again Royal!

My wife and I recently got married and we are sailing on Vision of the Seas out of Panama on April 19. We are both in our late 20s and are adventurous and are looking for suggestions on beaches or adventurous activities to take part in when we get to Cartagena, Colombia an Bonaire since we have never been there.

 

Does anyone have any suggestions?

Hi loyal to royal we are on the same cruise with you. Though we have never been to Bonaire, we decided to take wind surfing lessons.

Thank you mad flyer for your thoughtful review. I am looking forward to our first cruise on the vision and our first time trying Izumi.

Please excuse all the grammar and typos. I am responding on my iPhone.

So here's the confirmation from royal. My dining pkg was $50 pp. each resturant booked separately would be 25 for chops 20 for Giovanni and Izumi will be alacarte with a 20 credit towards the cost of what is ordered. Total price if booked seperate 65. Discount would be 23%. So I am getting at least a 20% discount. Provided hubby and I eat 40 worth of food at Izumi since we have never been there I am not sure. But excited to try it. I heard lots of good things.

Thank you mad flyer. I am on hold right now to verify the Izumi piece. I will post if they ever answer. So far 53 minutes on hold. Good thing I am prepaying my tips as well. I don't think I would wait. Just to verify the cost of resturants. We have the pkg. I just wanted to see if it was indeed at least 20% off since the prices are so low in vision. By the way since you have are at the specialty resturants on vision. How were they.

Hey, if you've got a printed confirmation and somehow got a better deal separately than by buying the package more power to you.

 

However what I think is going to happen is that all you have done is make a "reservation" for Izumi. It is not until you dine that you will be charged the $5 pp cover charge and then the a la carte pricing for food.

 

Also, I have not seen Chops that cheap in a long time on board a ship, although I could swear that I DID see it listed at $25 somewhere on the RCI website this week. There are definitely inconsistencies on their website; the Food and Beverage FAQ has some of the same questions repeated in different spots...different answers:rolleyes:

I agree that izumi has to be missing an important piece. Like no credit you pay ala carte. But for vision those are the other restaurants prices. I will fill you all in tomorrow.

You are just very wrong about the separate costs of these three restaurants. Please check your facts before making that phone call.

I already did check the price that's the reason I'm calling. Check back tomorrow and I'll post the outcome.

Where are you getting that information from? Chops has not been $25 in a very long time. Izumi has a cover charge on most ships and then a la carte pricing. One or two ships there is no cover charge but the a la carte is higher priced. I assure you Izumi is not free.

I am getting it from my reservation on vision of the seas. As I said I Wil call and confirm but I went into my reservation and booked the restaurants separately and that was the price I was given.

Check your math.

 

Chops itself is $30 (old menu) or $35 for the new menu. I believe Vision will have the old menu.

Giovanni's itself is $20. So that's your $50 right there.

The Izumi credit is $20; $5 goes towards cover so you effectively have another $15 to spend on food.

 

Basically you get $30 to spend on food at Izumi for "free" by paying for the other two. It's a pretty good deal. Booking times on board is not an issue, you do not have to sweat it or rush / run around to do it.

I will let you know what happens tomorrow. I will call and confirm the actual costs with what I ready paid with the package. All I am saying is that based on the price when attempting to reserve each separately I pay less t h an with the package.

You are just very wrong about the separate costs of these three restaurants. Please check your facts before making that phone call.

I am not wrong

Chops = 25

Giovanni = 20

Izumi = 0

Total = 45.

I just figured it out by doing mock reservations and looking at the actual price. Maybe different on different ships but not envision in fact I already reserved izumi with confirmation at $0. Yes free.

Best option was to get the specialty dininig package.. I think it was $55 a person, all three restaurants on granduer... so worth it, SO GOOD!

I just figured out that it really isn't worth it. The advertisement stated savings of at least 20% we paid 50$ for chops, Giovanni,and izumi. If I bought these restaurants separately I would have paid $45

So the pkg cost me $5 more. I'm calling tomorrow to cancel or ask for their advertised 20% discount. Just want you to check the price and really make sure you're getting the advertised deal.

Never purchased travel insurance for any trip land or sea.

Loved your review Jane. I am now considering altering our beach in Aruba. Our current plans were to take the kids to Eagle's Beach, but the beach you went to seems so nice. Since you've been to both -- which do you think 3 teenagers would like more?

Oh.....you will absolutely love this cruise. One of the best we have taken in a long time. Great itinerary. You can have the big ships!!!! This ship's size is just perfect. We enjoy ourselves on the big ships' date=' but on this ship.....we were made to feel so special. Everyone knew who we were and called us by name. I don't recall a friendlier crew. All the ships are great, but this one was really special!![/size']

You are making me so excited. I can hardly wait. Cartegena looks so picturesque.

Great review Jane. We are taking this cruise on April 19. We have an aft js and booked an ocean view for our 3 teenagers. Yes we too got a phenomenal price plus it's their spring break. Thank you for giving us a preview of what's to come. Great photos too.

renewed all 3 kids passports in January -- it took 2 weeks.

Just wondering did you ever get your chips to go with the guacamole? Was it before or after it started to turn brown?

Our dentist gives us a pack every time we visit. It has a toothbrush, paste, small floss, small mouthwash. We only use these free packs for travel. They're perfect.

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I believe Verizon is an exception. I don't think Verizon includes the USVI as part of their domestic plan.

Verizon worked in all USVI and Puerto Rico.

I enjoyed your very entertaining review. You are an excellent story teller.