Joining Private Excursions

[5waldos]

Or rather, finding people to join with a private excursion once you have boarded. We have a very quiet roll call for the trip to the Greek Islands with three days in Israel in late October of this year so are having trouble finding people to join with us for several private tours. It will be a week into the cruise. Wondering if those of you who have cruised on Azamara before have ever either joined a private tour with people you have met onboard, or found people to join with a tour that you had organized? Or is it too much of a risk? I am a newby on this kind of cruise so am finding it hard to decide whether it is possible or not. Anyone with any words of wisdom?

[ellbon]

Go on your roll call and ask if anyone want to do a tour in a city..or snorkel etc

[uktog]

I have joined private trips from these boards it all depends if some are being offered by another guest. I have also set one up, but am less inclined to do so now as the risk of getting no takers is higher on Azamara.

 

Reasons are many, first the ship is smaller, if full 690 passengers on average 30-40 cruise critic members - I say average some a lot lower so the pool of people looking for trips is smaller and roll calls quieter.

 

Then we have the onboard credit issue. Because gratuities and drinks are already included, Azamara has less options when giving booking perks so it's OBC and once onboard guests with TA or cruiseline OBC have less options to spend it so will use the cruise line excursions rather than independent operations to use up their Obc- we are certainly in this category.

 

Many guests also just do things on their own on the day in Greek islands. Azamara guests particularly seem to love just going ashore and wandering with a guidebook, using local buses and finding a taverna. Being longer in port gives them more courage to do this!

 

Finally Azamara get a lot of repeat guests who stay in touch with each other so when people book a cruise they may find, for example through their Facebook friends, that they already have a tour group.

 

If I was you, I would say you are probably going to have to take the lead in organising any independent trips and hope you get joiners - there are always later arrivals to the roll calls. Doing this you have to accept the cost risk that you may be a two group only. Bear in mind also that at that time of year ships can be quieter (or maybe the Brits are waiting for the special offers!)

 

I would also identify alternative options with Azamaras excursions- again group sizes are smaller, guests are really considerate and therefore good timekeepers and unless it's a Cruise Global Shop Local tour, shopping is not a focus of the trip.

[excitedofharpenden]

Or rather, finding people to join with a private excursion once you have boarded. We have a very quiet roll call for the trip to the Greek Islands with three days in Israel in late October of this year so are having trouble finding people to join with us for several private tours. It will be a week into the cruise. Wondering if those of you who have cruised on Azamara before have ever either joined a private tour with people you have met onboard, or found people to join with a tour that you had organized? Or is it too much of a risk? I am a newby on this kind of cruise so am finding it hard to decide whether it is possible or not. Anyone with any words of wisdom?

It's a difficult one when you have such a quiet roll call (I'm on your cruise). The only words of wisdom I can offer is to persist with reminding the roll call of tours you have planned. The cruise is still a little while away and it's surprising how many roll calls I've seen where people request to join tours quite late, as uktog says. I guess the other thing is are you having to put down advanced deposits for tours? I would try and find ones that are a pay on the day.

[Grandma Cruising]

We have joined a private tour group set up through an Azamara roll call and it worked well. On a cruise from Singapore to Hong Kong someone set up a group of about 12 and we did 4 days of tours in Vietnam together.

We have just booked a cruise to Costa Rica and there are lots of tour opportunities on that.

One issue may be that people are more likely to want to set up tour groups in less well developed countries - it's easy to have a wander around a town in the Mediterranean or the USA!

I would suggest you keep posting!

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[5waldos]

Problem is our roll call is very quiet still. But we are still six months out so perhaps it will pick up.

[5waldos]

And excitedofharpenden- we are trying to organize Israel if you are at all interested (I begin to feel like one of those annoying touts)

[excitedofharpenden]

And excitedofharpenden- we are trying to organize Israel if you are at all interested (I begin to feel like one of those annoying touts)

Lol. Unfortunately not interested otherwise I would have joined you. Hope you have some luck.

[5waldos]

Thanks-me too.

[Globehoppers]

Thanks-me too.

 

Please reread uktog's comments. They are pertinent. Additionally, the"average" Azamara guest is an experienced global traveler and many are comfortable with and prefer independent activities ashore.

 

You also may want to reconsider Azamara's offered tours. They are not the "standard" drive-by group-gropes offered by most other cruise lines and tend, at least lately, to reflect the desires of the Azamara guest. They are expensive, but the value appears to be improving and they are now within the cost of many "private" tours.

[beachseeker]

They are expensive, but the value appears to be improving and they are now within the cost of many "private" tours.

If you are comparing prices for 2, I agree Azamara's prices are about equal. But, even a group of 4 often cuts the price in half and a group of 6 can make a huge difference.

To the OP, my suggestion is find the tour that you are interested in, book it, and ask others on your roll call to join you. We are sailing in October and I posted tours about a month ago and we are now full. Just takes the right person to join your roll call. Activity on the roll call will pick up about a month before sailing.

[ShopperfiendTO]

Hi OP, my understanding of your issue is that:

 

• You are hesitant to book a private tour because the price is high for two participants, your roll call is quiet and it's possible that there will not be anyone joining you via the roll call before the cruise.
  
• You are worried that you could be boarding with a tour booked at $X but without a group that would offset the cost of the tour.
  
• You are asking what other Az cruisers' experiences have been in finding others to join you when they are already on the cruise. The ship has literally sailed on the roll call option.
  
• You note that there is some time once on board, about a week, to "recruit" others to join you.
  

In my experience, I have not encountered very much on-board recruiting to join cruises. There is the Meet and Mingle, but I don't think that this will help you because presumably those in attendance would have been part of the roll call that did not bring any takers.

 

There is a somewhat similar recruiting situation that can occur while onboard, such as when a person who is part of a tour unexpectedly needs to drop out (e.g., gets sick or injured and can't participate as planned) and the organizer may be looking/scrambling to find a replacement. However, this situation is usually covered by an understanding that either the dropout still has to pay their share or find someone to take their place, or the remaining participants' share of the tour is adjusted for the fewer bodies to share the cost amount.

 

There is no bulletin board or similar type of public soliciting (nor would I think Az would allow it as it competes directly with their Shore Excursion department), so you would have to find people by just meeting them, striking up a conversation and hoping that they would be interested. This seems like work to me, and do you want to be doing this on your vacation, possibly for a week?

 

In my experience, I have not been broached by anyone asking if I would like join them on any of the Az cruises I have taken.

 

Is the cost if it were just the two of you debilitating or just high, and is the tour something that would have broad interest? If the cost is debilitating and of narrow interest, I think you are going to have a very hard time finding a match on board, in addition to the reasons already mentioned by others. If the cost is high but not debilitating, you could perhaps consider it a an ultra bespoke tour if you don't find other participants.

 

A final thought is that this area has been known for unrest so if you book, I would suggest that you have something in place for coverage in case the ship does not make it to the port for the excursion.

[5waldos]

More or less covered the situation although it was more exploratory in nature.

 

Am curious though about what you might mean by coverage if the ship doesn't port. Certainly a possibility in which case I assume that Azamara would have a backup plan to take us elsewhere. Since presumably we wouldn't know where we were headed until we were on the way- how could we have something else in place?

[Spursgirl]

I believe we are sharing a private tour with you in Israel on October 24 and hopefully we will have a memorable day.

 

However with the Middle East in tumoil anything could happen in the next few months which could lead Azamara to pull out of Israel altogether and revise our itinerary (I would suspect to Cyprus).

 

They would only change the itinerary while we are on the ship for a severe weather event or if passenger safety was compromised.

 

It's sad that we have to consider these issues but have to be prepared these days.

[uktog]

More or less covered the situation although it was more exploratory in nature.

 

Am curious though about what you might mean by coverage if the ship doesn't port. Certainly a possibility in which case I assume that Azamara would have a backup plan to take us elsewhere. Since presumably we wouldn't know where we were headed until we were on the way- how could we have something else in place?

 

In such a turbulent area I think coverage refers to some agreement from the provider if the ship does not come you will not be liable for the tour costs and will be refunded any advanced payments you make. In many situations because of the volatility of that region insurance may not cover it. You would also have to recognise if you pay up front you might not get that back even if the terms said you would for a number of reasons including restrictions on sending money abroad down to disinclination by the vendor.

 

I do hope though that you and everyone on that cruise have a great time and enjoy everything that you have already planned for.

[5waldos]

Force Majeure- just went over that with our tour guide. No charge if we can't make it. We have confirmed that on all the tours we have booked. Yes certainly that kind of backup plan is important- especially in places where volatility is the norm. I really really hope that we aren't led away from those stops in Israel- it was the reason we chose this particular trip. Safety would come first of course- just hope it isn't something that they have to do at the last possible minute. Like the poor folks who suddenly did not stop in Sharm el Sheik last week.

 

And yes Spursgirl- looking forward to it. Sure you don't want to join an excursion in Haifa? (the tout in me comes out again!)