Hop On/Hop Off replacing shuttle buses

[PirateWife]

I now see that Azamara is offering Hop On/Hop Off shore excursions for a fee on a cruise we are doing in August. Is this Azamara replacing the shuttle buses from the port to the city that pre-COVID were free? The description says they will be Azamara exclusive. At the same time, shore excursions that were available a month ago are no longer listed.

[PirateWife]

I now see that Azamara is offering Hop On/Hop Off shore excursions for a fee on a cruise we are doing in August. Is this Azamara replacing the shuttle buses from the port to the city that pre-COVID were free? The description says they will be Azamara exclusive. At the same time, shore excursions that were available a month ago are no longer listed.

[Grandma Cruising]

Azamara have always offered access to Hop On Hop Off buses in some cities, we have used them as an Azamara excursion in Dubai and Panama City

[Grandma Cruising]

Azamara have always offered Hop On Hop Off buses in some cities, we have used them in Dubai & Panama City.

[PirateWife]

I have used them. I just don't remember them being offered as a shore excursion to book. The Hop On/Hop Off excursions have been added in the last month as available excursions. My concern is that Azamara may not bring back their free shuttles.

[uktog]

We had free shuttles in Valencia and Tarragona last week.  Azamara do still offer them where the port/taxi authorities allow it (eg not allowed in Gibraltar where the taxi association provides a paid for service) and where the distance needs a shuttle (eg not in Seville or Malaga) 

[andrcan]

8 minutes ago, uktog said:

We had free shuttles in Valencia and Tarragona last week.  Azamara do still offer them where the port/taxi authorities allow it (eg not allowed in Gibraltar where the taxi association provides a paid for service) and where the distance needs a shuttle (eg not in Seville or Malaga) 

On the map it looks like the cruise terminal in Malaga is quite distant from downtown. Where do AZ dock?

[uktog]

16 minutes ago, andrcan said:

On the map it looks like the cruise terminal in Malaga is quite distant from downtown. Where do AZ dock?

Azamara do not dock far out where the big ships go, they dock right on the boardwalk so about five minutes walk to the beginning of the main street

[andrcan]

1 minute ago, uktog said:

Azamara do not dock far out where the big ships go, they dock right on the boardwalk so about five minutes walk to the beginning of the main street

Oh that's fantastic! Thanks, this is good to know as I was planning to hop on a 9am Alsa bus to Granada and our ship is scheduled to arrive in Malaga at 8am. 

[mdpa]

On a related note, we may keep things simple and use the hop on/off buses in Valencia and Malaga just so we have an easy way to get around. Have people generally been happy with it? I understand it will be a different experience vs. a normal tour.

[laurieb]

5 hours ago, PirateWife said:

I now see that Azamara is offering Hop On/Hop Off shore excursions for a fee on a cruise we are doing in August. Is this Azamara replacing the shuttle buses from the port to the city that pre-COVID were free? The description says they will be Azamara exclusive. At the same time, shore excursions that were available a month ago are no longer listed.

That probably has to do with the tour guide/ company they’ve contracted with in the past not being available or no longer even offering tours

[uktog]

23 minutes ago, mdpa said:

On a related note, we may keep things simple and use the hop on/off buses in Valencia and Malaga just so we have an easy way to get around. Have people generally been happy with it? I understand it will be a different experience vs. a normal tour.

We used the HOHO in Malaga. We enjoyed it 

[mdpa]

12 minutes ago, uktog said:

We used the HOHO in Malaga. We enjoyed it 

Thanks, good to know. I partially signed up to give me options if shuttles weren’t available, but it sounds like that’s not an issue with Malaga since it is walkable from the port.

 

But I assume it still helped you move around easier and gave you some insight about where you were going? I’ve never done a hop on/hop off bus and some of the reviews didn’t seem great, but Azamara is saying these buses are exclusive to cruise passengers?

[uktog]

5 hours ago, mdpa said:

Thanks, good to know. I partially signed up to give me options if shuttles weren’t available, but it sounds like that’s not an issue with Malaga since it is walkable from the port.

 

But I assume it still helped you move around easier and gave you some insight about where you were going? I’ve never done a hop on/hop off bus and some of the reviews didn’t seem great, but Azamara is saying these buses are exclusive to cruise passengers?

We did not use the Azamara exclusive bus, just the regular one, cheaper and more flexible timing.  In Malaga one of the main sites is the castle on the top of the hill.  To give you an idea, this is a picture at night.  (we are talking about the distant castle by the way).  Lets just say I was very happy to let the bus take the strain and the views on the ride up were wonderful.  You could of course get off up there and walk down the walls to the lower castle

 

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Edited April 23, 2022 by uktog

[mdpa]

4 hours ago, uktog said:

We did not use the Azamara exclusive bus, just the regular one, cheaper and more flexible timing.  In Malaga one of the main sites is the castle on the top of the hill.  To give you an idea, this is a picture at night.  (we are talking about the distant castle by the way).  Lets just say I was very happy to let the bus take the strain and the views on the ride up were wonderful.  You could of course get off up there and walk down the walls to the lower castle

 

ACE5E024-5237-474C-AE85-65DC62AB7CBD.heic 958.98 kB · 19 downloads

Thanks, the picture helps. Looks like it will be easier to just wait and see what makes sense on the day we arrive.

[mchell810]

17 hours ago, andrcan said:

On the map it looks like the cruise terminal in Malaga is quite distant from downtown. Where do AZ dock?

 

To add to the information others provided; this photo was taken from my verandah balcony while docked in Malaga -- no zoom.

 

 

Edited April 23, 2022 by mchell810

[Grandma Cruising]

5 hours ago, mdpa said:

Thanks, the picture helps. Looks like it will be easier to just wait and see what makes sense on the day we arrive.

The advantage of using the HOHO bus through Azamara is that the bus will be right next to the ship, rather than having to get yourself to wherever the bus starts/calls. Depends on the port as to how much of an advantage this is. 

[uktog]

6 minutes ago, Grandma Cruising said:

The advantage of using the HOHO bus through Azamara is that the bus will be right next to the ship, rather than having to get yourself to wherever the bus starts/calls. Depends on the port as to how much of an advantage this is. 

Good point

In Malaga which the OP was asking about, its not much of an advantage to be honest and from what we worked out double the price to go with Azamara

[mdpa]

Thanks for the replies…I initially booked because I wasn’t confident the regular versions would be running with COVID. Good to know they are going. 

 

Any thoughts on Valencia? I see there is also a tourist card which can provide free transport all day…of course, I have OBC so that is also a consideration.

[KirkNC]

21 hours ago, uktog said:

Azamara do not dock far out where the big ships go, they dock right on the boardwalk so about five minutes walk to the beginning of the main street

Not when we were there in March on the Quest, we had to walk around, maybe a twenty minute walk.

[andrcan]

3 hours ago, mchell810 said:

 

To add to the information others provided; this photo was taken from my verandah balcony while docked in Malaga -- no zoom.

 

Thanks, it helped indeed, the building with the clock makes a nice landmark. I identified it on the Google Maps - it's 20 min walk to the bus terminal (or train station)!

[uktog]

50 minutes ago, KirkNC said:

Not when we were there in March on the Quest, we had to walk around, maybe a twenty minute walk.

When we road the hop on hop off, Main Schiff was down where I suspect you parked and the regular bus did a deviation and a pick up stop there for guests