First ever Christmas cruise

[florisdekort]

It continues to be eithrer or so if you are in a suite for this cruise for instance of 14 nights you'll get $279 less $235 as your allowance.

 

 

Hmmmm. If that's true I need to go speak to someone as I got $150 off the package for Discoverer Plat (Zenith) but nothing for my CW Suite... Thanks for flagging... and nice seeing you yesterday Phil!

 

 

 

 

 

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[excitedofharpenden]

Hmmmm. If that's true I need to go speak to someone as I got $150 off the package for Discoverer Plat (Zenith) but nothing for my CW Suite... Thanks for flagging... and nice seeing you yesterday Phil!

 

 

 

 

 

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Hey Floris. I've just checked it out and if you are in a suite you get $150 off the package regardless of your loyalty status (or you can just keep the 235 minutes given complimentary without buying the package). Apologies for the confusion. See you later!

Edited December 24, 2016 by excitedofharpenden

[florisdekort]

Hey Floris. I've just checked it out and if you are in a suite you get $150 off the package regardless of your loyalty status (or you can just keep the 235 minutes given complimentary without buying the package). Apologies for the confusion. See you later!

 

 

Ah [emoji846] Thanks for checking, that saves me a walk to Amanda and Guest Relations. See you soon!

 

 

 

 

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[Melissaghoti]

Thanks, Phil. Have a great cruise and a happy Christmas.

Melissa

 

 

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[gymfreak]

After a long flight to Singapore I'm finally here for the cruise. Nice couple of days, acclimitastion and out for food at the street market last night. Recommended. Singapore is a lovely city. Friendly and you feel comfortable.

 

Just wanted to give a heads up for something that started on JR last cruise and it's excellent I think. For those that have free minutes via LCV you can now get credit for them against an unlimited package if you purchase it so they aren't lost if you do buy a package. For example if you get 90 free minutes you'll get $90 off the package, 120 minutes you'll get $120 off, 150 minutes you'll get $150 off. Really great idea Azamara!

 

Sea day tomorrow and we cruise around Krakatoa on Christmas Day. Hope you have wrapped the presents!:)

Hi Phil

Have a wonderful Christmas, I hope Santa visits the ship!

One question on the above, what is the cost of the unlimited package? I presume it's dependant on cruise length?

Looking forward to your posts of how Azamara celebrates the festive season

Give our fond regards to all

Vicki X

[florisdekort]

Hi Phil

 

Have a wonderful Christmas, I hope Santa visits the ship!

 

One question on the above, what is the cost of the unlimited package? I presume it's dependant on cruise length?

 

Looking forward to your posts of how Azamara celebrates the festive season

 

Give our fond regards to all

 

Vicki X

 

 

It's slightly less than $280 for this 14 night cruise which works out to approx. $19.90 per day.

 

 

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[Grandma Gilly]

Azamara website says $30 per day for the unlimited package. Is there a 'special' per cruise?

 

And thank you Phil for all of your great info.

[excitedofharpenden]

Azamara website says $30 per day for the unlimited package. Is there a 'special' per cruise?

 

And thank you Phil for all of your great info.

 

The cruise price for unlimited on this trip is $19.95 per day i.e. $279.30 for the cruise. I don't think the website can be relied upon at the moment for internet pricing as it's something that is evolving. What I'm not sure of is if the cruise is say 7 days does the daily rate go up because the discount for some on one of those cruises would exceed the cost of the package if it didn't? I'll try and find out.

 

We are sailing through the Sunda Strait today and on our way to a sail around Krakatoa. Ship looks very nice. Christmas show tonight.

[takemewithyou]

Merry Christmas, Phil.

Hope you a wonderful holiday!

[gkm]

Merry Chrstmas Phil. I hope you are having a great time and are taking real good care of the Journey for us.

 

Garry

[excitedofharpenden]

We are heading toward Semarang. The whole cast were excellent for the Christmas show. Mel Mellors, the comedy magician and Beverly Davidson the violinist are the guest entertainers onboard at the moment and took part too. Very funny. Azamazing Evening tonight which I'm going to. I continue to thoroughly enjoy the atmosphere onboard. Santa made a visit yesterday and the kids onboard, both young and old, loved it.

 

Internet reception onboard has been really good thus far. I've been able to watch YouTube no problem and stream Amazon Music without issues.

Edited December 26, 2016 by excitedofharpenden

[ChucktownSteve]

Happy New Year Phil. Hope you have a fantastic cruise and I'm looking forward to hearing more about your time on Azamara Journey.

Steve

Edited December 26, 2016 by ChucktownSteve

[uktog]

We are heading toward Semarang. The whole cast were excellent for the Christmas show. Mel Mellors, the comedy magician and Beverly Davidson the violinist are the guest entertainers onboard at the moment and took part too. Very funny. Azamazing Evening tonight which I'm going to. I continue to thoroughly enjoy the atmosphere onboard. Santa made a visit yesterday and the kids onboard, both young and old, loved it.

 

Internet reception onboard has been really good thus far. I've been able to watch YouTube no problem and stream Amazon Music without issues.

 

Sounds like a brilliant day, I cannot imagine what Beverley would have been like she is so funny every time we see her :D

 

Having just come up for air from the washing up and really looking forward :rolleyes: to a dinner of left overs tonight, I know where next Christmas is going to be for us. I was able to smiled sweetly through some of the family tensions yesterday knowing that thanks to a booking made some time ago, I would be having an Azamazing Christmas next year

[oddjob16]

Hi , Phil. Nice of you to keep us updated here. Beware of dragons. Hear that you have a PITA on board, but you are used to handle those, aren't you?:D:D

[CruiseCrew123]

Can anyone explain why the internet packages are so ridiculously expensive ?????

[Grandma Cruising]

Because lots of people want them - market price. If few people wanted them, they would be cheaper to encourage people to buy!

 

 

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[uktog]

It was explained on the LCV voyage that the issue was not supply and demand, it was because the infrastructure cost far more to provide in terms of the provider contracts and the type of connection the ship was having to use. They have been replacing all the internal wirings and have also been testing new ship to satellite communication systems/provider contracts.

From what Phil is posting, there has now been a significant drop in price which was what we were told would happen as soon as they had the infrastructure in place to support the increase in demand that the price drop would generate. So the focus was on being sure they could sustain the service for the level of demand not supply and demand pricing.

[CruiseCrew123]

More like taking the mickey ! I've just got off an MSC ship in the Middle East where internet including video and calls was just over £45 for the week . I'd like to hear Bonnies take on it .

[florisdekort]

I can only add that I've never been happier with the Internet than on this cruise. I paid the $280 for the unlimited package minus the $150 LCV discount, so effectively I'm online 24 hours a day for 14 days for "only" $130 - and it has been quite fast too.

 

 

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[florisdekort]

More like taking the mickey ! I've just got off an MSC ship in the Middle East where internet including video and calls was just over £45 for the week . I'd like to hear Bonnies take on it .

 

 

I never get the "why isn't it cheaper" question. I'm sure Azamara can make the Internet free. They'll just have to up the price of something else to protect their profit margin - as a publicly traded business. What would you be willing to pay more for in return for free Internet?

 

 

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[Riocca]

We were on Hurtigruten's Spitsbergen in November the Internet was high speed although streaming was blocked and the cost was £40 for the 11 day voyage and you could connect two devices. We never had any problems connecting and although we were inside the Arctic circle for most of the voyage there was no drop out either.

 

 

 

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[uktog]

We were on Hurtigruten's Spitsbergen in November the Internet was high speed although streaming was blocked and the cost was £40 for the 11 day voyage and you could connect two devices. We never had any problems connecting and although we were inside the Arctic circle for most of the voyage there was no drop out either.

 

 

 

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One of the challenges is sustaining coverage is number of guests using the kit - Azamara have over double the number of guests and this impacts on connections. They were also having to work with an infrastructure developed during the previous century whereas Hurtigruten is working with newer kit. The changes (at quite a cost) that Azamara have been quietly making will make a big difference. They told us on board they had run a test in the middle of the year using new kit and had been disappointed by the results so in the Autumn went to Plan b and it sounds from what Floris is saying they have now hit the right solution to roll out.

[ChucktownSteve]

It was explained on the LCV voyage that the issue was not supply and demand, it was because the infrastructure cost far more to provide in terms of the provider contracts and the type of connection the ship was having to use. They have been replacing all the internal wirings and have also been testing new ship to satellite communication systems/provider contracts. .

 

That makes a lot of sense. When I sold to previous partners and went into competition with them, I bought faster machines. I was able to charge less than them and make more money because of faster volume.

[Riocca]

Admittedly Spitsbergen is a newer small ship but will take 350 pax, however we were told the older ships which take up to 1000 are being fitted with the same system. Day passengers have a similarly attractive price, and most passengers were very extensive users of the Internet during our voyage.

I think the key was the blocking of streaming which preserved the bandwidth and allowed more passengers to enjoy good internet speeds. I continually clocked speeds of 32Mbps.

 

 

 

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[beachmudhut]

Just disembarked the Viking Star. Internet was fast and completely free to everyone.