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Spending a night off the ship

J & G

By J & G,
in Azamara

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ellbon

ellbon

Posted
Posted

If staying in a hotel the ship needs to know. I was in AU and their country did not allow it. Not sure if these places allow it.

 

As far as coming back late you can come back anytime as the gangway always open. If tender that could be different.

Log to front desk and let them know as they will get with the doc officer and let you know l

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Jb-lhr

Jb-lhr

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Well, I must say, I am having a very different experience to those reported here. There are four of us who would like to leave a cruise 2 days early, then reboard on embarkation of cruise 2 of our B2B. Being 'proactive' I asked Azamara Head Office in advance to make certain there would be no issues. No problem, was the answer, HOWEVER the Emergency Travel Team says we will all be charged $65 each for the privilege. (We leave and reboard in the same country , BTW.) What?? Why?? They want to charge us for NOT being on the ship (a great new revenue opportunity???).

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Grandma Cruising

Grandma Cruising

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Well, I must say, I am having a very different experience to those reported here. There are four of us who would like to leave a cruise 2 days early, then reboard on embarkation of cruise 2 of our B2B. Being 'proactive' I asked Azamara Head Office in advance to make certain there would be no issues. No problem, was the answer, HOWEVER the Emergency Travel Team says we will all be charged $65 each for the privilege. (We leave and reboard in the same country , BTW.) What?? Why?? They want to charge us for NOT being on the ship (a great new revenue opportunity???).

 

 

 

What country is it? We certainly were not charged anything for having a night off the ship in Egypt. We have also disembarked early in Dubai (10:30pm the night before disembarkation). We had no problems with this either, just had to fill in a form which said we were leaving early and would look after our luggage ourselves.

 

As you are U.K. travellers, it might be worth writing to Richard Twynam, Azamara’s U.K. MD. You can contact him at RTwynam@azamaraclubcruises.com

 

 

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jelayne

jelayne

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Posted
Well, I must say, I am having a very different experience to those reported here. There are four of us who would like to leave a cruise 2 days early, then reboard on embarkation of cruise 2 of our B2B. Being 'proactive' I asked Azamara Head Office in advance to make certain there would be no issues. No problem, was the answer, HOWEVER the Emergency Travel Team says we will all be charged $65 each for the privilege. (We leave and reboard in the same country , BTW.) What?? Why?? They want to charge us for NOT being on the ship (a great new revenue opportunity???).

 

It you are getting off the ship in one port and getting back on 2 days later in another port that may reason. The departure from 1 port and return to another can require additional paperwork and clearances. That was the. case when we wanted to disembark in one port in India and reboard in another port. The cruise line had to provide documentation to the returning port in order for us to reboard the ship. When we arrived to reboard the Port Agent had documents we had to sign before entering the port. The $65 was not charged per person but per cabin.

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Jb-lhr

Jb-lhr

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Host Grandma,

We would leave the ship in Salaverry, Peru and return to the ship in Lima, Peru. We are going to Machu Picchu on our own.

We are still waiting for a real explanation ... we have only been told that this is not coming from Azamara, but from the Emergency Travel Team. If this team is not part of Azamara, who are they? There is no emergency involved as far as we are concerned. When asked by telephone, the Peruvian embassy in London can see no reason for any additional paperwork. Oh well.

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Jb-lhr

Jb-lhr

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To any others contemplating a similar 'adventure', I promise to come back and give you the official explanation from Azamara (let's face it, it's only fair they should be given to oportunity to respond to our request for clarification). It could all be a misunderstanding. We are happy to give Azamara some time to respond. Thanks to all those who are interested and their concern.

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Grandma Cruising

Grandma Cruising

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Have you tried emailing Richard Twynam. He is usually very good at responding quickly and sorting out issues that Miami can’t sort out.

I can’t see why leaving the ship at Salaverry and returning to it at Lima should be a problem, if the Peru embassy say no extra paper-work is needed. I’d never heard of the Emergency Travel team, but just googled the term and came up with the following on the Royal Caribbean website.

“Guests who miss their cruise due to travel delays can contact the Emergency Travel Team (ETT) to discuss their options going forward. In specific situations, when the guest has the proper documentation, it is possible to join the cruise at the next port of call, but all options must be discussed with ETT.”

It sounds like the Emergency Travel Team is part of RCL. Can’t see why they should get involved if you are organising your own travel.

 

 

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Baynanno1

Baynanno1

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I have three scenarios of first hand experience being off the ship overnight :

 

Like Grandma Cruising, I did an overnight tour to Luxor. No problem.

 

I spent the night in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia off the ship. No problem.

 

I have left the ship the evening before the official end of the cruise. No problem.

 

I would take Grandma Cruising's advice and contact Richard Twynam.

 

In essence you are leaving a cruise early, which many people do . . . you are (re) boarding a new cruise two days later.

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J & G

J & G

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Yes, just tell Guest services - also a good idea to let your steward know. We did this on the Athens to Dubai Cruise last year as we did an overnight tour to Luxor.

 

 

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Thank you so much for that info!! Your cruise itinerary was similar to our Athens to Dubai itinerary this year, except the overnights for us are Ashdod, Aqaba, and Muscat. We plan to spend a night in both Jerusalem and Petra in order to experience more of the culture and not to waste time driving back and forth to the ship.

 

We will check into visas required and inform Guest Services and our room steward of our plan prior to arrival at those ports.

 

 

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jelayne

jelayne

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Host Grandma,

We would leave the ship in Salaverry, Peru and return to the ship in Lima, Peru. We are going to Machu Picchu on our own.

We are still waiting for a real explanation ... we have only been told that this is not coming from Azamara, but from the Emergency Travel Team. If this team is not part of Azamara, who are they? There is no emergency involved as far as we are concerned. When asked by telephone, the Peruvian embassy in London can see no reason for any additional paperwork. Oh well.

 

The Emergency Travel Team is part of Royal Caribbean and they handle not only emergency travel situations but also the paperwork and approvals for passengers leaving and returning to the ships for Royal Caribbean, Celebrity and Azamara.

Early debarkation is easy in some ports, not so in others. Leaving the ship in 1 port and returning to the ship a day or 2 later in another port sometimes requires more effort and bureaucracy, by the country. We are in the US so it was easy to call the Emergency Team and discuss our plans. We had full visas for India so should have been fine. But in reality that wouldn’t have been the case.

My point is they aren’t doing this to make money. Another couple who didn’t get the approval arrived at the port after being off the ship 2 nights and the Port Agent wasn’t allowing them access to the port because there was no paperwork authorizing them to board the ship. $65 for us both and approval (paperwork done by the Emergency Team ) was worth every penny.

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Jb-lhr

Jb-lhr

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Jelayne,

That is a very reasonable explanation. If that is indeed the case, we have no issue with it. We will await a real response from Azamara and hope it is as reasonable. That's really all we have been asing for ... so far all we have been offered is: 'because the Emergency Travel Team says so'. I'm certain it will all work out. As our independent travel is all booked and paid for, we certainly have no wish to jeopardise any aspect of it (including our return to the ship). Thanks for your input.

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J & G

J & G

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Thank you, everyone, for the valuable information. After several phone calls today, I was finally connected to the Emergency Travel Team. It seems that if we want to spend the night ashore while the ship remains in a port overnight, we just need to let Guest Relations know after we are onboard.

 

If, however, we want to get off the ship in one port, stay overnight on shore, and reboard in a subsequent port, we must apply through the Emergency Travel Team and pay $65 (non-refundable) per cabin. The ETT will take our request under consideration and say yes or no. If yes, we are responsible for all travel, including border crossings, as well as any ensuing expenses such as visas or entrance/exit taxes.

 

The person I spoke to said something about the requirement to return to the ship 3 hours prior to departure. I'm hoping that's only for the second situation, due to the need to process and clear the paperwork.

 

Again, thank you!!!

 

 

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