Dr H

That's it. In the good old days, we could check in on line, print out our papers, show up at the dock, and go through the whole process a second time. Somewhere along the line, this process collapsed into the electronic ether, and now you show up passport in hand, and cruise confirmation and 10 minutes later, they let you board. Worry more about how to get to your departure city and to the port than getting on board the ship. And have a wonderful time.

I've never heard of "future cruise credits", HOWEVER: When you are on board, Azamara permits, in fact encourages, booking a future cruise with a $550. deposit. A single, penalty free change of cruise is permitted. As is a return of your deposit for an almost full cancellation ($75 pp penalty?). The credit perks, discounts, etc will also transfer over to the new cruise. If final price drops before your final payment, both the perks you booked and the price change will be honored. We've done it, and have not had a problem. Future cruises are usually announced a good year and a half in advance. Just be aware that there is the risk of the cruise line going belly up in the future, and you've got money "invested" in them that could be lost. So far, there have been no overt issues with Azamara. If you like the line, and like the itineraries they offer, put a deposit down.

We've booked several cruises in recent (sale) days. Nope, cabin choice is NA. Oddly, the last cruise was booked onboard at Sail Again, several rooms popped up, and when the sales agent tried changing our room, poof! The 4 available in our category simply disappeared. Azamara IT being what it is, they may have been sold and truly unavailable, or the Martians were playing games with the computer. The best I've been able to do is request location, non adjoining cabins, floor. It's a major annoyance, and should be a fixable problem

Surprised you've gotten no answers yet. YES, you can. We did it last month for friends who were traveling with us. I had referred them to Azamara as first time cruisers, and applied for onboard credit for them, since I had referred them to the cruise. Can't figure out why, but Azamara turned them down, but ultimately credited us for the referral. We had credit up the wazoo so to speak, I bought the 4 dinner specialty package for the them and for us. No issues whatsoever. I did let Sandy pay for my martini... Basic answer, you can't gamble with the credit or use it for future cruising, but other than that, you can pretty much choose what to do with it.

The cruise booklet is part of an e-mail that Azamara sends out to only its most favored, important, beautiful and witty customers. Only the most important get it, and obviously I have just arrived. My wife has not. Basically, it's an electronic "booklet" that has your confirmation, boarding passes, rules and regulations, and shore excursions listed. Several folks in the UK posted on CC about having received theirs prior to our last cruise, we, alas, did not. I take it that you will be on the Rio trip? If you get the email, congrats. You don't need it, but it did stoke my ego for a moment. If you didn't, please, don't fret! David

Hey Joe, wonderful hearing from you. The ship sails on March 15th, we arrive in Rio in the morning of March 13th. There should be no jet lag, we are off by ½ time zone. 17 nights, very reasonable price, would love to see the two of you again and actually do the blue cheese/port thing. Air fare from Atlanta was $435 one way when I booked. Come on - you're retired, putting food on the table, and last I looked, you don't need a new pair of shoes! I've got a very dear friend dying of acute leukemia following 15 years of multiple myeloma. He just turned 65, and his wife retired 6 months ago. You only go around once, and it's only money. Please, consider it. David

Thanks a million for sharing that piece of info! Oh, for the record, I actually JUST received my "cruise booklet" for the Rio trip. Never got one for our November hajaira, so things are getting brighter over at Azamara. I also called my travel agent around 6PM yesterday, got through immediately (he had a very strong Indian accent, I suspect I might have been the first client of his day) and he got through to Azamara within two rings. They may be doing a lousy job controlling the Atlantic weather in November and December, but their phone service actually seems to be back to normal.

Sorry the Carib was rough. We had been on Onward from Rome into Lisbon and then on to Ft Lauderdale. Roughest transatlantic we've ever been on, but really, that wasn't Sycamore Partners', Capt. Carl's, nor Azamara's fault. God and Neptune had it in for us. Carl told us there wasn't a warm, smooth patch across the entire ocean. I missed our M & M on the first leg, we went looking for the 2nd and never found it. It was a bit of a disappointment, but ultimately, I/we bumped into a lot of the folks who signed up, as well as others who hadn't! It's a small ship. The good news, even with the 20 foot seas and the white caps, is that with the exception of one waiter in the MDR who was completely incompetent, service was the typical Azamara superb, food up to par (which means superb), and the new Atlas bar was actually very good - if you avoided their fancy $20 cocktails that were either invented by an angry, failing college student or came to you smoking almost as much as certain passengers on the pool deck, they made some really good classical cocktails. Anyway, hope you at least had a decent time on board. I just sent in my passport renewal yesterday, hopefully it will arrive before we have to fly off to Rio for our March transatlantic to Lisbon on Quest. Anyone else joining us? David

For what it's worth dept: We got off Onward about a week ago, I meant to take a copy of the spa prices for posting, but never got around to it. I had a haircut on Quest just over a year ago, ran me $45. We were with friends this round, Sandy needed a haircut, and was quoted $90. He politely declined. Prices in the spa are up significantly. IMHO, if you have a lot of OBC, have a great time. If you don't, wait till you get home. This of course is a male's opinion...

Hi gang, sort of a follow up. I just called the customer support team number as directed (833 292 2292) and got through immediately. The lady at the other end was very helpful, unfortunately, all navigation needed to go through her, I had no access to the web site to view choices or prices. We are on the April 1, 7 nite Lisbon to Barcelona cruise on Quest, and was given a quote of $535. rt Atlanta to Lisbon via Boston on March 26, returning to Atlanta April 12 on Air Canada via Montreal. (I think the departure out of Atlanta is with Delta, please don't quote me.) That was economy, economy plus was $1300,pp, and a mere $18,000 business. I was asked for the Azamara confirmation number, and the dates I wanted. I can't give you any further details, I will, if friend Marge takes them up on the deal. Delta is asking $1088 regular economy, $2622 premium economy, and $3576 business, round trip. Business is almost reasonable, but I know who I would be using for economy! Hope this helps.

Dear Mr Nut, we've been cruising with Azamara since 2010, and short of the Owner's Suite, we've booked into all the rooms at various times. For What It's Worth department, we love the Verandas, BUT. You are booked on a port intensive cruise. Trust me when I tell you that you won't be able to use your veranda for much other than possibly breakfast. They are great on sea days, but no so great on port days. And generally speaking, run close to $1000 more than the Ocean Views. That said, the Deck 6, obstructed view Oceanviews are some of the worst accommodations on board, narrow rooms, cramped, they would be great for a single traveler, but not for a couple. Been there, done that, won't do it again. As for getting an upgrade, I wouldn't count on one, unless the toilet is dead, a water main is leaking into your bed, or the noise level is unlivable. They do happen, just not very often. Hope this helps, we just got off 3 weeks on Onward this past week, Veranda across the Atlantic, Oceanview in the Med. Oceanview is a great choice for port intensive travel, and at this point, I would not book a Veranda for a port intensive cruise. Oh, the itinerary looks spectacular!

We have been doing B2B for ages. First, it extends the trip - you've flown so far, might as well grab some more days. Next, on board room credit is (has been?) added to BOTH legs. I don't know if anything has changed, but generally it has been $400 credit for a cruise over 8 days, $300 for a week , I'm not sure about the figures for a 4D cruise. Hey, my go to is that if the rent is paid, the kids have shoes, there's food on the table, and you aren't going to go bankrupt, spend the money, enjoy yourself! Whatever you decide, have a great time!

While not officially a "Chef's Table", they have been known to offer a Dutch/Indonesian Rijstaffel. We've done it twice, and much as it pains me, it was very poor, bordering on awful both times. Considering the complement of Indonesian nationals in the crew, that was pretty shocking. I would advise against it if offered. To the two of us, getting a poor meal on Azamara, and twice, was pretty shocking. If offered, make up your own mind, but we won't be going, and we love Rijstaffel. RE: French and Italian. We have gone to both, on several occasions. Both are worth every penny of the surcharge. We are prejudiced, and modestly prefered the Italian dinner over the French, very modestly. However IMHO, the Italian wines we have been served at all of the dinners were significantly better than the French choices. Again, our recommendation if you are only going to do one, go Italian. We haven't bothered with California, I suspect you would do those more for the wines than the food. We had a weird "Japanese" dinner once. It looked more California than Japanese, and the wines were California. Otherwise, we are B2B, and I suspect it will be French first leg, and Italian over the Atlantic. May you have sleepless nights trying to decide this very tough decision.

😏I should have known...

Oops. I meant well. I wonder why they stopped it? Especially with empty cabins. Still, call them, talk is cheap, the worst they can do is say no.

Azamara is currently running a double (or single) upgrade sale. You may wish to call them, and see if they will honor your request (hey, even if they don't, you might be eligible for a refund). Next they have had a bidding for upgrade program. That might work for you. If these don't work, you are at no loss. If they do, if you don't ask, you definitely don't get. Good luck. We have been upgraded in the past, even without asking. I assume it's because of my beautiful brown eyes.

As my mother used to say, "For money, you can buy anything." I would speak to guest relations to set up two lines, and expect to pay full price for both lines to reduce anxiety/anger levels when they do. If they offer a discount, smile and say thank you. Do you have status with Azamara? If you do, there are significant discounts on internet packages. Keep in mind that connectivity isn't the fastest running two machines just might double your frustration. You might also want to pack a strip extension cord without a surge protector. Good luck, I'm sure they will be happy to help you.

Folks, a major diversion from the topic, sorry about that, but. We are B2B starting in a week and a half. Just found out on one of our threads that we can now reserve dining packages, chef's tables, drink packages, and more ON LINE, by going into your reservation, click on "Manage My Reservation", then click on "Addons". Some folks just might want to consider the ultimate drink package at this time.

Our last European adventure was listed as Italy (?) and Morocco. We made it to Italy, Morocco, well, not so much. Apparently there was a terrorism threat, and much as I/we wanted to go to Morocco, Spain was fine with us. It happens. Again, I'm sorry your plans got messed up, but it's still a big world out there, and touring someplace with bullets flying isn't the smartest of plans. But, if it's bullets flying that you want, plenty of cities here in the US that can accommodate, and you won't need a passport.

You sign a contract with any cruise line, and it isn't even fine print that itineraries can be changed, for any reason and at any time. Sorry about that, but do you really want to be in the middle of god knows what politically or socially?

Not quite. Man, it must be close to 60 years since I read that one! No, "Red Chief" is kidnapped, not sold, and the kidnappers ultimately try to pay the parents to take the little monster back. It echoes a naivete of the age (1907), that wouldn't be altered until the Lindbergh kidnapping in the 1930s. Today of course, kidnapping is just a bit different. As for actually selling kids, we don't talk about it, but it is not at all uncommon here in the US. I waxed poetic about a very real, and very horrible situation that does indeed exist. I had no intentions of putting any sort of damper on anyone's cruise. David

TGG, yep, I was cheep and opted for a v3, and it was lower than your quote. We are up front rather than between up front and middle, but hey, that was unreal, compared to prices I'm seeing for 2025! As for airfare, you can't go anywhere from Atlanta without remortgaging the house. Atlanta to Rio, ow, economy was about $450/head, and I was able to lop off $250 per ticket using my frequent flier miles. My only problem now is that I can't get home from Barcelona without selling one of the grandkids.

Last week I booked the Rio to Lisbon cruise for next March and shock of shocks, was quoted a price LOWER than the Azamara web site. And my TA was quoting me the price Azamara was quoting her. Since you can now actually get through to Azamara, make the call. Saving $5 isn't worth the effort. Saving over a grand is, at least in my book. Thank you TA who must not be named, and thank you Azamara!

Definitely call your TA! I've had many similar situations, and once Aza refers management to a travel agent, they won't handle the changes, your TA will. I've never had a problem with price changes, either a lowering of final price on a payment still due, or changing from a lower to a higher category. Call, and have a great time. OBTW: having made some changes myself last week, I had no problem getting through to my TA, and they had no problem getting in touch with Azamara. Have an even better trip than you had planned!

I have only been cruising for 13 years, minus the 2 covid years, and was not aware of any of this info. We were turned on by friends who had been cruising for some time, and Alan usually booked through at least 1 travel agent. He never mentioned any of these "perks", if you call them that. I've never used a travel-travel agent, just the agent whose name must not be spoken, lest I raise poor Phil's blood pressure yet again. I shall make inquiries. Frankly, it would be great if discounted air could be booked along with the cruise. D