My shore excursion has been changed so we will miss the the ship!!!!!

[chilimax]

Has this happened to anyone else? We are on the maiden voyage of Pursuit on 1 August to Norway and booked (back in February as soon as they were published) a shore excursion on the Flam railway which left early in the morning we were in port. Just received notification from Azamara that they have changed the time of the train we were booked on to a later one which is now due to get back an hour AFTER the ship will have sailed!!!

Immediately notified the shore excursion team who are looking into it but concerned we have now lost our seats on our original train excursion as it has been showing sold out for several weeks now. Should we be worried or will the legendary Azamara customer service step in and sort it?

[chilimax]

Should have made clear excursion is through Azamara.

[Grandma Cruising]

I’m sure Azamara will sort it out. If you are in the U.K., it may be worth emailing Richard Twynam at RTwynam@azamaraclubcruises.com.

 

 

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[chilimax]

Thank you Host Grandma for your reply. It’s been six days since they contacted us. Will give them a few more days and then take you advice.

[lizboyle]

I’m sure Azamara will sort it out. If you are in the U.K., it may be worth emailing Richard Twynam at RTwynam@azamaraclubcruises.com.

 

 

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I very much doubt Mr Twynam will sort it out. I’ve emailed him 3 times with an issue I have and have yet to receive a reply to sort it out. :(

[chilimax]

Sorry to hear that lizboyle. It doesn't fill me with confidence.

[NeverStopLearning]

I suspect that the issue will be settled in your favour as this is an Azamara provided excursion. They have a responsibility to either wait for your excursion to get back, or they must transport you at their cost to the next destination.

 

I have been on several ships, not Azamara, where the captain waited for a late excursion to return. After all, that is one of the advantages to using the onboard excursions.

 

It will probably take them a few days to sort out. If not, then let us know. This would be a non-starter for us as we take the company excursions to see the destination ports.

[BBMacLaird]

Hi chilimax,

Since you booked your tour through us you can be sure this will be straightened out...either your tour will be adjusted or the ship’s departure time will be adjusted.

P.s. I’ll share your post with the Tour department just to add another voice.

P.p.s. on the plus side, you can sleep in a bit longer!

[Grandma Cruising]

I very much doubt Mr Twynam will sort it out. I’ve emailed him 3 times with an issue I have and have yet to receive a reply to sort it out. :(

 

 

 

Golly, I’ve always had very quick replies from him.

 

 

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[chilimax]

Thank you Bonnie for you response and assistance. My worry is that it will result in a cancellation. For us this tour was a highlight of the trip.

[ShopperfiendTO]

Thank you Bonnie for you response and assistance. My worry is that it will result in a cancellation. For us this tour was a highlight of the trip.

 

We were in Flam and took a (super) ship excursion that included the railway ride. There were train cars specifically reserved for people on Az excursions so you should not be too worried about not having seats on the apparently sold-out train.

 

However, if the docking time changes so that there is no train back before the ship leaves, then there seems to be a risk that the excursion might be cancelled. I think the risk would be low though given that excursions are a revenue generator for Az and docking times are generally within Az's control for less-visited ports like Flam - i.e., the port operators should be fairly flexible with the time of departure unless there is a ship scheduled to arrive later in the day (but how likely is that)?

 

Is your excursion just for the return ride on the railway or is it a combination tour where you ride it up/down one way and get bused in the other direction? The latter is the excursion we took with Az and what they did was split those who signed up for the excursion into two groups, one group starting with the train ride up and the other group ending with the train ride down (i.e., same tour, reverse itineraries).

 

In the end, I think you alerting Az of this issue was helpful as it will allow Az time to sort this out: You want to buy/take the excursion, Az wants to sell/provide you the excursion, and the railway (presumably) wants to sell Az/you a ticket for the train.

[Oakton Girl]

In February we scheduled a tour through Azamara on the Copper Canyon train. We arrived back to the ship very late. The captain held the ship for almost 2 hours until we all got back on board. No problem-I’m confident Azamara will get it all sorted out for you. But this can be disturbing to get schedules changed after much preplanning.

[uktog]

Recently on Azamara Journey the captain waiting 1 hr 45 minutes for late guests on a private tour whose private tour car had broken down in Sri Lanka. They evidently had to do the last 35 miles to the port in a tuk tuk

The guests had contacted the ship so they knew where they were. I suspect the Captain waited because he knew the paperwork to leave them behind would be a nightmare.

[chilimax]

Thank you all for your helpful responses. The trip is by train up and back down Shopperfiend. I am wondering if it has proved so popular that they have put on a second tour which will necessitate a later departure of the ship. I am surprised that it is taking so long to confirm that, however, as I assume the later ship departure would have been decided before the timing of the tour was changed. Uktog: not sure I would fancy going down the mountain on a tuk tuk!

[BBMacLaird]

Hi Chilimax,

I’ve been told the ship’s departure time is being rescheduled to be 17:30.

 

Would you do me the favor of posting this info on your Roll Call? (I’m typing on my phone at this moment. Not easy for me to search Roll Calls on the tiny screen.)

[AllisonJames]

I'm on this cruise with you! Your posting got me nervous because we had planned to do the Flam railway independently but hadn't booked yet. Just booked it and had no problem getting the 9:35 a.m. departure which returns at 12 with time for walking around town and going to the Brewpub which is supposed to be one of the best in Norway. What I wanted to point out is that for a small additional fee you can book and pay for your tickets now and can cancel for a full refund up to 24 hours in advance. So, if you are nervous about AZ cancelling the excursion you might think about doing that. There are only 3/4 departures that day that work with our ship departure time of 3 p.m. and people worry about cutting it too close (probably expected to be back on board no later than 2:30) so it might book up with independent travelers. The train station is right near where we dock so it's easy to do.

 

I'm still waiting to hear what's going on in Rosendahl where we apparently dock for one hour for a shore excursion departure, then sail into Eidfjord. I inquired some time back and still don't see anything listed for the shore excursions in Rosendahl -- then again, if they updated in the last week I wouldn't know as I haven't been able to get in to view shore excursions due to the "technical difficulties."

[chilimax]

Bonnie, that’s great news! Thanks ever so much for helping and I look forward to getting confirmation from the shore excursion team when the timings are confirmed. Like I said “the legendary Azamara customer service “ stepped in!

[chilimax]

AllisonJames, thanks for your suggestions but Bonnie has just confirmed the departure time for leaving Flam has changed to 17.30 so shouldn’t be a problem with our changed excursion timings. Will post on our roll call.

[CruiseGal999]

Has this happened to anyone else? We are on the maiden voyage of Pursuit on 1 August to Norway and booked (back in February as soon as they were published) a shore excursion on the Flam railway which left early in the morning we were in port. Just received notification from Azamara that they have changed the time of the train we were booked on to a later one which is now due to get back an hour AFTER the ship will have sailed!!!

Immediately notified the shore excursion team who are looking into it but concerned we have now lost our seats on our original train excursion as it has been showing sold out for several weeks now. Should we be worried or will the legendary Azamara customer service step in and sort it?

 

Shouldn't it be you'll miss your excursion? Is there another excursion to go on that leaves early and does get you back to the ship on time?

[AllisonJames]

Great! Bonnie, any update on the Rosendal excursions? You were gong to check.

[BBMacLaird]

Great! Bonnie, any update on the Rosendal excursions? You were gong to check.

 

Happy to check, but can you give me more of a clue, or copy the URL to the thread you're referring to? I'm not recalling a tour named 'Rosendal'.

[AllisonJames]

Pursuit Maiden - Norway. Showing a stop in Rosendahl for one hour to drop off for shore excursions but no shore excursions listed at that location.

 

 

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[BBMacLaird]

Re Rosendal - the short stop has been eliminated from the itinerary because it was decided it was too short of a call. The itinerary has been adjusted to reflect this change. A letter was sent on 5/7/18 to those booked on the August 1 voyage of the Pursuit. I'll post it on the Roll Call in case you missed the letter.