Planning to book the August 11 Amalfi and Dalmatian Coasts Cruise. Need advice!

Hi,

This is our second time cruising (first without the kids) so we don't have a lot of experience. But I am leaning towards this particular cruise itinerary and I am liking the fact that the ship is smaller and not as crowded.

I can book an interior stateroom GTY and use the saved money for excursions but I am not too sure how this works. Do you think the ship will be full capacity in August? Anyone have any experience with this particular itinerary?

TIA!

As far as Guarantee cabins are concerned, you book a guarantee of a certain type of cabin - Ocean View, Verandah etc. You are guaranteed to get a cabin that is that category, you may be lucky and get a cabin in a higher category. You will usually find out which cabin you have been allocated some time before the cruise - anything from a month before to a few days before.

We only booked a guarantee cabin once, on HAL. It was a guaranteed Verandah cabin. We were lucky and got a De Luxe Verandah cabin, which gave us lots of extras such as being able to use the speciality restaurant for breakfast and having the use of a really nice lounge which was reserved for ‘De Luxe’ Guests.

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A quick review shows very few cabins available at this time, but some will drop out at final payment. If you are happy with an interior you should book the guarantee. I would advise booking private tours to save money. In many of these ports there are several companies that arrange cruise ship tour, and most of the cities are very easy to tour on your own. Join your roll call to find out options. Be advised August will be hot and crowded.

We have booked a guarantee Verandah in the past and were very happy with the one selected. We have done two cruises both in August along this coast and loved them both, we do not tend to do excursions but did do a private tour in Sorrento where we chose to go to Herculaneum and Ravello but our driver was happy to tailor the day as we wished.

In some ports just wandering around as a couple or catching local transport is more fun than an excursion. If you are well.prepared and adventurous you can do your own thing cheaply. Great itinerary. Done it more than once on Azamara and AmalfI is fabulous and local bus takes you to Ravello

My advice is to be sure that an interior is ok with you. Sometimes you will get a better cabin but you might (probably) get what you booked.

As far as shore excursions; I suggest that you look at the roll calls for your cruise, add on to private tours that others have booked and are looking for additional people. Azamara has a large numbers of very experienced customers that are very good at finding private tours that are always less expensive and often better than Azamara's. You will love Azamara.

We were originally booked on this itinerary. We booked it a long time ago and saw a huge price drop ($1,100) about 8 months ago. Shortly thereafter, we decided to change the date due to the heat in August. At that time, I was watching and the ship was not filling up as fast as our new departure date. I'm assuming that's due to the weather. Even so, I'm sure the ship will sail full by the time your departure date rolls around. Be sure you're happy with an inside because that is the worst you'll get.