Azamara Shore Excursions

I’m planning for my first Azamara cruise, a transatlantic on Pursuit in November. I usually book private excursions when cruising; however, due to non refundable onboard credit, I am looking at some shore excursions with the cruise line. We only have 3 ports...Gibraltar, Funchal, and Hamilton. I have 2 questions.

1) Will any additional excursions be offered on board? There are surprisingly only a few for each port currently showing on the website.

2) Does the price increase if you wait until you’re onboard to book an excursion?

Thanks,

Laura

I heard the prices can change but I have never notice.

I tend to buy wine or use credit in the spa. It can be used anywhere

Of course, I can't address this specific itinerary, but my experience has been that shore excursion prices rise significantly as you get closer to your departure date. If you have more OBC than you foresee spending on food, wine or the spa, go ahead and book excursions. If more interesting ones are added, you can cancel and rebook and now that you can do it with OBC online, it's a painless process.

I was in Gibraltar a year ago and I'd had no idea how fascinating it would be. I'm sure there are lots of private tours, as well as the ship's, but I recommend it, however you choose to do it.

Melissa

I’m planning for my first Azamara cruise, a transatlantic on Pursuit in November. I usually book private excursions when cruising; however, due to non refundable onboard credit, I am looking at some shore excursions with the cruise line. We only have 3 ports...Gibraltar, Funchal, and Hamilton. I have 2 questions.

 

1) Will any additional excursions be offered on board? There are surprisingly only a few for each port currently showing on the website.

 

2) Does the price increase if you wait until you’re onboard to book an excursion?

 

Thanks,

Laura

Hi Laura,

I'm booked on an Azamara cruise leaving the middle of October. I had printed all of the shore excursions 3 months prior, and now that we've finally decided what we want to do in Jerusalem, we found the prices have increased significantly (from $195 to $259)! I was so surprised and not happy at all. I have no idea what the prices will be once on the ship, but who would have guessed they'd increase before we even get aboard?

Debbie

Be careful using OBC for excursions. The way that I read the terms and conditions, they must be cancelled three days before start of cruise. I had hoped to use obc to purchase one of the experience more packages, and then book excursions. Told this could only be done on board by LVC agent.

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Laura, on our Quest cruise this summer we had OBC we wanted to use for excursions and it was before you could use it online. The prices rose considerably by the time we boarded and were able to book. A 4 hour trip touring and visiting a tomato farm rose from under $100 to $139. However, it was brilliant. The other tour we took was cheaper but quite poor and not good value. We were just pleased it wasn’t ‘real’ money we used.

I highly recommend a tour in Gibraltar to see all round the caves, the apes, and the views.

Madeira, it’s possible to enjoy the old town and a ride up on the cable car independently. If you want to see more of the beautiful island, then yes, a tour is best.

Hamilton, we had a tour out to the naval dockyard and to see views around the island but didn’t spend time in the town.

If you have any further questions, please ask. We have taken many transatlantic cruises. I know of a wonderful independent guide in Madeira. [emoji3]

Corinne

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Thanks for all the replies. We have been to Gibraltar before and did an extensive tour. We’ve also been all over Bermuda twice, so I’m not so concerned about booking an excursion there. We were scheduled to stop in Madeira a few years back, but Celebrity cancelled the stop due to port strikes. Perhaps I’ll book something for Funchal just in case the prices begin to increase. Thanks for the heads up about reading the fine print! I just wish there were more choices in these ports.

Laura