Playalover

We have $1000 OBC ($800 from Oceania and $200 from our TA at time of booking). We book at least one cruise a year with our TA.

I will be on my first Oceania cruise this summer. Our package did not include gratuities, it did include unlimited internet. When I got my blue book I noticed that unlimited internet was valued higher than gratuity.

I contacted my TA and asked if they would contact Oceania to request swapping out our internet for gratuity. She emailed me back that she was able to keep the internet AND have the gratuity tossed in as well.

You never know what you may get and it doesn't hurt to ask.

(as a side note, we are booked on an inside guarantee, so cheapest room in the house so I don't think room or cat level maters)

Hola all,

My original post was at the cottage, thus no blue book. I turned to page 4 as requested and do not see a cut off time for embarkation. Here's what I got:

DEPARTURE INFORMATION:

Port: Lisbon

Embarkation Date: July 10

Embarkation Time: 1:00 PM

1:00 PM is the only posted time anywhere on page 4.

We are scheduled to sail away at 10:00pm and curious what time we had to be on board. We will be heading out to a neighbouring city the day we depart and don't want to rush back if we don't have to (sailing out of Lisbon, we will be visiting Sintra which appears to be about a 30 minute train ride). Based on previous experience, if we are at the ship by 4:30 are we good?

Hola,

I posted earlier on this thread and thought I would chime in again. My partner (40s) and I (30s) cruised Azamara last year and loved it! We cruise annually and every single year I passed one of the smaller luxury lines and I said "next year we won't be on this floating circus, we will be on one of those little beauties." And then we did...and it was brilliant.

I select cruises on port itineraries and Azamara didn't offer anything this summer that I liked. Oceania has some great port intensive intermarries this summer and so we jumped onboard (with two of our friends in their 30s/40s).

Why these little ships are brilliant:

* no rush getting on and off (maybe a plus of having a ship full of senior citizens who are truly in no rush)

* super quiet sea days. I got up, ran the outdoor track with a few other people, flopped in a chair and read all day. No loud music, pool games, bingo announcements...ahhh, silence because that is what everybody else is doing too!

* open seating with glorious food and wine

* an intimate setting that allows you to get to know people a little bit (often educated and well travelled)

*not a single pair of legs running lengths of the hallways outside our door :) Seriously, I can't blame a 7 year old for thinking that's fun, but it sounds like an elephant charging all night long.

* We like to do our own thing: read all day or off the ship all day, a drink in the room, dinner and a walk or a board game after dinner. I don't need entertainment in the evening because I'm in bed early so that I can get up and enjoy my day.

Honestly, I paid no attention to the age of my fellow cruisers last summer. I will pay no attention to the age of the travellers on my Oceania cruise this summer.

The only question is is this the type of cruise that appeals to you? My 60+ year old parents...no way! They need something more lively. Me...absolutely!

Base your decision on likes/dislikes and not age.

Hola,

I have not done these tours so I can't give my two cents on their quality. I have spent 3 weeks in Egypt as a tourist and can offer up some suggestions based on what is important to you:

1. If you don't like the heat make sure to do the pyramids in the morning when it is cooler. It is crazy hot in the afternoon (something I love, something you may not love).

2. I predict many tourists will do pyramids first, museum in the afternoon due to the heat. So, if crowds, or lack of crowds, is important to you I would do the pyramids in the afternoon.

3. Cruising the Nile is just great! Truly worth the extra $20 to say that you did it. Both lunches will be the same (rice, chicken, salad).

The best value I saw on the website was the 6 person van. If you could get 6 people together and share the cost you would have the ability to see so much more (step pyramid, etc). Egypt is very inexpensive and you can get an Egyptologist for the day for almost nothing. Then your small group of 6 would get a very intimate look at a beautiful city.

Hola,

Me again (previous poster).

The biggest thing, and what I missed stating in my previous post, is that we are entering their territory. This for me, is a great thing! When I vacation, I want to lounge around, read a good book, drink a nice glass of wine over a delicious dinner. I have never wanted loud music, party games, boisterous groups, etc and have found a group of travellers on cruise lines like O and Azamara that like to travel similarly to me. If this is you too, you will fit right in.

I'm not sure why previous posters have said you've made a mistake or that you should look elsewhere. I can assure them I have not make a mistake booking my37 year old self on an O cruise this summer :)

Hola!

While we won't be on your cruise, we will be on a 10 day this summer with O. Our ages range from 37-46. We cruised Azamara last summer and had a blast. We were known on the ship as the first-off and last-on folks and the only group who walked to Taormina from our tender drop off (yes, up the hill, on a goat path). We made friends on board and shared a cab with one couple to the airport. Age...just a number. Enjoy your cruise.

Hola! We stayed on the same ship design with Azamara last summer in 8066 and were worried about noise too. We didn't hear a sound! It's a great location.

Thanks for the info. We have a fantastic TA that will work hard to get us the best deal. There is no way we will use all the OBC that is being offered right now (we don't like tours) and have been on other lines where they said we couldn't use it. Thanks again.

Hola all,

We've cruised lots and did our first Azamara last summer. We are looking into Oceania this summer and are curious if we can use our on board credit towards our gratuities (we've been on cruises where you cannot).

Thanks in advance

Hola,

Thanks for the info. We are thinking of doing a similar cruise with SC this summer and wondering how long you spent in most ports. We are hoping you get to spend some evenings/overnights.

Hola!

We've booked our flights separately and coming in a few days prior to the cruise (so I can't comment on flight things). I was able to log in online today and order luggage tags but couldn't find where our ship leaves in Istanbul for the life of me.

I guess I will give Azamara a call and find out where we are.

Thanks again everybody for the posts.

Hola all,

Thanks for the speedy replies.

I just ordered my luggage tags (thanks for the info) and have all green check marks for online check in. Nowhere in my travel documents does it say which port we are cruising out of in Istanbul, it just says Istanbul.

Having been there last year we assumed (I know "ass") the same port and booked accommodations near the port. I followed the Chris Cruises blog these past couple of weeks and he pointed out that they cruised out of a different area.

Any idea where I might find the port information? I just may not be looking in the right place

Hola all,

Thanks for all the posts the last couple of months, I'm getting super excited for our first Azamara cruise in August.

We are less than 30 days out and have not received any type of travel documents from Azamara (for example, luggage tags) in the snail mail. Also, I'm curious what port we will be using in Istanbul and guessing that our travel docs will let us know (we booked a B&B thinking it would be the port we sailed into last year with NCL, it may possibly be a port on the other side of the Galata Bridge) and we are looking to change our overnight lodging.

We have checked in online and printed those docs.

At what point should I be contacting my TA to say we haven't received anything? When did you receive yours?

Thanks!

Hola all,

I was wondering if anybody has visited Parco Sommerso di Gaiola Area Marina Protetta before. If so, would you mind providing some info on:

1. How you got there

2. Hours of operation. On the website it says the visitor centre is open from 10-2, is that for the entire location or just the tourist shop? We would be getting there around 2 if we went.

2. Anything else you want to share :)

Thanks

Hola!

My partner and I will be on the ncl jade July 9-23 out of Venice (flying out of Toronto)

Anybody else?