Excursion question

[perlgirlnj]

We are new to Azamara. In fact, we're so new I haven't actually booked it yet but it's looking very likely!

 

On our other cruises, we've alway booked excursions independently for 3 reasons:

1. Flexibility

2. Value

3. Not wanting to be herded/crowded/rushed

 

(We've previously cruised Princess, Celebrity and RCI, ships varying from 2000-3000 people.)

 

What would an AZ ship excursion be like? Worth considering because of the smaller scale or should we still book independently?

 

We're traveling with another couple, are taking the Sept. 3rd Mediterranean cruise, have all traveled independently before but I'm not sure they've done independent cruise excursions before.

 

Insight, advice, thoughts?

[Grandma Gilly]

Definitely book an Azamara cruise, I'm sure you won't be disappointed. We, however, never book cruise tours for the exact reasons you have given. We also hate waiting for the 'last' person. If you are with another couple then your costs will be halved.

[azalice]

We have only done one Azamara cruise and did use some of their excursions. They were no different than others we have been on with other cruise lines, same big bus. The main difference I noticed was that their choice of shore excursions were noticeably less for the same port other cruise lines were using.

[Jade13]

We are new to Azamara. In fact, we're so new I haven't actually booked it yet but it's looking very likely!

 

On our other cruises, we've alway booked excursions independently for 3 reasons:

1. Flexibility

2. Value

3. Not wanting to be herded/crowded/rushed

 

(We've previously cruised Princess, Celebrity and RCI, ships varying from 2000-3000 people.)

 

What would an AZ ship excursion be like? Worth considering because of the smaller scale or should we still book independently?

 

We're traveling with another couple, are taking the Sept. 3rd Mediterranean cruise, have all traveled independently before but I'm not sure they've done independent cruise excursions before.

 

Insight, advice, thoughts?

 

Azamara is owned by RCCL so they are the same excursions you would have through RCCL and Celebrity.

 

We did a tour/transfer to the airport in Singapore and it was very good.

[Jade13]

The main difference I noticed was that their choice of shore excursions were noticeably less for the same port other cruise lines were using.

 

I noticed that too.

 

Initially I thought they were not all loaded into the system, and than I figured because of it's smaller size, someone at RCCL calculated to offer fewer excursions on Azamara as there are fewer passengers. On our October cruise there are numerous smaller Islands where you could walk around without a tour, but some only have 2 or 3 excursion options such as Kos which has only 2. Before Egypt was canceled, Alexandria had many tours offered.

 

At first when Kusadasi was substituted for Egypt I thought all of the excursions were not up and perhaps they were offering few because they were considering going back to Egypt, but now I know that is not the case. Every tour but one goes to Ephesus, so if it is a repeat port you have to go back or hire a private guide and none of their offerings go to the museum (we were able to go to Ephesus, Terrace Houses, Mary's House, and the museum in one tour previously).

[Ithikan]

We tried both the ship's tours and independent explorations during our 14 night Holy Lands cruise, and were mostly pleased with the AZ excursions. There is truly no way you could have topped our bus tours of "Medieval Cairo," "Eternal Jerusalem" and "Antalya Highlights."

However, I wish we'd booked our own car, or found a smaller group, for the small island of Chios and Sorrento's winding coast roads!

A few years ago for a cruise around the Med on Celebrity, we shared some private tours arranged via 'Meet & Mingle.' The thing to remember here is, smaller group = more face time with one another. I look at photos of Rome from that trip and see clenched jaw muscles beneath the vacation grins... Next time, I'll do more work ahead to assure compatible goals and time management!

[Jade13]

We tried both the ship's tours and independent explorations during our 14 night Holy Lands cruise, and were mostly pleased with the AZ excursions. There is truly no way you could have topped our bus tours of "Medieval Cairo," "Eternal Jerusalem" and "Antalya Highlights."

However, I wish we'd booked our own car, or found a smaller group, for the small island of Chios and Sorrento's winding coast roads!

A few years ago for a cruise around the Med on Celebrity, we shared some private tours arranged via 'Meet & Mingle.' The thing to remember here is, smaller group = more face time with one another. I look at photos of Rome from that trip and see clenched jaw muscles beneath the vacation grins... Next time, I'll do more work ahead to assure compatible goals and time management!

 

We always use the same private driver in Rome and spare no expense, one time taking a 14 hour private tour pre-cruise with just the two of us.

 

What other tours did you take from the ship in the holylands? Did you go to Masada and Dead Sea, or did you only have the one day in Ashod? One positive result of the Egypt cancelation is that we have three days in Israel (two in Ashod port - although the Celebrity itineraries now spend 4 days total in Israel when they canceled Egypt).

 

Did you go yo Cyprus? We are taking an evening in Tel Aviv tour with the ship which includes a traditional dinner in Jaffa. When they changed the itineraries (to arrive in the morning instead of about 2:00PM), they did not do a good job of coordinating this evening tour with anything else, so we will use a private driver to go to Jerusalem as our only ship option was a 4 hour tour to Jerusalem which makes no sense if it takes 1.5 hours each way to get there. The other tours average 10 hours and get back after 5:00PM.

[Jade13]

We tried both the ship's tours and independent explorations during our 14 night Holy Lands cruise, and were mostly pleased with the AZ excursions. There is truly no way you could have topped our bus tours of "Medieval Cairo," "Eternal Jerusalem" and "Antalya Highlights."

!

 

Are there any you would not recommend? We are booked for the Antalya Highlights, but it will likely get canceled as our TA's consortium is offering a free tour in Antalya but that is on condition they book enough people on the cruise. We did one through the TA a few years ago in Turkey (Kusadasi) and it was first class and one of the best excursions ever (offering more than Azamara is offering on any excursion from that port).

[Mexfolkart]

For our Baltic cruise with Azamara we are doing both kinds of tours..we are doing ships tours for the Canals of Stockholm and the Archipelago of Helsinki..both boats..then in St. Petersburg we have arranged with a private tour company for 7 of us who we met here on CC..in Talinn we are just doing our own walking tour that was done up by someone on CC..so its a real mix..In Istanbul recently we opted to not do our own thing and do ships tours as it was the day after the US shot binladen and we didn't know what to expect..as it turned out all was fine..and the ships tours were, too!!! No one dilly dallied..

Sherry